Small Plates

It may seem based upon the last post and this that I've jettisoned the whole diet thing. NOT TRUE. More posts on the joys of austerity cuisine will be coming soon. But for now a brief sybaritic interlude.

This weekend Agent W, wife of Gaius Derf, was out of town so we invited Derf over for some company. When we do this often we just throw something together without a whole lot of forethought. When we talked Saturday morning, Derf asked what he could bring and I said a chicken. I had the idea that to save time I could get a braising liquid started and then just cut up the chicken and throw it in and have it ready in about an hour and half. We will avoid the entire phone conversation about what I meant by "bring a chicken." But then I started to think, "what are we going to do until the chicken is ready?" As is my wont this lead to the following though in my defense, I did this all between 4 and 5:30 PM so it wasn't like spent all day cooking.

My goal was to have a couple of dishes to fill the gap but I got somewhat carried away. I did however succeed in keeping portion sizes very much under control.

First Course
Salad of Corn and Poblano Peppers

I sauteed corn (of the cob frozen from the summer), poblano peppers from last summer's garden, red onion in oil flavored with pancetta. Then added zest of orange and lime plus lime juice. Served it at room temperature with the crispy pancetta on the top.

Spanish Zucchini Tortilla

Saute onion, garlic and zucchini with pimenton and saffron. Throw into beaten eggs. Put back into pan. When almost done slip onto plate and flip back into pan to finish.

Scallop with caper cream sauce

I cooked a single scallop for each of us then deglazed the pan with some dry sherry and heavy cream, a little anchovy paste and added some capers at the very end.

Glazed carrot salad

Carrots cooked in a little water, butter, brown sugar, and berbere (and Ethiopian spice mixture). Let it cool and added a bit of apple cider vinegar.

Braised chicken and mashed potatoes