Wild Mushroom Risotto with Pesto Scallops
I said I was going to post it and true to my word, I finally got around to it. This one goes great with the “Springer Salmon Cedar Plank” recipe. I decided for the blog that I would do it as a main course. So I added “Pesto Scallops” to the dish, and it truly came out excellent. The first thing I am going to tell you about this dish is that it is not difficult, but Risotto takes a lot of patience and time. If this is your first time, try it as a main dish. That way your are not trying to time it with three other things that you are going to plate. If you cook risotto too long it gets mushy, too short it is too crunchy.
Serves 4
- 6 cups of Chicken broth (I use homemade, but the better quality of broth the better it will be).
- 4 oz of dried morels (you can use porcini if you like). soaked 30 minutes in 1 cup of water. Chop the mushrooms and strain and reserve liquid for later use.
- 8 tbs. of butter
- 1 1/2 cup Arborio rice
- 2 cups of assorted fresh mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and chopped.
- 1 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup of Parmigano-Reggiano cheese
- 16 Scallops
Heat the chicken broth along with the reserved strained morels liquid, lower to heat to a simmer. In a cooking pot ( I use a Le Cruset oven pot) melt 4 tablespoons of butter and stir in the rice, toasting just until it starts to sizzle and pop, sometimes about 2-3 minutes. Do not let it color! Stir in the morels and the fresh mushrooms and the wine.
Keep stirring the risotto and wine, when all the liquid of the wine disappears, after about 4 minutes, add enough of the broth from the other pan to cover your rice. This should be on a simmer all the way thru this long process. Hope your arm is in shape, because you need to constantly stir to keep from sticking. When the broth is almost gone, add more broth to cover the rice again. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When the liquid evaporates, add more broth to cover for the third time.
Take out the scallops and dry with paper towel while the rice is cooking down on the third time. Salt and pepper the scallops and get your skillet hot.
Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place your scallops on high heat cooking them for about four minutes on each side.
After the broth evaporates from the thirds time the rice should be al dente, about 25 minutes of cooking time. Bite into the grain of the rice, you should see a white pin dot in the center. Take the risotto off the heat. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and stir in for a few seconds. Add the parsley and the grated parmigiano and salt to taste. Cover pot.
Finish the scallops on both sides.
Plate the risotto (it should not be runny at all). Add the scallops to the top. I put a little dollop of homemade pesto on the top of the scallops. The scallops should not be over cooked but a slight pink.
I prefer to make the pesto myself, I just happened to have some in the fridge. However, it is not necessary. This is a great side dish, and also an awesome main course. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
The Hunting Chef
Cedar Planked Springer Salmon in the Green Egg
My buddy gave me this recipe about three years ago and I must say, it is a great way to cook salmon. Especially fresh Spring King Salmon from the Columbia River in Oregon. I made it the next day after a client caught a fish and gave me a little to take home to the family. I ran home like a kid that won the Willy Wonka golden ticket.
First thing I do with these coveted filets, is take the pin bones out of them. Nothing worse than growing up as a kid and getting a bone in the mouth, I hated it and it ruined my salmon experience. So grab a pair of needle nose pliers and get to work, takes less than a minute.
Then I gently turn the filets over and remove the chrome skin off the filet.
Then get the following ingredients for four filets 8-10 oz:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons of sesame oil
- 1/2 cup of soy sauce
- 1/3 cup of chopped green onions (just the green portion).
- 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger root (peel the skin than grate it).
- 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
Mix all the ingredients together and place filets in shallow cooking dish and pour over the top of them to marinate for 2 hours. Turn them every 30 minutes.
While the fish is in the marinade, take your two cedar planks and soak them in the water. About 3o minutes from removing fish from the marinade get your green egg rolling or your bbq, bring the heat up to 375 degrees or 400. The key here is not to burn your planks so fast fish is not cooking. Before you put your fish on the planks, take olive oil and rub them down, this will keep the fish from over sticking to the boards.
Put your planks on the bbq and close the cover. Make sure to check it, to make sure your planks are not on fire. If they are gently take a spray gun and wet them down.
