In Your Face, Fracture!

You can crack my clavicle and thwart my thumb, but you can't cripple my cuisine!

Tuna Ceviche

Ahi Tuna in lime juice with red onion, avocado, and cilantro.

Wild Mushroom Bruschetta

Shiitake and cremini mushrooms marinated with rosemary and garlic on fresh grilled bread, topped with mozzarella.

Gingered Salmon with Corn and Watercress

Salmon with pickled ginger stuffed into slits, crisped in the pan, then roasted. Served on a bed of watercress and grilled corn, in a light vinaigrette, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.

Crisp Butter Cookies

Mostly butter, some sugar and flour, and a hint of vanilla. Not pictured- they just look like cookies, but mmmm... they taste like cookies, too.

Okay, that exhausted me and probably added a week to my recovery, but it sure tasted good!

 

Memorial Day Menu 2011

Fun day of grilling:

Scallop Nachos

Grilled scallops on roasted tortilla triangles with lime-guacamole, topped with grilled jalapeño-cilantro pesto

Cuban Tacos

Grilled pork tenderloin, marinated in hand-squeezed orange juice, wrapped in smoked ham and Swiss cheese with pickled jalapeños, then grilled again in a corn tortilla, and topped with grilled red pepper relish

Mexican Grilled Veggies

A skewer of red onion, bell pepper, Mexican squash, and mushrooms in a chili-cumin rub, grilled and splashed with lime

* I wanted to use blue corn tortillas for pretty much everything, but I couldn't find them, so I did half white and half yellow.

A Lesson in Subtlety

First food email of the year! Yep, first day back home, I cooked from TWO of the new cook books I was given for Christmas (Tom Valenti's One Pot Meals and Ina Garten's How Easy is That?). I handed them to Kara and told her to pretend they were menus and she picked a great combo that tasted amazing. (The pic is sub-par because I usually use the sun to light my food all pretty and the sun is set by dinner time at this time of year... and I wanted to EAT.)

Anyway, these are two recipes that utilize simple but specific techniques to create very complex flavors. I learned a lot. I'd call this "buttery shrimp with shitake mushrooms and tomato" served over "garlicky Parmesan spaghetti" This was a new way of cooking pasta for me (relying heavily on the cooking water for the sauce), and the shrimp recipe was simple but ended in a rare perfect balance of flavors. If it sounds at all interesting, hit me up for the recipes.

I hope this is the last time I type this, but... last time... Happy new year.

Shrimp Bisque

Well, this one was actually not a fave, but the experience was fun and the picture's kinda pretty, so I share anyway. This was one where the journey was better than the destination. This recipe is heavy on flavors of shrimp and tarragon, which still seems an unlikely combination to me, yet it's the second recipe I've done with those two flavors this year. The bisque is basically pureed celery, carrot, onion, and shrimp with heavy cream. And it's served with a garnish of sauteed red bell peppers, zucchini, shrimp, and chives. I also labored for my own stock, which always makes me feel like a pro, and the recipe called for both wine AND brandy (fancy!).Good on paper, right?

The recipe is from a book by the Neelys, which I'd been dying to try out, but it was flawed. Bummer. Thankfully, I've cooked enough to know not to put 3/4 of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper into a 6-8 serving pot of soup. I could have ruined the whole pot if I'd followed the directions. My 1/4 teaspoon amendment still left some serious fire in the throat after each sip! Anyway, fun day of cooking and a nice picture (that's new Mississippi mud pottery from McCarty's we just got on our recent trip).

Thanksgiving 2010

Since Kara and I will be in Mississippi for Thanksgiving this year, we invited the Diaz family over for a little "Thanksgiving with a twist" meal (not a huge twist, but we're usually super traditional). I cooked from 8am till I served at 4pm (including breaks to whip up breakfast and lunch). We had bacon wrapped turkey breasts stuffed with pear hash, green bean and three mushroom casserole (with giant home made croutons), corn pudding with poblano peppers, cranberry conserve, and gingerbread from scratch for dessert. It was all good, but the turkey was AMAZING- I think the sugary brine was the key... well, besides BACON.

It would be a prettier picture but Southern California was blessed with something other than "sunny in the 70s" today!

The Latest

This is a mortadella panini of Mario Batali's design (with ricotta and a horseradish sauce); rigatoni with roasted butternut squash, onions, sage, and bacon; and my own makeshift heirloom tomato salad with basil, parmesan, and tasty balsamic vinegar that someone put in my stocking.

Under one hour, easily under $5 per serving, liberal with the healthy stuff, and conservative with the unhealthy stuff that makes it taste sinfully good. And almost identical to a meal you could pay $25 for that would have lots more fat and might still take an hour of your time.

Avocado Tempura

Q: Is it weird that Health-Nut Xandy deep fried anything?

A: Yes.

Q: Is it weird that what he deep fried was a lightly tempura-battered avocado stuffed with shrimp and veggies (topped with Thai sweet chili sauce and sesame seeds), and he served it with a side of Asian coleslaw made with around 20 ingredients, mostly vegetables?

A: No.