pan seared diver scallops with a corn succotash

Scallops are tasty all year around. Now that spring is approaching these veggies are perfect for a great bunch or sunday dinner with your family. 

Recipe:

• 1 cup fresh corn kernels
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 cup small diced zucchini
• 1/4 cup small diced yellow squash
• 1/4 cup small diced roma tomato
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1/4 white wine
• 12 large diver scallops, removed from the shell - use large scallops if diver is not available
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions

Remove the small side muscle from the scallops, rinse with cold water and thoroughly pat dry.

Add the half the butter and half the oil to a 12 to 14-inch sauté pan (preferably nonstick) on high heat. Salt and pepper the scallops. Once the fat begins to smoke, gently add the scallops, making sure they are not touching each other. Sear the scallops for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. The scallops should have a 1/4-inch golden crust on each side while still being translucent in the center. 

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, saute the corn, onions, garlic, zucchini, and yellow squash for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato and deglaze with wine. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the remaining butter to the succotash. Remove from the heat. Spoon the veggies on the bottom of the plate. Arrange the scallops around the salad. Garnish with more chopped parsley, cracked black pepper and lightly drizzle some more olive oil to give it shine.

classic asparagus wrapped in prosciutto

Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto is a simple, quick, and delicious side dish. Bulk it up to substitute any main course or great for passing as hor dourves . Use the pencil (skinny) asparagus because it's quicker to cook without over drying the proscuitto. 

 Recipe:
(yield 6 side dishes)

1 stalk of pencil sized asparaguses
1 package (8oz) of sliced prosciutto
shaved parmesan cheeses
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil (great quality)

Directions:
Take a large stock pot, filled up with water, and add a few pinches of salt. Put it over a high flame and bring to a boil. Remove the rubberband from the asparaguses and line them up together. Using a sharp knife, cut the asparaguses on the end so that all fibrous ends are removed and that the asparaguses are all the same size. Discard the ends. Drop the asparagus into the boiling water and cooking until "al dente" (roughly five minutes). Make sure you have a large bowl filled with ice cold water to shock the asparaguses. Once "al dente" drain the water and chilled the asparaguses in the bowl of cold iced water. Remove once they are completely cool and lay them over paper towels to dry. DO NOT let the asparaguses sit for a long time in the iced water.
Divide the asparaguses evenly into 6 portions. Remove the packaging from the prosciutto and carefully roll each of the portions onto each of the sliced prosciutto. Lay them on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Season with fresh cracked black pepper and salt. (Go easy on the salt because the prosciutto is VERY salty. Baked these in the oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until the bundles are completely warmed through. Being careful not to over cook the prosciutto, this causes the prosciutto to become dry and leather like.
Serve on a decorative plate, shave parmesan cheese, drizzled EVOO and more cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

caprese salad

If I am allowed to only eat one thing for the rest of my life, I would probably have the caprese salad. Caprese salad is a very simple dish. It can be eaten as a first course or add a little more protein and have it as a main course. It's light and consist of tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella (or fresh mozzarella), fresh basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Preferably aged balsamic. Buffalo mozzarella is a mozzarella made from the milk of a domestic water buffalo. It can be imported here from Italy and you can find it anywhere in the high end cheese aisle. It's perfect for these hot days we are having.

1 heirloom tomato

1 package of fresh buffalo mozzarella

1 sprig of fresh basil, thinly sliced

pancetta, that is sliced thinly and still shaped like a wheel

great quality extra virgin olive oil

aged balsamic

freshly crack black pepper

kosker salt or fleur de sel

Preheat to the oven to 375 degrees. Slice the heirloom tomato into wedges and lay them over paper towels to absorb the juices. Slice the buffalo mozzarella into 1/4 inch size circles and lay them over paper towels to absorb the juices as well. Take the slice pancetta and lay them on a half sheet pan, lined with a silpat or parchment paper. Lay another silpat or parchment paper over the pancetta with another half sheet pan on top of it. Bake for 10-15 minutes until it becomes crisp, like bacon, remove from oven. BE CAREFUL to not let it burn. Season the tomato and mozzarella over the paper towels. It's best to use fresh cracked better pepper because it gives the dish better flavor. Start assembling the dish by shingling the wedge and the mozzarella cheese around the plate. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fresh basil around the plate and on top tomato wedges and cheese. Lay the crispy pancetta over the top and serve. 

spaghetti alla carbonara

Spaghetti alla carbonara is a quick and easy recipe. It will take about 30 - 35 minutes to make and it is absolutely delicious. This recipe isn't diet friendly, so make sure you're having this dish on a cheat day! 

Ingredients 

1/2 pound of pancetta, chopped (bacon is fine)

1 tablespoon of garlic, chopped

1 pound of spaghetti, cooked to al dente

4 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons of heavy cream

1 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

s&p

1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

Bring a large pot of water over medium heat to a boil. Salt the water, add the spaghetti and cook to al dente.

