Gather Around the Table for Our Third Annual Coronado Jubilee

For the third year in a row, we've topped off our Coronado Concerts in the Park Culinary-themed picnics with a Southern Jubilee Seafood Boil. Our annual tradition started back in 2009, when Carmen enlightened us about Jubilee, a natural phenomenon that occurs from time to time, during the warm summer months, on the shores of Mobile Bay, Alabama. During Jubilee, blue crabs, shrimp and fish swim swarm toward the shore in a desperate search for more oxygen-rich water. People rush down to the water with washtubs, gigs, and nets, to gather a bountiful harvest of seafood. Jubilees cannot be predicted with certainty, and remain a mysterious and welcome gift from nature.

During his Navy days, John used to treat the BUDS instructors to seafood boils on the "deep dive" days. He kept his big boiling pot and burner, hotel pans, and expertise, and has thus acquired the chef position for our Jubilees. Chef John also provided Mason jars for our adult beverages.

Back by popular demand - Nina's compound butters and fresh baguettes. It was so hard to choose a favorite between Lemon-Dill, Fig-Blue Cheese, Roasted Garlic-Asiago, and Sweet Corn-Avocado-Lime. She even made her own butter!

In addition to the shellfish and andouille sausage, we like throwing in artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, corn, purple potatoes, cippolini onions, baby carrots, okra, and whole heads of garlic. I made a double batch of John Besh's Remoulade for our dipping sauce. We won't talk about the disastrous dessert I attempted - it's still too painful. Thankfully, Sandra saved us with her Cherries Jubilee.

Perfectly tender, seasoned artichokes

Head-on Shrimp

Mussels, Clams, and Crawfish hiding underneath

All that goodness lurking within

Last batch coming out of the strainer

John and Kai about to pour our feast onto the table

Beautiful, vivid colors



Carmen's Cornbread

Jubilee, a celebration of food and friends

This is, by far, the ultimate picnic in the park or party for your backyard. You can find our ingredients and instructions for Jubilee in last year's post, here, along with recipes/links for desserts and sides, and a few more recipes/links, here. Also, search key words "John Besh" or "southern" in the blog search feature on the sidebar, and you'll likely find additional recipes!

Carmen's Cornbread
(Double if using a large cast iron skillet)

Ingredients:

2 cups Martha White self-rising cornmeal mix (Or, use Bob's Red Mill Corn Flour and add 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt - I've made it both ways and they're both a little different, but just as good)
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup of thick European sour cream (or thick European yogurt like Brown Cow, or any combination of the two)
1 cup of frozen corn
3 green onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, finely chopped
1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles, drained
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of peanut oil

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the peanut oil. Mix until well combined.

Grease a medium-sized iron skillet with the peanut oil and heat on HIGH until the oil is hot but not smoking.

Pour the batter into the skillet. Remove from the stove, place the skillet in the oven, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. To test if it's done, stab it in the center with a wooden skewer - if it comes out clean, it's done. Remove the skillet from the oven and allow it to cool for about twenty minutes. To serve, put the whole skillet on the table or cut the bread into wedges or squares and place on a serving platter. If you're an authentic hillbilly, put a chunk of it in a glass, pour buttermilk over it, and eat it with a spoon.

Coronado Concerts in the Park - Chopped

For our Coronado Concert in the Park Finale of the summer season, our theme was Chopped, but a slightly less challenging version than the Food Network cooking television series hosted by Ted Allen.

If you're familiar with Chopped, you know that four chefs compete in each episode, in three rounds:  Appetizer, Entrée and Dessert. In each round, the chefs are given a basket containing between three and five ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must contain each of those ingredients. Generally speaking, the ingredients are ones that are not commonly prepared together. The competitors are also given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. Each round has a time limit: twenty minutes for the Appetizer round, and thirty minutes for the Entrée and Dessert. The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings (one for each judge plus one "beauty plate") before time runs out. After each round, the judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste, and creativity. The judges then decide which chef is "chopped," who is then eliminated from the competition. Thus, by the dessert round, only two chefs remain. When deciding the winner, the judges consider not only the dessert course, but also the entire meal presented by each chef as a whole.

