Esalen Cookbook (16 page)
Authors: Charlie Cascio
Brush the sides and top of the roulade with a light coating of olive oil and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until the roulade is golden brown. Slice and serve hot with Porcini Mushroom Sauce (see page 177). The best way I have found to slice the roulade is with an electric knife; if this is not available, use a serrated knife. Have a serving spatula ready to catch the slice when it is cut free from the roulade.
Green Tea—& Miso—Glazed Tempeh
This recipe is one of the favorite ways we like to prepare tempeh in the Esalen kitchen. Tempeh is a lowfat, high-protein (30 percent) soy product from Indonesia. When cooked properly it has a moist, chicken-like flavor. Baking it in a green jasmine tea and white miso gives the tempeh a sweet-and-salty flavor with a hint of jasmine. This recipe was created by Jason Brodsky in the Esalen kitchen.
Serves 4
1 cup white mellow miso
½ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons Mirin (rice cooking wine)
1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil
1 pound tempeh
4 bags jasmine green tea
1 cup boiling water
1 lemon, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon brown sesame seeds
3 green onions, sliced into fine rounds
Whisk the miso, maple syrup, Mirin, and oil together ion a bowl until you have a smooth consistency and a sweet-salty taste that is unique to the miso and maple. Cut the tempeh into 4 cutlets and place them in an 8- x 8-inch baking dish; spoon a 1/4-inch layer of the miso-maple glaze on top. (Be sure to leave 1/4 cup of the glaze in the bowl.)
Place the tea bags into the bowl with the remaining glaze and pour the boiling water over the top. Let this brew for 5 minutes. You now have a miso and jasmine green tea. Carefully ladle this tea into the pan with the tempeh until it is just about halfway up the sides of the tempeh. Be careful not to disturb the glaze on top of the tempeh.
Place a lemon round on each tempeh cutlet and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. Cover the pan and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes or until the glaze looks caramelized and somewhat dry. Sprinkle the green onions over the tempeh just before serving.
TOFU VERSIONThis dish can also be prepared with tofu. Replace the tempeh with 1 pound of tofu. Slice the tofu into 4 cutlets and lay out on a kitchen towel that has been folded several times. Place another folded kitchen, on top of the tofu and press with your hand until as much water as possible has been removed from the tofu. Follow the instructions for the remainder of the recipe.
When we serve meat or fish as our main dinner course at Esalen, we always offer a vegetarian alternative. This recipe is served to our vegetarian guests when we have crab cakes on the menu. It’s a wonderful dish loaded with creamy pine nuts and meafy-tasting shiitake mushrooms.
Serves 4
1 cup pine nuts
1 cup cooked couscous (see page 96)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, minced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
¼ pound shiitake mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano
2 eggs
½ cup ricotta cheese
1½ cups finely grated Parmesan or Asiago
cheese
2 teaspoons ground dry porcini mushrooms
2 tablespoons nutritional food yeast
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Place the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes or until they start to turn a very light brown. Remove from oven and finely chop them in a food processor or seed grinder. Place ground nuts, along with the couscous, in a mixing bowl.
In a saute pan over high heat, saute onion with the olive oil until translucent; then add garlic, shiitake mushrooms, and fresh herbs. Lower the heat to medium and cook until all the moisture has evaporated. Set this mixture aside to cool.
Whisk the eggs, ricotta, Parmesan or Asiago, porcini powder, yeast, salt, and cayenne together in a bowl and add to the couscous and nuts. Pour in the cooled vegetables and mix well. Let this sit for about 1/2 hour in the fridge before cooking. The mix should have a consistency like thick paste.
Take a spoonful of the mix and shape with your hands into cakes, about 3 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick. The cakes can be baked in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. If you bake them, be sure to oil the baking sheet. Or they can be pan-fried in a heavy-bottomed skillet with a little oil. This takes about 4 minutes on each side over medium-high heat.
