Warm Scallops and Tatsoi "Salad" with Mustard Vinegarette

Tatsoi, also known as spinach mustard, spoon cabbage or Chinese flat cabbage, has dark green, oval leaves, with a lighter-tinged stem. It looks a bit similiar to baby Bok Choy (no surprise, it's also in the same family as bok choy, mizuna, and rapini), but it looks much more full and lush. It's often used for salad or sandwich greens, but is always great sauteed with garlic or wilted. And just like all those other healthy green veggies, tatsoi is full of vitamins A and C, calcium and folate.

I much prefer vegetables like Bok Choy cooked to take away some bitterness, so I took the same route when adapting Gourmet's Tatsoi and Warm Scallop salad to more of a standard meat/vegetable/starch dinner. This meal amazed both AB and me as well as confirmed that locally grown produce IS that much superior to what you buy in the grocery store.

The Gourmet recipe mixes seared scallops with tatsoi, avocado, and spicy pecan praline with a light mustard almost vinegarette. I left out the pecan praline because there was just so much going on already (plus I ate half the container from Whole Foods while cooking). The next time I try this, I may crush the pecan praline and mix it with the dipping flour used to coat the scallops to give the scallops even more of a crispy texture on the outside.

Most of the reviews on the Gourmet website suggest using spinach as a substitute for tatsoi. While this is surely tasty, I'd advise using baby bok choy or bok choy instead to give it that slightly bitter/mustardy flavor.

Warm Scallops and Tatsoi "Salad" with Mustard Vinegarette

3/4 pound sea scallops
1 T all-purpose flour
1 t sea salt
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t cayenne
1 T unsalted butter
2 T olive oil
3 t fresh lemon juice
3 t extra-virgin olive oil
1 t Dijon mustard
1 large firm-ripe avocado, sliced
7 cups tatsoi (thick, spoon-shaped Asian greens), baby spinach, baby boki choy or bok choy quickly blanched and immersed in cold water (to stop from cooking)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, wash the tatsoi very thoroughly. Quickly blanch the tatsoi (no more than 30 seconds), then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and to keep the vegetable crunch.

2. Rinse and pat dry scallops. Combine flour, sea salt, cumin and cayenne pepper in a small bowl or dish. Lightly coat the top and bottom of the scallops in the flour mixture.

3. Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan over medium high. Cook the scallops on both sides until golden brown.

4. In a medium size bowl, whisk lemon juice , extra-virgin olive oil, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste until emulsified.

5. Assemble the dish, putting the tatsoi on the bottom, then scallops, and finally topped with avocado. Drizzle the mustard sauce over the dish.

Adapted from Gourmet's Tatsoi and Warm Scallop Salad with Spiced Pecan Praline

Coming Up Next: Broccoli Romanesco (aka space age broccoli)

Mysterious Thursdays

A little week until Super Sunday and my fridge looks like I tried to cram a farm into it, which come to think of it, is essentially what I've done. Yesterday was my first Mysterious Thursday with Marquita Farms. A week prior, I sent an email reserving my box. We exchange cell numbers. I make a withdrawal from the bank. I pull up to the back of the restaurant on a dark rainy night, cash and vegetables are exchanged and I'm on my (cold and slightly damp) merry way. Finally, at home, I examined my bounty:

- Baby Carrots

- Red Carrots
- Parsley Root

- Tatsoi

- Celery Root

- Potatoes

- Little Gem Lettuces
- Romanesco

- Sibley Winter Squash

- Puntarelle

- Escarole


I'll admit - I had to do some research online just be able to match the list to the vegetables. The roommate and the boy just shook their heads in amazement at my craziness, although boy DID admit it sure tasted better fresh. I have my work cut out for me - I must consume all these vegetables in the next 5 or 6 days (minus three for the Tahoe trip) so I can prep for Super Sunday.

If this works out, I may give in and subscribe to Two Small Farms' CSA, something I've been dying to try out, but had a hard time justifying with a consulting gig that you never know where you could end up. This could also help me towards my goal of using local and seasonal ingredients, cooking more often and healthier, and saving money by bringing lunch to work (aka leftovers).

