What's the best thing you've made lately?

[Jenise]

A reliable vendor at our Farmers Market has branched out by raising Goats and Sheep. I bought some cheaper cuts of each Saturday - lamb shank (cut into pieces) and goat breast. I followed standard operating procedure. Seasoned and browned the meat in EVOO, removed. Added onion, leek, celery, carrot, garlic, bay, thyme, rosemarry to pan, sauteed a while, added white wine to deglaze, some chopped tomatoes, parsley, red pepper flakes and oil cured black olives. Returned the meat to pan, added just enough water, covered and put in oven. Turned meat about every 30 minutes for 2 hours. Magnificent, falling off the bone tender, rich concentrated flavor and each meat tasted of itself. The Goat was great!

Drank 1995 Il Podere dell' Olivos Refosco. Really a terrific wine at a silly price - under $8 at the last ABC open house.

We never have to worry about you eating and drinking well. Sounds great, even though I've never eaten goat. It's an animal that's in the realm of 'pet' for me, and I'd find it disturbing to eat.

We never have to worry about you eating and drinking well. Sounds great, even though I've never eaten goat. It's an animal that's in the realm of 'pet' for me, and I'd find it disturbing to eat.

Last time Robin was in Sydney, he couldn't even bring himself to eat a chocolate that was shaped like a horse's head. Even though the name of the chocolate was Kentucky!

A reliable vendor at our Farmers Market has branched out by raising Goats and Sheep. I bought some cheaper cuts of each Saturday - lamb shank (cut into pieces) and goat breast. I followed standard operating procedure. Seasoned and browned the meat in EVOO, removed. Added onion, leek, celery, carrot, garlic, bay, thyme, rosemarry to pan, sauteed a while, added white wine to deglaze, some chopped tomatoes, parsley, red pepper flakes and oil cured black olives. Returned the meat to pan, added just enough water, covered and put in oven. Turned meat about every 30 minutes for 2 hours. Magnificent, falling off the bone tender, rich concentrated flavor and each meat tasted of itself. The Goat was great!

Drank 1995 Il Podere dell' Olivos Refosco. Really a terrific wine at a silly price - under $8 at the last ABC open house.

Bernard,
When I was a lad my family and a neighbor family (farmers) would stock a pit with wood and set a large bed of coals to burning. This means they placed seasoned wood in the pit and set it to burning, factoring in the length of time when the fire would be reduced to hot, very hot coals. either my father, or the neighbor would butcher a goat to roast on a spit over those coals. As I recall the meat was plenty greasy, much like mutton, but was not particularly strong flavored. Rather, goat meat is sweet to the taste, but is pretty stringy, somewhat like a very under fatted venison. I've always liked it, but have not eaten it much save for when I was in Spain with the USAF back in the late 60's and early 70's. Tasty stuff if bbq'd.

My new best thing I've made lately:

The lemon curd for tomorrow's tartlets. OMG. If I had more lemons for the dessert, I'd just eat this entire batch straight from the bowl. I really do need to remember to make this more often!


The beginning.

I made Chicken and Tasso Jambalaya for dinner tonight. Glorious. Just the bit of Southern heat that I needed to combat the New England frigid winter.

-Paul W.

Is it too late to post here?
Yesterday, I posted a culinary-related New Year's resolution in Daniel's section that I wanted to perfect Fra Diavolo sauce. Well, it's not 2009 yet, but I think I have. I went to Ralph's yesterday to get some rolls for our French Dip sandwiches (to make with our leftover Christmas Prime Rib) when I saw that they had "just cooked" Maine lobster for $5.99 lb. I thought that was a steal and all the inspiration I needed for the Fra Diavolo. I already had some frozen shrimp in the freezer.
I started with Giada de Laurentiis's recipe, but instead of using only white wine for liquid, I also used about 3/4 cup of lobster stock made quickly from the shells. I tossed it with Bow Tie pasta. Len said if he ordered it in a restaurant, he would look forward to going back there to have it again.

Late to the poll here, too....Last week I had some friends over for a girlfriend's birthday. With a vegetarian in the group, I decided to make this insanely rich wild mushroom lasagna (Stuart--it's the one I made for NYE three years ago). Super yummy. Also, made a sauteed bass with a lemongrass sauce when Jay Miller was over. Terrific dish.

