Dinner # 30 - Seafood with a View to the Sea, Worth Kitchen Take Miami!

As part of a the plan as newly weds, it was decided that we would be spending the holiday season whose year ends with an even number with the Rofe's and the odds with the Donnelly's. So this past New Years we had the pleasure of not only spending it with Tamy's family, but also to take Worth Kitchen to the amazing apartment of Tamy's sister and brother-in-law.

Being in Miami is always a true pleasure. Not only does Tamy's family live there, but we both spent 3 years living and working there. It feels like being back at home... and so when we decided on the theme, I knew exactly where I was going shopping for the ingredients. A very special market that only very few people know about, but SO many more should know about. Casablanca Fish Market next to the Miami river is an amazing market that puts a new definition to fresh! Even though I already had a menu in mind, just stepping into this place lets the creatives juices flow at 100 miles an hour. Amazing fish, shell fish, mollusks, what ever you are looking for... anyways. If you are ever in Miami or live there, stop by. Highly recommended. 

Lia and Nathan have a beautiful apartment with an amazing kitchen, thank you for letting us come in and make a mess of it!

The Menu:
Appetizer
Cold Chipotle Avocado Soup with Grilled Calamari and Pancetta

Entree:
Butterfly Cut Prawns Cajun Style served with Saffron rice and Fresh Fish Broth sauce

Dessert
Coconut Mango Panna Cotta

Their apartment and kitchen is beautiful, as you can see here.

The avocado soup about to be served to the group.  Made with buttermilk and fresh avocados, very easy to make. The pancetta adds not only flavor but a delicious crunchy texture.

The giant prawns could not have been fresher and wonderful to work with. The special ingredient here was not only the garlic, the butter, the thyme, or the chives, but it was the Old Bay Spice. Amazing with shrimp!

Serving the entree. Lia likes to use this function on her camera where all color is washed away except one. Very fun

The wine was definitely a huge hit during this dinner! Thanks to Nathan for picking it all out. AMAZING!

When All Else Fails... IMPROVISE

One thing that I learned early on with cooking is that not everything always comes out as you expect. I guess you could say that this is a lesson in life... One of the most important parts of dealing with this lesson is the capacity to deal with these changes. I guess you could say this is the capacity to stand up quickly after falling down. Dinner #27 definitely tested my capacity at both.

The dinner was going fantastic, except for one detail. From the get go, the dessert was not coming out. I had to make dulce de leche in order to create a delicious argentine dessert, alfajor. If any of you have ever tried or know how to make dulce de leche, it is a long and tiresome process. One that did not come out to well for me. Regardless, at the end we had some caramel-like substance that tasted good and could be used.  The problem began when creating the actual alfajor. What came out of the oven was a solid 11 x 7 slab of caramel and phylo dough. Least to say it was unpresentable. And so, dinner #27 seemed as it would have no dessert... or would it?

A quick trip to the fridge would confirm that we had no ice cream, no nothing other than a bag of recently bought grapes. Yes, we freeze our grapes because they are delicious. So I threw the grapes into the food processor, added a tiny bit of white wine and viola we had a delicious granita which I then covered with some of the remaining caramel. Dessert was indeed saved at the last moment and improvising saved that dish. The result was delicious.

The menu for the night was:
Appetizer
Causa with avocado and flash fried octopus with chipotle sauce

Entree
Turkey bacon wrapped scallops with cilantro pesto accompanied by a Colombian coconut rice

Dessert
Originally an Alfajor but instead a Grape Gratina with caramel

The causa is a very traditional Peruvian plate made of mashed golden potatoes layered with avocado and some fish, in this case an octopus. The potatoes includes the delicious flavor of the Peruvian aji amarillo.

The coconut rice is traditionally made with burnt coconut meat and milk, however in order to speed up the process, you can also cook the rice with a can of coconut milk and a can of coke! Yes coke, this is actually an ingredient that I use in some other "secret" recipes that I have.

And this was the final product of the dessert. It actually came out very tasty.

A very big and special Thanks to Tripfilms.com and AmyBlogsChow.com for joining us on this special Saturday edition of Worth Kitchen. As always it was a great pleasure!

Some Change Makes for a Little Excitment

So with the pork vs duck fiasco behind us, the pork meat actually made for a delicious dinner. Not only was the diner fantastic, but the guest had an amazing time. I think this was the longest Thursday we have had up to now, 1:30, especially considering that one of the guest had to wake up at 5:30. (as a follow-up to this, he woke up at 8...)

So for the recipes of the night:

Chilled Avocado Soup with Truffled Buttermilk Foam
1 1/2 cup of buttermilk (chilled and well shaken)

3 ripe avocados

1/4 cup of heavy cream

1 chopped chipotle chili

1/2 cup of crumpled pan fried panceta

3 table spoons of whit truffle oil

Salt & pepper

In a food processor add the buttermilk and the chopped up avocado and begin to mix. slowly add the heavy cream and the chipotle. As soup begins to thicken, turn power up on the processor and leave mixing for abou 2 minutes to make it smooth.

