What's cooking?

[Jenise]

Robin, in Karen's thread on savory, I described just such a dish. You won't be sorry you went down that road!

Tonight we're having burgers. Been talking to friends here in the nabe who are helping me put on a burger feed for 70 or 80 people next Saturday, and all that talk has me hungry for that plat du jour! So I just invited four of our good friends over for our favorite: green chiles, arugula and pickled red onion are the condiments. I'm also long on some black truffle butter and am wondering if I dare spread some of that on the buns. Hmmmm.....

I sliced the rest of the cross rib roast we had last night and put it into my homemade beef stock along with some onion, and a little of the marinade and made french dip sandwiches. They are a favorite of ours that we have not had for a long time. I cooked the already tender meat in the stock for about an hour. Served the meat on horseradish slathered sourdough sandwich rolls, and we dipped into the au jus. A nice salad with Farmer's Market Romaine(the biggest head of romaine I have ever seen, but the tenderest) with tomatoes, Maytag blue cheese, sweet basil and a Orange Muscat vinaigrette.

Karen, I was wondering how you originally cooked the Cross Rib roast> IIRC this cut is from the chuck and usually has been deboned. It makes a fine pot roast and IMO is best when braised. It is only 8am and the thought of pot roast is making me hungry. Guess I will need to thaw an eye of chuck. French dip sandwiches is a perfect way to use up the left overs, and I have the rolls on hand already. Thanks.

Last night, I made pork loin braised in milk. It came out beautifully, due as much to the excellent flavor of the meat as to the cooking method (this was pork produced locally by John Bledsoe). Served it with mushroom bread pudding (thanks for the reminder on that, Jenise!) and broccolini in lemon oil. Our guests added hummus and a light pasta dish with seafood. A Domaine Drouhin pinot was stellar with the pork and bread pudding, a '00 Fisher Coach Insignia not quite so stellar but not bad. Dessert was a strawberry thing my wife made that involved broiling a meringue topping over the berries. It was lovely with a Resplendy Muscat.

Karen, I was wondering how you originally cooked the Cross Rib roast> IIRC this cut is from the chuck and usually has been deboned. It makes a fine pot roast and IMO is best when braised. It is only 8am and the thought of pot roast is making me hungry. Guess I will need to thaw an eye of chuck. French dip sandwiches is a perfect way to use up the left overs, and I have the rolls on hand already. Thanks.

I know that cross rib roasts are thought of as a pot roast, but we like them roasted to medium rare or less and sliced as a roast for the first night. The next day, I slice the rest of the meat, put into a pan along with chopped fresh garlic and beef stock,add a little of the marinade to taste.A little red wine never hurts. Put a lid on the pan and simmer slowly until the meat just begins to fall apart. Put onto long sourdough or sweet sandwich rolls slathered with horseradish. Dip into au jus. Sometimes I had sliced onion to the meat and juice while cooking. Here is the method I use for the Cross Rib.

RCP: 5 to 6 lb, tied cross-rib roast
Marinate in:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup, plus 2 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
black pepper and salt
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
4 - 5 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Whisk all together. Put into a deep bowl, just large enough to fit the roast into. Turn the roast several times in the marinade, cover and put into the refer for 2 days. Turn again on the second day. On the third day, I cooked it for dinner that night, turning a few more times during the day.
Put the marinade into a deep roasting pan, just large enough to hold the roast, set the roast into the marinade, spoon some over the top.
Place in preheated 450° oven for 20 minutes. Turn heat down to 350° baste again, and roast until roast reaches 135° Remove from oven, keep roast in marinade, let sit for about 20 minutes. Remove and slice.
Any roast and marinade you have left over is great for another french dip sandwich or served over leftover rice.

[Jenise]

Last night, I made pork loin braised in milk. It came out beautifully, due as much to the excellent flavor of the meat as to the cooking method (this was pork produced locally by John Bledsoe). Served it with mushroom bread pudding (thanks for the reminder on that, Jenise!) and broccolini in lemon oil. Our guests added hummus and a light pasta dish with seafood. A Domaine Drouhin pinot was stellar with the pork and bread pudding, a '00 Fisher Coach Insignia not quite so stellar but not bad. Dessert was a strawberry thing my wife made that involved broiling a meringue topping over the berries. It was lovely with a Resplendy Muscat.

Some day I need to try braising pork in milk again. I was not thrilled with my first try at it, and never ventured close again. Must have done something wrong though, as so many swear by it. Sounds like a fantastic dinner.

[Jenise]

Karen, your roast has me salivating. For some reason I can't get enough beef lately--probably because it's the last thing I should eat.

