entree Archive

cookoff challenge #2

So, this is long overdue but at last I am posting about our LBC vs. PDX Cookoff Challenge #2. In all of our defense, the challengers – Taylor and Brittany – got married on April 10th (just a couple days after we actually did the cookoff challenge) and so they have been just slightly busy. I think we can forgive them for taking awhile to get me their cookoff photos. I will also say that Nich and I were able to attend their wedding and it was so much fun! Good people, good dance tunes, good food – and all to celebrate a really great couple. So, here’s to the Springles!

As you may recall from the first challenge, this is a Chopped-style cooking competition with 4 mystery ingredients. Unlike Chopped, once we find out what crazy ingredients we have to work with, we get a couple days to get our act together (this is real life, and not reality TV afterall) and dream up our culinary masterpieces. So far, the ingredient lists have been strange but the results have been awesome.

For cookoff number 2, we had to create a dish that incorporated these 4 ingredients (which we picked blindly, of course):
Salmon
Yellow Onion
Linguini Noodles
Tzatziki Sauce

So, yet again we ended up with a bizarro combination of ingredients. And seafood, again! (I think Taylor was slightly crushed. He really wants to cook some “real” meat. He is from Texas, after all. But, alas, it wasn’t in the cards.)

I wasn’t terribly excited about this mix of ingredients, to be honest. The linguini basically limited our dish to a pasta dish, and I didn’t want to do a pasta dish. I wanted total cooking freedom! But that also wasn’t in the cards. I personally think that these ingredients were harder to deal with than the last set (for those who dont remember, last time we had: scallops, cucumber, sweet potato and whisky) but I am happier with the end result. So here is what we came up with!

Nich & Lindsay’s challenge meal was:
A salmon rilette with a fresh tzatziki and dill garnish, served on crostini (*note: a rilette can be described as a ‘country pate’. A rilette is normally made from pork that is slow-cooked in its own fat, but a salmon rilette is made from steamed salmon, which is then chilled and mixed clarified butter, dill, chives, and creme fraiche. In this case, we substituted tzatiziki for creme fraiche). The salmon rilette was accompanied with a linguini pasta with carmelized yellow onions and a tarragon brown butter sauce.

Nich & Lindsay’s comments: We were blown away by this meal. Seriously, we loved it. We took a risk this time and invited our friends Joe and Beyth over to try our grand experiment, and they also loved the meal. The salmon rilette was unbelievably creamy and flavorful (as it should be…it has a LOT of butter in it), and the tzatziki brought an amazing brightness to the rilette. The pasta was really light and fresh (we bough fresh linguini noodles from our favorite local italian grocery), with hints of sweetness from the carmelized onions – which complimented the rest of the plate nicely. I was nervous about the pasta sauce as I sort of made it up as I was cooking, but it turned out really well. Overall, the meal felt elegant and cohesive. And so tasty! We ate every last bite.

Taylor & Brittany’s meal was:
Baked salmon which was double battered first in flour and then in bread crumbs, with cajun and BBQ spices. The salmon was served atop a home-made lemon zest linguini with a warm tzatiki sauce along with grilled red bell peppers and yellow onions. The tzatiki sauce was thickened with milk and corn starch, so it resembled more of a pasta sauce than traditional tzatziki.

Taylor & Britts comments: The salmon was great – especially for us, as neither of us are really fans of salmon. The batter added a nice crunchy texture and the savory spices and heat worked well with the fishy flavor that salmon can have. The home-made lemon linguini noodles were wonderful on their own, but they were overwhelmed by the other strong flavors of the dish. But, still – it was homemade linguini! The grilled bell peppers and onions added texture, flavor and color to the pasta. Lastly, the warm tzatziki sauce had an a great flavor, which paired well with the rest of the dish. However, since tzatziki is a familiar flavor (that we are used to eating cold) it was slightly strange and off-putting to me (Taylor) but Brittany loved the whole thing.

So…now you tell us! Who’s meal is your favorite (and why?)?!
Vote!

lamb legs, egg salad, & the windy city.

A wise woman by the name of Alanis Morisette once said the words “And life has a funny, funny way, of sneaking up on you.”

Its true, Alanis. Life has this funny way of sneaking up on you and before you know it, the entire month of April has magically disappeared.