I found a list of all the baskets of ingredients from prior Chopped seasons and episodes, and asked our participating 'chefs' to choose two numbers (they didn't know that the first number corresponded to the season and the second number corresponded to the episode during that season). They were permitted to choose any ONE of the three baskets in their chosen episode - the Appetizer, Entrée OR Dessert basket, and had to prepare a dish for that course with the corresponding basket ingredients. If they were unable to locate an exact ingredient, close substitutions were allowed. I had John choose my numbers before I told him what was going on, so I could play along.

My episode, All-Stars Tournament: Round Three -- Notable Chefs, aired on March 20, 2011. I went with the Appetizer basket, containing fresh pasta sheets, dried papaya, bluefoot mushrooms, and chorizo. My other options included the entrée basket with cobia, salmon jerky, Chinese spinach, and animal crackers, or the dessert basket with granola bars, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Chinese five spice, and piloncillo.

I have new respect for the chefs who compete on Chopped. Thankfully, we didn't have the time constraints, because it took me hours to come up with an idea, and hours to prepare the final dish! My appetizer was Chorizo Ravioli, topped with Mussels in Red Curry.  I added sauteed yellow bell peppers and white beech mushrooms (no bluefoots at Whole Foods) to the curry sauce, and garnished the dish with a mix of diced dried papaya, cashews and coconut flakes.

I bought fresh lasagna sheets, thinned them out a bit in my pasta roller, and cut the ravioli with a large round cookie cutter.  I borrowed a recipe from the Culinary Institute of America for Chorizo Ravioli and adapted a recipe from Williams Sonoma for Red Curry Sauce.

I sauteed the mushrooms and bell pepper, and cooked the ravioli at home.  Once at the park, I then reheated the red curry sauce in my cataplana, and added the ravioli for a few minutes to reheat them.  One ravioli went on each plate, and then I added the mushrooms, bell peppers and mussels to the curry sauce, closed the cataplana, and steamed the mussels.

I topped each ravioli with 3 steamed mussels, curry sauce, and a sprinkle of diced papaya, cashews and coconut flakes.  Surprisingly, this turned out quite well.

Alec and Nina's episode, When Octopuses Attack, aired on October 12, 2010. Alec made an entrée with flank steak, chicory, pepino melon, and granola bars. His Appetizer basket contained lotus root, treviso, guava nectar, and octopus, and his dessert option included shiso leaves, pita bread, feta, and adzuki beans.

Alec told me he used a chicory blend that came in a tea bag as a dry rub for the flank steak, and then refrigerated it for 3-4 hours before grilling.  Pepino melon is out of season, so he made a salsa with pears and pink melon, pickled onions, a Tuaca-Sherry reduction, and a ground-up granola bar.  

Kai's episode, A is for Apple. U is for Udon, aired on August 16, 2011. He chose the Entrée basket, with sweet vermouth, leeks, French fingerling potatoes, and diver scallops. He declined the Appetizer basket with udon noodles, watermelon radish, razor clams, and pickled eggplant, and the Dessert Basket with Thai basil, marinated cippolini onions, Black Oxford apples, and rolled oats.  Kai's final dish:  Sautéed Scallops
in a sweet vermouth sauce (roux, sweet vermouth, chicken stock, sour cream), served over puréed leeks and mashed potatoes, and garnished with crispy leeks and bacon.

Jack and Sandra drew numbers corresponding to Buckwheat Blunders and Twists of Fate, which aired on August 25, 2009. Sandra also made an entrée with her entrée basket ingredients of knackwurst, pretzels, ramps, and mangosteen. Her appetizer basket contained olive oil packed tuna, English cucumbers, and buckwheat flour, and her dessert basket had biscuit dough, pistachios, dried hibiscus flowers, and black olives.

Carmen's episode, A Prickly Situation, aired July 21, 2009. She chose the Dessert Basket with bulgur wheat, pomegranate juice, pineapple, and green papaya. She could have made an appetizer with brioche, fennel, and sea urchin, or an entrée, with blackstrap molasses, red snapper, parsley root, and dried cranberries.  Carmen shared her original recipe for Fruited Bulgur Puddings here.  

