tropical moment

Kellan and I took a little trip to the Lincoln Park Conservatory and wouldn't you know it I looked up and there they were. Papaya growing right in Lincoln Park. The warmth of the Conservatory, the smells and beautiful sights might be making me change my tune about the papaya.

Hello-a Papaya

My papaya journey starts tomorrow.  Well, it started tonight because I made my papaya lime sorbet already.  It's churning as I type.  I've decided to end my meal using it in a Prosecco float.  I bet you wish you were invited.

So tomorrow ... Papaya and Avacado Salad, Grilled Fish with Papaya salsa, and dessert.  After looking at Megan's spread it doesn't seem like I will have enough food.  I'll just get an extra bottle of Prosecco.

Buh-Bya Papaya!

This is not to say that my meal ended badly, it all went quite well. Let's just say papaya was just not as exciting to cook with as say...anything. But that was not about to stop me from trying to cook up something that would bring out the flavor of the papaya, but not rely on it to lead the flavor of the dish.

I actually happened upon my "tasting" a little by accident. I was testing out a papaya and mango salsa and testing griling papaya for fish tacos. This was on Sunday and realizing that I had gotten a little over excited about the shrimp, scallops and tilapia that I bought at Dirk's Fishmarket, I decided to invite my neighbors, Elise and Michael, over for dinner. They are kind people and I figured, even if it wasn't great, they would be happy not to have had to cook dinner that night.

But as it was all coming together I realized this was it! It looked and smelled wonderful. So when they arrived they were informed that they were to be my guest judges. They were in.

The side was a mango and papaya salsa. I pureed papaya with lime juice and then added chunks of papaya, mango, red onion, peppers and cilantro. The consistency was great with the thickness of the papaya puree and the taste was slighty sweet and slightly spicy. It was good. We had that with chips and then also used it with the main dish -- fish tacos.


I grilled papaya, mango, serranos, garlic, limes, and red onion on our charcoal grill outside in the Chicago winter rain. The smell was really beautiful with all those flavors mixing togeher in the grill basket. I displayed the meal on my beautiful (and large) cutting board. It was a create your own taco kind of display. It included the grilled fruit and veggies, grilled shrimp, sauteed scallops and tilapia, fresh cilantro, lemons and avacado. It was really lovey.




And the judges said...

Husband John: 16
Daughter Kellan:17
Guest Judges combined score: 17

And here a few pics of my happy guests.



And with that I say "buh-bya papaya".

Saucy

Can I make a sauce with papaya? And then find something to put it on. Well...Yes I can. And did. I totally made it up with a little inspiration from my sister's salad. But I threw papaya, lime juice, plain greek yogurt and serrano peppers into the blender. Here is a picture.

It is kind of creamy and seems like it would make an interesting sauce for fish tacos, or even a rice dish. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Very saucy indeed.

I actually practiced

It was kind-of an accident, but Megan is inspiring me to apply myself a little more. 

I had this papaya sitting on my counter and I wasn't sure if it was ripe or not.  So I figured the only to know was to cut it open.  It was ripe and it was actually good.  So I made a salad.  I found that papaya and lime go well together.  I am excited because I have this lime-infused olive oil from O Olive Oil in California that I have been dying to use.  So I made a lime, lime-olive oil, cayenne pepper dressing and drizzled it ... okay ... I drenched it because it was so tasty ... over papaya and avocado slices a la Giada.  It was really good.  And now I have my first course for my meal.

I want to explore something with green papaya to go over fish for my main course.  For dessert, I am making papaya and lime sorbet.

Now all I need to know is how to work it into a martini.  That I will for sure practice.

Bought our first one at Walmart.

I know.  I don't normally go there but we needed to get Valentine's and there right when we walked in was a papaya.  I snatched it up.  But it is just sitting here because I don't know what to do.  I do know that it's cold out.  And this fruit is tropical.  And so I will be preparing my meal while wearing sunglasses.  Just for effect.  I think it will boost my presentation points.

Battle Papaya starts NOW

Actually I started yesterday. Kellan (9) and I went shopping yesterday. Not for papaya but rather for inspiration. I have in my head that I need to make something Asian with papaya. So we went to Broadway Ave to check out an Asian grocery that according to Yelp is the best. Unfortunately due to a parade for Chinese New Year AND the 2011 blizzard (no parking) we could not get to our destination.

But that didn't stop us because there was another store nearby, Broadway Market, that I had also heard about AND had a parking spot on the street in front. So we went for a visit. Here are some pictures Kellan took while we were shopping.







Bought supplies to make sushi, which I have never done, and took a stab at making rolls with papaya. Nothing to write home about or blog about I guess, but I tried shrimp and papaya and a "california roll" with papaya. Not sure I will pursue this route, but I did make some pretty sticky sushi rice and my family actually ate a little of it.

I also made a sweep and tasty papaya soup with coconut milk. You actually heat up the milk inside the papaya while baking it. I added some cayan to heat it up which worked great. I think I will add this to my "possibles" list for February but need to take a little of sweetness out of it.

Off and running. Short month. And papaya isn't going to be easy to make flavorful -- at least that is my assessment so far.

Mother Shucker

I asked specifically for an oyster shucker for Christmas this year. Indeed, people laughed at me. I know I could just as easily driven to the Chopping Block near my house and gotten a shucker anytime I wanted, but to get it for Christmas meant that I would have to actually use it and create some kind of "event" out of it.

I first used it on Christmas Eve when my sick family was stuck at home unable to travel as planned for the holiday. Vodka/oyster shooters were arranged and enjoyed by John and me and the kids were "grossed out".

The four oysters served must have taken me 30 minutes to shuck.

I feared for my "tasting" night, realizing it could take me hours to shuck 24 oysters. My fish guy said "we can shuck them for you for $.50 each." "That's cheating", I replied. And so I started early.

Well let's say. I saw, I shucked, I conquered. I can shuck an oyster is just a few seconds. This may not seem like such feat to some of you...but to me...I am one bad mother shucker!