Friday Night Bites #4

I have been making these "Bites" and we are always very full by the time dessert is ready to be served so I made one less course this week, an it was perfect. I wanted to use pearl cous-cous somehow, I wasn't sure but I pictured it being suspended in a gelatin or something. After doing some research on gelatin and reading about "aspic", I decided to do this. Aspic is a savory jelly made from clarified stock and gelatin. This "clear jelly" is used as a base for molded dishes, where you can add fish, poultry, meats or eggs. You can serve it cubes as an accompaniment relish to cold meats or fish.

Sunset Borscht Aspic with Pearl Cous-Cous and Sauteed Beet Greens


Borscht is a beet soup that can include meat but I didn't want the meat. I wanted to make a "red jelly" and suspend the pearls of cous-cous in it. I bought a bunch of red beets and a bunch of yellow beets. I roasted off the beets, separately, a day ahead (just to save time). On Friday I chopped up the beets and added just one color at a time into a sauce pan that included chopped leeks softened in olive oil and about 1-2 cups of homemade chicken stock. I cooked this mixture together with salt and pureed it up with my emursion blender, then I strained it to remove any solids ( I wanted it to look like "stained glass" when I was done). I reheated the clear red liquid and added about a tsp of gelatin that I softened in 2 Tbsp of cold water for 5 minutes. Once the gelatin dissolved into the red liquid I removed it from the heat. In 6 oiled ramekins I sprinkled in some cooked cous-cous maybe about 1-2 Tbsp in each, then I spooned in some of the red aspic. I put the ramekins in the refrigerator and chilled while I did the same exact thing with the yellow beets. About an hour later I spooned the yellow aspic over the red aspic with a bit more cous-cous and placed them in the refrigerator to harden completely. When I was ready to serve I dipped the ramekins in hot water to help dislodge the aspic from the ramekin onto the plate. I topped it with sour cream mixed with lemon juice, salt and pepper. I also sauteed some of the beet greens in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and at the end I added red wine vinegar. I called it "Sunset" because the two colors; red and yellow, looks like a sunset. This turned out to be pretty damn good.

Homemade Pork Sausage with Cannellini Beans

I planned on getting a pork shoulder for this but I saw the "country style pork chops" and they looked like they had a good amount of fat on them ( which is what you want when you make sausage, fat) so I got them. I should have gotten the shoulder. The flavor of these were great, I followed one of Emeril's recipes ( I really haven't made enough sausage mixtures to be sure of myself). Like I said the flavor was great but they were a little too dry to be considered perfect.

Grilled flank steak with homemade tortillas and cucumber kimchi

I saw some good looking flank steak at Whole Foods and thought I would do something with it. I decided to marinate it first thing in the morning and grill it on the charcoal grill later. I found a recipe for homemade flour tortilla's and made that. The problem was that I wanted it to be soft and fresh, that's why I made them from scratch, but it tuned out that when they cooled down they became crispy. They were still very good but I wanted SOFT! I kept it simple, I wanted the flank steak to be the star so I didn't do anything else but a wedge of really good blue cheese, which was the perfect thing to put there. Along side I made a cucumber kimchi. Tony loved kimchi the last time I made it with cabbage so I happened to come across a picture of cucumber kimchi in a magazine earlier in the week. I looked through a bunch of magazines trying to find it and I couldn't find it. I said, "I don't need no stinkin' recipe, I can figure this out". I had a recipe for a quick kimchi that was from a Bobby Flay show in my files, so I used that as a guide to make my own. I combined julienned cucumber in a bowl with garlic, red pepper hot sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, water and scallions. Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for an hour and it's ready. I hollowed out a small section of cucumber and filled it in with the julienned cucumber mixture. I served that along side the flank steak with a radish rose garnish.

