Pan-fried lime cayenne tilapia with coconut risotto, fried and caramelized plantains and fresh mango pico de gallo
This entree came from me trying to give a friend advice about making a meal. i was brainstorming and came up with the beginning of this dish. Tal and I cooked it together and fleshed out the idea as we went. We started the risotto first, using chicken broth and gradually mixing in coconut milk. We pan-fried the plantains in olive oil and then tossed them in some butter, added cayenne and sugar and broiled them while we fried the tilapia, which we'd marinated in lime juice, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. We finished the fish in the oven and we were ready to plate!
Tres Leches cake with peach, blueberry, mint and cilantro.
Tal surprised me and made this Cake of Three Milks. The center fell, so he scooped it out, mixed up some fruit that we bought with mint from the garden and cilantro left over from the pico de gallo.
Drinks: We decided to pair this meal with Pilsner. Tal and I both have a better understanding of beer than wine. We got some Pilsner Urquell (the original golden beer from Plsen in the Czech Republic), one of our favorites. The 12-pack was depleted in the cooking process, so Erin and Kaitlin went out for more and picked up some of Brooklyn's Pilsner, which was also pretty tasty.
So that was our first effort, and it all turned out damned tasty.