Let's start with New Year's Eve. Oysters on the half shell, then Lobster Risotto with Saffron and Asparagus. For dessert, I made these cool little Peanut Butter Mousse Cups with Chocolate Ganache. They were cool, because they were made with tofu, not cream! If I could remember where I put the recipe, I'd post it now. But since I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, I'll do it later, ok?
The next food event worth talking about was Valentine's Day. I'm not much of a celebrator of Hallmark type holidays, but it is fun to cook some nice stuff for your sweetie, if you have one. Now, my sweetie doesn't eat meat, so that kind of limits me. My usual Valentine standbys are beef and lamb, sometimes even duck breast. But, I do have another favorite for that meal-sea scallops. And February is blood orange season, so that's a pair made in heaven. When I make scallops, I usually do a really nice smooth potato puree. This time, however, I decided to use cauliflower. Mashed cauliflower is a beautiful thing, and so painfully easy. Just steam or boil it, and you can mash it with a fork. I add just a bit of butter, salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg and lemon juice. The sauce for the scallops was just the juice from the blood oranges, some vermouth (I never have white wine in the house so use vermouth whenever I need that little zing) chopped shallots and finished it with butter. We pretty much always eat healthy, so sometimes I just have to break out the butter. My brother sent me this bottle of some magic balsamic vinegar from Italy that is aged just long enough to make it like syrup, and that's what is drizzled on the plate. The sweetness of that vinegar, the tart of the citrus, the creamy richness of the scallops and the cauliflower, and the crunch of the asparagus. Oh man, it was perfect.
Ok, that's all I've got for now. I promise I'll be back again very soon. It's time to start grilling, and summer produce is just around the corner. I'm repainting the deck, and as soon as we get it all put back together, I'll get on that grill.
I hope you haven't completely forgotten about me. I still love y'all.
Local strawberries should be ready for the picking in a week or so. Look for an all strawberry yumminess menu coming.
Thanks for sticking with me, gang. Now go cook something, would ya?
