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

As part of my (and Gail's) weight loss effort, after work this evening I stopped in at the local Whole Paycheck (since it was on the way anyway) for a pound of 96% lean ground bison and a few produce items. Arriving home, I plugged in the Foreman, formed the bison into two loose patties, and seasoned with some fresh-ground onion, garlic and herbs. I stir-fried about 2 cups of broccoli florets with 3 baby bok choys (quartered lengthwise) in a tablespoon of olive oil, tossed in some cherry tomatoes sliced in half, then added 1/4 cup of water to the pan to create some steam. By the time the stir-fry was ready, so was the bison, and about 2 cups of wild and brown rice leftover from last night's supper.

All ready in about a half-hour, and very tasty for 'diet' food.

Never think diet...they don't work! It is a lifestyle change! That's what works and portion control.

Never think diet...they don't work! It is a lifestyle change! That's what works and portion control.

That's actually what we are doing, Karen, but 'diet' is still ingrained in my psyche, I suppose. In any case, tonight's dinner was healthy and tasted good too, so it's a start.

A thumbs up to Celia's chocolate guinness cake, of which I've just sampled part of the 'cooks portion', the large cake going off to the brains of the operation's weekly volunteer day. I didn't have Guinness so substituted Monteiths Black (NZ dark beer) which seemed to work well. Nice texture to it.

I'll do a chocolate topping for it later in the week, as the crew seem to appreciate the sugar hit.

regards
Ian

Celia's Guinness Cake is indeed wonderful. I made it over the summer. In fact, I think it slightly edges out the Chocolate Stout Cake I made the other night, even though that was really good too. A friend made me promise I would try making it.

So, I mentioned earlier in this thread that I was making a Seven-hour leg of lamb for our wine group Sunday night. It turned out fantastic. (Oh, I wish I had taken a photo.) It's pretty simple, really. Kind of like braising a huge lamb calf (not allowed to utter the "S" word in a golfer's home.) Season and then brown the lamb under the broiler while sauteeing on medium heat, onions, garlic (and I added some shallots). Add a cup of dry white wine and some beef broth to the mixture (I actually used half freshly made chicken broth from a chicken I had roasted the night before.) Add a two carrots, a bay leaf and although the recipe called for thyme, I used fresh rosemary sprigs. I just like it better with lamb than thyme. Set the roast atop the veggies in a dutch oven, cover with crinkled up parchment paper (anyone know why?? I don't.), cover with a tight fitting lid and braise at 225 for seven hours, turning the lamb every few hours. When done, I strained the pot juices, retaining the carrots, then pressing down on the mushy onions and garlic to get all of their flavors. Then put the juice into my fat separator, and reduced the defatted stock slightly. I poured about half of that over the lamb and served the rest on the side.

The claim to fame of this recipe is that you can eat the lamb with a spoon. It's true. Our friends really loved it. Everyone kept going back for "one more little taste." Despite that, I had a good amount of shredded lamb leftover so I froze it in its juice until I get the rest of the ingredients to make a Shepherd's Pie Recipe I saw on Epicurious.

Wow, Carrie. That sounds great!!

Gnocchi with wild mushrooms and duck confit. Linda found this recipe in a magazine at her hairdressers and wrote down part of it . It was delicious, but needs a little more work (the mushrooms needed to be cooked separately, and the starch from the gnocchi stuck to the pan). Once I get it perfected, I'll post it to the FLDG.

It went very well with a surprisingly youthful 1984 Pichon-Lalande. I'd expected it to be over the hill and had a backup bottle ready, but it was still in great shape.

Chicken Breasts with Ginger and Lemon, served with coconut sticky rice and buttered spinach, washed down with a 2007 Kurt Darting Gewürztraminer Spätlese. I just posted the recipe: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29922

This AM I browned a 3-lb. bison chuck roast, and surrounded it in the slow cooker with some whole Yukon Gold taters, two quartered Texas Sweetie onions (because I had no Vidalias in the house), 4 scrubbed and halved carrots, somne celery tops, about two cups of R.Stuart 2007 Big Fire Pinot Noir, water from deglazing the skillet, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, and 1 dried cayenne chile pod. OMG!!! Coming home after work to the wonderful aromas from the kitchen had me salivating, and it all tasted as good as it smelled! My first impression of a bison roast: chewy texture, but shredded easily, more fat than I expected, but that just enhanced the overall delicious flavor. If we still have power by this time tomorrow evening (which is real iffy according to the weathermen, as a major ice storm is predicted to hit Tulsa sometime tomorrow), I'll hit the leftover veggies and meat with the immersion blender just a bit, and add some brown rice and dehydrated veggies for a soup.

