Flavorful whole roasted branzino. Mangiare!

This is such a no-brainer for dinner. Branzino is easily available now in Reno. I see it on the bed of ice in the Whole Foods fishmonger section all the time. It’s also not particularly expensive either. If you don’t care to cook the fish whole and bone it - although it’s a nice skill to have - let the nice people in WF’s fish department do it for you. It doesn’t cost a cent. Can’t get branzino, then use any whole white fish. This recipe would be awesome for Arctic Char (which is expensive) or even better a fresh Walleye from Minnesota. Yum.

I love doing fish like this, but when a grill isn’t available don’t despair. Use a cast iron grill pan with those nice raised lines. Don’t have one (why not? They’re cheap)? Pan fry the thing.

The point here is the aromatics inside the fish. Fennel is so underused by Americans - especially out here in the west. I love it raw in salads, braised as a side dish vegetable, in stews and it’s a natural with a white fish like branzino. Fennel is also a natural with citrus and shallots.

The olive viniagrette is another simple idea taken from the classic ingredients of rustic southern European cuisine. Olive tapenade in jars is available in the aisles of most supermarkets these days. Can’t find it? No worries. Break out the little food prep Cuisinart and pulse some black and green olives - whatever you’ve got, with some olive oil and garlic.

Voila! Tapenade. Make extra and put it into a Mason jar in the fridge for use in salad dressing or meat braises.

Finally, try potatoes without the damn mayonnaise. Done like this chef has, you’ll taste the real potato flavor.

If you were at my table, you’d get this dish served with some nice Dijon mustard for the fish, and lots of good cornichon pickles to nibble on.

So it’s time to venture out beyond tilapia, dear reader.

Branzino for dinner.

Q&A

How can you tell when seafood is done cooking?

A. It bursts into flames.
B. It doubles in size.
C. It turns from translucent to opaque.
D. It asks to go back in the water.

ANSWER: C

Most seafood will gradually turn opaque white or pink.

-maven

Whole Wheat Naan Pizza

It’s become something of a quest for me to find an acceptable pizza crust in whole wheat. Whole Foods now has one that looks pretty good and is there house ‘365’ brand, and I almost tried one the other day. Then, I saw the Naan.

We don’t care for really large pizzas, preferring individual ones that can be topped to each of our picky, picky preferences. So the Naan was actually perfect. Even better, it’s also available in the Whole Foods 365 house brand, and was less expensive than the large round pizza crust. I think it was about $4 for a package of four large naan breads, and when I topped those with stuff out of the fridge - it was bargain pizza that everybody raved over.

My family insisted that it was so good, in fact, that we have to have that in the freezer all the time now for pizza anytime.

Here’s how it came out with my toppings: grated mozzerella, grated parmesan/pecorino/gruyere blend, basil pesto, some leftover veggie bruschetta topping, zuchinni, sauteed onions and baby sweet peppers.

My guess is that you can actually get your white flour family to try this, and they just might become whole grain lovers in time.

Sea Beans: King Lear liked them and you will, too.

Whoops. I just sent an email to Whole Foods that sort of went “What the heck are those funny little vegetables called ‘Seasomethingorother’ that I bought today? They’re good.”

Then I looked at my receipt and there was the name: Sea Beans. Not sea greens.

Duh.

As I was grazing through the produce section of Whole Foods this afternoon, I saw these … me being me, I can’t pass up an unusual vegetable. I mean, it’s tough to put one past me that I actually don’t know well.

I didn’t have a clue about this stuff. Are they, uh, like Fiddlehead Ferms? No.

Looking casually one direction and then the other, nobody was looking. I slyly reached over and grabbed a few stalks and nibbled them.

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Smelts to just melt in your mouth.

I was hunting and gathering my way through the local Whole Foods this afternoon after work, and some fresh ‘on the ice’ wonders caught my eye in the seafood department.

This, my friends, is the way a great seafood department should be done.

Rarely, do I go through there and not see something that knocks my socks off and completely derails whatever I had in mind for dinner that night.

Today, it was the smelts.

Surpisingly, I’d never had smelts although I’ve seen them on menus all over Europe and such.

So, says I, why not?

 

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Refuse to buy ELF brand herring snacks at Whole Foods

After looking all round the town for a marinated herring snack that didn’t have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, I thought certainly that Whole Foods would be able to fill the bill. I absolutely astounded the guy behind the fish counter when I asked him where the herring snacks without HFCS were.

