Spring 4-Course Meal: Kiwi-Blueberry Salad, Potato-Ham-Cheese Hash, Scallop Ceviche, Tilapia

A tasty and easy meal for spring . . .
1. Zesty Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

-Kiwi (chopped)

-Pineapple (chopped)

-Blueberries

-Crumbled Feta

-Tiny Dash Chili Powder
-Dash Cinnamon
-Dash Nutmeg

Toss together and voila!

2. Delicious Ham Hash

Ingredients:

-Red and Yellow Fingerling Potatoes (1/4ths)

-Chopped Yellow Onion

-Minced Garlic

-Chopped Fresh Dill

-Chopped Fresh Basil

-Canned Ham (cubed)

-Butter

-Olive Oil

-Grated Organic Vegetable Farmers Cheese

-Grated Gruyere

Add all ingredients (minus gruyere) onto a baking pan and heat for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  When done sprinkle the grated gruyere on top of the dish.

Sprinkle more grated gruyere about halfway through the cooking time.  Then, once the cheese is fully melted, the potatoes are ready to eat.

3. Scallop Ceviche

Ingredients:

-Scallops

-Smoked Oysters

-Quartered Radishes

-Pickled Shallots (chopped and placed in red wine vinegar for 5 min)

-Yellow Onion (diced)

-Poblano Chile (diced)

-Chopped Cilantro

-Chopped Dill 

-Orange Juice (splash)

-Lime Juice (splash)

-Olive Oil

Slightly cook scallops (cut in half) in olive oil  and garlic.  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Let sit for 10 min in refrigerator. Keep ceviche ready to eat with next dish.

4. Tilapia in a Light Mushroom Cheese Sauce

For the cheese sauce:

Start a pot on medium.  Add butter and flour until it mixes.  Add light cream.  Add fresh basil, pepper, poblano chiles (chopped), salt and chile powder.  Add package of mixed variety mushrooms (buy from store).  Heat until almost as thick as you would like it to be and then add pepper jack cheese to finish consistency and taste.

Ingredients (Tilapia over Spanish Rice)

For this recipe I just used boxed Spanish Rice.

-Tilapia Filets

-Lime Juice

-Cilantro

-Black Pepper 

Season tilapia with lime juice, cilantro and black pepper.  Set aside for 15 min. Cook Spanish rice.  Put spanish rice and uncooked, but seasoned tilapia in a circular baking pan so the rice spreads throughout the bottom of the whole pan and the fish rests on top.  Cook on 350 for 5-10 min. This way the rice is crispy and complements the texture of the tilapia filets very nicely.

Plate the fish and rice on a plate and drizzle the cream sauce with mushrooms over it.  Place the ceviche on the plate as well. Put the ceviche over a bed of spinach for garnish (see below).  Enjoy.

Warm Quinoa Salad and Scallops

This was dinner.  

I had a version of quinoa salad from Bacchus recently, so I decided to try my own.  I made 1/2 C quinoa according to the directions on the box (making quinoa is like cooking rice - one part quinoa and two parts water).  I started the quinoa and removed it from heat, covered, once it was cooked.

While the quinoa began cooking, I quickly chopped a parsnip and began heating it in an oiled pan.  Then I chopped half a small yellow onion and added that to the parsnips.  After about three minutes, I added a splash of orange juice, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and a splash of rum.  I let the parsnips simmer for a couple minutes, and then I added a chopped gala apple, raisins, and chopped apricots.  I added a dash of the following: nutmeg, garlic powder, the tiniest amount of ginger powder, and tarragon.  I added a splash more of the orange juice and rum.  I covered and simmered until the parsnips were tender.

While that mixture was simmering, it was perfect scallops time.  In a small saucepan, I heated a bit of butter.  Once it melted, I added six scallops.  I sauteed the scallops in the butter for about 2-3 minutes per side.

To make the warm salad complete, I mixed the parsnip stuff with the quinoa, and I sprinkled crushed roasted hazlenuts atop the salad (the hazlenuts were roasted vestiges from an earlier recipe).  I placed the scallops next to the quinoa salad, snapped a few pictures, and that was that.  And I even have plenty of quinoa salad and scallops for another meal.

