This dish is perfect for easy entertaining. The orzo kind of looks like rice, but is actually a pasta that cooks in 8 minutes. I think the only time consuming step might be cleaning the calamari.

This recipe is a perfect combination of sweet, sour and spicy. Serve it with some parmesan cheese.

Recipe

Spicy Calamari Orzo

Yield: 4 servings

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup diced onion

4 minced garlic cloves

3 tablespoons minced thyme

1/4 cup small diced carrots

28 oz / 800 gr whole canned tomatoes, chopped

salt to taste

water

1 tablespoon salt

2 cups orzo

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 tablespoons chopped dates

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1/4 cup chopped olives

2 pounds /1 k cleaned squid, cut into 1/4 inch rounds

pepper to taste

parmesan to taste

1. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion and carrot and cook for 10 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add thyme and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

2. Meanwhile, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Set up an ice bath. Cook the orzo for 4 minutes, drain and immediately plunge into ice bath. Once cooled, set aside to dry.

3. Heat a large sauté pan and add the olive oil, add pine nuts, dates and red pepper flakes and sauté for 2 minutes or until the pine nuts are just golden brown.

4. add olives, tomato sauce, prepared orzo and bring to a boil.

5. Add the calamari, stir to mix and simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until busted cooked through and completely opaque.

6. Season with salt and pepper and serve with parmesan.

So since Valentine’s Day was on a Tuesday, I decided to make an elegant, albeit quick meal for the hubby. It was inspired by a couple of Mario Batali restaurants I’ve been to in NYC: Lupa and Babbo.

We started off with Polpette Fritte; these little nuggets you see here are breaded fried meatballs that are served as hors d’oeurves with some Campari. There is no need for a sauce to go with them, when you try them you’ll see why. They have 3 types of meat: pork, veal and beef, pine nuts and some chopped raisins to give it a veeeery subtly sweet flavor.

Try to make them 1 inch big. The inside will cook better when you fry them and they look cute on toothpicks.

The rest of our Menu was a spicy calamari orzo and chocolate hazelnut tartufo.

Here’s the recipe and the playlist we listened to.

Stay tuned for the rest of the menu.

Recipe

Polpette Fritte

yield: about 30 meatballs

100 gr/ 3.5 oz ground beef

100 gr/ 3.5 oz ground pork

100 gr / 3.5 oz ground veal

1 slice of white bread, crust removed

1/4 cup milk

1 garlic clove, minced

30 gr / 1 oz grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped pine nuts

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped raisins

salt to taste

fresh ground pepper to taste

canola oil, for frying

1 tablespoon water

1 cup dry breadcrumbs

1. Place ground meat into a bowl and mix to combine. Soak the bread in the milk for a couple of minutes, squeeze the milk from the bread and crumble into the meat.

2. Add garlic, cheese, 1 beaten egg, parsley, pine nuts, raisins, salt and pepper.

3. Heat 1 inch of oil in a frying pan. At this point I like to test the seasoning, so make a small meatball, fry it and taste. Adjust the salt and pepper if needed.

4. Form the meatballs by rolling them into 1 inch balls. in a small bowl, beat the remaining egg with the water. Coat the meatballs in the egg and roll them in the breadcrumbs.

5. Fry the meatballs in the oil until brown, place on paper towels to drain excess oil and serve immediately.

Soft and Sweet from Monica80 on 8tracks.

There has been less than pleasant weather here in Mexico City. I know I can’t complain or anything, I mean it is 55º F and my idea of bad weather is party cloudy with a chance of rain. Buuuuut….. for me, rain = indoors = baking cookies.

That probably sounds really girly, right? and the worst part is that sometimes I don’t even eat the cookies (ok, not ALL of them). I just like baking them because it smells nice.

These cookies will leave your kitchen smelling like coconut! I got the recipe from Martha Stewart’s Living magazine and I was kind of disappointed by the melting soft caramel candy part instead of making real salted caramel from scratch. So, I sort of put it off for a little while until I found the right recipe for salted caramel. But, it really was destiny I make these this week because last weekend I stumbled across a French market and found a pot of gourmet salted caramel. I had no idea the French went crazy for this stuff. It’s actually a regional specialty from Brittany, but you can totally make your own here. I think it’s better than melting kraft soft caramel candies, but maybe that’s just me.

Just remember to leave it in the fridge for a while so it has a thicker consistency for the filling.

