Seafood Stew

For Amanda's birthday I decided to make three courses of Amanda's favorites. She loves seafood and, luckily, we have a great fishmonger near our house called Dirk's Fish where I am able to get great seafood. We started off with wonderfully fresh and juicy Malpeque and Kumamoto Oysters. Next, I made one of Amanda's favorites, seafood stew. I started off with a shrimp broth made with shrimp shells, tomato paste, white wine, leeks, fennel, herbs and spices. The mussels and clams impart a delicate richness into the simple broth. Once we ran out of toasted baguette to sop up the broth we drank the rest straight out of the bowl.


















The meal ended with a tres leches cake that I promised last year and failed to deliver. The best part of the whole meal was that we were able to celebrate a wonderful day in our pajamas and away from the biting cold of a January night in Chicago.

Healthy Vegetarian

Asian flavors lend themselves quite well to vegetarian dishes. Not only do the flavors of fresh ginger, garlic, lime, cilantro, and scallion bring acidic brightness to a dish, but soy and dried shiitake provide the unctuous umami normally found in meat. Marinating tofu in a mushroom infused soy gives it a very satisfying "meaty" flavor.

New Year's Day Breakfast

As the new year arrives Amanda and I have resolved to treat our bodies a little better so I decided to make a slightly healthier breakfast than usual. I made my version of a middle eastern dish, Shakshuka, of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce and served it over stewed white beans and chickpeas. However, since it is New Years Day, I made the beans a little tastier by using bacon fat. It was a warm, hearty, and homey dish to start the new year.

Eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce over bacon and herb stewed beans.

Scallops and corn

One of my favorite flavors of late summer and early fall is sweet corn. Growing up every August and September my dad would pick some up at the farmstand near our house and we would grill out and eat corn on the cob savoring the summer and hoping it would never end.
I couldn't resist the heaping piles of sweet corn Nichols was selling at the Green City Market and also couldn't resist pairing it with scallops, bacon, and chilies.

Seared scallops with roasted sweet corn salsa, bacon grits, chili lime vinaigrette

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

with caramelized onions, toasted almonds, sage and sherry browned butter















Not pictured: The next incarnation of the dish included manchego cheese to round out the flavors.

Hors D'oeuvres

Wisconsin cheddar quiches, Nichols farm heirloom tomatoes


















Roasted italian style meatball with roasted heirloom tomato coulis, micro basil

Sour Cherries and Peaches

In july at the Green City Market both sour cherries and peaches are in season. My favorites are the peaches from Flaming Fury and sour cherries from Mick Klug. I brought a bunch home and played with them in my kitchen. I turned out one savory dish and two desserts.

Fennel brined boneless skinless chicken breast, roasted peaches with basil, sour cherry compote


















Peach pie with sour cherry sorbet


















Peach and sour cherry tart with sour cherry reduction.