Well, my dear friend and second Mother ( I have a real Mother but this is her best friend and pretty much mine too) is in the hospital and has been in ICU for over two weeks. They took out the tube in her nose so she can now eat, pureed foods, but still, it's not in a bag given through an IV. So, I made her sweet potato soup. I have to say it was hard to make a soup bland (at least to my palate) but I wanted to keep it neutral for her digestion process and God only knows what all those drugs have temporarily done to her taste buds - and let me tell you - that is not easy. But, she liked it and was pretty happy to see me. It was nice. I told her I would be back (hopefully with my Mother) on Sunday (Mother's day) for breakfast (which I am bringing) she wants a frittata and I am making her french press coffee - got to be better than hospital coffee. We are trying to 'fatten her up' which she will cringe to hear so I am also thinking of something rich but bland (?) rich meaning calories. Any ideas?
I got home after the hospital and had bought a beautiful rib eye at the Uncommon Market in Montpelier www.uncommonmarket.net - (also picked up some more of those amazing dry scallops for tomorrow night) and told my husband to put the charcoal on. I had one piece of salmon and the rib eye - I put some ginger honey that I had gotten at the Farmer's Market last week and mixed it with a little soy sauce and brushed it on the salmon. I salted and peppered the rib eye and on the grill they went. I had some shredded potatoes that I fried up with some Vermont cheddar cheese and ramps (of course!) and a nice simple salad of Pete's Greens (www.petesgreens.com), grape tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles. The best part of this dinner - (besides being with my son and my husband) was the fact that we sat outside. Okay, not so exciting for some but this is Vermont, we value weather that allows us to be outside! Cheers & good nite!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Weeknight dinner
Ok, this was a dinner I made after I read a recipe that called it a delicious, speedy, weeknight dinner. Of course, I changed the recipe to suit what I had on hand and made it on a Saturday night because I had bought dry scallops (not the grocery store ones that are injected or soaked in some salt solution). My husband doesn't normally like scallops so I invited my dear friend Holly over because she usually loves everything I do! So, it became a weekend, guest worthy dinner but it was fairly speedy and it was amazing.
The secret is the dry scallops. I learned at a cooking class at http://www.kitchenatthestore.com/ with Eric Warnstedt Chef/owner of Hen of the Wood in Waterbury http://www.henofthewood.com/ that the key to the perfect seared scallop - restaurant style is in buying the dry scallops. He said they are difficult to get around here (Vermont) because the chefs usually buy them all but I found them at the quirkiest market on Elm Street in Montpelier - The Uncommon Market http://www.uncommonmarket.net/. They were amazing!
I also bought some fingerling potatoes from the farmers market that morning so I boiled them up, added some
Vermont Butter and Cheese CremeFraiche and smashed them. I had also sauteed some wild leeks - got to love spring in Vermont and ramps (wild leeks)- in butter and when they were soft and silky I folded them into the smashed potatoes - colcannon style. Then I realized that the meal was awfully white-ish so I grabbed a bunch of grape tomatoes and put them on a sheet pan with a little olive oil and some kosher salt and roasted them at 425 until popped and soft. Seared the scallops for about 2 min a side in my trusty cast iron pan and put the 'colcannon' in the center of the plate, the roasted tomatoes with fresh torn basil on the side and placed the beautiful scallops in their place of honor on top of the potatoes.
A special bottle of wine and that menu, it was a perfect night - I think my husband even did the dishes.....
The secret is the dry scallops. I learned at a cooking class at http://www.kitchenatthestore.com/ with Eric Warnstedt Chef/owner of Hen of the Wood in Waterbury http://www.henofthewood.com/ that the key to the perfect seared scallop - restaurant style is in buying the dry scallops. He said they are difficult to get around here (Vermont) because the chefs usually buy them all but I found them at the quirkiest market on Elm Street in Montpelier - The Uncommon Market http://www.uncommonmarket.net/. They were amazing!
I also bought some fingerling potatoes from the farmers market that morning so I boiled them up, added some
Vermont Butter and Cheese CremeFraiche and smashed them. I had also sauteed some wild leeks - got to love spring in Vermont and ramps (wild leeks)- in butter and when they were soft and silky I folded them into the smashed potatoes - colcannon style. Then I realized that the meal was awfully white-ish so I grabbed a bunch of grape tomatoes and put them on a sheet pan with a little olive oil and some kosher salt and roasted them at 425 until popped and soft. Seared the scallops for about 2 min a side in my trusty cast iron pan and put the 'colcannon' in the center of the plate, the roasted tomatoes with fresh torn basil on the side and placed the beautiful scallops in their place of honor on top of the potatoes.
A special bottle of wine and that menu, it was a perfect night - I think my husband even did the dishes.....
Why?
I am starting my blog because I have always wanted to but was afraid I had nothing to say. Since everyone asks my opinion about food, life, design and stuff I decided that I did have interesting things to say and so now I am going to say them!
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