If you have a espresso machine at home, or if you have a whipper, add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of additional buttermilk with the truffle oil. Create a foam that will go on top of the soup for additional flavor when served.

Sprinkle the panceta over the soup.

Pork Sirloins with Malbec Reduction Sauce

6 Pork Sirloins
1 bottle of Malbec wine (don't go for the cheap stuff, if you won't drink it don't cook with it)

2 shallots

4 tb spoons of butter

Sauce:

Melt 2 tb spoons of butter in a saucepan and add the chopped shallots. Stir until soft. Add one entire bottle of malbec wine and let reduce for about 20 to 30 minutes over medium heat. The wine will reduce by 3/4.

Pork:

Preheat the oven at 350°. Melt the remaining butter in a large pan over high heat and place the salted pork loins. Sear them for about 1 minute on each side. Place in over for about 10 minutes until well done. Remember pork should never be pink inside, always white.

To serve, cut the pork into inch thick slices and serve on plat in fan style. Then add the wine reduction over the meat. Sprinkle some sauce around the plate for added decoration.

Red Quinoa with Tomato, Avocado & Mozzarella
1 cup of red quinoa
2 chopped avocados
1 halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup of fresh mozzarella chopped in cubes.
2 cups of chicken broth
2 tb of butter

Previous to cooking the quinoa, rinse the quinoa thoroughly with water. Once clean, place quinoa in the pot under medium heat, add some salt and pepper. Begin by adding ¾ of a cup of chicken broth into quinoa and let it absorb the liquid. Continue to add more broth until the quinoa has slowly risen and absorbed all the liquid. Approximately 20 minutes.
Once cooked, add the tomato, avocado and mozzarella and stir in . The heat of the cooked quinoa will absorb the flavors of these ingredients and make a delicious dish.

After a sweet victory, the celebration!

The dinner was, once again, a huge success! For me it has been a great exercise to work the creative mind as well as practice in the kitchen. Every week gets better and better, and this time I really feel as if I am coming into my own.

Let me cut to the chase and share with you what I consider delicious yet very easy to do recipes. Please enjoy and PLEASE leave comments if you want to share anything or give feedback.

Tuna Tartar

1 tuna filet
¼ cup of fresh mint chopped
¼ cup of diced watermelon
½ lime (squeezed juice)
3 tb spoons of soy sauce
3 tb spoons of sesame oil
4 tb spoons of toasted sesame seed

This recipe is very simple. Cut the tuna into small pieces and mix all the ingredients with the exception of the toasted sesame seeds. The plate is ready to serve, or you could let it sit in the fridge for 30. Add sesame seeds at the moment of serving.

Salmon Tartar

1 salmon filet (3/4 lb)
4 tb spoons of sesame oil
4 tb spoons of soy sauce

Cut salmon into small thin slices. Add sauces and mix together Very simple.

Esquite

1 bag of frozen corn (or 3 fresh corn on the cobs)
¼ cup of mayonnaise
½ cup of queso fresco shredded
¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 tb spoons of lime juice
2 tb spoons of chili powder

If cooking frozen corn, cook per the instructions on the package (most likely boil salt ½ cup of salted water add corn and cook for 5 minutes). Place corn kennels in a mixing bowl add mayonnaise & lime juice and mix together. Mix in both types of cheese and serve. Add chili powder on top.

Chipotle Quinoa with Asparagus and Avocado

1 cup of quinoa
12 chopped asparagus
1 avocado chopped
2 cups of chicken broth
1 chipotle chili with adobe sauce
½ yellow onion
½ cup of heavy cream
½ cup of white wine
2 tb of butter

Previous to cooking the quinoa, rinse the quinoa thoroughly with water. Once clean, place quinoa in the pot under medium heat, add some salt and pepper. Begin by adding ¾ of a cup of chicken broth into quinoa and let it absorb the liquid. Continue to add more broth until the quinoa has slowly risen and absorbed all the liquid. Approximately 20 minutes.

Prepare the sauce separately, with melted butter and onions in a saucepan. Then add the chopped chipotle chili into the mix and stir. Add the wine and 5 minutes later the cream. Sauce might be a bit spicy, but remember it is going to be added to all the quinoa. Pour sauce into the quinoa and stir it in.

Cut the asparagus into small pieces and cook in a pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Once cooked (5 mn) add to quinoa. Add the avocado and mix all together. Quinoa is the ready to serve.

Scallops with Cilantro sauce

20 large sea scallops
1 tb butter
1 cup of finely chopped cilantro
¼ cup of olive oil
1 garlic clove
2 tb spoons of mustard
4 tb spoons of heavy cream

Sauce:
Add cilantro, olive oil, garlic, mustard and cream into a food processor and sop it all up nicely. Cilantro will feel a bit chunky, that is the way you want to present it. Once all ingredients are properly mixed, pass to saucepan and cook lightly for 2 minutes just before serving.

To prepare the scallops, salt and pepper them before cooking. Melt butter in skillet then add all scallops. They should take about 3 minutes to cook on each side with a medium high flame. Serve scallops and then add sauce on top of each one, drizzling a bit around the plate for more presence.