A Princess Tea Party

Over the weekend, we threw an intimate tea party for a very special 3 year old. Because she absolutely loves Cinderella, it is only fitting that we do a blue and white theme party with "Princess" accents.

We decided to focus more on the colors, rather than going all out with Cinderella party products. Everything was purchased from Party City.

We had (from top left) smoked salmon sandwiches (recipe below), ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, shortbread cookies and earl grey macarons with tea. 

I guess some other princesses decided to join the party too.

I've made these smoked salmon sandwiches many times and it has always been a big hit with both the adults and kids. So, I decided to make them again for this tea party.

Recipe for smoked salmon sandwich:

1 stick butter, softened

2 sprigs green onion, chopped

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

1 loaf honey whole wheat bread

Smoked salmon (about 2 4oz packages)

2 cups thinly sliced cucumber

Instructions:
1) To make the compound butter, leave the stick of butter to soften at room temperature. This usually takes a few hours after you take them out of the refrigerator. However, if you're like me and forgot to prepare ahead of time, simply put the stick of butter in the microwave and heat it at 5 seconds intervals until it softens.
2) Add chopped green onion, parsley, salt and pepper to the softened butter. You can use the mixer with a paddle attachment to mix or the back of a wooden spoon to gently combine the mixture. Because the smoked salmon has already been seasoned, use salt sparingly. You do not want an overly salty sandwich.
3) Spread the compound butter on both sides of the bread. Add smoked salmon and cucumber.
4) Trim the sides off and cut the sandwiches diagonally into four mini triangles.

Side note:
Compound butter is simply butter with supplementary ingredients - generally herbs or spices. You can also use this compound butter to flavor a simple pan seared fish (I love it with Salmon) or scallops.

I used this shortbread recipe for the princess dress and slipper cookies. I got the cookie cutters at Sur La Table for a dollar each. The dress and slipper cookies are adorned with dragees in different sizes and color, and decorated in white and blue royal icing.

Earl Grey Macaron.

I made a batch of earl grey macarons that I've brushed with light blue food coloring to match the theme of the party. To add color to your macarons, simply mix a few drops of food coloring with water. Then, lightly brush the top of the macarons and let them dry.

Happy birthday sweet Shi-wa-wa! :) And special thanks to Jessica for hosting and the rest of the aunties who helped out too!

A Lemon Inspired meal

I guess nothing screams spring like lemons. This wonderful fruit is vibrant, acidic and versatile. You can use lemons for savory dishes or desserts, hot or cold, heck it's even used as a cleansing tonic. To welcome spring, I decided to create a meal using this flavorful fruit. On the menu is a shrimp, peas and corn orzo, oven-roasted dover sole and lemon cupcakes.

The oven roasted fish was inspired by a dish Ina Garten had made. In her recipe, Ina used swordfish and a sauce that is similar in taste to tartar sauce. I am not a giant fan of swordfish because the meat is a little tough. I wanted something flakey and soft, and that I can prepare and cook quickly. So, I decided on sole. Also, I love the combination of herbs with seafood. Rather than using tartar sauce, I decided to make a herb sauce that would brighten up this dish and give it a fresh flavor.

Ingredients:

10 pieces of sole (you can use any fish of your choice though another good one is cod)

A bunch of Basil leaves plus 1/4 cup chopped basil (enough for fish and sauce)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons chopped onion

2 tablespoons cilantro

1 sprig green onion

2 lemons

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

2. Place a piece of basil inside each fillet and roll the fish to seal it. Place the fish on an oven proof baking dish. 

3. Combine the 1/4 cup chopped basil leaves, mayonnaise, garlic, onion, cilantro, green onion and juice of 2 lemons in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper, then pulse to combine. 

4. Spread 3/4 of the sauce over the fish. Reserve the rest to pour over the finished dish. If prepping this dish in advance, keep the fish and sauce separated in the refrigerator until you are ready to use. Spread the sauce right before you place them in the preheated oven.

5. Bake the fish at 400 degrees F for 18 minutes. Then, switch to broil and cook for another 2 minutes. The cooked fish should be firm to the touch and slightly browned on top. Depending on the thickness and choice of fish, adjust the cooking time accordingly. 

Oven roasted dover sole with herb dressing.

Over the weekend, we had dinner at Osteria La Buca in Los Angeles. It came highly recommended by a friend and the family decided to check it out. It was a very satisfying and enjoyable meal. There was one dish that I particularly enjoyed that night- agnolotti with tiger shrimp and peas. Inspired, I came up with my version of pasta with tiger shrimp and peas. 

