Friday Night, NY Stip with Shallot Butter

Spicy Popcorn with Marcona Almonds

In a recent magazine there were some super bowl party snack ideas and this popcorn was one. It's popped in peanut oil and some butter is melted down and mixed with spicy paprika and salt. In another small bowl you mix an equal amount of salt and spicy paprika. As soon as the popcorn is done popping you add the flavored butter and Marcona Almonds to the pop corn and shake to distribute the butter evenly and then transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle over the salt and spicy paprika mixture. Really good as an appetizer with drinks because it's the spicy, salty and crunchy that everyone loves.

Charcoal Grilled NY Strip Steak with Shallot Butter

I always use the gas grill because it's easy to get started and it's conveniently right outside my back door, but we all know charcoal has a better flavor. Tony has been into the smoking and charcoaling side of grilling so I decided to grill these steaks with charcoal. It's really not that much harder it's just not what I am used to. First of all I had planned on getting something different then NY Strip because I tend to buy the Strip Steak most of the time I thought maybe a Rib Eye this time. Well as you should always do, you should see what looks good at the market. When I got to the meat case the marbling on the NY Strip was exactly what you want to see. An even thin marbling throughout and they seemed to be cut thicker than usual, about 1 1/2 -2 inches. That size is better than something 1/2- 1 inch any day. That way you get a nice charred crust on the outside with out over cooking the inside. I let them sit out of the frig for about 2 hours before grilling. When you grill a steak that fat, when it's cold, it will be hard to cook the center perfectly. When the steak is brought closer to room temperature the inside will cook more evenly and you will get a better steak.

Pommes Chef Jeanne

This is a recipe that Anne Burell (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Food network) made and she called it Pommes Chef Anne. So I changed the name to Pommes Chef Jeanne because I added fresh Thyme between a few of the layers of thinly sliced potato and she didn't do that. It's basically thin slices of russert potatoes placed into a non-stick pan that has a bit of oil in it and layered with Parmesana Reggiano and salt in some of the layers, and my twist of fresh thyme in some layers. It's cooked for a bit on top of the stove to get it going and then you put the pan in the oven and let it cook 25 minutes or so. Remove the oil from the pan by placing a cover on the potatoes and pouring off the fat and then using the cover you flip it to cook the other side of the potatoes. Back into the oven until tender and all potatoes are cooked through and the outsides are crispy. I garnished with fresh chives.

Rainbow Swiss Chard

This is from my new Thomas Keller cookbook. He cuts the Swiss chard steams into 1 inch pieces and blanches them for 3-4 minutes and sets aside. He marinates golden raisins in wine ahead. Toast pine nuts ahead. Saute the Swiss chard leaves for 20 minutes until tender. He also does Serrano Ham but I didn't do that part. When ready to serve you heat a pan and saute garlic in oil then add the leaves of the chard, the stems, the pine nuts and the raisins. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Basically just to heat everything through.

Baked Alaska with Caramel and Blackberry Sauces

We used to work at Quidnessett Country Club in RI (that's how we met) and this was something we used to serve. It was a show we would put on. The Baked Alaskas would be put on platters and I think the chefs used big croutons soaked in alcohol as the fuel. The croutons would be placed in the centers of each baked alaska and we (the waitresses) would all line up and one chef would torch each of the croutons on fire. The lights in the room were turned off. One would be the leader and the rest would follow. At least 10 of us would walk quickly throughout the banquet room and the crowd would love the show we put on. We would end at a table set up for the chefs to quickly remove the crouton and start slicing and plating the baked alaskas and the baked alaska performers would turn into waitresses again and pass out all the plates of dessert. So...anyway....... I got lost for a minute. I got some chocolate ice cream (whole foods brand, it's good) and raspberry sorbet. I let them soften in the frig a bit while I got my mold ready and my store bought pound cake. I decided on a spring form pan and I sprayed it with pam, just in case. I lined the pan with pound cake that I cut into 1/2 inch pieces the long way. After lining the bottom and sides with cake I spread about an inch of chocolate ice cream then about 3/4 inch of raspberry sorbet then one inch of chocolate ice cream again. I topped the ice cream with another layer of the pound cake and placed it in the freezer until it was dessert time. After dinner I made the meringue, which is made with egg whites and simple syrup. You remove the spring form from the pan and spread the meringue over the top and sides and create some peeks. Torch the meringue or put it under a broiler to brown. Ahead of time I made Caramel sauce and Blackberry sauce both from my Thomas Keller cookbook. I garnished the plate with a chocolate ganache that I made and the two other sauces I made. I garnished while Tony took a part in the dessert while very nicely torching the meringue to perfection.

