Mexican dinner menu

A little dinner over the weekend.

Jicama and Cucumber Salad (Inspired by Tetsuya)
Aguachile Shrimp
Aguachile vinaigrette

Cuitlacoche Cream
Añejo cheese sauce

Baked Salmon in Ancho adobo.
Maple-Chipotle Carrot puree
Semi-cured, grilled nopal.

"Choco-Flan"
Flan-Chocolate beignets
Caramel/Cajeta parfait
Pecan praline sauce.

TGRWT #9 - Revisited

Since I had been left with lingering ideas from TGRWT #9, I took the chance to revisit the a dessert idea. A bit of baking, and some anglaises later, I had a Mexican chocolate tartlet with parmesan cream and a balsamic-raspberry condiment.

... and it was good.

I even think this one was better than the risotto.

TGRWT #10: Dirty Pineapple Martini

I should feel guilty or something. This time I've "neglected" the TGRWT. Usually I'd really work up my mind to come up with some convoluted ideas that eventually I wouldn't cook. At the least, I'd make a post referring to the host.

This time I only had a couple of ideas and none too complicated. Still I went for the easiest one.

#10 is about combining Pineapple and Blue Cheese. Heston Blumenthal seems to have pointed this one out at a list at eGullet sometime back. My Ideas were:

a) Meat Course: Involving Pork, coconut and blue cheese... somehow.
b) Dessert: Pineapple Crisp Millefeuille with Blue Cheese cream and a "liquid" pineapple center. Caramel sauce or Ice Cream.

I really don't know when the thought for the drink came up. Probably a flashback to the college days when Vodka and Pineapple juice were sometimes quaffed at clubs. Vodka led to the Cheesecake Factory's Dirty Martini, which involves blue cheese stuffed olives.

So I came up with the idea of mixing Vodka, pineapple juice and brine. It went roughly like this:

1 Part Pineapple Juice
1 Part Vodka
1 Dash Olive Brine.

After a bit of shaking I dropped it into a glass and went for the taste. I loved the almost spicy combination of the vodka, brine and pineapple juice, and I think it was very good with the blue cheese stuffed olives. While my wife decided she'd rather have it sweetened, I would rather opt for a dash of dry vermouth... and more olives.

I re-made the concoction for the post and hit a roadblock... I forgot my martini glasses. So I improvised using a quadruple shot glass:

I encourage you few readers to go ahead and try this drink... I'm sure I will repeat it.

P.S. New camera is in order... finally!