I’ve been really busy at the restaurant for the past couple of days because we changed our menu on Monday.  We change our menu seasonally (every three months or less) so that we can offer the freshest ingredients to our customers as well as save on food costs.  This is a very exciting time for me because I get to work with new ingredients and learn new “set combinations”  (how the new menu items are cooked and plated).  But it can also be very hectic, especially when the restaurant is busy because it takes a couple of days to get your timing down with the new dishes.   All of this has resulted in me not having the opportunity to create new specials; but I have a few specials in the works so stay tuned… 

So, even though I created this special in early September when the corn was still sweet and tender, you can achieve the same results with this dish by substituting the corn with autumn vegetables such as butternut or pumpkin squash.  And instead of using a Chipotle Glaze you could make a Pear or Fig Glaze and use a Pancetta Vinaigrette and Chive Oil.  Anyway, the dish that I created was Pan-Seared Scallops with Creamy Corn Cakes, Chipotle Honey Glaze, Pea Sprout Salad dressed with Kaffir Lime Vinaigrette and Cilantro Oil. 

To make the corn cakes, remove the kernels from the cob and pulse in a robot coup or food processor until the consistency of oatmeal.  Add the fresh corn, finely diced onion and garlic to a pan and sauté until vegetables are tender.  Add chopped thyme, tarragon and deglaze with a small amount of white wine.  Reduce and then add heavy cream and a small amount of goat cheese.  Reduce mixture until thick and season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat, cool, add egg yolks and chill. Once chilled (should be a thick consistency) scoop mixture with a small ice-cream scoop into a ball and dip in egg wash, then seasoned panko crumbs and then form into a round disk with small cookie cutter.  Place on parchment paper and chill until ready to fry.

For the Chipotle glaze, take several cups of orange juice and a couple tablespoons of Chipotle Adobo sauce and reduce slowly until it coats the back of a spoon.  Add a small amount of honey and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set sauce aside.  To make the cilantro oil, add a small bunch of cilantro (cut off thick stems), to a blender and add canola oil until emulsified.  Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste and pour into a squeeze bottle and set aside for plating.

Deep-fry the corn cakes until crisp and golden for approximately two minutes.  You can also pan-sear the cakes and finish in the oven, but deep frying them gives them a more even appearance and texture (crisp and golden on the outside and creamy on the inside).

Enjoy!

We have been really busy at the restaurant during lunch the past couple of days. We had a 130-person banquet today and we have a 100-person banquet tomorrow. So I’ve been working on the banquets and not really focusing on new specials. However, I did make a quick special yesterday, which was Seafood Linguini Pasta with Roasted Tomato, Fennel and Saffron Sauce. This is a really easy sauce and it has many, different uses and that’s why I wanted to share it with you.

My husband and I watch every reality cooking show on TV and as we’re watching these shows, I’ll be relaxing on the sofa and he will look over at me and ask, “So what’s your signature dish? If you had to come up with a signature dish in 20 minutes (from conception to plating), what would it be”? And at that moment in time, I become a contestant and I’m back in the kitchen and the pressure is on!

I have to be honest with you though—I really don’t have a signature dish. I like so many things that I can’t decide. However, I do use this Roasted Tomato, Fennel and Saffron sauce for many different uses. And so I this is my signature sauce—but not my signature dish!

As with any sauce, roasting/caramelizing the vegetables bring out an intense flavor. So I start with roasting a bunch of roma tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper in the oven over high heat (remove skins and seeds after cooling.) Meanwhile, slice onions, fennel and garlic and add to a saucepan and caramelize until soft and golden brown. Next add a large pinch of saffron threads, tomato paste and deglaze with fish/shellfish stock or chicken stock (preferably homemade). Add fresh chopped thyme, tarragon, oregano, salt and pepper and more stock if necessary and simmer for about one hour. Blend all ingredients to a smooth consistency (adding more stock if needed) and strain through a china cap. Taste and adjust seasonings.

This sauce can be used with any type of pasta, or risotto vegetable or protein. You can turn it into a soup by adding more stock and cream. You can use this sauce as a base for making Paella by adding Spanish chorizo, shellfish, etc, or you can turn it into a Cajun dish by adding some Cajun spices and serving it over rice, beans braised okra. The possibilities are endless and I really hope that you’ll experiment with different ingredients and maybe this sauce will become one of your signature sauces.

