Almond Cake
While cleaning the dishes, she was telling me about an Almond cake she made earlier in the week that had no flour and no (explicit) sugar. But she said it came out a bit flat (later I learned it was because she got lazy and didn’t whip the egg whites! =P). I decided to whip up a batch then and there. The recipe is here at Anja’s Food 4 Thought. I think it turned out wonderfully. I only made a few small changes: added 1/4 tsp of vanilla essence and orange essence and instead of toasting and grinding almonds, I used almond powder which resulted in a finer (cake-like) texture, but no toasted almond flavor.

More deliciousness after the jump!

Scallops
Truly delicious scallops…possibly the best I’ve eaten (and most probably the quality of Whole Foods fresh bay scallops and a lucky perfect sear than anything else). Pretty standard preparation for the scallops…Quick rinse, patted dry with paper towels. Seasoned with salt and pepper on both sides. Non-stick pan with canola oil (I would have used grapeseed if I had it on hand) heated on medium-high until the oil starts shimmering. Then I took a tablespoon of butter and cubed it and tossed the cubes into the pan. Right after the butter stopped foaming I added the scallops. Since they were medium sized (9 scallops in a pound), they took about 3-4 minutes on the first side and then 2 minutes on the second side and voila! The fun in this dish was making the spice oil…I will have to add the recipe later, but basically it was grinding some fresh spices (black peppercorns, cumin, salt, paprika), then heating them in oil until it just starts to bubble for 2 minutes, then removing it from the heat and pouring it over some fresh lemon zest and minced garlic. After cooling add some lemon juice and salt to taste. Served on a bed of chopped flat leaf parsely and cilantro, this dish was sublime.

Fresh fettucini with roasted heirloom tomato rustic pasta sauce
I’d like to think my cooking has become more refined over time. I think my strongest case would be making homemade pasta. After traveling to Italy last spring and taking a cooking class, I was hooked to fresh pasta. You just CANNOT compare fresh pasta with dried pasta. I was shopping with the family this weekend and we walked into a Williams-Sonoma (overpriced, I know, but whatever) and I finally just paid up and bought a pasta machine. The pasta was easy enough to make…I’ll go into detail in another post, but the sauce was a lot of fun. I bought a carton of heirloom tomatoes, halved them, drizzled with some nice EVOO and some basil chiffonade and threw them into a 225F oven for 3 hours. Yes 3 hours. Seriously? Yes. Trust me, it was worth it. I took everything off the baking sheet (even the drippings) and lightly crushed the tomatoes with a spoon before adding more fresh basil and a little salt/pepper. Tossing the fresh fettucini in this sauce and topping with fresh chunks of mozzarella was heaven. MUST try this a lot more in the summer.

Homemade ravioli
We had a few extra hands in the house, so we made another batch of pasta dough and used the ravioli press we bought in Italy last spring to push out some fresh ravioli. We didn’t really feel like going to the store and buying ricotta since making these was an afterthought, so my mother had a great idea to just throw random stuff inside. We ended up using some finely chopped spinach, arugula, parmesan, pecorino, mozzarella, nutmeg, salt, pepper, egg and a touch of sour cream to help bind the filling. Topped with some fresh olive oil, parmesan and pepper.

Fish market below

One of the appetizers. It is called the Milos Special, and it is made of fried zucchini and eggplant chips (not soft inside like tempura, but very crispy) stacked in a tower with a cavity in the center, which is filled with a sour greek yogurt dipping sauce. And on the side are pieces of fried Greek saganaki cheese.


Tuna crudo appetizer. Again, amazing.

Chicken Flautas

Beef empanadas were served with chipotle mayo and pickled relish which was crazy good…sweet and sour perfectly balanced.

Tuna tacos were also a special treat as one of their specials of the day. Seared Ahi Tuna with avocados, lettuce and spicy mayo. Served with an appropriately sized portion of rice and beans

We also were able to try the awesome Roasted Corn on the Cob which was covered in Parmesan cheese before it was roasted, giving an awesome salty crunch to the sweet jersey corn. La Esquina (in New York) has this as well and pulls it off better, soaking the corn in butter first and if im not mistaken there’s paprika used as well.

Brought an awesome hard cider to drink there…oh?! I forgot to mention? This place is BYOB.

Menus

If you wouldn’t eat it raw and by itself, don’t put it in! I meticulously filter out bad parts of veggies and salad leaves while preparing the ingredients for the salad. It goes without saying that the fresher the ingredients the better salad.
Bite sized pieces only. No salad should require a knife (unless you’re making some special “salad” that is served in a plate and not a bowl…I’m referring to normal everyday salads.
Wash and dry ingredients. Regardless of mixes claiming they are prewashed, I still wash and dry all my ingredients before using them in a salad.
Use a large mixing bowl and gently toss the vinaigrette with the mix right before serving. You get better coverage that way, and excess liquid stays in the bowl.
Beware of salt. It brings out moisture and will lead to liquid at the bottom of your bowl…I often add salty items instead such as cheese, olives, pickled items, nuts, dry fruits (many indian versions have salt added to them).
Don’t mess with your palette. Chose a few select ingredients and try to have some taste in mind before choosing. Often the downfall of salad is to many unharmonious ingredients.
Fresh herbs are a great addition and bring a lot of clean favors and freshness to salads. Roughly chopped basil, mint, tarragon, and dill are all great choices.
Avocados and sprouts make a great “glue” to hold different favors together without taxing the palette.
A vinaigrette should be simple and binding. I think it should have balanced elements of all the tastes. Keeping in mind your ingredients, a vinaigrette should cater and match those ingredients. Finding your perfect vinaigrette will take time but a good overall vinaigrette I’ve listed below.

Dijon mustard
Red wine vinegar (balsamic can be used, but I often find that it is too overpowering)
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Jelley (strawberry is a good choice)
Lemon or lime juice

And finally on to the food! I was watching some fine knife-carving by Japanese chefs and was inspired to use a big-ass knife to make thin sheets of zucchini and make manicotti with it. Two things foiled my plan: I was not skilled enough and I did not have a big-ass-enough knife. So I ended up cutting thin strips and reverting to looking for a zucchini lasagna recipe. Giada had a recipe that looked fantastic, but I ended up modifying it to suit my inner desire for a comfort food. It turned out great! The zucchini was cooked through and left no taste, it was light but satisfying, it was crispy and cheesy enough for everyone, and adding red pepper flakes and pasta sauce gave it two kicks in the right direction.

Some notable things we did to ensure bliss:

• after arranging each layer, we decided to broil it in the oven so that the breadcrumbs and cheese would loose a little moisture and crunch up
• adding sauce was an afterthought as we found a small lack of depth with just the cheese and zucchini
• we used ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses mixed with some dried herbs, a lot of black pepper and a little salt
• used panko bread crumbs on top of cheese for extra crispy crunch

Dinner Party 1:
zucchini lasagna (post worthy), chocolate ?foam? muffins (semi post-worthy…although I don’t have pictures of the final thing since we ate them all), spicy chicken with american raita

‘Nice’ Dinner (2/4):
mom made thai noodles with chicken and shrimp, I made manchego mashed potatoes and spinach artichoke dip

Dinner Party 2 (2/5):
senegalese chicken peanut soup, chocolate mousse part 1, chole, thai rice veggie wraps

Dinner Party 3 (2/6):
cheese dip, chocolate mousse part 2, chicken salad