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

[Jenise]

What tantalazing, surprising, wonderful thing has come out of your kitchen lately that deserves to be shared? I don't have much to add since the grilled-meat-and-a-salad meal that has of neccessity typified my 'cooking' of late doesn't give me much to talk about, but I'd love to hear about yours.

I made BBQ ribs (Chef Carey's recipe) with corn-on-the-cob, deviled eggs and JoAnn's Watermelon Salad over Labor Day weekend. However, I have a hankering for pot roast - maybe this weekend.

Would you believe a ham and cheese sandwich? The ham, Spanish Jamon Iberico; the cheese a Caciotta di Brugnato; the bread a hard-crusted country-style bread in the Greek tradition; the mayonnaise, homemade. Taken with a more than generous glass of the nicely mature but still drinking splendidly 1995 Summus of Banfi.

Best
Rogov

RCP: Seattle Salmon Cakes

2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup green onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. cooked salmon, flaked
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tablespoons cream
1/4 cup fresh basil, slivered
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Tomato Basil Sauce

1/3 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp. tomato paste
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup butter, chilled
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/4 tsp salt and pinch of white pepper

For Cakes: melt butter in sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add green onion and cook 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add salmon, bread crumbs, eggs, cream, basil , salt and pepper. Mix with a fork until blended. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

For Sauce: in a small saucepan, combine wine, shallot, vinegar, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until mixture is reduced to 2 Tablespoons. Add cream and boil one minute. Reduce heat to medium and add cold butter, 1-tablespoon at a time. Whisk constantly until all butter is added and sauce has thickened. Do not allow sauce to boil again. Remove from heat and stir in basil, salt and pepper. sauce may be reheated briefly over low heart just before serving.

Form salmon mixture into 8 cakes. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook cakes 3 minutes per side. Divide cakes among 4 plates, spoon sauce over and serve immediately.

My notes** I poached the wild, Alaskan salmon in white wine, lemon juice and water.
Tomato-Basil Sauce will split if heated too much after putting it all together

The prize goes to the two following dishes:

Pizza with home made pesto and fresh buffala mozzarella.
Risotto with zucchini blossoms

Banana Cake with chocolate icing topped with walnuts.

Not especially great I hear you say? Well not really, but I managed to get the brains of the operation to (more than) help out making it. I consider it great that she had a go in the kitchen to help get over her fears and stresses re: cooking.

regards

Ian

Pasta alla Pancetta

8 oz. campanelle pasta
1 TB EVOO
4 oz. pancetta, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup Parmigiana Reggiano, shredded
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
S&P to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions (10-12 min.)

Sauté onion & garlic in EVOO, then add pancetta. Cook until pancetta has browned. When pasta is done, drain and add the pancetta mixture and mix well. Add the cream and stir to coat. Add the Parmigiana Reggiano and mix until melted.

Amounts are guesstimates as I wrote this up after I made it.

I made great, delicious Chinese dumplings with ground chicken instead of pork:
http://www.babettefeasts.com/2009/09/inspiration-throwdown-with-bobby-flay.html

A drink - equal parts marachino, amaretto, and tequila, stirred and on the rocks.

A chicken stir-fry - breast meat, onions, garlic, salt and pepper with a melange of green and yell beans with baby carrots.

I made the following from the A16 cookbook. If I remember, I will post a pic when I get home.

Eggplant Parmigiana

Serves 6

From "A16 Food + Wine" (Ten Speed Press, $35), by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren.

* 1 large globe eggplant (about 1 pound)
* -- Kosher salt
* 2 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
* -- Extra virgin olive oil
* 6 slices prosciutto cotto
* 6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 6 equal slices
* 1 ounce grana, coarsely grated (about 1/4 cup)
* 6 fresh basil leaves

Instructions: Cut off the green top of the eggplant and trim both ends. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off lengthwise stripes of the skin so the finished surface is covered with alternating stripes of skin and flesh. Cut the eggplant crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick slices. You need 12 slices total.

Place cooling racks on 2 baking sheets. Arrange the eggplant slices on the racks and season lightly with salt. Turn the slices over and season the second side. Set the slices aside for 20 minutes.