Last Minute Chef was probably the only one who actually completed his dessert in the 30 minutes provided to the chefs on Chopped. Brad's episode, Dream'n of Redeem'n, aired July 20, 2010. He chose the Dessert basket, with vodka, crescent roll dough, sesame seeds, and blueberry jelly beans. He opted out of attempting an appetizer with rump roast, rainbow chard, and vegetable yeast spread, or an entrée with branzino (Mediterranean seabass), piquillo peppers, jicama, and chocolate sandwich cookies. Unfortunately, Brad's Cinnamon-Blueberry Jelly Bean Buns with Vanilla Vodka Glaze were tasty, but fell a tad short in the creativity department when he failed to incorporate any additional pantry or refrigerator ingredients in his dessert.  He partially redeemed himself by purchasing cinnamon crescent roll dough and vanilla vodka, but he then failed to use all of his basket ingredients by omitting the sesame seeds. 

Sorry, Bradley, but Judge Olivia ultimately decided you had to be chopped.

Remembering 9/11

If you've been following along this summer, I hope you've enjoyed our Concert in the Park culinary challenges (you can see all the themes we've done for the past four summers, here).  It's now time to finish planning and shopping for our annual Southern Jubilee Seafood Boil on Sunday, and then our annual Halloween Party.  In between, I hope to squeeze in some recipes from my cookbook and cooking magazine collection, share more of our restaurant and food photography shoots, and get to a special post about another beautiful product for homemade pasta.

Coronado Concerts in the Park - When in Rome

The Rat Pack was able to rally again after a memorable Saturday night at Baby Bellagio. We carried over the Italian theme for Concert in the Park with Roman cuisine. Many of us were still sporting our fedoras, and some added facial hair in honor of the birthday boy's latest look.

Alec and Sonoma

Kai, looking a bit more stylish and masculine
(see Aunt Kai with his tray of Cannoli, here) 

Nina slipped into a mini-toga and exchanged her fedora for a gold leaf headpiece

Sparks and Olivia

Kellee

John's Antipasti 

Kellee's Caprese Bruschetta 

Kai's Moretum, a type of herb cheese spread the Ancient Romans ate with bread 

Nina's Pasta Puttanesca

Here's how Nina prepared the pasta:  "The pasta was a puttanesca, I did it from memory:  Extra virgin olive oil, several cloves of garlic minced and cooked for a couple minutes over low heat, take off heat, throw in some chopped kalamata olives and fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon (my touch, love the acid and liveliness it adds) and throw the hot pasta over the whole thing, toss with some grated parmesan and serve.  I think it's normally served without cooking the garlic first, but the saute takes the edge off the garlic so it's kind of nice like that."

A peek of shrimp from Zuppa di Pesce alla Romana, a Roman-style fish soup

In researching Roman cuisine, I came across Saltimbocca alla Romana, which consists of veal, prosciutto or ham, and sage, rolled-up and cooked in Marsala and butter. I adapted Tyler Florence's version, here, using chicken, prosciutto, sage, white wine, chicken broth and lemon. I was also able to prepare it at the park on our little portable gas stove, which only runs about $17.00 at Ranch 99 Market. I'm sure people at the park think we're out of control with these gourmet picnics, but I know they envy the sights and smells around our picnic blanket!

Saltimbocca alla Romana

For dessert, I brought the remaining cannoli from the night before, and made a fresh Plum Tart with Italian plums I found at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market that morning. Italian plums, sometimes called Empress plums, are native to the Mediterranean coastal regions of Italy. They are yellow-fleshed delicacies with low-water content and dense texture, which allows them to keep their shape during baking. Their flavor falls between sweet and sour after cooking, making them ideal for fall cakes and crumbles. I served my tart with John's whipped cream, spiked with bourbon and nutmeg.

Italian Plum Tart
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), diced
1 egg yolk
2 pounds firm, ripe Italian prune plums, pitted and quartered lengthwise
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the flour, walnuts, and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add the butter and the egg yolk and mix until crumbly (alternatively, pulse together all ingredients in a food processor).

Press 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 9 1/2-inch springform or tart pan (you can also use a rectangular tart pan, as I did, or even mini-tart pans). Arrange the plums in the pan, skin-side down, to form a decorative pattern, beginning at the outside and working towards the center.

Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture evenly over the plums (I had too much crumb mixture and used the excess to an additional mini-tart). Bake the tart for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and the plum juices are bubbling (mine was done at about the 40-minute mark). Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer the tart to a flat plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without whipped cream or ice cream.