Recipe

Coconut Thumbprint Cookies with Salted Caramel

Yield: about 24

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups flour

1 large egg, lightly beaten

6 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

salted caramel recipe

large, flaky sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF / 180ºC. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour and 1/4 teaspoon table salt and beat to combine.

2. Roll into into 1 1/4 inch balls and dip each one in beaten egg and roll in coconut. Place balls on parchment lined baking sheets and press an indentation on each with your thumb. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove sheets from the oven and repress indentations. Bake until golden (9-10 minutes).

3. Let cool and spoon salted caramel in the indentations. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.

Sometimes a one-pot meal is more than enough to feed a crowd – enter hearty soups.

This dish pronounced CHIL – pa- CHOLEY comes from the state of Veracruz along the Gulf of Mexico.

It can be made with either crabmeat or shrimp. It’s sort of the coastal cousin of the ubiquitous Pozole.

You could probably use store-bought fish stock, but I made a stock with fish heads and crab. I think it’s worth taking the time to make it…just sayin’

Serve this with tostadas for crunch factor, oregano and lemons or limes.

Yum!

Recipe

Chilpachole

yield: 12 servings

4 guajillo chiles

For the stock:

2 fish heads

2 whole crabs

dried oregano

3 bay leaves

2 garlic cloves

2 celery sticks

1/2 onion

1 lime

For the soup:

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

4 large tomatoes, chopped

1 teaspoon cumin

salt

fresh ground pepper

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 carrots, finely chopped

4.5 pounds / 2 k crabmeat

2 green chiles (optional)

2 cilantro sprigs

2 epazote sprigs (optional)

1. Soak the guajillo chiles in warm water for 2 hours.

2. For the stock: in a large stock pot add whole crabs, 1 tablespoon oregano, bay leaves, garlic, celery and onion. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Add the fish heads, salt and pepper, bring to a boil and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Add juice of 1 lime.

3.  For the soup: In a separate pot (or dutch oven), heat the oil and  sauté the soaked chiles and onion. When the onion softens add the garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add tomatoes and cook 10 minutes more. Place this in a blender and purée with cumin, salt, pepper and vinegar.

4. Wipe the dutch oven clean and heat oil over medium high heat. Add the carrots and sauté until soft, add the pureed tomatoes. Strain the stock over the carrots and tomato and bring to a boil. Taste for spiciness and add 1 or 2 whole green chiles.

5. Add crabmeat, cilantro, epazote and more oregano to taste.

I usually don’t like anything messing with my chocolate desserts. If it’s chocolate, it has to stay that way. No extra ingredients that just distract me from my chocolaty indulgence.

There are, however, exceptions to the rule.

The first time I tried an orange-chocolate combination was at the Rosetta in Mexico City.  For dessert, they have an orange flavored cannoli that you dip in chocolate…. to die for.  I think it’s the tartness of the orange combined with sweet cocoa that makes this combination heavenly.

So when I saw this recipe on Martha Stewart’s Living magazine, I knew I had to try it.

The cake is actually more like a pudding and it all gets assembled pretty quickly. Easy enough for a weeknight, but elegant enough for a dinner party.

Recipe

Warm Chocolate Cake with Orange Creme Anglaise

Serves: 4 to 6

For the creme anglaise:

1 cup whole milk

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon orange zest

coarse salt

3 large egg yolks

For the cake:

1 stick butter, plus more for greasing the cake pan

4 oz / 115 gr bittersweet chocolate

coarse salt

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons all purpose flour

1. Make the creme anglaise: bring milk, sugar, orange zest and pinch of salt to a boil and remove from heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and let stand 1 hour.

2. Reheat milk and whisk into egg yolks in a  bowl. Return to pan and cook over medium heat stirring constantly. I usually use an immersion blender, but you can use a regular whisk. Keep cooking until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pour mixture through fine sieve and refrigerate until cold (about 2 hours).

3. Make the cake: preheat oven 400ºF / 200ºC. Grease a 6 cup gratin dish with melted butter. Melt the chocolate, butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt in microwave in 10 second increments, mixing well after each one. Alternately, you can use a double boiler.

4. Beat eggs, egg yolks and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until light, frothy and thick (6 – 8 minutes). Add chocolate mixture, beat to combine. Add flour and beat to combine.

