Coconut Carrot Bisque

I served this soup at a "Luncheon for Ladies" earlier this Summer. Rather cheeky of me, but it was an experiment. Normally, one should do a test run of an experimental recipe a few weeks or days before the debut. I ran out of time. I got lucky.

I had a vision for something luxurious and exotic, but somehow familiar. I did a little cookbook research and came up with this. It was absolutely delicious.

I recommend preparing this a day ahead; re-heat slowly and adjust seasonings/acidity to taste.

Coconut Carrot Bisque

serves 10

2 T Olive Oil

2 T Butter

2 leeks, white part only - sliced

2 Shallots - sliced

hunk of ginger, peeled and sliced

2# Carrots peeled and chunked

1/4 c dry sherry

2 cans coconut milk

3 c chicken stock

1 t Chinese Five Spice

salt & pepper

squeeze of 1/2 lime

Saute' vegies in olive oil & butter til soft. Add the coconut milk, chicken stock and Chinese 5 Spice; simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and puree using immersion blender - be careful, soup is hot.

Add S&P to taste, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

Cilantro-Mint Pistou

1 c. each fresh cilantro & mint leaves

1 T chopped red onion

1 garlic clove

squeeze of fresh lime

1 T water

pinch of salt, grind of pepper

1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil

Whizz it all up in a blender til it's pureed. Chill til ready to use, bring to room temp before garnishing soup.

To serve: ladle soup into warm bowls, drizzle with Pistou and serve immediately.

I also garnished with "frizzled" (fried) fresh leeks.

You could substitute the leeks with a bit of toasted coconut and perhaps a few chopped pistachios.

Janet's Friend's Coconut Shrimp w/ Red Curry

My dear friend, Janet posted this recipe on her FB page last week. I made it last night with a few tweaks and it was a Grand Slam. It's absolutely delicious and it all came together in ONE HOUR. I would serve this for an elegant dinner party. Pre-cooking the shrimp the day before and re-heating in a hot oven would be the ticket!

Curry Sauce - 4 demure servings

• 1 13.5- to 14.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
• 12 whole green cardamom pods, crushed
• 3 fresh kaffir lime leaves (3 double leaves)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste - I used Thai and True
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc nam)

For curry sauce:

Combine all ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk to blend and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat. Let sauce stand at room temperature 10 minutes for flavors to blend. Strain. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before serving.)

** I added some slivered red bell pepper and a few fresh Kaffir leaves when re-heating. Added whole basil leaves just before serving.

Coconut Shrimp

• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut - I used sweetened, it's what I had.
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lime peel
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs - whisked thoroughly
• 1 c flour w/ 1-2 t salt
• 20 uncooked large (U20-25's) Shrimp: peeled & deveined - thawed, drained, dried
• Peanut oil for frying. I used a combo of Canola and Crisco.

For Shrimp:

Mix panko, coconut, lime zest and s&p in deep bowl. Using the dry hand/wet hand technique: dredge Shrimp in seasoned flour, dip in egg wash, and then into Panko mixture - press to adhere. Place on clean plate. When all the shrimp have been coated and covered, bring 2"-3" of oil to #375 degrees. Do a "Test" Shrimp: Carefully lower shrimp into the hot oil and cook about 2 minutes per side, 'til lovely golden, honey-brown.

Drain on paper towel.

Continue in batches, not crowding shrimp, til all are cooked.

To serve: place a mound of jasmine or basmati rice in the middle of a bowl. Cover w/ Sauce and top with 4-5 Shrimp. You can garnish with a bit of slivered scallion and chopped cilantro.

I'll Have the Salad Rolls

I've been exploring Salad Rolls, lately...Vietnamese or Thai? While I believe my ingredients lean a bit more Thai, I'm probably wrong...perhaps just ignorant to the nuances of Asian Cuisine.

I've taken them to a few dining events in the past year; Wonder Girl has claimed them for her school lunch "sandwich"; I just whipped them up for our Anniversary Lunch. I added bits of leftover Asian Pork Ribs. We love them.

I have to admit that I cheat a bit when it comes to the filling. A bag of Trader Joe's Brocoli Slaw is a great place to start. I also love pre-shredded carrots or a regular ole bag o' Slaw. The rest is "true" fresh and whatever happens to be in the fridge: julienned radish, Napa cabbage, cucumber, scallions...

