What's cooking?

New Zealand Beef and Lamb "Trim away any fat pockets on the boned side, including the greyish popliteal gland in the silverside/shank region, but leave a thin fat cover on the skin side."

I found a guy who took an extensive and excellent photo series that shows the gland (start about halfway down or search for popliteal):
http://www.portercalls.com/ShortStories/venison_chop_shop.htm

He is preparing venison but the principle should be similar for preparing lamb.

[Robin Garr]

Okra gumbo for dinner, using Barr Farm local chicken, with a dash of Bluegrass small-batch soy sauce to add an exotic touch in place of the usual Lea & Perrin. ‎"Wine" match: Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

Goan Chicken Xacuti tonight. I didn't have the correct dried chiles, so it was yellow rather than vivid red, but the flavor was correct.

-Paul W.

Grilled pork tenderloins, which have been marinated in plum sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, green onions, and hot chili sauce. I'm going to do something with Brussels Sprouts, and make a green salad of some sort.

[Robin Garr]

Eating out a lot this week. NIgerian jollof rice, pepper soup and eba eforiro for dinner last night. Tonight, headed for a favorite local eatery, a local bistro with a sort of Madrid/Buenos Aires vibe and an eclectic Euro-American bistro menu that ranges from huevos fritos caballeros to steak frites and asiago risotto cakes with succotash.

Eating out a lot this week. NIgerian jollof rice, pepper soup and eba eforiro for dinner last night.

Cool. Nigerian or West African restaurant? Do tell more. Out here in Berkeley, the one Nigerian restaurant was over-ambitious in decor/price/rent and went under quickly. The more modest (and tastier) Ghanaian restaurant hung in there for several years, but closed recently, perhaps too depressed over that penalty shot in the World Cup. We have some good Ethiopian spots, but nothing from West Africa.

[Robin Garr]

Cool. Nigerian or West African restaurant? Do tell more. Out here in Berkeley, the one Nigerian restaurant was over-ambitious in decor/price/rent and went under quickly. The more modest (and tastier) Ghanaian restaurant hung in there for several years, but closed recently, perhaps too depressed over that penalty shot in the World Cup. We have some good Ethiopian spots, but nothing from West Africa.

Christian, this place just opened, and it's also Louisville's first Nigerian eatery, although we have some Senegalese and, of course, a couple of Ethiopian.

The owner, a very nice lady with excellent English, is Yoruba and has been in the US for about seven years, but says she "just got bold enough" to open a restaurant. It has a short menu, is affordable but not cheap eats (entrees in filling portions are generally $9 to $13 for rice, cassava and yam dishes featuring goat, beef, chicken or fish. It's a neat, bright little spot right in the middle of an active restaurant and nightlife zone, and based on a diverse and enthusiastic early crowd, it might have legs.

I'll be writing a review on it for our local-eats Website and local alternative weekly - I'll post it up here when it's published next week.

[Jenise]

Tonight, a green salad of some sort with chicken breasts braised with rosemary, garlic and dried orange peel.

Semi-homemade Pepperoni Pizza with a black ale.

I'm not cooking a darn thing tonight.

After work I'm headed to a 6 course wine dinner at my favorite local restaurant. I can't wait. The food there is always spot-on and the wines are wonderful.

Semi-homemade Pepperoni Pizza with a black ale.

Carl, which black ale? I love black ale.

Drew

Semi-homemade Pepperoni Pizza with a black ale.

Carl, which black ale? I love black ale.

Drew

Drew, it's Magic Hat, Black as Night, Winter Seasonal. Magic Hat comes from Burlington, VT; but is widely distributed. Am finishing one right now that was enjoyed with sauteed pork chops, roast Baby Yukon's, and minted peas.

[Robin Garr]

Alfredo-style pasta with a NY Cheddar and smoked Gouda Mornay over penne. Leftover '09 Perrin "Nature" CdR, holding up nicely after a couple of days in the recorked bottle.

Soup, with all sorts of peppers; green, red, and orange, onion, garlic, mexican spices, shredded chicken,, crispy tortilla strips, garnished with Aleppo pepper, cilantro, sour cream, red onion. Very yum!

Ahi tuna with a soy sauce, sherry wine, fresh ginger, washabi, and green onion marinade. A pilaf with an orange juice/ zest infusion, shallots, garlic, celery, butter cooked in the rice cooker. Arugula, red lettuce, winter chervil, tatsoi and other winter greens from our garden with a citrus vinaigrette.

Moose Island scallops. Seared for about 3 min then basted with pan juices in which butter, minced shallots, parsley and a bit of garlic got tossed at the last minute. Didn't want to cover up the taste of the scallop. The best scallops I've ever had - everything about them was perfect

[Robin Garr]

Mary picked up a couple of locavore pork chops from Dreamcatcher Farm at the Bardstown Road Farmers' Market today, so fresh that they have never been frozen. I'll pan-sear and oven-finish them with onions and fresh sage and should pull out a pretty decent Pinot Noir ... I'm looking at a 2009 Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara County, their basic Pinot but one I've always regarded well.

Mary picked up a couple of locavore pork chops from Dreamcatcher Farm at the Bardstown Road Farmers' Market today, so fresh that they have never been frozen. I'll pan-sear and oven-finish them with onions and fresh sage and should pull out a pretty decent Pinot Noir ... I'm looking at a 2009 Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara County, their basic Pinot but one I've always regarded well.

Robin-
Did you get the ABC locally? I have not run across it here yet, but then agin' I have not looked too hard.
BP

[Robin Garr]

Did you get the ABC locally? I have not run across it here yet, but then agin' I have not looked too hard.

Oh, yeah! It's all over Louisville, Bill. I got it at The Wine Rack, which gets mostly the lower end bottlings. Party Source, at least at Springhurst, carries a broad and deep selection of pretty much his whole line, and I'm pretty sure Old Town has some, too.

Clendenen's wines are represented locally by Vanguard, and he comes to town personally for their portfolio tasting every summer, so I assume this market (Louisville, Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio) is at least reasonably important to them.

For tonight's playoff game, I made my first foray into pulled pork with a recipe from the Hell's Kitchen cookbook. (Note that this book is from the Minneapolis restaurant rather than the TV show.) It was a lengthy prep which involved dry-rubbing a pork butt, roasting it, cutting it into a few large chunks, covering them with a vinegar-based barbecue sauce, putting it back into the oven for 35 minutes or so, pulling it apart, and tossing it with a dressed-up sweet barbecue sauce. We served it in sandwiches and it was excellent (made all the more sweet by the Packers dominating performance).

Mike - that sounds good. Next time you may want to try Chef Carey's Dry Rub & Barbecue. I've used it several times for ribs and my son has used it for pulled pork. I keep a shaker jar of the dry rub in my spice cabinet - great for using in rice. Here's a link to the archives: Chef Carey's Dry Rub & Barbecue.

The dough is rising for sourdough english muffins.

Kung Pao chicken tonight.

-Paul W.

I'm cooking a pile of onions until golden and sweet, then putting two organic burger patties in the middle to cook. In my burger is fresh garlic, a bit of Worchestershire and some Montreal Steak Seasoning. Leftover orange rice from last night, and a spinach salad.