A Purple Dinner

“Let’s make a surprise dinner for Daddy. How about a purple dinner?” said my 5-year-old boy.

I’d never thought that a surprise dinner can be prepared in a colour theme. It sounded beautiful enough on a plate. Red cabbage, eggplant, and blueberries are all purple, but I wanted something more special.

Then, I remember the purple potatoes I once cooked when I was in culinary school. These potatoes are very small, with deep purple coloured skin and violet or marble coloured flesh. They taste like normal potatoes.

Normal supermarkets or shops will not carry purple potatoes so my son and I decided to take a trip to the farmers market nearby. It’s always great to be in a farmers market — the ingredients are seasonal, fresh, and special.

My son found some mini eggplants and carrots, and I found some blood oranges, black cherry tomatoes, and squid ink pasta. Perfect, the purple mission was half completed. We have enough ingredients to make a 3 course dinner.

Appetizer: Pan-fried Mini Eggplant with Miso Yogurt Sauce and Scallion

(Ingredients):

2 Mini Eggplants

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

a few stalk of Garlic Shoots, sliced

1 tablespoon Miso Paste

4 tablespoons Greek Plain Yogurt

Smoke Paprika (optional)

How to Make:

1. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Score the flesh with a knife without cutting through the skin.
2. In a non-stick pan, heat up the oil over medium-high heat. Add eggplants with skin side down. Let them fry until the skin is crispy and the flesh is soft; it’s about 8 minutes.
3. Flip the eggplants over with the tongs. Let them fry for another five minutes. Transfer the eggplants onto the serving plate.

We planted some garlic early this month and the shoots grow like crazy. These greens are edible and delicious. They taste just like mild flavoured garlic.

4. In the same pan, add the cut scallion. Quickly stir fry it over high heat until fragrant; about 1 minute. Remove it from the heat.

5. Mix together the miso and yogurt; add a dash of it on each eggplant. Spoon some garlic shoots on top of the yogurt. Last, finish the garnish with some smoked paprika.

Main Course: Squid Ink Pasta with Calamari and Black Cherry Tomatoes

(Ingredients):

1 handful of Squid Ink Pasta

I handful of Normal Egg Pasta

10 small Calamari

1 cup Black Cherry Tomatoes

1/2 head of Garlic

1/2 cup Pasley, leaves only

1 Lemon juice and zest

Salt and Pepper

How to make:

1. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Place them on parchement without overlapping them. Roast them in the oven at 180F for about 2–3 hours, or until the cherry tomatoes are half dried up.
2. Meanwhile, finely chop the garlic shoots and rinse the parsley; set it aside.

3. To clean the calamaris, remove the tentacles from the body by pulling two ends. Then, remove the transparent cuttlebone from the tube.

4. Cut off and discard the beak at the root of the tentacles. Keep as much ink as possible to add extra flavour for the dish later.

5. Remove the skin from around the tube part. Cut it into slices. Set them aside.

6. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add pasta. Cook it by following the instruction on the package. Drain.

7. In a pan, heat up two tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. Add garlic; let it fry until it’s fragrant. Add calamari. Continuously cook until the calamari starts to shrink and then add parsley. Remove it from the heat. Add the cooked pasta. Gently mix it with the tongs. Serve it with the roasted cherry tomatoes.

Side Dish: Pan fried Purple Carrot and Purple Potato

(Ingredients):

3 Purple Carrot, cut into 5 cm sticks, with skin on

1 cup Purple Potatoes

5 cloves Garlic, minced

4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Salt to season

How to make:

1. Heat up the vegetable oil over high heat. Add garlic; fry until it’s fragrant.
2. Add carrots and potatoes. Stir fry until they are half soften; it takes about 10 minutes. Season with salt.

Dessert: Blood Orange in it’s own bowl

(Ingredients):

Blood Orange

(Tool):

1 small teaspoon

1 small knife

How to make:

1. With a small knife, cut the peel around the orange.
2. Carefully fit the handle of the spoon between the orange peel and the flesh.
3. With a rotate motion, separate the flesh from the peel. Twist gently to remove the cap.
4. Repeat the same action to the other side.