Take a couple weeks ago, for instance.  We happened to have a couple of beautiful, succulent scallops that were leftover from a night of sushi and burgers with the neighbors (somehow that combo just worked for us).  Ordinarily, I would automatically turn to my resident grill master, or pan sear them with some garden herbs.  However, a rummage in the fridge produced some broccoli grown all but 2 miles away, which had somehow gotten lost in our sea of CSA and farm market vegetables.  Too often do our vegetables end up blanched, sauteed, or roasted as an afterthought.  What would help us learn to appreciate both the protein AND the vegetable?

For some reason I thought of one of Hubby’s favorite dishes – mayonnaise shrimp.  If you’ve never had it at a Cantonese restaurant before, here’s an example.  I’ve never made it at home, and I shudder when I think about how the shrimp and walnuts are deep-fried, then coated with a heaping combination of mayonnaise and condensed milk.  It is OH SO GOOD though.

Combine that inspiration with my Dad’s love of cornstarch in his cooking, a basic awareness of fat consumption, and great ingredients, and I present you with:

Mayonnaise Scallops
Original Recipe

Serves 2

Make the candied walnuts:

1/2 cup walnuts
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves.  Add walnuts and boil for 5 minutes.  Remove walnuts and drain on paper towels.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Place walnuts on a small cookie sheet and bake in oven, stirring occasionally, until toasted, 5 more minutes.  Set aside.

Make the mayonnaise sauce:

1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp honey

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl, quickly to prevent curdling. Adjust acidity or sweetness if necessary. Set aside.

Make the broccoli and scallops:

Broccoli
1 head broccoli, chopped, stems peeled
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt

Scallops
4 large scallops, sliced in half vertically
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Blanch the broccoli: Boil a large pot of water.  Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl with water and ice.  Add broccoli stems and boil for 2 minutes.  Add broccoli florets and boil for 2-3 minutes, until florets are bright green and tender crisp.  Transfer broccoli to the ice bath to stop cooking, then drain well.

Meanwhile, dredge the scallops: Pat scallops dry with paper towels.  Combine cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.  Dredge each scallop half in the cornstarch mixture and shake off the excess.

Pan fry the broccoli: Heat a large saucepan on medium high heat with 2 tsp olive oil.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes; stir until garlic is aromatic but not burned, about 1 minute.  Carefully add broccoli (it may splatter) and saute until tender but not mushy, about 3 minutes.  Remove from pan onto serving plates and scrape out any debris.

Pan fry the scallops: Add 2 tsp olive oil to the pan.  Add scallops and fry for 2-3 minutes or until scallop releases easily from the pan and is golden brown.  Flip over scallops and cook for an additional 2 minutes or until golden brown.  If necessary, fry the sides of the scallops as well.  Drain on paper towels and place on top of broccoli.

Top scallops with mayonnaise sauce, then walnuts (reheat walnuts in oven at 300 degrees for 5 minutes, if needed).  Serve with rice.

These would be our Moms’ thought bubble words: mild, roasted, grilled, steamed, white meat (i.e. chicken or fish), garlic free, low sodium

And these would be our Dads’: fried, grilled, red meat (i.e. beef beef beef), spicy, peppery, salty, garlicky, FRIED

So on the one day a year the fathers actually get the say (well, according to my mom, such a day doesn’t exist), we dedicated the food to what our Dads dream about.

What Did We Cook?

We definitely enjoyed this meal European style – started around 12:30 and ended at 5. The slow pace really helped, since as usual we made too much food.

We recently found a primo fishmonger at one of the indoor farmers’ markets that bests the one near us. He gladly brought down some fresh calamari from the shop just for us. When he took it out, he asked, “So how are you guys going to cook it?” I said, “Ummm…fry it”, anticipating the noticeable cringe from the man who just sold us these beautiful babies. He goes, “Do me a favor. Grill some of them in lemon, basil, salt and pepper. For the fried ones, I like to soak them in buttermilk first, then dip in Wasa flour.”

