Chili Lobster

As you may know, I love Fatty Crab, and their chili crab is one of the signature dishes. When Jamie sent me this recipe from the New York Times last week, I was happy to make it. Though it's totally a labor of love and you need to set aside about 4 hours for the whole process, it's really delicious and special. We had it for a little Father's Day dinner with my parents. You'd think the chili sauce might overpower the lobster, but the super lobstery broth prevents it. The whole dish is totally lobstery and the chili sauce has just the right amount of heat, and so much flavor. If you need to serve a lobster-lover something special, this is it.

Serves 4

Rhubarb Ice Cream with Caramel Swirl

Since I'm a sucker for rhubarb, I couldn't resist trying this recipe from the New York Times. It was great! The sour cream gives a unique richness and creamy texture, the rhubarb is tart and awesome, and the caramel adds extra sweetness and something toothsome. The chunks of rhubarb are great, too. It's a little bit of a labor of love, but if you love rhubarb, ice cream, and time consuming weekend cooking projects (guilty), then this is perfect!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 3/4 cup plus 6 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 pounds rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 cup heavy cream

Thai Chicken and Spicy Asparagus Stir Fry

After Cinco de Mayo tamales (recipe coming soon) and other fun eating with Chip and Siobhan last weekend, once again, Jamie and I found ourselves craving healthy, fresh food on Monday night. I picked one recipe from the Times and one from Food & Wine, partially from the mouthwatering pictures printed alongside them - Thai Chicken with Hot-Sour-Salty-Sweet Sauce (also, can you resist that name?) and Stir-Fried Spicy Asparagus because asparagus is fresh, healthy, and so delicious this time of year. It's also nice that the asparagus takes less than 2 minutes to cook. It's delicious! The asparagus is extremely fresh and light, and the chicken is juicy. The real star is the dipping sauce. I want to make a gallon of it and pour it on everything. It's pretty much a winning combination of all of the tastes. Yum!

Thai Chicken, serves 4
Ingredients:
Marinated Chicken:
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp Asian fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 whole chicken legs
Dipping Sauce:
1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate dissolved in 1 tsp water (or 1 tsp tamarind paste)
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 small  Thai chili (or jalapeno) seeded and minced
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Salmon Carpaccio and Tomato Tarte Tatin

Yes, it sounds like an odd mix, and kind of was, but both were super tasty (next time I'll use two different plates and just suck it up and wash two extra dishes). The nice thing about them is they both bring out fresh summery flavors but you can make them in the winter. The carpaccio recipe I found in the New York Times, and I'd seen tomato tarte tatin recipes and researched a few before landing on this New York Times recipe. The carpaccio was so fresh and the lemon zest and chives perfectly balanced out the richness of the fish. The tomato tarte was flavorful and rich and also looks so pretty with different colored tomatoes! I got these red and yellow grape tomatoes at the farmers market, but Trader Joe's also has great colorful grape and cherry tomato packs. Both dishes aren't terribly hard, but are impressive - good for a special at home date. Especially the individual tarte tatins.


Salmon Carpaccio (for 2)
Ingredients:
8 ounces salmon, preferably wild (if you can't find wild, I try to get the deepest orange color of the other options)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for brushing