Scrumptious Street

Shame on me, I've been PLAYING!

I know, it's disgraceful that I haven't posted in more than a month.  That has never been the case since I started this blog more than two years ago.  However, while my apology to you readers is sincere I must tell you that I'm quite thrilled and rested after this break.  You see, I've been....playing! And traveling! And in general having a really wonderful month focusing on quality live-human-time and no online-social-time and it's been wonderful!  Where have I been? Oregon, Italy, Idaho, Montana...for the main highlights. No, I didn't take a lot of food photographs and compile recipes for this blog. It really has been a break. But, now I'm back and ready to show you the one place, the one amazing experience that was SO good that I did capture images.

Scrumptious Readers, meet Ristorante L'Arca.  An absolutely beautiful, quaint and breathtaking restaurant nestled in the volcanic rock mountainside of Ischia, Italy.  As you can see, the setting was incredible.  But, the food.... oh, Mamma Mia, the food was exquisite.

We started off with this trio of bruschetta. Perfectly grilled bread lightly kissed with garlic and olive oil then draped with the richest, ripest tomatoes dressed in fresh pressed extra virgin olive oil, baby onions and fresh basil.  Or, with fresh buffalo mozzarella added in and the third, with fresh and tender cannellini beans.  The beans were absolute perfection.  Not from a can, but from a pod and then dried.  Not soggy but cooked through yet still with structure.  Actually, the beans were al dente, just like every good Italian cook makes his or her pasta.  When taking a bite of the bean bruschetta, the textures melded into a balanced bite of creamy and crunchy, tender and solid with a rich and nutty garlic flavor and grassy olive oil finish.  It was the best bruschetta I've had.  Ever.

Mr. Scrumptious won the Best Entree award, with his superbly executed meal of fresh hand-made pasta with mussels.  ALL OF IT was fresh.  Every component was at the peak of ripeness, freshness, and thus maximum flavor!

The tomato sauce was nothing other than the ripest tomato, gentlest garlic and onion and green-spicy olive oil.  The sauce was simple yet perfect and the mussels were plump, juicy, smelling and tasting of the sea from whence they came that same morning. Nothing was shipped across country, across continent, across the world.  Every ingredient came from that tiny little island in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Naples.

It was a perfect meal and only after we ordered did it occur to us that we'd missed the local specialty; rabbit.  We called over the waiter and asked him about it even though it was too late, we'd already committed to our other dishes.  In response to our question, "How's the rabbit?", we got the perfect and typical Italian waiter response: "In my opinion, it is the best rabbit (in Italy? In the world?).  It is my mother's."  Next time, we'll try it.

Chef Jon Bentham Part 2: Vegetable Samosas

I am continuing my ode to the Executive Chef, Jon Bentham, from Anse Chastanet Resort.  Chef gave a wonderful spontaneous cooking demo while I was there and these gorgeous samosas were the second appetizer he showed us that night.  The history of St. Lucia is very interesting: it was shuffled between the English and French more than 14 times throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and also had a healthy dose of indentured laborers from India.  Today, there are around 2,500 known residents who originated from India; the food and flavors from all these influences converge on this tiny little island to satisfy a foodie's heart and palate.

Samosas are one of my favorite Indian delicacies and to date, one I have never tried making at home.  I will cook up curries, biriyanis, malai kofta.... but never have I done the samosa.  After Chef Jon's demo, I most certainly will give it a try. The results were scrumptious, the process was easy and the "playing with your food factor" was huge.  Anything that has to be rolled, stuffed and sealed is sure to be a couple of hours of fun at Scrumptious Street.  Who knows, maybe I'll even get Mr. Scrumptious to help fold them up?  He does also cherish a good samosa.

Just like the earlier appetizer, the demo continued its fluid ease and relaxed style while the chef showed us his stuff.   First, he brought out the gorgeous samosa dough.  Of course, in the spirit of time conservation he'd already created and rolled them out into perfect little half-moon shapes.

