Valentine's Day Dinner at Trax Cafe

A memorable night, that's we hoped people would go away with this year. Along with a great Valentine's Day meal from Trax Restaurant and Cafe. Judging by the number of diners that came out to celebrate at Trax, I'd have to say it was a good night. The Filet Mignon seemed to be most popular, but the special Prix Fixe menu had enough variety to satisfy demands of most couples. Chef Waxman, Dudney Reynolds and Tom Groff were kept busy getting the delicious food flowing to the filled dinning room.
The Lamb Chops have been a long time favorite and signature dish of Trax, but the Grilled Salmon, succulent Duck (a favorite of mine), and the Scallops with Risotto proved equally crowd pleasing.
There was enough foreplay to tease the pallet and get juices flowing with choice of Crab Mornay, Lobster Ravioli, Lobster soup taster or a nice selection of salads from traditional Caesar to fresh Mozzarella with roasted peppers or roasted Beets and Goat Cheese Timbale.
Diner's were finally treated to a sweet array of tempting desserts, which included two huge strawberries dipped a rich chocolate bath surrounded by coconut macaroons, lemon tarts, chocolate truffles and almond biscotti.

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My Seafood Chowder

Every once in a while I get an urge for a thick, rich chowder. I am particularly into corn chowders, and while I'm at it why not make it a chicken. or better yet a seafood chowder. I've made this seafood chowder with great success a few times and I'm always willing to expand envelope and try new and different ingredients. The following recipe is relatively simple and the ingredients are usually available in most markets. You can mix it up if you have a good seafood monger or supplier, try adding scallops and or calamari or squid.

But this recipe will give you a nice rich chunky chowder where you won't have to search for tender seafood morsels to fill your senses. This concoction will easily serve 4 to 5 people.

I start with a about a half pound of raw shrimp, I like to get the easy peel, the shell is already cracked open and it easy to pluck the shrimp out (I take off the tails, you don't have to). Fi you have time, you can place the shells in a pot of water, season, add chopped onions and celery and boil it to make a stock base.

Using a nice sized 6-8 quart pot with a good bottom, get the bacon going then, sear and brown the shrimp, but not cooking it all the way through. Since the shrimp will go back in later you don't want to over cook it or they'll get tough. Remove the shrimp, and drain most of the bacon fat, add the carrots, celery, bell pepper and onions, season and cook until nice tender. I like to add the clams, crab, seafood mix and jalapeno pepper at this point, be sure to season as you go. You could deglaze with a hal cup of a nice white wine (Chardonnay) to add a little complexity. You can start to add the wet ingredients at this point with the stock, half and half and condensed milk. Add the potatos and corn. Mix the corn starch with a water and add to the mix. Bring the chowder to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer and reduce for about an hour and half.

1/2 Lb Shrimp 21-26
1 Can Clams
1 8oz. Can Crab meat (claw, lump, back fin whatever you prefer)
1/4 Lb imitation crab meat
3 Slices bacon chopped to 1 in. sq
2 Stalks Celery
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1/2 Bell Pepper
1/2 Jalapeno pepper
1/2 Teaspoon dill
Chopped parsely for garnish
1 Red Potatoe
1 Can Green Giant Niblets
1 Can condensed milk
1 Pint half & half
2 cups seafood or chicken stock
Seasoned Salt
Coarse Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons corn starch

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Trax Restaurant & Cafe

On a cool, Thursday afternoon in January, I paid a visit to my good friend and chef, Steve Waxman at his restaurant, Trax Restaurant and Cafe in Ambler Pennsylvania. I had meant to take my camera, but I was running a little late so I forgot. As it turns out another friend, and celebrated chef was also there, Tom Groff. I've spent many hours in the Trax kitchen, talking, eating, sipping wine and helping get the plates out all nice, pretty and hot. This time Tom was gracious enough to share a few bottles of his rare vintage wines from his private collection with us, including Jamaican Chef, extraordinaire, Dudney Renolds. If you stay in touch here, you will see many more references to Steve Waxman and Trax Restaurant and Cafe. I will share with you some of the dishes he's prepared and places and events Steve's attended.

