Mustard Prawns

I went to the V. Sattui winery in Napa this weekend and had the most delicious Mustard Prawns from their deli section. In my drunken state, I forgot to take note of the ingredients in the dish. A quick google search fixed that and I was able to replicate the dish almost exactly! I had this over orzo pasta and it was molto bene!

Adapted from this recipe

Mustard Prawns

36 raw shrimp, peeled & deveined

Boiling water

Salt to taste

1 lemon slice

2 sprigs parsley

1 bay leaf

5 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3/4 cup olive oil

Place the shrimp in a saucepan and cover them with boiling water.
Add salt, lemon slice, parsley, bay leaf and thyme.
Bring to a boil and cook four to six minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp.
Drain and chill.
Place the mustard in a bowl and add lemon juice.
Beat with a wire whisk, adding the oil a little at a time.
Add salt to taste
Pour over the shrimp and marinate one or two hours.

Garden Update

After 3.5 months, all I got was 5 measly tomatoes. And only 2 were edible! Yes, I know the photo is upside down. No, I don't care.

One Tomato, Two Tomato...

Three Tomato, Four...

My tomatoes are finally starting to turn red! I counted about seven tomatoes (not all pictured). They are so cute and I can't wait to eat them. I hope they're delicious...

I'm also conducting a little experiment. For a while now, I suspected that I've been growing an imposter. Bibb lettuce is supposed to grow into a shape of a ball. The lettuce I've been growing has yet to curl it's leaves into each other to form a ball, it's as straight as romaine. I let my bibb lettuce grow without trimming to see if it would eventually become a ball.

Here's a picture of what Bibb lettuce should look like:

And this is what my bibb imposter looks like:

 There's something not quite right about that plant.

Tomatoes!

My tomatoes are finally growing! They blend in with the leaves so much that I didn't notice them until today.

On another note, I've killed the butter lettuce that shared the same container with the tomato vine. I love the tomato vine more and I want to give it a chance to stretch and survive without the lettuce getting in the way.

I'm also in the process of killing the spinach and replanting the herbs in that container. I'm kinda over leafy greens, I just cant get over the bug factor.

Burrito Bol

My friend Clarissa (the most amazing cook that I know) just recently tried Chipotle for the first time last week. She LOVED it (just like I knew she would) and decided to make her own version at home. It turned out delish and she shared the recipe with me. Here's how it turned out:

Counter-clockwise from top left: Diced roma tomatoes, tofu marinated in taco seasoning, guacomole, brown rice, basil & avocado dressing, black & pinto beans, and shredded butter lettuce (middle)

And here it is all put together!

Guacomole Recipe:

2 avocados, diced
1/4 white onion, finely chopped
1/4 of a lime, juiced
1 roma tomato, diced
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and lightly mash with a fork until nice & chunky.

Tofu marinaded with taco seasoning
1 package of extra firm tofu
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 lemon, juiced
1 package of taco seasoning

In a bowl, whisk the EVOO, lemon juice & taco seasoning until thickened. Cube the tofu into 1/4" pieces and toss lightly in the marinade. Let the mixture sit for atleast one hour.

Pour the tofu & the marinade into a saute pan and stir fry until heated through and serve.

Basil & Avocado dressing (for the brown rice)
1 avocado, diced
1 lemon, juiced
3/4 cup basil, lightly chopped
1/4 cup of water
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a blender/food processory and blend until all ingredients are combined.

Black & Pinto beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of pinto beans
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

Drain both cans of black beans and rinse under cold water. Add beans to a saute pan and add all spices. Stir fry until heated through & serve.

Garden update:
The veg & herbs are growing beautifully! See for yourself:

The spinach is freakishly big! The leaves are big as my hand!

The butter lettuce next to my tomato vine does a lot better than the butter lettuce next to the spinach. Check out that beaut!

The tomato vine is taking over! I kinda want the butter lettuce to die to give the tomato vine more room. Is that wrong?

I love my basil!

Avocados & Gardening (week 3)

Avocados
Over the weekend, I found the cutest little avocados. They're called peewee avocados and at 7 for 99 cents, they were too good to pass up!

Since the avocado seed is so tiny, there's still a ton of buttery avocado flesh to be eaten!

Garden Update
Now that i'm going into my 3rd week of gardening, I thought it'd be fun to do a side by side comparison to see how much my plants have grown.

Spinach (left: week 1 / right: week 3)
Tomato Vine & Butter Lettuce (left: week 1 / right: week 3)
Basil (left: week 1 / right: week 3)

Fun with Food
Having fresh herbs in the garden inspires me to add a boost of flavor into otherwise ordinary meals. Those aren't just regular ol' mashed potatoes, there's a double dose of magic in there! Garlic chives from the garden and TRUFFLE OIL!

  Mashed Potatoes with Garlic Chives & Truffle Oil, Sauteed Kale, and Seared Scallops

Gardening

My Dad had an amazing green thumb! He planted fruit trees, vegetables and flowers (peonies were his favorite!) in our backyard and even did all of the landscaping himself. I remember a time when this lady was in our front yard with scissors clipping our roses! My Dad told her she couldn't do that and she said, "Well why do you plant such beautiful flowers if others can't enjoy them?" Really lady? Get a life! My Dad was nice enough to let her take the flowers she clipped but told her she wasn't allowed to do it again.

In the last few months, I've tried to buy produce that is "closer to the source" whenever I could. It tends to be cheaper, fresher and more nutritious because it doesn't have to travel as far and has the added benefit of helping to support the local farmers. And ok, a tiny part of me likes to go to farmer's markets because there's usually a petting zoo.

I've been toying with the idea of growing my own herbs to use for cooking but unlike my Dad, I tend to kill all plants that I take home with me. Whenever a recipe calls for fresh herbs, I usually end up using a small handful and the rest goes bad before I can finish it. It would be so great to go out to the garden, pick a few basil leaves or sprigs of rosemary (just like Ina does on her show Barefoot Contessa), and allow the plant to grow until the next recipe calls for it. And what's "closer to the source" than your own backyard? But as I mentioned, plants come home with me to die so it was always just an idea until...

I saw the amazing vegetable and herb containers that my housemate Will made from scratch!

The containers are so well crafted that I thought he bought them! Job well done and just the inspiration I needed to get the garden going.

However, I haven't the slightest clue how to start a garden and I really wished I could ask my Dad for gardening advice but since he's no longer with us, the next best source is the nursery down the street.

Evergreen Nursery is amazing! They have everything! To be quite honest, I was so overwhelmed when I got there but a nice gentleman helped me. I told him I wanted nice hearty plants that don't die. He looked at me and said, "Well, we've got some low maintenance ones here but you'll still need to pay them some attention to ensure they live, but of course you already know that." I said, "Of course I know that!" but thought, "By pay attention I hope he means EAT."

He choose a nice assortment of little herbs and vegetables that would fit and live happily in the containers together and also sent me home with a lot of stinky fertilizer!

Later that evening, all of the little plants were in their new homes. I took pictures of them this morning and I'm going to track their progress on this blog. So if you don't see another post about this, do not ask me how the vegetables and herbs are doing, they are in their final resting places thankyouverymuch!

 Spinach & Bibb Lettuce

Tomato vine & more Bibb Lettuce

Garlic Chives

Rosemary

Sweet Basil

Found this picture of my Dad with his peonies