Shellfish

Some chefs have decided cedar-planked fish is out of fashion, but we are still making it into the 2000s for two reasons: because it’s delicious and because our friend Mathieu, who is an amazing sculptor, will sometimes show up with some pretty radical cedar boards. Before starting this recipe, it’s a good idea to fill up the sink and soak your cedar board in cold water for as long as you can. This prevents a fire and makes the board a perfect steam generator for cooking the fish.

At Joe Beef, we serve this dish with East Coast scallops, about 5 or 6 per person, with a few tablespoons of hollandaise and a nice spoonful of pulled pork on top. Such a portion is a food-cost disaster and intimidating to some*, but the scallops go down easily and they’re better topped with pork than some foamy composition. To make this dish, you are going to work on the pulled pork first, then the hollandaise, and lastly the scallops, as they take only minutes. You will end up with an excessive amount of meat, which you can use to make some pulled pork sandwiches (page 151).

We take this name from an old Iron Chef episode when the host declared “Battle Homard Lobster!” Yes, homard and lobster mean the same thing (like “minestrone soup”). Among other things that don’t make any sense: this is probably the most popular Joe Beef dish.

When I was in Trinidad, Winnie Lee Lum showed me how to make this superb dish, which beautifully demonstrates the convergence of Chinese and Trinidadian cooking traditions. Of course, the taste was extraordinary because Lee Lum only cooks with fresh local shrimp that her husband, Tony, purchases for her. Before cooking, she rinses the shrimp in lime juice, a Trinidadian cooking practice said to remove the "fishy" taste. She prefers the Chinese custom of cooking the shrimp in the shell to protect the shrimp's succulence and flavor. Rather than rice wine, Lee Lum insists on using dark Jamaican-style rum; according to her, white rum is too harsh for cooking. This is one of the easiest dishes to stir-fry, and it is guaranteed to satisfy.

To easily roll out chilled store-bought dough, soften it first on a baking sheet set over a bowl of hot water.

There are two keys to making this rich, smoky stew as good as it can be: Enhance the flavor of the broth with shrimp shells, and gently simmer the shrimp and fish so as not to overcook them. If you want to skip the homemade shrimp stock, substitute 2 cups of fish stock from your fishmonger or 2 cups of bottled clam juice.

I like this seafood stuffing far better than the usual meat stuffing: it's surprisingly light and refined. If you want your cabbage rolls to look as pretty as ours do, make sure to use Savoy cabbage, then trim the cabbage leaves so they lie flat. Right after you blanch the leaves, lay each leaf, rib side up, on a cutting board and slice off the thick center rib. By removing the excess, you'll be able to roll the cabbage leaves tighter and more uniform-looking.

In this fast and easy recipe, the shrimp release their juices and create a delicious sauce in the pan. Using unpeeled shrimp with heads on does make it a little messier to eat, but the results are finger-licking good. If serving this as a main course, a bed of couscous or steamed rice is a nice accompaniment to help soak up the sauce.

It’s easy to overwhelm oysters with a topping that’s too bold or too rich, but chef Rick Moonen knows just when to stop. His hors d’oeuvre, served at the 2008 Workshop, elevates the oysters’ briny flavor, and frankly, it’s just fun to eat. Each oyster makes a tangy splash in your mouth, with cool, warm, brisk, and sweet elements in perfect balance.

Who better to provide a cioppino recipe than Jesse Llapitan, the executive chef of San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, the city’s grande dame? Every San Franciscan puts his or her own stamp on this rustic fisherman’s stew, but the Dungeness crab is nonnegotiable. Chef Llapitan attended the 2005 Workshop.

Also known as sablefish, black cod thrives in the cold waters off the Pacific Coast, from California to Alaska. The fishery is managed sustainably, so many chefs have turned to black cod as a replacement for the more threatened Chilean sea bass. If you have ever had smoked sablefish in a New York delicatessen, you have eaten black cod. It is an oily fish, rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Chef Bruce Hill, who attended the 1998 Workshop, makes it the centerpiece of this inspired East-West seafood stew, which relies on fregola—a toasty, couscous-like Sardinian pasta—for texture and Japanese miso for flavor depth. Dashi is Japanese stock.

Chef George Brown created this height-of-summer dish at the 2006 Workshop. He prepared the scallops in our wood-burning oven, but searing them in a hot skillet works as well. The creamed corn is thickened only by the corn’s natural starch, released when the kernels are grated. The chef’s idea of adding Chardonnay is a good one, as it helps to balance the corn’s sweetness.

In the minds of many West Coast chefs, the Dungeness crab is the ocean’s finest crustacean. Canadian chef Ned Bell, who attended the 2004 Workshop, showcases the sweet meat in this pasta sauce, which gets some of its creamy body from pureed cauliflower. The dish is rich and worthy of the spotlight, so balance it with a simple butter lettuce salad in a tangy vinaigrette.

Brian teaches a paella class at the winery occasionally to help take the fear out of preparing rice the Spanish way. It’s a great dish for parties because guests love watching paella come together, the flavors and fragrance building as ingredients are added. Brian cooks his paella by the traditional method, outdoors over a hardwood fire. Gauging the heat of the fire is the only challenge; if it is too hot, the rice will scorch. Be sure to let the coals burn down until they are well covered with white ash before starting. And if you still lack confidence after trying this recipe, sign up for the class. Paella tastes best warm, not hot, so allow for some cooling time.

Canadian chef Jonathan Gushue, a 2008 Workshop participant, introduced us to the notion of pairing lobster with melon—a clever juxtaposition of rich with lean. The cool juiciness of the melon balances the lobster’s buttery sweetness, so the salad seems refreshing and light. Serve it as the first course of a seafood dinner or, in larger portions, as a summer lunch.

Although you might think of cooked beans as red-wine food, when they’re tossed with shellfish, greens, and a lemony dressing, they pair better with Sauvignon Blanc. Brian created this recipe for a Workshop session on wine and food matching, to demonstrate how ingredients like citrus and arugula can steer a dish toward white wine. Note that you need to soak the beans overnight.

To show off Florida’s most famous shellfish, Chef Marty Blitz made miniature Thai-style tostadas at the Workshop in 1994. He replaced the conventional fried tortillas with wonton wrappers, which puff and crisp in the fryer and turn a rich nut-brown. Then he topped this crunchy base with a tangy crab and cabbage slaw sparked with fish sauce, lime juice, and chile. It’s finger food, but drippy. Offer sturdy napkins or small plates. If you dislike deep-frying, spoon the slaw into Bibb lettuce cups or Belgian endive leaves. You could also omit the wonton wrappers and serve the slaw in generous portions for lunch, or offer it as a side dish with baked or fried fish.

Crab cake fans will enjoy chef Marc Ehrler’s golden shrimp cakes, a dish that reflects his years cooking in the Caribbean. Chef Ehrler, a 1991 Workshop participant, substitutes rock shrimp for crab, grated yuca for bread crumbs, and cilantro for parsley to make an appetizer that tastes like something you might find at a seafood shack on Martinique. A mango salad seasoned with chile and lime is the palate-tingling accompaniment. Look for yuca, the starchy root vegetable also known as cassava, in markets that cater to a Latin American or Caribbean clientele.

Everyone’s inner child emerges when these “corndogs” come out of the fryer. Who doesn’t love eating from a skewer? But unlike the popular corndogs that star at America’s state fairs, this whimsical hors d’oeuvre hides a juicy whole shrimp under its cornbread coat. Steven Oakley, a 2005 Workshop alumnus, serves the skewers with homemade honey mustard for dipping. On another occasion, you could use the cornmeal batter for pancakes.