In a large saute pan, over medium heat, cook the pancetta until crispy. Remove the pancetta and drain on paper towels. Pour off all the oil except for 3 tablespoons. Add the garlic. Season with black pepper. Saute for 30 seconds. Add the crispy pancetta and the pasta. Saute for 1 minute. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and the cream together. Add a little bit of cheese and salt to the mixture. Being careful because the cheese is already salty. Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble. Add the cheese and re-season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and serve.  

tomato bisque with a crab corn relish

What is the difference between a regular (hybrid) and heirloom tomato?
A regular tomato is selected for their yield, resistance to diseases and shelf life. Also, a regular tomato usually have no taste. Heirlooms are prized for their diversity of color, shape and flavor and come from plant seeds that are at least 50 years old.
Below is my oldest and most favorite recipe, Tomato Bisque. It's a simple recipe but can be turned into a classy dish by simply making a crab corn relish to go along with it. It can be eaten either cold or hot and when it's raining outside, I serve it along side cuban sandwiches.


2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion - diced
3 stalks of celery - diced
2 carrots - diced
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
1 can (28oz) of san marzano stewed tomatoes
1 cup of white wine
1 1/2 quart of chicken stock
4 whole peppercorn
1 bay leave
1 sprig of thyme
2 parsley sprigs
s+p to taste
1/2 cup of cream



relish:
1 container of fresh lump crab meat - picked
2 ears corn - kernels only
4 leaves of chiiffonade of basil
1/2 of heirloom tomato - diced to the same size as the corn
1 zest of a lemon
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
s+p to taste

Heat the butter in a large soup pot over med-high heat, add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and fragrant. Open the can of tomatoes and drain and reserve the juice, set juice aside. Dump the tomatoes in the pot and sauté until most of the liquid is gone. Add the white wine and reduced to almost dry. Then add the tomato juice and chicken stock. Tie the parsley sprigs, thyme and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the pot. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the head and allow to cool for a bit. Remove the herb bundle. Working in batches, transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Using a sieve or strainer, strain the tomato puree. (You may use a hand blender if you have one). Return the puree to the pot and reheat over medium heat. Whisk the heavy cream and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. Being careful not to boil the soup. Set aside to keep warm.
Take the kernels and lightly sautee it with a little chopped garlic and olive oil. Season it lightly with salt and pepper. Transfer the kernels into another container and chill it. In a different bowl mix together the crab meat, diced heirloom tomatoes, lemon zest, lemon juice, basil and olive oil just to coat the mixture. Add the cooled kernels and season the relish with salt and pepper.
In bowls, serve the hot soup and about 2 tablespoons of the relish over top of the soup. Or, if you have individual soup containers, you may serve a mixture of the relish into the bowl and have the guest pour the soup into the bowls themselves. This serve as a great appearance to the soup. Hence, making the soup a little more elegant.

jasmine brown rice

Brown rice isn't milled as much as white, so it retains the bran and germ. That makes brown rice more fiber-rich, nutritious, and chewy. It doesn't perform as well as white rice in many recipes.  Long grains of brown rice aren't as fluffy and tender, and short grains aren't as sticky.  Brown rice also takes about twice as long to cook and has a much shorter shelf life (because of the oil in the germ). 

Jasmine Brown Rice

1 cup of organic jasmine rice

1 3/4 cups of cold water

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

fresh crack black pepper

optional 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

Take the small sauce pan and fill it up with 1 3/4 of cold water. Bring to a boil, add the salt, pepper and butter if wanted. Stir in the rice, turn the heat all the way down to low and cover with lid. Set the timer for 30 minutes. Once the timer goes off, remove the lid, fluff with a fork, put the lid back on and allow for the rice to sit in the pan for another 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, fluff again and serve. Store in an air tight container, good for 4 days. Great along side baked chicken, fish, or to make fried rice. 

 

Hardboiled Eggs ---> Egg Salad

People have a love hate relationship with eggs. You either like them or you don't. I love eggs and it's a quick and easy meal. I always have hardboiled eggs in the fridge. You can quickly turn hardboiled eggs into egg salad. Below are fool proof instructions to hardboiled eggs and to make egg salad.

Hardboiled Eggs
1 dozen large eggs - preferably organic or cage free
1 large pot with lid
cold water
2 tablespoons of salt
ice to chill down the eggs

Before you begin, pull the eggs out of the fridge. Take the large pot fill it up with cold water and put it over high heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of salt, cover it and then allow the pot of water to come up to a roaring boil. Remove the lid, slowly drop the eggs into the pot of water. Best way is to use a ladle and drop the eggs into the water. Once the last egg has been dropped into the water; set the timer for 12 minutes. Once timer goes off: remove from heat, take the pot to the sink, drain the water using the lid, and dump as much as ice into the pot of eggs. You can also use turn on the faucet as well. Allow the eggs to cool enough and then start peeling them. It is best to peel the eggs right away and store them in an air tight container with cold water. It avoids the smell and these eggs can hold up to 5 days.

Egg Salad 

3 hardboiled eggs

1/4 cup of chopped celery

2 tablespoons of mayo

1 tablespoon of mustard

salt & pepper for seasoning

To keep the egg salad from getting watered down, make sure the eggs and the celery is completely dried. Placing them on paper towels usually works. Take the eggs and crush them over a cheese grater (large side). Dice the celery into 1/8th cube and throw both items into the bowl. Add the mayo, mustard, and S&P for taste. Mix well. Serve over your choice of bread or crackers. To store leftover egg salad, keep in an air tight container. Holds for about 3-4 days.