Iced Lemoncello

I tried to make a glass made out of ice that has lemon slices in it. It worked pretty good. I poured Lemoncello into the ice glass and we sipped on it along with our dessert.

Friday Night, Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken

Homemade Black Pepper and Thyme Goats Cheese with Chiabatta toasts and Prosuitto de Parma

I have a recipe for homemade ricotta cheese in an old magazine and I thought I would try to make goat cheese using the same recipe. Of course in place of whole milk just use goat milk, which they sell everywhere. It' works. Basically you heat the milk with a little salt until it starts to simmer and then add lemon juice (1/2 gallon milk, 1 tsp salt and 3 Tbsp lemon juice). The curds with start to form after a few minutes and you skim the curds into a cheese cloth. The ricotta cheese is only strained for a couple minutes but I wanted a consistency for the goat cheese to be thicker than ricotta should be so I tied a string around the cheese cloth and hung it in the frig with a bowl under it for 3-4 hours. I flavored it with fresh thyme and black pepper. I made it twice, the first time I lined the cheesecloth with dried thyme so it was on the exterior when I plated it. This second time I wanted to put the flavors in the center so when you cut into it you get a surprise. I liked it better the first time with the dried thyme on the outside. Both were very good. I made thin slices of Chiabatta bread and cooked them in the oven to get crispy and served that and some nice carefully sliced Prosciutto de Parma from a lady a Whole Foods along side the homemade goat cheese.

Thomas Keller's Roasted Chicken on a Bed of Root Vegetables

Who doesn't love a good roasted chicken? I had just gotten my Thomas Keller cookbook I asked for for Christmas. I was on back order because he was on Martha Stewart's show and so everybody wanted one after seeing the show. "Ad Hoc at Home" is the name of the book. It's pretty basic but an excellent recipe, it came out really nice and the surprise was the roasted veg. I can't believe I haven't been cooking rutabagas and turnips, they were so delicious roasted in those chicken juices. We both loved the vegetables.

Pop Over Casserole

I've made pop overs a couple times lately and they were so good and something different. I thought I would make them again but instead of individual ones I would do a big one and call it a casserole. It was good but we like the individual ones better because you get more of the edges and crunchy top that makes them so good.

Almond Cream and Apple Tart with Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

Years ago we went to Al Forno's, a famous restaurant in Providence RI, and we have been a few more times too but one of the first times we went we ordered the apple tart. It was so good, it's free form shaped and it's just the perfect sweetness, served with creme anglase. We had it the next time and then the last time we got the pear tart (the apple wasn't on the menu that time) made the same way and just about as good. So on that show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on food network, it was on The Best Sweet Thing, and someone said ...the apple tart at Al Forno's...So on that show they go into the kitchen and show how it's made. Well I have been making it ever since. It's a sprinkling of sugar on the tart crust that you've rolled out, just the center leaving an inch or two around the edges free from sugar. One layer, overlapping, of thinly sliced Golden Delicious Apples layed out in a decorative fashion leaving the 1-2 inch around the edges and then you fold up the crust to hold all the apples in. A sprinkle of sugar again over the apples and dot with butter, a few tablespoons or so. I don't know if they do it but I have been brushing egg wash on the edge of the crust and sprinkling sugar in the raw on the edge. Baked in the oven about 375 until the crust looks golden and the apples are nicely cooked. It takes about 40 minutes I think. This time I put an almond cream that I made as the base for the apples just to try something different. The Vanilla Custard Ice Cream was a new recipe from my Thomas Keller cookbook. It was good, it's ice cream!!! BUT, I probably won't make it again it has 10 egg yolks in the recipe and I think it's almost too rich. I have another vanilla ice cream recipe that's better with less eggs.

Friday Night, Duck

Deep Fried Camembert with Granny Smith Apple slices and Walnuts

After watching an episode of "Follow that Food" on Camembert Cheese I decided to make one of the recipes featured on the show. It ended up being a combination of two recipes. Both recipes were basically the same... breaded in egg, flour and breadcrumbs and cooked, one was baked in the oven and the other was deep fried. I planned of the deep fry but when the time came, I ended up baking the breaded cheese in the oven. I think it couldn't have been any better deep fried, just more of a mess to clean.