It takes roughly 20 minutes and you want to use a fork or a knife and flake it, when it gently pulls apart remove and serve because the fish will continue to cook. I like to serve them on the plank but if you do this make sure that your table is set and sides ready to roll with people at their seats because the salmon will over cook. I like to serve it on the cedar planks because it gives your guest the smell of the burning cedar table side.
I served this dish with wild mushroom risotto, lemon garlic broccolini, and of course fresh bread and wine.
This is a dish that you can easily pull off if you pay attention and take your time on the bbq. Make sure to not cook it so hot that the boards burn and that you want to pull the salmon and serve immediately when the fish gently flakes.
I hope you enjoy it.
The Hunting Chef
Pan Fried Razor Clams
The first recipe that you need to know, is how to cook a razor clam the old school way. There are several ways to do it, from deep-frying to bbq. However, I am going to teach you the old school way and I guarantee that you will love them.
Shay’s Pan Fried Razor Clams
- 10 razor clams, body and feet
- two eggs
- 1 teaspoon of old bay seasoning
- 2 cups of Pride of the West batter mix (This is important)
- salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/ cup of quality parmesan regano cheese
- 1 fresh lemon
Whip up the two eggs really good and fast, and add old bay season. Take a plate of clams, and dip each one into the egg mixture, then into the Pride of the West flour, and set on another plate.
Set all the clams on a plate, but do not stack them.
I salt and pepper them on the plate, then put Saran wrap on top of the plate and put in the fridge for an hour. This is really important, this is called “the set”. It allows the flour, egg, and the clam to set up and bind to each other.
I like to use cast iron, but you can use any pan I suppose. Get your pan to medium high heat and add the butter and olive oil. Then lay in your clams in the skillet, sprinkle each with parmesan cheese and cook until brown.
Once lightly browned turn them, should take about 4 minutes each side.
Remove from skillet and start the progress over again, you may have to add a little more butter and oil if your skillet looks too dry. Check to see if you want to add more bay seasoning, sprinkle with lemon if you like and serve.
Now if you are like my family and friends, you really cannot do this without adding fresh oysters that you just bought up the street. The only difference is that you do not use an egg wash or parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with a little bay seasoning once they are in the skillet.
There is nothing like eating your hard work with a little fried oyster kicker on the side that makes the beer taste better.
Enjoy
Hunting Chef
How to clean a Razor Clam
I get asked this a lot, and just like everyone else I had to learn it to pass it on to my friends, family and now you if you are reading this. I am going to show you the exact way I learned from the same man who showed me how to do it, Grover Brown.
First you dig a limit of clams.
1. Put clams into a 5 gallon bucket and let soak for a few hours so they pump the sand out of the system.
2. Prepare your working station with tubs and scissors or filet knives.
3. Get your hot water ready to poach the clams. Bring to the point of almost boiling then back off the heat. Take your clams and put them into a strainer, HAVE A BUCKET OF COLD WATER STANDING BY, you don’t want to overcook them. Dip your strainer into the water with your clams, the shells will open in seconds, then toss them into the cold water.
Once you have completed all the clams, and they are now all in the bucket. Separate the shells and the clams and bring them over to your working station.
1. Cut off the tip of the neck.
2. Turn the clam to the side and make and cut up the side and thru the neck.
3. Keep making the incision all the way thru to the top of the neck, remember this is an incision, do not cut the clam in half. We are just opening up the clam.
4. Once the clam neck is open you will see a small ventricle tube that runs up the neck. Make a cut that opens that ventricle all the way to the top of the neck.
5. Holding the clam in the same position make two cuts on each side of the gills (they look like guts). This should be like an upside down V cut.
6. As you make the cuts the gills will fall down, and you will cut them off the foot.
7. Then you cut the foot loose from the body.
8. Toss the body into the tub of water you have in your work station for final cleaning.
9. Pick up digger foot and cut any remaining debris from it.
10. When you squeeze the end of the fresh-cut, removing the stomach. A clear rod, called the crystalline style will come out as well. The clam uses the style as a digestive enzyme to break down the food they eat.
11. Make another incision up the foot to open it up for cleaning.
12. Make sure to lightly clean all the sand debris out of the foot, but leave the meat in tact. The butter substance in the foot is full of flavor. The foot itself is the delicacy of the entire razor and full of flavor with a very soft texture.
