Fun Playing With Salmon & the First Fruits of the 2015 Gardening Season

Due to Bob's ongoing medical issues, it doesn't look like we will have a garden this year. So, we are making up for it my availing ourselves of the abundance at area farmers' markets, and so far, 2015 looks to be a great year to support your local farmer!

We've also been eating a lot of Alaskan salmon since the season started at the end of May. Copper River Season is almost over! We've been able to score the real deal, sold so fresh it doesn't need anything but a little salt and pepper and a light rub of EVOO before cooking, at Kate's Fish (West Side Market), Mister Brisket, and BayLobsters Fish Market and Cafe (Twinsburg). But we've also enjoyed other Alaskan salmon (from these same three purveyors) that has also made us very happy this spring.

Alaskan King Salmon from Mister Brisket

Alaskan Salmon from Mister Brisket,  Asparagus Risotto

Same fish, same day, but wanted to show you the Asparagus Risotto I made.

Salmon Salad, On the Rise Bakery roll

The above salmon became salmon salad a few days later, here is it served on a roll from On the Rise Bakery.

First Copper River Salmon

Seasoned with a tear for my late friend Dominic Cerino, who introduced Cleveland to Copper River Salmon, and who passed away two years to the day we cooked this. 

Served up with Ohio City Pasta Beet Pappardelle and Grilled FM Asparagus.

The leftovers from this salmon specimen and other OCP leftover pasta became a tasty salmon-pasta salad dinner.

Pretty sure this Copper River Sockeye also came from Mister Brisket. Served here with Ohio City Pasta, FM Asparagus, and homemade Guacamole.

Our most recent Copper River Sockeye came from BayLobsters in Twinsburg. Last night, we served it grilled, with grilled Farmers' Market potatoes, the last of this season's Farmers' Market asparagus (grilled) and grilled garlic scapes from our backyard. On the side, local lettuce topped with grilled Black Velvet Apricots brushed with butter, and a splash of exquisite aged Balsamic. 

I hope this little post encourages you to go out and play with Alaskan Salmon and local produce while the playing is good. We've been to three Farmers' Markets so far this spring, and we've had no problem getting anything we wanted at North Union Farmers' Markets at Shaker Square and Chagrin Falls, and the Geauga Fresh Market. 

Fun Slurping Noodles Slowly at Noodlecat

All of the soggy weather we've had lately in Northeast Ohio has left me hankering for a steaming bowl of noodles. One of the first scenes of my favorite food movie, Tampopo (which is a Noodle Western), begins in the rain. And so, it was perfect timing that Slow Food Northern Ohio decided to offer a slurpilicious dinner on October 13 at Jonathon Sawyer's new Noodlecat restaurant in downtown Cleveland, just around the corner from his delicious Greenhouse Tavern.

We began with a platter of house made pickles, served family style.

Items included pickled onions and green tomatoes, hot Hungarian pepper slices, beets, turnips, slices of Asian vegetable (was it wintermelon or bittermelon?), ginger (my favorite item, at the center of the platter), sliced egg (next to the ginger) and cucumber.

Two more appetizers would be served family style:

Broiled Rice Balls with Market Spices and Mushroom Infusion with Sesame Oil Dipping Sauce

This time-honored Japanese technique for using up yesterday's rice delivered crisp texture, simple but tasty flavors, and a big hit of umami from the mushroom creme dollop up top.

Chickpea-Stuffed Gyoza w/Chef's Garden Vegetables and Soy-Vinegar Dipping Sauce

When Chef Brian Reilly told us that the filling was chickpea, I almost didn't believe him. It was that good.

Bob and I both selected the same entree from the three choices on the menu: Pork Miso Ramen with roasted Ohio pork, miso, scallions and greens.

The noodles, jointly developed by Chef Sawyer and his team and Ohio City Pasta, which handles production, were pretty darn close to  noodles I've enjoyed before in Asia and New York. The broth was deliciously porky but balanced by the miso without being overpowered by it. My only disappointment was that the bowl did not come to the table steaming hot as it should have. But it was still delicious, and I can't wait to return to Noodlecat for another ramen (or udon or soba) fix. 

We also enjoyed the company of other supporters of Slow Food's mission to encourage local and sustainable eating. Joining us at our table was Ed Butdorf, the self described "Director of poultry relations at Happy Chix Farms." Though we have not sampled his products (including chicken, duck and rabbit), I've heard nothing but great things about them - if you are interested in trying them, contact Ed through the Happy Chix Facebook Page and he'll fix you up - he delivers to several Cleveland-area restaurants regularly and will happily meet you on those journeys!

Fun playing with ramen in Cleveland - Noodlecat satisfies the craving.

More Fun Playing with Ohio City Pasta and Cleveland's West Side Market

Among the many treasures at Cleveland's storied West Side Market is Stand E-3: Ohio City Pasta. In April 2010, I won a random-draw contest OCP ran on its Facebook page, and became entitled to one pound of pasta and one sauce, butter or oil, each month for a year. More than being a tasty prize - the opportunity got us back into the habit of visiting the West Side Market and it was a habit we'd forgotten.