Being unfamiliar with many of the vegetables, I welcome any recipes or suggestions! Or a friendly volunteer to come over for dinner :)

What I'm thinking of trying:

Tatsoi and Warm Scallop Salad with Spicy Pecan Praline from Gourmet
How to prepare puntarelle
Puntarelle from Becks and Posh
Moroccan Baby Carrot Salad from 101 Cookbooks
Celery Root and Potato Mash with Horseradish from Tyler Florence
Escalore and Pine Nuts from Mario Batali
Braised Escarole with Garlic and Lemon from Tyler Florence
Escarole and Bean Soup from Giada

P.S. Current pictures courtesy of Marquita Farms. My own to come as I use the vegetables.

Ready, Set...

Last year's Superbowl party was my first party to host entirely on my own. Since then, I've had the Fourth of July and the Second Annual Fleet week, both of which were pretty successful. This year's party should be even more of a success, just judging by the fact that people were asking me before I even had a chance to get the invite out if I were still having the Superbowl...because if I was, they were going to be there for sure. I'm pretty stoked.

I'm still working on how to manage to feed a hungry lot of people with a wide variety of pseudo-gourmet food without 1. going broke 2. spending all my time in the kitchen during the party and 3. not completely exhausting myself. I'm learning to balance home-made with store bought and I'm attempting to learn how to delegate tasks in the kitchen (I've had a pretty nice handful of volunteers this go around).

1. Going broke - I'll quote the party invitation (which was a premade one from Evite, btw...not my not-so-subtle hint that I created myself). Show Up. Bring beer. Lauren has also suggested a "tip" jar by the food. Something along the lines of a threat of no more future parties due to a chef gone broke. That should encourage them!

2. Spending all the time in the kitchen - I am the proud new owner of two Vollrath Trimline II chafing dishes. These things mean business. I've also made sure to balance the menu (see below) with cold, hot and room temperature foods.

3. Not completely exhausting myself - OK, this is probably not possible because I derive my fun out of overwhelming and stressing myself out. Pseudo-masochistic, I know. But heeding my mother's advice, I'm attempting to plan ahead for once, which brings me to the party menu:

Cold
Chips with roasted salsa and guacamole
Vegetables
Hot spinach artichoke dip
Ranch dip, hummus, onion dip
Shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce
Shrimp ceviche
Deviled Eggs
Pepperoncini/salami and ham/cheese rollups

Hot
Chipotle chicken skewers
Pigs in a blanket
Meatballs in Bourbon sauce
Crabcakes with mango salsa
Roasted potato fries
Chili
Buffalo wings
Mac n cheese

Room temp
Pretzels
Cheesestraws
PB chocolate cookies
Bruschetta
Chocolate chip cookies

Of course, I'm open to suggestions and always looking for new things to serve...

Cranberry Bread Pudding

As a self-proclaimed foodie, I'm on a personal quest to reduce the number of foods that I dislike. On the list of conquered food items we have avocados, tomatoes, and most recently, bread pudding. And of course now that I actually crave bread pudding, Dad made one just in time for a New Year's dessert to ship me off.

Ingredients

1 Panettone (We used Trader Joes with cranberries because I haven't conquered my dislike of raisins yet. You could use any type of Panettone or any type of bread you have lying around).
4 eggs
4 cups of milk
10 tablespoons Splenda
Fresh orange zest
Cinnamon
Freshly ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon almond extract
Favorite type of nuts (Dad used pecans. I later tried this with pecans with much success)
Cinnamon/sugar for sprinkling on top

Note: You can really get creative with the ingredients here. I added chocolate chips to the Raisin one I made back here in SF. Later, I'll be trying a chocolate orange and then a dulce de leche.

Directions
1. Cut up the Panettone into bite size pieces, about a half inch by half inch by half inch.
2. Prepare mixture by combining the eggs, milk, Splenda, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, extracts, and nuts. Mix well.
3. Add the Panettone/bread pieces to the mixture. Soak for 15 minutes. Mix. Soak for an additional 15 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350. You should have two oven racks spaced in the middle - one for the bread pudding and the other below for a water bath.
5. Spray baking pan for bread pudding with a non-stick spray. Fill another baking dish with some water.
6. Pour Panettone mixture into the baking pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle walnuts, cinnamon and sugar on top. Place bread pudding and water bath in oven.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before cutting.

