Bass baked whole, dampening the fire of smoky chipotles, a seed mix for seasoning - includes recipe

Sunset, Jan, 1995 by Jerry Anne Di Vecchio

Simpler foods taste better, lighter dishes make you feel better, uncomplicated meals are a relief in the aftermath of the holidays. One way I like to bring these qualities to the table is to serve striped bass baked the way Patrizio Sacchetto cooks it. The San Francisco chef-manager of Umberto's hails from Italy, where striped bass is a great favorite, and baking whole fish in a salt crust is a tradition. It's certainly easy and entertaining.

Striped bass has a lovely, delicate, sweet flavor and big, easy-to-find bones. In the West, it is a protected sport fish, but it is also farm-raised in ever-increasing amounts for restaurants and markets and sold whole. The fish is harvested at 1 to 3 pounds and is often sold in the round--with scales and innards (if you want it cleaned, ask when ordering). You may have to order ahead, or stop by a good Asian fish market. A 2-pounder costs $8 to $12 and adequately serves two or three.

The crust doesn't really affect the flavor, but it does keep the fish warm and juicy. When I lifted off the crust--now rock-hard--at a recent dinner, good smells poured forth. The only thing missing was some of Patrizio's infused red bell pepper oil (you need a juice extractor to make it), but sauteed red bell peppers plus little thin-skinned potatoes roasted in the oven with the fish worked nicely.

After you've baked the crust, you can recycle it if you like. Pull the crust from parchment or foil and put crust pieces in a heavy plastic bag. Put the bag inside another one. Smash with a mallet until crust is coarse crumbs. Pour several cupfuls at a time into a food processor with motor running, and whirl until finely ground. Sealed airtight, the mixture keeps indefinitely. The next time you need a salt crust, beat up 4 more egg whites and add 6 more tablespoons cornstarch to crust mixture.

BACK TO BASICS

Taming chipotles

Dried chipotle chilies, according to author, artist, capsicum duenna, and official Pepper Lady Jean Andrews, are usually ripe jalapenos, but may be any number of other fleshy, hot chilies that are slowly dried over gentle smoke. Regardless of pedigree, the chilies develop a remarkable flavor. However, chipotles are their own worst enemy. As much as you like them, you can't indulge freely without risking gastric burnout--unless...

Yes, there is a way to have your chilies and good digestion, too.

If you soak the dried chilies--cover them generously with water, bring to a boil, and let stand until cool--they get soft. Then pull off the stems and open the chilies to remove the seeds and any veins. This gets rid of a tremendous amount of the hot taste. The soaked chilies don't irritate my skin, but I'm still careful to scrub my hands with soap and rinse well before touching my eyes.

Chipotles also come canned, usually in sauce. To cool these down, scrape off the sauce and rinse the chilies to remove seeds.

One way I indulge my fondness for these tempered chipotles is to tuck them into a grilled cheese sandwich. I also like to drop soaked or rinsed chipotles into bean or lentil soups, braising meats. and meat sauces.

Regina Cordova, who lives in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, is a great authority on the Latin kitchen, partly because she has roots in Mexico and New Mexico, and mostly because she has made these foods a professional focus. She, too, dotes on chipotles. When I asked her to share some of her favorite quick dishes using these chilies, I quickly ran out of notepaper. Here you go:

For salsa that tastes the way it does in a cantina, buy mild salsa and add chopped soaked or rinsed chipotle chilies to taste. Or chop 1 soaked or rinsed chipotle chili and mix with 1 can (about 1 lb.) stewed tomatoes. Stir in enough red wine vinegar to make the tomatoes tart, some chopped onion for crunch, and salt to taste.

Slip soaked or rinsed chipotles under chicken skin before cooking. Grill or roast the chicken; the chipotle flavor soaks into chicken juices as the skin crisps.

For a fabulous sandwich, add flavor to ordinary mayonnaise with mashed soaked or rinsed chipotle chilies. Spread mayo onto a split and toasted French roll and add grilled chicken pieces, several avocado slices, a tomato slice, and salt to taste.

GREAT INGREDIENT

Sowing seed for flavor

At the heart of my personal kitchen is an aromatic seed mix that I make up by the batch--often to send home with guests. The seasonings are quite chameleon-like, exhibiting a different personality each time their background changes. Whole, the seeds can keep their flavor for years, but once in liquid, they become soft and easy to chew, while retaining their individual integrity.

My daughter puts in an order for the mix now and then because she loves to dump the seeds generously into boiling water for artichokes; the flavor the artichokes soak up makes fattening butter or mayonnaise a distraction.

I often use the mix to make a fast carrot soup for one or two that relaxes the bones and is virtuously lean.

Yet another use for the aromatic seed mix is with meats such as oven-braised lamb shanks.