Operation: Pescetarian

Yesterday was Jen's birthday and we spent the day doing some of her favorite activities.



We met our friend Joe in Prospect park and had some delicious radish sandwiches with dill and Ronnybrook Farms butter on bread from Bread Alone.



We cruised about the Brooklyn Botanical Garden . . .



. . . which had shockingly good coffee!

We then hit Brooklyn Heights to attempt dinner at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. The people at the front of the line were kind enough to tell us about their two hour trip to their present location so we opted to go around the corner to a restaurant that may have existed exclusively for the impatient guests fleeing the Grimaldi's line. This place may not have been quite as good but in the end we had dinner before midnight. Sure they were "out of medium-sized pizza" thus giving away the freshness of their dough, but all told it was some decent pizza.

* * *

Tonight presented a culinary challenge: preparing seafood for someone who has only recently rejected his former vegetarian ways. Matt and Jocelyn were our dinner guests and I did my best to make an entry level seafood dinner which was tasty but did not beat the diner over the head with the fact that they were eating something which once swam in the ocean.



It was a very warm day so I started off with this watermelon salad over arugula with goat cheese. I made a vinaigrette out of the leftover farm strawberries, some dijon mustard, and a little olive oil.



For the second course: a "seviche" out of more local sea scallops and gulf shrimp. I used a little lime juice, orange juice, scallions, red onions, olive oil, garlic scapes, and cilantro to marinate the shellfish. It wasn't a true seviche in that I'd already poached them with a little lemon, bay, black pepper, chili, and lime. I then sliced up some avocado over the top and served with a lime wedge and some tortillas that I'd pan fried.



The main course was a salmon burger made with dill, scallion, garlic scape, lemon, panko, salt, pepper, whole grain mustard, and a touch of olive oil. I pan fried them in the same pan from the tortilla chips and finished them in an oven. I also sliced and roasted some Idaho potato wedges to serve as an accompaniment. The two condiments I made were a chipotle ketchup and a whole grain mustard mayonnaise.



The final course was a berry shortcake with some strawberries from the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket and more of the Jersey blueberries. There was a slight mishap with the shortcake dough in that the baking powder was omitted, however, the final result was delightful. Flat, but delightful.

So, after a three-peat of the local Jersey scallops it may be time to move on for the remainder of the summer. Perhaps it is time to explore more beef and pork options in the coming months. Yet, the scallops are so delicious I may just keep making them three nights a week until they are harvested into extinction.

One must make hay while the sun shines!