What's Cooking (Take Two!)

[Jenise]

So yesterday, holidays over, I had to kind of survey the fridge to see what I had that needed using. I had ham, about a 3 lb solid chunk cut from the butt. And I had a 2 lb bag of haricot verts surplus from the neighborhood Christmas dinner, plus a bag of baby white and purple potatoes, all about 1" diameter, that I'd bought to roast with a chicken I never got around to. But I wanted pasta, wanted to make something from one of the books Bob got me for Christmas that is, and pasta's the one thing and I do mean 'one' that he actually enjoys helping in the kitchen with.

So I divided the ham and chunked one up into a pot with the green beans, a sliced onion, garlic cloves, a bay leaf and chicken broth and set that on to cook. We'll have that today. Separately, I put the other ham into a pot with Muirglen fire roasted tomatoes, wine, onion, garlic, oregano, fennel seed, a whole guajillo chile and chopped fennel fronds. The intent was to make a spicy smoked pork-fennel sauce to go over something like tagliatelle, but about an hour in I switched gears, pulled out the ham, chopped it, and threw that in the KitchenAid with grated fresh Asiago, cream, mace, black pepper and a bit of egg white to make a ravioli filling. This gave me the chance to try out a new pasta cutter I bought that crimps and cuts at the same time, and it worked well! I cooked 16 ravioli and didn't have a single blow out/leaker. For me, fairly unusual, and ravioli with that almost-marinara was outstanding.

Tonight we grilled, yes grilled, over charcoal and mesquite chips, two fillet steaks in bacon rasher. The side was a heaping portion of succotash cooked in goose stock and the fat on top! Yum!

[Robin Garr]

Thai-style green bean red curry. A favorite. Coming up with the idea for this dish 3-plus years ago set me on the road toward inventing plant-based dishes at home, because - silly as it sounds - until then it hadn't crossed my mind to use a veggie as a primary ingredient in an "interesting" recipe, ethnic or otherwise.

Last night, I made a chicken dish that's pretty loosely based on a carbonnade. The recipe (from Epicurious) involves cooking chicken thighs with onions, beef broth, beer, and allspice. The version I made added mushrooms and subbed in five spice for the allspice (as recommended in a couple of the Epicurious reviews). I used Delirium Tremens for the beer and served it over egg noodles. It's a terrific winter dish, with some lively flavor from the five spice.

Mike, That meal sounds excellent and I actually prefer 5 spice to allspice so that would have worked for me. Delirium Tremens is something I have always wanted to try (first for sipping, then for cooking) but it is very expensive here. One of the local places stocks it and it is around $10/bottle. As a home-brewer, I know the input costs that are involved in the production of beer so that is perhaps why I think the DT is excessively expensive.

An uncharacteristically early dinner for me tonight because I have an appointment very early in the morning. I had some ground lamb that needed to be used up so I sauteed that in Greek extra virgin olive oil with onions, diced tomatoes, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, ginger, cumin and a bit of dried red bird's eye chili to add some heat on this cold winter night.

I served that on a toasted pita with a drizzle of roasted garlic, parsley and plain Greek yogurt sauce on top.

[Jenise]

Tonight: vichysoisse and a green salad with roasted hazelnut vinaigrette, white Bordeaux on the side.

Dave - sounds like a very nice impromptu meal. The DT was a bit of an extravagance but the beer plays a significant role in this dish and we had friends coming over for supper, so I wanted something good in it. Plus, it used less than half the bottle, so I was able to just drink the rest. Good stuff (although Newcastle Brown probably would have been just as good in the carbonnade).

Jenise- I haven't had vichyssoise in ages. Sounds pretty good right now.

[Jenise]

Jenise- I haven't had vichyssoise in ages. Sounds pretty good right now.

Mike, apparently we haven't either! Where we normally eat between 7:00 and 7:30, I didn't even start the soup until around 7:30. At the point close to 8:00 that I declared it fully done, Bob said anxiously, "And now we have to wait for it to chill?" He'd forgotten we ever ate it hot.