I hope you enjoy!

My first dish is Pan-Seared Scallops with Lentils and Pancetta, Braised Swiss Chard, Apple Cider Reduction and Goat Cheese Crème Fraiche. I’ve included two different versions for plating the dish. The first photo is a somewhat more refined presentation and the second photo has a more simple presentation.

This is really a wonderful dish that is great for the fall/winter season and is very versatile. Instead of using scallops you could easily substitute any firm mild flavored white fish such as halibut, or mahi-mahi. You could even use this set and pair it with a brined center cut pork chop with caramelized apples in a port reduction sauce, instead of the apple cider reduction, but both work well.

The flavors of this dish are very balanced and work very well together. You get the saltiness from the pancetta, balanced against the earthiness of the lentils and sweetness of the scallops. The tangy flavor from the goat cheese plays well against the sweetness of the apple cider reduction. And then you get great texture and slight bitterness from the braised Swiss chard—not to mention great color! 

At the restaurant, I hardly ever measure ingredients or follow a recipe (unless of course I’m making dessert) so I am not going to provide any exact quantities of ingredients below, but instead give you an idea of the techniques used and how dish is composed and plated.

Depending on how many people you plan on serving, plan on 3 large sea scallops per person, or a 5 to 5.5oz portion of fish (or an 8–10oz portion of pork). In a sauté pan, render the finely diced pancetta until crispy (if you don’t like to use pork products you can eliminate this from the dish) add finely diced mirepoix and sauté until soft. Then add your lentils and the appropriate amount of water. I also like to add a few aromatics such as a few sprigs of thyme, parsley and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, stir, cover and cook until lentils are almost soft, approximately 20 minutes or so. The lentils will continue cooking when you remove them from the heat so let them stand for about 5 minutes and then drain off any excess water. Keep warm and set aside.

Next start your apple cider reduction. I like to use a combination of sparkling apple cider and unfiltered apple cider that has some texture. If you don’t have unfiltered apple cider you can always chop up a few apples and add them to the sparkling apple cider and strain before finishing the sauce. Add a 1/2 cinnamon stick and one star anise. Bring to a boil, and turn down to a simmer and reduce until the sauce lightly coats the back of a spoon. If the sauce is too sweet, you can always balance it out by adding a squeeze of lemon juice. Set the sauce aside and whisk in a small amount of butter to finish.

For the goat cheese crème fraiche all you need to do is add your crème fraiche and crumbled goat cheese to a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Taste to determine if it is the right consistency, if not you can add a very small amount of cream, lemon juice, salt and white pepper. Place sauce into a small pan, place on low heat and hold until plating.

Swiss chard is really a great leafy green. It has good texture for braising and holds up well when plated (unless of course you cook/boil it to death and then it will lose it’s color and will turn to an unappealing army green). During the recent e.coli outbreak in September I used a lot different greens as a substitute for spinach and all of them worked great depending on the dish. So if you are not a big fan of Swiss chard, you could use spinach, collard greens, beet greens, pea sprouts, or micro greens, etc., etc… Remove the stem/vein that runs the length of the chard, chop into large bite-size pieces, wash well and spin in a salad spinner. Heat a sauté pan to medium-high heat, add your oil, bring the oil up to temp, drop in your chard, add a small amount of white wine, salt and white pepper, and a small amount of butter. Toss a few times, and cook for about two minutes and then turn off the heat. The heat from the pan will continue to cook the chard and reduce any liquid, while preserving the bright green color.

Now that your mise en place is set to go, you can fire up the sauté pan and start sautéing your scallops. Scallops cook in a very short amount of time and so all of your other ingredients must be hot/warm and ready to plate before starting the scallops. (Including your plates so make sure that you turn the oven on to 225 degrees to warm your plates in advance.) Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel, salt and pepper on one side and then slowly add to the hot oil in the sauté pan. Cook for about 1.5 to 2 minutes on the presentation side, (should have nice caramelization) and turn and then sauté for another minute or so. Remove from the heat and start plating. Enjoy!!!