I know..you wonder why I have waited so long, don;t you?

Honestly, it was pure D. laziness on my part.  He sent me this awesome recipe but when I tried to publish it there was a lot of code that I needed to delete.

So I deleted the whole thing because I was in a hurry.

This Asian inspired calamari salad is incredible.  I am very picky about calamari.  I have had it at the Sardine Factory in Monterey, as well as a place that used to be on Canary Row called the Outrigger and I liked it both times…but I won’t order it unless I am pretty sure of the chef.

Well this was amazing.  My favorite.  Addictive.  I could eat TONS of it.  Pinkie swear.

It isn’t really a salad, the greens are wilted and it is served warm…but oh my gosh….

Do try it because it is just that awesome.  Oh, and if you are not sure about calamari? Try it with chicken breast. 

Chef Jeff’s FIVE SPICE CALAMARI WITH ASIAN GREENS
Recipe Courtesy of Chef Jeff Moschetti, Warwick Melrose Hotel

VINAGRETTE

Makes 2 cups
1 cup Sweet Thai chili sauce*
2 tablespoons Rice wine vinegar, unseasoned*
2 tablespoons Lime juice
1 cup Grapeseed oil
2 teaspoons Sesame oil*
2 tablespoons Soy sauce*

Add the chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and the lime juice to a blender. With the
motor running, add the oils slowly to emulsify. Makes 2 cups

FIVE SPICE DREDGE

2 cups All purpose flour
3 tablespoons Chinese five spice powder*

Mix well.

CALAMARI Serves: 4 – 6

2 cups Calamari tubes – cut into rings
Five spice flour
¼ cup Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons Caramelized yellow onions
1 cup Mizuna
1 cup Totsoi (mixed greens can be substituted)
1 tsp. Black Sesame Seeds
Nori seaweed * – cut into ¼” x 2” long strips
Salt to taste
Dredge the calamari in the five spice flour and shake off the excess. Fry until golden brown and let drain.

Toss the calamari with the vinaigrette, greens and the onions. Place in a bowl and garnish with nori seaweed and the black sesame seeds.

Serve with chop sticks.

* Can be purchased at an Asian market or Central Market

Image:(c) 2009 Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

So, here it is, the first day of fall…80 degrees here in Texas but that isn’t the point..it is now, quite officially…potato soup weather.

I grew up with potato soup.  Not this potato soup but my mom’s version..the one SHE grew up with..and she was born in 1918.  I hardly ever deviate from that recipe, my comfort food both when I was a kid and as an adult.  But this recipe may be…just a tiny bit better than my mom’s recipe.  If not in memories then in taste, anyway.  By baking the potatoes in the oven they have a roasted flavor, stronger than when they are boiled and stronger than when they are microwaved, too.

I have great memories of Bennigan’s.  I had my first legal drink at the one out by Six Flags in 1978 at my 18th birthday steak dinner. I am so out of the loop though, that I did not know they had filed bankruptcy.

This is not a delicate potato soup at all..It is robust and can hold up to garlic bread or onion rolls with ease. It is a great side with a corned beef sandwich, or on it’s own with a hunk of garlic bread and a salad.

You don’t have to put the bacon fat in if you are freaky about fat but you will be missing alot of taste that way.

Bennigan’s  Baked Potato Soup

5  pounds  potatoes, scrubbed and stabbed with a knife in the centers
6 tablespoons  butter
2  finely chopped onions
4 tablespoons minced fresh  garlic
2 cups Pacific Free Range Organic chicken broth
6 cups whole milk or half and half
3 tablespoons bacon fat

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 lb bacon cooked and crumbled

Chopped scallions
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake potatoes 1 hour or until they are tender when pierced. Peel.

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium low heat. Stir in onions and garlic; cover and cook 10 minutes until soft, but not brown. Add 2/3 of the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add the chicken broth, milk, salt and pepper.

Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the bacon fat.

Cut the remaining potatoes in small cubes.Add to the soup.

Ladle soup  into bowls.  Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar, and scallions.

8 servings

Image: Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights