Eating out can be a bore sometime. Many restaurants in NYC are great, but I have yet to come across a place that's so amazing I'd like to eat there every day. Maybe I wouldn't mind going to Soto everyday for my daily fix of Uni orgy, but otherwise...nothing else comes to mind. Actually, I could eat at Fette Sau everyday, but its geographic location is not ideal. Probably a good thing else I'd be a heifer. So where do I go when eating out gets boring? Chez Jamie of course. It's really the only place to get delicious food in this city. Definitely not low cal food, but who watches their weight and fat intake these days. Weight watching is for suckers. Eating alone is not much fun, so I invited some people over for dinner and did some cooking. I live on compliments and compliments I got! This was overall a pretty successful dinner but maybe a little too aggressive cause I was a zombie the next couple days. I don't have pictures of everything cause I think I was busy stuffing my face. And I may have been a bit tipsy and forgot. I get tipsy often. And when I'm tipsy, I get very forgetful.
Menu
Roasted Veggie Canape
Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Cheese Dip with Crudites
Spinach and Artichoke Dip
-----
Pretty Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
-----
Lemon Rosemary Cream Pasta
-----
Black Sea Bass with Herb Butter Sauce
-----
Cupcakes
Roasted Veggie Canape
MAKES 24-30
INGREDIENTS:
1 red bell pepper, chopped very fine
1 red onion, chopped very fine
2/3 eggplant, chopped very fine
4 garlic cloves, crushed
20 basil leaves, chopped
Thyme
Salt, pepper and EVOO
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop pepper, eggplant, onion and garlic. Spread out the veggies on a baking sheet. I like to use a silpat so things don't stick and it makes the cleaning process easier. Add as much thyme as you want, some salt and pepper and drizzle with about 2-3 tablespoons of EVOO. Give the whole thing a good stir and pop it into the oven for about an hour. After about 30 minutes, give it a little stir so the little diced up veggies don't burn. Once its done, put the roasted veggies in a bowl. Add the basil right before serving.
Pretty Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
I was going to serve this with a poached egg instead of a hard boiled one, but I got lazy. It is more fun with a poached egg. The salad is prettier when you add more vibrant colors, but it is winter and this is the US. It's not as easy for a commoner to find super fresh and beautiful produce as it is in France. So I made do with what was available.
INGREDIENTS:
Green cauliflower
Purple cauliflower
Haricot verts
Mini carrots
Radish
Mache
Eggs
DRESSING:
Tons of tarragon
Dijon mustard
Sherry Vinegar
1 hard boiled egg
Salt, pepper, sugar, EVOO
PREPARATION:
Blend all the dressing ingredients in a blender so it's a beautiful silky green texture. Blanch the carros, cauliflower and the haricot verts all separately. Mandolin the radishes. Arrange everything on a plate, add the hard boiled egg (preferably poached, but whatever works), then drizzle with the dressing and serve immediately.
Black Sea Bass with Jamie's Signature Herb Butter Sauce
This was a bit annoying and super time consuming. I asked the fish monger to fillet the thing, but he just gutted it and didn't even scale it completely so I had to come home and perform surgery on it with my delicate little genius hands that move with grace and dexterity like that of a plastic surgeons. I've made this a couple times now and I think I've perfected the recipe.
This was a bit annoying and super time consuming. I asked the fish monger to fillet the thing, but he just gutted it and didn't even scale it completely so I had to come home and perform surgery on it with my delicate little genius hands that move with grace and dexterity like that of a plastic surgeons. I've made this a couple times now and I think I've perfected the recipe.
FOR 6
INGREDIENTS:
Sea bass or some other soft, delicate and flaky fish
5 tomatoes, confited
1 bundle of chervil, chopped
1 bundle of tarragon, chopped
1 bundle of chives, chopped
2 shallots, chopped very fine
1/3 cup of dry white wine
1/2 cup of fish stock, preferably homemade
3 sticks of butter, very cold and cut into small cubes
Tumeric powder
Salt and white pepper
PREPARATION:
This is basically a butter sauce with herbs and such added to it at the very end. Confit the shallots in some butter. Add the fish stock and let reduce till almost all the liquid is gone. Add wine and reduce the liquid half way. Add a couple shakes of tumeric. This will give it the vibrant yellow color. Put the heat on low and slowly, add the cubes of butter using a wisk. Emulsify the butter into the rest of the mixture so that it creates a thick sauce. Don't ever let the sauce come to a boil or the butter will separate and you'll end up with an oily mess. Once all the butter is incorporated, add the confited tomatoes, and all the herbs. Give it a good wisk and set aside while you cook the fish. Once the fish is ready, serve immediately with a generous amount of sauce.
Some of these techniques are a bit tricky and I'm being a little lazy and not writing every little detail. Cause I'm not even sure if people are reading this. But if you have questions, email me.
INGREDIENTS:
Sea bass or some other soft, delicate and flaky fish
5 tomatoes, confited
1 bundle of chervil, chopped
1 bundle of tarragon, chopped
1 bundle of chives, chopped
2 shallots, chopped very fine
1/3 cup of dry white wine
1/2 cup of fish stock, preferably homemade
3 sticks of butter, very cold and cut into small cubes
Tumeric powder
Salt and white pepper
PREPARATION:
This is basically a butter sauce with herbs and such added to it at the very end. Confit the shallots in some butter. Add the fish stock and let reduce till almost all the liquid is gone. Add wine and reduce the liquid half way. Add a couple shakes of tumeric. This will give it the vibrant yellow color. Put the heat on low and slowly, add the cubes of butter using a wisk. Emulsify the butter into the rest of the mixture so that it creates a thick sauce. Don't ever let the sauce come to a boil or the butter will separate and you'll end up with an oily mess. Once all the butter is incorporated, add the confited tomatoes, and all the herbs. Give it a good wisk and set aside while you cook the fish. Once the fish is ready, serve immediately with a generous amount of sauce.
Some of these techniques are a bit tricky and I'm being a little lazy and not writing every little detail. Cause I'm not even sure if people are reading this. But if you have questions, email me.
