Category: Tasty Recipes

Sea Cucumber & Sea Urchin

Sea Cucumber
Sea Urchin

I am the proud recipient of some fresh echinoderms from a surfer/diver friend of mine. They come from around the islands off the coast of Southern California. They make wonderful photography subjects, don’t you think?
I adore uni, so I am tempted to eat the sea urchin roe with a squeeze of lemon juice, maybe with sushi rice and nori, just like at the sushi bar.
But this euphemistically named sea cucumber is a whole ‘nother animal. It is kinda scary, even for me, and I am anything but squeamish with food. After looking at recipes on the internet in brown sauce and braised with mushrooms, I think the unfortunate fate of this creature will be the same as Psychgrad’s lemon cake.
And as if to add insult to injury I found this on line: Sea cucumbers are sausage shaped, and their skin is covered with warty bumps. When threatened, cucumbers can contract their muscles and shoot out water from their body making them thicker and harder. For this, they are considered an aphrodisiac. Yikes.

Roasted Walnut Oil – Huile de Noix

Organic Baby Greens, Toasted Walnuts, Kalamata Olives, Feta
Dressed with Roasted Walnut Oil and a Splash of Red Wine Vinegar
La Tourangelle handcrafts this Roasted Walnut Oil in California strictly following the 150-year-old traditional methods of its French sister oil mill. It is slowly roasted, expeller-pressed and lightly filtered.
I have to admit I was in an oil rut. Olive oil will still remain number one in my kitchen, but this flavorful roasted oil is exceptional in salads and I also look forward to using it in pasta dishes as well. I plan to try their Roasted Pistachio and Toasted Pumpkin Seed oils, too.
How do you like my fabulous new platter?
A gift from FA. Thanks FA!
It is Mikasa China, Venice Pattern, Made in Japan.
I especially like the way the food reflects off the black rim.

Cevapcici

I live in the town of San Pedro, which is part of the city of Los Angeles, and is home to thousands of Croatians, including my butcher. For years, I have seen these little cigar-like Balkan Sausages at the butcher shop but unfortunately never bothered to ask about them. The other day, the lady in front of me bought loads of them. She said her family is wild about cevapcici and she usually grills or broils them and serves with onions and peppers in olive oil. So…I added some to my order. It was time to give these little guys a try.
After some research on the Internet, I found they are almost always served with onions then ingredients like sour cream, peppers, paprika, and flat bread are not far behind.
I sautéed onions and peppers then added salt, garlic and spicy paprika, meanwhile cooking the cevapcici under the broiler.
I even found a video on how to make them, although I couldn’t understand a word except “cevapcici,” I did see how they are formed, by a unique kitchen gadget, into what I would call a particularly unfortunate shape as they are not too pretty for the camera if you know what I mean. But, boy, are they ever delicious!

My butcher instructs me to pronounce all the c’s like a ch, so I sound like a Croat.
Che-Vap’-Chi-Chi.
He makes his with lamb and beef and spices although some also add pork to the mix.
You may recognize these famous Croats in food and wine respectively:
Lydia Bastianich and Mike Grgich.

I plan to serve a lot of cevapcici this summer (now that I can pronounce it), hot off the barbecue grill, maybe with a yogurt cucumber dip? If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and give them a try.
UPDATE:
TRY THIS CEVAPCICI FLATBREAD PIZZA TOO! Recipe here.
Cevapcici Flatbread