5. Transfer batter to dish and bake until set around the edges but still soft in center 12 – 15 minutes. Let chocolate cake cool for 3 minutes and serve with creme anglaise.

So whenever I finish reading my food magazines I get into this weird rush where I want to make every recipe I see. Then I write all the recipes down, go to the supermarket and make maybe one or two of them.

This week I made a quick weeknight dinner with two recipes that seemed easy enough  for a weeknight, but interesting enough to post here. The problem was that midway through cooking I realized that I was making two puddings: one savory and one sweet….oh well, a little midweek carb overload never hurt anybody, right?

So on the menu this week: Buttery Crab Bread Pudding from Food and Wine and Warm soft chocolate cake with orange creme anglaise from Martha Stewart

Recipe

Buttery Crab Bread Pudding

yield: 6 servings

10 oz / 280 gr lump crabmeat

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 tablespoon minced chives

2 teaspoons lemon juice

pinch cayenne pepper

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1 stick butter softened, plus more for greasing dish

one day old baguette, cut into 1 inch slices

4 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup half and half

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF / 180ºC and butter a medium ceramic baking dish. In a medium bowl toss the crabmeat, parsley, chives, lemon, cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper.

2. Butter each baguette slice with butter and stand them in the prepared baking dish. Tuck the crab mixture in between the bread. In a separate bowl mix the eggs with the milk, half and half, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Pour the custard of the bread and let stand 10 minutes.

3. Bake the bread pudding for 30 – 40 minutes, until custard is set. Wait 10 minutes before serving.

This was originally intended to be a pumpkin pecan tart, but guess what? I finished all my canned pumpkin stock and since it’s impossible to find any in Mexico, I improvised and made a sweet potato pecan tart. That’s the only thing I changed in this recipe. So we can say it’s barely adapted from here.

Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you that I also made Bourbon Whipped cream to go with this. Yum!

This is how we ended our Cajun Japanese sort of improvised dinner party.

 Recipe

Sweet Potato Pecan Tart

For the crust:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 stick butter, cut into small pieces

2 – 4 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon groung cinnamon

pinch of salt

For the topping:

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon groung cinnamon

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup pecan halves

For the whip cream:

2 cups half and half

3 tablespoons sugar (or more to taste)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons bourbon (or more to taste)

1. Make the crust: pulse flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until it resembles a course meal. With the machine running, drizzle the water until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in plastic and flatten to a disk. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Roll the dough out and place on a removable bottom tart pan. Prick the bottom with a fork and refrigerate an additional 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, put the tart shell on top and line the tart shell with parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the weights and parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes more. remove from oven and let cool.

3. Increase oven temperature to 400ºF. Prick the sweet potatoes all over and roast for about 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Peel the sweet potatoes and add to food processor with the sweetened conduced milk, eggs, cinnamon and salt. Process until smooth. Increase oven temperature to 425ºF and add the filling to the tart shell, bake for 15 minutes.

4. Make the topping: in a large bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Using a pastry blender or your hands, mix in the butter pieces until mixture looks crumbly. Add the pecan halves.

5. Remove the tart from the oven and decrease temperature to 350ºF sprinkle the topping on the tart and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool and serve with bourbon whipped cream.

6. Make the whipped cream: beat the half and half in an electric mixer until soft peaks form, add the sugar, vanilla and bourbon and beat a little more. Taste and adjust the sugar and bourbon.

I think I should explain the chopsticks first. It was actually us trying to improvise because my friend didn’t have enough flat wear for all the guests and we decided it looked cute with chopsticks.

On to the rabbit explanation. I usually don’t cook silly rabbits, but to be honest the BEST jambalaya I’ve ever had was at Coop’s Place in New Orleans and it had rabbit in it. So, you know, I wasn’t about to just trade it in for chicken.

Jambalaya can be made with any combination of ingredients. I would keep the andouille sausage to 2 pounds (1 kilo) and add another 2 pounds (1 kilo) of any extras like chicken, shrimp, pork or duck. The stock can also be chicken or shellfish. I made rabbit stock because I had the carcass, but followed the same recipe as chicken stock.

Oh and another thing I’d like to add is that it is nearly impossible to find andouille sausage where I live so I had to substitute for another hot and smoky sausage.

