Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Salsa

February 16, 2009 by 42 Comments

I’m still on my blood orange kick, I had four left, so I decided to try making a salsa with them. They’re still in season so go out and get some, they’re delicious, especially the darker ones!

We love scallops here, so I thought I’d just simply sear some up on my grill pan, and have the salsa with it. The flavors all blended beautifully, the sweet from the citrus, spicy cilantro, onion and jalapeno, were a perfect pair for the buttery rich scallops, but I’m sure some other fish would be just as good too.

You have to supreme the oranges by cutting out the segments, you want to make sure you get every bit, you just have to be a little patient, believe me, if I can do it any one can! Here’s a video that might help.

Place your segments in a bowl, add chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, as much jalapeno as you want, a little salt, and a splash of orange juice.

Note**** For the photo I got carried away with the juice, for the second plate I took a slotted spoon so I could drain the juice, and slathered it all over! You’re going to love this!!
Buon Appetito!

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42 Comments Filed Under: Seafood Tagged: ,

Pizza "Amore!"

February 13, 2009 by 54 Comments

Times are tough right now, people are thinking twice before they go out and spend a fortune on a meal, why not stay in, rent a movie, and make a heart shaped pizza for the ones you love! (or yourself).

It’s so easy to do, make or buy the pizza dough of your choice, get it to room temperature, roll it and shape it into a heart. Just make sure the center of the heart is deep enough so it stays into the shape, and also try to make a point at the bottom, mine kept springing back a little. Prick it with a fork, and preheat the dough in a very hot oven for 5 minutes, so the shape stays put. I had my oven at 550F.

Now add the toppings of your choice! On my pizza here I put sliced tomatoes, Caramelized red onions, artichoke hearts, pancetta, and a mixture of mozzarella and provolone cheese.
Of course there’s a million different variations you can come up with, just let your imagination run wild!!

Buon Appetito!
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54 Comments Filed Under: Pizza, Seasonal Tagged: , ,

Holy Panini!!

February 9, 2009 by 65 Comments

There’s something about warm rich dark chocolate and fresh strawberries, melted between a buttery pound cake that’s been pressed in a panini grill. Can you say wonderful!

I can’t believe I never tried this special treat before!

A while back I received this award winning chocolate as a gift from my son, who after reading this article in Food and Wine magazine, quickly ordered some.
Amedei was founded in 1990 by Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri who just happen to be brother and sister, they work together in Tuscany using artisan skills, along with the finest cacao, in producing this award winning chocolate.
According to the Food and Wine article,

“The most famous Venezuelan cacao of all comes from Chuao. The trees of Chuao are shielded by mountains from all but the warm Caribbean breezes; the soil is naturally irrigated by three cascading rivers. Doutre-Roussel calls the region “one of the jewels of the earth.” Besides the microclimate, Chuao has centuries-old traditions of harvesting and preparing cacao. First it’s fermented to develop the compounds that will later blossom into rich aromatics, then it’s laid out on the parvis in front of the village church to dry slowly in the sun. Because the farmers worked together as a cooperative, Chuao is one of the only places where a chocolate maker could buy, at one stroke, 9 to 10 tons of uniformly excellent cacao. Until recently, that chocolate maker was Valrhona. Today every last kilo of cacao from Chuao goes to Amedei.”

Needless to say I was excited to try this! My son’s instructions were, ” Mom, make sure you taste this on a clean palette, you don’t want to try this after having onions or garlic, or anything else that would effect the true taste!” That’s exactly what I did, I snapped a piece off, and I was in chocolate heaven! Not bitter at all to me, in fact I found it slightly creamy and so rich in flavor, a most memorable chocolate experience! Thanks Tony!

I couldn’t wait to try this chocolate melted, warm and gooey so I decided to melt some between pound cake and use my panini grill. I just bought a good quality pound cake, because after all the chocolate is the star here, and some fresh strawberries.
I brushed my heated grill slightly with unsalted butter, laid the chocolate bar on one side of the slice of pound cake, along with thinly cut strawberry slices.
Gently bring the top down on your grill, you don’t want to smash this at all, it only takes a couple of minutes to melt. Gently remove it and let it set a minute.

Look at that dark glossy color! Believe me, it tasted as good as it looks!!
Now you don’t have to have Amedei chocolate to make this, you can use any favorite chocolate of your choice, of course a smear of Nutella would always do! Brioche, Challah, or even Ciabatta bread in place of the pound cake would be equally good as well.
Any way you make it, I’m sure you’ll adore this decadent dessert, wouldn’t this be great for your special Valentine?
Buon Appetito!!
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65 Comments Filed Under: Desserts Tagged: , , ,