But here is the secret to really lovely salad rolls: FRESH HERB-age. I love the combo of fresh Mint, Cilantro, Thai Basil (green basil is fine) and uber-minced Kaffir Lime Leaf.

I like a bit of noodle in my salad rolls. Cook up a bit of Angel Hair, shock it, shake it and toss it with just a bit of "something": I use Soy Vey Sesame Salad Dressing.

Get all your stuff ready:

*Toss all your fresh veg and herbage together and sprinkle just a titch of Fish Sauce and Fresh Lime juice on it. Toss again.

*Have the noodles ready.

*A dish of room temp water

*Open the Salad Roll papers

*A clean-ish cutting board

*A "guest" item is nice. I used sour Mango sprinkled with a bit of Agave syrup this time around.

Completely submerge the first paper in the water. I spin it around to judge to suppleness. When it's softened, place it on the cutting board. this will take some practice. Toss the papers with cracks in the middle.

Place a bit of noodle just off-center.

Add the Veg-Herb Mix.

Place the "Guest" ingredient on the top.

Roll it up like a burrito - snug. If you've ever been to

Chipotle...

I like to place a perfect Cilantro leaf near the end for a fab show-through finish.

Wrap each Roll in saran and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Peanut Dipping Sauce:

1/4 c. creamy Peanut Butter

1/4 c. Rice Wine Vinegar

3 T Soy Sauce

2 T Asian Sweet Chili Sauce

1 T Sriracha

Shake WELL!

Serve on a platter with the Dipping Sauce and watch them dissapear.

Seattle Delights

It's Spring Break and Michael's Birthday Week - a happy time in the Gossett home. We decided to come up to Seattle to play, eat, celebrate and explore. It's been a lovely 34 hours.

First stop in the Emerald City was lunch at Tom Douglas' Serious Pie. It is serious Pizza pie. Our Server Cassie was amazing and the food was wonderful.

Prior to checking into our Base Station at the Seattle Hyatt Place, we meandered over to The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. After agonizing over the day's selections, we each chose 2 for after Dinner. Surprisingly difficult to do on full tummies.

The afternoon activity was Experience Music Project. While we do appreciate Jimi Hendrix and his genius, I would not consider any of us Gossetts3 rabid fans. We are not Battlestar Galactica officianados. The guitars were very cool. We should have saved our $42 for another time.

To salvage our afternoon, we decided to take the trip up to the top of the Space Needle. Quinn decided weeks ago that she wanted to treat Michael to his ride for his Birthday gift. She took the $$ out of her ipod savings and rolled it up in a special card that she designed herself. We spent twice as much time up there, seeing what we could see and learning what we could learn, than we did at EMP. It was glorious.

Dinner at Wild Ginger was tasty and dissapointing, all at the same time. The food was quite good, but not extraordinary, and the service was "coy". Either our server was over-stationed or he just didn't really care about us. Don't need to go back.

Our late-night (and am post work-out!) cupcakes were delicious.

Today was spent exploring neighborhoods we've only had time to get lost and turned around in on previous trips. We drove around Queen Anne a bit, spent most of the day in Ballard - wasting a meal on a forgettable lunch at "whatever Coast Cafe" - stopped in at The Chef Shop (oh. my.) and then drove up in to Magnolia. So lovely.

Oh, did I mention it was a GORGEOUS day?

I would have to say that the highlight of the past 2 days has been tonight's dinner. Last Summer, I reconnected with a childhood friend on Facebook. Our parents were good friends when we were little and we spent a lot of time together as families (she had the best Barbies) Sadly, we lost track of each other in middle and high school.

"Rosie" joined us for dinner tonight at la Carta de Oaxaca. The food was delicious and the place was hopping on a Weds night. The line was getting longer outside and we were finding it hard to leave and say goodbye. They were very polite as they took away every soiled plate, utensil and salsa ramekin and wiped the table in front of us twice.

It was just delightful to lay eyes and arms on her and have the opportunity to just start to scratch the surface of sharing our stories with each other. She's gorgeous and vibrant and talented and creative and a survivor. I honestly can't wait to make up for the 38+ years! There is no photograph recording this momentous occassion and that makes me sad. Can we get a Do-over?

Tomorrow: we take Capitol Hill and Pike Place. Then Home.

