What's Cooking This Weekend?

Doing a double portion of boeuf Bourguignon today, half to freeze and half to eat.

Although I may just go all iconoclastic on my wine choice - thinking of a 98 Chateauheuf, perhaps.

[Jenise]

Keep it coming, folks! I have to make something to bring to a Halloween party tomorrow night and I'm still looking for the right dish.

So what did you do?

I had the same dilemna, and it was for a party of non-foodies who I know from the same party in past years that out of self-defense I must take something both substantial and healthy, for if I don't Bob and I will have nothing to eat but high calorie, zero nutrition snack fare. I made small-diameter Thai flavored meat loaves (out of 2/3 turkey and 1/3 pork)--small so that a slice is about three bites--loaded with cilantro and water chestnuts and which I paired with a big mound of chili-garlic rice noodle salad.

[Jenise]

Carrie, but for one terrible intermediate school cafeteria experience that tasted of ground doorstops boiled in tomato juice--nothing else--I did not have the pleasure of a cabbage roll until I was about 20 when my father married a Hungarian lady who made them the way her mother, who died in this country but did not speak English and did everything the way she'd learned in the pork-centric old country, taught her and it was love at first bite for me. So that's how I make them: a mixture of ground ham and pork with rice, where the rolls are tightly arranged on a thick bed of sauerkraut, covered with broth and further seasoned with lots of good Hungarian paprika, tomato sauce (actually, Betty preferred Campbells tomato soup), sliced garlic and sliced kielbasa in lieu of something Betty called Hungarian garlic sausage. Every now and then she'd go visit family in the Cincinnati area and bring home the real deal from some eastern European meat market, but I'm stuck with Hillshire Farms and that's okay. I may have posted a recipe on the old WLDG--I seem to remember discussing these with Leslie Duncan.

Betty topped each serving with a dollop of sour cream, but I skip that.

Your mom's version sounds wonderful too--really, it's such a versatile idea. Short of grinding doorstops, you can put almost anything in there.

[Jenise]

Hmmm...6.30am here on Saturday morning, and I'm up to start a couple of trays of focaccia. I was given a stack of cookbooks yesterday by a friend who's emigrating, so I might see what inspiration comes from those. Will post again if I come up with anything exciting.

Hope the ribs work well, Paul !

Celia, when someone lives in Australia, where do they emigrate to? It would seem they're already in paradise--the notion of leaving seems very strange.

[Jenise]

I've got 40 people coming for dinner tomorrow night, to celebrate our eldest daughter's 30th birthday. She loves lamb, so there will be grilled boneless leg of lamb, marinated in red wine, garlic, parsley and rosemary, Saffron rice, a cucumber& yogurt salad, an Aleppian vegetable stew featuring cabbage, carrots, chickpeas and tomatoes, hummus and a variety of fresh breads and cheeses. And a gorgeus basket made of caramelized nuts and chocolate, filled with cake and custard and topped with berries and sliced fruit. and a mocha cake. (the sweets are not homemade). Besides a double magnum of Lungarotti Rubesco Riserva, I'm opening some Italian Pinot noir and I don't know yet what else, but for sure a magnum of 1977 (her birth year) Grahams vintage porto.
And yes, I've got help in the kitchen.
Ines

Ines, another impressively giant event that you turned in without so much as breaking a sweat, I'll bet. You make it look so easy. And I'll bet Pascale was pleased.

How was that double mag?

Tonight, I'm making "Lapin au Vin Rouge". It's a slight modification of Chef Carey's recipe for Coq au Vin (from Chef on Fire) done with a rabbit and one chicken leg quarter.

Hmmm...6.30am here on Saturday morning, and I'm up to start a couple of trays of focaccia. I was given a stack of cookbooks yesterday by a friend who's emigrating, so I might see what inspiration comes from those. Will post again if I come up with anything exciting. :)

Hope the ribs work well, Paul ! :)

Celia, when someone lives in Australia, where do they emigrate to? It would seem they're already in paradise--the notion of leaving seems very strange.

Jenise, they're moving to NEW YORK !! I dunno, maybe it's the crap Mexican food we get here or something... :)

But I'm with you, you wouldn't get me out of Sydney, let alone Australia. And thank you for saying such nice things about this place that we love so much ! :)

Reporting back--the party was a huge success, and honestly, cooking for that many people with the menu I chose was not at all difficult. Keeping the main courses simple and few made all the difference, since I was able to do the vegetable stew the day before, the rice the morning of the party, and the cucumber/tmato salad several hours before serving. I ended up marinating the butterflied legs of lamb in a pomegranate juice/garlic/parsley/lemon juice/olive oil slurry and it was very flavorful. My brother, a master of grilling, did the BBQ honors and did it perfectly.
Pascale was delighted and her friends were wonderful guests.
The double mag. of Lungarotti Rubesco Riserva (1990 bottled in 2000) was stellar---earthy, minerally and bright, with a solid core of red cherry and smoke. It was gone very quickly. And the magnum of 1977 Graham's Porto was also delicious--lighter in color and palate than I expected, not as sweet as I thought it would be, but just right, and enough for three dozen people.
Only one downside--going to bed at 2 am means I'm wrecked today!