If Only Raindrops Were Cookies...

It rained all day here in Northern Virgina. Typically, I like the rain. I find the pitter patter of the rain drops to be rather comforting, especially when curled up with a good book or fixing up a big pot of warm soup. But that's in San Francisco. Where the temperature has about a 20 degree range and rarely falls below 50. Where I don't mind a couple of drops of rain on my head as I sprint out to the car. Here though, it's cold and it should be snowing. Snow that is light fluffy flakes that you try and catch with your tongue. That are too light to really feel. But it's raining. Those rain drops are freakin' COLD!

I must have been baking too much recently because on the way to the post office to ship out MORE cookies, the little raindrops that were balling up on my windshield (thanks to lots of Rainx from Dad) reminded me of little balls of cookie dough. No, I swear, this is not something I came up with just because its 2am in the morning and I needed an segue into my cookie pictures. Honestly!

No, it's just that I baked 7 types of cookies, on my own over the course of the past couple of days. And for a girl who previously detested baking (what? you want me to actually follow directions?), that's a lot. So why bake so many cookies? Well, due to my lovely food magazine and blog obsession, I had a large handful of "I'll make that when I'm on vacation" and here I find myself on a two week "vacation" at home with the parents (they really aren't that bad). That + desire to take pictures + requests from Dad's office + need for Christmas gifts = 7 batches of cookies and a subsequent photo shoot.

Thus, without being even more of a tease, I present the 2007 Holiday Cookie Roster:

- Chocolate Walnut Toffee (aka Brownie Cookie)
- Peanut Butter Kisses (aka PB Blossom)
- Thumbprint

- Raspberry Gelees

- Peppermint Patties (homemade!)
- Peanut Butter Munchies (aka Reeses in cookie form)

- Salted Langues de Chat


I knew immediately after viewing the Salted Langues de Chat that I would love them. Caramel + Salt + Butter = Me Drooling. Not a surprise given my recent salt on sweets kick. But the parents liking them? Ok, Dad maybe because he likes crunchy things. But Mom? Mom even declared that they were "pretty good"(a big feat in her book. She eats to live. Not lives to eat, like me. Are you sure there wasn't a mix up, doc?) and her favorite of the year.

Langues de chat are otherwise known as cat's tongues. Thank goodness I don't speak French! Enough with the animal body parts people. I don't care if it actually looks like that, name it something else. (I'll have to post more later on the so called "flies' heads that I've been eating recently. Sorry if that makes you lose your appetite; it's just minced pork and chives.) Langues de chat are a classic French cookie that is essentially a long, thin butter cookie. Gourmet played with the concept and tweaked it to add a caramel, salty flavor. We liked them so much, I think I'll be adding these to my regular list. In French, of course.

Salted Praline Langues De Chat
adapted from Gourmet magazine

Ingredients

For praline
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds (preferably with skin), toasted - one small bag in the baking aisle

For cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup sliced almonds (preferably with skin)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
5 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling

Equipment: a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain tip or a big ziplock bag with the corner snipped

Make praline:
Put a large sheet of foil on a heatproof work surface.

Heat sugar in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat sugar evenly, until it starts to melt, then stop stirring and cook, swirling skillet occasionally so sugar melts evenly, until it is golden. Add toasted almonds, stirring until coated well, then carefully pour onto foil (mixture will spread) and cool completely, about 15 minutes. Peel praline off foil and chop with a large heavy knife. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Make cookies:
Preheat oven to 325°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour and table salt. Pulse almonds with sugar in a food processor until finely ground.

Beat butter and sugar mixture with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in egg whites and extracts. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches until just combined well.

Transfer batter to pastry bag, then dab some batter under corners of parchment to secure to baking sheets. Pipe 6-inch-long strips (about 1/3 inch wide) 1 1/2 inches apart in 2 slanted rows (so they will fit) on each baking sheet.

Bake until slightly puffed but still pale, 7 to 9 minutes, then sprinkle generously with praline and lightly with sea salt. Continue baking until cookies are baked through and golden-brown on edges, 7 to 11 minutes more. (Turn baking sheets if cookies are browning unevenly.) Slide parchment with cookies onto racks to cool completely (cookies will crisp as they cool).

Form and bake more cookies on cooled baking sheets lined with fresh parchment.

