I Heart Summer July 31, 2008

Watermelon, Ricotta Salata & Arugula Salad with Walnuts

I’ve been hearting summer these days. For the most part the weather hasn’t been too unbearable and great summer produce is abundant. I’m having a great time cooking and enjoying all the fresh flavors. It was time for another summer’s night dinner, one that I was making in honor of my friend Andrei’s birthday. He’s a pescatarian and on top of that a very healthy eater. I knew exactly what would get his taste buds going.

I started us off with a watermelon, ricotta salata and arugula salad with toasted walnuts. I had made this salad last week sans walnuts for a family dinner and it was quite delicious. The sweet juicy watermelon, salty ricotta salata, crunchy red onion and pepper arugula made for a contrasting deliciousness in each bite. This time around though I added toasted walnuts following this recipe and what a difference it made! The nuttiness of the walnuts brought a whole new layer of flavor that just popped above the sweet fruit. A while back when I started seeing watermelon and salty cheese (i.e. feta) salads around I was a little doubtful, being someone who doesn’t use too much fruit for savory foods. But now I am a convert. No doubt I will go back to this salad many times for the rest of the season. I seasoned my salad with a simple lemon vinaigrette.

Seared Scallops, Cannellini Feta Puree, Baby Heirloom Tomato-Cucumber-Pepper Salad

Besides that fact that Andrei doesn’t eat meat we seem to enjoy a lot of the same things. Uber fresh vegetables and fruits and scallops, my favorite shellfish. I wanted to keep the whole dinner very fresh and refreshing. I got my hands on extra large scallops which I seasoned simply with salt and pepper and seared off in olive oil. I paired it with a cannellini feta puree and a salad of baby heirloom tomatoes, peppers and cucumber from the farmer’s market, mint and parsley. I dressed it with meyer lemon olive oil, sherry vinegar and lemon juice. Wow these scallops were huge, sweet and tender. The salad was so fresh and delicious with everything being in season. Everyone loved this simple summer dish.

Honey & Sumac Ice Yogurt, Balsamic Macerated Strawberries, Toasted Pistachios

One other thing I know Andrei loves in Pinkberry. I’ve never had it myself but I do love frozen yogurt. I made an “ice yogurt” with drained plain yogurt, acacia honey infused lightly with thyme, and sumac. I topped it with balsamic macerated strawberries and toasted pistachios.

Another summer dinner night under my belt…

Grilled Halibut & Asparagus July 23, 2008

I haven’t quite reached the level of settled in that warrants a pattern of good solid solo meals. After all it’s only been a week and a half since I moved in and having entertained three of those nights and having made probably over ten trips total to Ikea, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond, I haven’t had much time for cooking or grocery shopping for myself. One other reason I haven’t really grocery shopped is because I have a smaller than standard fridge which means I gotta keep my fridge pretty clear if I foresee any entertaining in the near future. Thank goodness for my hungry belly tonight I had some leftover grilled halibut from Monday when I had my family over for dinner. I grilled up some asparagus from the farmer’s market and served it alongside the halibut with sliced onion, cilantro and lemon.

Urasawa July 18, 2008

I finally ate at Urasawa yesterday with a few fellow food lovers. A real treat, an expensive one at that. But totally affordable with the help of my birthday Urasawa fund I gratefully received from a group of friends. I could barely contain my excitement when I got to the restaurant. I tried to stop smiling like a big dork but could not help myself. Needless to say the meal was amazing. Chef Hiro is incredible, inspiring and such a nice guy. He wrote down each of our names, joked around with us, gave us one of the most amazing meals ever. The dinner was everything I expected it to be and more. The three hours went by too fast and I’m pining to go back.

We started off with a vinegary aperitif shot to perk up our palate.

Seared tuna with grated daikon, gold leaf and ponzu.

Beautiful sashimi.

Abalone with shrimp, abalone innards.

Nice pieces of toro to be seared.

Nice pieces of toro searing. One of which totally exploded oil all over me. We had a laugh over it.

Meltingly tender braised beef.

Shrimp, beef, foie, scallop, and another fish I can’t remember ready to be dipped into hot broth.

Shabu shabu time! The foie was only dipped for few seconds. WOW. One of the most amazing this I’ve ever had! It just melted into my mouth.

After the shabu shabu the sushi course part of our meal started. Here are a few of my favorites…

Here’s the best uni sushi I’ve ever had.

Huge chunk of toro.

Amazing toro sushi.

Squid sushi so fresh with a touch a grated yuzu.

Smoky and meaty shiitake sushi – the best mushroom we’ve ever had.

Japanese herring.

This was a sushi with a mound of small white shrimps. The shrimps were so sweet and tender. They melted into my mouth.

Chef Hiro called all the beef that came out simply “Japanese beef”. Wish I asked exactly which type. It’s beautifully marbled and seared for just seconds to slightly render the surface fat. Amazing.

Giant shrimp heads, live and kickin just seconds before.

Giant shrimp sushi. Yum! I love the texture and sweet flavor of amaebi.

Chopped Spanish mackarel and miso sushi.

Once we were done with our bottle of Namazake, unpasteurized sake, we moved onto hot tea. Chef Hiro is hard at work in the background.

Almost the end of the meal… peach gelatin.

It was a sad time when the dinner ended but it did end with a delicious black sesame ice cream and green tea. After which we had several cups of hojicha.

One dish that was amazing but I didn’t take a picture of was the egg custard with salmon eggs. These were the sweetest more pure tasting salmon eggs I’ve ever had with a smooth egg custard. And you know I love my eggs. The rest of the pictures including all the sushi is on my flickr. I couldn’t remember every single sushi. Maybe I need to eat more sushi to boost my memory. And also check out Kirk’s exponentially more informational and knowledgeable post on his awesome Urasawa meal. What can I say, I’m just a good eater!