Next step was to fill them with the vegetable mixture and add a couple of nuts inside the dough.  He used just one small spoonful per samosa. 

Then, he showed us how to stuff them properly, making sure to explain to everyone how important it is to remove all pockets or bubbles of air and to seal them thoroughly with water around the edges.

Egg wash is also acceptable, but the seal must be tight so that the filling doesn't leak out and also so that the oil doesn't drain into the samosa; that would create a nasty soggy mess! (As would frying on too high a heat...)

Next he fired up that pan on the portable stove top with some shimmering oil and gave those babies a shallow fry with the best of them. 

By the way, I haven't converted his recipe from metric to imperial for those of you in the States so  make sure you do so before trying it out.  Also, I have an incredible Indian Spice Market here in NYC called Kalustyans that I shop at in person, but they also have everything you need online.  It's a wonderful place and you can get all the basics for the recipe from them.

Here's his recipe:

Samosa Pastry Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
450 gm strong bread white flour
1 tbs roast seeds (indian variety best)

Pastry Method:

Mix any seeds into flour, mix in vegetable oil and enough water to make a dough which doesn't stick to the bowl when mixed.  Cover with a towel and leave to stand for 1 hour.

Roll dough out as thin as possible; the thinner the dough the crisper the samosa.  Cut into circles, saucer size.  Cut each circle in half. Place a tablespoon of vegetable mixture into the centre of the semi-circle, add cashew nut and seal all edges with a little water, into the shape of an ice cream cone.  Try to expel as much air as possible when sealing.  Deep fry at 190 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Farenheit.  Fry 5-7 samosas at a time for about 8 minutes, 4 minutes per side.  (Can also be baked but will be less crispy.)

Vegetable and Cashew Mixture Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
50 grams califlower chopped into walnut sized pieces
2 finely chopped sliced onions
2 diced green chilies
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
7 oz. finely sliced mushrooms
2 oz. spinach
4 tbs chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

Vegetable Mixture Method:

Boil potato cubes for 5 minutes, add cauliflower and cook for 2 more minutes, drain. Heat a frying pan and add 3 tablespoons of oil and fry sliced onions and chilies for 4 minutes, stir in turmeric and garam masala, add drained potato mix.  Add mushroom and spinach and cook covered for 4-5 minutes. Stir in chopped coriander leaves. Cool completely.  When cool put the chilled vegetable mixture in the middle of the dough, press in a cashew nut and roll up like an ice cream cone.  Press out excess air and seal edges.  Follow steps to shallow fry.

The samosas turned such a gorgeous golden brown color and were so crispy and thick outside while maintaining a dry airiness and deliciously moist interior.  They were mellow but flavorful, rather than biting or spicy hot.  I must admit I'll probably add fresh peas when I make these at home.  I love them and they're so traditional but I don't think they were available on St. Lucia.  Chef Jon used the same lime and sweet/spicy chili sauce for garnish but he and I discussed the merits of mixing up a dipping sauce with tamarind paste, vinegar and some chutneys.... Yum. 

Chef Jon Bentham Part 1: Anse Chastanet Crab Cakes

A great surprise during my trip to St. Lucia was a spontaneous cooking demo by the Anse Chastanet Resort's Executive Chef, Jon Bentham.  Preferring to be called Chef Jon rather than Chef Bentham, he is a soft spoken and talented Englishman who creates fantastic fusion menus of Caribbean, Creole, Mediterranean and French persuasions.  One night before cocktails we were relaxing near the bar when I noticed frantic motion and excitement, with Chef running back and forth.  After 10 minutes, he gathered everyone at the bar and told us he was giving a cooking demo and invited us to participate.  Luckily, with camera already at the ready, it was a delightful surprise and the culinary highlight of the trip for sure.  I asked his permission to photograph and he was charmingly shy but agreeable while I clicked away and stepped right up to shoot him in action.  His results were simply delicious, especially when you consider they were cooked on a small camping style stove in a beachside bar.  Afterward I talked with him a little and he happily surrendered his recipes and agreement to let me publish his demo to all of you, my blog readers. 

