What's cooking?

[Robin Garr]

Thermidor, perhaps?

Mighty rich! If I had Thermidor and leg of lamb in the same meal, I'd probably double up on Lipitor. If you really want surf'n'turf, I'd keep it simple. Skewer and grill, brush with lemon juice and fruity olive oil and dust with black pepper? Steam and make lobster salad? Cube and stir-fry with ginger and garlic and black beans?

[Robin Garr]

I'm plotting some kind of wacky leftover with some of Mary's leftover locavore beef pot roast. Thinking about slicing thin and refreshing in a little garlicky broth, then making tongue-in-cheek upscale Philly cheesesteaks on warm pocket rolls with my own home-built spin on Cheez Whiz, actually a spicy sharp-cheddar mornay. A little fresh garden spinach on the side, and hey, what wine goes with this? Pinot?

a fish course involving lobster tails. Thermidor, perhaps?

I really hope you didn't Thermidor a perfectly good lobster!!!

[Robin Garr]

Those cheesesteaks turned out pretty good. Fast food tunes into something special when you make it at home using quality ingredients.

cheesesteak.jpg

Those cheesesteaks turned out pretty good. Fast food tunes into something special when you make it at home using quality ingredients

What did you drink with them?

And is that just chance that you had them on a yellow table? Nice match with the cheese.

[Robin Garr]

What did you drink with them?

And is that just chance that you had them on a yellow table? Nice match with the cheese.

Brancott 2009 Marlborough Pinot Noir - good match. Yellow work space in the kitchen. Makes it a sunny place!

What did you drink with them?

And is that just chance that you had them on a yellow table? Nice match with the cheese.

Brancott 2009 Marlborough Pinot Noir - good match.

Aha, interesting. I was wondering if you might have gone in the beer direction. But I'm sure it was good. (Can't say that I have too many taste associations with cheesesteaks these days, despite having eaten a few - and gotten sick afterwards - while an undergraduate in Philadelphia).

[Jenise]

Thermidor, perhaps?

Mighty rich! If I had Thermidor and leg of lamb in the same meal, I'd probably double up on Lipitor. If you really want surf'n'turf, I'd keep it simple. Skewer and grill, brush with lemon juice and fruity olive oil and dust with black pepper? Steam and make lobster salad? Cube and stir-fry with ginger and garlic and black beans?

Thermidor it was. But everything was in very small portions served over about four hours. Here's what I ended up with:

Champagne (Alfred Gratien and Gosset) with pinwheels of raw halibut pounded out and spread with a spicey sun-dried tomato compound butter
Salad of asparagus and goat cheese tartine on frisee with orange-shallot vinaigrette (Cloudy Bay and Mulderbosch Sauv Blancs)
Lobster Thermidor (modernized in little square ramekins--new!, had to use them) with a delicious white rhone (name escapes me at the moment)
Fennel-pollen crusted roast leg of lamb on black olive and leek bread pudding with snap peas flash-sauteed in EVOO and fresh mint (1985 and 1986 Chave Hermitages)
Almond-carrot cake with fresh orange and fresh basil sauce (an older Southern French sticky)

[Robin Garr]

everything was in very small portions served over about four hours.

Ahh, grazing on small plates! I love that! And your dishes sound splendiferous.

We made our first effort at a cow free Lasagna last night since true love come up allergic to cow milk and cheese. Used a Ricotta like goat cheese and imported Romano (sheep). Came out pretty good. Matched it with an jug of Il Bastardo Sanviogese. Nice Saturday night.

I spent Sunday putting together a big batch of cochinita pibil, using a slightly hybridized version of the two posted here a little while ago. I was able to use Seville oranges that magically appeared at my doorstep Thursday and the dish was wonderful. The pork was extremely tender and flavorful after its long, slow roasting in the banana leaves.

This has me thinking that I should try the "roasting in banana leaves" thing with other recipes. The leaves are cheap and not too difficult to work with. I'll bet you could do something with pork shoulder and a variety of spice mixes or with ribs that would be really nice....

[Jenise]

Mike, a friend of mine who is Costa Rican makes an ancestral recipe for tamales using banana leaves instead of corn husk. Always wanted to try that!

I have friends coming over this morning for Mahjongg, and I'm planning to feed them lunch. There's a pot of tarragon-tomato bisque on the stove and a vegetarian cobb salad is in the works.

[Robin Garr]

Dinner out tonight with a group of friends at DakShin Indian, certainly our city's most authentic Indian and probably our best. It's a big place, made to resemble a South Indian resort lodge - the owners are from Channai (former Madras). They focus on regional Indian cooking with at least one representative dish from every region of India. Always a treat to go out there.