3-lb. bison chuck roast,

Now THAT is something I would like to try.

3-lb. bison chuck roast,

Now THAT is something I would like to try.

It's a lot more plentiful in these parts, Matilda, but if you can find it, try it.

If I send you a kangaroo, will you send me a bison?

If I send you a kangaroo, will you send me a bison?

If I send you a kangaroo, will you send me a bison?

I'll send you some venison beer sticks if you send me some Tasmanian Devil jerky.

Tasmanian devils? They're carnivores. I wouldn't eat 'em.

Made a simple, but decidedly not Philly, cheesesteak last night. Sous vide NY strips to rare, and quickly seared to create a crust. Sliced the steak, and topped with buttermilk blue cheese and a mixture of carmelized onions and shallots. Served on parmesan focaccia from a local bakery with a little whole grain mustard. Hand cut chips on the side. A Petrus Double Belgian ale to accompany the food. Quick and flavorful meal.

Last night we had another couple over for dinner and I made sea bass roasted with a shallot basil butter. I also made a side of risotto with asparagus, roasted garlic and parmigiano reggiano. Nice food and company for a weeknight.

Carrie, that 7 hour lamb sounds amaaazing! Glad you and Ian liked the Guinness cake...

My latest success was with a Paris-Brest, a traditional French dessert made to celebrate the end of the 1200km bike race from Paris to Brest. Mind you, I think you'd have to have done the race to justify the calories. I followed an intricate three-post recipe from this fab blog I've recently found : http://www.realfoodhascurves.com/

Geez, Celia, that looks fantastic!

Last night, we had a change of plans that left me with the CSA box and what was in the pantry. We had beets with greens in the box, so I took the greens and chopped the stems and leaves. I then cut up some Spanish chorizo into chunks and sauteed them for a few minutes to render off some fat. The chorizo came out of the skillet and the beet stems went in. They were cooked for a while in the fat and then softened with a few tablespoons of chicken broth. Then the beet leaves went in. After they had cooked for a few minutes, the chorizo was added back and the whole mess was mixed up with cooked penne. This made for a hearty and satisfying winter dish that had an amazing color - kind of a barbecue potato chip red.

[Jenise]

Last night we had another couple over for dinner and I made sea bass roasted with a shallot basil butter. I also made a side of risotto with asparagus, roasted garlic and parmigiano reggiano. Nice food and company for a weeknight.

Does anything give one more ability to pull off last-minute elegance like a risotto? Nice job.

Celia, girl, you never disappoint!
You just GO!

Last night we had another couple over for dinner and I made sea bass roasted with a shallot basil butter. I also made a side of risotto with asparagus, roasted garlic and parmigiano reggiano. Nice food and company for a weeknight.

Does anything give one more ability to pull off last-minute elegance like a risotto? Nice job.

Thanks. I did not have much else to work on so I could focus most of my attention on the risotto. That's usually not the case as I normally have too many things going on at once.

Mike, Jo Ann, thank you! It was great fun to make. I've used the same pastry recipe for profiteroles and chocolate eclairs since. I wish someone had told me years ago how easy choux pastry is!

Mike, I tried a recipe for Spanish Migas recently - chorizo fried in oil, then tossed with thyme and stale bread pieces. Served topped with a fried egg and Manchego cheese. Apparently it was the regular fare of the shepherds who took care of the Manchego sheep. Like you, we were really taken with the red colour of the dish.

We were out in the RV for the weekend and picked up a duck breast as we passed through a town.
Where we were camped there were heaps of blackberries growing and ripe ripe!.
So we had crispy skin duck breast, sliced over a green salad and served with a sauce made by cooking some of the blackberries in red wine, reduced, added a touch of sweet chili sauce for a hint of sweetness and heat, balanced it up with some lemon juice and seasoning. It was jolly good! Add some steamed chat potatoes rolled around at the last minute in the duck fat for good measure. Shh! don't tell the medicos.