Let'em Eat Cake....Fish Cakes

Tilapia is one of my favorite fish, it's versatile, it takes on great flavor and is relatively inexpensive.  I have a couple recipes that use this fish but one of my favorites are fish cakes.  

However, this time I wanted to try something a little different.  I'm trying to follow some of the Paelo diet rules so wanted to attempt to make these cakes without panko bread crumbs and making my own aioli instead of using pre-made mayonnaise.

Overall, I think it turned out good, however I did miss the crunch from the panko and the almond meal made the cakes a little darker than normal.  The aioli came out really good but was EXTREMELY labor intensive so next time I will definitely be using my stand mixer. 

So if you try this recipe, and have no dietary restrictions I would recommend using the panko bread crumbs however the almond meal works well also.  Here's a picture of how it turned it out.  I served it with saute spinach and rice (for Quinn).

Restaurant Review - Cafe 21

I LOVE brunch!  I mean what's not to love, you get to sleeping in and still being able to eat breakfast and there's a place Quinn and I love to go because the food is excellent and they serve brunch until 3:30 pm (my husband is a real late sleeper on the weekends).  

Cafe 21 is located in Gaslamp on 750 5th Ave.  They also have another location in University Heights (2736 Adams Ave).  Yelp describes their cuisine as American (New), Turkish and I would agree there is definitely a Middle Eastern feel to the menu. Turns out the owners are actually from Azerbaijan (which I had to Wikipedia and found out is located right on the Caspian Sea next to Armenia, fact of the day *smile*).

So this pass weekend we headed over there for brunch.  Like always are food was delicious and service was great.  Quinn ordered the Chicken Curry Cakes ($13) which is their spin on eggs benedict.  The dish is usually served with poached eggs but he doesn't like runny yolks so they scrabbled his.  The cake was nice and moist and the saffron cream sauce was really yummy. 

I tried something new and got the Salmon Diamonds Cast Iron Omelets ($13).  It might have been best the breakfast I have had in while.  The proportion of spinach to egg was ridiculous and their house made Pesto would taste good on anything.  While eating though I noticed that my salmon was this deep red color. Now normal smoked salmon is a light pink color, sometime a little darker depending on the smoke however I've never seen it red.  This lead me to ask the my server "what's up with the color of my salmon?". Well it turns out that the the restaurant wasn't liking the quality of smoke salmon they were getting so they have been "beet curing" their own salmon in-house and just hadn't gotten around to changing the menu.  I have to say, I'm a beet cure fan. The salmon has a more subtle taste that I really enjoyed.  I found this blog that explains how the process is done.

Lastly, for my caffeine fix I tried both their Dirty Red Chai and Cofftea drinks.  Each drink paired their house coffee with one of their wonderful loose leaf teas.  My favorite was the Cofftea.  However, if cocktails are more your brunch beverage, they have about 6 different varieties of sangria, which you can order a flight of four for $12, or awesome bloody marys.

All in all it was a wonderful brunch and I know we will be going back.  

Email Subscribers

Sorry for my lack of post the last couple of days.  I've been trying to track down the issue with the email notification of my post.  Even now I'm not sure any of you will get notified about this one.  Be just know I still have tons of stuff to share including some excellent restaurants I tried this past weekend. However, I want to get this issue squared away since I know it will be the best way to publicize.  So thanks for being patient and more meal tickets to come...

Nostalgia Part #1 - Banana Pudding

We all have those dishes that you remember loving from you childhood, the ones that when you eat it today still take you back.  Well banana pudding is one of those for me.  So in a conversation with a friend I was shocked that she had never had it.  "CHALLENGE ACCEPTED" (for all my HIMYM watchers). 

Now I've made banana pudding before, instant pudding, cool whip, bananas and the all important Nilla wafers but I wanted to take this opportunity to do something different...dare I say it...make the pudding from scratch. So I tried calling my grandma because she use to make some great banana pudding but unfortunately she wasn't home.  So I looked around on web and found this recipe for making it.  Turns out making pudding isn't that hard just labor intenstive, lots of stirring.  However, the end product came out great.  My friend really liked it and the pan I made for work was gone in about an hour...that's good right? *smile*  Here's a picture of a personal one I made for Quinn.

So if you're craving something from your childhood or just want to try something new give it a shot.  And hey if it doesn't come out great, just make sure to buy a box of Jello Instant Vanilla pudding as a back-up. *smile*

Just a quick note regarding the recipe.  I did alter a few things.  The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of sugar, that seemed like a lot so I used 1 3/4 of a cups and actually think I could have cut it a little more.  Also I bought some banana extract and sprinkled some on the Nilla wafers to let them absorb the flavor before layering the pudding.  Lastly, after I sliced my banana I squeezed some lemon juice on them.  I saw this tip on another recipe and thought it sounded like a good idea to maybe counter some of the sweetness.

Chop 2 Pot

So my co-worker asked me about the cutting board I used in my last post.  I actually got it at TJ Maxx and it's a Joseph Joseph Chop 2 Pot cutting board. I love it because there's a handle and hinges that allow you to fold it into a chute for easier transfer into your pot or bowl.  Amazon has them online for as cheap as $16 for the small one.  However, I would check out your local TJ Maxx/Marshalls to see if they have it because I got mine for $7.99.