Grilled Sea Scallops on Tortilla Chips with Avocado Puree and Jalapeno Pesto

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted & coarsely chopped
3 T red onion, chopped
Juice of 2 limes
2 T canola oil
¼ C chopped cilantro
kosher salt & ground pepper to taste
20 blue tortilla corn chips
Scallops

Combine avocados, onion, lime juice, oil, cilantro, salt & pepper in a food processor until smooth. Spread about 1 tablespoon puree on tortilla chip, top with a flash-fried scallop and top each scallop with the jalapeno pesto.

Jalapeno Pesto

1 ½ C cilantro
6 jalapenos, grilled, peeled & chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 T pine nuts
salt & pepper
½ C extra-virgin olive oil.
Process al but the oil and then add gradually until emulsified.

From Bobby Flay’s Grill It, PotterPublishing, 2008.

Ottawa thoughts: January 2008

Spent the last few days mostly flying. To Ottawa for a meeting and all those sorts of things that go with it. Anyways, just a few rambling thoughts while enroute.

1. Security checks. What will they do when they find out you can make explosive clothing? Issue everyone hospital gowns for the flight? And those restrictions on toiletries….I think a smart airline would hand out packages of shampoo and toothpaste to everyone as they disembarked.

2. Flying in general. Each time there seemed to be a significant delay in getting off the plane. European low cost airlines had two used exits, like a bus. Great idea. Can you imagine if every time you took a cab you had to wait for three minutes to get out?

3. Airline entertainment. On Air Canada they have little screens on the back of most seats and you can pick from many movies, tv shows etc. And boy was I happy about the headphones on the trip back when a man slumped over his own not inconsiderable stomach (not obese enough to qualify for the extra free seat that has just been legally declared..and that is worth a rant elsewhere) slept and loudly snored for the whole flight. So anyway because things are so wonky with the system I watched In the Valley of Elah which seemed good but started stop go stopping and then ground to a total halt halfway through. Then watched Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in German (which I can partially speak) with Japanese subtitles. The English would take me to French, and the French to German and the German to the Italian, and the Italian would just shut down the movie. I think it was good, and maybe it seemed even classier because it was now a foreign film though the soundtrack slightly preceeded the action so that when Nicole was maybe or maybe not shooting someone, she would still seem to be deciding as you heard a shot. It was still tense but in a different kind of way. Also I mean classy in as classy as you can get when the means of transmission is one person vomiting in the mouth of another. A remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers; has there ever been a really bad version of this?

Also saw a little of Jody Foster in The Brave One which ended because we were landing. (I did go through five selections in a row with all reporting “not available at this time”). Though in English this also had Japanese subtitles…looking around it just seemed to be me getting this special service…had I pressed some hidden control?)

4. Valet service, no less. So end up going to this function at the 18 club, which my Ottawa friend (who I’ve known from my schooldays) tells me is tres chi chi (though he would eat nails before ever uttering such a phrase). And yes, valet service in front. I have always had a hard time accepting that certain professions consist of doing things that not only can anyone do for themselves but things that aren’t all that unpleasant either. Its modernish inside and what they called Big Apples (Bacardi big apple rum, green apple Sour Puss, Asian Pear Liqueur & butterscotch schnapps) were in every hand. Then comes the endless parade of small portioned foods. Not exactly tapas; I’ve had those, and they can be of a size but things like a cheesecake drizzled with one thing and infused with another and served on a spoon. The biggest items were various small sate. They even had a very small hamburger held together by a toothpick and sporting a very small comical but precisely accurate bun. After sampling and sampling and a few too many Big Apples considering my friend was picking me up for drinks, he did.

5. The walk down tavern. We parked and walked down a seedy throughfare to what looked like a fourplex kind of entrance to a basement suite. I don’t remember seeing any sort of sign, and on entering, found a warm, happy and bustly neighborhood feeling pub with four different stouts on tap. Had a couple of oatmeal stouts and that kind of great conversation you can only have with someone you’ve know your whole life, and both of you long past the point where there is any need to hide anything at all. (I am going to find out what the place was called and post it…its worth a visit if you make to the capital.)

6. Cormac Redux. My takeaway reading was No Country for Old Men, a Cormac McCarthy book I had thought before not quite up to his usual standard but this time through I am finding line after line that seems really good. Haven’t been able to see the film yet and thought I’d do this in the meanwhile. Marquez’ Strange Pilgrims is waiting at home on the bedside table as well as my next reread Cees Nooteboom’s All Soul’s Day which I remember as the consummate modern European novel.