What's up Duck? Duck

The name of this duck dish is named by Alton Brown, it's his recipe. I gave Tony Alton's new cookbook for Christmas and I didn't realize how much he really likes Alton. He looked like me when I get a cookbook I really like, reading it from cover to cover and taking it all in. I thought I'd surprise him with an Alton recipe and it's something I never made before and actually I had never eaten before. I was good, similar but different than chicken. It's brined in an orange and pineapple juice among other things and I decided to take those two juices and reduce them down and I served it with the duck. I'm glad I did that, it gave it some nice sweetness, and who doesn't like a good sauce.

Rosemary Red Potatoes

Baby fingerling red potatoes some left whole and some cut so they all have a similar size. Toss with olive oil, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. Onto a sheet pan and into a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes or so, tossing a couple times for even cooking.

Brussels Sprout Chips

This idea came from "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" (food network show). It was a show on Best Fried Foods. Brussels Sprouts leaves are separated and when you can't separate the leaves anymore the centers are cut into small 1/4 inch slices. They showed them just cooking them in a deep fryer until crispy and seasoned with salt and pepper so I did that. I was very careful to clean them ahead and make sure they were dry because I didn't want the oil to splatter everywhere. Well the oil splattered everywhere! I guess because the Brussels sprouts have alot of moisture in them naturally it's bound to happen. After dropping in the first handful I decided to just cook the rest of them in a small amount of oil in a saute pan and it splattered much less and they tasted just as good as the deep fried ones.

Profiteroles with Homemade Fudge Ripple Ice Cream

Choux paste is pretty easy to make and I make it once in a while... I've made chocolate eclair's, cream puffs and these profiteroles. You can also do savory ones, I remember doing a blue cheese one with a bit of kick from cayenne as an appetizer we brought to friend's houses. Basically when they cook up in the oven they become hollow and that's a perfect place to put homemade fudge ripple ice cream for these profiteroles. I garnished the plate and the top of the profiteroles with chocolate sauce and a few raspberries are always welcome with chocolate.

Friday Night, 24 hour pork

I was thinking fancy and French when I thought of another pork chop dish. I visualized a dish with a Frenched pork chop, which just means the bone is cleaned off of all the fat and it just looks fancy propped up in the plate. I was also wanting to brine to get a super tender piece of pork. I happened to be watching Bobby Flay's "Grill it", the few days leading up to Friday Night and it was a show on pork chops. The guy he had on the show brined his in beer, cider and spices for 24 hours and Bobby Flay loved it when he tasted it he couldn't believe how flavorful it was and everything. So I made it just how he said and I have to say I was very disappointed. Unless you want to make Ham, because that is what it tasted like, and even the texture was just like Ham. As far as the Frenched bone goes... I asked for 2 pork chops at the meat counter and all of them in my view were center cut pork chops and they all looked good. I guess the ones hidden from my view were different. I should have showed him the ones I wanted but I didn't and I got something that looked like a porterhouse cut with the fillet and the strip (if you will), and no bone to French!!

White Bean Hummus with Homemade Pita

Actually I used Chick Peas. I didn't have white beans in the pantry. But I did something different. Usually there are no nuts in hummus, there is usually sesame paste which I never use, but I added a handful of Pine Nuts to the mix. The nuts added a nice texture, I will do that again. I have a couple bread cookbooks, I love making bread, and there is a recipe for Pita bread in my Paul Hollywood book. Super easy to make and it's 5 minutes of kneading and 60 minutes of resting then it bakes for 5-10 minutes and done. Super delicious with the hummus.

24 Hour Brined Porterhouse Pork Chops

I described this pork above but it also had a cider glaze. I love cooking with apple cider. It gives a nice sweetness to dishes with out using sugar. This is just apple cider that is cooked down until it has a syrupy consistency and then brushed on the finished chop. I will do that again, it even makes the presentation nicer because of the shine it adds to the chop.

Celeriac Puree

Just how it sounds. I boiled it up as I would to make mashed potatoes and added salt, pepper and butter.

Provincial Tomatoes

I have been making things from Jacques and Julia's cookbook lately and this was one that Julia did. We liked it for something different, its a good side dish.

French Style Chocolate Souffle with homemade Caramel Ice Cream

I was watching "Follow That Food", and they were doing follow that egg. A restaurant in France made this souffle and it looked fabulous. I couldn't make it in advance so after we finished dinner I whipped this up in minutes (because I prepped everything and it was ready to be assembled). It was very good but I undercooked it a little. In the show the chef said it's very good when you scoop a bit of the chocolate souffle out and eat it and then fill the hole with caramel ice cream. I found a recipe elsewhere for caramel ice cream and that is absolutely our new favorite ice cream, you gotta try making it. He was right the two are perfect together.