Shrimp, peas and corn orzo.

Ingredients:

1 cup peas (I used frozen peas and corn)

1 cup corn

16 oz orzo

1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp

Paprika powder

Salt and pepper

Olive Oil

4 lemons

2 tablespoons chopped mint

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1. In a pot of boiling water seasoned with salt, blanch the peas and corn for 30 seconds. Remove from pot and set aside. 

2. Prepare orzo according to the instructions on the packaging. I cooked the orzo in the same pot that I had previously used to blanch the vegetables. That way, you don't have to wash another pot. 

3. Season the shrimp with paprika, salt and pepper, one tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of one lemon. 

4. Set the oven to "broil" and place the shrimp on the top rack of the oven. The shrimp will cook quickly, about 8-10 minutes. Since all ovens are different, check the shrimp from time to time. When it turns pink and is firm to the touch, it is cooked and can be removed from the oven.

 5. While the orzo and shrimp are cooking, prepare the lemon vinaigrette. Whisk equal amounts of lemon juice and olive oil together. I used the juice of three lemons. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

6. When the orzo is done, drain the liquid and combine the orzo, peas and corn in a nice serving bowl. Toss together with the shrimp, chopped mint and parsley, and vinaigrette. The warm orzo will soak up the lemon vinaigrette. I also added some liquid from the cooked shrimp into the orzo to add more flavor. If your orzo seems dry, simply prepare more lemon vinaigrette. 

Although you can make the fish and orzo on separate occasions, the combination of these two dishes work very well together. I think each dish helps enhance the flavor of the other and it brings on a very light and refreshing taste. 

For dessert, I made lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I used a regular vanilla cupcakes recipe but added some lemon juice for flavor. In conjunction with Easter, I decorated the cupcakes with Easter chocolate eggs and edible green grass. Voila. 

Lemon Cupcake.

Channeling our inner Julia Child

My friend Kari gave me a copy of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" last week and we thought we would finally put her recipes to test. I'm sure the recipes are fine, but I have never cooked anything from Julia Child before and the mere thought of it had always left me feeling nervous and intimidated. When Shunsuke saw my copy of the cookbook on the countertop, he loudly asked if I can do this. It is about a thousand pages of instructions with very little pictures. I initially thought it would be so difficult because I don't have a visual of how the dish should end up looking like. But, since I have an extra pair of hands and another brain to toss ideas around, Kari and I faced our fears and attempted to make a meal from Julia Child's cookbook.

Kari was nice to host the dinner at her place. The pictures were taken in her lovely kitchen. On the menu that evening was: fish poached in white wine, sauté vegetables, potato gratin and grand marnier soufflé. We also made a salad to start though it wasn't from Julia's book.

To start, Kari made a beet and pear salad. She roasted the beets in the oven for about an hour and shredded them along with pears. A light vinaigrette to toss the simple salad and topped with slivered almonds and some blue cheese. Big Yum!

Kari cutting the potatoes using a mandolin for our potato gratin.

Finished gratin. Julia Child uses eggs in her gratin which I thought was quite different. It gave the dish a very nice and soft spongy texture. Definitely different from the typical ones with béchamel sauce which tends to be heavier. 

White wine poached fish. It was very simple to make. All you need was fish (we used cod) white wine, water, butter (of course) and shallots. I understand that this may be the traditional French way of poaching fish, but I thought it didn't do much for the fish. The fish had very little flavor and tasted bland. I will make this recipe again with a few alterations, using some herbs and stock to flavor the fish. 

Saute Vegetables- Julienned carrots, fennel, zucchini and yellow squash. The fennel adds a light licorice flavor to the vegetables.

Finished dish. We plated it the best we could. 

Although the fish was a disappointment, the Grand Marnier soufflé was definitely the highlight of the meal. It was light, fluffy and delicious. I have to say that this recipe was much easier than the other soufflé recipes I've tried. It was so good. I'm still dreaming about it.

When I first started cooking this meal with Kari, I thought I would never use Julia Child's cookbook again. The book didn't have pictures of the dishes we are making and the style of which the recipes were written was very different, making it a little harder to follow. But, having made that soufflé and seeing how well it turned out, I changed my tune. It is not as difficult as I thought and I would try more recipes in the future. You just have to get used to her style of writing. Yes, and  I also have to make sure I stock my fridge with butter. Tons of butter because it ain't a Julia Child's recipe if you don't have at least half a stick of butter in there!

Thank you Kari for the book and for hosting the dinner party. It was very fun! Bon Appetit!