Any interesting weekend cooking?

Today I pulled the bag of vegetable parings and scraps out of the freezer, added the just-slightly-past-nice-for-fresh-use vegetables from the frig, about a 1/2 cup of leftover three-days-open-red-wine, a splash of soy sauce, a couple handsful of fresh herbs, and am making a vegetable broth.

I use this for all sorts of applications besides soups and stews, including in place of oils for quick "saute" like dishes, as the liquid for steaming vegetables, to boost the flavor in sauces etc. And it adds extra nutrition to things, which is always welcome.

And I have a mixed wheat/rye/oat bread rising.


What have you all been creating in the kitchen?

Not very interesting, but edible anyway: had dinner with my brother and sister over. I had a few chicken breasts (baked for c.30mins) which I covered in red pesto and lightly fried pine kernels. Nothing fancy or ornate but decent.

Monday morning for me...ugh...

But the weekend was fun !

I made :

Madhur Jaffrey's minty sweet and sour eggplant
Portugese style chilli sauce
Harissa paste
Pasta and corn soup
Burritos
Low fat homous

Weekend baking :

Sourdough hot cross buns
Plain sourdough baguettes
Manchego cheese, sundried tomato and truffle paste sourdough baguettes
Truffle paste sourdough loaf
Sourdough epi, shaped into a flower..

I am 2kg heavier this Monday morning... :)

Cheers, Celia

Yum, Celia! I am coming to play at your house!

Otto, what's red pesto?

The weather finally may have turned to spring, so Cindy wanted grilled food:

Ribeye steaks
Zucchini brushed with olive oil and seasoned salt and then grilled
Mashed sweet potatoes

Popped our first bottle of The Shadow to accompany.....

YUM!

Did a winetasting followed by a dinner for 15. The menu for the dinner was:
Blue marlin orange ceviche served with Japanese cukes at side, tomato basil soup, caesar salad, French onion Salisbury steak( made with elk, venison, veal pork and beef) served with herbed noodles and asparagus with hollandaise, and ended with cheese cake with a raspberry pomegranate sauce.

I prepped most of the food and then my son and daughter-in- law finished things and worked the kitchen for the evening. My son made the ceviche and my daughter-in-law, the family cheesecake queen made the dessert. The food came out outstanding except I should have used more salt in the preparation of the Salisbury steaks.

The tasting consisted of the best wines a local distributor had to offer leading off with the Chave White Hermitage. I arranged this through my favorite local retailer.

It was rainy in Seattle all day today. I was not in the mood to go to the grocery store to shop for our usual family dinner. So, today everybody was going to have to be satisfied with pot luck. So, I checked the cupboards and the freezer, and this is what I came up with and prepared for the 11 people who showed up:

Red beans (with ham and andouille sausage)
Rice
Fried cabbage
Deep fried cod (2 ways -- cornmeal dipped and with beer batter)
Remoulade and roasted red pepper and caper sauces
Hush puppies
Sweet Iced Tea
Triple chocolate and caramel brownies with French vanilla ice cream

Elaine and I tried Howie's Chicken Scallopini recipe. Very nice with a dry Seyval, also use in the sauce. This goes on our "Let's do it again soon" list.
Best

Elaine and I tried Howie's Chicken Scallopini recipe. Very nice with a dry Seyval, also use in the sauce. This goes on our "Let's do it again soon" list.
Best

Seyval works well with this. So does a nice un-oaked Chard. I didn't cook at all this weekend - ate out Friday night, leftover chicken noodle soup on Saturday and went to Wine and Food Pairing Dinner on Sunday.

Pretty good, but I forgot to add the green onions. Already had them sliced and waiting...but for some reason, I just grabbed the wine and de-glazed the pan. Then remembered...

But the recipe was fairly fast and easy, so I've filed it away for another go..with onions, this time.

Richard

I made Sambar (spiced Indian split pigeon pea porridge) last night.

-Paul W.

Rolled some fresh tuna in sesame seeds, seared it, and served with an asian citrus sauce that had blood orange, lemon, and lime juices, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, a little sesame oil. Not bad - the kids liked it.


Mike

Not really but an interesting one tonight. Grilled swordfish steaks over a bed of fennel, onion, garlic, fire roasted toms, capers, white wine, lemon juice and fresh basil. Should be very pretty. The sauce is quite tasty. Found some lovely kale at the market, crisped up some pancetta, and garlic, and I'll add the kale and a bit of chicken broth to soften.

I needed a quick dish Saturday night, so I cooked up some linguine and sauteed some shrimp, garlic, wild mushrooms, scallions and some crushed red peppers in olive oil. Then I sauteed the cooked linguine and stirred everything together. Sprinkled with real parmesan. Accompanied by Lindemann's Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc blend. Mmmwaww!