So Robin,

What Indian dishes did you partake of? It sounds wonderful.

-Paul W.

I spent Sunday putting together a big batch of cochinita pibil, using a slightly hybridized version of the two posted here a little while ago. I was able to use Seville oranges that magically appeared at my doorstep Thursday and the dish was wonderful. The pork was extremely tender and flavorful after its long, slow roasting in the banana leaves.

It IS wonderful, isn't it? The banana leaves really add a nuance to the dish, and the sour oranges are a key to the flavor of it all. It is amazing how tender and juicy the dish is.

-Paul W.

Well, Sunday's cochinita pibil was so good that we had leftovers on Monday night. And today when I picked up my daughter, she wanted more cochinita leftovers tonight! She's already asking when I'll make it again. I (as well as the rest of you enablers here on the FLDG) have created a bit of a monster here.

It really is a good dish.

A shrimp/scallop thin spaghetti dish, with sun dried tomatoes, fresh lemon zest, and lemon juice, and a salad with garden lettuce and Maytag blue. A champagne vinaigrette to dress the lettuce.

First dinner off the grill: mixed vegetables sauteed in the perforated pan, and shrimp kabobs.

A whole, bone-in, organic turkey breast, cavity stuffed with the first of the season small red onions with green stalks, fresh lemon, thyme sprigs, salt and pepper. A mix of soy sauce, butter, fresh garlic, lemon juice and zest, is slathered all over the breast, then grilled. Fresh corn will be thrown on later. A rice dish cooked with home made turkey stock, onions, garlic, French Thyme from my garden, and fava beans. The rice is cooked slow until all the broth is absorbed and the bottom gets crusty. The fava beans float to the top and steam in all the flavors. Some of those wonderful brown tomatoes sliced, to add more color to the plate, and simply sprinkled with salt.

[Jenise]

a fish course involving lobster tails. Thermidor, perhaps?

I really hope you didn't Thermidor a perfectly good lobster!!!

I did, dear! Long story, but several of my guests and I had lunch somewhere in Vancouver awhile back where lobster thermidor was on the menu. We conspired in advance to get it offered as part of our wine group lunch, and the result was the wierdest excuse for lobster thermidor I could ever imagine. We were all crushed. Anyway, so at the time I talked about the difference between that restaurant's tawdry version and the thermidor I knew from the so-called 'continental restaurants' of my childhood. Last weekend gave me the opportunity to show my friends lobster thermidor as it should be.

[Jenise]

First dinner off the grill: mixed vegetables sauteed in the perforated pan, and shrimp kabobs.

New grill or just first of the season?

[Jenise]

Today is opening day for our podunk little yacht club, and I'm in charge of the mains for the progressive dock party tonight. It's a pot luck, so in self-defense against the carb-loaded casseroles I expect to see a lot of, I did a whole 7 lb pork loin in a coffee/chile/brown sugar rub and a large platter of roasted cauliflower and asparagus dotted with brie cheese that will melt quickly under the broiler.

Today is opening day for our podunk little yacht club, and I'm in charge of the mains for the progressive dock party tonight. It's a pot luck, so in self-defense against the carb-loaded casseroles I expect to see a lot of, I did a whole 7 lb pork loin in a coffee/chile/brown sugar rub and a large platter of roasted cauliflower and asparagus dotted with brie cheese that will melt quickly under the broiler.

I like that idea of roasting cauliflower and asparagus and adding the brie. Any particular fresh herbs in the mix?

[Jenise]

Today is opening day for our podunk little yacht club, and I'm in charge of the mains for the progressive dock party tonight. It's a pot luck, so in self-defense against the carb-loaded casseroles I expect to see a lot of, I did a whole 7 lb pork loin in a coffee/chile/brown sugar rub and a large platter of roasted cauliflower and asparagus dotted with brie cheese that will melt quickly under the broiler.

I like that idea of roasting cauliflower and asparagus and adding the brie. Any particular fresh herbs in the mix?

The cauli was tossed with Herbs d'Provence and olive oil before going in the oven (about 20 min at 400). The broccoli florets were blanched separately for great color and contrast, instead of roasted. I took the rind off the cheese and tucked bits of it over the cauliflower, leaving the broccoli to show, then dusted the whole with coarse black pepper. Have never done it this way before, but I was long on brie that I'd bought for something else and didn't use, and it sounded like a good idea. Hope it turns out to be!