Thursday, May 27, 2010

Tonight

I am going to make dinner for someone for the first time tonight. I have such a hard time making dinner for people that don't already think everything I make is delicious - or feel bad enough about me to lie.
I want to make something easy, celebratory and something that can be eaten past 10.
Is that too much to ask? Also, I don't have a grill!!

I think the reason we are good cooks is because we pay attention. I already know that I can not use cucumbers, watermelon or chicken. And that is just because I tend to pay attention to what people don't like. If you don't like onions - you will have to go somewhere else for dinner.

Risotto - spring risotto
Flank steak - Nikki made this amazing rolled flank steak that I still dream about
Individual Lasagnas? - oh this is a stupid post.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Split Turkey Breasts

Jenny-O packages these things called split turkey breasts. Val makes them all the time. I find recipes for them and then can't find the breasts or I find the breast and then remember I had turkey for lunch. But yesterday, in a Sedona/vortex-worthy bit of serendipity, I had not had turkey recently and found a split turkey breast. I was going to call Val for a recipe but instead looked up her nemesis, Rachel Ray. Rachel had a good idea that involved a food-processor and some onion and lemon but I hate to get more dishes than I have to dirty. Also. I had no lemon. So I put Max in the sling and made a recipe that had none of the ingredients of the Rachel Ray recipe but some of the style.
Under the skin of the turkey breast I slid a mixture of very finely chopped (no food processor here) onions, thyme, celery salt (I'm on a big celery salt kick), butter, gray salt (feeling fancy with the salt) and a little garlic powder (feeling lazy with the garlic.)
I cooked the breast at 400 degrees for about an hour. Erik basted it once with butter melted with a bay leaf in it.
Rachel wanted me to make a sauce of apple cider, apple eau de vie (Out. See broke.) Instead, I made a brown roux with chicken broth and a little apple juice and sherry. Too sweet. But OK.
Also. Mashed potatoes were involved. I like to make mashed potatoes with every new recipe on the off chance something goes wrong with the experiment. At least we won't starve. We also had broccoli. Because we always have broccoli.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Does this count as cooking?

I went with the fine writer Dinty W. Moore to dinner at the Tinderbox. We ate well. I had duck confit with jalepeno mac and cheese. He had Dr. Pepper braised hog jowls. We started with the chacuterie, lamb sausage, lamb and pork pate, Dante cheese and the green beans.
The green beans were the high point. Here's the menu description: Greenbeans with miso and blue cheese topped with crisp (read, fried) wontons.
Sisters: Recreate!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Trout almond dad

This is one of those dishes I have never made before but the smell sent me back to dinners with dad. I would like to remember that we caught brook trout or rainbow trout on a fishing trip and cooked it over a fire. This is not the memory. It is of a restauraunt, many nameless ones, not the usual spots. And Dad would order trout. With almonds. I'm sure Mom made it too because the smells in the kitchen were that kind of familiar. Familiarity that reminds you of the parkay floor in the entry and the sweater vests in the hall closet. And the sound of one of us calling up the stairs that dinner is ready.

Trout with almonds and haricot verts

Blanching the almonds was a cinch. Never have I felt such accomplishment than getting those slippery coats off to expose the milky almond. I put a few in a bowl and covered with boiling water for 2 mins then drained and rinsed them. Then the skins slip right off!

I blanched the green beans as well And served them without butter and they were perfect.

A side salad with tomatoes and radishes sealed the meal.

The trout

1 lb trout fillets with skin
2/3 cup flour
lemon pepper
paprika
salt and pepper
butter (melted)
parsley
tobasco
juice of one lime with zest (in lieu of lemon)

Dredge the fish in flour with the spices. Put in a greased pan Covered with melted butter and broil for 7 minutes. While the fish cooks brown the almonds in butter. Add the lime juice parsley an hot sauce to the almond mixture and pour on top of fish and serve immediately.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Roasted Leg of Lamb with herbed goat cheese souffles



Lamb-
One (5 Lbs) boneless leg of lamb
Kosher Salt
Rosemary
Minced Garlic

Cut deep slits in lamb and rub garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary all over inserting into slits. Cover with plastic and marinate overnight.

Preheat oven to 425, roast lamb for 20 minutes and then turn down to 350 and roast for 80 minutes more (*or twenty minutes per pound total) Meat should register at least 135 for medium rare. Let rest 20 minutes and then slice and serve.


Souffles
Separate 6 fresh large eggs
Heat 1 cup whole milk in a saucepan
Melt 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and cook for 3 minutes whisking constantly. Slowly incorporate milk. Take off of heat for one minute. Add egg YOLKS one at a time and stir until combined with roux.
This can be prepared up to 2 hours in advance.

Beat egg WHITES in stand mixer until soft peaks form. Fold 1/4 of egg white mixture into room temperature yolk mixture. Repeat adding 1/4 at a time and gently fold in.

Spray 10 4 oz ramekins with cooking spray. Add egg mixture to ramekins and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Do not open the oven door for the first 20 minutes.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Bison Loaf

Inspired from Mom's Salmon loaf and our inability to eat burgers on buns(alas no buns for months in hopes of losing our buns)!

This was really easy and quite delicious. Surprisingly, for a meatloaf, it was exquisite. The cuisinart made it simple simple simple.

12 oz ground bison
2 pieces whole wheat bread
1 onion
2 carrots
2 garlic cloves
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes (in lieu of ketchup)
2 eggs
1 tbsp dry mustard
Handful of Parsley
2 tsp thyme

I used the cuisinart with the blender attachment. First cut the crusts off the bread and pulse in the cuisinart for 20 seconds to make bread crumbs. Put these aside and rinse the cuisinart. Peel the vegetables and throw them into the cuisinart and pulse for 30 seconds to very small pieces. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl with the bison. Rinse the cuisinart again and put in the diced toms, give it a whirl to a thick consistancy of ketchup. Add 1 cup of the pureed toms to the bowl. Add the spices. Take off the wedding ring, crack the eggs, and get a mixing.

I usually use the Martha method of shaping the loaf into a lasagna pan but this time I used the regular loaf pan sprayed with Pam. I cooked it at 350 for about an hour, placing the remaining tomato puree on top for the last 10 minutes. Let it rest for 15 before slicing. The slices of meatloaf came out perfect!

I served this with sauteed garlic and mushrooms (really, she was right in the movie, Julia's advice about not crowding the mushrooms is essential for browning) and a green salad.

So good, I had to blog about it!

Dinner Tonight!

Hey girls! I hope we can use this site to share dinner recipes, pictures, menus, and above all blog together!!

Change titles, settings, layout, at will. I think we should all add a picture that represents us on here somehow...