That being said, I’m off to Chicago tomorrow for a business trip, and I haven’t had much time to cook or post in recent weeks. Since I can’t imagine that any of you will be roasting a leg of lamb any time soon, I will spare you my cheeky observations and simply link you to the amazing recipe I used for our Easter feast. I cannot get over how good the lamb was! And I will admit, the recipe is a bit of work (i.e. probably not the best for a quick weeknight meal) but would be perfect for any holiday, family gathering, dinner party, etc. The only change that Nich and I made to the recipe was that we pulled the lamb out of the oven a little bit early and then finished the lamb on the grill for a few minutes, which worked out rather nicely.

Here’s my darling husband and my adorable mom (with the delicious leg of lamb, of course):

I’m still waiting on pictures from Taylor & Brittany for our second cook-off challenge (HINT HINT), but I did whip up a delightful egg salad last week that I will share with you all. I was inspired by all the post-Easter egg salad recipes that were floating about the blog world and decided to create my own from ingredients I had on hand. It was everything I was hoping for: mustardy, herby, eggy goodness.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I’m a sucker for a good egg salad. And this, my friends, was a good egg salad.

Garden-inspired egg salad (and/or “things I had in my fridge/garden/pantry egg salad”)

12 eggs
3-4 tbs of Mayo (I used Veganaise, which is what I had on hand and I think tastes better than real mayo anyway).
1 tbl spicy dijon mustard
1 tbl yellow mustard
A splash of white vinegar
1 tbl chopped cilantro
1 tbl chopped fresh dill
1/2 of a shallot, finely diced
A pinch of sugar
Salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste.

While there are many theories on how to perfectly hard boil an egg, I used this method and it worked out pretty nicely (my only complaint is that my eggs didn’t peel as nicely as I would have liked, but since these were just being chopped up to go into egg salad it doesn’t really matter): Put all your eggs into a large pot. Cover with cold water, no more than one inch above the eggs. Put the pot on the stove and bring the water just to a boil. Remove from heat, and cover with a lid. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 15-17 minutes. After this time, rinse the eggs with cold water to stop the cooking process. For the egg salad, peel and dice the eggs.

Mix the diced eggs with all the above ingredients (I guessed on the measurements, the most important thing is to make it taste how you want it to taste!) and serve on toasted bread with your choice of fixins. I ate mine with whole wheat sourdough, tomato, pepper jack cheese, and organic leafy greens from my garden!

shrimp & grits: all grown up.

For those of you who don’t recall (or didn’t read my post on Lent), Nich and are are partaking in Orthodox Lent this year. There are lots of different interpretations of Orthodox Lent, but essentially you give up meat & dairy for 6 weeks. So, Nich and I have been eating a (mostly) vegan diet for the past six weeks.

That being said, there are a few funny exceptions to the Lent/vegan diet. For example, while meat and dairy are not allowed during Lent – most shellfish (shrimp, crab, clams, etc) are allowed. Nich explained that this practice dates back to biblical times, when fishermen would throw back all the shrimp and crabs that were caught in their fishing nets. While regular fish were prized, shellfish were deemed as ‘rubbish’. As I understand it, it is for this reason that the Orthodox do not categorize shellfish as meat. Therefore, shellfish can be eaten during Lent.

In any case, it seems that I dove headfirst into the world of vegan cooking and completely forgot about the great shellfish exception until this past week. I had invited a friend over for dinner and I was having trouble deciding what to make. I just couldn’t think of a vegan recipe that sounded new & exciting. But then…I remembered the shrimp exception! As soon as I realized that I could make shrimp, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a “grown up” version of shrimp and grits. I’m not sure why I decided upon this meal so quickly, but I did. There is something so creamy and smooth about polenta and/or grits (which, by the way…just found out that they are pretty much the exact same thing! Mind blowing. How had that not occured to me before?) and I think my palette has really missed that creamy texture.

So, this recipe is a combination of a Mario Batali recipe (LOVE HIM.) and a recipe of my own. The dish was rich, creamy (yet with no dairy!), spicy, and surprisingly hearty. My friend ended up cancelling at the last minute, and I don’t think Nich minded at all. He was happy to take one for the team and eat her portion. :)

Overall, I have loved the entire process of Great Lent. As we draw near to Easter, I can honestly say that it means more to me this year. I have felt the bright sadness of the Lenten season, and I will celebrate the Resurrection that much more fully. And yes, there will be a leg of lamb involved in my Easter Feast and I am so terribly excited to eat it. You don’t even know.

