rolling with lobster, California style (and a little French influence)

September 24th, 2012

  

 

rolling with lobster, California style
(and a litle French influence):

lobster “roll” California style

Lobster season. In America, lobster is generally enjoyed two ways: steamed and served with a bath of melted butter; or, if you are on the East Coast, in a “lobster roll”(lobster meat combined with melted butter and mayonnaise served in a roll). However, we cannot forget that it is also the season for apples and Asian pears (and in California, heirloom tomatoes and avocados are delicious right now). 

seasonal fruit 

It is in the nineties in southern California (and will be for some time).  In this heat, hot, heavy food does not sound appealing. Sliced, Asian pears, apples, tomatoes and cucumbers all look like wheels and it seems to me that with these seasonal fruit wheels we can create our own “roll” that uses the West Coast bounty and is compatible with this summer weather. These thoughts inspired this week’s simple pleasure: lobster “roll” California style (mille-feuille de homard à la Californie).

apple wheels sliced 

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lobster “roll” (California style)

September 24th, 2012

 

lobster “roll”  California style
(mille-feuille de homard à la Californie)

serves 4

what you need:

lobster 
4 lobster tails 
1 cup seafood stock
½ cup dry white wine
1 sachet (1 bay leaf, fresh Italian parsley, fresh cilantro, black peppercorns, 1 strip lime peel)

salad
1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
1-2 apples, thinly sliced, seeds removed
1 Asian pear, thinly sliced, seeds removed
1-2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1-2 tomatoes (preferably Green Zebra), sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced

dressing
2 teaspoon gros sel de Guérande (or sea salt)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup avocado
¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh minced Italian parsley
pinch piment d’espelette
freshly ground black pepper (as needed)

lobster apple and avocado ingredients

garnish
pinch piment d’espelette
pinch minced fresh Italian parsley Read the rest of this entry »

pommes sur canapé : Mont d’Or fondu avec pommes de terre (Mont d’Or fondue with fingerling potatoes)

November 3rd, 2011

Cheese and Potatoes

pommes sur canapé :
Mont d’Or fondu avec pommes de terre
(Mont d’Or fondue with fingerling potatoes)

I like to play with words almost as much as I like to play with food. “Pommes sur canape is my own jeu de mots (play on words). In French, pommes (or pommes de terre) means potato while canapé is French for both a couch and an appetizer. Accordingly,pommes sur canapé” means both “couch potato” and “potato appetizer.” I thought of this silliness as I placed my annual order for the seasonal treasure Mont d’Or and it is the combination of the two that brings us this week’s simple pleasure: Mont d’Or fondu avec pommes de terre (Mont d’Or fondue with fingerling potatoes). Read the rest of this entry »