Friday Night, Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb

Here is one that was new to me. I had never made A Rack of Lamb. I went to Whole Foods and I had a choice of American or New Zealand Racks of Lamb, the New Zealand ones were smaller and I think that's the one you might use for an appetizer size and the American ones seemed a better size for what I was doing so I got the American.

Pepper Jack Cheese and CrackersI didn't have alot of time today to spend most of the day coming up with something different and cooking so I made it easy on myself to just do a simple cheese and cracker plate and it did the trick.

Pistachio Crusted Rack of LambReally good. This was in the Bon Appetit December 2008 magazine under "fast easy fresh", which I always shy away from for a Friday Night Meal. But this said it's good enough for a dinner party and the timing was only 30 minutes from start to finish, I thought this would be perfect for tonight because I didn't have alot of time. You reduce pomegranate juice, dried currents and garlic then process it with some butter and spices. Rub it on the Rack of Lamb and press in a combination of Panko bread crumbs and chopped pistachios. Wow, so good!

Pureed Garlic, potato and marscarpone creme
I roasted a whole head of garlic in aluminum foil about 375 for 40 minutes or so. I heated some heavy cream in a pan and added the whole head of roasted garlic and mashed it together, seasoned with salt and pepper and whisked in room temperature marscarpone cheese. I put some boiled Yukon Gold potatoes through a potato ricer and folded in the marscarpone creme and a little cold butter. I finished the potatoes and put them in a small casserole dish then topped with about 2 Tbsp of butter, cover with plastic wrap and place it in the oven on warm. An hour later when I was ready to serve just mix the butter into the potato and serve. I learned that from Ann Burell on FN, she said that's how they do it in the restaurant to keep potatoes warm and ready to go all day.

Roasted Summer Squash
Just cut into angled pieces and roasted at 400 for 40 minutes with olive oil, salt and pepper

TiramisuIt has been a while since I made the real Tiramisu with Marcarpone cheese. I made up my own recipe last year using fresh ricotta cheese and I was making that version for a while. I made this one from Tyler Florance because the reviews were really good. I had to test it because the reason I didn't have alot of time to cook this weekend is because I am catering our Christmas Party at work, my third year doing it. Someone at work has requested a Tiramisu so I said I would make it. So like I said I had to test it and make sure it's not too rum-ee or Marsala-ee for work. I think it's perfect but for work I will use slightly less booze.

Friday Night, Double thick Veal Chops

With all intentions of a NY Strip steak I headed out to Whole Foods Market. Once I was there and looking at the meat case they had these amazing looking double cut veal chops that were on sale, and there was only one lonely NY Strip Steak... I thought...OK, change of plans...

Greek Potato and Almond Dip
I am always looking for different appetizer ideas and this was in the back of one of my magazines and it looked different so I thought I'd try it. It tasted alot like hummus. It has garlic, cooked potato, almonds, olive oil, lemon, fresh bread crumbs all combined in a food processor and spread onto crackers. It was good and interesting.

Double thick Veal ChopsI usually cook any thing like this on the grill but because they were so fat (about 3inches) I wanted to finish them in the oven anyway so I decided to do it all inside. And it allowed me to make a pan sauce with the drippings in the pan which was really good. I seared the veal for a few minutes on each side on the stove top and put the whole pan in the oven for about 15 minutes at 375 until it was cooked to medium. I removed the veal and kept it warm while I added some chopped shallots to the drippings and sauteed a bit before deglazeing the pan with some dry vermouth and reduced it slightly then finished it with cold butter. I spooned the sauce over the veal when I plated it.

Scallion Yorkshire Pudding
I saw these in a magazine and I thought hey that's different, I never make these. I have made them before but it has been a while. I added the scallions to the recipe because I thought it would be a bit more savory with the veal. The recipe calls for putting fat drippings from some other roast (in the magazine) into the bottom of the pop over pan (I used a muffin pan) but because I didn't make that recipe I just put in a bit of olive oil and it worked fine. These came out great and Tony liked them alot, it reminded him of when his mother would make them.

Minted PeasSomething different again. I made a mint pesto, similar to a basil pesto. I cooked some frozen peas in boiling water until just tender, it only takes 5 minutes or so, then I mashed half of the peas into a paste and combined it with the mint pesto then carefully fold the whole peas into the "pea paste pesto". Garnish with a chifinade of mint on top.

