Pablo's Coctel de Camarones - Shrimp Cocktails

This is a shrimp cocktail recipe from Cindy Pawlcyn's excellent Big Small Plates. The cocktail sauce is spiked with fresh ginger, fresh horeseradish, and jalapeno chile. This is a great recipe to use when jumbo Camarones are on sale.

Tuna with Celery, Capers and Olives

This is a Sicilian dish from Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen: Recipes for the Passionate Cook. The tuna is dusted with seasoned flour and seared. The celery is then cooked with the garlic. The tuna is added back to the pan with the capers, olives and some vinegar and then just barely cooked. The dish is served at room temperature. This was very simple and very good.

Brined Pork Chops with Grilled Radicchio and Sweet Potatoes

Another Zuni Cafe menu...I had this when we went to lunch at Zuni Cafe last week. I brined some thick-cut pork loin chops for 3 days. Then grilled them and served with a reduced pork stock. I also grilled some quartered radicchio and wedges of sweet potato. I made a balsamic glaze that I poured over the radicchio. All of the recipes are the in the The Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

Broccoli and Feta Pasta

This is one of Tess' favorites. It is simple to make and is good both warm and cold. We like to use a large shell pasta and Valbresso French Feta.

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp red hot pepper flakes
1/4 cup capers, rinsed
1 head broccoli
1 lb large pasta shells
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, slivered
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced

Mash the garlic with the salt until smooth, then put it in a large bowl with the oil, pepper flakes, capers, tomatoes, and olives. Trim the flowerets off the broccoli then peel and slice the stems. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt, then add the broccoli and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain the broccoli and add to the bowl. Cook the pasta until al dente if you are serving the pasta warm. Cook it well if you are serving cold. Toss the pasta with the other ingredients and serve.

Spicy Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

This is a riff on the meal Tess ordered at Zuni Cafe last week. I served the meatballs on grits instead of polenta and added some sauteed sweet peppers with a reduced balsamic glaze. The meatball recipe came from Joanne Weir's From Tapas to Meze.

Smoked Salmon and Jicama Sushi

Continuing the sushi theme... I found a Ming Tsai recipe for smoked and and jicama sushi rolls that was very good.

Sushi Futo-maki

My sister gave me Hiroko Shimbo's cookbook The Sushi Experience. I love sushi but rarely make it. Futo-maki is a thick roll with shrimp, shiitakes, asparagus and eggs. This was pretty good.