Salad with Steak, Blue Cheese, Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Raspberry Dressing

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb flank steak, seasoned and marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 5 oz salad mix
• Raspberry dressing, to taste

Steps:

1. Grill the steak until medium rare and let rest 5-10 minutes
2. Mix remaining ingredients together and toss salad with dressing to taste
3. Thinly slice the steak and place on salad
4. Sprinkle with additional blue cheese if desired

Serves 2

Chocolate Olive Oil Pancakes

Adapted from a recipe in Made in Spain by José Andrés

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 T sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1/2 T vanilla extract
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk (or milk with 1 T lemon juice)
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Steps:

1. Mix first six ingredients together in a large bowl
2. Whisk in vanilla, egg, buttermilk, and olive oil until the batter is smooth, then stir in the chocolate
3. Ladle about 1/4 cup per pancake on a lightly oiled nonstick skillet or on an electric griddle and cook on both sides until golden brown and cooked through
4. Serve warm with berries or caramelized bananas and honey or maple syrup

Linguine with Lobster, Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce, and Mint

Inspired by a recipe from The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb linguine
• 2 spiny lobster tails, cooked and chopped
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
• red chili flakes, to taste
• About 1/4 cup mint, sliced

Steps:

1. Cook linguine in a pot of boiling salted water until just short of al dente
2. While bringing water to a boil, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until softened, then add wine and boil until reduced
3. Add halved tomatoes, chili flakes, S&P, and mint, and simmer until reduced to a sauce-like consistency
4. Add pasta and lobster to sauce and cook until pasta is al dente
5. Adjust seasoning and add mint as necessary

Serves 2

Shaved Fennel, Blood Orange, and Castelvetrano Olive Salad

For Salad:

• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1 blood orange and 1 navel orange, segmented and juice reserved
• 10 castelvetrano olives
• Mache

For Dressing:

• Olive oil
• Reserved juice
• Citrus vinegar or other light vinegar (such as champagne or pomegranate vinegar)
• Mint, thinly sliced (optional)

To Assemble:

1. Whisk olive oil, reserved juice, salt, pepper, mint, and enough vinegar to reach desired acidity  
2. Toss with salad and serve

Serves 2 as a light appetizer

"Cappuccino and Chocolate"

I made this trompe l'oeil dessert for Christmas Day dinner at our house. It is composed of espresso ice cream served in an espresso cup topped with vanilla meringue "foam," with Sambuca truffles to go along with it. This is a fun dessert to serve because of its cute presentation, and all of the components are delicious and go extremely well together.

The recipe for the espresso ice cream is here.

And I used this truffle recipe, adding a few tablespoons of Sambuca until the flavor was strong enough.

I don't remember which meringue recipe I used; any good recipe will do. Use a pastry bag or plastic bag with the corner cut off to pipe the filling into pretty mounds of "foam."

BTW: The espresso cup and plate are "Koko" by Arabia, a Finnish ceramics company. Their products are so beautiful and well-made. Arabia's product line can be found at their website.

Farinata with Fennel Pollen

Farinata is a delicious Italian flatbread made with chickpea flour. It originated in Liguria and is similar to the French socca.  I used fennel pollen this time (which smells divine!), but you could also use fresh or dried herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano, and basil, or spices such as fennel seed or cumin. 

Ingredients:

•  1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• pinch of salt
• fennel pollen
• black pepper

Steps:

1. Stir together the first four ingredients and let sit for at least 3 hours.
2. When ready to bake, preheat a nonstick baking dish in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. Drizzle the skillet with olive oil then pour in the batter. Sprinkle the batter with sea salt, fennel pollen and freshly ground black pepper. 
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crispy, then enjoy!

Serves 1

(Recipe can be doubled or quadrupled and baked in larger non stick dishes)

The New York Times' Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

They really are that good!

Note: I used 1 bag (8 oz) of Dagoba Organic and Fair Trade Chocodrops, 73% Cacao Content and 8 oz of Trader Joe's Pound Plus Bittersweet Chocolate bar, coarsely chopped. The Chocodrops are larger than normal chocolate chips and have a deep, rich chocolate flavor. I bought mine at Whole Foods but they are also available on Amazon.