My Foodie Friends

One day when I was a ten or so my mother was having people over unexpectedly and she hadn’t had enough time to prepare one of her fabulous meals. So she scrambled and pulled out what she had in the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Somehow, magically she made something delectable just in time. But before everyone actually arrived I asked her if there would be enough food. She told me a saying in arabic that I’ll never forget. It’s hard to translate but it goes something like this. One morsel of food made with love can feed a hundred hungry men.

Well, that didn’t seem too practical to me at the time, but as I matured and saw cuisine from a different vantage point I realized that food can be made with love. In fact, it can say something with all its nuances and fine details.

This evening we had our dear friends  Brett & Andrea Rosenberg over for another wine pairing dinner. We actually met nearly a decade ago at a local Juno Beach seafood restaurant. We kibitzed about life, careers, and the children we hadn’t yet had.

Years later Andrea and I delivered our babies days apart at the same hospital two doors away from one another. Our husbands Brett and Wael are colleagues as well. Now, I’m honored to have them at my dinner table because what I made tonight was from the heart. As my mother would say Ahlan Beykum (Welcome) to the both of you. This also happened to be a great segue in Rosh Hashanah. So Happy New Year to both of you and to all of you out there celebrating.

Thanks to thevinepost.com we had our wines tailored to each course once again. We started with phyllo wrapped lobster and Brie cheese. This was followed by an endive & arugula salad with starfruit and crushed Brazil nuts in a chili oil and honey dressing (back by popular demand). We then had a grilled Mahi served on a fava bean puree (also back by popular demand) garnished with a kalamata olive tapenade. For the main course we sliced tender filet served with cabernet sauce on top of a spaghetti gorgonzola béchamel sauce. And for dessert I made a flour-less chocolate cake.

Phyllo wrapped Lobster & Brie with Basil Mint Pesto  …  Paired with Kings Estate, Pinot Gris, Oregon 2013

The fruit and citrus aromas complimented the lobster and brie and the generous finish did well with the heat from the salad.

Below recipe yields 10 to 12 individual triangles & extra pesto for the next day or to freeze for another meal. 

Lobster Phyllo

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Phyllo
• 2 de-shelled lobster tails
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 chopped cup of flat leaf parsley
• 1 chopped shallot
• 1/4 cup of white wine (no cooking wine)
• 2 tablespoons salted butter (for cooking the lobster)
• 6 tablespoons melted to prepare the phyllo
• One triangle wedge of brie cheese.

Instructions:

1. Melt butter and drizzle olives oil, bringing them to a sizzle
2. Add shallots, minced garlic, and parley into a pan, cooking until the shallots are golden.
3. Add lobster tails salting when they get into the pan, turning them around, coating them into the shallot, garlic, parsley mixture. Once the lobsters are half cooking (more opaque than translucent) take them out and chop into bite size pieces, then return into the pan to completely cook. This process should not take more than 10 minutes. Lobsters cook very fast and do not taste good if overcooked.
4. Remove the mixture and set aside
5. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter either in a small pot or int he microwave in a glass bowl. Make sure you have a pasty brush.
6. Unfold phyllo pastry. Cut a the pastry sheet in half vertically. You will only need the long rectangular piece. For this folding process I’ve included this youtube clip. Ignore the ingredients. This is just to show you how to fold. About half way through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO39xR64XC4
7. Prepare the pasty by brushing a generous about of butter on the strip of phyllo. In the edge of the triangle (as in the video clip) spoon a small about of the lobster mixture and a thick slice of brie cheese. Butter with each fold. Repeat until the lobster mixture is gone.
8. You can in wrap and freeze or refrigerate overnight. Before serving, bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, turning over at the 10 minute mark. They should puff slightly and be golden brown.

Ingredients for the Basil Mint Pesto

• Basil (about 1 cup)
• Mint  (about 1/4 cup)
• Walnuts  (about 1/4 cup)
• Pine Nuts  (about 3 tablespoons)
• Olive Oil (about 1/2 cup)
• Garlic 3 cloves of garlic
• Parmesan Cheese (1/4 cup)

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients together in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth. You can make this the night before. Mix before serving because it make get dark green on the top if left in the refrigerator overnight. Don’t worry. It will taste fine.

Arugula Endive Salad, Starfruit, Brazil, Nuts in a Chili Honey Dressing  …  Paired with Kings Estate, Pinot Gris, Oregon 2013

We stuck with the same wine for the salad and the Kings Estate really transferred well. It held up to the chili oil and the brazil nut’s buttery flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 Starf Fruits, chopped in small squares
• Arugula (3 to 4 cups)
• 1 Endive, sliced so you have tiny circular pieces
• 1 Yellow Heirloom Tomato
• 1 Red Heirloom Tomato
• 1/2 cup of shredded pecorino cheese
• 1/4 cup of chili oil
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• Crushed Brazil Nuts almonds (I crushed it in between two paper towels)
• 4 tablespoons of sherry vinegar (add more or less to taste)
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Steps for Salad Dressing

1. In a small bowl mix honey, lemon, vinegar, chili oil.
2. Whisk ingredients until integrated and store or set aside.

Steps for Salad

1. In a large bowl mix arugula, endive, tomatoes, and toss with dressing.
2. Plate the salad, add a half handful of star fruit, the pecorino and brazil nuts over the salad mixture. Drizzle more dressing on the top.

