Lets Call This Dish The Marco Polo - When East Meets West

Most of us know the story of Marco Polo - gone 24 years discovering Asia only to return to become imprisoned then released and became a wealthy merchant - but I don't think most knew he was a Virgo. Lets be clear that he was not the first to discover Asia but he was the one to leave the most detailed chronicles. I don't think anywhere in his writings will you find this delicious wild mushroom risotto with garlic shrimp and snow peas.

I went out to Chinatown today with one thing in mind - get what looks fresh and come home and make a nice lunch for a rainy New York Saturday. 

These big fat shrimp caught my eye and snow peas for a 67 cents a pound is always a nice price. I didn't want to just go the traditional route with steamed rice and I knew I had some dehydrated wild mushrooms and some Arborio rice so a meal was born.

A couple of pounds or so of snow crab can't hurt either. A dozen raw oysters were also knocked back but after I jabbed myself with the oyster knife I didn't feel like glamorizing those mollusks not one little bit.

So there you have it - just think of me as a modern day Marco Polo.

Amuse Bouche, Hors d'oeuvre, Appetizers, Small Bites - Creative Cooking Crew Challenge.

I make hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of appetizers a year. I am always trying to come up with new ones that are both efficient to make, eye catching and above all delicious. 

My newest one is this - a mini scallion pancake with smoked duck, caviar limes and basil seeds with a drop of hoisin. Simple, complex flavors and visually striking - this is the first time I have made these so I will tweak them a bit more before I am completely happy. Below you will see the myriad of appetizers I can make for you - if you want a recipe or a process for any individual one you see leave me a message in the comments and I will certainly oblige you.

Potato Cup with Tuna Tartare

Fig and Goat Cheese Tart

Smoked Duck Quesadillas

Sesame Crab Salad in a Tart Cup

Polenta Bites with Wild Mushroom and Sundried Tomato

Mini Beggars Purse with Pea Pesto (Gluten Free)

Assortment of Mini Savory Tartlets

Quesadilla with Green Apple

Herbed Cream Cheese and Fig Tart

Cucumber Bites with Tuna Salad

Butternut Squash Soup with Sage Cream and Huckleberry Coulis

Caprese Spoon - Grape Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Olive Oil Powder

Beets with Smoked Salmon and Scallions on Endive Leaves

Sweet Goat Cheese and Figs 

 

Herbed Goat Cheese and Figs

Potato Crisp with Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

Mini Crab Cakes with Remolaude 

Zucchini Involtini

Latkas with Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

Grilled Peach Tart with Manchego and Pine Nuts

Spring Pea Soup with Carrot Puree

Potato Samosas

Grilled Plums with Pistachio and Manchego Tart

Mini Lobster Rolls

Chicken Satay with Spicy Mango Salsa

Mini Burgers

Spring Rolls

Zucchini Involtini

Figs with Herbed Goat Cheese and Mint

Grilled Yam and Plantain with Creme Fraiche and Maguey Sweet Sap

Watermelon, Cucumber and Feta

Watermelon, Cucumber and Feta

Coconut Shrimp with a Pineapple Mayonnaise 

One Simple Shucked Oyster with Mignonette

Winding down to wind back up

As the clock for 2012 slowly winds down many of us are behind the scenes winding up the clock for 2013. I have many exciting things to share with you in the coming year and I hope you come along for the ride, but in true blogger fashion I am not going to say one more word about that and leave you hanging with a pasta post.

Making spinach pasta is as easy as can be - creamed spinach, egg, semolina flour and mix and knead and mix and knead until it is glossy. Roll out the dough as thin as you can get it (I have a machine so I stop before it gets too thin) and you are ready to make a world of things like ravioli, for example.

Spinach and crab ravioli is fast, easy, rich and satisfying.

Once you have the sheets rolled out you can then run them through a pasta cutter to make fettucini or spaghetti or angel hair or you can cut them with a knife or you can tear them into rags.

Pasta rags with crab and tobiko in a tomato butter sauce.

The easiest thing to do with large pasta sheets is to make a lasagna. Crab Lasagna - layers of fresh made spinach pasta, layers of lump crab and crab claws, layers of cheese and creamed spinach, layers of fresh marinara all topped with a super creamy béchamel and served with some buttery tomato and garlic sauce. Eat drink and be merry my friends - see you in 2013.