Happy Birthday Kat!

February 7, 2007

Today is Katharine's birthday!

As Kat was getting back from Miami for work in the early evening, we planned a low-key seafood dinner. On the menu for the evening:

• Ahi Tuna Tartare with Terra chips
• Bacon-Wrapped Scallops
• Clams in White Wine Sauce
  
• Miso-glazed Chilean Sea Bass
• Mixed salad with fresh corn, avocado, cherry tomatoes
  
• Cheese plate with brie, manchego and fresh bread

For my contribution, I brought the tuna tartare and bacon-wrapped scallops (yumm!). I did a little research on the web and found a bunch of tartare recipes and eventually put one together based on what I found:

Asian Tuna Tartare:

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb. fresh ahi tuna (cut into 1/8 to 1/4 inch cubes)
• 1/4 cup minced sweet onion
• 1/8 cup sliced green onion
• 1/2 cup lite soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp black (or white) truffle oil
• 1/2 tbsp Sambal Olek
• 2 pinches of brown sugar
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 ripe Hass avocado (cut into 1/8 to 1/4 inch cubes)
  

In a bowl, combine sweet onion, green onion, lite soy sauce, sesame oil, truffle oil, Sambal Olek, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, add half of the ingredient mixture to the cubed ahi tuna and gently mix. I found that I didn't need all of the sauce immediately and used about 2/3 to marinate the fish overnight. The next day (today) I added the fresh avocado and added a little more (1/2 of the remaining sauce) to the tuna and mixed gently.




The tartare was yummy, the tuna marinating overnight gave the ahi a really nice brown color. Adding the avocado right before we ate, adding the fresh taste and green color. We had terra chips to pile on the tartare.



Wrapping anything in bacon makes it delicious, and these little scallops were delish!


Wendy's awesome miso-glazed sea bass, apparently super easy to do. I think she marinated the fish with soy sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and miso paste.

Anna's reaction to the bacon-wrapped scallops.


This was the most bizarre cake I've ever laid my eyes on or eaten. It's a "novelty" idea, a kitty litter cake. Key made this for our cat-loving birthday girl. The cake is crumbled white and spice cakes with pudding and vanilla sandwich cookies crumbled on top. The "poops" are tootsie rolls. It was actually very tasty, but it looked so real.




HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHARINE!