Cuisine & Screen: Home Edition, Part 9

Howdy, folks! Is everyone ready for a long weekend, and to celebrate Memorial Day inside? Or at least, outside and 6 feet away from everyone else? LOL. I really loved last weekend's high temps, and had fun clipping some of my crazy Lamb's Ear that sprouted up. I couldn't bare to just toss it, so I put it in a vase and have loved it as my centerpiece!

Crazy Lamb's Ear sprouts!

CUISINE
I went a little crazy cooking seafood this week, because it's one of my favorite things to order in restaurants, and I'm not really able to do that these days. I sauteed scallops and roasted halibut in the oven and was SO thrilled with how they both turned out! I've learned that if you have a meat thermometer, you can really cook anything at home. Here's how I did the Halibut:

Place a filet on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Add some halved cherry tomatoes and drizzle everything with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes, or until the internal temp is 135. EASY PEASY.

I served both the scallops and the halibut with the most amazing Cilantro Corn Salad I've ever had, adapted from an America's Test Kitchen recipe:

-3 TB lime juice
-2 TB sour cream or greek yogurt
-1 TB mayonnaise
-1/2 jalapeno, seeds removed, minced
-6 ears of corn, kernels removed from the cob
-1/2 tsp salt, divided
-2 TB olive oil + 1 tsp, separated
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 tsp chili powder
-4 ounces feta cheese
-3/4 cup cilantro, chopped
-3 scallions, sliced thin

Combine the lime juice, sour cream or greek yogurt, mayonnaise and jalapeno in a large bowl and set aside.

Heat 1 TB olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the corn and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle over 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and cook about 3-4 minutes, until the corn starts to brown, then transfer it to the bowl with the lime juice mixture. Repeat with the other 1 TB oil, the remaining corn, and the remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Once all the corn is charred and in the bowl with the liquids, stir to combine. Leave the skillet on, and add the final 1 tsp oil, garlic and chili powder. Stir and let this cook for about 30 seconds, then add to the corn mixture. Let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes, then stir in the feta, cilantro and scallions. This is great served immediately, but even better the next day after it chills in the fridge overnight. It is utterly addicting, you will be hooked, don't say I didn't warn you.

Roasted halibut, tomatoes and arugula with cilantro corn salad

Finally, I made a Vivian Howard recipe that I've been dying to make for quite a while now, and absolutely loved it. Her Coconut Cornbread Strawberry Shortcake was the perfect balance between sweet and savory, and highlighted beautifully ripe strawberries. Her recipes are pretty intricate, but usually well worth the work: https://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/strawberry-shortcake-with-basil-whipped-cream-and-coconut-cornbread/

Coconut Cornbread Strawberry Shortcake

SCREEN
Mystic River - I saw this in high school and it started a thing for Sean Penn that remains to this day. It features an all-star cast, secured Oscars for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, and if you're a fan of Clint Eastwood-directed films, you're in for a treat. It's part thriller, part drama, with a lot of tension and suspense. On Netflix, highly recommend.

Cats - No, not the 2019 remake that had people wondering "what in the actual..." but the 1998 recording of the 1981 stage version! For a limited time, you can stream some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's greatest filmed musicals, and while this one is certainly a classic, I'm still kind of wondering WTF. (I admit, it was better than the staged version my friend and I went to see in high school that was so bad, we had to pull out her iPod headphones and play something else. Bless.)