Trax Restaurant & Cafe
At The Old Ambler Train Station
27 W. Butler Pike | Ambler, PA 19002
215.591.9777
www.traxcafe.com

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Hawaiian Fish Dishes

If you've ever been to a real Hawaiian Luau, you know that the food is King, along with the music and entertainment and fanfare of the event. One of the classic dishes served at Luau's is Lomi Lomi Salmon, with it beautiful color and wonderful taste it is also one of the stand-out dishes of any luau. The words lomi lomi means to rub or massage in Hawaiian, and in context to this dish, it describes how the dish is prepared. I am not sure why and often wondered how salmon came to be the fish of choice in this dish as I am pretty sure salmon is NOT an indigenous fish of Hawaii. Oddly enough, tomatoes another key ingredient in Lomi Salmon, while grown there, are also not indigenous to Hawaii leading me to believe that this dish is a concoction developed well after Captain Cook arrived, and is essentially a modern dish. I suspect whalers coming from the Pacific Northwest introduced the fish as late as early the 1800's.

Any way, a significant part of the process involves salting the salmon, using traditional Hawaiian sea salt, the fish is rubbed and the salt massaged into the fish. Let the salted salmon sit overnight and rinse thoroughly with cold water. All the lomi lomi salmon I've ever had were pretty salty, so you can adjust it to moderate, especially if you're trying to reduce salt intake and a healthier heart.

It'd be great to add a couple of nice juicy Maui tomatoes and a sweet onion, but any nice tomatoe and sweet onion will do. dice all to around the same size bits and mix it all together with your hands, remember, massage...gently. You could add a little pepper and some scallions chopped fine. This dish is traditionally served cold or chilled, taste better that way.

For a twist, you could add some sweet yellow and red bell peppers or even a papaya, diced.

In the dish show here, I've also included a Poke - Aku type fish dish, pronounced Poe-kee or Poe-key my way because I do not have access to Limu, a type of Hawaiian seaweed. Aku is tuna in Hawaiian, and this particular variety is yellowfin.

I also made a more traditional seafood salad with crab meat and shrimp, with thinly sliced cucumbers, parsley and a splash of white wine vinegar and spoon full of light mayonaise.

The combination of the three dishes were a delight to my palette and I enjoyed it very much.

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Meatloaf

I have made many meatloaves using different recipes and what can I say, at the end of the day, it's another meatloaf. So this time I thought I'd add an extra guest in addition to the usual suspects. Marsala wine. I started with a combination of ground pork and beef about a pound of each. I incorporated the two meats and seasoned with kosher salt and pepper along with the chopped onions. I also used a combination of Italian style bread crumbs and Panko flakes. I don't like to cube bread from sandwich loaves, which I used before, because they tend to get mushy and they don't really add any real flavor. I chopped about a tablespoon of dried rosemary and a pinch of chopped parsley. I then added the wet ingredients after beating the eggs with a wisk and half and half. After forming the loaf, to top it off, I spooned some tomatoe sauce, sprinkled shredded Asiago and slices of Canadian bacon.


I made a brown gravy from the drippings and added onions, Shitake mushrooms and a little Marsala wine to top it off. Served with mashed golden yukons, with garlic and parsely. I did a quick pan roast of zucchini, yellow squash, onions and diced tomoatoes.

As it turned out, the loaf was juicy and quite tasty. Not bad for a easy to make dish.