Mahi Mahi served over a fava bean puree, garnished with kalamata olive tapenade & topped with pan seared zuchini …  Paired with La Porta di Vertine, Chainti Classico, Italy 2011

This complex wine had black cherry and plus tastes to it. It held up well to the rustic mediterranean ingredients and spices.

Ingredients for Fava Bean Puree

• 1/2 lb of dried peeled fava beans (or fresh if you can find it)
• 1 cup of fresh parsley
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Juice from one lemon
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1. 5 cups of olive oil

Steps for Fava Bean Puree

1. Boil fava beans for 1.5 hrs. until soft and drain.
2. Put fava beans (once cooled to room temp.) in a blender with parsley, cumin, crushed garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Blend until smooth in consistency and add salt and pepper to taste.

Note: you can refrigerate this mixture, make it the night the before and before serving just heat in microwave to room temp or slightly warm. This does not need to be hot.

Ingredients for Zucchini Blend 

• 2 zucchinis cut in small squares
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
•  Harissa seasoning
• Sumac sesaoning
• olive oil (for drizzling in pan)

Steps for Zucchini Blend

1. Drizzle plan with olive oil, bring to sizzle
2. Add onions, garlic, and zucchini at the same time
3. Season with Harissa Seasons and Sumac, salt and pepper to taste (if you don’t have Harissa you can use a cajun seasons. You just need something with heat.
4. Fry in pan with olive oil until caramelized and set aside.

Ingredients for Kalamata Tapenade 

• 1 cup of kalamata olives
• 1 tablespoon of capers
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup of parsley (flat leaf)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Steps for Kalamata Tapenade

1. Put put about all ingredients in the blender.
2. Only blender in pulses, checking on consistency. Should look chopped. You don’t want a runny black paste. You can refrigerate this for a week.

Ingredients Mahi Mahi 

• Desired amount of Mahi Mahi (you can make as much as you want. I made medium sized pieces.
• Harissa Rub (If you can’t find Harissa rub you can use cajun seasonings)
• 3 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Juice from 1/2 for every 1lb of fish

Steps for Kalamata Tapenade

1. Wash fish
2. Add all ingredients to fish, (salt, pepper to taste, use generous amounts of Harrisa)
3. Run the fish with the ingredients
4. Grill fish

Plating Instructions

On a plate with the back of the spoon spread the fave bean puree in the middle of the plate, making a bed for the Mahi Mahi. Arrange pieces or one piece of Mahi Mahi on top of the puree. Spoon the zucchini mixture on top of the fish. Garnish the plate with the olive tapenade.

Sliced Filet, Cabernet Sauce, Served on Spaghetti with gorgonzola béchamel sauce  … Duckhorn Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

This wine carried subtle notes of raspberry, chocolate and nutmeg. It held well against the gorgonzola and mushrooms in the cabernet sauce. It also carried well into the dessert of the four-less chocolate cake.

 

Special thanks to Andrea and Brett who were my guests and tasters for the evening. Here they are enjoying the fourth course.

Ingredients Gorgonzola Bechamel

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 cups milk
• 3/4 cup gorgonzola cheese

Steps for Gorgonzola Bechamel & Pasta

1. In medium saucepan, heat the butter over medium-low heat until melted.
2. Add the flour and stir until smooth.
3. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Add the hot milk to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth. Bring to a boil.
5. Add Gorgonzola
6. Cook 10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside until ready to use. Note: if you are making it the night before make it just a little runny. Don’t cook it to desired thickness. The next day you can thicken.
7. Before serving boil pasta of your choosing
8. Strain pasta, add either butter or olive oil to prevent sauce from clumping onto the pasta
9. Gently stir desired pasta into the sauce.

Ingredients for Cabernet Sauce & Filet

• 1.5 cups of mixture of shiitake and cremini mushrooms
• 2 chopped shallots
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups red wine (No cooking wine)
• 1.5 cups of heavy cream
• Williams & Sonoma Demi Glaze (Beef Grass Fed)
• 1/4 cup of Worcestershire
• 2.5 lbs of filet (if more, just add more worcestershire sauce)
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

Steps for Cabernet Sauce

1. Melt butter and bring olive oil to a sizzle in a saucepan.Note: with sauces I always use a mixture of butter and olive oil to ensure that my ingredients don’t smoke while getting a nice olive oil taste and crisp.
2. Add garlic and shallots and cook until golden.
3. Add chopped mushrooms.
4. Cook mixture until mushrooms are dry and add the wine to deglaze the pan.
5. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of demi-glaze.
6. Immediately after demi-glaze add heavy cream stirring the mixture together until the texture is creamy.
7. Lower heat and allow to simmer until the mixture is at the desired thickness. You don’t want this sauce to be runny. It needs to sit nicely on top of the filet. Taste the sauce ensuring that it has the appropriate amount of salt. I usually don’t need to add salt because the demi-glaze is salty enough.

Steps for Filet

1. Marinate filet in Worcestershire sauce, cabernet wine (just a little), lemon, pepper (add salt just before grilling)
2. You can leave filets to marinate overnight, but if you don’t have time they only really need about 1/2 hr.
3. Grill to taste.

Plating: put gorgonzola cream sauce coated paste into the center of the plate. Slice the filet and arrange over the pasta. Spoon a generous amount of cabernet sauce over the dish. Garnish with chopped chives or parsley.

Flour-less chocolate cake

Because baking leave as much room for creativity as I’d like I decided to follow this recipe to make the flour less chocolate cake. I highly recommend it. It was easy and quick and it looks impressive when it is served.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/flourless-chocolate-cake.html