Pear Cranberry Cake with Brown Sugar Balsamic Swirl Ice CreamThis cake was good but it really tasted to me like something you may have for breakfast or brunch. The ice cream was really good and interesting. It was so good that I made it again for Thanksgiving to go along with the apple and pumpkin pies that our family brought. You make the ice cream base and it's made with brown sugar, egg yolks and a fresh vanilla bean. Once it is cold and churned in the ice cream machine you add the balsamic swirl which is made by reducing balsamic vinegar from 1/2 cup to 2 Tbsp and it becomes a sweet syrup.

Friday Night, Red Wine Braised Beef Shanks

I hadn't planned on beef shanks but they looked nice and fresh and I thought I had to try them because I had never had them. I have had veal shanks but not beef shanks. I got home and looked up beef shanks on Food Network.com. There were a few recipes but I chose Emeril's, Red Wine-Braised Beef Shanks with Mushrooms, because he had some good reviews.

Crostini Italian Style, salted cured meats...It's a Seinfeld thing
I had some hot salami and capicola, goat cheese and some fresh whole wheat bakery bread so I toasted up some slices of bread under the broiler, rubbed a little garlic over then added goat cheese mixed with lemon juice and zest, topped it with the "salted cured meats", seasoned with salt and pepper and because I happened to have it I topped it with some raw dandelion greens, a drizzle of olive oil and done. Really good with a drink to get the party started.

Red Wine Braised Beef Shanks with Mushrooms
As I said above this is an Emeril recipe, I didn't use his Essence seasoning, just salt and pepper. I cut the recipe in half and it made plenty of sauce, almost too much, but it's better too much than too little. I also didn't make the basil mashed potato, I had another side in mind. It cooks for five hours so you can imagine that it just falls off the bone. It was good.

Sweet Potato Mash
I felt like a sweet potato so I cut two big ones into quarters the long way and drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Into a hot 400 degree oven tossing a couple times while they roasted for about 40 minutes. Cool slightly and remove the skin. Place the sweet potato into a bowl and mash with a little butter, salt and pepper. I put it into a small baking dish and topped it with a little brown sugar and pecans and I just placed it into the oven for 5-10 minutes to melt the topping a bit.

Sauteed Fennel and Leeks
This was part of Emeril's recipe and Tony liked it a lot. It's just thinly sliced fennel and leeks cut into 1/2 inch pieces and cooked in a bit of olive oil until tender. Then finish it with butter, lemon zest, salt and pepper. This only takes about 7-8 minutes.



Chocolate Cupcakes with Fresh Raspberries
I had made a cake for someone during the day and I just happened to have some cake batter left over so I made cupcakes with it. I had planned on something different for dessert tonight but I was falling behind so I just went ahead and made chocolate cupcakes topped and filled with cream cheese frosting, garnished with fresh raspberries the dessert. It was a good idea because they tasted perfect at the end of the meal.

Friday Night, Bison Meatloaf

Trying to come up with different main dishes can be tough sometimes. Tony recently had a bison burger on a business trip and raved about it. He said I would have liked it too, not gamey at all. While shopping at the meat case in Whole Foods, they had some really good looking Buffalo meat cuts. My first thought was to do a bison burger but that was too casual sounding for a Friday Night Meal. I thought about it and decided on doing a bison meatloaf. It's comfort food but a little fancier. So once I have one part of the meal figured out I build on it and look for the appetizer, sides and dessert that will pair nicely with that one component that is decided on.

Pizza Patate (Potato)
I love making pizza but I don't think I have ever made pizza for the Friday Night Meal. This pizza was different. I found it in Gourmet magazine, November 2009 and it was from a new book called "My Bread", they were writing about this book and they had this recipe featured. Its made with Yukon Gold potatoes thinly sliced, diced yellow onions, black pepper and olive oil. No cheese, nothing else. It's dough was different that my normal recipe and I liked it alot, super crispy and crunchy and easy to make. The potato topping with the olive oil baked up and became slightly creamy in the center and almost potato chip like on the top and of course the crunchy crust. I Highly recommend this one.

Bison Meatloaf
I didn't follow a recipe for this, I just made it like I was making a regular meatloaf, with all the regular stuff... onions, garlic, fresh, slightly dried, bread crumbs soaked in milk, eggs, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. I topped it with ketchup to give it some sweetness and keep it moist. It came out really nice, not gamey and slightly different then what you may be used to.