I think my dinner lacked something green.  Next time I will eat scoop the quinoa salad on top of a bed of spinach.  Or maybe I will add fresh basil.  Who knows.  There's always tomorrow to practice with the leftovers.

Visit from Long Lost Friend Reveals Food Snobbery

I wasn't feeling well today, and so I thought that having mac and cheese might make me feel better.  Maybe?  Annie's boxed Mac and Cheese, with the perky rabbit smiling (smirking?) from his perch, was something I had been waiting for.  I bought the box a couple months ago, and it was waiting for today to be consumed.  What started out as an American experience - the innocuous making of a box of mac and cheese - became something that made me slightly ashamed of what I have become.  A food snob.  My boxed mac and cheese needed a lot more cheese.

Here's what happened.  I sauteed some onions and medallions of chicken sausage, boiled my pasta, made my cheese sauce (from the box), and once I put together the cheese and the pasta . . . I tasted . . . and nothing.  No creamy, cheesy, pizazzy comfort.  Not at all.  Had my mac and cheese experiences from Stephen Starr restaurants and BLSA food sales really upped my expectations of mac and cheese?   Apparently.  I have sadly become a mac and cheese snob.  I guess this was inevitable.   But to turn my nose at boxed mac and cheese?  I might have my citizenship revoked.  My mother will be so ashamed to read this post.

So, I mixed in the onions and sausage, put it all on top of a bed of spinach, and added a final super hefty dose of grated gruyere.  And it was good.

Problem solved.

And yes, the rabbit is directing me to the complaints department.

Ode to the Champagne-O-Rama

The weather was gorgeous, and we were out on the rooftop bar at the Continental.  It was my birthday, so I decided I wanted my favorite over-priced drink - - - the Continental's Champagne-O-Rama.  The Champagne-O-Rama is raspberry vodka with champagne (or maybe champagne with a shot of raspberry vodka), and the glass is grenadine-sugar-rimmed.  I planned on just having one, but I went home having had three.  I think I'll start making my own at home, though, so I can save a little money while enjoying a favorite treat.  But, if I had my own champagne and vodka sitting around at home, I might never leave the house.

Restaurant Review: Bobby's Burger Palace

Every so often I crave a burger.  A medium, still pink in the middle, juicy burger.  So I went to Bobby's Burger Palace ("the BBP"), the new burger place in University City.

First Impressions:
YUM!  I could not wait.  Too bad I had to stand in line for over an hour to order.  But, it was the BBP's first Saturday night.  The line stretched outside, and then once inside there's a snake-around to the ordering counter.  After the wait, the deliciousness began.

The Food:
The BBP offers lots of options.  You can get Dallas Style, the Bobby Burger, and all sorts of other styles.  You can get your burger with beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken.  You can also get your burger Crunchified, but I opted out. If you do get a Crunchified burger, from what I understand it's adding potato chips onto your burger.  Like putting Doritos onto a ham and cheese sandwich.  Sort of.

My burger, the L.A. Burger, has cheddar cheese and an avocado relish on top.  I also got the best sweet potato fries.  I wanted a little more onion for my burger, and a little more salt for the sweet potato fries.  Despite that, the sweet potato fries were the best I have had in a long time.  Maybe ever.  This is because I always get frustrated about eating sweet potato fries that are too soggy, and before the BBP's sweet potato fries, they were inevitably soggy.  Bobby Flay's sweet potato fries are perfectly crunchy and crisp.  They also come with a honey mustard and horseradish dipping sauce.  Also quite tasty.

I almost forgot!  The BBP has unforgettable spiked milkshakes.  I had a vodka-spiked Mocha Kahlua Milkshake.  The non-spiked flavors sounded good, too: pistachio, blueberry-pomegranate, plus the typical chocolate and vanilla.

The Service:
It's a combination between a diner and a fast-food restaurant.  But still, everyone who helped us with anything was very nice, helpful, professional, aimed to please, and so on.  It's a great place.

