We planned a nice celebration what with Sophia turning one. Although not exceptionally girly, I decided that a little tea party was in order to toast her with our family and friends. We sent out proper invitations and planned to serve tea sandwiches, scones and the likes. The day finally came last Saturday. All in all, after recuperating from the exhaustion of prepping and the hard work of celebrating, we’ve got pictures to look back on.
The weeks seem to run by recently and when Friday finally comes around, I want nothing more than an easy fun evening that doesn’t involve a complicated dinner and much clean up. Fish seems to fit these requirements quite well and putting an asian twist on it certainly makes you feel like you’ve instantly travelled to a far away place. So here we have hubby’s Steamed Rockfish. It is actually topped with Ginger and Serrano Pepper and drizzled with sizzling oil and a homemade soy sauce reduction.
I’ve mentioned several times before that both my husband and I like to cook. Before we had Sophia, we would argue about who gets to cook and now we tag-team in cooking and playing with the baby. In any event, when he is left to his own devices, hubby creates beautiful flavors with equally appealing presentations and I feel like I sit down to a gourmet meal. It would be more believable if I didn’t have to share the dining experience with a Cherrio-tossing 9 month old. I’ve decided to develop a series not unlike the Moments series to share the culinary adventures I embark on every week. Today’s is “Shredded Beef” with pasta.
For us, summer screams light, fragrant flavors and aromas. Stews and dishes that require a long cooking time are long gone and we rely heavily on light meals such as this one that hubby whipped up in 15 minutes while I kept him company over a glass of wine and Sophia played in the kitchen. Those by the way (lingering over a glass of wine while watching Sophia play and hubby cook) are my dream moments that have crept up more often recently. And I’ll gladly take them as I cannot attain uninterrupted nighttime sleep.
Anyway, back to the dinner: 16-20 ct pink shrimp (my preferred type and size to maximize flavor and minimize risk of overcooking), a bit of basil, a small clove of garlic, Angel hair pasta and olive oil are all you need. You also need 1 pan and 1 pot. Bring a pot full of water to boil. Sear the shrimp off ~2 minutes a side and set aside. Once you have finished cooking the shrimp, throw in the pasta. It will cook for TWO minutes. Drizzle yet more olive oil into the pan where you cooked the shrimp, turn the heat down to the lowest level and grate the clove of garlic. The point is not to cook the garlic, but to have it perfume the olive oil. After 30 seconds, put the now drained pasta into the pan with the olive oil and garlic, mix well, add the shrimp, basil and serve.
There is nothing quite like the aroma of herbs in the kitche. Even little Sophia has taken an interest to smelling everything. Basil just happens to have the strongest, most fragrant aroma and there is nothing quite like pasta with pesto in the summertime. I can’t take credit for the meal, nor can I spell out the recipe as hubby cooked it. It is not too difficult, but really good pesto takes finesse and he’s got it. It was perfectly balanced and the pasta al dente. Cue a simple Italian seaside setting, bright sunshine, a cool breeze, a glass of white wine and we’d have what I would call La Dolce Vita.
Saturday has come and gone and it was pretty much a whirlwind. We hosted our family for a BBQ which came together quiet nicely. If you recall, I had put together an ambitious (with having a 8 month old at home) menu and was myself surprised that I was able to execute every single item on it and even add a summer corn and jalapeno succotash to boot.
The strategy I had was simple: I was not going to work past Sophia’s bedtime on Friday and instead relax and unwind so that I could get up early on Saturday and finish things up. I also focused on making dishes that were easiest, kept the best overnight and most fun to make first. I will say that our family was great. My mother-in-law came on Friday afternoon and took Sophia off my hands and my parents came Saturday early afternoon and helped clean up afterwards. We spent Sunday loafing and puttering.
Some days are made for a lazy evening in the kitchen where conversation and drinks flow while delicious food is made and the kids play. That’s the vision anyways!
I ventured out to our local supermarket on my own WITH baby yesterday — a first for me. It was a daunting task at first due to the fact that I had to pack her diaper bag, take my purse, the car seat, the Bjorn carrier and well, the BABY. I made it out of the house fairly quickly and Sophia was on her best behavior. She rarely gets to go to the store so she was just busy taking it all in seated comfortably in front of me in the baby carrier. I meanwhile got a workout carrying her, loading and unloading the cart and unpacking all the groceries at home. I guess it still saves time over having to hit the gym. By the time I got home, however, all dreams of cooking an amazing meal had evaporated and I was ready to plant myself in front of the TV for an evening of relaxation.
I decided that I would see if the hubby would cook while caught up on our day and played with Sophia. Not surprisingly, he was up to the challenge and made Seared Scallops with Mango Salad which happens to be one of our 20 minute meals. It was fast, delicious and reasonably healthy.
Lovely time spent as a family on a chilly spring evening. I hear this weekend will be glorious and maybe we’ll plant in our garden — maybe!