Sharp and savory sage butter noodles - great with lamb

Ok, when the Yeti wife and I were on vacation a while ago, we ate at a restaurant that had some sage noodles on the ala carte menu. I thought that they looked interesting and I tried them. Well, boy, was I disappointed. Everything else on the menu was pretty good, and also since this was a classic-style French bistro I expected the noodles to follow suit. But, alas, poor me! No good buttery sage noodles for this Yeti. The noodles were very tough and overworked, and the taste of the buttery sage sauce was very underwhelming and disappointing. Oh, woe is me! Ahem, well, ok, they were disappointing but the rest of the meal was pretty good.

Now, when I got home, I decided that I could do much better. So, here is a sauce for egg noodles that is delicate, savory, and just a little sharp thanks to a little acid from some lemon juice. And the snowdogs didn't go with us on vacation that time, but they would have liked it. Instead they went to snowdog spa.

Sharp and savory sage butter noodles

Ok, you'll want to make the sauce before cooking the noodles otherwise your noodles will probably be overcooked. This makes enough for coating about 12-16 ounces of pasta.

2 medium shallots or 1/4 white onion, small dice. Preferably the shallots.
1 tablespoon of butter for the shallots / onion. You can use olive oil if you want but the texture and flavor won't be quite the same. If you use olive oil, use the cheap stuff and not your virgin first cold press good stuff.
heavy pinch of salt, about 1/8 teaspoon
1 tablespoon of butter
2 teaspoons of flour
3-4 fresh sage leaves, slightly bruised and chiffonade (cut into ribbons) or 1 teaspoon dried sage leaves, crushed
1/4 cup dry white wine or light stock, chicken or something similar. I prefer wine for this, but you can use something else if you don't want the residual alcohol.

1/4 cup of water from cooking your pasta
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 more teaspoon or so of butter
white or black pepper, to taste, optional
couple of tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley, optional

12-16 ounces of packaged egg noodles or, preferably, a batch of your home-made noodles rolled thin and cut into 1/2 inch wide ribbons. Mmm, yummy.
Salt for your pasta water.

Ok, this recipe takes a little bit of coordination so you may want to read through this before starting it. Choose a heavy bottomed saucier or saucepan big enough for your noodles that is big enough for holding all your cooked noodles with the sauce. In your saucepan or a saucier place one tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the shallots / onion and sweat over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Also add your heavy pinch of salt, about 1/8 teaspoon, at this point. You want the shallot to be translucent and soft, but not to have any color. You're not sauteeing here. Then add the other tablespoon of butter and the flour. You're going to make a thin roux. Whisk this flour and butter/shallot mixture over medium heat until the flour is well incorporated in the butter. Keep whisking this mixture over medium heat slowly but steadily for about 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the sage and mix. Add the 1/4 cup of wine or other liquid and bring to a boil. When the mixture reaches a boil, whisk one more time and remove from the heat.

Cook your pasta to your preferred doneness. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water and then drain the pasta without rinsing it. Add this pasta water and the lemon juice (here's your acid tangy sharpness) to the sauce, return to a boil, and allow to boil for about 30 seconds and then add the final teaspoon of butter for a nice smooth texture. If you want your sauce to be thicker, allow it to boil for another 30 seconds or so. Toss your pasta with the sauce and serve. You can crack black pepper (or use a pinch of white pepper if you want to be all Frenchified fancy with it) over it to taste. Just a little though, as this is all about the sage and butter. Toss with parsley if desired and serve.

Serves 1 hungry Yeti, or 2 Yetis as a side dish, or 4 people.

Summer flavors, but it's winter. Oh well, you do what you can.

The Yeti wife was out of town this week which means I usually experiment. I would then normally post results of experiments here. That is the crustimony proceedcake, as my bear friends would say. However, I did not really do any experiments (except for the lamb and beef cheeseburgers, east coast style, but I'll post that some other time). Instead I've opened up the legendary hairy Yeti archives and will share this dish with you. And the snowdogs did get to go somewhere every day this week too, including into the creek at the park even though I told them not to. Silly snowdogs.

I know that this is really a summer dish with the tomatoes and all, but since "bulletproof" tomatoes are available in the market year-round nowadays, this should be possible for people in general to do anytime. The texture of "bulletproof" beefsteak tomatoes are actually well suited for this recipe, but the flavor is lacking as you would expect. I like to use large heirlooms that are often available in late summer. If you want to use vine-ripe or other smaller tomatoes, try using about double the number of tomatoes (8 or so) or you can cut and stuff a bunch of larger cherry tomatoes and substitute feta for the softer chevre goat cheese for appetizers.

