Our Chinese New Year Dinner

One of the things we enjoy the most about living in Hawai'i is celebrating holidays we never thought to celebrate when we lived on the mainland.

The Chinese New Year is celebrated widely in Hawai'i and it is fun to plan our own dinner, borrowing a few of the traditional customs.

Red is a joyous color and gold represents wealth or prosperity.  Round fruit or foods represent coins.  Green is money and the numbers eight or nine are lucky numbers.  

The table was set with a bright red satin cloth with a gold Chinese dragon and flower design.  The chargers are part of a set of 8 with the symbols of Love, Happiness, Peace and Joy brushed in black.  The flatware is gold, and the flowers and fruit on the table were golden heliconias and tiny orange calamandin.  White porcelain dinner plates, cobalt blue glass plates, cobalt blue tumblers holding candles, rice pattern blue and white Chinese porcelain tea pot and tea cups, and 4 blue and white long handled porcelain spoons that say St. Dalfour on the handles which I used as the amuse bouche servers. 

We eat much more simply now, so eight or nine dishes would be too much for just the two of us, but nevertheless, we had a small celebratory dinner to welcome The Year of the Tiger and to ensure prosperity this year.

We started with an amuse bouche of hollowed out grape tomatoes stuffed with rosemary and black pepper flavored chevre (creamy goat cheese) - the long handled spoons were found in one of the antique stores in downtown Hilo - I couldn't resist them!

Fresh Asparagus Poached in Water & Sour Tangerine Juice dressed lightly with Melted Butter & Tangerine Juice, served on an Orange Slice; Garlic & Rosemary Roasted Potatoes; Sliced Pickled Beets and the Panko & Goya Seasoning Seared Sea Scallops.
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The entree was Seared Sea Scallops in Blood Orange Olive Oil (we had something similar for New Years Eve and liked it so much we decided to do it again, this time with a twist - I added panko to make the surface crispy.  Sides were pickled sliced beets, since Anthony loves them and they looked nice on the plate with the other colors.  Asparagus briefly poached in water to which I added the juice of half a sour tangerine and a sprinkling of Hawaiian Alae sea salt; and the last side dish was Garlic & Rosemary Roasted Potatoes.

 
Seared Sea Scallops in Blood Orange Olive Oil

6 large scallops

Panko

Goya Adobo All Purpose Seasoning (*)

Blood Orange Olive Oil

 

Wash and pat the scallops dry with paper towels.

Pour some panko in a shallow pie plate and season liberaly with the Goya seasonings.

 

Heat 4 tablespoons of the blood orange flavored olive oil in a 12" stainless skillet.

 

Dredge the scallops in the seasoned panko and place in the skillet.  Do not move them so they can achieve a nice 'crust'.  Turn them over with kitchen tongs and cook on the other side.

 

Place them on double layers of paper towels to absorbe the extra grease.

 

NOTES: (*) without MSG

 

YIELD: 2 servings of 3 pieces each

SOURCE: Sonia's Kitchen

 

Potatoes already seasoned and ready to pop in the oven

 

 

Garlic & Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

 

4 Potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
1 - 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and toss well. Spread potatoes on baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

 

NOTES: I used 6 red potatoes, left the skin on and cut them in quarters.  I also increased the amount of oil, minced garlic and rosemary.  I also added a touch of freshly ground peppercorns.

 

I plant to make a potato and chicken salad tomorrow with the leftovers.

 

YIELD: 6 servings

SOURCE: Shelby from Roanoke, Virginia - a member of the Garden Friends Share Yahoo group

 

KUNG HEE FAT CHOY!

We wish Peace & Prosperity to All!

 

 

 

Comments

[Sonia]

Thank you, Bea! Happy New Year to both you and Rus!

[Bea]

Sonia, Sure looks good. NOthing missing.
Have a Happy New Year

[Sonia]

Aloha Pomai.....You're completely right....We do eat rice often (after all, we are Cuban born and Cuban menus feature rice in as many combinations and as often as a Chinese menu!) so I was not concerned with not featuring it in the menu.....This menu took a lot of 'poetic license' on the Chinese theme ;-)....and it was a personal interpretation and not following traditional dishes....although in the past I have featured traditional Chinese dishes for the Chinese New Year menu....back when I wrote weekly food columns for the Hilo paper ;-)

[Pomai]

What's funny is the Asian-themed table setting, yet the food is hardly if at all asian-inspired. Not even rice! lol Looks delicious though! I'll certainly try your scallops and potatoes recipe.

[Sonia]

Thank you, Portia.... I have fun doing it.....Here are Peaches and prosperity to you also.... ;-)

[Portia Little]

What a magnificent and colorful table you set, Sonia! Love those spoons. Here's wishing you peach and prosperity all year through.

[Sonia]

Mahalo, Noel....it was indeed, delicious....!

[noel]

aloha sonia,

looks delicious....i can just taste the entire dinner yum!

[Sonia]

Oh, I've had those spoons a long time....I got them and a blue and white porcelain Oriental cannister with the clamping lid I use for tea.

I had never thought to use them as amuse bouche spoons until I was going through my blue and white stuff to decide what I wanted to use!

Yes, the food was good! Thanks, Sarah!

[Sarah H]

Love the amuse bouche spoons you found in Hilo. Ironic since you just bought a whole bunch of them online. ;)

Looks like a really good meal.

Happy New Year!