April 3, 2010 - Day 1 of Easter Weekend Gorging

My parents came down for Easter weekend and I definitely took advantage of the extra competent kitchen hands of my dad. And so starts the weekend of gorging...

Course #1: Vietnamese squid salad

Another trial with the calamari steaks. I actually think they came out a lot better this time and the salad had the type of textures that were missing from the previous one. Chinese cabbage and blanched snow peas accompanied the squid.

Course #2: Eggplant Parmigian

This was like a mini appetizer version of eggplant parmigian with a quick made fresh tomato sauce and some arugula salad.

Course #3: Pan Roasted Halibut with Tomato Sauce and Corn Ragout

Just used some of the extra tomato sauce on the halibut and then cooked the corn with some of my homemade bacon, chorizo and cilantro. I don't know if this is a real ragout or not but it sounded good.

Course #4: Lamb Chops with Quick Pickled Vegetables

Marinated the lamb chops with garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and grilled them so my standard prep. The quick pickled veggies are a combo of celery, carrots and radish (I used daikon) that are marinated with warm vinegar, salt and sugar with coriander seed. These end up being crispy and refreshing to accompany red meat.