Tomatoes stuffed with couscous

4 large tomatoes, preferably nearly ripe, but still with some firmness of body
couscous, about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup dry instant, or about 1 cup when fully prepared. That would also be about 2/3 cup of Israeli couscous if you wanted to use that. For this I like the texture of the smaller grained couscous.
Some goat cheese, about 4 ounces
Salt and pepper
about 2 tablespoons diced onion
1 clove of garlic, crushed
no more than 1/4 cup of additional herbs and veggies, such as curly parsley, cilantro, dill, diced bell pepper, as desired.

Prepare couscous as you would normally. Mix prepared couscous with the onion, garlic, and optional ingredients and set aside (for at least 20 minutes, this is about as long as it will take you to prepare the tomatoes).

Prepare tomatoes:
Cut off the top of the tomatoes. Taking care not to puncture the sides or bottoms of the tomatoes, remove the core and seeds. I use a melon baller. Season the inside of the tomatoes liberally with salt and pepper and place upside-down (open side down) on a rack above a tray or other container for the tomatoes to drain off excess liquid. You'll want to let the tomatoes drain for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 325F.

After tomatoes are drained, stuff each tomato with 1/4 of the prepared couscous mixture. Place 1/4 (about 1 ounce) of goat cheese on top of the tomatoes. Bake for about 15 minutes, then place under a broiler for about 5 minutes or until the goat cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Serves 2 Yetis, or 4 people as a large side dish. This is great with some garlic bread and broiled fish or fresh green beans.

My favorite broccoli, but not my favorite.

I like broccoli, but it's not my favorite green vegetable. My favorite vegetable that is high in chlorophyll is asparagus. However, since this recipe is not called "My favorite asparagus" I'm not going to post that today.

Yetis like fresh veggies, typically prepared with not too much fuss and work. But we still like our veggies to taste really good. Typically, that means that the ingredients list requires a few more items than just vegetables and water. Here is a version of steamed or boiled broccoli that requires just a touch more than minimum of effort. Minimum effort for vegetables usually means raw vegetables. This also only requires a handful of ingredients. I'll make up for the effort and ingredients list when I post my favorite barbecue rub and barbecue sauce, if I ever do. Those may remain secret. And the snowdogs are doing fine now that colder temperatures are here, by the way.

Steamed or Boiled Broccoli with in a light lemon-wine-butter sauce

1 bunch of raw, fresh, good broccoli. About 4 large handfuls
water for steaming or boiling, or you can steam the broccoli in the microwave
1 tablespoon of butter
1/4 cup of white wine
rind of 1 lemon, no pith or you're asking for extra bitter broccoli
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (optional)
pinch of salt
pinch of fresh ground black pepper (optional)

Cut up your raw broccoli into your desired size for serving. If boiling the broccoli, bring some water to a boil. If steaming on a stove top, set up your steamer. Steam or boil the broccoli for just 2-3 minutes. The broccoli pieces should be just slightly more tender than raw and bright green. Remove the broccoli and drain, but do not rinse or cool.

Place the butter in a medium to large saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the butter melts and starts to foam, but is not browning, add the broccoli and toss. Add the lemon rind, white wine, pinch of salt, and red pepper if desired to the broccoli in the saucepan and bring to a low boil. Allow the liquid to reduce greatly, until there is just a small puddle of liquid in the bottom of the pan.

Add the lemon juice and black pepper if desired, and toss. Allow to cook for about 1-2 more minutes and serve.

I really like this as a side dish for broiled salmon or steak and some saffron rice or roasted new potatoes.

Serves about 4 as a side, or 4 Yetis if you use Yeti-sized handfuls of broccoli and double the rest of the ingredients.

Sushi! Or not! It's all up to you.

Ok, lots of people like sushi. Lots of people don't like sushi. Lots of people don't like Yetis either, but I don't hold that against them. This is a recipe that basically uses stuff that I talked about earlier, but in other variations and with sushi rice instead of jasmine. If you don't want to make maki (rolls) that's fine, I've got some alternatives down below.

Also, watch out for the snowdogs on this one, as they love tuna and fish.

Raw or seared tuna maki sushi! Or not!