13. The final stage is to go thru each clam to make sure there is no sand and very clean. This is really important if you do not want to bite into sand over dinner. I absolutely hate that, so we make sure that the clams are inspected very well.
14. I usually take them home to vac pack them, make sure when you do package them to the freezer that you bag them in pairs. For example, 10 clam bodies and 10 clam foots.
15. Grab a cold one to celebrate your hard work for the day.
I hope you all get the chance to go out on the beach to explore the outdoors and have the opportunity to spend a great day with the family. These are times you will enjoy and not forget and your children will pass it on from generation to generation.
Hunting Chef
Springer Salmon Fishing in the Columbia River
There is no better tasting salmon in the world better than the Oregon Columbia River Springer Salmon, probably why its 40 bucks a pound right now. The natural oil content of this fish is so perfect, and the meat so red that it just melts in your mouth when cooked properly. However, you first have to catch one and sometimes that can prove difficult. This year was supposed to be the best fishery of them all with a record amount of over 450k Springers. This was also the worse year I can remember, so when you hear these biology reports, turn your ear to them because they are usually wrong. It was also the worst March for rain in Oregon history. Conditions so bad even the seals did not show up.
I fished with clients five days in a row with little to show for it. The pro guides were producing very little as well and the feeling on the river was grim to say the least.
At one point, I was trying to pull in to get fuel and this rather large yacht was hogging the fuel line for 3 hours. 4400 gallons later at 5 bucks a gallon he was on his way to paradise.
We must have put in a hundred miles trolling, and 400 herrings to the cause. In the Columbia the fish hold at the bottom so you drag a 10 oz lead, with a flasher with brined cut plug herring. We used green and blue, and blue seemed to produce better.
When the Salmon do hit on the fishery, they are soft biters so the trick is to really let them eat it and run with it before you pick up your rod for the set and the fight.
When the water gets high the fish like to swim on the sides of the river with less current in depths less than 20′ feet and more than 12′ feet. I like 14′ feet in weather conditions like this. Using a KFish 15 wrapped in brined sardines with a light 6 oz ball weight back bounced about 30 feet. When they hit, they hit hard and aggressive.
One another note, when you see fifty boats back trolling in water, next to boats anchored, while some boats are for whatever reason trolling up river! Forget the chaos and what other people are trying to figure out. Slip outside and keep trolling down river. Then get a double right in front of them! I see a lot of guys changing their strategy and thinking too much. Stay with what works, when the fish are their and they are biting…you will catch a fish.
The second most important factor is pay attention to the depths, I run a Simrad electronics for echo, chart and radar. I pay a lot of attention to the little imperfections that may produce holes or divots in the river ground that may allow fish to hold and rest….and perhaps bite. Some boats run over these little honey holes at 3.5 mph, I come of the T-1 a bit to drop my lead. Some of my fish have been taken this way. If the water height is up, this means the fish are running up the sides and we found that a lot of them were suspended. When you have the best electronics out on the water (only two on the West Coast have this technology). We were able to come off the bottom and target them…which we did.
This is what makes a Columbia River Spring Chinook so good.
When the fishing ends, the cooking begins. The recipes will soon come, so keep posted. I am giddy about what is to come in the next 24 hours on my plate. One thing to remember with these coveted fish. Do not smoke them, and do not freeze them. They are better than that, get busy eating or get busy dyeing.
A small girl and her five gallon bucket
While camping and clamming this week. I got to watch my youngest daughter Mady, steal my clamming bucket. I am thinking to myself while watching herself navigate down the small hill to the RV while carrying the stolen 5 gallon bucket “She has 500 dollars worth of Elmo toys in there and she is stealing my bucket to play with??”
She then realizes that I am in hot pursuit and decides that she is going to take it into the RV for safety.
Each step is dangerous but she takes no time.
Then she needs to pull the bucket into the RV once she has made it safely inside.
She looks as though she is in the clear.
She has accomplished her goals and has summited with her bucket.
We had one tired bucket baby on the way home from a great weekend.