7. Irish weather. And lastly, and I cannot convey quite how much pleasure it gave me to turn on the BBC on the television only to hear the Australian weather report being delivered in a strong Irish dialect by a beautiful woman.

Shrimp-Orange Mojito Appetizer

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
* 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
* 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
* 1 to 2 T freshly grated orange zest
* 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 12 jumbo shrimp, cleaned, peeled, and deveined
* 2 T olive oil
* 2 teaspoon minced garlic
* 2 T spiced rum and or dark rum
* 1/2 C fresh orange juice
* 1 T torn fresh mint
* 1 T chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Combine first 3 ingredients in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Toast 2 to 3 minutes or until aromatic. Remove from heat, and cool completely. Grind to a rough, coarse ground in a spice grinder. Combine fresh ground spices with orange zest, thyme, and salt. Rub spice mixture over shrimp.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Add shrimp and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add garlic, reduce heat to medium, and cook shrimp 2 to 3 more minutes on each side, or until pink and cooked through.

Remove shrimp.

Add rum and orange juice. Cook 1 minute, and stir in mint and cilantro. Reduce somewhat and then pour thickened mixture over
shrimp.

Adapted from MyRecipes.com

ps. this was phenomenal!

Loie’s Croissant Melba

Several 2-day old croissant, sliced into 3/8″ thick rounds
Place onto dry cookie sheet and bake at 350 (watching closely) until golden brown.
Now call them crostinis.

Plate the crostinis and top with a very high quality (about 80% ) chocolate wafer. (We used a South American chocolate). Mix a blue cheese of choice (we used Cambazola, a mixture of Gorgonzola and Camembert) with fresh chocolate nibs ( the nutty and crunchy part of the plant) and place on top of the chocolate. Sprinkle with a few more nibs and garnish with fresh apple pieces.

Chocolate Source: With the help of Dennis at Chocolate Exquisite, aka my Chocolate Nazi, purveyor of the best single source chocolates the world round, and a true connosieur.

We made up the rest.

Paul’s Steak with Chocolate Brandy Sauce and Habanero Jelly

This was presented as an appetizer but it could be an entree.

Barbecue a good cut of steak however you like it but medium rare probably is best.

While this is on, but don’t forget about it, make the Chocolate Brandy Sauce.
Just melt some unsweetened chocolate, and add brandy until thickish but still spreadable. You can add a little cream too if its getting too tough to stir but don’t make it thin. Set aside.
(By itself this doesn’t taste that good but the sweetness comes with the Habanero Jelly.)

And heat up a can of dark brown beans (Libby’s Dark Brown in Tomato Sauce is good).

When steak is done, cut into small pieces.

On the bottom of each piece spread a layer of Habanero Jelly.
(See the Habanero Jelly recipe here.)
Then smear a layer of the Chocolate Brandy Sauce.

Place the piece on the plate and top with just a few of the beans.

I know, I know, but really, it will knock your socks off.

Connie’s Toasted Pita Bites

Brush rounds of pita bread with olive oil, only on one side.
Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and sea salt.
Put on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until they are brown & crispy.
Cool, break into pieces and serve with dip of your choice.

Goat Cheese Crostini with Orange Black Pepper Marmalade

(Bon Appetit, December 2007)

8 ounces fresh goat cheese
4 oranges, divided (preferably blood oranges)
¼ C honey
¼ tsp coarsely ground black pepper (I used quite a bit more…)
18 ½ inch thick slices bread or raisin baguette, toasted

Combine goat cheese with 1 tsp finely grated orange peel.
Remove peel from rest of oranges and cut into small pieces. Try to cut away all the white pith (it’s very bitter). Working over a bowl and using a small knife, cut oranges into segments and squeeze out as much juice as you can. Coarsely chop the segments and add to the peel in a small sauce pan. Add honey & pepper, bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer uncovered until thickened. Add more pepper and some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Top toasted baguette slices with goat cheese mixture and dollop a spoonful of jelly. Doug also added pomegranate seeds, which was a nice touch.

Mango – Lemon Soup

Peel and chop 4 ripe mangos.
Zest and juice 2 lemons.
Process mangos and lemon juice to liquid. Reserve 2 cups of puree.
Add 1 cup of cream to the remaining puree. Pulse just to incorporate.
(Real processing will leave the mixture too thick.)
Transfer to a bowl and stir in ¾ of the zest.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Ladle chilled soup into individual bowls.
Garnish each with a swirl of the reserved mango, some lemon zest,
few raspberries, and a sprig of mint.

This can function as a faux sorbet or could easily be transformed
into a desert (increase the raspberries?)

Source: Café Pasqual’s Cookbook by Katherine Kegel.