You need to have prepared ahead of time about 2 cups of sushi rice, which is often about 1 cup before cooking, including seasoning with rice wine vinegar and anything else you want. The rice should be cool. I usually put some lemon or lime rind in with the rice when it cooks for a nice citrus flavor.
2 shallots, small dice
bean sprouts, very fresh, washed, and patted dry
red pepper flakes (optional)
sushi-grade ahi tuna, probably about 1/4 pound or so
seasoning mixture, described below. About 2 tablespoons or so of this mix, depending on how much tuna you have.
about 2-3 sheets of nori (seaweed sheets for sushi, available in many supermarkets) for maki, or you could have this sashimi or nigiri style
Optional: wasabi, pickled ginger as garnish / condiments

For the marinade for a seared tuna version of this see my November 9, 2007 entry. The leftovers work really well in this roll. If you are making this fresh however, read the following.

To use raw tuna (assuming your tuna is of excellent quality and impeccably fresh) you'll want to mix up ahead of time a seasoning mixture. I prefer a tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar, a tiny pinch of salt, preferably sea salt, and teaspoon of tamari. Or, if you like it spicy, replace the salt and tamari with a few dashes of Tabasco or other hot sauce of your liking. You can also replace the vinegar with lemon or lime juice and a small pinch of sugar. You'll want to set this mixture aside for use when you are ready to assemble your sushi.

DO NOT MARINADE THE TUNA more than 10 minutes or they will over-cure in the acid in the seasoning. You'll just want to briefly dip the fish in the seasoning before making your sushi.
For maki, cut quarter-inch square, but long (like a square cylinder) slices of the raw tuna.
For nigiri, cut nice thumb-sized, 1/8 inch thick sections of tuna.
For sashimi, cut the widest, but still 1/8 inch thick sections of tuna.

Maki: open up your nori, shiny side up. Spread enough rice on the nori to enclose the tuna and other fillings. Season your raw tuna in your pre-made mixture. Place a single thickness (depending on the length of your tuna you may need to trim to fit or use multiple square cylinders) of seasoned tuna along the rice, with a small sprinkling of shallots, some bean sprouts parallel to the tuna, and some red pepper flakes if you want. Roll. Repeat. Cut. Put on a plate with optional condiments. Enjoy.

Nigiri: Don't use nori. Form some thumb-sized cylinders of rice. You can place a small dab of wasabi on the rice and then place the seasoned tuna strip on top, or just place the tuna on top. Repeat until all tuna or rice is used up. Put on a plate with optional condiments. Enjoy.

Sashimi: season the tuna, and then place on a plate. Have some rice with it. Put on a plate with optional condiments. Enjoy.

This serves about 1 Yeti that likes sushi, or 2-4 as an appetizer, or 2 humans that are hungry, or so. It depends on how many pieces you make and how much the individuals like sushi. Watch out for the snowdogs though. They like fish.

French Onion Tart! Mmm, oniony. If you can't eat onions don't make this.

Over the recent eat-birds-and-bread holiday I put this together on a whim. Sometimes the Yeti food experiments work, and sometimes they don't. This one worked out really well. I found that the mixture of thyme and the carmelization of the onions and the shredded gruyere really recreated the taste of French onion soup. You want to leave the onion skin where noted to keep the onions from drying out in the oven. The skins are really easy to remove later. Just don't burn your fingers. Remember, abominable snowdogs shouldn't eat onion, it's not good for them.

Onion Tart with gruyere

3 tablespoons butter
1 large sprig thyme or 1 teaspoon dry thyme
2 tablespoons sugar
3 onions, medium sized, tips and root removed, skin left on and cut in half widthwise
1 pre-made pie crust, home made or store bought
About 4 ounces gruyere, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter with the thyme and sugar. Crowd the onions into the pan, center cuts down and skins on. Allow the onions to caramelize in the pan over medium heat, approximately 5 to10 minutes. Place the pan in the oven and cook until the onions are fork tender, approximately 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, approximately 15 minutes. Remove the tough, outside onion skins without disturbing the onions.

Put about 1/3 of the shredded cheese in the bottom of the pre-made pie crust. Carefully add the onions, preferably cut side up, into the pie crust. Sprinkle the onions with a small pinch of salt, the rest of the gruyere, and a few grinds of pepper. Bake approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until the pie crust is golden brown and fully cooked. Remove the tart from the oven and allow it to cool to just warm. Cut into 6 pieces and serve alongside a green salad.

Serves 1 hungry Yeti, or 2 Yeti as a side dish, or 4 people.