“Grown Up” Shrimp & Grits (and/or Shrimp with Fire Roasted Tomato & Bell Pepper Sauce and Polenta)
With inspriation from Mario Batali

Ingredients
10-12 large (uncooked) shrimp, thawed, peeled, and deveined (I left the tails on).
1 can Muir Glen brand Fire Roasted Tomatoes (or any fire roasted tomatoes, but I promise that these are the best! They are usually in the ‘organic’ section of the grocery store.)
2 Tbl Tomato Paste
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 Garlic Cloves, smashed
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 cup Roasted red (and yellow) peppers, diced (**You can either buy your own from any grocery store, or you can roast your own like I did. Notes on roasting your own peppers below).

Begin by preparing the shrimp (peel & devein if they aren’t already). Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Quickly sautee the shrimp on each side, and be careful not to overcook! They cook SUPER fast. As soon as the shrimp turn pink, remove them from the pan and set aside for later. (Don’t worry, you’ll be adding them back into the sauce and giving them a little bit more cooking later)

In the same pan, sautee the garlic cloves and sliced shallots over medium heat until tender and starting to brown. Once the shallots are tender, add in the fire roasted tomatoes (and juice from can), tomato paste, roasted red peppers, chili flakes, and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to low and let the sauce simmer gently. While the sauce is simmering, prepare the polenta:

For The Polenta:
I used Martha Stewart’s polenta recipe. Its super easy – and it does not contain any dairy. A lot of people are afraid to make polenta, becaues you have whisk the polenta constantly (and you do) but it goes super quickly, and I think its an extremely easy recipe.

For the Roasted Red Peppers: If you want to make your own roasted peppers all you need to do is turn your oven broiler to high, and place the peppers on a baking sheet and put them at the top of the oven, close to the broiler (If you have a gas range, you can also use tongs and hold the peppers over the flame on your stovetop). Now you wait a few minutes let the peppers get black! (Mind you, make sure your kitchen fan is on, as we definitely set off the smoke alarm). Granted, dont char the peppers, but don’t be afraid to let the skin blacken – it will only take a few minutes. Use tongs to flip the peppers every few minutes, so that all the sides blacken. When all sides of the pepper are nicely blackened, take them out of the oven and transfer to a bowl. Cover the peppers with plastic wrap (this will allow the peppers to steam and will trap the steam in with the peppers, cooking them further and loosening the skins). After ten minutes, they should be cool enough to handle. Remove the outer layer of burnt skin and remove stems & seeds. Voila! You have roasted red peppers.

eating green: spinach pasta with kale and a pistachio & meyer lemon sauce.

In honor of our little sister Candyce’s wedding, Danielle and I made a date to hang out this past Saturday morning. Since we couldn’t be with Candyce on her wedding day, It seemed appropriate that we should at least be to be together. Danielle had the brilliant idea of going to the big Portland Farmers Market downtown. I have dearly missed the farmers markets (as they close down during the winter), but Saturday was the grand re-opening of the big farmers market by PSU.

I had never been to this particular market, as I usually go to a smaller one in my neighborhood. I was completely and totally blown away by the PSU farmers market. There were so many amazing vendors and farms! So much to taste, smell, sample (and buy!). I quickly realized that I was ill-prepared with my meager $5 in cash, and set about finding an ATM as I knew I would be buying much more than $5 worth of goods. After much deliberation, I ended up with a few potatoes, a beautiful (and huge!) leek, a big bunch of kale, a few yellow onions, a quart of coconut and lentil soup (SO DELICIOUS) and a 4 pound leg of lamb from SuDan Farms. (Note: The lamb is for our Easter feast…to break the Lenten fast! I will write more on the lamb when I actually cook it).

Needless to say, I am thrilled that it is farmers market season again. I came home from the market and promptly whipped up a light & fresh dinner that was inspired by the kale I bought at the market. I had seen a few adaptations of this pistachio and kale pasta recipe on Tastespotting (though, the recipe is originally from 101 Cookbooks) and so I set about putting my own spin on the pasta. This recipe caught my eye as the sauce is made from pistachios, and I don’t believe I’ve ever had a sauce made from pistachios. It just soundeded different. And good. So I set about making it.