A side dish of chopped cabbage sauteed in a little bacon fat, a chopped apple (yellow Newtown Pippin) , a little chopped onion, a dash of powdered garlic and a little white wine. Not very fancy but very nice with broiled pork chops.

barefoot contessa's lemon bars....very special. i add lemon zest to the crust.

I think I posted something about our Dec 20 meal -- for that I made 3 Thomas Keller dishes, "Bacon and Eggs," "Whipped Brie," and "Pot au Feu."

Those were pretty good.

Over Christmas -- my brother in law had determined to make a dish that involved roasting a whole trimmed beef tenderloin and serving with a sauce made from caramelized shallots, tawny port, and highly reduced beef stock. I already had some highly reduced beef stock from the Keller cooking (the Veal Stock from French Laundry Cookbook) so I took down a pint of that and volunteered to be the saucier. I don't normally cook tenderloin because I think it lacks flavor compared to many other cuts of beef, but this was so good that I am considering making it for company. Everyone got a beautiful round slab of meat, pink across most of the middle, and perfectly tender -- and this complex sauce which was kind of breathtaking. BTW you begin the recipe by frying several strips of bacon in a baking pan, and then browning the trimmed tenderloin in the grease. The crumbled bacon goes into the sauce later. This recipe is Google-able several places on the web. 1997 Bon Appetit.

The next day I noticed that someone had left out a package of Arborio rice. I whipped up a risotto, much like the one Stuart made, but without the peas and with lots of thread saffron. Served it as first course in rim soups, it was popular and it was quite nice.

Tonight we had a steak -- Costco "Flap meat" (don't be put off by the name, TRY THIS if you are a Costco customer. Very much like a hanger steak, chewy and very beefy) fried in a preheated cast iron pan and finished off with some leftover sauce from the Keller Pot au Feu. Lovely with a good cabernet...

F

[Jenise]

Late to the poll here, too....Last week I had some friends over for a girlfriend's birthday. With a vegetarian in the group, I decided to make this insanely rich wild mushroom lasagna (Stuart--it's the one I made for NYE three years ago). Super yummy. Also, made a sauteed bass with a lemongrass sauce when Jay Miller was over. Terrific dish.

Is that the recipe you posted on the old FLDG? I've made that twice--it's terrific.

[Jenise]

barefoot contessa's lemon bars....very special. i add lemon zest to the crust.

That's a great step--a lemon tart in one of Patricia Wells' books calls for zesting the crust, and for a lemon head once you've had it that way, it would be hard to go back to plain old crust.

[Jenise]

Tonight we had a steak -- Costco "Flap meat" (don't be put off by the name, TRY THIS if you are a Costco customer. Very much like a hanger steak, chewy and very beefy) fried in a preheated cast iron pan and finished off with some leftover sauce from the Keller Pot au Feu. Lovely with a good cabernet...

F

Not put off at all--I used to buy Costco flap steak frequently and I'm jealous of your access. Can't get it here--the geniuses at Costco HQ have decided that the entire Pacific Northwest is too clueless to receive this cut so it goes elsewhere. Can't even order it.

Tend to agree with you about filet--I never ever order just a filet steak, but roasted whole and served rare, it's another animal altogether. The dish you made sounds terrific.

Tonight we had a steak -- Costco "Flap meat" (don't be put off by the name, TRY THIS if you are a Costco customer. Very much like a hanger steak, chewy and very beefy) fried in a preheated cast iron pan and finished off with some leftover sauce from the Keller Pot au Feu. Lovely with a good cabernet...

F

Not put off at all--I used to buy Costco flap steak frequently and I'm jealous of your access. Can't get it here--the geniuses at Costco HQ have decided that the entire Pacific Northwest is too clueless to receive this cut so it goes elsewhere. Can't even order it.

Tend to agree with you about filet--I never ever order just a filet steak, but roasted whole and served rare, it's another animal altogether. The dish you made sounds terrific.