Chocolate Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting July 16, 2008

I heard through the grapevine a friend was wishing for loads of peanut butter and chocolate for her birthday. This addiction could be stemmed from the fact that I made chocolate peanut butter cupcakes for Boy’s birthday a few years ago that friends went loony over. I was in the middle of moving but made a little time for some cake baking. The reason that I decided to do a chocolate banana cake is because my friend is commonly known as Hana Banana. So perfectly appropriate!

I baked two pans of Joy of Baking’s chocolate banana cake so that I could stack them for a double layer cake. I stuffed the middle with a banana filling made with chopped and mashed bananas, buttermilk, and a spoonful of peanut butter frosting. The frosting was made with an excellent recipe I found online which calls for equal parts of butter and creamy peanut butter.

The cake turned out delicous! Chocolate and peanut butter is a sweet combination I love. One thing I didn’t take into consideration was how many bananas would actually make up the cake after I double stacked it and stuffed it — seven to be exact. Let’s just say the cake weighed a ton. But with a cute fondant banana cluster on top and lots and lots of chocolate and peanut butter a birthday wish was fulfilled.

Summer Dinner Nights July 15, 2008

Tonight was the third night in my new apartment and also the night of the second dinner I’ve hosted. This time it was for a close college friend of mine whose birthday (way past) I wanted to celebrate (way late) with a nice dinner. Although it’s only been three days since I fully moved in I feel home here. And I’m starting to like the emerging pattern of these summer dinner nights.

Since I had already decided that I would be doing two dinners back to back in a new environment, one with only a teeny bit of counter space, I went about it smartly by incorporating a lot of the same ingredients.

I started us off with a heirloom tomato caprese salad using Mandara buffalo mozzarella which is sooo delicious. Creamy, tender, milky. I dressed the salad with a basil meyer lemon olive oil dressing. I pounded basil into a paste in my mortar and pestle and then whisked into it lemon juice and the meyer lemon olive oil. A well made caprese is one of my favorite simple pleasures. The Italians know what they’re doing.

For the main course I made grilled rib eye steak with muhammara, duck fat fries and arugula. I made a fresh batch of fries of course with rosemary salt. The muhammara which only gets better with time and paired deliciously with the steak and peppery arugula. We drank Ruffino Chianti Il Ducale with this. I forgot to take a picture of the main course but it has a high resemblance to the duck confit plate, with the fries, arugula and muhammara providing the main colors in the dish. Except this time it was was a juicy rib eye.

Once again the warm nectarine crumble & honeyed ice yogurt showed its summer head again. When I made my first batch yesterday I saved half of the topping for today. Dessert was ready in a few minutes. All I had to do was chop up nectarines, top it with the premade crumble mixture and dot it with few tablespoons of butter. The honeyed ice yogurt was all ready to go in the freezer. Bites of warm nectarine crumble and cool tangy sweet frozen yogurt sure does make summer feel good.

A Dinner… Heirloom Tomato, Duck, Nectarine July 14, 2008

I decided to cook two of my close friends a nice birthday dinner this year instead of buying them a gift. This would be perfect timing since I had just fully moved into my very own apartment yesterday. Today was the dinner. Talk about breaking in the apartment right? I told each friend of the plan and told them they could bring one guest to celebrate with them. I cooked, they ate, we drank. I feel totally settled into my apartment now.

Heirloom Tomato Salad, Nicoise Olives, Feta Mousse, Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

I started them off with a simple seasonal salad adapted from Gavin Kaysen’s Greek Salad with Feta Mousse recipe. I dressed my version with meyer lemon olive oil, lemon juice and a touch of sherry vinegar. I sprinkled fresh marjoram on top which I’ve been getting addicted to lately. The aroma is so lovely. The creamy milder feta mousse was a nice departure from the crumbled sorta deal one usually eats in a Greek salad. Sippin’: Gainey Vineyard 2006 Riesling. (thnx tash!)

Grilled Duck Confit, Muhammara, Duck Fat Fries with Rosemary Fleur de Sel, Arugula

Next up was duck confit. I know you’re probably thinking again?! I love duck confit. Also it’s pretty fuss free and you can prep a whole batch ahead of time and easily crisp up the skin right before serving. I grilled them this time for a change instead of throwing them in a blistering oven. I paired the duck confit with muhammara which is a Middle Eastern dip usually served with pita as an appetizer. It’s made with roasted bell peppers, walnuts and pomegranate molasses. Now I can’t waste all the that duck fat that was left over. Duck fat fries were in order. These were made with yukon gold potatoes and seasoned with mortar & pestled rosemary fleur de sel. These were addicting. A small bundle of arugula was lightly dressed and tucked between the duck and the fries. Sippin’: Newman’s Own 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Nectarine Crumble, Honeyed Ice Yogurt

I kept the dessert super simple but super delicious. Plump juicy nectarines from the farmer’s market were baked with a delicious brown sugar, oat and almond crumble mixture and served with homemade ice yogurt sweetened with acacia honey. Sippin: Lindemann’s Peche Lambic.

I think my friends enjoyed the dinner. Thanks to Boy for helping too.

No Cream Creamed Corn July 2, 2008

I’m moving! Only two miles away from my current residence with my parents but my very own apartment for one. I’ve been cleaning and packing, and being lazy with the weather being so darn warm and all. I’ve been neglecting my farmer’s market purchases but today I finally got around to the four ears of corn. I pureed it in the food processor then cooked it over medium heat with butter, a bit of water, and fresh marjoram. Served it topped with a small knob of butter, marjoram flowers, and piment d’esplette. Oh my god so simple! Seriously.