Louisville Restaurants Forum

Grilled tofu with peanut sauce (more West African inspired than SE Asian), grilled scallions, grilled broccoli and a quinoa/couscous salad (from Trader Joe's that I tarted up with some lime, ginger and spices)

The quiche from that ostrich egg

Mother's day part one:

Mixed berries with mint and creme fraiche and a kumquat muffin for breakfast



and part two:

Mis en place:



for braised pork belly with sauteed vegetables (salsify, carrot, green bean), wheat berries in horseradish oil, and a salad of pickled celery, candied fennel, green apples and kumquats

a closeup of the salad from the previous post. I forgot to dress it with the basil flowers on the first round. What's Mother's Day without flowers?

Asparagus and cilantro walnut pesto over Abruzzese chestnut tagliatelle from Lotsa Pasta.

Jay M. wrote:Googled and found the recipe listed below (love the "byte size"), but I'm not familiar w/ asafetida (hing), ginger paste, fennel seed powder, mango powder amchoor, garam masala. Did you use these ingredients, and if so, where did you get them? (I'll skip the cilantro.)

Recipe??

hey, Jay, good to see you. I didn't use that recipe, and no ingredients that I couldn't get at Lotsa Pasta or Penzey's. Basically I browned LOTS of shredded onions (the key to all Indian cooking) with plenty of minced garlic and ginger, dried red pepper flakes and black pepper. When the onions got really brown, I put in a half can of chopped Red Gold tomatoes (I would have used fresh in season), and cumin, turmeric and Madras curry powder (from Lotsa) to taste. Then I put in a couple of baking potatoes (peeled and smallish dice) and fresh shelled peas. Water just to cover, then simmer covered until the potatoes were done. Check seasoning - I added a little more Madras curry and salt - and serve.

We checked out a pizza place for lunch, so I wanted something low-calorie, low-carb for dinner tonight. Behold, a little leftover asparagus and cilantro walnut pesto over thin diagonal slices of small zucchini and summer squash sautéed with onions and garlic. It was like pesto over pasta, but the "pasta" was flavor-scented ovals of al dente squash. 

Robin Garr wrote:It was like pesto over pasta, but the "pasta" was flavor-scented ovals of al dente squash. 

I made zucchini pasta with pesto last night too! I made faux paparadelle by shaving ribbons of the squash. salting them, then drying them in a 200 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Pics to follow. . .

Here's the zucchini paparadelle. One patch with pesto, the other with fresh tomato sauce and ricotta salata. Enjoyed with the very fine Etna Rosso in the background.

Red blob = strawberry/mint/shiso coulis. Green blob = passionfruit reduction + carrot greens, parsley & basil. Salad = 2 kinds of apples, cucumbers, pickled celery, candied fennel, radishes, mint, shiso & kumquat.



Chilled fennel & grapefruit soup (fennel frond & fennel pollen garnish).



Surf & turf: langoustines with roasted green tomato sauce and polenta balls + sous vide short ribs with onion gastrique, horseradish creme fraiche, horesradish oil toast.



The wine was a 2010 Beaujolais by Chermette.

Ken B wrote:Chilled fennel & grapefruit soup ...

Sounds like a great flavor combination, Ken. I don't know that I would have ever thought of that.

Tofu doesn't get any better than when you get it right out of the machine at Louisville's Roots/Heart & Soy. I pressed it, diced it and roasted it at high heat with fresh farmers' market asparagus and Asian flavors: organic red miso, lemon juice and rice wine vinegar, tamari and black and red peppers and a dash of sesame oil. 

Robin Garr wrote:

Ken B wrote:Chilled fennel & grapefruit soup ...

Sounds like a great flavor combination, Ken. I don't know that I would have ever thought of that.

I didn't think of it:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chil ... -olive-oil

super simple - only a handful of ingredients! I did not enjoy it with a Sauvignon Blanc, but it sure would have gone great with one. . .

Ken B wrote:I didn't think of it:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chil ... -olive-oil

EX-cellent! But it leaves open the obvious follow-up question: Where did you find the grapefruit oil? Or did you make some by, say, steeping grapefruit zest in olive oil ...

We've got a bumper crop of kale in the garden now, so I'm looking for creative recipes - even main-dish items - using this versatile green. Tonight's effort is a kale and chickpea soup with South Asian spices, based on this recipe from a Hawaiian blog:
http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2012 ... -easy.html