Frank, check out this thread from a few months ago. All about an arduous quest and finally attainment of flap meat. I completely agree with you--the name is awful, but the cut is wondeful.
http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18389&p=157104&hilit=flap+meat#p157104

Jenise

I have heard that West Coast Costcos sometimes have PRIME beef. And there is this thing called "Tritip" that I can't get here. It is a trade-off.

Carrie

I wonder if that thread is partly why I set out looking for flap meat in the first place? My plan was to eat one strip as a steak and then cube up the rest and make a beefy chili. I have been intrigued by the idea of hybridizing chili with goulash and using hot paprika along with chili powder... Whatever, that good flavor stays and contributes to whatever you make with flap meat.

F

Jenise

I have heard that West Coast Costcos sometimes have PRIME beef. And there is this thing called "Tritip" that I can't get here. It is a trade-off.

Carrie

I wonder if that thread is partly why I set out looking for flap meat in the first place? My plan was to eat one strip as a steak and then cube up the rest and make a beefy chili. I have been intrigued by the idea of hybridizing chili with goulash and using hot paprika along with chili powder... Whatever, that good flavor stays and contributes to whatever you make with flap meat.

F

Frank, we do have Prime steak at our Costco. It's a really nice treat!
Where do you live? I managed to finally find a butcher at a grocery store in Massachusetts who fessed up that they cut the tri tip up and sell it sometimes as steak tips. (I'm not sure how New Englanders distinguish those from the usual "flap meat" steak tips in the meat case though. They are vastly different textures IMO.) We like tri-tip a lot, but grilled whole and sliced thinly on the bias. You could probably ask around.

PS> Never thought of using the steak tips in chili, but I'll bet it would be good. I'd probably semi freeze it and chop it in the cuisinart first.

I'm in NJ. We did a kind of poll on another board and found that the Costco Prime beef was in Texas, California, and perhaps Chicago. Generally west of the Mississippi and never East. I have requested it at my local store. Certainly if they are selling Chateau Lafite how can they assume the customers don't have an interest in prime meat? On the other hand when I have talked to the butcher they say that if they DO get prime they just label it as choice and throw it out with the other stuff. And I have had some rib roasts with amazing marbling from that Costco...

After hearing about Tri tip for years I finally found some at a high end butcher in Manhattan. It was good and if I could obtain it easily I would be using it regularly. But Costco has decided there is no market for it around here.

Our prices are also a little higher for the better Bordeaux than in other locations. It's kind of like two different store chains, Costco East and Costco West.

You west coast people could at least go to a butcher and ask for hanger steak if you can't get flap meat. That seems to be getting easier to find these days.

F

Late to the poll here, too....Last week I had some friends over for a girlfriend's birthday. With a vegetarian in the group, I decided to make this insanely rich wild mushroom lasagna (Stuart--it's the one I made for NYE three years ago). Super yummy. Also, made a sauteed bass with a lemongrass sauce when Jay Miller was over. Terrific dish.

Is that the recipe you posted on the old FLDG? I've made that twice--it's terrific.

Yep, that's the one. I just love that recipe.

On the other hand when I have talked to the butcher they say that if they DO get prime they just label it as choice and throw it out with the other stuff. And I have had some rib roasts with amazing marbling from that Costco...

F

When I first read this, I thought--"No way," but yesterday I bought some absolutely gorgeous "choice" bone-in ribeyes at Costco. ($7.99 lb) They were so well-marbled, I would have sworn they were Prime, if they didn't hadn't said Choice. (The store was "out of the Prime.") We just had them for dinner, Pittsburgh medium-rare. Unbelievable. They tasted like they came from Lobel's.

Hi Carrie

When I went to my local Costco a week ago, they had a dwindling supply of bone in rib roasts, and none of them had that great marbling. My friends are overseas and I am looking after their house and cats so I have the perfect situation for dry aging, a refrigerator that is running but not in active use. So I wanted to age a rib roast for their return next Monday. Thus I had to go back to Costco and buy the roast -- all the bone in roasts were gone but the boneless roasts were very nicely marbled, and now I have one drying out in the fridge. I am basically following some directions by Alton Brown. Mainly the important thing is to leave it alone except for changing the paper towels a couple of times. After a couple of days and a couple of changes, one doesn't even need to do that.

Frank