Fancy Food at Home

So for my birthday, my parents got me a Whole Foods gift card. Which means... splurge time! Like a kid in a candy store, I walked around in circles, trying to pick out what I wanted to eat. So far, I've made two really pretty and delicious meals.

Dinner #1:

Seared scallops on a bed of polenta and fresh corn, accompanied by
a chimichurri sauce

The scallops were pricey, but worth the expense. Measuring over an inch in diameter each, they were sweet and matched well with the corn. The chimichurri sauce helped brighten the dish by adding some acidity (and color!).

Dinner #2 may not be particularly expensive, but it was the first time that I made fresh pasta and so I'm especially proud of it.

Homemade ravioli with a fresh tomato cream sauce

Ravioli was filled with a mixture of ricotta and parmesan cheese, lemon
zest, and cracked black pepper.

Making pasta dough is COMPLETELY different than making bread dough. It's much tougher to knead, as the gluten seizes up. The pasta ended up a tad tough (especially on the edges where it's double in thickness), but it still tasted delicious. For the sauce, I simply simmered some chopped tomatoes until it broke down, stirred in some basil, and added a splash of heavy cream and a dab of butter before serving.

Sakagura

For my birthday last week, I celebrated by having dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. It's in an unusual location, tucked away in the basement of a really stuffy-looking business building. I've been going to this place for probably close to a decade now, and it has amazingly held up in quality. 

Does this door look like the entrance to culinary pleasures? No?

The only signal that there is a restaurant
at the location.

Going down to the basement, via some
horror-movie-worthy stairs.

Apparently, the stairs are a secret passageway straight to Japan!
(not my picture... just wanted to show what the place looks like)

Walking into Sakagura makes me feel as if they shot a portal straight into Japan; as soon as you walk in, you forget that you're in a basement of a boring office building. The dim lighting, wooden counters, and cherry blossoms all work together to create the illusion that you have stepped into another country. Popularly known as a sake bar, Sakagura has over 200 selections to choose from. But naturally, I wasn't there for the alcohol... let's take a look at the food!

Hirame Ponzu. Thinly sliced fluke, topped with grated daikon radish and
dressed in a citrus vinaigrette. The fluke was amazingly fresh and sweet,
while the grated daikon added an appetizing acidity.

Kamo Roast. Slices of chilled roast duck wrapped around scallion and
accented with basil sauce. This little bite is amazing. The roast duck is
tender, slightly smoky and salty. The scallion adds a little bit of textural
contrast as well as a teeny bit of a bite. The lemon, plus a dab of
basil sauce deepens the complexity of the dish, adding a fresh aroma.

Gindara Yuan Yaki. Grilled cod fillets steeped in sweet soy sauce.

The cod was perfectly cooked and flaky. The soy marinade lends a
subtle caramelization to the dish, which suited the fatty cod perfectly. A
whisper of some sort of cooking wine rounded out the flavor.

Kani Donabe Gohan, one of the special dishes of the day. We had to wait
over a half hour for it to arrive. Steamed rice, cooked with snow crab and
crab butter.

This was a surprisingly subtle dish; none of the flavors knocked me
over the head. Instead, the gentle sweetness of the crab worked in
conjunction with the soft sticky rice. I would have been disappointed if
I was expecting this to take center stage, but it worked really well with
the other strongly-flavored dishes.

Chawanmushi. Steamed egg custard served with chicken, shrimp, and
ginko nuts topped with a thickened ponzu sauce.

The egg custard was unbelievably smooth, it pretty much melted in my
mouth. The ponzu sauce was interesting but not necessary in my
opinion... the slight tartness detracted from the true eggy flavor.

We were disappointingly too full to even glance at their (excellent) dessert menu, which featured intriguing items such as a black sesame creme brulee. I left satisfied and full, ready to take on whatever surprises that this new year in my life will bring.