The Basics of Clamming
Clamming to me is a one of the best times you could ever spend with family. I told my friend Grover this weekend that my life is basically “one big Easter egg hunt”. He sort of looked at me funny and I elaborated on my statement “Think about it, I am out here looking for holes in the sand for clams, I look for elk, deer, antelope, wild mushrooms, seafood, turkeys, and anything else that could hide from me”. He understood exactly what I was saying. We continued walking out onto the beach in pursuit of the Long Beach Razor Clams.
Notice Grover has his thumper in one hand, and in the other his clam gun. Thumping the ground sometimes forces the clam to reveal its little breath hole. The holes themselves, can be large, or can be very small. Sometimes you only see a little dimple in the sand, sometimes when the surf comes in and goes back out you see a little V in the water. Once Grover told me, “You look for imperfections in the sand”. This little statement made my back and hands very sore from digging, it did however, educate me very quickly.
We walked around, looking for “imperfections” in the sand.
It was such a beautiful morning. Mady really did not like the idea of walking on the beach, but that stage fright was over in seconds.
There are three basic elements in clamming that equals success. A good minus tide, good weather, and a good eye. When the weather is bad it causes the waves to crash on the beach and the clams do not show. If it is not a great minus tide, you are not able to get far enough out to reach the clams. If you have bad eyes, you are walking around looking for the really obvious clams.
They key to using a clam gun is not just to pile drive the cylinder down into the sand as hard as you can go. You slowly push feeling and listening to any crunch sound of the shell. If you hear or feel that, you stop instantly pull back up and wiggle it and slowly re-insert it until you do not feel the clam shell breaking. I like to position myself facing the surf and slightly angling my gun tube toward the ocean.
The key is to use your legs, not your arms and back as Stephanie demonstrates and Mady supervises.
Part two
Part three
Part four
Clamming is great option for getting the family together and on the beach. I always look forward to the open season in Long Beach, Washington because it is an opportunity to share in the outdoors with your family. What an opportunity to spend camping, great talks at the camp fire and awesome fresh seafood. Check the blog later for the meals, and how to clean a clam in the days to come. As for now, we had a successful clam dig, and Grover and I limited in 10 minutes without leaving a 10 yard radius, while our wives and child stayed back at camp to enjoy their sleep. These are times I will always cherish and remember.
Martinis and Meatloaf
When I was growing up, I hated meatloaf. Just the thought of it made me run the other direction. When I am at a really nice restaurant I usually cruise over the menu and say “Bring me what your famous for”. I believe it is the only way to truly experience the chef and his restaurant. At any rate, I did this about 6 months ago and to my surprise….meatloaf was served. I was instantly a born again meatloaf consumer. So when my mother-in-law was up I asked her that morning if she liked meatloaf and she gave me the bitter beer taste look, one I completely understood. I said “Don’t worry, you will enjoy mine”. Sometime that evening she texted me that she wanted the grapefruit martini recipe because I think she was going to try to motivate herself, or drink herself into liking my meatloaf dish.
- Martini and Meatloaf Madness 2013
- Grapefruit Martini
- 1 shot of Vodka (use the good stuff please) Grey Goose
- 1/2 shot of simple syrup
- 2 fresh squeezed pink grapefruit
- Add to ice and shake and stir, and serve in Martini glass
Elk Morel Meatloaf Recipe
- 2 lbs. of elk burger
- 3/4 cup of whole milk
- 1 egg
- 3 teaspoons of salt
- 2 teaspoons of pepper
- 1 onion chopped
- 3/4 cup of good bread crumbs
- 1 cup of morel mushrooms
- In small bowl mix all the ingredients above in a small bowl.
- Mix all the ingredients together, notice that bright yellow farm egg?
- They have been re-hydrated and ready for the meatloaf
Spray a nice 5 x 9 loaf pan with pam, and add your meatloaf mixture into it.
- All you need now is the sauce
The Sauce
- 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Ketchup
- 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
Mix together and spread over the top of your meatloaf.
While that cooks at 350 degrees for an hour, a make some Mashed blue cheese potatoes and some asparagus. Once the meatloaf is done I remove it and let it sit for about five minutes. Then I make my cut, to make a minimum of 1 inch to 1.5 inch thick slabs. I place it on the top of the mashed potatoes and then I take a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce in the original cooking pan and drizzle over the meat loaf and taters.
