The Culinary Face of Casa Marina Inn

Meet Chef Aaron Webb, Executive Chef of Casa Marina Inn,  in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  Chef Aaron, who has been with Casa Marina for nine years, was formerly with The Tavern at Phipps in Atlanta.  Here he shares some of his signature recipes of the Inn's area-famous Champagne Brunch that features over 30 dishes, and serves between 150-200 guests every Sunday.

Red Snapper a la Casa Marina Recipe

Ingredients:

1 - 5 to 7 pound whole Red Snapper

olive oil

salt

pepper

garlic powder

other favorite spice(s)  e.g. lemon pepper, cumin, etc. 

Preparation:

Scale and de-gill whole Snapper, scaled & de-gilled, leaving on tail and head.

Gently score the fish long way and cross ways with a sharp knife (forming large diamonds). Do not cut through the center bone.

Pour or brush olive oil in between scored crevices.  Season the scored crevices with salt, pepper, garlic powder and your choice of spices. 

Create a large ball of silver foil and stuff into the open base cavity of the snapper so that it will stand up firmly on an oiled cookie sheet. Cook at 325 degrees for 45 minutes; rotate fish then check in another 20 minutes for doneness.

Serve with your choice of dipping sauce.

Serves 8-10 

Creamy Coastal Seafood Pasta Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup olive or vegetable oil

1 pound peeled deveined 21-25 count shrimp

1 pound of large scallops

1 pound diced filet of white fish (grouper, snapper, etc)

1 pound spiny lobster tail- uncooked and removed from tail, diced

6 vine ripe tomatoes, diced

2 Bermuda onions, julienned

1 roasted red pepper, cleaned and diced

¼ pound basil-leaves, picked and rough chopped

2 quarts heavy cream

½ Cup chopped fresh garlic

One bottle (650ml) chardonnay

Kosher salt

6 bunches curly parsley, washed, dried and finely chopped

3 lbs pasta (consider penne, cheese tortellini, cheese ravioli) ~ cooked al dente (just under cooked).This  keeps its texture and firmness while resting in the seafood sauce.

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, cover the whole surface area with a mild olive oil or vegetable oil.  Heat on high until almost smoking.

Put all seafood in the hot pan. Sauté until cooked on one side and turn all seafood over.

Add garlic, onions and tomatoes on top of seafood. Cook for about 8 minutes. Stir ingredients and add wine. Bring to a boil, turn heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes – to cook out alcohol.

Add basil, red pepper and heavy cream. Add roughly a small handful of kosher salt TO TASTE.

Simmer on medium heat to reduce by a quarter of original amount.

Add pasta and stir in chopped parsley. 

Serves 8-10

Chocolate Bourbon Bread Pudding Recipe

Ingredients: 

16 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 vanilla beans

1qt. heavy whipping cream

Plain white bread (baguettes)

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup brown sugar

1-1/2 cup bourbon 

8oz whole unsalted butter

Preparation: 

Combine yolks, sugar, seeded vanilla beans, and cream in a whisking 

bowl and whisk until mixed well.

Grease baking pan or casserole with butter.

Dice bread in 3/4 in. cubes and fill pan.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of bread.

Pour liquid mixture over bread and work well until absorbed.

Set pan in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight to macerate.

Preheat oven to 350, cover pan with aluminum foil and bake 45min-1hr 

until it reaches a cake like consistency.

Bourbon sauce

On medium heat in a sauce pan, dissolve brown sugar in bourbon. Be 

careful, bourbon may flambé. When sugar is dissolved, take off heat and whisk in remaining butter.

Drizzle over top of Bread Pudding.

Serves 10

Food and Travel Writers Gone Wild

 

Earlier this week I attended the International Food Wine Travel Writers Association  (IFWTWA) Southeast Regional Conference in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.  Our setting was the charming and historic Casa Marina Hotel.

Among our many activities was an afternoon of playing with chocolate.  Donned in aprons and latex gloves, we learned how to temper chocolate, made chocolate-covered popcorn and dipped chocolate truffles.  Our teacher and host was Phyllis Geiger, creator of Peterbrooke Chocolatier, who started her business in 1983 and has grown her franchise to over 20 stores in the southeast.  According to Lynne Christen, a food and travel writer from Destin, Florida, “It was a decadent, delicious and more than slightly messy lesson....  What’s better than an overdose by chocolate?  It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!”