Cook's notes:
• We used an Ateco 804 plain tip for our cookies.
• To avoid stickiness, try to bake these cookies on a dry day.
• Praline can be made 1 week ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.
• cookies keep, layered between sheets of parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

On the way out of Longwood Gardens this Christmas Eve where we were dazzled by the meticulous light display, I remarked to my mom, "That's the most Christmas we've had in years."


And indeed it was. Since the accident, we've been celebrating Christmas in a more simplistic way. Before the accident, I remember Christmas being the big fancy dinner in the formal dining room (only outdone by Thanksgiving dinner each year), opening up one gift before heading off to the 11:00pm candlelight service. I always hoped that by going to the late service, we'd return late enough that the sleepiness would overtake any anticipation of presents the next morning. Before, Christmas encompassed stringing up lights, breaking out the countdown calendar and trying to guess which token ornament would be in the calendar box, picking out a tree (and picking up the fallen pine needles scattered around the house afterwards), rediscovering favorite ornaments and creating drafts and drafts of Christmas lists. Don't get me wrong, though. I think we always understood the true meaning of Christmas and we embraced being around friends and family. These memories don't stand alone; rather, they are little seasonal reminders of how much I love my friends and family.


Which is why, after the accident, the family has avoided having a "normal" Christmas because those seasonal reminders were just too much with one empty chair at the table. We stopped putting up decorations and avoided the candlelight service and Christmas carols because it just left us in tears thinking about how he used to sing at the top of his lungs, yet shyly (yes, that's possible). We tried to go somewhere (Paris one year, Barcelona the next) because breaking the routine helped distract us. But this year, we decided to venture back. And I'm glad.

This year, Mom put tiny little presents as ornaments on a "tree" for me to open on each of the last days leading up to Christmas. Granted, it wasn't a Christmas tree, but it looked festive and Christmasy. This year, we went to church. Not the candlelight service, but there were Christmas carols and they made us smile. This year, we went to Longwood Gardens with the grandparents. Not the same as driving around the neighborhood to look at lights, but hey, this was actually quite cool. This year, we had a baking marathon with seven types of cookies. This year, we tasted a little of the Christmas festivities. Not an entire meal, but enough to leave us warm and fuzzy inside and looking forward to next year.


Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. There is hope. And cookies and lights and Christmas carols, as frivilous as they may seem, can sometimes make all the difference in the world.


And with that, Merry Christmas all!

(You too, up there)


Note: And I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing this on a supposed food blog. Partly because I'm sharing my version of Christmas and this is what the holidays have been for me and the family. Partly because I want to document it (and Blogger doesn't come with a private post option, plus nobody reads this...yet).

Say it with a Kiss

In continuation of my previous post about the perfect peanut butter cookie, this is the cookie that started it all. Simple, yet oh-so-popular, these cookies have won the hearts of all of Boy's coworkers (if they had it their way, I'd be living my dream cooking all day long). I've used these to say sorry (and surprise, my apology was accepted). These cookies have been notorious to show up at parties such as the 2007 Super Bowl party, 2007 Fourth of July and most recently, the 2007 Blue Angels party. World famous for their simpliciy and bite size happiness from the made-in-heaven pairing of peanut butter and chocolate, these cookies certainly have their way with people.

I've always been keen on pointing out the difference between baking and cooking. "Yes, I love sweets, but I'm really into COOKING not BAKING, and yes there is a big difference." I swore up and down that I'd keep to my cooking and leave baking to the cafe down the street. However, since baked goods lend themselves to office treats much better than, say, crabcakes or lamb chops, I've found myself pseudo-baking recently. My efforts were validated the day I brought in the Chocolate Decadence Cake (see banner at top). Needing some code from one of the developers quickly, I offered to send over a piece of cake in exchange for the code. I think the code was in my inbox before I could even finish the sentence. So, yes, baking does pay off.

