Oven roasted potatoes, haricot verts, pan seared salmon with mango salsa, chocolate flourless cake with raspberry coulis & gelato

Had a weeknight party for four; whipped up the following menu whose prep I barely finished in the span of three hours.

Lightly curried oven roasted potatoes

Bought two bags of organic "petite-toes" from Whole Foods.

1. Wash potatoes.
2. Boil potatoes (with skin on) until tender, about 10-12 minutes.  This step helps to create potatoes that have a tender interior and a crisp exterior.
3. Drain.
4. Lightly brush cooking sheet with oil.
5. Cut potatoes in half, arrange on cooking sheet.
6. Lightly sprinkle with salt/pepper.
7. Bake at 425 F for half an hour, remove, flip over.  Potatoes should have a wonderfully nice crust.
8. Lightly sprinkle with curry.
9. Decrease oven temp to 375.
10. Bake 15 more minutes.
11. Serve with fresh green onions.

Haricot verts with shallots

1. Grabbed a bag of frozen haricot verts from Whole Foods and 1 shallot.
2. Minced shallot, sautee.
3. Add haricot verts.
4. Season with salt.
5. Serve with dash of sliced almonds.

Pan seared salmon with mango salsa

Whole Foods had whole coho salmon on sale this week, so I took advantage.  I cut the salmon fillet into ~ 4 oz portions.

1. Season skin side of salmon with salt, pepper, paprika.
2. Sear in hot pan for 5 minutes (do not turn).  Do not crowd salmon fillets on pan.
3. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. After 5 minutes, move pan directly to oven.
5. Bake ~ 5 minutes for medium-rare, 6 minutes for medium.
6. Remove salmon from oven.  Skin should be perfectly crisp and flesh should be tender.
7. Serve with mango salsa (mangos, red onion, tomato, avocado) and  garnish with pea shoots or other micro greens.

Chocolate flourless cake with red wine raspberry coulis and gelato

For the red wine raspberry coulis, I used the following:

1. Cook 1 bag of frozen raspberries from Whole Foods with juice from 1 lemon, 1/2 cup sugar, ~ 1/2 cup red wine.
2. Simmer until liquid slightly reduced.
3. Blend resulting mixture.
4. Strain, and save for later.

Preparation of the chocolate flourless cake could not be easier.  Used a straightforward recipe from epicurious that did not require the separation of yolks/whites.

1. Melt half a bag of Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips over a double boiler.
2. Also add in 1 stick of butter to the melted chocolate.
3. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup sugar.
4. Add in 3 eggs and "whisk well".  
5. Add sifted 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.
6. I then lined the bottom of an ~ 8 inch springform pan with non-stick aluminum foil, and poured the batter in.
7. Bake at 375 F for ~ 25 minutes.
8. Remove, let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes before cutting.
9. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.

Serve with raspberry coulis, gelato (or other ice cream on hand).  I confess that I did not have time to make my own gelato, and instead scooped some from a pint of Talenti that I had on hand.