Today company comes. They'll be here for a week and each day thru Thursday, each meal, I'll have a minimum of six mouths to feed. Friday that swells to 10, Saturday 12, and Sunday/Monday about 20. Oh, and Saturday night I'm doing a burger feed for the neighborhood and expecting attendance of about 80. I'm going nuts trying to figure out meal plans.

Sadly, very very very sadly, one of the guests who arrives today is terminally ill, and currently needing medicinal marijuana for an appetite stimulant. I'm hoping that something wildly flavorful and different will make the effort to eat easy. So tonight's meal is a Paul Prudhomme recipe for oven roasted chicken with gingersnap gravy, dirty rice, sauteed carrots, and grilled spring Walla Wallas. The next two nights will be pasta with a spicy smoked pork ragu, which I made ahead last week, and barbecued lamb done in this style:

Here's the marinade:

1/2 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup parsley
3 tblsp honey
4 whole green onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
olive oil to make paste, about 1/2 cup

Place the ingredients in a blender and whiz to a thick paste. Add more olive oil if neccessary. Debone lamb. Make a few half inch gashes in the lamb for the marinade to seep into, and place lamb and marinade in a ziploc bag. Chill 8 hours or overnight. When ready to grill, salt the lamb liberally and grill to desired doneness--about 30 minutes for medium rare. Allow to rest for ten minutes before carving.

Jenise, I had to read your post twice....sad about your friend who is terminal and I hope your wonderful food does excite the taste buds. Girl, you are amazing! How do you do it? Do you have staff to assist you? The cooking, cleaning up, putting away, getting up the next morning and starting all over again is enough of a chore, then there is the conversations, making sure everyone is happy, and comfortable Not to mention all the shopping for food, putting it away, what to do with leftovers....
The longest I've had company was for three weeks....2 20+ year olds, one a grandson and his friend who is a rock star in his area. We loved it but WOW!

[Jenise]

Do you have staff to assist you?

Nope, it's just me. All I can say is, thank god I built a kitchen that has room to put everybody to work in. You know what the hardest part is right now? Storage. I can only buy and store so much food at any one time, so I can only do early prep on a relatively small amount. They're gone today to Seattle where Steve will have his chemo, and won't be back until late so I actually got a one day reprieve here I wasn't counting on. Oh, and I learned last night that some of Steve's family will also be arriving Saturday so now I have something like 17 mouths to feed. There is literally no place to put them but we'll figure out something.

For the Sunday big gang meals I'm going to do a paella. I bought a ginormous paella pan for like $10 at a sample sale (someone who imports cookware for sale to Williams Sonoma and the like is located in this town, and they sell the samples after all have been photographed for their catalog) and have been dying for a chance to use it. That chance has come. On Monday we're doing smoked chicken and ribs. Again, I can do a fair quantity that way. Steve joked last night that he would like to smoke medical mushrooms while we're smoking the meats, but since he's a gourmet he would prefer something like a medical porcini, if I knew of any.

And the burger feed, that's a neighborhood wine tasting event. I had it scheduled and advertised before I learned that the Dunns had chosen this week, of all weeks, to be here, and just couldn't undo that, so I have a squad of helpers from the neighborhood who are pitching in. I've done the planning, bought the wine, made the quantity deals with local merchants, will do the shopping for the fresh veggies on Friday, and on Saturday I do the fresh prep and provide leadership, but that's it. And all my house guests have to come and eat there.

OK, I'm still gasping here. Sounds like you are on top of things and will master it all beautifully. I bet when they all walk out and you close the door behind them you will breath a sigh of relief. I always do, no matter how little or how much the work involved was. I'm very lucky to have a guy who digs in and helps me get the house back together. We don't stop until it is back to normal again! Have fun and don't forget to sit down.

Bought these beautiful pepppers at Trader Joe's yesterday and made this salad to go with Taquitos served with my guacamole tonight.
http://www.windsetfarms.com/our-products/peppers/crescendo%E2%84%A2

Last night it was lobster roll, perfect fries, cole slaw, and a chocolate frappe (out!).

[Robin Garr]

After being grill-less for a summer thanks to having sold our over-size New Braunfels Black Diamond smoker, which was bigger than we needed, I ventured out yesterday and got us a shiny new Weber One Touch Gold kettle yesterday, a chimney starter and a bag of additive-free natural chunck charcoal. Oh, and a honkin big locally grown dry-aged bone-on rib eye and a bunch of local asparagus.

Came home, set it up, fired it up, and dinner was outstanding.

