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Gifts from the sea
By Silver Blue
Something about home cooking that can’t be touched with ordering take-away, or cooking from cans. Here, we have baked scallops (with a panko bread crumb topping), and a melange of baby corn, snow peas, and broccoli.
No heavy sauces, no obscure ingredients. Just good, simple food, full of flavour, and healthy. What have YOU done to thank your body today?
Silver Blue, who is on his sixth litre of water today…talk about flushing the pipes! LOL!
Feasting for the Spirit (or, Food Part II)
By Silver Blue
Welcome to the second session of… well, delectable delights from my kitchen to your screen. (If I’ve put the recipe over on The Wannabe Gourmet, I’ve linked to it.)
Let’s start with an appetizer, shall we? Mozzarella Caprese: Garden ripe tomatoes (none of those hothouse, flavourless ones, please), fresh mozzarella, basil, and Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, and fresh ground black pepper. Plated, family style:
…and individually served with the oil, vinegar and pepper dressing.
Soup, anyone? Provided you can do coconut, and curry, here’s a Coconut Curry Soup with Butternut Squash, Shrimp, Scallops and baby Bok Choy:
There’s freshly chopped coriander (a/k/a cilantro) sprinkled atop this. It’s hard to describe the taste, as it’s made with Coconut Milk, Curry Paste, Fish Sauce, Chicken Stock, and the aforementioned veggies and proteins) A meal in it’s own right.
Next up, let’s have a Shrimp Sofrito, with tomatoes, peppers, red onions, and some awesome Manchego cheese (yes, the coriander/cilantro is present here as well):
Staying in the shrimp realm, take shrimp sauteed with minced garlic, add grilled asparagus and mini farfalle pasta, and you end up with:
There are scallions and cracked green pepper as well.
Maybe you’re in the mood for tuna, though. Sesame crusted tuna, served on a bed of brown rice with a side of Napa cabbage (cooked in a hot skillet with some chicken stock for flavour and to wilt it down) makes a great dinner as well!
Or, for the halibut (pun time, perhaps?), I have an herbed (dill) halibut fillet and oven roasted frites:
(Those are haricots (green beans) with minced shallot as the true veggie).
Chicken? LOL. I’ve got two non-seafood options for you there. The first, a chicken picatta:
The chicken breast is pounded thin, dusted with flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and sauteed quickly in a hot pan lightly filmed with olive oil. The pan is deglazed with lemon juice and capers, which are poured over the chicken and brown rice. Steamed broccoli rounds out the meal.
Or, maybe you’re in the mood for something a little more formal:
This chicken has been marinated in a dijon sauce, and is served alongside homemade sage dressing, and steamed veggies. Served with a sparkling white wine.
Finally, for dessert, we have lemon curd tartlettes with blackberries:
…which are simple in preparation, but intense in flavour.
Silver Blue, who is craving something extra tasty for dinner!
Taste Bud Temptations
By Silver Blue | 2 comments
2First off, a note about comments: If you wish to comment (and I welcome them), you have to click on the name of the post, which will open it, and the comment box is at the bottom of the screen.
I make no apologies for my love of cooking. I love deconstructing recipes to their base flavours and seeing if there are ways to lighten the calorie count without compromising taste or texture.
Whether from the land or sea, food takes many forms that interest me. Here, I present some photos that didn’t make it to The Wannabe Gourmet, and some that did. As I say over there, I’m no food stylist, nor am I a professional photographer. To that end, what you see is what I eat. Most likely within minutes of taking the picture. There are no tricks of the trade (toothpicks, food dye, Photoshop) involved.
Ebelskiver, a pancake puff that can be made savory or sweet. Here, they’re filled with finely diced ham, feather shredded cheese, and sauteed scallions:
3 or 4 of these delicacies, along with a fresh crisp green salad is all that it takes for a filling meal. Of course, you need a specialized pan to make them (Williams Sonoma sells an Ebelskiver Pan, and Bed Bath & Beyond calls it a “Pancake Puff Pan.” You can guess which is cheaper. Ergo, you can also tell which will last you longer and gives you the more consistent results. (Because of the specialty pan, this didn’t make The Wannabe Gourmet.)
Scallops, two ways:
Baked scallops (topped with fresh breadcrumbs and fresh grated Parmesan cheese) along with sauteed veggies. Sweet as a nut, and so very tasty. Step up the class (and calorie count), and lower the amount you can comfortably consume with Coquilles St. Jacques:
Enrobed in a Bechemel sauce (a white sauce made of a roux (flour and butter) and cream), sauteed scallops and scallions are topped with finely shredded cheese and placed under the broiler just long enough to brown the cheese. A dish this size (a standard soup bowl) could feed two or even three comfortably when served with veggies, a salad, or even fruit.
Another dish that didn’t make it to The Wannabe Gourmet was this simplistic Chorizo based pasta sauce with steamed broccoli and fruit cup. The thing I loved about this photo is the glass the fruit cup is in. There’s no liquid in it. I merely chilled it before placing the fruit in it, and the condensation on the inside of the glass gave it an awesome look. Why didn’t it make the cut? The only recipe would for a pasta sauce (with sliced Chorizo). Angel hair pasta (fresh or dried), steamed broccoli, and a fruit cup need no recipes.
Finally, we need a dessert. Something light. Meringue is a classic light dessert, and when served with a whipped cream and fruit, becomes a Pavlova:
The hardest thing about this dish is finding the non-humid, non-rainy day to make it. They are so very tasty, however. 🙂
I’ve not even begun to scratch the surface with the food photos however…but we have lots of time ahead of us…no need in attempting to do it all in one sitting!
Silver Blue, who is in need of a good cup of tea.
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