Seared Scallops with Jalapeno Corn Relish August 15, 2007

Here is another summery dish for you. Last year when I ate soft-shelled crabs at Father’s Office I was quite smitten with the corn relish that it came with. Tart from the vinegar and fresh from the cilantro, it was perfect with the sauteed crab. I wanted to try making a corn relish inspired by that meal.

But what to serve with it? Scallops seemed like a good idea to make a light meal although a nice piece of steak would have been delicious too. I seasoned the scallops simply with salt & pepper and seared them in olive oil. Then plated it on top of baby arugula with the jalapeno corn relish. The flavors were clean and fresh, just what’s needed on the evening of a hot summer day.

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Jalapeno Corn Relish

4 ears of corn, cleaned
3 jalapenos
1/2 cup small diced red onion
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tsp sugar
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Season the corn with salt, pepper and drizzle of olive oil and wrap in foil individually. Roast for 15 minutes for tender crisp texture. Let the corn cool in foil while you get the jalapenos ready. Drizzle lil bit of olive oil on the jalapenos and char them under a broiler. Place in a bowl and wrap with plastic wrap for a few minutes. Then peel, deseed and dice the jalapenos. Cut the kernels off all the corn and add to a bowl with the jalapeno and red onion. Add the vinegar, lime juice, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Finish with the cilantro.

Thai Shrimp Salad August 14, 2007

I’m a huge fan of shrimp. And also a huge fan of Thai food. I wanted to try a simple shrimp salad at home with a Thai dressing. I picked up shrimp, mint, cilantro, and surprisingly, thai chilies still on the branch, at the farmer’s market but lemongrass was nowhere to be seen. It’s a essential item for the dressing. I guess this dish can be called Almost Thai Shrimp Salad.

I didn’t want to make the extra trip somewhere just to get the lemongrass so I let it go. So my dressing consisted of fish sauce, lime juice, thai chilies, minced garlic clove, a pinch of sugar, and lil bit of water. Mmm, sharp and salty and tangy. I didn’t take measurements for this, just kept tasting it until it was good.

The shrimp – I shelled them (saved the shells for the freezer) and then broiled them for a few minutes without any oil or seasoning. The dressing would be salty enough and I didn’t want to add oil to the salad. I would have loved to grill the shrimp but no working grill and also no grill pan for the stove top. Yai serves up some excellent pla goong where the shrimp comes barely grilled. Charred but a bit raw inside which is quite delicious. That would have been my preference but oh wells.

When the shrimps were cooked I tossed it into the dressing. Then added a Persian cucumber sliced into half moons on the bias, thinly sliced onion, cilantro and mint. I served the salad with butter lettuce to make little shrimp salad lettuce wraps. And some sambal on the side to add that extra heat and zing, as if the spicy thai chilies weren’t enough. Light, spicy and refreshing – perfect for the summer.

Tomato Cucumber & Feta Salad over Couscous & Chickpeas August 13, 2007

I just love the pineapple variety of heirloom tomatoes. And can’t forget about the adorable pear tomatoes.

H o o r a y for tomato season.

I made a simple salad of pear tomatoes, cucumber and feta, flavored with mint, lemon juice and olive oil. And below the colorful salad is chickpeas with couscous. I’ll get all healthied up during the week for some weekend fair food indulgences and cold beer at Sunset Junction!

Vanilla Passion Fruit Panna Cotta August 13, 2007

Mmm passion fruit. The tropical flavors definitely make summer feel more summery. I picked up a few at the farmer’s market thinking that I’d just spoon the juicy pulpy seeds straight into my mouth. But instead went for vanilla panna cotta. It’s such an easy dessert I knew it wouldn’t stress me.

The vanilla beans unexpectedly settled to the bottom of the molds. But since the bottom would become top this caused no problems at all. I rather liked the concentration of the little black dots on top. And of course the flavor. It was delicious! The combination of the creamy vanilla and tangy sweet tropical fruit flavors worked well together.

I used regular brioche molds to shape these a la AOC. A brilliant idea imo, turning a simple dessert into something so pretty.

Vanilla Passion Fruit Panna Cotta
serves 6

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cold milk
1 packet gelatin (about 2 tsp)
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
spray canola oil
3-6 passion fruits

6 regular brioche molds

Combine the milk and gelatin in a bowl. Split the vanilla bean vertically with a sharp knife and scrape to get the seeds out. Heat the vanilla beans and pod, cream and sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot. When it starts to bubble take it off the heat and add it to the gelatin mixture. Whisk to combine.