Brenda who was a little shy of it, looked at me after her first bite and said “Shay, I think this is the best meal you have ever prepared for me. This is delicious!”.
I replied “You said that two days ago when I made the Sturgeon Tacos”.
Hunting Chef
Sturgeon Fish Tacos with Green Sauce
One of my favorite things my family loves to eat is our famous fish tacos, and our favorite fish to eat in those tacos is the beloved Sturgeon. It is, for the lack of another terminology, the Bomb! So when my sister called and said that her and her husband landed two keepers on opening day, I replied “I got the oil going into the fryer, get over here!”
Dave did a superb job cleaning the sturgeon and the fish looked amazing. The first thing I did was to cut it in 1/2 cubes and put sea salt and pepper on the fish and let it dry while I made the green sauce.
Then it is time to make my wife’s famous green sauce. This is the most important ingredient in the tacos and you could use it for just dipping the fried fish in as an appetizer if you wanted too.
Green Sauce Recipe
- 12 ounce of Mayonnaise
- 12 ounce of sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups of chopped Cilantro
- 6 jalapeno seeded then chopped (wear rubber latex disposable gloves)
- 3 avocados seed removed and chopped
- 3 tablespoons of lime juice
In a food processor add cilantro and jalapeno, then add remaining ingredients and put into refrigerator to cool. Taste to make sure it does not need a little more lime juice to your taste.
Add Canola oil to your pot and bring oil up to 360 degrees.
I use Oregon Trail Fish Batter and I put a 1 1/2 cups of it in a bowl, add 1/2 cup of Coors light. Add a little more as needed until mixture is smooth and silky.
While the oil is coming up to heat I chop up some red and green cabbage, and take out some shredded cheese of my choice.
- Once the oil is at 360 degrees I add the fish one at a time, careful not to crowd. Do it in batches.
The fish should cook for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Fry fish at 360 until they become brown around 4-5 minutes and remove to dry on paper towel.
I then warm up my corn tortillas, you can use flour if you like. Once I plate the tortilla, I take a nice spoon full of the green sauce, top with the fish, cabbage and a little cheese and perhaps a dash or two of some heat.
- This is Nanna heaven here. Sturgeon Green Sauce Tacos
Everyone is happy
- My sister Sally is happy and proud to feed the family
- My niece Katie is happy
- My Brother in Law Dave is not happy. Someone stole a piece of his fish!
- Hey Dad! I want a fish Taco!!!! I am NOT HAPPY!!
- Okay I am happy too.
It is a good way to have family time and eat a great fish taco. I hope you try it and you enjoy it as much as we do.
Shaniko Smoked Elk Burgers
We had a group of hunters visit us for some good ole fashion pheasant and chucker hunting and of course I had to make a big lunch for 12 dudes. So I thought about doing smoked elk burgers and one of my friends has raved about his burgers for about a year now. My first thought was to get him over there to do it, but he was punching cows or something and was to busy to grace us with his presence. So I will throw a shout out to Austin Justesen for his recipe, but he does not get to be put in the “guest chef” category of my blog.
I will give you the recipe for 1.5 lb of elk burger
- 1.5 pounds of your finest Shaniko young bull elk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of Sweet Mesquite Seasoning (Costco sells it, Austin puts it on everything)
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 1/4 cup of bread crumbs
Mix the ingredients up and get to work making your burgers. I had to make my burgers unforgettable so I made them one pounders.
I bind them tight into a ball, get my burger press out and two sheets of wax paper because I am a professional.
Then I basically have to stand on the press to get the burger pressed out.
Okay the hard work is done. Now I put them in the Traeger and let them smoke for about 70 minutes because they are abnormally large. They will get a nice red smoke tint to them.
We drove around and took some photos why they burgers smoked.
This is the old Ghost town of Shaniko
Megan and I took turns in the cold winter winds jumping out and taking photos. We were having a photograph tournament.
Then we returned to the ranch to finish off lunch for the boys. Cranked up the heat on the Traeger BBQ and brought them to a nice medium rare, just a little pink in the middle. The boys were surprised that it was elk, but some of them also said it was the best burger they ever had.
huntingchef.com 
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