Zeppole with homemade strawberry rhubarb jam

Someone at work asked me if I ever made a zeppole. I didn't really know what it was, so no I didn't. After doing some research I found that it's just an Italian Doughnut. Recipes on the Internet were all in Italian so I found a recipe on fineliving.com from the show "Follow that Food", that looked like the ones I saw Italian women making on You Tube. It's a basic yeast doughnut dough. I have seen three different ways they do it. One is with a Pate Au Choux pastry dough, which is the same pastry you make a cream puff with. The second one is similar to a potato gnocchi dough with the addition of sugar and yeast in it. The last was is a sweet yeast dough, without the potato and that's what seemed to be the best way so I did that one. I fried them in some hot oil just when we were ready for dessert, so they would be fresh and hot. I coated them in a sugar and cinnamon combination when they are freshly drained out of the hot oil. I also got some fresh rhubarb from my brother-in-laws fantastic garden on a recent trip to visit my mother-in-law, so I had to make a strawberry-rhubarb jam to go with the zeppole. I just cut it open like you would a bun for a sandwich and filled it with the jam.

Friday Night Bites #3

I love to do these "bites night's", but Tony was right...again...It is more work. I don't mind more work if everything tastes as it did last night, which was excellent (if I do say so myself). The key is that you have to be organized and I already know that but I didn't have everything bought ahead so I had to go out and I left kind of late so I got started late. When that happens I am pretty much dead by 9:30 PM because there is no stopping to sit for a moment. So the other key is to cook as much as possible ahead and finish or heat through at dinner time. I didn't have ANYTHING done ahead, I started at 12:30 PM making all that you see below. I still love doing it...

Cheese Stuffed Croutons over Arugula Salad

This was really a last minute addition that took the place of something I was going to make that included Masa Harina, which I couldn't find anywhere, but when I am not looking for it I see it everywhere! I had just seen someone roll out white bread with a rolling pin and he topped it with something then cooked it, bread side down in a skillet until it got crispy. I took that same idea and made "cheese stuffed croutons" which were basically little baby grilled cheese sandwiches (about the size of a nickle). I put a slice of Swiss cheese between to slices of sourdough bread and rolled it as thin as I could and pan fried them in olive oil. I got some really peppery arugula and simply dressed it with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Topped it with three of the cheese filled croutons, it was simple but pretty good.

Fried Cheese Ravioli with Parmesan Tomato Sauce

I have been wanting to do this, I saw Giada do it on "Everyday Italian" one day, a while ago. I combined it with another idea I saw in Jamie Oliver's magazine, where he made fresh pasta and in the process of rolling it out into a sheet, he sandwiched in some fresh herbs for a pretty decoration. I made a small batch of pasta dough and layered in basil and parsley to make the pasta sheets. For the filling I got some fresh ricotta from Whole Foods and strained it out for a few hours. I mixed some of the strained ricotta with Raclette cheese (which I never had but the description said it was a good melting cheese and it was earthy and meaty, so I gave it a shot). I also mixed in salt, pepper, basil chiffinade, lemon zest and a half of a beaten egg to bind it. I assembled the ravioli by placing a dollop of the cheese mixture over the herb that is in the pasta, so when I cut the ravioli shape, I get a nice whole herb leaf in the center of the ravioli. I placed the ravioli in the refrigerator for a couple hours until I was ready to fry them. When ready I just fried them in an inch of olive oil until it turned golden. I served 2 per person with some homemade tomato sauce. I actually took the left over centers of the whole tomatoes that I used to make the "Tomato Concasee" in the next recipe (the Leek Custard) to make this sauce. I did what I would normally do for canned tomatoes but it needed to cook a little longer because of the natural water that you get from fresh tomatoes. I combined garlic and olive oil, red pepper flakes, the chopped up tomato centers, salt, sugar and pepper. I cooked it for maybe 45 minutes and when I was ready to serve it with the "Fried Ravioli" I grated some Parmesan cheese in it. Very nice! The ravioli wasn't as crispy as I expected but very interesting and Tony thought is was a good idea to fill it with something sweet and top it with confectioners sugar for a dessert.

Leek Custard with Tomato Concasse, Tomato Water and Crispy Shallots

I happened to catch Emeril Lagasse on his show Emeril Green and he was just finishing up this leek custard. The very next day Tony was watching TV and he said ... ooohh a savory custard, that's interesting (he was watching something completely different)... That made me think of the one I saw Emeril do so I printed it and made it. But I made one change, instead of pairing it with smoked tomatoes, I made Tomato Concasse. That leads to why I thought of that, I saw Martha Stewart the same day and she made something with the concasse and said to do it over a strainer and save the tomato pulp to make "Tomato Water" it's delicious. So that's what I did, I never did that before. I fried thin sliced shallots in the same oil I used for the ravioli (above) until they were crispy and salted them after draining on paper towels. The custard was fantastic, it tasted like velvet and it paired very nicely with the tomato water and concasse and the crunchy shallots gave it a nice texture.

