Valentine's Day - Moment of Silence for Radius10

So a few years ago, I felt bad that I had to work on valentine's day. I was a children's minister and worked all the time and we hardly saw each other... So I hired Jason Brumm, the chef from Radius10, to come cook dinner in our home for a special Valentine's Day treat (a few days later when there wasn't a church function). And it. was. AMAZING. Em and I became huge Radius10 fans and still wake up some days and hope its closing was just a dream...

The good news is, Emily went to a cooking class one afternoon at Radius10 and learned the tricks of the trade! So this Valentine's Day we recreated that meal... (I'll share the recipes, too - cause you can't go buy this awesomeness 'round these parts any more...) :)

 

This is the Pear and Arugula Salad. Yum!

(I'll try to locate the recipe... but it's got an amazing roasted/grilled pear vinaigrette, arugula, candied walnuts, sliced pears and blue cheese crumbles. So tasty!) 

 

This is the Radius 10 Low Country Shrimp and Scallops 

with Creamy Grits, Asparagus and Chanterelle Corn Ragout

Low Country Shrimp and Scallops

CREAMY GRITS:
1 quart cream
1/2 pound butter
4 1/4 ounces quick grits
1 cube chicken bouillon
(or 1 tablespoon non-MSG chicken base)

Melt the cream and butter together in a saucepot and bring to a boil. Sprinkle the grits into the boiling cream and butter while stirring with a whisk. Continue to stir for one minute until it's thickened, then turn the heat to low and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring regularly. While the grits are cooking you can make the sauce (see recipe below). After 25 to 30 minutes, when the grits are tender, add the chicken bouillon cube, stir until it is fully incorporated and remove from heat. Radius 10 lets the grits cool down for 20 minutes so they're firmer before serving.

ASPARAGUS AND CHANTERELLE CORN RAGOUT:
5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shallots, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup corn, cooked and removed from the cob
2 cup wild mushrooms, chanterelle preferred
1/2 cup white wine
4 ounces Glace de Poulet (available at Whole Foods in Green Hills - totally makes the dish!)
2 lemons, juiced
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper to taste
12 leaves fresh basil, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 bunch scallions, sliced
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-in pieces

Place 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan over medium high heat and add the corn and mushrooms and saute for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the shallots and garlic and saute for 30 seconds and add the white wine. Bring it up to a simmer and reduce by half, around two or three minutes. Add the glace de poulet and stir for a minute until it's melted. Bring the mixture up to a simmer for two minutes, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, halved tomatoes, basil, thyme, remaining tablespoon butter, scallions and asparagus, allowing the heat of the sauce to cook the vegetables.

SHRIMP AND SCALLOPS:
18 shrimp (size 16-20, meaning there are 16-20 shrimp per pound)
18 scallops (size 10-20, e.g. 10-20 scallops per pound. Maine diver scallops and bay scallops are
preferable)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to season

Divide the vegetable oil between two saute pans, which have been heated over full heat for a minute. Season the shrimp and scallops with salt and pepper and add to the pans when the oil starts to smoke. Saute the scallops for 3 minutes, around 1 minute and a half on both sides. When they're done, the flesh is opaque; if you prefer them rarer, remove from heat when the flesh is slightly translucent. Saute the shrimp for a minute on both sides or until they're pink and firm.

ASSEMBLE:
Place a scoop of grits on the center of each plate, and arrange three scallops in a triangle around the grits, with three shrimp on top. Add a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce over the grits and serve.

 

Us - after cooking this tasty, amazing meal together. A little worn out - we could have used more sous chefs!

 

And, because it was such a special evening, we opened the Barnett Vineyards 2003 Rattlesnake Hill Cab that we'd been saving for a special occasion. They make the best wine on earth. No lie. 

This was a perfect evening - a perfect, lovely evening. :)

Tasty Cupcakes in Chattanooga!

So while I'm on a blog roll, get it?, let me tell you about this awesome cupcake I had while at a youth ministry conference in Chattanooga a few weeks ago. It was sleeting and snowing and my attempt to get some Clumpies ice cream (which I love) left me sad and in the cold as they closed early - right in front of my face...

If you've ever had a cupcake from GiGi's you may be thinking - it can't get any better. Well, I thought that, too - but I was so mistaken. This cucpake above was made with all natural and local ingredients in Chattanooga! I'm pretty sure the chicken laid the eggs and the cow gave the milk that went into that puppy that very morning. You can definitely taste the difference in this truly artisan dessert. Plus - the icing is cream cheese icing - homemade - and unreal!

And yes, I had organic chocolate milk with my chocolate cupcake. :)

So search for Whipped Cupcakes Chattnooga on Facebook and befriend this sweet woman who makes unbelievably tasty cupcakes. And drive to Chattanooga right now. Look straight at Clumpies, go around back and downstairs, and tastiness awaits. :)

Burgers at Gabby's!

 

Okay -- I know its been a long time since I blogged - but there's been a lot going on! The earthquake in Haiti has kept us very busy at Sweet Sleep and I've been at lots of conferences talking about orphans. But here's a tasty treat that it took entirely too long for me to find out about. 

Thanks to David and Mary Reed, I learned about Gabby's. It's a burger joint right behind the Sounds stadium - 493 Humphries St. in Nashville. It's a hole-in-the-wall kind of place and hard to get to with some bridge construction, but well worth it! The burgers are amazing - I had the Gabby burger with bacon, kickin' ketchup and sweet potato fries with wasabi mayo dipping sauce. All that and a coke for under 10 bucks. Can't beat it! Plus, the lady at the register was so sweet and patient - and the place was packed! I'm about to try my "skeeter bar" that looks like chocolate/peanut butter goodness but I was too full to eat it after my burger. :)

So take at trip off the beaten path to Gabby's. You'll be glad you did! :)