What’s translucent, tart, and transient? Wait, don’t answer that, you sick, sick reader. It’s sour cherries, today in the Seattle Times.
I wrote this piece at my own peril: there are so few sour cherries on the Seattle market each year that this article could actually drive up the price. “Oh, I’m sure we can get all the sour cherries we need this summer for under $100,” I said to Laurie. She didn’t find this comforting.
[Matt’s in the Market](http://www.mattsinthemarket.com/) is a cult restaurant. You’re unlikely to stumble into it, because it’s on the second floor of a building at Pike Place Market. And when you do get there, you’ll probably have to wait. In fact, if you get there now, you’ll have to wait weeks, because it’s currently closed for remodeling. Matt’s is known for:
* Doing all of their cooking on hot plates. (Well, individual burners.)
* A controversial reservation policy. Not controversial in the sense that anyone disagrees with the policy, but controversial in that people argue over whether they take reservations at all. They tried to settle this a couple years ago by writing things like WE DO TAKE RESERVATIONS on their web site. This didn’t settle anything, and people kept on arguing about whether they take reservations. (We have successfully made reservations. Not that this will settle anything.)
* The fried catfish sandwich with spicy mayo. One time I went to Matt’s and got something other than this sandwich, some fish of the day with bacon. It was excellent. Then I went back to the catfish sandwich.
Matt’s has been closed for a couple months. When they reopen, probably in July, they’ll have doubled in size and grown a real kitchen. The same people who discuss the reservation policy are presumably now discussing whether the food will still be good when cooked on a real stove. The food is Cajun-inspired, by the way. Here are the new menus. Brunch is a brand-new offering, and the duck confit tacos might convince me to come for brunch, even though it will be a zoo.
Laurie and I hadn’t had a fried catfish sandwich in far too long. So I made some tonight, and they were, honestly, pretty close to what you get at Matt’s. Here’s the recipe.
**SPICY CATFISH SANDWICHES**
Adapted in freewheeling style from Matt’s in the Market
Chipotle mayo from Nancy Silverton’s A Twist of the Wrist
*How many sandwiches does this make? Depends on the size of your bread and whether you consider a half-sandwich a sandwich. This is probably enough to serve three.*
For the mayo:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons pureed or minced canned chipotles (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the catfish:
2 catfish fillets, quartered into strips
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper
1 cup frying oil of choice (you will be shocked to hear that I used lard, albeit mixed 50-50 canola oil because I didn’t want to use up all my lard)
Thin-sliced sandwich bread (see note)
Butter lettuce, torn into bread-sized pieces
1. Stir the mayo ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Salt and pepper the catfish on both sides. Let sit at room temperature for five minutes. Mix the cornmeal and flour together in a pie plate. Dredge in the catfish in the cornmeal mixture, shaking off excess, and remove to a plate.
3. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high until the oil shimmers and a chunk of bread bubbles vigorously when you toss it in. Add half the catfish strips and fry 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and repeat with the other batch.
4. Assemble the sandwiches. I am not going to explain this part, except to say that you should put the mayo on both slices.
**Note:** At Matt’s they use some kind of potato bread. You want something not very rustic–not Wonder bread, but closer to that than to anything crusty. I used Trader Joe’s Cracked Wheat Sourdough Bread of the Northwest (actual name).
*Guest post by Wendy Burton.*
Usually only registered Girl Scouts are eligible to earn Girl Scout insignia; in this case, however, an exception will be made. Provide documentation of activities to receive your merit badge.
**Rampin’ It Up**
Complete 6 activities, including the two starred.
1. Ramps have been eaten throughout history by many different groups of people. Find at least two different countries where ramps have been popular. How are ramps prepared in those countries? ∗
2. Some people have used ramps for medicine! Find out if ramps are a healthy food. What nutrients do they have? What illnesses did people think they cured?
3. Ramps grow wild, but they are also cultivated. Where are ramps grown in your area? What is the growing season? If you can, talk to someone who grows ramps. Find out when they are planted and harvested, and what kind of soil is best.
4. Visit a restaurant and try a dish cooked with ramps. How are they used? Is the flavor strong or mild? If you can, talk to the chef. Ask her what her favorite way of preparing ramps is.
5. Many different foods can be cooked with ramps. Find at least two recipes using ramps in a cookbook or on the Internet (always ask permission before using the Internet!), and prepare one for your family. ∗
6. Ramps are similar to other foods that many of us are more familiar with, such as garlic, onions, and leeks. Find a recipe that calls for one of these things and substitute ramps. Ask your family to decide which they like better.
7. Experiment! Come up with your own ramps recipe. Share it with others by giving copies to friends or posting on the Internet, with permission.
8. Share ramps with someone who may never have had the chance to eat them. Invite a friend or relative over on an evening when you are cooking ramps.
9. Teach others what you have learned about ramps by sharing your knowledge with younger children. Make sure to include samples!
10. Share what you’ve learned by writing a feature article about ramps. Send it to your newspaper’s food editor, or with help from your parents, post it on a blog.
This morning Iris and I were playing a round of Cherry Pie, in which she tosses a gallimaufry of toy ingredients into a cake pan and puts it into the toy oven. “For 90 minutes,” as she puts it. We got bored of pie, so I suggested we make pretend chocolate mousse.
“I never had chocolate mousse before,” said Iris sadly. I’m not sure this is true, but we checked, and we had all the necessary ingredients in the house, so we whipped up a batch.
People should make more chocolate mousse. Everybody likes it, and it’s not at all hard to make, although it makes a huge mess. Iris got a big dollop of mousse on the rug. Later, she pointed to the spot and said, “Dada, why did you put that chocolate on the rug? I sure didn’t do it.”
Probably people would make more mousse if you didn’t have to chill it for hours. But it’s worth it. We made ours with a Trader Joe’s 70% Pound Plus bar, and it came out deep and rich and not too sweet. The bubbles in the mousse pop on the tongue in the same invigorating way as Pop Rocks or the bubbles in Reddi-Wip.
After we finished our afternoon mousse, we repaired to Iris’s room for a Kitty and Pirate story. This one was about how the young kitties ate too much mousse and had to go to the doctor. Mama Pig (a pig is a type of kitty) brought her son to the doctor (Iris) and explained the situation. Then Iris swept Mama Pig onto the ground with extreme prejudice.
“Why’d you do that?” I asked.
“He didn’t need her anymore because he grew up,” said Iris. “He ate so much mousse, now he’s big.”
After calling the ramps “a scary treat,” Iris went ahead and ate two of them anyway and pronounced them “salty and good.” I ate several, and I now smell like I’ve been out playing paintball with heads of roasted garlic. This will probably last for days.
I roasted them on a sheet pan, interspersed with spears of asparagus, and the best part wasn’t even the ramps–it was the asparagus that took on the flavor of slightly charred ramp leaves. This got me thinking about other ramp leaf possibilities: could you slip them under the skin of a roast chicken, for example? Wrap a steamed or roasted piece of fish? I want to hear about your ramp victories, even if only on the paintball field.