It's GOOD to have a grill on the deck again.

grill11.jpg

That does look yummy Robin. Did the two of you finish off the asparagus? I love it grilled the best, with a squirt of fresh lemon.

[Robin Garr]

That does look yummy Robin. Did the two of you finish off the asparagus? I love it grilled the best, with a squirt of fresh lemon.

Karen, we did indeed! We saved a lot of the beef - that was about a 24-ounce cut - but we finished the asparagus and wished we had more. Lemon is good, but for this, I was happy with a very simple process of coating the spears in olive oil, sprinkling with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, and grilling just until they got brown flecks. (They were about half done in that picture.)

Tonight I briefly debated using the leftover steak for dinner? But I decided it would be more fun to work out the new grill some more with some grilled free-range turkey thighs with a chipotle en adobo glaze. We can always freeze all the leftovers for later ...

Tonight it is an organic, free-range chicken cut up, with a glaze of butter,honey, sweet and hot curry powder, and Dijon. It is basted and turned until the chicken is cooked and the glaze is beginning to caramelize. Watermelon salad, with fresh mint, Israeli feta, shallot, and fresh lemon. Purple asparagus dressed with walnut oil, grilled and sprinkled with coarse sea salt.

First grilling of this wet spring tonight. Had five for dinner. Grilled rib eyes over charcoal and mesquite chips, roasted baby Yukon Golds (ya hear that Jenise), and Bev's carrots with butter, honey, et al. Washed it down with some Wacko brew, and a bottle of Banfi's Col de Saso, Cabernet/Sangiovese, which was cheep and not bad at all.

[Robin Garr]

Making good use of that leftover grilled steak by cutting it into bite-size pieces and sauteing it with green peppers and onions as a topping for mezze rigatoni pasta.

Gave in to temptation and made a chocolate pudding. Melted dark chocolate 70% cocoa; some cinnamon and ground ginger; eggs, milk, all poured over some savoiardi and baked in a moderate oven. Flavour was good, but we left it in a bit too long as we lingered over main course and it turned a little rubberoid. Will know better next time.

Wild halibut marinated in pineapple juice with a touch of soy sauce and green onions, then grilled. Orange and radish spinach salad with cinnamon vinaigrette, and steamed baby yukon gold and red potatoes, with a bit of butter and lots of garden chives.

[Robin Garr]

Time for a vegetarian evening! I'm thinking asparagus risotto with some celery, onions and garlic added.

Time for a vegetarian evening! I'm thinking asparagus risotto with some celery, onions and garlic added.

Robin, would you post your recipe for asparagus risotto? I searched the RCP: and didn't find one. I have a pound of regular asparagus that is in need of being eaten and the risotto sounds delicious. I haven't cooked since I made veg/beef soup on Friday and I am getting looks. Might have to do some ribs tomorrow.

Burgers (1/3 lb) rubbed with Morton Rub and EVOO, and grilled over charcoal and mesquite; onions nuked in EVOO, and ketchup. Also had a nice salad and some Magic Hat Wacko with them. Happy American Memorial Day.

Time for a vegetarian evening! I'm thinking asparagus risotto with some celery, onions and garlic added.

Robin, would you post your recipe for asparagus risotto? I searched the RCP: and didn't find one. I have a pound of regular asparagus that is in need of being eaten and the risotto sounds delicious. I haven't cooked since I made veg/beef soup on Friday and I am getting looks. Might have to do some ribs tomorrow.

Here is one of my very favorite risotto recipes

RCP: Lemon Risotto With Spring Asparagus

1 pound(s) asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tsp table salt
5 1/2 cup(s) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium leek(s), cleaned and chopped
3 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
1 tsp thyme, fresh, chopped
1 1/2 cup(s) uncooked white rice, Arborio variety
1/3 cup(s) white wine
1 cup(s) frozen green peas, thawed ( I prefer fresh, shelled peas)
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest, grated
1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese, fresh
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground


Instructions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the asparagus and salt, and cook just until bright green, 2 minutes. Drain and rinse the asparagus in a colander under cold running water to stop cooking; set aside.


Bring the broth to a gentle simmer in a large saucepan over medium-low heat; reduce the heat and keep at a simmer.


Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet. Sauté the leeks, garlic, and thyme until the leeks begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until the outer shell is translucent, about 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until it is absorbed. Add the broth 1 cup at a time, stirring until it is absorbed before adding more, until the rice is just tender but still slightly toothy. Add the asparagus, peas, lemon juice, and lemon zest with the last (1⁄2-cup) addition of broth. The cooking time from the first addition of broth should be about 22 minutes. Stir in the cheese and pepper; serve immediately.
Serve 8 one cup servings