Happy first anniversary to me!

A year ago today, I got married to the most wonderful man, in the most fun wedding ever. Today I'm going to cook something special and open a bottle of good wine (and, frankly, spend the rest of my time, you know, not writing blog entries). So you'll pardon me if I skip a day here.

Here are some pictures of the food from the wedding, to tide you over:

Didn't that seafood gumbo just look divine? It tasted divine, too.

Salty Maria

I sent my husband to the liquor store the other day with a list. One of the items on the list was "any good tequila under $30," as we were out of tequila.

He came home with this:

I'd never seen it before, but it's actually really good.

I decided to try some with fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. Normally grapefruit juice is too bitter for me, I have to cut it with orange juice or something, but the combination of this tequila and the straight grapefruit juice was perfect. A lovely summer cocktail.

(Now if we could only get some summer weather around here.)

I've dubbed it the Salty Maria. (Salty = grapefruit juice from Salty Dog, Maria = tequila from Bloody Maria.)

Ricotta risotto with dandelion greens and speck

The speck was an inspired touch.

Speck is a kind of thinly sliced cured pork. The finished risotto was full of fresh dandelion greens, and therefore a touch bitter, so I piled some speck on top and hoped for the best. The fatty richness of the meat offset the bitter greens perfectly. Next time I won't pile them on top, I'll work them all the way through.

Note: because the ricotto is a gloppy cheese, make sure all the broth in the risotto is fully absorbed before adding it. Otherwise you'll end up with something closer to soup.

Standard risotto-making applies. (Onion in oil; arborio rice; add broth and/or wine and stir until rice is done and liquid is absorbed.) About 2/3 of the way through the process, add a chopped bunch of dandelion greens. At the end, stir in about 1/2 cup of ricotta, plus the usual big handful (or two) of shredded parmesan.

If adding speck (or proscuitto), slice into thin ribbons and stir in just at the very end, right before serving.

Mustard greens tart

Gosh, you can put just about anything on puff pastry and it'll taste good.

This is essentially a sort of puff pastry white pizza. Two puff pastry sheets, smeared with ricotta cheese, topped with grated cheese and caramelized onions, topped with slightly sauteed mustard greens and baked. We ate it as a main course, but it would work well as an appetizer, too.

Two sheets of puff pastry, thawed enough to unfold

Ricotta cheese

Grated gruyere, comte, or good cheddar cheese

Caramelized onions (about 1 big onion)

1 head of mustard greens, roughly chopped

Saute the onions in olive oil until they begin to color; then lower the heat to medium-low and let cook down for at least 30 minutes, until dark brown. Don't rush this step--the darker they are, the better they'll taste.

Open the two puff pastry sheets on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet, and smear each with ricotta cheese (maybe 1/2 cup per). Add the caramelized onions. In the onion pan, add a little more olive oil and quickly saute the mustard greens, maybe 5 minutes, until they start to wilt. Sprinkle grated cheese over the onions (maybe 1/2 cup per), and top with the mustard greens.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

Island Creek Oyster Bar

On Saturday night, my husband and I treated ourselves to a rare night on the town, by going to the new Island Creek Oyster Bar on Commonwealth Ave in Boston.

I confess it wasn't in our budget. But we'd had a bad couple of days and desperately needed a pick-me-up. This was money well-spent.

We had a bottle of Honig Sauvignon Blanc with our meal, as it featured oysters (naturally). The waiter wasn't much of a sommelier; I asked which bottle, of the many on the wine list, would go best with all the different kinds of oysters and he said, "Sauvignon blanc." Well, yeah. Duh. I could have figured that out myself.

A couple of cocktails to start. I don't remember what was in this, but it was good.

My husband had the lobster roll.

I had the scallops, with asparagus, tasso, and celery root puree.

Mmmm...scallops.

Dessert was heavenly: a rhubarb and blackberry crisp with basil ice cream.

Of course the highlight was the oysters (which we did not consume after dessert, don't let the order of the pictures fool you). We had two of each kind:

Island Creek, from Duxbury, MA

Rocky Nook, from Kingston, MA

Chatham, from Chatham, MA

Moonstone, from Point Judith, RI

Umami, from Narragansett Bay, RI

East Beach Blonde, from Charleston Pond, RI

Wild Belon, from Harpswell, ME

Misty Point, from Pope's Bay, VA

Hama Hama, from Lillywaup, WA

Blue Pool, from Lillywaup, WA

Shigoku, from Bay Center, WA

Kumamoto, from Puget Sound, WA

Cape Spear, from New Brunswick, Canada

Contrary to previous findings, the East Coast oysters were all much brinier and meatier than the West Coast specimens.

They were all good, though.

Who needs retail therapy, when you can have restaurant therapy?

Creme de Violette (and the original Aviation recipe)

This is violet liqueur. As in, made from violets.

I know what you're thinking: "Wouldn't that be like drinking alcoholic soap?" Well, no. While I wouldn't drink it straight, it does add a lovely floral note to cocktails, sort of like a floral grappa.

And it's purple.

Really! Check out this cocktail made with just a little creme de violette:

It's purty.

The original recipe for an Aviation is:

2 parts gin
1/2 part lemon juice
1/2 part maraschino liqueur
1/2 part creme de violette

Garnish with maraschino cherry (or lemon twist, as above).

If nothing else, drinking a purple drink is a lot prettier than drinking a gin-colored drink.

Apple-cabbage slaw

A great slaw, with no mayo required.

From Food52:

1 cup apple, thinly sliced

2 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
1 small red onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, (organic if possible)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix together. Enjoy.