We guiltily took the calamari home and thought it best to follow his wishes. Well, I couldn’t find the Wasa flour, but I think we did him (and the squid) justice:

The fried calamari was accompanied by a slightly spicy marinara that I made from plain tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and fresh oregano and basil. The entire 2 pounds were consumed in about 3 minutes. Great props to the guys at Metropolitan Seafood (metroseafood.com)!

The main course was an array of fresh vegetables topped with a juicy ribeye steak. Veggies featured were peas (my first time ever using fresh peas), zephyr squash (half green and yellow on the same squash), kohlrabi (sliced thinly and hiding under the steak), and vidalia onions (not local yet, and of course fried). The plate was garnished with some local micro arugula pea leaves, which are AMAZINGLY delicious and beautiful.

Wish I had taken a picture of the ribeye. It was encrusted with a mix of peppercorns, coffee beans, rosemary, and parsley – all ground up in the coffee grinder Hubby never uses. Extra crust for Hubby’s Dad. The sauce was a balsamic reduction with black cherries, cherry preserves, red wine, and honey. Mmmmmmm I think it’s the sexiest sauce I’ve made to date.

Last but not least, we had dessert. Sorry guys, I didn’t make the ice cream this time around, but we did stick to local goods. Hubby grilled some super sweet pineapple skewers with just a touch of local honey. We tossed in some blueberries that we picked the day before for some added color. It was a perfect, simple ending.

I think we had people leaving with happy thought bubbles.

Happy Father’s Day!

This is the first year we’re trying one – we’re actually splitting a half-share with my in-laws since I can’t really eat lettuce (and boy, do you get a lot of it).  We don’t reap enough in our bi-weekly share to feed us for two weeks, so we still do make trips to the farmer’s market.

One of the best things about a CSA – aside from what I’ve already mentioned – is being exposed to new things I’ve never made or eaten before, and being challenged to cook them that week.  For 2 full-time working adults, it’s difficult to think of ways to cook them other than stir-frys on those exhausting weekdays.  Luckily our CSA posts recipe suggestions!

In our first pickup:

• 2 heads of romaine, 1 head butter lettuce, 1 head red lettuce
• 1 lb. salad mix
• Radishes
• Young turnips
• 5 garlic scapes
• Frill (spicy and looks like frisee)
• 1 lb. Mustard greens
• 1 lb. Spinach
• 1 giant head bok choy
• 5 tatsoi

At first glance, I thought I knew what everything was.  But then I realized that I’ve never actually cooked anything before other than the spinach, lettuce, and bok choy!

The most interesting item was the garlic scape.  You actually let garlic keep growing until there is very little bulb and the green shoot gets long and curly.  The taste is somewhere between garlic and scallion.  We tossed it in our veggie sautes and lettuce cups (last post, didn’t include it in the recipe) and it added a nice roundness instead of the sharpness you get from garlic.

Other interesting uses: turnips glazed with butter and ginger ale (an Alton Brown recipe recommended by the CSA), and radishes that I sliced into coins, topped with fresh oregano, and roasted.

Want to find a CSA near you?  http://www.localharvest.org/

Memorial Day weekend was extremely hectic this year.  My uncle turned 60 and threw a big clam/lobster-bake bash at my parents’ house, then we celebrated my mom’s birthday the next evening!

To top off the biggest meal I have ever experienced in my life, I made my uncle’s birthday cake.

Tip #1: Be wary of trying new recipes in a public setting

I made this frosting based on rave reviews from my sister.  It was a failure, as it’s not meant for decorating (other reviews warned me, but I tried anyway).  It was super soft and impossible to pipe.  I also found the flavor and texture lacking but that was my fault, substituting half of the butter with shortening.

Tip #2: Value the power of cookie borders

My cake design included a pirouline cookie border, so neatness was salvaged and it ended up looking quite trendy against the messy icing.

