Saturday, May 15, 2010

Birthday Cooking

Normally for birthdays I get to request a special meal to be made for me; this year I did it a little differently. Instead, I asked to be able to whip up something and for Nolana to clean up after - the best of both worlds. I enjoy getting to play in the kitchen but the clean-up = not so much enjoyment. So, with the deal crafted we went down to St. Lawrence Market to browse around. Not only did I get my ingredients but I got a couple locally made mustards, a cranberry one and a maple one. Huzzah!

Then, once the little one was down for a nap I cracked a beer and set out to do some cooking. Here's how it turned out:

The main dish was a Chicken Satay with a spicy peanut dipping sauce - taken from Closet Cooking.

The spice combo for the chicken made my mouth water (love lemongrass, love cumin) and the peanut sauce was divine - sort of an Indonesian/Indian/Thai fusion dish.

I had picked up some mussels at the market and threw together a broth - beer, garlic, lime, onions. Turned out okay but I think I prefer a white wine broth, though I once had a great mussel dish using a dark lager.
Finally, I grilled up some zucchini with some spices and mixed up a vinaigrette for the salad using Pomegranate balsamic vinegar, oil, lemon juice and a dash of my newly acquired cranberry mustard. Turned out to be a nice birthday meal!

3 comments:

Jen said...

That looks delicious! I'm going to try that chicken satay recipe. Thanks for posting it.

The Renegade Librarian said...

I literally started drooling at the reference desk and got those funny pains in your salivary glands that you get when you're hungry! That looks SO good!

Daddio said...

You can cook my next birthday meal :)