Saturday, February 7th - Crepes - Guacamole - Saffron Veloute - Chili Fried Cauliflower

Breakfast, we're having crepes since we only have two eggs left. I usually make them. D is making them today.

Crepes:

1 c Flour
1/4 t salt
2T sugar (opt)
1 c Milk (you can substitue some water in a pinch)
1 zested orange (washed)
2 eggs
1 T melted butter for batter and more for the pan.

Mix all the ingredients and let rest for half an hour.

Melt butter in a small bowl and have a silicon brush ready.
gently coat the pan with butter (D is not using the brush, he smears)

Pour 1/4 cup of batter or 1cm under the level of a typical soup ladel into the pan which you are holding up at an angle. Start to spin the pan gently to spread the batter evenly and thinly. Do not worry abou the first one. The first one is always a mess and resembles America's map. Shimmy it around. When it moves, use your fingers and check that it's slightly brown. Flip.

You can eat as you go or you can keep the batch warm in the oven.

I'm going to spread this Korean sweet red bean paste today. Total experiment but it turned out okay. The first one, I added some maple syrup but it was soooo sweet, the next two, I just used the sweet bean paste.

Lunch was sharing a spanakopita on Commercial. I mean, we left like at 11.

Before dinner we're having D's Guacamole:(It is different from mine which I think is awesome. I've followed a number of different mexican sources and classic approaches. I don't add cumin nor tomato.)

- 2 medium avocados
- 1 tomato
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 t cumin
- 1 t cayenn
- diced red onion, about a quarter of a medium
- juice of 1-2 limes

Dinner, we're making a few things. Lemon Papardelle from Trader Joes with the leftover salmon and Lobster Stock veloute. D made me lobster for my birthday and he made a load of stock with the left over shells and guts. Mmmmmm.

Saffron Veloute
1T butter
1 small onion or large shalotte
0.5 g saffron threads
2 T flour
1/2 c dry white wine or vermouth
1/2 c lobster stock (or a seafood stock of choice) if your stock is already salted, taste before adding salt to the veloute
1/4 c cream (or milk)
salt and pepper
1/2 c parmesan
parsley

Sweat the shalotte in the butter add the saffron and add the flour by sprinkling. Avoild one large clump. Make sure not to burn the flour. Add more butter if necessary but don't be afraid if it looks gunky. This is normal. This will be the thickner to your sauce just try to avoid lumps. Whisk in the wine or vermouth and break all lumps. Add the stock and rest and bring to a boil. It has to come to a boil for the starch in the flour to be activated to thicken. Turn down to a simmer until it coats the back of a spoon. If it gets a bit thick, add more stock. We added an extra 1/4 cup. It could have done with a bit more actually by the time we added all the pasta and fish.

We tossed the left over BBQ salmon from other day, flaked with the Trader Joe`s 225g Lemon Pepper Papardelle. Top with fresh grated Parmesan. My sister V warned me that it was very lemony which is why we chose to eat it with a strong fish. When we boiled the pasta to directions, it was indeed very lemony. In the end though, with the veloute and the salmon, it wasn`t over lemony at all. Perfect. I spread baby spinach leaves in a single layer on the dinner plates and we served the pasta on top. I was originally thinking of tossing in the pasta to wilt but D thought it be better on the side. It was nice and fresh.

We're also going to do this Chili Fried Cauliflower from Delfina's in San Francisco was the inspiration. It's been adapted. It's not that difficult and would recommend it.

Chili Fried Cauliflower
- Half head of cauliflower cut into large pieces. I like the stalks. D cuts them off and tosses them into the compost when I'm not looking.
- Wash and pat dry with a towel.
- In a large fry pan (the kind with sides) or a wok, I guess. I recommend having a lid or splatter guard. Heat about half a cm of oil. More if you like, the restaurant deep fries this. We used half chili oil since we don't have the calabrese chili's the recipie calls for.
- Add the cauliflower and let fry for 2 min on high until you see some colour. Turn the the pieces over and turn down the heat to med/high. Let fry for 7-10 min more until dark golden all over.
-Add:1-2 cloves garlic sliced, 1T capers well drained and dried (or use dried salted), salt and pepper, 1/2T coppola chili flakes (I would have added the jalapeno we had in the fridge but I think D didn't want that spin on the flavour). Sautee for a couple of minutes
-Drain carefully in a sieve (not a colander), keep the oil if you want. You could just pick up the pieces with a slotted spoon but we don`t like to lose the capers and garlic. Let it sit over the bowl you`re catching the oil in for a few minutes.
-Place in bowl and toss with 1-2T of fresh chopped parsely
mmmmmm

We had Lindt 85% to munch on later and finished that terrible Hagen Daaz extras icecream. Never again. It was icy and I`m not sure if it was because of the ingredients or the shop.