As I documented in the first two blog installments about my luscious prize (here and here), some things at  the WSM change, and others stay the same year after year - it is worth a bit of your time to venture there and play with the food and related offerings. Following are photos from the four months that followed those first two posts, together with some of the meals to which the OCP pastas and toppings contributed.  The narrative resumes with June 2010, and another peek into the OCP case at the Market:

Our sauce/oil/butter pick for June:

Orange Basil Spaghetti

Garlic Chive Linguine

Whole Hawaiian Snapper (Kate's Fish)

 Stuffed with Herbs and Grilled

OCP Orange-Basil Pasta and Garden Green Beans with Roasted Shallot Red Wine Butter, Grilled Hawaiian Snapper

We basically rinsed and repeated for the next dinner, using the linguine pictured above.

July 2010:

OCP Wheat Somen

Cooked

Whole wheat somen under Duck Curry made with Roasted Makinajian Farms duck (LI/NY), garden corn and tomatoes

I believe that we froze the second package of OCP from our July prize because we were going out of town. That pasta (and my apologies that I don't have the variety), appeared in a melange of garden vegetables and cheese a few weeks later:





We didn't get back to OCP until the very last weekend in August. We had just returned from visiting family in NY, and had brought back some lovely ingredients to complement the fresh pasta and our burgeoning garden.

Chicken-Apple Sausage (CZUCHRAJ meats, WSM)

Ohio City Pasta, Garden Tomato, CZUCHRAJ meats chicken sausage, Richter's Orchard (LI) peaches (latter 2 on the grill)

Freshly made mozzarella (AS Pork Stores, 530A Larkfield Road, E. Northport 11731, 631-266-1540)

OCP, Garden Tomato, Garden Italian Beans, Fresh Mozzarella, Garden Basil, EVOO

September is the last month to be covered in this post (I'll try to take the second six months of the prize in two three-month intervals; we'll see how that goes). 

Pumpkin-Saffron Pasta

Pumpkin-Saffron Pasta with Lobster Cream Sauce, Garden Red Onion, Hot Pepper and Italian Green Beans

Whole Wheat-Fennel Pasta

Cooked

Whole Wheat Fennel Pasta with Lobster Cream Sauce

As of this point in the timeline, we had obtained but not yet sampled a roasted tomato-basil oil, and a Cajun Cream Sauce, which lived in our freezer until a couple of weeks ago. More on those items later. The lobster cream sauce and shallot butter were both lovely. Don't expect a lot of lobster pieces (and at the modest price point it sells for, quite reasonable), but the sauce sings with delicate lobster flavor.

We had fun playing with every variety of OCP pasta that we've tasted, as well as the toppings. Hope you've enjoyed reading about them - you can get them at the WSM and at most Heinen's Supermarkets in the Cleveland Area, as well as at the  Shaker Square and Crocker Park outlets of the North Union Farmer's Markets, as well as at Buehlers Grocery Stores (Store Locations) and Whole Foods (Store Locations).

In the next installment - something new for OCP and for us - freshly made extruded pastas - can you say awesome Mac N Cheese? I can!

More Fun Playing with Ohio City Pasta, Kate's Fish and Copper River Salmon

And so, when we last left Cleveland Ohio (which trip was that - three in six weeks!), I had collected my second installment of my prize from Ohio City Pasta at Cleveland's West Side Market.

I apologize - so much time has passed that I'm not sure which pasta was which! Above was  garlic and chive pasta, I'm pretty sure. Below, something yummy, but I don't recall which.

On this trip to the West Side Market, we scored some beautiful sweet peppers and asparagus from The Basketeria.

Add in some scapes from our garden, and fun food was within our grasp. The only thing missing was the protein. Thanks to Kate's Fish and Cordova Alaska's own Bill Webber, that problem was brilliantly solved by Copper River Sockeye salmon!

Saturday night dinner - cast iron seared salmon with caramelized red onions and dill, sauteed asparagus and peppers, and Ohio City Pasta with Ohio City Roasted Red Pepper Sauce!

The second night, I was too lazy for cast iron and used the All-Clad, and I added some wonderful garden scapes to the mix!









Ah yes, and some pesto Bob found in the fridge, which I'd made for a salmon dinner a short time ago. It was still most tasty.

And so, we continue to have fun playing with our Ohio City Pasta prize, as well as delights from the sea as delivered by Kate's Fish! Oh - and a new variety of smokie at Czuchraj's - Honey-Hot Smokies!,

Damn, I love these things! The West Side Market = Fun, Fun, Fun! Add in Ohio City Pasta, Kate's Fish, Basketeria and Czuchraj Meats and you will have some of the finest food Cleveland can offer to play with.