Creamy Polenta
I followed the recipe on the "Stone Ground Yellow Corn Meal" bag but I think I added just a bit more milk and butter at the end just so it would stay soft and creamy because it has a tendency to set up quickly and I wanted a pillowy creamy texture. It was perfect with the meatloaf

Dandelion Greens
I can't believe I hadn't tried these greens before. I sauteed them in a pan with olive oil and garlic like you would do with fresh spinach. We liked it, but I can see how some people would think it's too bitter. The key I think it to very quickly saute them like no more than a minute and the residual heat will cook them perfectly or even raw, which is what I did a couple days ago. Think of it like fresh arugula X 10. I think mixed with a green leaf lettuce or something neutral in a salad it would give a nice kick, but not over power it.

Cranberry Apple Crumble Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
This was good. I found it in a magazine, I think the new Bon Appetite or Martha Stewart for the holidays. It has a crust with apples and regular fresh cranberries (I thought the cranberries would be too tart but that's not the case), there is a little sugar and spices mixed in and than it's topped with the crumble. Really good with the vanilla ice cream.

Friday Night, baked herb stuffed salmon

I loved the salmon last time so much, I decided to do it again. This time though I thought I would try it baked instead of grilled. As I looked for a recipe I came across Jamie Oliver's recipe which I remember seeing him do on his show. Tony always says he puts way too much herbs on his seafood so I thought I would see if it's too much by making it his way and we can judge it our selves.

I recently went to Job Lot and came across a cookbook on salt and pepper. It seemed like an interesting book and it was priced at $2.99 so I thought, wow you can't do better than 3 bucks for a nice cookbook. When I got to the register it rang up at $1.50 so I guess you can do better than 3 bucks. Anyway I made a couple things already from it. Last night I made spaghetti carbonara which had a good peppery taste to it. Tonight I am serving homemade sea salt and black pepper crackers as an appetizer along with some cheese. Also there is a recipe for salt roasted potatoes which are boiled first with lemon and garlic then roasted with course gray salt, garlic and lemon, which is going to be the side dish tonight. I am also doing roasted asparagus as the vegetable.

Something we have been watching on the food network is "The best thing I ever ate". They ask food network chefs this question and 5 or so chefs describe the best... sweet thing...or...thing you eat with your hands...or...with bacon. So the the best "sweet thing" that Duff from Charm City Cakes ever ate was this ice cream dessert, and I can only guess at how it's made because they don't give out the recipes. It's vanilla ice cream at the bottom of a glass then something they call "wet nuts" which looks like peanuts they heat with honey until it looks like wet nuts, then chocolate ganache and then something that looks like house made marshmallow fluff. So that's what I will attempt to do.

So the whole menu is...

Homemade Sea Salt and Black Pepper Crackers with Blue Cheese,

Zucchini Vichyssoise this is from The Bearfoot Contessa, I thought it's a cool day, a soup sounds good. I will serve some toasted french bread slices with garlic butter.

Baked Herb Stuffed Salmon

Salt Roasted Potatoes

Roasted Asparagus

Ice Cream trifle

1st Supper Club

This Saturday was the very first supper club. Our neighbor Dave suggested one night that I should do a supper club. At first I thought, yeah right nobody would be interested in that. But as I thought about it and the neighbors seemed to be into it, I thought yeah maybe I will do that. I love to cook, Tony and I can only eat so much. We love to have parties but if I made all the food I wanted to when the neighbors came over we would go broke. I set a date and 14 adults and 5 kids came.
For a small fee I made a gourmet meal including appetizers, main dish and dessert. I mailed out a rough draft of the menu because I wasn't sure of some things like the alternative chicken dish (because I knew there were some that would not enjoy the main), the main dish to be served was Veal Ragu with Homemade Potato Gnocchi. Bruchetta for appetizers and chocolate souffle for dessert.