Heading upstairs soon for a New Year's Eve dinner with a neighbor. She's going to serve a starter of caviar with various trimmings, then a curried onion soup, then a deconstructed Beef Wellington, and a cheese course.

I'm providing the dessert: a bittersweet chocolate cake that requires a dozen eggs, 3.5 sticks of butter, 14 oz of chocolate, 2 c sugar, and 1 c flour to hold it all together. Whee! (...recipe says it makes 20 servings...)

Wines to pair: Veuve Clicquot (regular) and Brun FRV100 for the first two courses, Marechal 2001 Chorey-les-Beaunes for the beef, still figuring out the white for the cheese course, and Dow 1985 Port for that cake.

[Robin Garr]

“Hoppin Karma,” a much more palatable (to me) alternative to Hoppin John. Eat it at New Year’s and get good karma all year ‘round. (Red lentil dal with spinach, plus basmati rice, coconut milk and Indian spice.)

[Jenise]

Heading upstairs soon for a New Year's Eve dinner with a neighbor. She's going to serve a starter of caviar with various trimmings, then a curried onion soup, then a deconstructed Beef Wellington, and a cheese course.

I'm providing the dessert: a bittersweet chocolate cake that requires a dozen eggs, 3.5 sticks of butter, 14 oz of chocolate, 2 c sugar, and 1 c flour to hold it all together. Whee! (...recipe says it makes 20 servings...)

Wines to pair: Veuve Clicquot (regular) and Brun FRV100 for the first two courses, Marechal 2001 Chorey-les-Beaunes for the beef, still figuring out the white for the cheese course, and Dow 1985 Port for that cake.

Wow that cake! Does it come out like a molten chocolate?

Heading upstairs soon for a New Year's Eve dinner with a neighbor. She's going to serve a starter of caviar with various trimmings, then a curried onion soup, then a deconstructed Beef Wellington, and a cheese course.

I'm providing the dessert: a bittersweet chocolate cake that requires a dozen eggs, 3.5 sticks of butter, 14 oz of chocolate, 2 c sugar, and 1 c flour to hold it all together. Whee! (...recipe says it makes 20 servings...)

Wines to pair: Veuve Clicquot (regular) and Brun FRV100 for the first two courses, Marechal 2001 Chorey-les-Beaunes for the beef, still figuring out the white for the cheese course, and Dow 1985 Port for that cake.

Wow that cake! Does it come out like a molten chocolate?

I'm also curious about the Beef Wellington. How did the deconstruction work out?

I'm just back from 10 days away from home, so I have a number of things.

Christmas Eve Eve: Channukah theme, from-scratch matzo ball soup, latkes, etc.

Christmas Day my in-laws provided a USDA Prime bone-in rib roast, so it was the first time I've had prime rib. A 200F / 93C oven to 120F / 50C before resting yielded this:

IMGP8795.jpg

Mike, I had three different thermometers available to me and checked them in boiling water to calibrate, and found a range of about 13F / 10C between them! That difference alone is more than between medium and medium rare.

On second Christmas with my family I forgot to reserve the goose I intended to cook and learned that it was still walking around! I didn't have three hours for a rib roast, so I bought a tenderloin instead and roasted that with a similar technique, except I trussed it with a pound or so of bacon for flavor. My first time working with a whole tenderloin, and it turned out really well.

Good point regarding the thermometers, Walt. The one I use is a lab grade one but I haven't checked it in some time.

I'm providing the dessert: a bittersweet chocolate cake that requires a dozen eggs, 3.5 sticks of butter, 14 oz of chocolate, 2 c sugar, and 1 c flour to hold it all together. Whee! (...recipe says it makes 20 servings...)

Wow that cake! Does it come out like a molten chocolate?

It comes out like a cross between fudge and a brownie. Or, if you look at the ingredients a certain way, it's Pound Cake meets Chocolate Mousse.