Seafood Chowder

Now that the temperature has started to creep down into the 40’s at night, and the days have a bit of nip in the air, my craving naturally turns to soup.  A few days ago I had the dilemma of trying to decide what kind of soup I wanted.  As I pondered all the usual suspects - minestrone, chicken noodle, split pea, French onion - my thoughts kept taking me back to a little restaurant in Nokomis, Florida named Pelican Alley.  Located on the waterfront of the intercoastal waterway, with a magnificent view of Casey Key, it is famous for its’  seafood chowder.  Unable to talk the proprietor into giving me the recipe, I took copious tasting notes during my last visit.

Seafood Chowder Recipe

Ingredients:

2 ounce olive oil

4 slices bacon, lardons

1 small onions, chopped

1/2 cup flour

1-½ quart fish stock, or clam juice

2 medium potatoes, diced

2 medium carrots, thick sliced, halved

½ pound shrimp

½ pound bay scallops, halved 

1  10-ounce can clams, drained

½ pound lump crabmeat

8 ounces heavy cream

½ cup white wine

1 teaspoon Everyday Spice Blend

parsley for garnish

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot. Render the bacon until crispy.   Add the onions and saute until translucent.
Whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook over medium heat for 5 - 7 minutes.
Gradually whisk in the hot stock, blending until smooth and thickened. Heat to a boil. Reduce to a simmer.  Add the diced potatoes and carrots and simmer gently. When potatoes and carrots are three-fourths cooked, about 5-6 minutes, add the fish/seafood and finish cooking,.
Temper the heavy cream into the soup.  Add wine and season with the Everyday Spice 

Nokomis on Dwellable

Piri Piri Chicken

The first time I tried piri piri anything was when I lived in South Africa.  There was a fast-food chain named Nandos and piri piri chicken was their specialty.  A West African red chili pepper, piri piri is commonly used in African, Portuguese and Brazilian cuisines.   Extremely spicy - one of the hottest chili peppers, according to the scoville scale - this piri piri chicken is not for the faint of heart.  But I think some things are just worth the suffering.

Piri Piri Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

1 chicken, spatchcocked

Everyday Spice Blend

1 piece of ginger, thinly sliced

3 scallions, sliced

piri piri sauce, recipe below

Preparation:

Season chicken with Everyday Spice Blend.  Brush with half of the piri piri sauce.  Sprinkle with the ginger and scallions.  Marinate in the refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hours.

Cook the chicken on an outdoor grill or broil in the oven.  As it cooks, turn the chicken and baste it with the remaining sauce.  Remove the chicken from the grill or roasting pan.  Check for doneness with a meat thermometer - 180 degrees in the thigh or 165 degrees in the breast.

Piri Piri Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:
6 piri piri chili peppers (can substitute with 2 Tablespoons dried Thai chili peppers)

1/4 cup cider vinegar

5 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon cayenne (or 1 teaspoon paprika, for less heat)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon chopped parsley, optional *

1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients, except olive oil, in a food processor until smooth. 

Once the sauce begins to get smooth, drizzle in the oil slowly while the machine is running. Once it is all incorporated, put the sauce in a glass jar and let stand at room temperature for up to a day.  For longer storage, seal in a jar and keep in the fridge up to a month.

*Use of parsley could result in a greenish-colored sauce

Country Pâté With Herb Mustard

I did not realize how lazy I had become until my local gourmet food market stopped carrying my favorite country pâté.  I used to make it all the time, but somewhere along the way convinced myself it was easier to let someone else make  it for me.  Why not?  So imagine my surprise when I discovered a few weeks ago that it was being removed from their “most favored foods” list.  Time to dust off my old recipe.

Country Pâté Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 pound ground veal

3/4 pound ground chicken

1/2 pound ground bacon

1/2 pound ground pork fat

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 teaspoon freshly gound pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cardamom

4 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup cognac

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 minced onion

1/2 cup black walnuts or pistachios, coarsely chopped

sliced bacon, as needed, to line terrines

Preparation:

Combine chicken, veal, pork, bacon and bread crumbs in a mixing bowl.  Combine pepper, salt, cardamom, garlic, cognac, eggs, onion and nuts in another bowl.  Stir both mixtures together until well blended.  Set aside.

