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.