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.

Mascarpone and Other Adventures in Cooking

We tried a couple of new recipes tonight. One was really lame (shame on you, Giada). The other was fantastic and fresh (way to go, Giada).

If you've never used mascarpone cheese, do yourself a favor and try it. We'd been wanting to cook with it, but this was the first time we got to it. If nothing else, it's a great alternative for buttering bread (it's half the fat of butter, but has great flavor). I wouldn't use it for replacing butter in cooking, but it's great on bread and is commonly used in desserts and lots of Italian cooking. I got a big tub for a few bucks and it will last.

In this recipe, it was used to make the sauce creamy. This is shrimp on garlic bruschetta with arugula and tarragon. There are lots of other things going on (tomato, wine, shallots, etc), but mixing tarragon with shrimp was especially unique to me. If I'm called upon to make hors d'oeuvres for Xmas again, you guys might get to try this one.

One last thing... definitely try mascarpone, but DO NOT mispronounce it. People tend to pronounce it as though the R is before the S as frequently as they add imaginary syllables to nuclear (or larynx, if you're a Taylor).

Yet Another...

Let me know if these are getting old. It will probably slow down when Kara's school year starts. Also, feel free to ask for recipes if you want.

Here is a gourmet take on shrimp and grits. This is Shrimp on saffron-risotto topped with a lemon-fennel salad. I had fun making the broth from Riesling wine, shrimp shells, and lots of veggies. The lemon and fennel added a LOT. That's fresh thyme and fennel fronds you see as garnish.