Hodgepodge Update of Baby and Food

Hello all. My focus as of late, as you can tell from the date of the last blog entry, has not been blogcentric. The reason, as most of you know, is because my precious Sadie-bug is much more interesting and snugly than blogging or even cooking. As the days pass and she finds ways to self soothe and occupy herself out of mommy and daddy's arms, I find myself in the kitchen a little more. This entry is, as the title indicated, a hodgepodge update. I'm sharing some pictures of my newest inspiration and some of the meals she's eaten indirectly. I am excited for the day I can be her sous chef and create meals together.

 

Trader Joe's sells pre-cooked lentils and we usually have a pack in the fridge for when we're feeling lazy. They're a great canvas for quick vegetarian dinners in our house. Here is an example of one.

Sauteed with onions and bell pepper.

Garnishes of queso fresco and lime. Also some olive oil coated grilled summer squash.

That's it! Come on, a fried egg on top of anything works. Not brilliant but certainly satisfying and healthy. It is very challenging to avoid processed food on week nights when the only attention I want to give is to my baby daughter. Sometime shortly thereafter we had two great friends over. Just so they know, they are top candidates for babysitters! Here's what we had for dinner that night.

Browned up some mild Italian sausage and saved the precious fond.

Threw the onion in the fond to soften, added some chopped garlic and basil and deglazed with a red tuscan wine. Chicken broth was added after the wine reduced, chopped roma tomatoes where cooked to soft, and the sausage was added back into the mix before a splash of cream.

We started off with arugula, heirloom tomatoes, and feta tossed with my favorite balsamic vinegar (Villa Monodori) and sprinkled with a good olive oil.

Empty plates, that's good. We desserted (made that word up, thank you) with vanilla gelato, strawberries, that same luscious balsamic, and Hawaiian sea salt.

After dinner I tried to teach Sadie about the iPhone but she found the lamp far more interesting. The next day we were a little wiped out from our big meal and stimulating time with the lamp so this happened.

A day or so later we went to Ventura and Ojai for a day trip. Our intention was to explore and consider Ventura as a potential place to live/buy a home in a few years. On the way back we thought we would stop into Cafe Firenze, Fabio's flagship, for dinner but then recalled that he relocated. Specifically, we were looking forward to the beef carpaccio with olive puree spheres, seared ahi salad, and butternut squash ravioli. Instead of dining out we stopped at Whole Foods on the way home and bought ingredients for Salad Nicoise. On a side note, Whole Foods, damn, six items, seventy dollars, damn!

We've been getting a lot of baby potatoes in our produce shipments. The ones above are baby yukon golds. I love to boil them in heavily salted water so that when they cool and dry they have a fine white layer of salt crystals deposited in the skin. They are so good eaten just like this, hot or cold. The tuna was crusted with black and white toasted sesame seeds and quick seared.

I made a simple vinaigrette with shallots, balsamic, dijon, honey and olive oil while Sadie made a poopy diaper.

Sadie was a big fan of this dinner. That's her doing the Super Woman flying pose on the couch.

Isn't she freakin' adorable?! Later, her Bis-Abuelita (great little grandmother for all you gringos) came to visit with Grandma and Grandpa.

Proud Uncle Bubba is expecting her cousin this winter. The next day Sadie requested a bath and we obliged. Bath time was followed by some daddy tummy time and we snapped some really sweet shots of her lifting her head and trying to manipulate daddy with her smile.

Today (Sunday) is another big day, in and out of the kitchen. For lunch we're having burrata, pancetta, and heirloom tomato sandwiches. After lunch we're going to take Bozzy to the dog park and dinner will be a treat tonight. We're having a parmesan soufflé and butter poached halibut with potatoes two ways. Oh yeah, forgot that another weekend project was to make this cream of carrot soup. Long story short, mirepoix softened in a shit-ton of butter and further cooked in homemade chicken broth but not before the addition of turmeric, curry, coriander, caraway, and smoked sweet paprika. Immersion blended, strained, and added back to the pot with some heavy cream; S & P to taste of course. I made a light and tangy lime greek yogurt to zig zag on the surface of the soup for visual flare. Unfortunately, it simply sank so I hit it with some chopped chives from our patio garden and voila.

Boz really wanted to see the bright greek yogurt on top of the punchy orange carrot soup and was less than impressed by the results... he did get his own carrot though and had very little to complain about.

This was my favorite weekend project! Hands down!!! Olive oil browned whole wheat sourdough compassionately hugging melted burrata cheese, heirloom tomatoes sweet with the summer air, salty and peppery pancetta, and subtly spicy arugula. A little Dijon and a kiss of mayo, this sandwich was quite simply as the kids say today, "The Shit!" What made it even better was the nail-biter of a soccer, excuse me futbol, match between the U.S. and Japan (well done Japan).

After an outing to the dog park we returned home, poured some wine into a glass and began on dinner. Below are the ingredients that went in to our parmesan souffle.

Milk, parmesan cheese, butter, flour, egg white, and S & P. Boz, as usual, oversaw all activity. Incidentally, I believe it was his steely gaze that deflated the souffle; no matter, the taste was spot on!

The halibut was super moist and flakey and I would make this again. The recipe was adapted from the Zuni Cafe cookbook which directed to use sea bass instead and I do have to say, after trying it both ways, that sea bass is way f...in awesomer! That's right, I am communicating like a frat boy to get this point across because sea bass is sweet dude. No wonder several species are nearing extinction. Thanks for reading and take care until next time.