Recipe

Rabbit and Andouille Jambalaya

Yield: 12 servings

2 pounds (1 kilo) andouille sausage or other hot sausage, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices

1 large onion, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 large tomatoes, chopped

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon thyme

1/4 cup minced parsley

2 1/2 quarts stock (homemade or store bought)

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne

6 cups of rice

salt and tabasco sauce to taste

1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium high heat and add the sausage. Brown well and let the fat render. Scoop the sausage out and reserve.

2. Add the onions and the bell pepper. Cook 10 minutes or until softened. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute and then add the tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, parsley and stock.

3. Bring to a boil and add the pepper, cayenne and rice. Reduce to a simmer and cover for about 25 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Adjust the seasonings.

For the stock:  1-2 rabbit carcass cut into large pieces, 2 peeled carrots, 2 celery, 1 onion, quartered, bunch of parsley, thyme 10 peppercorns and 1-2 bay leaves. Put this in a stock pot or pressure cooker and cover with water. For a regular stock pot, simmer 2 1/2 hours and for pressure cookers 45 minutes on high.

We started off the Cajun – Japanese night with some panko fried oysters and remoulade. I actually made two variations: one came straight out of this cookbook and the second one I made with sriracha. Both were very good and we used it for the plate of sashimi that came later on.

The most painful part is shucking the oysters…man, I forgot how much I hate doing it. Here are a few tips:

1. You’ll need an oyster knife with a pointy end like the one in the picture.

2. Hold the oyster firmly in one hand with a kitchen towel and slip the knife blade in the hinge on the back.

3. Run the knife around the oyster and with twisting motion and pop it open.

For the aperitif, we made Negronis: a perfect combination of gin, sweet vermouth and bitter Campari. The recipe came from here.

Recipe

Fried Oysters

yield: 3 dozen

3 dozen raw oysters

2 cups panko

eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon salt

oil, enough to give you a depth of 1 inch in the pan

1.  Blend the panko and the salt in one dish and in a second dish add two lightly beaten eggs. You can add more eggs if you need them.

2. Heat oil in the frying skillet to 375ºF. Roll the oysters in the egg and then the panko and fry in the oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve with remoulade.

Remoulade

The original recipe calls for creole mustard. Since I knew I wasn’t going to find it in any supermarket I made my own.

1 cup canola oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon paprika

3/4 cup dijon mustard

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

tabasco sauce, to taste

1/2 bunch minced chives

1. Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt, cayenne and paprika together in a bowl. In another bowl make your creole mustard: blend mustard, worcestershire sauce and tabasco sauce to taste. Add the creole mustard to the oil mix and whisk to combine. Add the chives.

Negroni

1.25 oz Gin

1.25 oz Campari

1.25 oz Sweet Vermouth

Orange twist

1. Stir with ice and strain over ice in a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Sometimes the best plans are when you just let go and wait for everything to fall into place.

Last weekend a friend of mine threw a dinner party and I jumped at the opportunity to cook something – or everything. When I asked what everyone was in the mood for, another friend suggested Cajun.

So I made plans to make the quintessential Cajun dish: Jambalaya. I’ve been to New Orleans and I can honestly say that the best Jambalaya I had there was at Coop’s Place, a nice little dive where the food is pretty amazing. I remember ordering the rabbit and andouille sausage Jambalaya and it was to die for. So, since I decided to recreate something that was etched in my culinary memory, I did the same with the appetizer and dessert I wanted to prepare. I tried to remember my favorite restaurant in New Orleans and what I had. It came to me in a flash! Dick and Jenny’s fried cornmeal oysters and pumpkin pie with caramelized pecans and bourbon whip cream.

So I diligently did some research in my Creole cookbook and got to work.

On the day of the dinner party, I recieved a frantic call from my friend saying that he wanted to serve fresh seafood, but his seafood purveyor didn’t have the lobsters and crabs he wanted to serve (I know, who has their own seafood purveyor?) Anyway, he said he had ordered sashimi. So a Cajunese (what happens when you mix Cajun and Japanese) dinner party was born.

I nixed the cornmeal fried oysters and made panko fried oysters instead. We had some Negroni as cocktails, then came the sashimi with the remoulade and soy sauce, (why not?) and jambalaya served in Japanese bowls with chopsticks. And for dessert the pumpkin-pecan tart with bourbon whip cream.

Oh, and we paired all this with Mezcal, just to add more confusion.

I would have loved to have an authentic jazzy blues playlist, but the reality is that the Mezcal got the better of us and we listened to this:

O.H. from Monica80 on 8tracks.