1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 Garic cloves chopped
1/4 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup Half and Half
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/2 cup onions finely chopped
3 slices canadian bacon
3 tablespoons shredded Asiago
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of coarse black pepper

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Chicken Marsala with Shiitake Mushrooms

Last night, I was undecided as to what I wanted to eat until about 6:00pm, then I had a deep craving for chicken or veal Marsala. I didn't have any chicken thawed, and no veal at all, so I had to make a run to market to see what I could get. The big supermarket did not have good prices on chicken or veal, so I went to a smaller store down the road, and found a huge boneless breast on sale. I also grabbed a bit of Pancetta because I wanted use the fat rendered from that meat to help cook the chicken and mushrooms. I also got a little bit of Shitake musrhooms instead of Crimini because I love Shitakes. I had bottle of Marsala wine I got the other night when I made Osso Buco. As it turned out, served over a bed of linguini, I was very pleased and thoroughly enjoyed how tender and rich the chicken came out. Bon Appetite!

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Poor Man's Osso Buco

I actually like making this dish, I say poor man's Osso Buco because I use beef shanks instead of veal. I can find nice meaty beef shanks more easily and for a lot less than veal shanks in at the local markets where I shop. I first leaned how to make this wonderfully braised meat at Trax Restaurant from Chef Waxman, he makes an awesome Osso Buco.

Osso Buco is a traditional northern Itallan dish and usually served with risotto and also called Ossobuco alla milanese, for it's Milanese origin. They say it means "hole in the bone" or "hole of bone" I don't know what the literal translations is but I figure it's not specific to only veal shanks. For me, this is an evolving dish and I like to try variations on traditional recipes. I think you have to have an acquired taste for Osso Buco, braised meat is not for everyone. The payoff is suppose to be the marrow in the center of the bone, but I've never actually dug into that precious place. I'm not a huge fan of risotto, so I will serve it with roasted golden yukons.

As with a lot of great dishes, much of the work is in the preparation before anything ever gets cooked. I love watching all these cooking shows and they have all the stuff already prepared so all they do is add the ingredients as they need them. So I chopped the vegetables into bite sized pieces which include the trinity of celery, carrots and onions.

I found a couple of nice beef shanks as a starting point. I seasoned the shanks with coarse kosher salt and pepper and dredged them in flour and patted them off before adding them to a big hot skillet with olive oil. I can't help myself so I had to season the flour with a few spices including garlic salt, paprika, pepper, and little herb rub mixture that contains rosemary, thyme, marjoram, tarragon and lavender. I placed the coated shanks in large, hot skillet with some oil.

After browning the meat on both sides, I took the shanks out and placed them on a cooking sheet. Returning to the skillet I added about a tablespoon of olive oil, the pan is pretty hot by now so I add the onion, celery and carrots. I got the mirepoix going now, veggies have got a good sweat going on and the all the flavors are melding together. I added some Marsala wine to deglaze the pan and get all the brown goodies on the bottom of the left from the shanks. After the mirepoix gets that nice color, I add the shanks back to the skillet and add about a cup of chicken stock (I also try to keep at least a gallon of homemade chicken stock in my refrigerator or freezer). I brought the mixture up to temperature covered and placed it in the oven at 350º.

I also made a Gremolada to Gremolata to garnish the finished dish, made with parsley, garlic and lemon rind season with a touch of salt and pepper.

After about 2 hours the house was full of the wonder aroma of the dish, and the final product was well worth the effort. I friend Will and I enjoyed every last bite, and even got the succulent marrow out of the bone.



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Wicked Asian Noodle Soup

The other night after work my friend Will, and I stopped at the local Korean market to get some sashimi and sushi, but we were a litte late and they were out of sushi so I got some Ramen style noodles to go with the sashimi.

I also got some shrimp (21-26) to add to the noodles. The shrimp had to cleaned and peeled so I put the soup base up and chopped a some onions. After a quick marinade, I sauteed the shrimp in a small sauce pan.
As it turned out, the soup came out really good and wickedly spicy and hot. I chopped a few chives and added it to the soup as a garnish. All I can tell is the combination of the hot and spciy soup in contrast to the cool and clean raw fish was absolutely sublime. I take such pleasure in the consumption of sashimi, and savor every bite, particularly the tuna.


I thoroughly enjoyed a quickly and easily prepared meal after a day at the office...

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