I ended up choosing 3 different bruchetta's, one with goat's cheese and panchetta, one with sun-dried tomato jam, mozzarella and basil and a plain one with olive oil, salt and pepper (the last one never made it out, it ended up just being served with dinner). The main dish was delicious. I got an antique gnocchi tool from Italy the last time I went to the Brimfield Antique Show, Lisa bought it for me, so I used it to make Homemade Potato Gnocchi. The Veal Ragu was veal shoulder braised for a few hours in a tomato based sauce. The vegetable was 4 roasted veggies...white cauliflower, purple cauliflower, fresh carrots with the stem on and parsnips. A crispy chicken that is breaded and baked (I tried to come up with something baked to make it a little easier on myself)for the alternative. The dessert ended up being served in hollowed out orange halfs. It was either that or I would have to go buy a bunch of souffle dishes. I tested it ahead of time and the orange idea worked! But now I would have to think of something to go with it that had orange in it to tie it all together. Something crunchy like a cookie. I found a recipe for Toasted Coconut and Orange Cookies. I made them and they were great and easy because they were refrigerator cookies so I could store them in the frig and just bake them off when the time came. But Lisa doesn't like coconut... she loves walnuts. That led me into finding another recipe that was an Almond and Orange cookie from a Martha magazine, I turned it into a Walnut and Orange cookie by just substituting one nut for another nut. The souffle needed a bit of vanilla whipped cream and of course a chocolate drizzle for the plate for looks but also to hold the orange bowl in place. Everyone had a great time and loved the idea of being able to just walk home because they are so close.

With it being the first time serving this many people, I feel I do have to tweak things a bit. Maybe do no more than 10 people or so and a babysitter for the kids.

BBQ Contest

Again I wasn't able to do my thing this weekend. Tony's BBQ Contest was Saturday into Sunday and with all the prep work it just wasn't a good idea to cook on Friday. Tony, Brian, John, Lisa and I were team members. Lisa and I were mostly there for moral support, but John and Brian stayed with Tony overnight in the tents, working towards the big win. For the contest you were required to make a pork shoulder, a beef brisket, pork ribs and chicken in order to win the grand prize. Considering Tony has only made the shoulder and the brisket one other time each, and not too much chicken on the smoker, really, they did pretty good. He has probably only done the ribs a total of 10 times and even though we think they are excellent, they didn't win. They give you a score sheet at the end with all the different "team names" and we,"Blackstone BBQ", ended up somewhere in the middle. There were 41 teams and we scored between 20-27 between the four categories. You really couldn't taste the other teams food. That's one of the things that would have been nice to do, so we could taste what a winning rib tastes like.

Here's the link to Brian's photos.

No time to cook

This week I went to the Brimfield Antique Show on Friday with Lisa, Bonnie and Marie. It rained but we still had fun. Normally I would have made something Saturday or Sunday but instead I painted a mural for a neighbor. He's made a stage right in the corner of his family room for his daughter and he asked me to do a back drop. Here are the pictures...I will soon be finishing off some curtains that will flank the stage.

I'm back...

Hello, I'm back...

I took a little time off from blogging, but not on purpose, it just happened. Wow, four months!! A lot has been eaten in four months.

Last night was a first for me. I made and ate and liked Salmon!! I followed Ann Burell's recipe on Food Network. It's grilled until perfection and topped with a compound butter made of dill, thyme, garlic salt and pepper. The butter melts over and adds lots of flavor, moistness and creates the sauce.



The appetizer was "Fried Red Tomatoes", yes red. I love the recipe in the joy of cooking for fried green tomatoes but unless you have a garden, it's hard to get your hands on green tomatoes. I picked the firmest tomatoes at the store, otherwise they would probably fall apart quickly or be mushy. It worked perfectly.



The sides to go with the salmon were Fennel Salad and Potato Latkas. Those were good, grated onion and potato mixed with an egg, flour and seasoning, cooked in vegetable oil for 3 minutes a side and drain on paper towels, a pinch of salt and it was a perfect compliment to the salmon.

Dessert was an individual portion of Tart Tatin. I was watching "Follow that Food" on Fine Living Network, and it was ...follow that apple. A chef made these and I thought of it when I was making the menu. I looked it up on line and it was right there. Simple, pretty and Delicious. I served it with a dollop of Vanilla Whipped Cream.



Let me try and go back in time with a few high lights of the past four months...

Tony has entered a BBQ Contest, it's just a couple weeks away, and so he smoked a whole beef brisket a few days ago to practice. So when my parents came to visit on Thursday I thought I should use some of that brisket, so I made a "Super Deep Dish Brisket Meat Pie". Every Christmas that's what we have, meat pie. There is about 5 different versions of the meat pie, all very similar, made with stew beef or chuck. I brought a mexican meat pie for a few years now, just to be different. This Christmas I will make this one. I made 2 pastry crusts and lined a spring form baking pan with one pastry crust and filled it to the top with a mix of ground brisket, mashed potato and carrot, garlic and onion, seasonings and I just happened to have a nice beef stock that I made, so I added just a bit because I didn't want it to be dry. I topped the concoction with a few pats of butter and topped it with another pastry crust. I put a small vent on top and baked it on the lower, middle rack for 20 minutes at 400 degrees and turned it down to 350 degrees and baked it for another 20 minutes or until the top crust gets a nice golden color. Served it with catsup (always with catsup) and it was really good with a nice smokey flavor from the smoked brisket.



