Dinner at Olivia's

is always a special treat.

Tonight she made me a compari and pellegrino with a little lemon. This was a great way to start.

Sheila made crostini's with goat cheese, Olivia's sun dried tomatoes, a little parsley herb mixture and some smoked salmon or shrimp.

I made a blood orange salad. 

Steve made a radicchio salad with a simple wonder garlic vinaigrette.

Olivia then served chili pepper polenta cakes.

Diver Scallops on a bed a of sauteed fennel, leak, and spinach.

And if that was not heaven enough, Sheila surprised us with delicious coffee and chocolate shortbread cookies.  And Olivia dished out her homemade persimmon ice creme.

YUM!

 

Carrot Ginger Scallion Pancakes

The trick here is adding barely enough egg and flour to hold the carrots together. Uschi and I went through a few batches before it seemed to gel. Simultaneously, the pans seemed to take a little bit to find their heat.

I have never measured the ingredients and have always winged this visually and by taste.
We made enough for a party of 21. There was not one pancake left.

1. Mix together:
- Grated Carrots
- Minced or Grated Ginger
- Thinly Sliced Scallions
- Thinly Sliced Shallots
- Grated Meyer Lemon Rind

2. Add:
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Cardamon
- Cumin Seed
- Freshly Ground Pepper
- Salt
- A little sugar to taste

You will need to taste and tweak to your liking.

3. Then add:
- Lemon Juice

4. Separate 4 to 5 eggs. Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form.

5. Turn oven to 200 degrees or so.

6. Mix egg yolks into carrot mixture and very little flour. I usually start with about 1/4 cup and then add from there. Add enough egg whites to get desired consistency.

7. Heat a non-stick skillet. Usually I use a little olive or vegetable oil, but tonight the pancakes did better without any oil, so that was new. Spoon out about a tablespoon or more of the carrot mixture onto pan and flatten out. Depending on the size of your pan, add as many pancakes as you can fit without crowding. Allow to brown on one side before flipping. If they fall apart, you will need to add more flour or egg, tweaking until you get the right balance. (One day I will write the proportions down).

8. Keep pancakes in oven till all are done. Serve with Creme Fresh and Smoked Salmon.

Grilled Scallops on Fennel Orange Salad

1. Start the grill.

2. Prep the giant diver scallops from Ric and Alicia with a little olive oil,pepper and salt. 4 to a skewer.

3. Thinly slice freshly picked fennel super thin and toss with orange zest, fresh orange juice, olive oil, fresh ground pepper and good salt. Arrange on Platter.

4. Finely chop some Tarragon.

5. Grill Scallops Perfectly like Eric does.

6. Arrange scallops on the fennel salad, sprinkle tarragon and serve.

Thomas Meyerhoffer Returns Home

Our pal thomas showed up yesterday night for 2 days. I love when Thomas comes to visit.

Tonight we made this:

Grilled Scallops on Fennel, Radish and Lemon Salad

1. Start the grill.

2. Prep the giant diver scallops from Ric and Alicia with a little olive oil,pepper and salt. 3 to a skewer.

3. Slice some Pink and Red French Radishes and bulb of Fennel super thin and toss with a little lemon zest, lemon, olive oil, fresh ground pepper and good salt. Divide among 3 plates.

4. Finely chop some Tarragon.

5. Grill Scallops Perfectly like Eric did tonight.

6. Arrange scallops on the fennel salad, sprinkle tarragon and serve with a lemon wedge.


Yum. Then me and Thomas had vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Old Skool New England Scallops and Sketti

1. Bring pot of salted water to boil.
2. Thinly slice up 2 leeks and saute in butter and olive oil. Set aside.
3. Mince up a clove of garlic and about a teaspoon of fresh green peppercorns.
4. When water boils throw in Spaghetti. You have about 12 to 13 minutes from here till done.
5. In same pan as you cooked the leeks, add more butter and olive oil. Salt and pepper 6 beautiful diver scallops from Alicia at GeeWhataDeal Seafood. When fat is ready, add scallops to pan. Saute until browned, but not cooked though. I partially covered the pan to speed up cooking. Set aside.
6. Add leeks back into pan. Add garlic and peppercorns. Add some white wine and allow to cook off. Add a little Dijon mustard. Put scallops back into pan and cover.
7. Slice up some fresh arugula from Steve's Farm.
8. When pasta is done, drain and add olive oil and lemon and salt to toss.
9. When scallops are done, pull from heat, add sliced arugula and some lemon juice to pan and stir.
10. To serve, put spaghetti in 2 bowls and dish out Scallops and sauce on top. Salt and pepper to taste.


Eric loved this. Reminded him of Boston where he went to college but also of Ojai where we live now. I ate my entire dish. He only ate half. Haha!