Wordless Wednesday: First thing cooked in the new oven

By Bbq Dude

Fried smelt

While strolling through my local Whole Foods, gazing at the various different sea critters available for dinner, I heard an older man very animatedly extolling the virtues of smelt. "Oh, I grew up in Seattle. We'd serve them for breakfast. Just put a batter on them, deep fry them and eat them. They weren't cleaned like they are here, we'd eat the whole thing. I love them."

After a brief discussion with him, I bought a pound of smelt.



The older man in the store emphasized simplicity when cooking smelt, so I kept it simple, using an adaptation of what I found at Steamy Kitchen.

¾ cup corn meal
¼ cup flour
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound smelt
2 tablespoons butter
handful fresh thyme, minced
2 cloves garlic
1 whole chili, minced
salt and pepper
juice from 1 lemon
olive oil

Mix the corn meal, flour and garlic powder.



Dredge the smelt through the breading, and gently set aside.



Meanwhile, melt the butter and heat the garlic in the butter. Toss in the thyme, salt and lemon juice, and reserve warm.

Heat ¾" of olive oil until hot enough to fry. (You want it around 350°F). Set the smelt into the hot oil gently (so as not to splash - remember, the trick with hot oil is to get your fingers as close as possible to it so you're not dropping stuff in - you're actually less likely to burn yourself this way).



Fry the smelt 2 minutes on a side, and remove from the hot oil. Drain briefly on a paper towel, then plate them. Drizzle the lemon/butter sauce over top of the smelt, and season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately.



So, I loved these. They're crisp and salty and hot and delicious. Bbq Jr. also couldn't get enough of these. Mrs. Dude was a little off put by the texture of eating a whole fish with bones. I think the next time we have this, Mrs. Dude will be on a trip...


By Bbq Dude

Eggs Benedict

A perfectly poached egg is a beautiful thing. And when that egg is a fresh, home-raised egg, with thick shells, and sturdy yolks, it begs to be made into the perfect poached egg dish. Eggs Benedict.



Eggs Benedict is only difficult in timing the poached egg, the sauce and the back bacon to be all ready at the same time. But if you have three hands, or an assistant, it's a beautiful thing to start a spring morning with:

6 eggs
Hollandaise sauce
capers
back bacon (Canadian bacon)
3 English muffins
white wine vinegar
sea salt and pepper to season

Do the following things simultaneously:
1) Make the Hollandaise sauce.

2) Fry the back bacon in a pan over medium heat, flipping when a nice brown develops.



3) Bring a 3 inches of water in a pot to a boil. Add 1 tbsp white wine vinegar. Crack an egg into a coffee mug, and gently lower that egg into the boiling water. Repeat with the other eggs. Retrieve the eggs the moment the whites turn completely white. (2-3 minutes). Any longer, and you won't get beautiful, soft yolks.

4) Halve and toast the English muffins.

Ok. So now they're all ready at the same time. Place the bacon on top of the English muffin. Place the poached egg on top of the bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle on the Hollandaise sauce. And top with a few capers. No problem.



Serve. Delicious, perfect breakfast.

By Bbq Dude

Hollandaise sauce

Mrs. Dude has a new gig and a new boss. Turns out he's a bit of a foodie, with home-raised chickens and bees. Our first big win? Fresh eggs. The shells are a lovely light green, and the yolks are sturdy. Separating them, I couldn't have easily broken them.



What to do with these lovely things? We started with a hollandaise sauce. I used the recipe from The New Making of a Cook, with only a few small modifications.

⅓ cup plus 2 tbsp water
3 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ tsp salt
white pepper
3 large egg yolks
½ lb unsalted butter, melted

Mix the lemon juice and ⅓ cup of water, salt and pepper. Heat over high and reduce to 2 tbsp. Remove from heat and let cool.

Whisk in egg yolks, then put over medium heat. Whisk over medium heat until it makes a nice foamy mess. Continue whisking, and slowly add in the melted butter. The trick to making a beautiful emulsion is to add the butter slowly. You really can't go too slowly. Occasionally, you can add a few drops of water from your remaining 2 tbsp of water. But keep whisking, and keep adding the butter. Slowly.



If you do it properly, you'll end with a nice, featureless yellow sauce. When everything is added, season to taste, and hold over low heat. Under no circumstances should you accidentally turn up the heat because you wanted to heat a different element. Really, don't crank it up, you might break the sauce and have to start over. And that would be sad. I'm just sayin.



Serve over eggs, or asparagus, or any delicious place. Yum.


By Bbq Dude