I was impressed with his gentleness and his attention to instruction but with a practical and non-pretentious manner.  Several people seemed to be novice cooks (or non-cooks) and he was gracious in all his answers, showed no impatience and had a very congenial attitude.  After all, even though he works his tail off he is still living St. Lucia "Island Time".

One of the things I enjoyed most in watching him was his hands, so please indulge my fascination as he showed how to mix the crab cakes,

and how to fry them properly in a shallow fry.

Here is his recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 lb. white crab meat,  fresh if possible
1/2 sliced white loaf bread, remove crust
2 whole eggs
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely chopped garlic
1 bunch parsley finely chopped
4 tbs coriander/cilantro finely chopped
2 tbs curry powder
1 red pepper finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
mayonnaise

Method:
Put the fresh bread, torn into chunks, into the food processor and turn into fresh breadcrumbs.  Finely comb through the crab looking for any excess shells.  Squeeze out gently any excess water if crab was frozen.  Mix crumbs with herbs, garlic, ginger, curry powder, red pepper and crab.  Mix well adding salt and pepper as you go.  Fold in beaten eggs and about 1/2 wooden spoon full of mayonnaise, just to bind together.  Shape into cakes.  Try one first: if too wet add more bread, if too dry add more mayonnaise.  These can be shallow-fried or baked in the oven at 375 degrees Farenheit for about 10 minutes.

The finished result was yummy, garnished with fresh lime and sweet/spicy chili sauce.

St. Lucian Beaches, Bentleys and Stairways

Mr. Scrumptious and I have returned from a wonderfully relaxing and fantastic trip to St. Lucia. By the way, some of these photos were taken by him so we'll share the credit on this series.  I must confess that I didn't photograph or keep many notes on the food and drink while there, I really just spent time with my husband scuba diving, relaxing, and all things romantic and befitting our three-year anniversary.  So for now, I'll show you a few nice images while I am unpacking and sorting photos.  I did have a wonderful surprise which will yield a great post over the weekend which I'm quite sure you'll enjoy.  For now, here's a little peak at the beach off Anse Chastanet Resort where we stayed.

It definitely lived up to Travel and Leisure Magazines Top 500 hotels and awards for most romantic...

We were greeted by gorgeous smiles upon check in and a delicious non-alcoholic cocktail called a Bentley.  I didn't get the specific proportions of the cocktails so to replicate you'll have to play a little.                                                          

The refreshing drink was a mixture of club soda, lime juice, grenadine and sugar cane.

When we were ready for the sundowner drinks, I preferred the Stairway to Heaven...

This one was delicious, powerful and slightly sweet without being too overwhelming.  It contains a local rum liqueur flavored with ginger and bois bandé, a bark from a Caribbean tree that is reputed to have aphrodisiac properties. The cocktail also contains regular dark rum, coconut cream, and orange juice and is blended smoother than a daiquiri or pina colada.  It was addicting and... it worked.

Headed for Adventure

Mr. Scrumptious and I are headed on a much-needed adventure today.  (Mr. Scrumptious is the pseudonym I've given my husband over the weekend, do you like it?) We're going to St. Lucia for some time off and major relaxation.  We are hard-core scuba divers and it is our primary means to chill out and de-stress.  I tell you, we both need it desperately. 

However, now that I have you, devoted blog readers, I have not forgotten you! I've worked hard over the weekend and have done some cooking, photographing and writing to leave you with new postings while I'm gone.  Hopefully, this Typepad auto-publish feature will work properly. So, keep coming back and commenting and I'll catch up on replies when I return next week.  I'll also bring back some great culinary treasures from our trip.  Ciao!