“Oh, we don’t have anything with HFCS”

“Really? Come over here with me…. take a look at this label”

Whoops.

Another guy in the store told me that Whole Foods probably couldn’t find a manufacturer/vendor that made it without HFCS.

They didn’t look very far, since a quick internet search turned up a small company in Wisconsin. They have a product that sounds awesome - made with beet sugar. I suggested to Whole Foods that they contact Baensch in Wisconsin and make a deal.

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Pan grilled cod two ways. Simple. Delicious. Healthy.

We adore fresh cod here at Rancho Maven. It’s not unusual to have it at least once a week, and I’ve been seeing nice fresh whole and filleted cod of all sorts in the fishmongers counter at the local Whole Foods. I bought a whole Rock Cod the other day that was wonderful in a seafood based stew and I’ll be back after some yummy Ling Cod that I noticed.

Cod is so wonderful since you can cook it so many different ways. I love it as part of a boullabaise, a stew like cioppino or a gumbo … or grilled over a smokey fire outdoors, or grilled in my speed oven. I’m going to try this pan grilling technique soon.

The preserved lemon used in these recipes is a very unique flavor that you can’t really substitute for. Whole Foods in Reno has gorgeous preserved lemons in their olive bar. I usually pick up 2-3 and keep them in the refrigerator since they will last at least a month.

I like to serve fish like this with some sauteed greens like swiss chard and a few boiled Yukon gold potatoes or some brown rice.

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Afghan Bolani's and condiments now at Whole Foods Reno

I’ve been chasing after these at the Marin County Farmers Market and a few other places ‘over the hill’ for a couple years now, wishing they’d come to Reno. Well, the whole line is now available fresh at the Reno Whole Foods on South Virginia.

Tonight, I’d put in another long day at the company table at the Geothermal Conference, and didn’t feel like ‘cooking’. So I stopped at WF and got a pumpkin filled Bolani and my favorite jalepeno jam to top it with, plus some of the WF hot soup ( Eggplant Tomato which is totally ‘yum’). I slice the Bolani into wedges and brown it on a griddle like a quesadilla. Heat the soup, and toss together a salad… Voila! Dinner is served.

holeToo easy, low carb, low calorie and vegetarian. You can just as well serve it as an appetizer or with a nice bit of store bought roasted chicken and some sauteed veg.

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Whole Foods is too expensive?

It really depends on what you’re buying and what your priorities are, doesn’t it?

The Whole Foods house brand, 365, 1% organic milk is $1.49 a carton which is cheaper than the organic 1% at Winco… about half as much. We use about three of those a week at our house ( lots of cereal goin’ down around here). For the same price of the big name, mass market breads at Winco, I can get a really great loaf of artisan, in house baked bread.

Can I overspend at Whole Foods? Of course I can. But if you’re willing to be a careful, dollar concious shopper, you don’t have to confine yourself to Winco.

Heavenly ginger galangal vinaigrette salad dressing

Not your typical Asian dressing, this features the flowery scent of Galangal, which marries perfectly with ginger in a lot of southeast Asian dishes. In this version, of my classic house made and fresh, vinegrette dressing, I combined the dressing with romaine lettuce, spring lettuce mix andfresh bite sized chunks of pineapple and avocado.

You’ll notice that I used light Agave Nectar instead of honey. The Agave Nectar has a very mild flavor and I chose it to just give these special spices a nice undercurrent of sweetness.

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New items in the olive bar at Whole Foods

Oh, yum …. marinated figs with olives, right next to the big bin filled with preserved lemons. Get crazy with the North African cuisine, folks.

The figs are to die for. Sweet, savory, a little salty - love, baby, love.

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Whole Foods Coupon and money saving tips

SAMPLE COUPON - SAMPLE COUPON-SAMPLE COUPON-SAMPLE COUPON

Hey, if you’ve got a Whole Foods in the neighborhood, here’s a $5.00 coupon for anything you fancy.

To download the coupon, go to the Whole Foods website at: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/wholedeal/index.php

Another spiff idea from our local Whole Foods is the following .pdf available for download, chock full of great autumn recipes and money saving ideas for feeding your family:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/wholedeal/index.php