Prepare a medium fire in a charcoal grill, spreading the coals evenly for direct-heat cooking.

Meanwhile, slice the broadest part of each tomato into 3 thick slices, so you have a total of 6 slices. Season the slices lightly with salt and set aside. Cut the remaining tomato trimmings into chunks. In a food processor, combine the tomato chunks and a pinch of salt and pulse until the tomatoes are nearly smooth. Pour the tomatoes into a small bowl and top with a generous stream of olive oil. Taste the tomatoes and add more olive oil and salt to suit your taste. Set aside.

Pat the eggplant slices dry and brush both sides with olive oil. Place the slices on the grill rack and grill, turning once, for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the slices are cooked through and golden brown. Transfer to 1 or 2 platters, brush with olive oil again, and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 500°.

To assemble the stacks, pair half of the eggplant slices with other eggplant slices of similar width. For each pair, use the large slice as the bottom half. Top the bottom slice with a prosciutto slice, followed by a tomato slice, a mozzarella slice, a generous pinch of grana, and 1 basil leaf. Complete the stack with the matching eggplant slice.

To take the chill off the mozzarella, place the eggplant stacks in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the eggplant is warm and the mozzarella is slightly melted on the edges. This dish should not be served bubbling hot from the oven.

Arrange the eggplant stacks on a platter. Spoon the reserved tomato sauce on top and drizzle it around the sides. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 334 calories, 11 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate, 28 g fat (8 g saturated), 31 mg cholesterol, 398 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

[Jenise]

I made the following from the A16 cookbook. If I remember, I will post a pic when I get home.

Good, we definitely want to see it. This sounds wonderful--what a departure from the fried, gloppy version (which I'll admit, I also love) we typically think of when we hear the words Eggplant Parmesan. I must try soon, and this is something I can do in my minimalist circumstances!

[Jenise]

RCP: Seattle Salmon Cakes

Karen, I was so poisoned by my stepmother's salmon cakes (from canned salmon) that I have never desired to eat salmon cakes again--until I read your recipe, that is. Sounds quite tasty.

This past Thursday I made a batch of Chef Paul Prudhomme's recipe for chicken and andouille sausage gumbo to take to an "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" party this afternoon. Turned out perfect. The party is an annual meat cook off and the theme meat this year was chicken. I even found chicken andouille sausage at Costco.

Drew

This was taken prior to adding the fresh tomato sauce at plating.

A16Eggplant.jpg

[Jenise]

Great dish, great photo. I could eat that for breakfast.

Thanks, Jenise.

Darn, I passed up the eggplant today at the Farmer's Market. Maybe Tuesday I will run over to another one and make this for lunch. Great photo....what kind of camera are you using?

Darn, I passed up the eggplant today at the Farmer's Market. Maybe Tuesday I will run over to another one and make this for lunch. Great photo....what kind of camera are you using?

This pic was taken with an old Canon P and S, SD870.

Pizza from tonight's dinner using the 2Stone to bake.

"Best" thing was probably the maple-glazed pork chops from a few nights ago. The recipe was written up in the NY Times last week as something of an old-style, cliched "restaurant-style" meal for home cooks. It came out nicely. My favorite, though, was last night's roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. A very satisfying supper.

[Jenise]

Thanks, Jenise.

I bought eggplant on Saturday: this will be dinner tonight.

[Jenise]

"Best" thing was probably the maple-glazed pork chops from a few nights ago. The recipe was written up in the NY Times last week as something of an old-style, cliched "restaurant-style" meal for home cooks. It came out nicely. My favorite, though, was last night's roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. A very satisfying supper.

I read about--maple and balsamic vinegar, right? I thought about using that combo on my pork ribs on Saturday, but went with the apricot glaze instead. Was a bit worried about how the high content of maple syrup would fare over the long baking.

But is there much better than roast chicken?

Nothing innovative here. We spent the weekend down at a friend's cabin in White Salmon, WA. We bought some fresh steelhead and foraged up some chanterelles. So we had the steelhead meuniere and the chanterelles in cream sauce over fresh tagliatelle. Only thing unusual about it was that I deglazed the chanterelle pan with bourbon, because that's what we had.