Each of the recipes I saw (the original and an adaptation) called for a fruit element – one tossed the pasta with pomegranate seeds, and another with dried cranberries. For whatever reason, I wasn’t terribly excited about the prospect of either of those ingredients and decided to brighten the whole dish with a hint of Meyer Lemon juice instead. If you ask me, it was a great decision. The dish is something akin to a cold pasta salad, but lighter and fresher than your typical heavy (and creamy) pasta salad. The pistachios add a beautiful color and a great nutty texture. The meyer lemon really brightened the whole dish, and rounded out the flavor. When I make this dish again (and I will. It was delish!), I think I will try adding in roasted asparagus and fresh parmesean. I think that would make this a nearly perfect meal.

Pasta with Pistachio & Meyer Lemon Sauce
(Adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

1 package of spinach (or whole wheat) pasta noodles (I used spaghetti)
1 (small) bunch of fresh kale, de-stemmed and roughly chopped.
3/4 cup of roasted (shelled) pistachios
The juice of 1 Meyer Lemon (or regular lemon, whatever you have on hand)
2 gloves of garlic, smashed
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

To make the sauce:
Blend the olive oil, garlic, pistachios, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes in a food processor until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste (if you use salted pistachios you may want to be careful not to oversalt). If the sauce is too thick, add small amounts of olive oil and lemon juice to thin the sauce to your desired consistency. If you like spice (like I do) feel free to add more black pepper and chili flakes.

For the pasta:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add in the pasta and cook according to the package directions. Once the pasta is ready, add in the chopped kale and immediately remove from the heat. Make sure the kale is immersed in the water (use tongs, fork, etc) and immediately strain the whole pot (noodles & kale) and then rinse with cold water (to ensure that the noodles don’t stick together). If serving immediately, try to pat the pasta and kale dry, so as not to have excess water. A salad spinner works for this, too!

Toss the pasta and kale mixture with the pistachio sauce. Serve cold (or room temperature).

black bean chili

If you have known me for any length of time – or more specifically, if you have ever dined in my household – you have probably eaten my black bean chili. This is my go-to recipe, a trusty old standby that never disappoints. I have no idea where this recipe originated, but my friend Catherine made it for me years ago and I’ve been making it ever since. I often wonder how the combination of so few (and simple) ingredients can be SO good, but it never fails. I have never made a batch of this chili that I didn’t like.

The other night, I ended up throwing together a batch of this chili in a hurry. You see, I hadn’t planned on making dinner. Nich’s mom and stepdad were in town for the day, and we had all planned on going out to dinner together once they were done with their Portland errands and appointments (My in-laws – Meri and Jerry – live in Prineville, so we don’t get to see them often). Their errands took longer than expected, and put them a few hours behind schedule. I knew that they’d be eager to eat quickly – as they still had a 3+ hour drive ahead of them. I figured that a home-cooked meal would probably be a lot nicer than a fast food dinner, so I set about making my trusty black bean chili. Its cheap, and hearty, quick, and good.

They arrived at our house sooner than I expected and so I was mildly panicked that the soup wasn’t done to my liking. As with most things, this soup tastes better the longer you cook it. I was very apologetic, but alas they consumed the soup happily. (I need to take more cues from Julia Childs, who made it a point to never apologize for her food mishaps. She says that as a cook or hostess, one should not stumble through life second-guessing every meal you put on the table. Rather, know when you’ve made a mistake – but don’t make a big fuss – and learn from that mistake.)

Admittedly, this wasn’t the best pot of black bean chili I have ever made. It simmered for maybe 20 minutes and I usually like to let it simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. But I will say, there was a secret ingredient that saved the chili: one dried chipotle pepper. I don’t usually put chipotles in this particular chili, but Nich has been on a chipotle kick lately and suggested that we throw a chipotle in for kicks. I figured…why not? It ended up being a great decision – it gave the chili a smokiness and such a depth of flavor (and all credit goes to the husband on that one).

All in all, it was a successful pot of chili. And it was a lovely – but short – visit with my in-laws. And, do you notice anything different about my black bean chili photo? It was properly lit! Meri and Jerry knew that I have been struggling with finding good light in our house for my food photography – so they gave me a tripod and a professional light! I am just giddy about it. That very night, Nich and I set up the light and toyed around with it a bit. I had some extra chili so we managed to take a few pictures (you can also thank Nich for the avocado styling). I’m still new to this ‘real’ photographer stuff, but I am eager to learn. And I can already tell that good lighting is making all the difference. So, thank you to my wonderful and generous in-laws. It means so much that you support my food-blogging endeavors!

