There are people who are quite dedicated to cooking as a hobby, and there’s Marty Tiersky.
“It’s a passion,” Tiersky confesses, by way of explaining the three days of shopping and preparation he undertakes to present an eight-course tasting meal with wine to half-a-dozen persons.
His guests taste a seafood fantasy: crab with a mango coulis, hamachi with caviar and basil oil, sea scallops with shiitake mushrooms in a coriander-ginger infusion, tuna with quinoa in a red-bell-pepper water, salmon with leek ravioli and lemon and halibut in an apple-fennel sauce.
It is cutting-edge food, impeccably presented. The meal is agreeably paced. Yet the chef/host does virtually everything himself, including the between-course cleanup that is absolutely necessary if his miniature bachelor apartment kitchen is to continue to function.
“Doing this gives me great pleasure,” he explains. “I came to it through selling wine. I realized food and cooking could be part of someone’s way of life. My business took me to fine restaurants, and I saw what was possible. Then I decided I’d like to do something similar at home.”
After nearly 15 years, the key to the remarkable fare Tiersky produces isn’t in his equipment, which is of good but standard quality. Nor is it in any kind of professional training. Though his enthusiasm has led him to work and learn in the kitchens of some famous restaurants, he has never been a full-time cook.
“Once you acknowledge you can do only one thing at a time, it’s just a question of organization,” he says. “I write down the steps, gather the ingredients, do as much ahead as I possibly can and make sure none of the final steps is time-consuming.
“Also, even if preparations like these look fancy, they are really very simple in terms of skills required.
“The real secret,” he concludes modestly, “is to use as many top-quality fresh ingredients as possible. I’m convinced talent can’t overcome bad ingredients, but using the best can make you look like a culinary genius.”
It takes money. It takes time. But Marty Tiersky is willing and eager to invest both.
“Dinner at home is special,” he says. “It’s slower than a restaurant meal, more relaxed. You taste, you laugh, you talk. You’re together at a table for three hours or more. It’s the evening.”
Here is a pair of his recipes with wine suggestions:
SEA SCALLOPS WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOMSH
Four servings
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1/4 cup rice vinegar+
1/4 cup mirin+
2 tablespoons light soy sauce+
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce+
1 tablespoon honey
2 or 3 slices ginger, slices the size of a 25-cent piece, peeled and finely chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 drops sesame oil
1 cup daikon sprouts or sunflower sprouts+
1 cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and cut into julienne strips to yield 1 cup
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds+
4 large sea scallops
12 medium shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
+Available in Oriental markets and some specialty food stores
1. The day before serving, toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan often to prevent burning. Grind toasted seeds and transfer to a sauce pan. Add rice vinegar, mirin, light soy, fish sauce, honey and ginger. Stir to combine, then bring mixture to a boil over low heat. Remove from heat immediately, cool, then refrigerate. Return to room temperature and strain before continuing with recipe.
2. Shortly before serving, combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sesame oil and 3 tablespoons of the strained coriander mixture in a bowl. Add daikon sprouts, cucumber and black sesame seeds. Toss lightly and reserve.
3. Place a saute pan or wok over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, mushrooms and salt and pepper. Toss for 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
4. Clean out pan or select another and heat it. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil and scallops, salt and pepper. Sear scallops briefly on both sides until browned on the exterior but not cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, heat remaining coriander mixture. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the mixture onto each of 4 small plates. Place a scallop in the center of each plate, shiitakes on one side of the scallop and the sprout-cucumber salad on the other. Serve with a dry riesling wine.
SEARED TUNA WITH QUINOA AND RED-BELL-PEPPER WATER
Four servings
16 snow peas
12 to 16 red bell peppers
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 shallots, finely diced
1 cup quinoa (or couscous or long-grain rice)
6 to 8 medium shrimp, peeled
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 small timbale molds, well oiled
1 small leek, white part only
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 pound very fresh tuna, in the shape of a beef tenderloin (purchase from Star or another Japanese market, if possible)
1. Remove strings from snow peas, then blanch them in boiling water. Drain and reserve. Remove seeds and ribs from red bell peppers and put through a vegetable juicer or puree in a food processor and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Yield should be 4 to 5 cups of liquid. Pour liquid into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook until liquid has been reduced by half. Set aside or refrigerate.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saucepan. Add shallots and saute until translucent. Add quinoa and prepare according to package directions. In a second saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. Add the shrimp and saute only until barely cooked through. Chop the shrimps and add to the quinoa along with the chopped cilantro. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Pack mixture into the oiled molds and set aside or cover and refrigerate. (Recipe may be done ahead to this point.)
3. Remove outer leaves from leek and wash well. Cut white part of leek into fine julienne strips. Pat dry. Heat vegetable oil in a small skillet. When oil is almost smoking, add leeks and cook about 10 seconds. Transfer onto paper towels to drain; set aside.
4. Heat oven to 250 degrees. Place timbales in oven to heat through. Meanwhile, reheat red-pepper water over low heat.
5. Heat remaining tablespoon olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet until almost smoking. Season tuna liberally with salt and pepper. Sear tuna for 15 to 20 seconds on each of its four sides. It should be browned on the surface and raw in the center. Remove from pan and cut into 4 medallions.
6. Turn out timbale molds onto 4 warm plates. Fan 4 snow peas onto each plate next to the timbale and place a tuna medallion atop each group of snow peas. Pour 1/2 cup of hot liquid around the tuna, garnish with fried leeks and serve with a light pinot noir wine.
