I'm back!!

Ok, so I'm sorry that I left for so long, I won't make excuses, I was just being lazy. But now I'm back and with some yummy recipes to share. I was just reading a friends new recipe blog and realized that I, too, have some sharing to do. So here's whats going on: its my dad's birthday soon and I am making him a Birthday lunch tomorow. I am making some fun dishes that may not have anything in common with eachother except that they are scrumptious. I am starting with Seared tuna tostadas, then crabcakes, then a fig and brulee'd goat cheese salad, folowed by homemade potato gnocchi with pesto on an herbed bed of ricotta, and for desert some sort of bananas and cream dish, which I still havent figured out but i'll let you know.

Tuna Tostadas
about 4 tortillas, cut w cookie cutter into little rounds (like 16 mini tostadas)
chipotle mayo (mayo w some chipotles in adobo mixed in)
cucumbers soaked in lime, salt and a bit of sugar (juliened or shaved at a certain restaurant that i worked at, we used a microplain that left the cucumbers like spagetti. (flexibility is key)
Fresh Tuna, seared w salt and pepper to rare
soy sauce
minced cilantro

fry up the tortilla tostadas until brown and crispy
spread chipotle mayo on each tostadas
swirl cucmber, like you would spagetti, and place that on top
a sliced of the seared tuna on top
just a few drops of soy sauce
cilantro to garnish
yummmmm
due to the raw-ness of the fish, you should consume them immidiately, but ofcourse, share!!

crabcakes!!!!
red bell peper, small dice
red onion, small dice
1/2 stalk of cellery, small dice
old bay to taste
1 egg
breadcrumbs
crab (you can buy it in cans like tuna and it works great, but if you have loads of cash, get the fresh pasteurized cans in the fish section of your grocery store, they are much fresher, but cost like 18-24 bucks each (!!!!))
combine all and broil or fry

Black mission fig and goatcheese salad
mesclun greens
your favorite balsamic vinaigrette
black mission figs
goat cheese, cut into small medalions
sugar
toasted pine nuts

first, brulee the cheese, which is to say, take the medalions and dip them in the sugar, then with a food torch (you can buy these at macy's or williams sonoma or specialty food supply stores) gently with a low flame, brown the sugar on top. set aside to cool.
resist the urge to eat them all....
cut the figs in half and top with the goat cheese, and lay them on a bed of dressed mesclun greens and garnish with the pine nuts. This could be good with prosciutto too, if your into that (which I totally am, but normally eat all of the prosciutto before it gets to the table)

Gnocchi
4 large Ukon (sp??) potatoes
some flour
salt

Bake the potatoes. peel them AFTER they've been baked. mash them as well as you can, or run them through a food mill if you have one. i don't, so i use a bean masher or a fork if i feel extra energetic.
add salt and just enough flour to make a dough. if it gets too dry, use an egg white to moisten it again. Try not to over kneed the dough, the more you kneed, the tougher the gnocchi. (ewww!)
roll into snakes, cut into half inch lengths, and poke with a fork to give them little grooves to hold sauce.
drop them into boiling water, just until they float and then they are done.

Pesto.
Basil
pinenuts
olive oil
parmesan cheese
raw garlic (using sparingly, start with one small clove and work your way up)
salt and pepper

blend or cuise (pronounced Queeze, from the noun, Cuisiniart) until just blended but not pureed.
dress your gnocchi.

Herbed Ricotta
Ricotta (obviously)
Basil, chiffonade(d?)
lemon zest
minced rosemary
pepperoncino (crushed red pepper, like for pizza, ps. this is optional)
fresh cracked pepper
your best extra virgin olive oil
mix it up and spread about 2 tablespoons onto a hot plate.
pile the gnocchi on top
shave some parmesan on top

bananas will come soon, i'll tell you how i make them after the lunch tomorow and i will post pictures of everything and the steps that I took to make them.


stay tuned, friends, I promise not to abandon you again anytime soon.