Food     mmmm

Service     mmmmm

Decor     mmm

Je ne sais quoi     mmm

Overall     mmmm

http://www.bobbysburgerpalace.com/

3925 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

About the ratings:

mmmmm        would eat there again tomorrow

mmmm           looking forward to eating there again

mmm              not in a hurry to eat there again

mm                 likely not going to eat there again

m                    would try my best never to eat there again. ever.

I reserve the right to grade on a curve for the overall score, despite the average.

Restaurant Review: Garces Trading Company

Setting:

Garces Trading Company for a quick dinner.

First Impressions:

Busy, packed, crowded.  Looks like a market place/cafeteria/restaurant, which I think is the look they are going for.  In the store you can buy, inter alia, wines and cheeses.  It's a b.y.o. that keeps in mind the tourist, who might not realize he should bring his own, or the forgetful diner.

Food:

We ordered the chef's cheese selections, and then had quick bites (we had our tax appointment to get to).  The chef's cheeses were all good except for the last one, described as a "pungent" cheese and coupled with nutella.  It required being caked in nutella, or else each bite of this very special selection tasted like I was eating right out of the barn.  Or from the fertilized field.  That, my friends, is not a desired feeling to have when eating anything.  Especially not when the dollop of nutella is what takes away the pungency of the cheese.  I went there last month and can still taste the cheese.  After that, I had a Lyonnaise duck salad.  This was pretty tasty and fun to eat.  About 3/4 of the way through, I declared I could hardly finish my plate.  Somehow, I found the strength.  Not because it was so good but really because the fun outweighed the yumminess.  This dish is made of shredded duck, a poached egg, and a salad mixture all together.

Service:

So, the team mentality is the theme of a Garces restaurant, but all hands were not on deck in this place.  We sat right next to the server's station, so lots of servers walked by us, but at one point our water glasses were empty for so long that we had to ask someone at the service station to fill them up.  Growing pains?  Getting out the kinks of being a fairly new restaurant?  Either way, there are some big shoes to fill in the service area. 

Maybe you should go, but after the restaurant has had time to settle.  Also, make sure you drink a glass of wine.  That might help in case the chef selects pungent cheese for you to taste. And if you get thirsty while waiting for water. 

Food     mmm

Service     mmm

Decor     mmm

Je ne sais quoi     mmm

Overall     mmm

http://www.garcestradingcompany.com/

1111 Locust Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

About the ratings:

mmmmm        would eat there again tomorrow

mmmm           looking forward to eating there again

mmm              not in a hurry to eat there again

mm                 likely not going to eat there again

m                    would try my best never to eat there again. ever.

I reserve the right to grade on a curve for the overall score, despite the average.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

This winter and into spring, I have made this dish a few different times.  It keeps getting better and better.  In The Joy of Cooking, there are two baked squash dishes that were the combined inspirations for what I end up making.  At this point, I just make it up as I go and hope it tastes good.

Ingredients: 

acorn squash, halved and seeded

olive oil

cinnamon

nutmeg

2 chicken sausages, chopped

3 cloves of garlic

1 small yellow onion

1 parsnip, peeled and cubed

1 apple, cubed

five leaves fresh basil, shredded

dash dried thyme

small handful raisins

small handful dried cherries

6 dried apricots, chopped

1 C beer, Woodchuck (apple or pear flavored), or apple cider

1/2 C orange juice (or orange-mango-peach)

optional: splash of rum
optional: blueberry syrup

salt and pepper to taste

First, preheat the over to 400.  Then, cut the acorn squash in half with a hefty knife.  Be patient.  Next, scoop out the seeds.

Drizzle a little bit of oil on the acorn squash and rub it in.  Then, drizzle a little bit of blueberry syrup over the acorn squash.  Sprinkle the acorn squash with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Once the oven is preheated, put the squash in a baking pan, cut side up.  Put about a 1/4 inch of water in the bottom of the baking pan. Bake for about an hour.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan.  Then, add the slices of chicken sausage and brown.  Peel and cut the parsnip, and add it to the pan. 