With my recent mini-adventures into baking, I've quickly discovered and read a few tips of the trade, which I offer here:

Prep

Make sure the ingredients are at the proper temperature. I wouldn't have known this one (why can't I just microwave the butter to make it easy to mix quicker?). I delight in finishing things quicker than expected, so I'm always looking for a shortcut, and perhaps this is one of my qualms with baking - shortcuts are generally bad. This usually applies to eggs and butter. The butter is suppose to be between 65 and 70 degrees - if Goldilocks claims the butter is too soft, it won't become fluffy when you beat it with the eggs, which leads to greasy cookies. If Golidocks says the butter is too firm, you also won't be able to cream the butter properly since the sugar can't work its way into the butter to aerate it. Also bad. For eggs, they incorporate better into the batter when they are room temperature.

Mix

Cream butter and sugar properly - When you cream the butter and sugar together, you cut the sugar into the butter, creating little pockets of air in the fat - aerating it. This air determines if you will get a tender, light cookie or a dense, leaden one, thus the butter at the right temperature bit. But how do I know when it's creamed properly? As you're beating, watch for the butter and sugar to start increasing in volume as well as becoming lighter in color. Watch carefully so you don't overbeat (mixture becomes shiny).

Shape

Keep 'em uniform - The cookie scoop my dad gave me was a godsend. This will make sure that the cookies bake the same, hopefully eliminating those random "extra crispy" cookies.

Bake

Be aware of the cookie sheet - I bought some heavy duty Cuisinart sheets recently that won't warp like my other ones have in the past. These have rims though, which can change the baking time of the cookies as the heat doesn't get to the cookies evenly. The ideal cookie sheets are sturdy (won't warp in the oven to make for uneven baking) and rimless (rims won't block the heat) and light colored (dark colors may cook the bottoms of the cookies before the tops are done).

Parchment paper (not for chicken) - My roommate somehow got the idea to use my parchment paper (which I think is expensive) to cover chicken as he pounded the chicken. And he used the LAST BIT, leaving me without parchment paper three days later when I baked cookies. Having to go sans parchment paper, I can't emphasize what a difference the parchment paper makes. Suck it up and buy some.

Don't blame the oven - No two ovens are the same. You should learn your oven (I'm still learning mine). To help combat uneveness, rotate the cookie sheets halfway through and also switch racks. After rotating (if it takes a bit of time), be aware that you may need to bake for a little longer.

Check-in early - I always set the timer for a couple of minutes before the estimated time. Don't check too often or you'll lower the temperature too much. Still, you want to make sure that you...

Remove cookies before they are done - Cookies usually don't LOOK done when they are perfect and those that look perfect usually turn to rock after cooling. You can always put them back in the oven.

Don't reuse hot sheets - I'm a hypocrite on this one, but I've read it time and time again. Cool off the sheets with cold water before reusing - otherwise, the hot sheet can melt the dough before it's allowed to bake properly.

Back to the cookies - Since the Boy and myself aren't huge fans of chocolate, I'm thinking about trying just the dough and making them in the shape of the typical peanut butter cookie. Another thought was adding the ground, roasted and salted peanuts from the previous recipe to add another peanut kick to these cookies. You can also substitute the milk chocolate Hershey Kiss for one of the many varieties of Kisses available, or even go for a Reese's Peanut Butter cup minature if you're a peanut butter fanatic.

One last note - apparently they sell unwrapped Hershey Kisses, but I've yet to find them in the store. If you do, let me know where! Otherwise, be sure that you have the Kisses unwrapped before the cookies come out of the oven so you can place them on the cookies while the cookies are hot.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 egg
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Extra sugar in a small bowl to coat cookie dough

Prep
1. Pre-heat oven to 350.
2. Unwrap hershey kisses.

Mix
3. Combine and mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt).
4. Add butter, peanut butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined. The dough should be soft, but easily made into dough balls.

Shape
5. In a small bowl (or plate), pour about a 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. As you shape the dough balls, give them a small toss in the sugar bowl to evenly coat the cookie dough. I've found that using a bowl to toss/swirl the dough makes this much quicker and more even than rolling the dough around a plate.
6. Place the dough balls about an inch apart on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. These cookies don't expand too much during baking, but when you add the Hershey Kiss, the dough flattens and expands a bit.

Bake
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes. These will turn slightly brown when done.
8. Remove from oven immediately. Place one Hershey's Kiss on each cookie and press down gently. Leave the cookies in safe place to cook all the way. The chocolate melts as it sits on the cookie and I've had plenty of mishaps trying to mess with the cookies before completely cool.