Beautiful Italian Plums and the crumb mixture used for the bottom crust 

Quartered plums are arranged in a decorative pattern on top of the crust

The remaining crumb mixture is then sprinkled over the top of the plums

Baked Plum Tart

****

We have one remaining Concert on Sunday, and then our Third Annual Southern Jubilee, and then John's Annual Halloween Extravaganza, and then...

We sure know how to picnic and party!

Coronado Concerts in the Park - Impostors

Hello Again. Neil Diamond tribute artist, David Sherry, returned to Coronado Concerts in the Park for another Hot August Night with his Diamond is Forever! The Neil Diamond Experience.  Spreckles Park was jam-packed for an evening of Beautiful Noise.

Our culinary theme, Impostors, challenged the group to prepare food that appeared to be something it was not. I'm a Believer in the creativity of our group. No Soggy Pretzels or Porcupine Pie, but we did have some dishes that went down easier with some Red, Red Wine...If You Know What I Mean.

I knew right away I wanted to re-create a salad of roasted beets, all dressed up like Ahi Poke. After tasting Chef Rossman's version a few months ago, at Where the Wild Things Are Food and Wine Classic, I thought The Time is Now.

Jeff Rossman is the chef/owner of Terra American Bistro, and he was kind enough to respond to my request for the recipe "I don't have a recipe, but all you have to do is roast a beet or two, dice it and, when you're ready, toss with a little sesame oil, sliced green onion, sambal (chili vinegar sauce), sesame seeds, soy sauce, and a touch of salt and pepper. Easy..."

And that's what I did - I also added a bit of seaweed salad to the mix (I used 2 parts soy to 1 part sesame oil for the dressing). Will I make this again? Yes I Will.

John, my man who is Forever in Blue Jeans, snapped this photo of me, looking like a Kentucky Woman, with Chef Impostors, Julie and Hillari.

Jack, with his One Good Love, Sandra, will never be a Solitary Man...as long as he doesn't wear his Neil Diamond shirt too often.

After deciding on my Beet Poke, The Last Thing on My Mind, was making a second dish. However, while getting a pedicure and flipping through Better Homes and Gardens, I came across this dish and couldn't resist. I Got the Feelin' John would love these Bacon Bar and Chorizo Stuffed Dates with Spicy Oaxaca Red Sauce. They may not have fit with the "impostor" theme, because I'm not sure what they appeared to be at first glance, but Lady-Oh. There's simply No Limit when it comes to chocolate.

The photo below is from Peace, Love and Chocolate, where you can also find the recipe.

And this is a photo of my Stuffed Dates.  See what I mean?  They could be small testicles wrapped in bacon...Come to think of it, Kai has been pushing for an Offal Challenge.

And the Singer Sings His Song...

You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Carmen, but you put me to Shame with these Coxinhas!  Coxinhas are Brazilian snacks, made with shredded chicken, spices, and Catupiry, a Brazilian creamy-style cheese, enclosed in batter, and deep-fried.  Coxinha literally means "little thigh"- and it is how chicken drumsticks are known in Brazil.  Sometimes, a toothpick is inserted where the bone would be, but Carmen took it to a more creative level with baby corn.  After a few of these, I was Dancing in the Street.

If I Lost My Way, I would want it to be lost in Carmen's broccoli forest!  On the outside, it appears to be a loaf cake.  Slice it open, and you'll see broccoli trees growing out cocoa-tinted soil into a savory sky of cake.  You can find the recipe for Broccoli Cake at Not Quite Nigella.

Just when we thought we might be Home Before Dark, Julie broke out her box of Ferrero Chocolates. But wait, intermingled with the chocolates were Salmon Cheesecake Truffles! Salmon from a recent fishing trip in Alaska...

Chris presented this stunning Pistachio Cake, which I'm pretty sure made Bradley Walk on Water.  It was actually wheels of Brie, frosted with Mascarpone.

Sweet Caroline!  We had Kai and Olivia's meatloaf and mashed potatoes masquerading as this Pretty in Pink Cake...

And Nina's Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Preserves, Whipped Cream and Mint, masquerading as Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes!

Ride, come on baby, ride
Let me make your dreams come true
I'll sing my song
Let me make it warm for you...

Can you hear it, babe

Can you hear it, babe

From another time

From another place

Do you remember it, babe...

It's a beautiful noise

Made of joy and of strife

Like a symphony played

By the passing parade

It's the music of life...