Holiday time! Oyster Time

Well it is time for celebration and how about something for your holiday get together! Seafood is always a great item for a gathering and so are oysters. I know most folks are not excited about raw oysters so I have included our second most favorite way to enjoy them, broiled. There is nothing better than the creamy texture of a properly cooked oyster. This recipe is for our typical oyster house grilled oyster dish, I have created about 4 versions of grilled oysters. Each of them unique to a type of cuisine. So have a bunches of friends over and shuck and grill the holidays with a toast of oysters and champagne! Cheers!


Broiled Oysters on the ½ shell 4 servings


12 Oysters, fresh shucked on the shell
¼ lb Butter, softened
1 tbsp Garlic, minced
1 tbsp Onion, minced
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
To Taste Salt & Pepper
¼ c Parmesan Cheese, grated
As need Rustic Bread, grilled

1. Shuck the oysters and reserve on their shell make sure to loosen from bottom shell. Place on a plate and refrigerate until needed.
2. In a mixing bowl combine the softened butter, garlic, onion, Worcestershire, lemon juice, salt and pepper, mix well to incorporate all ingredients.
3. Place a heaping tablespoon of the butter mixture on top of each oyster, make sure that it is completely covered.
4. Place oysters on a hot grill and close the lid or place under a broiler set on high.
5. Cook until the butter is bubbling and the oyster begins to curl. About 4 to 5 minutes depending on size of oyster and temperature of grill or broiler.
6. Top each oyster with the grated Parmesan cheese and allow to cook for 1 more minute to melt the cheese.
7. Remove and serve with slices of grilled bread.

Tired of the same old Friday Fish Fry

Well then it is time for something new and easy to replace that tradition fried cod. We really enjoy cooking something simple when the days grow shorter and the weather cooler. This is a great time to get fresh East coast cod from your fishmonger. Give this dish a whirl and serve it with some wonderful roasted squash like acorn or butternut to really enjoy the flavors of fall. As with any of our recipes the fish can be changes, try to use a large flake fish that will oven roast and stay succulent.

Jim & Linda



Oven Roasted Cod serves 4


4 6 oz. Cod filets, skinless (if using Black Cod, leave skin on)
2 T Olive Oil
2 T Thyme, fresh, chopped
4 T Butter
2 T Parsley, Chopped
½ Lemon , juiced
To taste Salt & Pepper


1. Place a cast iron skillet in a 450° oven and heat for at least 30 minutes.

2. Lightly coat the filets on both sides with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper and chopped fresh thyme.

3. Place the seasoned and oiled filets in the pan, arranging them so they do not touch.

4. Roast filets for about 9 minutes.

5. During the last minute of cooking, place a tablespoon of ice cold butter on each filet and allow to melt.

6. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the filets from the pan.

7. Place the pan over medium high heat and add the chopped parsley, then add lemon juice to deglaze the pan.

8. Spoon a little of the pan jus over each filet

© Doak & Krantz 2009, all rights reserved

NRA – Chicago – and a Celebrity Chef – what a weekend

We had a great weekend of food, fun, friends and celebration the weekend of May 16th in Chicago. Linda’s hometown is our favorite place to visit – we do often when we can – it is usually a 3 hour drive to downtown. Unfortunately, Friday the 15th was not to be a simple drive – we had rain and hit the wall around O’Hare. Let’s say it was not a wonderful 5 hour excursion but one that was so painfully slow we started to count out of state plates and ended up with 24 states and 2 Canadian provinces by the end of the weekend. But once we made it to our hotel the beautiful downtown Marriott (ugh) we checked-in, had an overpriced cocktail and then made our way to dinner. Did I mention it was raining, yes this is mid May, Chicago, NRA and that spells weird weather – 50’s and wet, not just wet but stormy! I digress, dinner time we had an eight o’clock reservation at C-House, Marcus Samuelsson’s new Chicago seafood and chop house concept in the Affinia Hotel, we arrived on time. I am usually happy and cheerful but when you try to seat us at the worst table in a half full dining room I get a little cranky, the five hours in the car helped I am sure. So we opted to “wait” at the bar – it was like 3 minutes and they sat us at the premier table in the dining room, what a spot. Ok the recovery was swift but then it gets better who pops by the table to greet us and suggest a menu items or two – Marcus himself in town is working the dining room. What impressed me most was that he was authentic, reserved and himself, just a warm and hospitable host! He suggested that we not miss the tuna tacos (mini) and the heirloom tomato salad, cool we made sure to order both and they were spectacular. The service the rest of the meal was wonderful, prompt, informed and oh yes the GM of C-House stopped by as well on two occasions. What started out as a dark and stormy night was turning into an awesome start to our weekend. The menu at C-House is very reasonably priced and has lots of variety with nods to Marcus’s background and Scandinavian style of cooking here is what we ate!

The – C-Bar – menu section that is a sampling section were you select either individual pieces or 3,5, or 7 piece samplers – we went for the 5 piece

Tuna with pine nut and toasted rice vinaigrette – was delicious almost tarter or ceviche in style it was wonderfully rich with meat notes
Octopus with smoked romesco and fennel – sorry to say one of the misses – too over fishy due to the preparation of being cooked confit, oily and unpleasing
Yellow Tail – mini fish tacos served on a bed of dehydrated sweet corn – what an awesome little bite yum!
Cobia – with Kumquat relish, rye toast and juniper – the acid of the relish really balanced the richness of the fish it was wonderful item
Waygu Tartare - chopped with roasted beets, quail egg and pineapple – it was an utter delight and we enjoyed it with gusto

Oysters – with honeydew granite, mignonette and house made cocktail sauce
We had a variety we have never before seen Stingray – it was briny and sweet with a nice plump bite, also we enjoyed a few Sunset Beach oysters, another favorite of ours

We bypassed the entrée selections and shared 3 different appetizers instead because they had greater appeal to us that evening. Here is what we shared

Heirloom Tomato Salad - at Marcus’s recommendation we enjoyed this dish completely – the tomatoes were lush and rip large chunks of brandy wine and ox heart served with a wonderful group of little accompaniments they tasted yummy. The black olive sponge cake was a wonderful surprise

Porchetta – what an amazing dish – a very different approach that was so wonderfully rich that it was complimented by the pickled green beans, pecans and candied fennel that was better with every bite we will have this dish again!

Salmon Pastrami – well this one sounded better than it was with beet, pickled radish and bitter sweet chocolate the dish just did not live up to the rest of the meal

Marcus sent out two sides as complimentary dishes to try – the Pea Tendrils with lemon and sesame fell flat but the Chorizo Mac & Cheese was a wonderful delight we enjoyed it – even Linda liked it and she is not a huge fan of mac & cheese

For Dessert we took the same sampling approach from what they call the Candy Bar our favorite item the sour candied citrus was simply the best way to finish the meal. We also tried the rocky road clusters, pistachio brittle, salted fudge brownie, and a boring vanilla bean cupcake. I would make the sour candied citrus and eat it every day – that is how good it is!

But wait the evening is not over…….we head up to the C-Vue lounge on the 29th floor for an after dinner drink – a small high end lounge with outdoor terrace that has the most wonderful views – tonight a lighting show from the storms moving in off the lake. Service was very good again but what a great space to drink and have a wonderful conversation and we did.

From here we headed out into the night to a private party at Buddy’s Guys to hear emerging legend Ronnie Baker Brooks rock the house with awesome Chicago blues. We played into the wee hours and had a wonderful Friday night in our favorite town, Chicago!