Tip #3: It IS possible to put fresh fruit in a cake

I was very nervous putting fruit inside a cake – it can run, turn brown, or sometimes even mold.  I waited until just a couple hours before to assemble.  Squeezing lemon juice on the bananas and then nestling them in the cream was extremely effective.

Tip #4: Syrup ahead of time, or figure out a better wrapping method

The cake was a bit dry – my parents’ oven is broken so I had to bake the layers and bring them over 2 days ahead of time.  I should have poured the simple syrup on before wrapping the layers in plastic and foil instead of waiting until the day I assembled the cake.  I still haven’t quite figured out a good way to do this.

16″ yellow cake filled with strawberries and bananas nestled on vanilla pastry cream

In college I found a recipe for Chocolate French Macarons.  I had no idea what they were but decided to make them.  Of course, when you don’t know what the end result is supposed to look like, and when you don’t have a foundational knowledge of baking, who knows what you get?  I ended up with some really delicious but decidedly sticky and cracked, flattish sandwich cookies.  The frustration with the general mechanics and required amount of time made me vow not to make them again for a long time.

Come Mother’s Day, I wanted to make something special.  Now knowing what macarons are, and being a bit more experienced in the baking department, I decided to attempt them again.  It was doubly sweet because the macarons and that Paris trip were a fond memory for my mom.  Macarons are typically made with almond flour, a giant no-no because my dad is allergic to all nuts except pine nuts, macadamia nuts, and pistachios – we don’t really get it either.  I found a recipe made entirely out of pistachio flour and was very pleased with the results.

They look big in the picture, but they were slightly smaller than 1″ – still working on my measuring skills.  I made about 180 halves (also brought a batch to a work bridal shower) and filled them with pistachio buttercream.

Let’s just say 90 cookies doesn’t last long in my circle of family and friends.  Yum.

Want to make them?  http://joakitchen.blogspot.com/2005/11/pistachio-macarons.html

Luckily I did the core decorations before I got ill, and hubby stepped in to help me with the baking to minimize contamination risks.

Here’s one of them – it was for a little cake decorating competition that I unfortunately placed last in.  We’re blaming the loss on size (everyone else had a multi-tier cake), and the fact that I was subsisting off gingerale and toast.  I had fun despite the obstacles and the bakery owner told me that I should consider decorating beyond hobby status (nice of her to say).  Plus they put my cake on display in the window! 

I wanted to do a celebration of spring fruits and vegetables since we love eating locally.  I made carrots, strawberries, asparagus, morels, and snap peas.

Tip #1: Pink is not a good color for a basketweave.

Tip #2: Weigh your health against the importance of the event.  Or get a really wonderful spouse that will bake your cake for you so you can stay put in a chair and decorate.  Helps when it’s not being eaten and you can get away with a box cake and mostly shortening inside.

The other cake I made WAS for consumption – a bridal shower cake for my hubby’s close family friend.  Thanking my lucky stars that no one got ill from neither contagions nor rotten cake.  I think it was decently attractive also.  I got to sample a piece the next day and it was surprisingly scrumptious!!

This was round 2 of the Rose Levy Berenbaum’s All Occasion Yellow Cake recipe – remember I made it for my husband’s birthday cake?  Not sure if sickness helps, but this time it came out fantastic.  One difference I made was a simple syrup that I brushed liberally over each layer to maintain moisture (but didn’t really add sweetness).

The one complication was ruining the 2nd layer when we tried to take it out of the pan – let’s just say we now have plenty of trifle cake in the freezer now.  A quick run to the store and a million more eggs later and we were done.

Yellow cake filled with Nutella mousse (now my fave filling) and covered in chocolate ganache.  Calla lilies are made with gumpaste, dusted with yellow petal dust.  Fondant handkerchief has the bride and groom’s monogram, pearls have pink luster dust.