It's baked for 1 hr 20 min at 375* in a 10" springform. The center is still a little gooey but the rest firms up. The top is even a little crackly - it rises above the edge of the springform then collapses as it cools. Here's a picture of a slice (about 2-4 portions) that I kept before giving the rest away:

2015-01-03 00.55.54.jpg

Dow 1985 Port for that cake.

Misspeak. It was a 1983, and it was spirity and kinda thin. I've decanted the rest and am sipping in every couple of days.

I'm also curious about the Beef Wellington. How did the deconstruction work out?

Well.... She served a pate of duck liver during the caviar course, omitted the puff pastry entirely, swapped out the duxelles in favor of a very rich mushroom ragu, and served that with a simple roasted tenderloin (it was guesswork but she nailed the rare).

When I make Wellington I make individual portions. They are much easier to serve than to slice a whole tenderloin while trying not to tear the pastry shell or spill the duxelles everywhere between platter and plate.

Husband's birthday weekend dinner entrees: lamb kidneys porchetta style over polenta with garlicy broccoli on Saturday and seared duck breast with black currant sauce with Basmati and roasted Brussels sprouts on Sunday. Richer and rich ! Kidneys took no prisoners but the leftover duck breast sans sauce will be great in quesadillas later this week.

[Jenise]

Jeff, sounds like that 'deconstructed Wellington' involved a lot of license! Not to one up her, but I once approached the same idea with individual pillows of chive puff pastry, dab of pate, rare slice of roast tenderloin, mushroom sauce on top. The essence of Wellington was there on the plate--someone not told what the objective was would have gotten it anyway. Not sure her version would evoke that.

The cake does indeed sound and look interesting. Understandable that it would act something like a soufflé.


Dinner tonight: crepes filled with a mixture of last night's leftover roast wild boar shoulder mixed in a blonde sherry-flavored gravy with leeks, celery and chanterelles. Green beans on the side; light salad starter.

Last summer, my daughter was able to spend some time in France on an unofficial "exchange program". One of the things she came back with was a can of duck foie gras. We've been holding off on opening it but the expiration date was approaching, so I popped it open this evening. We had it sliced on bread with an option of a delicious peach conserve my wife picked up yesterday while she was at the farmers' market at the San Francisco ferry building. She also picked up a few ounces of fresh morels, so I dusted them with flour and sauteed them in butter. That was pretty much the meal - sauteed morels and foie gras. Not a balanced meal, but it made me feel like I was living in a completely different demographic from my own!

Jeff, sounds like that 'deconstructed Wellington' involved a lot of license!

I would have called it 'abandoned Wellington".

Jeff, sounds like that 'deconstructed Wellington' involved a lot of license!

I would have called it 'abandoned Wellington".

It sounds like Napoleon's version...

[Jenise]

Christmas Day my in-laws provided a USDA Prime bone-in rib roast, so it was the first time I've had prime rib. A 200F / 93C oven to 120F / 50C before resting yielded this:

Mike, I had three different thermometers available to me and checked them in boiling water to calibrate, and found a range of about 13F / 10C between them! That difference alone is more than between medium and medium rare.

Walt, THAT was a spectacularly perfect prime rib. I also did a prime rib earlier this month, cooked it at 250 to 120, and mine was considerably more well done (and therefore disappointing). I noted that next time, 115 tops. I'll check my timer. Thanks!

Dinner on New Year's Day was Mouton Bourguignon (lamb instead of beef). The wine was 1995 Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Beze.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Dinner on New Year's Day was Mouton Bourguignon (lamb instead of beef). The wine was 1995 Jadot Chambertin-Clos de Beze.

-Paul W.

Worthy! Paul, although you often say you aren't buying new vintages, you sure seem to have an impressively endless supply of great old vintages.


Tonight: no dinner plans. My cat Junior's in the hospital and I have no idea if I'll feel like having dinner when that time of day rolls around.