Spray the molds lightly with the oil. Divide the mixture into the molds. You’ll have a lil bit leftover which you can chill in a separate ramekin.

Chill for at least 3 hours.

When the panna cotta is set unmold into the plate. This is easily done by holding the mold facing you like a mirror and gently loosening the top ridges of the panna cotta with your fingers. When you see it pulling away from the top flip it gently over the middle of a plate. Slice the passion fruit in half and scoop the seeds on top of the panna cotta. You can use half to whole passion fruit for each one.

Wild Strawberry Tart August 12, 2007

I’ve been so busy lately I was almost ready to make a disclaimer stating that I won’t be able to post for a while. I’m actually studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst Level I test which requires 20+ hours of studying per week. That means I haven’t cooked anything blog-worthy, eating Trader Joe’s delicious frozen foods for dinner when I do night studying sessions in my empty office, which is basically every night, and living off my mom’s delicious comforting Korean food.

But I was determined to make it to the Saturday Santa Monica Farmer’s Market and fill up on some super fresh vegetables. Friday night ended early so waking up at 8:30AM was no problem at all. There is so much delicious produce at the farmer’s market! I have to try hard not to buy too much stuff which happens often because I get way too excited about the produce.

This time I was good though. I knew I couldn’t get much stuff anyways because the only time I would have a chance to cook it is this weekend. I got a pretty good load of vegetables and seafood. Then I saw these wild strawberries. So beautiful! But also soooo fragile. I knew I would have to eat these by end of the day. I immediately thought wild strawberry tart!

As I walked away I thought again wild strawberry tart?? Crap, when would I have time to make this? I needed to make pastry dough and pastry cream. And with my planned six hour study session at the library and an outing with the friends at night I was going to have to hustle with the few free hours I had between.

Hustle is what I did since I was also making ricotta-stuffed and fried squash blossoms. The squash blossoms and wild strawberries are absolutely need-to-eat-immediately vegetables. If you don’t eat them within the day their freshness decreases like crazy.

I made the pastry cream first because it would have to thoroughly chill in the fridge. Then onto the puff pastry shell. I cheated a lil bit by skipping the pastry dough part and instead used store-bought puff pastry I had in my freezer for times exactly like this. I made the extra borders by cutting a lil dough off each side of the square (the pastry came in little squares), trimming them to fit the new square, then adhering them with egg wash, and also eggwashing the edges for a golden glow. I baked them for about 12 minutes at 425 degrees. Then didn’t come out perfect but it was going to have to do.

Once the pastry was cooled and the pastry cream chilled I just put them together. Pastry cream inside, wild strawberries on top, then glazed with some melted strawberry jam. The strawberries on their own were quite delicious. Although so tiny the wild ones had a more concentrated flavor than regular strawberries. Almost a jammy quality to it. Paired with the cool pastry cream and puffed up butter pastry it made a great summer’s night dessert.

My parents loved this one. Good thing I only made two because they were ready to eat a whole batch.

Emergency Tomatoes to the Rescue August 1, 2007

Recently Boy and I kicked it at Adicup, an Adidas sponsored soccer match between “pop-culture masterminds”, because our friend was playing on one of the teams. I think the mastermind part is overdoing it but the event itself was awesome. Why? Free food, free booze (also sponsored by 10 Cane Rum), and watching some guys dressed up all silly, some with mustaches and some with capes, and some just cute in soccer outfits.

I knew the event was going to have bbq but as I expected the food left much to be desired. Some curried potato salad, blazing sun wilted salad greens, hot dogs and ribs that kept running out.

Good thing I brought with me some leftover heirloom tomato slices! You’re probably laughing at me huh? Well I knew they would most likely be forgotten if I left them in the fridge so I brought them along as a snack. But in the back of my mind I knew they were destined for the common dry burger.

The only condiment available by the time I got my burger was ketchup since mustard just ran out. I helped myself to the salt and pepper at the grill master station to make sure my burger was well seasoned. Seriously the tomatoes saved it considering the bread was kinda dry and had been sitting around. Look how much prettier and juicier the pineapple heirloom tomatoes make the burger.

Hooray for emergency tomato rescue!