Two years of marriage celebrated with two gourmet meals
3 Comments
Karen Hamilton
May 21, 2008
My husband and I have been dining out so frequently of late that we decided to stay in this May long weekend and cook each other dinner to celebrate our two year anniversary.
Photo taken by Curtis Carlson Photography
Kurt made me dinner first using two recipes from a cookbook I gave him for last year’s wedding anniversary. These recipes involved many ingredients and serve a ton of people, so we cut down the amounts you see listed below to suit 2 and pared down the range of vegetables that it called for. The prawns were absolutely delightful. The lamb ragout was too watery (perhaps the result of Kurt not cutting down the quantity of water…) but it made for a good day-after stew served over rice after adding more tomato paste and reducing the liquid by a third.
My husband requested Dungeness crab for his dinner, which I slaved over last night. Now, if you’ve been following my cooking antics from the pre-Tiny-Bites era, you may recall my original unease with watching my dinner perish in a vat of boiling water. A year later and many YouTube comments wiser, I didn’t hesitate to say adiós to the 3-pound critter that flavoured the resulting crab bisque and seafood linguini so deliciously well.
The bisque was the highlight of the meal. Creamy and rich and wonderfully crabby, despite my substitution of clam nectar and vegetable broth in place of the ever elusive fish stock. I served it in a martini glass just to be fancy but that resulted in some food styling difficulties; the claw meat and sour cream garnishes are there, albeit submerged. At least the chives stayed afloat!
Mario Batali’s linguini recipe was also good but was overshadowed by the yumminess of the bisque. Light, piquant from the addition of shichimi, and really easy to prepare. Would make again for an everyday dinner. The base concept, sans crab, seems versatile enough to mix with different types of seafood…perhaps even just crisped up chorizo.
All recipes and visuals below. Enjoy!
Dungeness Crab Bisque
Link to recipe: Epicurean.com
Linguini with Crab, Radicchio, and Garlic
Link to recipe: Molto Mario on the Food Network website
BC Spot Prawns Sautéed with Fresh Thyme
Recipe from La Régalade: Simple French Bistro Food at Home
Ingredients:
- 16 raw prawns, peeled and deveined but with tails on
- 3 tablespoons heavy / whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup canola oil
Directions:
- Place the prawns in a bowl, pour the cream over, and add the thyme. Soak for 10 minutes.
- Coat each prawn lightly with flour, tapping to remove excess.
- Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the prawns, 4 at a time, for 30 seconds on each side.
Ragoût of Lamb with Spring Vegetables
Recipe from La Régalade: Simple French Bistro Food at Home
Ingredients:
For the navarin d’agneau printanier:
- 7 lbs (~3 kg) boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1.5″ pieces
- 1 cup carrots, large dice
- 1 cup onions, large dice
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 bouquet garni
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the garnish:
- 4 large potatoes
- 16 baby carrots
- 16 baby turnips
- A handful of green beans
- 1 cup green peas (frozen is okay)
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Directions:
- Preheat the broiler.
- Heat half the oil in a frying pan and sear the lamb cubes on all sides until browned. Set aside.
- In a Dutch oven, heat the remaining oil, add the carrots and onions, and sweat at low heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the lamb to the vegetables, gently skim off the fat, and sprinkle with flour.
- Place under the broiler for a few minutes until the flour is brown.
- Remove from the oven and set the oven temperature to 400F (200C).
- Mix in the tomato paste with a wooden spoon; add the bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper.
- Add water to cover the meat, cover, and cook for 40-45 minutes depending on the quality of the meat. (The tougher the meat, the longer it needs to cook.)
- Meanwhile, peel and wash the potatoes, carrots, and turnips for the garnish. Cust the vegetables and the green beans into sticks approximately 1.5 x 0.5 inches big.
- Blanch each vegetable separtely in boiling salted water for 5 minutes or until tender but crisp.
- Bring the frozen peas to a boil and drain.
- 10 minutes before the lamb is cooked, add the garnish to the ragout so that they absorb the sauce.
Photos
Categories: Dinner, Food, Italian, Recipes, Seafood
Comments
3 Responses to “Two years of marriage celebrated with two gourmet meals”
Got something to say?
About Tiny Bites
Tiny Bites is a food blog that explores all things edible and imbibable in Vancouver, British Columbia. More >
Our Forum: Chefs’ Table Talk
Chat with other Tiny Bites readers and BC's restaurant pros on the province's newest food community forum.
Articles by Karen Hamilton
Read the food and non-food articles that I've contributed to sites other than Tiny Bites.
Tiny Bites on the web
You can find additional Tiny Bites contributions at these sites:
YUM!!! I love Dungeoness Crab, but it’s not a) in my budget or b) readily available around here. I’m not sure I could boil one from live myself…But I do love to eat them.
wow, has it been 2 years already? congrats guys!
and the photos look yummy … as does the food 
[...] a busy week this has been! With our anniversary, the REM concert, and revving up for a new job, there just wasn’t enough time to photoedit [...]