BLACKENED CATFISHHot red peppers have been a common seasoning in Cajun cooking since the French refugees, called Cajuns, were deported from Canada to the bayous around New Orleans. Peppers are like wine grapes; the soil where they are grown makes a big difference. Avery Island is in a bayou outside of New Orleans and the island is made of sodium chloride—salt. It’s this salty soil that produces the special fiery taste of Tabasco sauce that can be found from the simplest to the most elaborate of Cajun and Creole cooking. This recipe uses Tabasco in a classic Louisiana manner to blacken catfish.
Serves 4
2 cups tomato juice
2 tablespoons Cajun Spice Blend (see sidebar)
2 tablespoons Tabasco
½ teaspoon sea salt
4 catfish fillets (½ pound each)
½ cup vegetable oil
Mix the juice, Cajun Spice Blend, hot sauce, and salt in a bowl big enough to hold the catfish. Prick the fish on both sides with a fork to help absorb the marinade. Place fish into marinade and let soak in the fridge for at least 2 hours. This is also the base for the Grilled Catfish Burrito recipe (see page 118) that we served at the Esalen dining lodge.
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat; drop the fish into the pan and fry until golden brown (about 5 minutes). Flip the fillets and brown on the other side for about the same amount of time. Drain on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
Note: If you really want a hot spicy catfish, baste the fish as it cooks with the leftover marinade.
CAJUN SPICE BLEND2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
Blend all ingredients together and store in an air-tight container. This makes just over 1/4 cup of spice blend.
GRILLED CATFISH BURRITOThis is a complete Cajun meal rolled into a flour tortilla. The grilling gives it a crisp crunch that adds to the already Cajun flavors. Fill your taste buds with Louisiana love!
Serves 6
6 burrito-size flour tortillas
3 cups very finely shredded green cabbage
1½ cups cooked red kidney beans
(or substitute canned)
1½ cups cooked brown rice
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1½ pounds cooked Blackened Catfish fillets
(see page 117)
1½ teaspoons pasilla chile powder
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Sea salt to taste
Place a tortilla on a flat work surface. Spread 1/2 cup of shredded cabbage over one-third of the tortilla. Spread approximately 4 tablespoons each of the cooked beans and cooked rice over the cabbage. Sprinkle the rice and beans with shredded cheese, and then place 1/6 of the fish over this mixture. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of the chili powder, 1/2 tablespoon of cilantro, and a pinch of sea salt over the burrito filling.
Take the burrito into your two hands and fold in the ends of the burrito. Roll the tortilla away from you, tucking in the tortilla tightly and giving the burrito shape as you tuck. Tuck any loose ends into the burrito, and then finish the roll. Repeat for the remaining 5 burritos.
A charbroiler grill is a great way to grill this burrito. Slowly roll the burrito across the hot grill until it’s crisp and toasted. If you don’t have a grill, used a heavy-bottomed skillet with a small amount of vegetable oil over a high heat. Roll the burrito in the skillet until crisp and toasted.
Grilled Catfish Burrito
Amanecer Eizner, Ben Reebs, and Genevieve Medow-Jenl
This is a really light and delicate cake with the sweet tasfe of crabmeat accompanied by the flavor of fresh herbs and ground rice cereal. It’s excellent served with Chipotle Cream Sauce or a good tartar sauce. These crab cakes were brought to Esalen by John Blunt.
Makes 12 cakes
½ medium yellow onion, minced
2 medium carrots, minced
3 stalks celery, minced
3 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1 pound crabmeat
2 cups Rice Crispies
½ teaspoon sea salt
Pinch ground white pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
4 eggs
In a food processor, separately mince the onion, carrots, and celery. Saute each vegetable separately in 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil; cook until the water has evaporated from the vegetables. Place the vegetables in a colander to drain any excess moisture.
Take the crabmeat and squeeze out any excess liquid by placing it in a clean kitchen towel and pressing out as much moisture as possible. Place crabmeat in a mixing bowl and add the vegetables.
Put the Rice Crispies in a food processor, seed grinder, or coffee grinder, and grind until you have a course meal. This should yield about 1 cup. (If you can’t find Rice Crispies, use bread crumbs instead.) Add this to the mixing bowl along with the salt, pepper, basil, and parsley. Stir until well blended.
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