Black Bean Chili

4 cans of (organic) black beans (drain 3 cans & reserve the juice of 1 can)
1 can of plain tomato sauce
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes (you can roast your own, but this is much quicker! You could also use fresh tomatoes, but I like the taste of the fire roasted. Specifically, the Muir Glen brand)
1 medium yellow onion – cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 large red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 – 2 Tablespoons of Cumin
1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 – 2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 dried Chipotle pepper (*optional)

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the chopped onions and 1 Tbl of the cumin and let cook on medium/low for a couple of minutes, until onions are getting soft. Add in the chopped red pepper and sauté for a few more minutes. If you are using the chipotle pepper, you can add it at this time.

After a few minutes, add in the black beans (and juice of one can), fire roasted tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Stir well. Add in cayenne, chili powder and a bit more cumin (I recommend adding a small amount at first, and then tasting every 15 minutes or so to adjust seasonings. I use a LOT of chili powder and cumin in this recipe). Let the chili simmer on low heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When serving, ladle into bowls and top with grated cheese, sour cream, and green onions (non-vegan version) or with avocado and cilantro (vegan version). And, of course, this chili is great with cornbread.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup with Cilantro and Bacon.

So, the same night that Nich set about making butter, I decided to make another one of Thomas Keller’s recipes: Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon and Cilantro. Just take a moment and soak in those words. Lentils. Sweet Potatoes. Bacon. Cilantro. So much goodness in one pot of soup! Of course, I had to make it.

We had invited our friends Beyth and Joe over for dinner, and I warned them ahead of time that they were going to be my guinea pigs for the evening. I felt the need to warn them, as I always get nervous making a brand new recipe for friends. Even though it sounds terribly delicious, what if it turns out awful? (Like this summer, when I decided to make tempura for a few friends. Lets just say, I burned the oil and smoked out our tiny apartment and we had to sit and drink wine on the front porch for a half hour until the smoke cleared. Awesome.)

Thankfully, the soup wasn’t awful. It wasn’t awful at all. In fact, this might be one of the best soups I’ve ever made. It was that good. It had all the right elements – it was hearty, savory, with a touch of sweetness. The bacon adds just the right amount of fatty and salty goodness, and the cilantro adds a delightful freshness. I couldn’t get over it. The soup is great.

I had seen a couple variations of the recipe online and was going back and forth as to which variation I wanted to follow. One recipe (which I think is closer to the original Keller recipe) called for boiling the lentils in one pot, and the sweet potatoes in another pot, and then adding them later to the pot of onions, carrots, and broth (i.e. cooking things separately so you don’t get a pot of mushy soup). The other recipe threw everything into the same pot and let it all cook together until everything was cooked thoroughly.

In the end, I decided to try a combination of both recipes. I cooked the sweet potatoes separately (boiled them in a pot of water with a bay leaf, sprig of time, and some black peppercorns until they were soft) and set them aside until later. I know that lentils take a lot longer than sweet potatoes to cook, and so I didn’t want them breaking down too much. I added the lentils to the carrot, onion, and stock pot and let that simmer for 40 minutes or so. Then, right before I was ready to serve the soup – I added in the sweet potatoes, and took a potato masher to the whole pot and let it simmer for just a couple minutes (so that the soup was nice and thick and the flavors melded together). The recipe I’m posting here is the ‘throw it all in one pot’ variation, as I’m guessing that most people would prefter this method (less work, less dishes, etc), but feel free the recipe any way you like.

Lentil & Sweet Potato Soup with Bacon & Cilantro 
Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home and the Bitchin Camero blog.

6 thick slices applewood smoked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups French Lentils (Lentils de Puy)  (I actually used Spanish Lentils, which worked just as well)
8 cups chicken stock
1 – 2 tsp. yellow Curry powder
1 bay leaf
2 Sprigs of Thyme
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt & pepper  to taste
1 large handful of cilantro leaves

Set a very large pot over medium-low heat and cook the bacon until the fat renders and it begins to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve the bacon. Add the onions, carrots, and curry powder to the pot and cook in the bacon fat until soft – about 10 minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes, lentils, chicken stock, bay leaf, and thyme sprigs and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low or low and cook for 30 – 40 minutes, or until the potatoes and lentils are tender. I wanted to thicken my soup up a bit, so I mashed the soup with a potato masher about 15 times. This is optional.

Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Add the sherry vinegar and taste the soup. (*To be honest, I think I was too over-eager to eat the soup and forgot about adding the vinegar. I’m sure it lacked a little bit of that acidic punch that vinegar added, but the soup was still amazing.) Add salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowl and sprinkle with bacon bits and fresh cilantro leaves.

Thomas Keller’s Carmelized Sea Scallops

Thomas Keller’s Carmelized Scallops

(with a Fresh Salad of arugula, goat cheese, and pear)

The other night, I was feeling adventurous – I was in the mood to cook something gourmet. I had just seen a recipe posted on Tastespotting (my favorite source for food blogs!) for Thomas Keller’s carmelized sea scallops and I just knew I had to make them.

First of all, I love Thomas Keller. He is an extremely talented and award winning chef – but he is down to earth. His latest cookbook – Ad Hoc at Home – focuses on simplicity, quality ingredients, and taking the ‘gourmet’ and translating it down to the average American family. I asked for the book for Christmas, but alas the publisher didn’t print enough and so it is sold out until February!

The second reason why I had to make this recipe is simple: I love scallops. They are one of my absolute favorite things to eat (and, as far as I know, there aren’t any large moral issues looming over the consumption of scallops. If there are moral issues, don’t tell me because I want to live in ignorance! Scallops are just too good! :) ). Needless to say, I saw the words ‘Thomas Keller’ and ‘Scallops’ and I was sold. I knew what we were making for dinner.

So, one trip to Zupans and $10.00 later (Ten bucks for 8 large and beautiful sea scallops! Such a great price! Just think about what you’d pay for those in a restaurant.), our gourmet dinner was in the works. I like serving (and eating) scallops with a fresh salad, and so I also hunted for exciting salad ingredients at Zupans. The produce guy took full advantage of my enthusiasm and convinced me to buy some local pears, which were absolutely delicious. And thus, the arugula, pear, and goat cheese salad was born. I also happened to make a big batch of yellow mustard yesterday, and so the salad demanded a mustard vinaigrette. Yes, I said demanded. And yes, I made my own mustard. I have made two batches now (spicy brown and yellow) and I’ve been too lazy to post the recipe! I’m a bad food blogger. I will post the mustard recipe soon (I promise), but for now here is the recipes for the salad, vinaigrette, and the scallops.

Salad:

1 bunch fresh arugula (washed & dried)

1 ripe pear (sliced thinly)

1 package of soft (plain) goat cheese (spoon into little balls on top of the arugula and pears)

Mustard vinaigrette:

2 Tablespoons mustard (any kind! I used homemade, but I don’t expect that everyone has homemade mustard lying around the kitchen)

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon honey

1 tsp chopped rosemary

1/2 cup olive oil

Kosher salt & Fresh Ground pepper to taste

Caramelized Sea Scallops

excerpted from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller

*Before you start the recipe, here are my tips/hints: Clarified butter can be purchased at any grocery store. It has a much higher burning/smoking point than regular butter and has a richer, nuttier taste. If you do brine the sea scallops (you don’t have to, but it definitely enhances the flavor) don’t be frustrated if the salt doesn’t all dissolve immediately. Nich and I had to use more hot water than the recipe called for (and thus used less cold water) to dissolve the salt. You don’t want to brine them in all hot water, however, because this will cook the scallops.

Ingredients:

2 cups kosher salt, plus more to taste

2 cups hot water

8 cups cold water

8 large sea scallops (more or less depending on your preference. Nich and I each had 4), preferably dry-packed, tough side muscle removed from each one

About 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) Clarified Butter

1/2 lemon (optional)

Line a small baking sheet with paper towels. Combine the 2 cups salt with the hot water in a large bowl, stirring to dissolve the salt. Add the cold water.

Add the scallops to the brine and let stand for 10 minutes (no longer, or the scallops may become too salty). Drain the scallops, rinse under cold water, and arrange in a single layer on the paper towels.

Heat the clarified butter in a large stainless steel frying pan over medium-high heat until it ripples and begins to smoke. (Although you may be tempted to use a nonstick pan, a stainless steel pan will produce a more beautiful caramelized exterior.) Sprinkle the scallops lightly with salt and add them to the pan, without crowding. (If necessary, cook the scallops in two pans or in 2 batches; if they touch, they will steam rather than caramelize.)

Cook, without moving the scallops, until the bottoms are a rich golden brown, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Turn the scallops and caramelize the second side.

Transfer the scallops to a serving platter and serve with a squeeze of lemon juice on top, if desired.