With the "Julie and Julia" movie that just came out, I had an idea one Friday morning about a month ago. I called a few neighbors and friends and invited them for a last minute dinner party using all recipes from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". We had a great night it ended up being 9 adults and 3 children. I got a whole pork loin and followed Julia's recipe for a pork roast. But because I don't do a lot of whole pork loin, I did exactly how she said to do it, it was dry. Julia says to cook it to 180 degrees or something and by the time I realized that that seemed too high it was too late. I figured in the time I wanted it to be done and when to start cooking it and it was done about an hour too early, so it sat there and that didn't help with the dryness. Nobody seemed to think it was dry, I think they were just being nice. I served french cheeses as the appetizer and the sides were her Garlic Mashed Potato and French Green beans. I made her Almond and Chocolate Cake for dessert with Creme Fraiche Sorbet (the sorbet was not Julia's but thought it would go well). I made the kids there own cheese pizza to share.

On August 1st we had our yearly cookout. Tony made some great BBQ Ribs that didn't stick around too long. We had burgers and hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad and pasta salad, chips and dips and beer and sangria. Everybody brings something so there were steamers and lots of other sides and desserts, I think brownies are the most popular thing that people bring and they always seem to go quickly. We had right around 100 people, our biggest turn out so far!! Lots of kids and they always have a blast!!



One reason I took some time off from blogging was because June and July were crazy with parties and vacationing. It seemed every weekend there was something going on so the Friday Night meals were very sporadic. The middle of July we headed to California for a vacation. Napa, Sonoma, Santa Rosa, San Francisco and Monterey. We went to Alcatraz and Hearst Castle. We toured a few wineries; Alpha Omega, V. Sattui and Rombauer are the ones that stand out. We got alot of good pictures. We took Rt 1, the scenic route from San Francisco area down to Monterey Bay (which was about a 3 hour drive). Unfortunately it was a little foggy, so we saw bits and pieces of the beautiful ocean scenery.

















So that's what has been happening and I look forward to keeping you all up to date with my menus on a weekly basis again.

Friday night, Barefoot Contessa Style

I normally don't do chicken for Friday night because, to me, it just doesn't seem special enough. But I saw this recipe and it sounded good and different and with all the good reviews, I decided to make it. It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe (from the food network). With the chicken I decided on green beans and sweet potato fries. Appetizer was Spicy Cashews (we love our cashews) that is also a Barefoot Contessa recipe and for dessert I made a whole Coconut Cake and Homemade Chocolate Gelato, also Bearfoot Contessa recipes.



Spicy Cashews

The love of cashews started with the Mills Tavern bar. As I am sure I mentioned we always sit at the bar at restaurants, we think you get much better service and it's just more casual. The Mills Tavern serves these really good cashews at the bar and that's why I started off with this recipe (to bring us to the Mills Tavern in our minds). It's made by tossing together a Tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of chili powder and salt as needed with 3 cups of whole roasted cashews. You heat it all together in a saute pan for about 3 minutes, remove from the heat and serve. It happened to be a night that Tony's car pool buddy, Gerry, came in for a beer and he also enjoyed the cashews!

Indonesian Ginger Chicken, Sesame Green Beans and Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes
A whole chicken is cut up and marinated overnight with a combination of honey, soy sauce, 1/8 cup of minced garlic and 1/4 cup of grated fresh ginger. It's easy to make this for company because you prepare it ahead and just pop it into the oven for 30 minutes, remove the foil and turn over the chicken to cook 30 minutes more. I found that if you baste it a couple times in the last 30 minutes with the marinade on the sheet pan you will get a deeper color on the chicken.

The green beans were just steamed until perfectly cooked and topped with a compound butter that I had made earlier and chilled. A compound butter is just softened butter with flavors or herbs mixed into it and chilled. I made it with toasted sesame seeds, salt and pepper.

The sweet potatoes were cut like french fries and tossed with olive oil, freshly ground cardamom, salt and pepper then roasted in a 400 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes. Yummy!

Coconut Cake with Chocolate Gelato
I had this cake recipe printed out in my "recipes to try" folder for quite a while. It was so good with the cream cheese frosting and the coconut was different for us. It went perfectly with the chocolate gelato that I made, which was heavy duty. It reminded me of a fudgicle.