Add the chopped onion and garlic to the pan.  Cook for about five more minutes.  Then, add the liquids!  This time around I added beer (an October brew of some sort) and orange-mango-peach juice.  This is the point when you would add rum or apple cider if that's what you want.  Add the apples, raisins, cherries, apricots, thyme, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Turn up the heat to boil.

Once boiling, simmer it down.

Not yet - - - simmer it down a little more.

That's it.  If the acorn squash is still cooking, cover the stuffing and remove from heat.

Once the squash is ready, take it out of the pan and put it in a bowl.

Scoop the stuffing into the squash. You are done!  

Food Addiction: Bread

I ate more than a reasonable share of bread today.  Helping feed my inner bread monster was the Fitler Square farmer's market, open Saturdays from 9-2, rain, snow, sleet, or shine.  Today the bread guy offered three dollar ginormous loaves.  Since it was such a bargain, I got an apricot-raisin-pecan loaf and an olive-garlic loaf.  I made sure to try two slices from both loaves, and both are pretty great tasting.  The apricot-raisin-pecan bread I toasted and spread butter on the slices.  Two slices of the olive-garlic loaf accompanied some left over pad thai.

I love good bread.  Almost as much as I love cheese.  The bread guy has a type of bread for everyone. Go see him next Saturday to find what he has in store for you.

Mushroom Bourguignon

Note: Start at a much earlier time than 9:00 on a Sunday evening.

This recipe is so good, I have made it twice in the past two months.  Perfect for winter or a cool spring evening.

Ingredients:

1 lb portabello mushrooms, thinly sliced (keeping stems is fine as is using more than a lb of mushrooms)

1 small onion, diced

1 carrot chopped (or a handful of baby carrots, chopped)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 C red wine (I had some malbec on hand)

2 C beef or mushroom broth

2 T tomato paste

2 T flour cut with 1T butter

salt and pepper to taste

Olive Oil

1 C peeled pearl onions

dash thyme

Topping Options: grated cheese, sour cream, or both.

In a heated saute pan, add 2 T olive oil.  Sear the mushrooms for 3 minutes.  Set aside.
Add another T olive oil.  Then saute the onion and the garlic for 10 minutes.  Then add the wine.  Turn the heat to high and cook down half of the wine.  Then add the broth, tomato paste, carrots and pearl onions.  Return the mushrooms to the pan.  Add about a tsp of dried thyme.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  In the last five minutes, add the flour cut with the butter.

Serve with either cooked noodles, or my preference, which is on top of toasted olive bread.  

Borrowed from sk: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/mushroom-bourguignon.

Restaurant Review: Tinto

Setting:

Tinto for dinner.

First Impressions:

The front room is lined with wine bottles, so make no mistake that this is, yes, a wine bar.  I am not quite sure what the rest of the place looks like because we were seated at the first table when you walk in.  I am sure the rest of the place is lovely.

Food:

We ordered the chef's bonus tasting (chef's selections for all courses, plus a lobster dish and a special Spanish meat dish).  I guess I should preface this whole section of the review by saying that I have no idea what we ate, exactly, since it was all brought out to us as the chef decided, and since I don't have a very good auditory memory when I can't see it in writing, too.  Weird, I know.  Anyway, it was all amazingly delicious.  I can only describe the food, but my descriptions will not do it justice.  You just have to go and try it yourself.  We had delicious everything.  

Service:

Service is very good at Tinto.  There is a nice team mentality at a Garces restaurant, meaning all hands are always on deck.  This is always better for your dining experience.

Definitely go.

Food     mmmmm

Service     mmmmm

Decor     mmmm

Je ne sais quoi     mmmm

Overall     mmmmm

http://www.tintorestaurant.com/

114 S. 20th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

About the ratings:

mmmmm        would eat there again tomorrow

mmmm           looking forward to eating there again

mmm              not in a hurry to eat there again

mm                 likely not going to eat there again

m                    would try my best never to eat there again. ever.

I reserve the right to grade on a curve for the overall score, despite the average.