Line two (2) 9X5 or three (3) 3-1/2X 5-1/2 terrines with bacon slices.   Allow enough bacon to hang over sides to cover meat mixture when terrine is filled.   Divide mixture evenly among the terrines and finish covering with the bacon slices.  Cover terrines with foil and put in a baking pan half-filled with boiling water.  Bake for 2 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 140º.  Remove from oven.

Place weights (can be bricks covered with foil) on the top of pâté and refrigerate overnight or, up to 2 days.  Unmold and serve at room temperature with herb mustard.

Herb Mustard Recipe:

1-1/2 cup dijon mustard

1 teaspoon parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon tarragon, dried

1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried

1/2 teaspoon basil, dried

1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried

1 clove garlic, minced

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.

Summer Vegetable Tian

As summer comes to an end, many of us vegetable gardeners are running out of  preparation ideas for our bounty.  A tian, the French word used to describe an oval-shaped shallow earthenware casserole, also refers to the finished food it contains.  Originating in Provence, the tian showcases a variety of layered and baked zucchini, squash, tomatoes plus herbs.  You can even include eggplant if you desire.  This is a refreshing accompaniment to summers’ light entrees.

Summer Vegetable Tian Recipe

Ingredients:

1  cup olive oil, plus more for the pan

1/2  large yellow onion

1  red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

5  cloves garlic, minced

kosher salt and pepper, to taste

3  small zucchini, cut into 1/8” rounds

2  small yellow squash, cut into 1/8” rounds

1  medium eggplant, cut into 1/8” rounds

1  teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1  teaspoon fresh thyme, finely chopped

1  pound plum tomatoes, cut into 1/8” rounds

1/2  cup  pecorino romano cheese

fresh thyme, for garnish

Preparation:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 2-quart baking dish with olive oil.

In a fry pan over medium heat, warm 5 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the bell pepper and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer the onion-pepper mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Set aside.

In a bowl, combine the zucchini, squash, eggplant, 1/2 cup of the olive oil, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.  Stir to coat evenly. Arrange the zucchini, squash, eggplant and tomato slices on the onion-pepper mixture, overlapping the rows. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

NOTE:

Unlike a gratin, a French tian does not include cheese or bread crumbs. However, the Italian version is finished with grated romano or parmigiano cheese and broiled until brown.

Country Peach Tart

I live in the heart of South Carolina’s peach country; and during this time of the year we have an abundance of peaches available to us.  You can not drive Highway 25  without passing what seems like hundreds of peach stands and twice as many signs directing you to them - as if there was any chance you might miss them.  This is also that time of year when you start to run out of ideas of what to do with peaches, after you have canned, pickled, frozen, baked, grilled and eaten yourself sick.  So when I hosted a dinner party a few days ago and was pondering a dessert, the first thing that came to mind was the classic Country Peach Tart.  Okay, maybe the first thing that came to mind was a peach cobbler, but it was over 100 degrees outside and I was thinking “lite and easy.”

Many thanks to Mark Kelly at Lodge Cast Iron for providing the perfect cooking and serving vessel for this dessert.  By the way, as I mentioned in a previous posting, this cast iron griddle makes perfect crepes as well!

Country Peach Tart Recipe

Ingredients:

1 12-inch pie crust

4 large, ripe peaches, pitted, halved and sliced

4-5 tablespoons peach preserves
2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cardamom

2 tablespoons butter, optional

2 tablespoons cream, or milk

2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine peach preserves and water, and warm on low heat until spreadable.  Let cool slightly.  Toss peaches with brown sugar and cardamom.

Roll out chilled dough to make a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place on a baking sheet* and coat evenly with preserves to about 2 inches from the edge. Mound peach slices on dough, leaving a 2-inch border of dough around the peaches. 

Fold the dough up over the peaches forming a nest, but leaving the center exposed. Brush the exposed crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 30 minutes in preheated oven, then allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.


*  I used a Lodge Cast Iron Griddle for this application.