Tuna Rollatini (Lidia Bastianich) with Beet and Avocado Salad (Alice Waters)

Braised Buffalo Short Ribs (adapted from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Cooking) with Beer-Braised Carrots

Homemade Pizza (yes, the dough too) – ignore our ugly blackened pizza stone

Shrimp and Mango Rice Salad (http://www.everwell.com)

Chicken Sesame Noodles – peanut buttery goodness

1) I haven’t baked nor decorated a layer cake since January 2009.

2) In the almost 8 years we have been together, I have baked my husband only 1 cake.  Yes, even during the years we were dating and still in “I’m out to impress you” mode.

Bizarre, right?  Well, I decided I was going to end both streaks in one shot by baking hubby his birthday cake.  BTW, he has had something with a candle in it every year, it’s just either his mom made it, or it wasn’t a cake.  So none of you have to boohoo him about it.

Here it is.  The parenthetic “Jon” is from years of his family trying to get me to call him by his full given name, with me resisting along with all of his school friends.  This was the compromise.

My experience: I’ve tried a couple of recipes in Rose Levy Berenbaum’s The Cake Bible, and the woman is a genius chemist and baker.  Problem is, even with her very specific instructions, success still requires finesse and practice.  The result?  A yellow cake that was delicious, but a bit dry on my first run.  No problem – cover it with chocolate ganache, fill it with Nutella mousse, and you forget about the crumbies.  Except for the oh-so-permanent state of photographs:

Still, I can’t be upset that it still ended up gloriously 12 inches high and that mousse (my own recipe) was fantastic.  If you butter me up enough (not too much, I’m relatively lactose-intolerant) maybe I’ll share the mousse recipe with you.

Success!!!  Even though this kind of dish is a guaranteed intestinal disruption to my afternoon, I was able to bring much happiness to my beloved’s special day.

Tip: PAY ATTENTION.  My past failures were all due to my undiagnosed ADD.  The key is to whisk the melted butter in slllowwwwwwly and in a stready stream, whisking as if your life depended on it.  If the butter is too cool it won’t do that cool emulsifying thing it supposed to do and will instead separate and just taste like you melted a stick of butter.

Proper Hollandaise – be still my heart.  Literally.

One of several experiments was traditional sesame balls, or phonetically, “jien duy”.  These are made of glutinous rice flour and filled with red bean or lotus seed paste, then covered with sesame seeds and deep fried to be puffy, sticky and crispy goodness.

This really brought me back to the days as a little kid sitting at the kitchen table helping my Grandma around Chinese New Year.  She would work using an old round waiter’s tray and I mainly remember lots of flour and kneading.  Wish I had made more effort to learn the language and the recipes – many have been lost with her passing.

One of my parents’ woks has a nifty rack attached to the top to drain oil:

The most difficult part was preventing the bean paste from squishing out.

Key Steps:
1) Roll a ball of dough in your palm
2) Use your 2nd knuckle on your opposite index finger to make a well.
3) Spoon some bean paste in the well, leaving adequate room on the sides to pinch.
4) Pinch closed like a dumpling, then gently re-roll into a ball.

I did substitute some of the glutinous rice flour with some regular rice flour based on another recipe, but their ratio made the dough too dry.  in the end i probably had an 8:1 ratio glutinous to regular, and added maybe 2 cups of water.  It’s one of those things where you just keep practicing and recognize what it’s supposed to be like.

It really came out tasty and light!  My aunt said Grandma would be proud.

We also made Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream, but made it creamier and more like a gelato by adding cornstarch ;

and Lychee Ice Cream that was inspired by a few recipes, but tweaked so much I think I can pretty much claim it as my own (not that I could repeat it because it morphed so much).  Extremely flavorful but it was much icier than I would have preferred due to the excess lychee juice.  I think I’ll try to drain it next time and use a custard base (used coconut milk and whole milk, no eggs or heavy cream);

plus Yellow Split Pea Pudding (ma dao gou).  My dad said, “Since when did you want to be so Chinese?”

Since I remembered how yummy roots are.