Reasons to be Thankful, Part 2

Though Westwood was quiet as a [insert obscenity here] over Thanksgiving weekend, I had the fun fun fun of spending Friday with Sunny, freshly tanned from her trip from Mexico. This was to be a good night - food, gossip (YES!) and probably a decent amount of alcohol. Given Sunny's love for pasta and my new meatless (again, permitting all seafood) diet, I went with a shrimp and scallop linguine in a light tomato cream sauce. I LOVE THAT SAUCE. We ended the night with my attempt at a white chocolate mousse cake which I am determined to master in the near future.

SHRIMP AND SCALLOP LINGUINE IN TOMATO CREAM SAUCE (serves 2)

~ 10 medium sized shrimps, peeled and deveined
Adequate amount of baby scallops
4oz preferred pasta (I used linguine)
3 tbsp tomato paste
125ml heavy cream
1 tsp lemon juice
5 gloves garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely sliced
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
Butter
Ray Charles in the background while cooking

Add enough water to the tomato paste to make a mixture of 125ml. Combine with cream and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add a knob of butter to the pan and heat until foamy. Add garlic and shallots and cook until slightly browned. Add the shrimp and scallops and cook until the shrimps turn pink and the scallops are opaque. At the same time that the seafood is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente texture and drain. Add the tomato cream mixture to the cooked shrimp and scallops and cook until the sauce thickens and has reduced by about a half. Add the parsley, stir through quickly and turn off the heat. Toss the pasta in the sauce and plate. Serve with a Orange-coconut rum (2 parts coconut malibu, 1 part orange juice. Shaken with ice and strained into tall glasses).

We rounded off the night with my first attempt at dessert using my new "ring molds" which, in reality, were a couple of aluminium cans with the two ends taken off. I had no idea whether or not they would work like proper ring molds. They SHOULD but I've still to figure out how exactly. I would have been satisfied with the white chocolate mousse cake had it not been for the dark chocolate "glaze." It was over runny (I must have miscalculated the gelatine ratio) and started running off the sides, ruining the whiteness of the mousse. That pissed me off big time. Tastewise, I liked it a lot but I just couldn't get over the visual imperfections. So I refuse to post the recipe until I get it 100% right.

Reasons to be Thankful, Part 1

Well, many really. The fact that I'll be done in less than four months makes me one of the happiest people in the world. That's a definite biggie. But in terms of the more specific (because it IS...was...Thanksgiving), let me list in a long breathful:

Costco-sized cereal. (REALLY) good friends. Coconut. And the most important one of all: everyone being away on Thanksgiving weekend so I could BLAST The Shirelles and Neil Sedaka unashamedly. Damn Straight.


HONEY BAKED COD AND SWEET POTATO "CAKE" IN GARLIC CREAM SAUCE

Having renounced meat (not including seafood) not too long ago, I had to think of something else for Thanksgiving. Fish would definitely be involved because I had some on hand. Wanting to keep somewhat Thanksgivingsy, I opted for something that would include sweet potato. To be honest though, I think sweet potato by itself is pretty bland (it's hardly really "sweet") and that's what prompted me to go for a honey-soy marinade for the fish. Previous sweet-potato-roasting experiences have taught me that the tuber goes amazingly well with soy sauce (what doesn't) and I imagined that honey would really bring out the supposed "sweetness" of sweet potato. I had nothing to lose. And it was good. Really good. The potato "cake" also went amazingly well with the garlic cream sauce. Paired with my new favourite riesling and an old-school movie...that's a big fatty reason to be thankful already.

RECIPE (Serves 2)
2 x white fish fillets (I used cod)
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
5 gloves garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely sliced
1 x sweet potato, peeled
Heavy cream
Olive oil
Butter

Preheat over to 375F. Using a peeler, peel the sweet potato into thin ribbons. Cook the ribbons in a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain and dry completely with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper and toss with about 2 tsp olive oil. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place two molding rings on the tray and divide the sweet potato mixture between the rings. Press down to compress (I used a shotglass) and then carefully remove the rings so that the potato holds shape. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, place each fillet of fish on a large sheet of foil. Combine honey, soy sauce and vinegar in a bowl. Mix well. Spoon over the fish and leave to rest for about 10 minutes. Fold the foil over the fish and seal to form a "packet." Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until cooked through (this depends on the size of your fillet. The general rule I follow is about 10 minutes for every inch in thickness).

While the potato and fish are baking, prepare the sauce. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add a knob of butter and heat until foamy. Add garlic and shallots and cook until aromatic. Add an adequate amount of heavy cream (this is really up to personal taste). I wanted a fairly thick sauce so I didn't add too much). Season with salt and pepper.

Time to plate. Spoon about 2 tbsp of garlic cream sauce onto plate. Top with the sweet potato "cake" and place the baked fish over the potato. Done!

It's really been awhile since I was blown away by a wine. I had wanted to indulge in a bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte Bubbly but they don't stock it at our local supermarket. So I opted for a riesling from Polka Dot (2007). IT'S SO GOOD. It's super delicate (I never like wines that are too strong, hence my preference for whites) and had a subtle fruity sweet taste. It was absolutely perfect with the fish - the mild sweetness really brought out the flavor of the honey marinade and the potato but it was delicate enough not to overpower anything. This is definitely my new favorite wine.

So it ends, it's all good in the world.