Kara had a few days of training in San Diego this week and I wasn't able to go with her, so I went wild in the kitchen in my last days of bachelor summer cooking. I dug up some crazy recipes and got to work. Here's what I made...
Surf & Turf 1: Lamb-Stuffed Calamari with Almond Butter, Cilantro Vinaigrette, and Crispy Fried Shallots + Herbed Tomato Salad
Seasoned ground lamb stuffed inside squid, served over miso-almond butter, drizzled with cilantro vinaigrette, and sprinkled with crispy fried shallots. Served with soy-marinated golden tomatoes with basil, mint, tarragon, and cilantro. This one came out like a solid dish you'd find at a high-end restaurant and I enjoyed it, but the lamb was a bit dark and heavy for me in an otherwise bright and light dish. I particularly enjoyed the tomatoes (which was my pairing, not part of the calamari recipe), especially with the fresh tarragon and mint.
Surf & Turf 2: Green Curry of Rabbit, Butternut Squash and Dill + Thai Catfish Salad
The curry is rabbit and butternut squash braised in a broth with tons of fresh lime, dill, basil, lemongrass, and chiles. And the catfish salad is flaked grilled catfish tossed with mint, dill, cilantro, crisp veggies, and a spicy lime dressing. They went perfectly together and tasted incredible. I've not cooked much Thai food, but this was like eating at my favorite Thai restaurant! I think I'll be doing Thai more often. On a side note, I learned that the spice, curry, is essentially a Western invention and does not really have anything to do with the Asian and Indian dishes of the same name. This makes sense since I don't taste "curry" in many curries I've eaten, but I hadn't ever put that together.
Meatballs: Turducken Balls and Bunny Balls over Mushroom Gravy + Honey-Roasted Carrots with Prunes, Walnuts, and Mint
Pretty self explanatory from the title. When I made turducken a month ago, I was almost immediately struck with question, "Why doesn't The Meatball Shop do this already?!" Very comfortable with making meatballs by now, I set to work creating my own recipe for Turducken Balls, and it worked out great. Much easier and cheaper than the roulade Jonathan and I made, but close to the same flavor, and shouldn't something as ridiculous as turducken be casual and not fancy anyway? So these balls include ground turkey, duck, and chicken, but I also threw in cornbread and a little Andouille sausage. While I was at it, I made the Bunny Balls from their cookbook because I just butchered a rabbit and needed something to do with the rest of it. It's a very pure way to taste rabbit- just a little rosemary and fennel added to round them out. Loved it. The carrots were tasty but unless you always have walnuts, mint, and prunes laying around anyway, you pay through the nose for the tiny amount of garnish that makes it unique.
Japanese Pizza + Octopus Salad + Green Tea Mille-Crêpes Cake
Not traditional Italian OR Japanese cuisine, but made with several iconic Japanese ingredients. Fried sushi rice becomes the pizza "crust" and it is topped with unagi sauce (eel barbecue sauce), Manchego cheese, edamame, soy bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, sesame seeds, bonito flakes, cilantro, and shiso leaf. The only non-Japanese ingredient is the cheese which, as the author of the recipe points out, has a flavor profile very similar to another Japanese staple, miso. Delicious and unique. I served a simple and clean Octopus, Cucumber, and Seaweed Salad as an appetizer (Tako Sunomono) and a Green Tea Mille-Crêpes Cake for dessert (20 crêpes stacked up with orange-pastry cream between each layer). Perfect sweetness for my tastebuds. Tev and Manny joined me for this meal and brought Sapporo beer to go with the pizza and Japanese plum wine to pair with the dessert. It was a great evening.
