What's Cooking EDF? #4

[pokah5]

sounds and looks delicious!

ingredients?

[slamdunkpro]

It's a lot of knife work, but it does look good!

Crab Towers with Avocado & Gazpacho Salsas

You can prepare the crabmeat salad and gazpacho salsa several hours ahead of serving, but the avocado salsa should be prepared just before assembly.

INGREDIENTS

Crabmeat Salad
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest or minced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
12 ounces lump crabmeat (or backfin), preferably Atlantic blue crabmeat, carefully picked over for shell fragments

Gazpacho Salsa
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 small cucumber, peeled if desired, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium plum tomato, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1 small rib celery, cut into 1/8-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 small red onion, minced (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 small jalapeño chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro leaves
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

Avocado Salsa
3 avocados (ripe), cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons lime juice from 1 lime

Garnish
1 cup frisée
2 oranges, peeled using a paring knife and segmented

1. FOR THE CRABMEAT SALAD: Whisk the olive oil, champagne vinegar, lemon zest, mustard, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Measure 3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette into a medium bowl and mix with the mayonnaise. Add the crabmeat to the mayonnaise mixture and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. Set the remaining vinaigrette aside.

2. FOR THE GAZPACHO SALSA: Toss the yellow bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, celery, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, salt, pepper, olive oil, and sherry vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. FOR THE AVOCADO SALSA: Toss the avocado, coriander, salt, pepper, and lime juice in a medium bowl and set aside.

4. TO ASSEMBLE: Place a 3-inch-wide round biscuit cutter in the center of an individual plate. Use a slotted spoon to press 1/3 cup of the Avocado Salsa into the bottom of the cutter using the back of a soup spoon. Lift the cutter off the plate slightly to reveal some but not all of the avocado. Holding the cutter aloft, press 1/3 cup of the Crabmeat Salad evenly into the cutter on top of the avocado. Lift the cutter farther to reveal some but not all of the crab salad. Holding the cutter aloft, use a slotted spoon to press 1/3 cup of the Gazpacho Salsa evenly into the cutter on top of the crab. Gently lift the cutter up and away from the plate to reveal the crab tower. Repeat the procedure five more times with the remaining ingredients.

5. Dress the frisée with the remaining champagne vinaigrette. Place a few sprigs of the dressed frisée on top of each crab tower and arrange the orange segments, if using, around the towers. Serve immediately.

['Chair]

Lunch: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich + last night's Entourage



Ingredients:
thick cut apple wood smoked bacon
sharp provolone
toasted sour dough bread
2 fried eggs
duke's mayo
s & p
vine ripe tomato
red onion


Dids, solid as usual.

[BK_]

Great stuff all. The last two pictures have me starving and I just ate lunch.

Appetizer from Friday night:



From Food and Wine Magazine:

ingredients
18 ounces sea scallops, cut into 3/4-inch dice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon almond or hazelnut oil
1 Thai chile or jalapeño, seeded and minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 red bell pepper


directions
In a medium bowl, toss the scallops with the citrus juices, grapeseed and almond oils and chile and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until the scallops are opaque, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Meanwhile, roast the bell pepper directly over a gas flame or under the broiler, turning, until charred all over. Transfer the pepper to a bowl, cover and let steam for 10 minutes. Peel the pepper and cut it into 1/2 -inch dice.
Add the roasted pepper to the scallops, season with salt and pepper and stir. Serve the scallops in large spoons, small bowls or scallop shells set on a bed of ice.

[fluffpop62]

[ QUOTE ]
Lunch: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich + last night's Entourage



Ingredients:
thick cut apple wood smoked bacon
sharp provolone
toasted sour dough bread
2 fried eggs
duke's mayo
s & p
vine ripe tomato
red onion


Dids, solid as usual.

[/ QUOTE ]

the lighting b/c of your plate's reflectiveness looks incredible

[Mermade]

slamdunkpro--

Your towers are really stunning. I have been wanting to buy biscuit cutters to try out this kind of presentation for various things for some time. Maybe I'll finally get off my butt and do it. Kudos.

[BK_]

How much money did you have to spend on crab in order to make two of these stacks?

[BK_]

Skirt Steak with Cipotle Aioli Sauce & Cipotle Corn Salad



The steak was marinated in a really really tasty puree of oil, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, lime juice, red pepper, cumin, and sugar. The steak was nice quality but I think this made the dish for me.

The chipotle aioli was a simple recipe from the food network website (repasted below):

1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chilies
1 tablespoon minced garlic

[slamdunkpro]

[ QUOTE ]
How much money did you have to spend on crab in order to make two of these stacks?

[/ QUOTE ]

i pound of lump meat makes 5 towers

[fluffpop62]

[ QUOTE ]
Crab Towers with Avocado & Gazpacho Salsa


[/ QUOTE ]

i want to learn how to make it just because it looks so good! you guys are all very talented and it makes me want to stray from my lean cuisines!