Daddy Sunday Dinner

Something I've tried to encourage here at Chez Gossett is Michael's culinary endeavours. Every now and then I remind The Dad and The Child that Dad should cook on Sundays, hoping (beyond my wildest dreams) that it will become tradition.

This past Sunday, The Dad cooked, and it was good. Really good.

He had visions of a pork crockpot stew. He announced this at lunch with many errands to run. I smiled.

When he arrived back home at 2:50 with a hunk of pork shoulder and a melange of root vegies, I announced this would be an oven/braising application as I wanted to eat by 7.

Armed with the MacBook (3 different recipes), my santoku and a cutting board - he was off. I peaked in every now & then with a query/observation. (These are often met with a curt suggestion I leave him alone only to be summoned 7-10 minutes later with a request for direction.) This is how we roll.

In the end, The Dad served up a gorgeous stew; one that I intend to share when it's my turn to deliver a meal!

Here's what he did:

2# Pork shoulder - diced into 1" cubes.

Saute' in 2 T Olive Oil in a dutch oven until lovely, crusty brown.

Add 2 T flour. mix well and saute' for 3-5 minutes.

Add 1 cup each:

Sliced Onion, peeled & 1" chunks Carrots & Parsnip and

1 Bulb fresh fennel, sliced into 1" wedges.

Saute' for a bit.

Deglaze pot w/ 1 cup White Wine. Add chicken stock to just under the vegies and meat. Stir in 3 fresh rosemary fronds and fresh ground pepper. Braise in 325 oven for 1.5-2 hours - til pork hunks are tender. Add a bit of fresh Thyme.

I made "toast" as if I were making a grilled cheese - w/o the cheese. It was perfect with the stew.

The anise of the fennel perfectly balanced the clove-y sweetness of the parsnip...so good.

The Child loved it.

I was sad when it was gone.

Daddy Sunday Dinners rock.

Finding the balance in disaster and triumph

Tonight was the night I finally cooked the Prime Prime Rib purchased at Christmas time. Our calender filled up and we couldn't find an evening to give it the center-stage it deserved.

I put it in the freezer.

I took it out yesterday.

I consulted the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Grill-Roasted Prime Rib; read it over and over and began the process at 1:30 this afternoon. Oiled and salt-rubbed (no pepper as it burns on the grill; ironic) it sat on the counter for 90 minutes. Soaked, drained and foil-wrapped the hickory/mesquite chips; started the coals at 3:30 and the roast went on at 4:10...indirect heat.

For the next hour that magnificent hunk of beef slowly grill-roasted and developed the most gorgeous caramel, deep honey color exterior I've ever seen on anything.

At 60 minutes, the roast registered only 95 degrees. At 75 minutes: 105 degrees. I moved it directly over the waning coals, on to side one. Check 5 minutes later: gorgeous. On to side two. This is where everything went terrribly wrong.

Seems I neglected to remove the wasted, very dry, smoke chip packet. Within 5 minutes, the packet went up in flames and singed - SINGED - the entire roast: a PRIME PRIME RIB.

WHAT?!

I was horrified.

What a waste. What a comeuppance.

I almost started crying.

But that would have been pitiful. How spoiled am I? Don't answer that.

I let it rest.

I turned my attention to the vegies roasting in the hothot oven. They were nearly perfect and provided the saving grace and precious moments of the meal.

Quinn was complimentary of the steak, although both she and Michael required ketchup. Which isn't all that unusual, but it was a PRIME PRIME. It deserved to go through life w/o the senseless dousing of ketchup, (Trader Joe's Organic, which is actually "healthy" ketchup, but still)

This is where it gets really good. Lovely. And triumphant. At the end of the meal, I challenged Quinn to a blind tasting test with the vegies. She was all for it, which in and of itself delighted me beyond reason. But she was freaking brilliant! She guessed most and actually fell in love with a few she had previously shunned and would never try. Then, THEN...she went all in on "2 level" and "3 level" combos! Guessing most, coming very close to those she missed.

This is what she ate: Fennel, Brocolli, Garnet Yam, Carrot, Parsnip, Onion, Golden Beet, Zucchini and Celery Root.

She turned 9...one week ago.

Culinary redemption. For now.

I'm gonna go have a spoonful of my Mexi-Mocha Chocolate Sauce. That's another post...