Skillet Fillet Mignon with Balsamic Steak Sauce and Buttermilk Mashed Potato

I almost always make a steak on the grill. This time I used my cast iron pan and started it on the stove top then into a 350 degree oven until they were done. These fillet steaks were beauties. They were at least 2 inches thick but small enough around to count as a "bite" sized portion. I brought them to room temperature about 45 minutes before cooking them so it cooks more evenly. I simply seasoned them with salt and pepper and got the pan hot over medium-high heat and cooked for 2 minutes on one side then turn over and put the pan in the oven for 8 minutes and they were absolutely perfectly medium. For the sauce simmer 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 2/3 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup honey, 2 sliced shallots, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1/4 tsp allspice, salt, sugar and pepper to taste until thickened, about 15 minutes. Strain then whisk in some butter (1-2 Tbsp). I made this ahead and just heated it up. I think it would go nice with grilled chicken too. I happened to have buttermilk from another recipe so I decided to use it in the mashed potatoes. That was all a dynamite combination, how can you go wrong with meat and potatoes?

Molten Lava Cake with Earl Gray Ice Cream

This is a combination that I have been seeing in one of Martha Stewart's books. I wasn't sure about "Earl Gray Tea" as a flavor for ice cream, so I had to try it, also I pictured doing a lava cake or something similar for tonight's dessert so I had to do Martha's combination of the two. The ice cream I thought wasn't sweet enough, it was OK if you ate it with some lava chocolate cake, but not on it's own. Tony really liked the flavor of the ice cream. The lava cake called for "ring molds" which I didn't have so I made my own instead of running around trying to find some. The recipe called for 2 1/2 inches by 2 3/4 inches so I found cans at the grocery store that were that size (tomato sauce if your interested) and I removed the top and bottom of the cans and walla, 2 ring molds. The idea was to cook them in the molds and remove the molds when done and you have a perfect cylinder or tower of chocolate and when you dive into it, it oozes chocolate onto the plate. Well I think I undercooked it a bit and it didn't really "stand" on it's own, it collapsed immediately, but wicked good!

Friday Night Bites #2

This time it was more than just Tony and I. Lisa and John joined us this week and we had a great night. I did make a couple repeats though. I planned to do the small dishes again, like last week, and there were a couple things I thought Lisa and John would like (since we already tested them out and were sure they were going to be good). One was the Mushroom Bruchetta that I made on "Friday Night, Rack of Lamb" night. The other was the Salmon en Papillote, which is salmon that is cooked in (parchment) paper. I have made this but it must not have been on a Friday night since I just looked at my list of dinners and it's not posted. Actually I also made the dessert before too, which was Al Forno Apple Tart which was "Friday Night, Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken".

Mushroom Bruchetta

Check out "Friday Night, Rack of Lamb" posting.

Pork Ball Sliders with Pickles Shallots and Brussels Sprout Slaw

Lisa doesn't like beef so much, but she does like pork. I have made meatballs before using ground pork and I think they are better than the traditional mix of ground chuck, veal and pork. I added to a mixing bowl a pound of ground pork. I cut the crust off of day old Italian bread and cut it into 1/2 inch squares, toast in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees just to dry it out a bit then add into a medium bowl. Pour milk over the bread and press it to soak the bread, once it's all absorbed just add the milk soaked bread to the pork (figure 60% pork to 40% bread). Add Saracha hot sauce to taste, 1 egg, a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. I used a regular sized ice cream scoop (maybe 1/3 cup) to scoop out the pork balls so they are all the same size, then place them on a sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. While they cook make the sauce. In a sauce pan add about 1 cup of ketchup, Saracha hot sauce to taste, about 1/3 cup brown sugar, a couple table spoons of rice vinegar, about 1/2 cup of apple cider, salt and pepper. Stir and heat it over medium heat, place the pork balls into the sauce and finish cooking the balls through for about 30 minutes covered and at a gentle simmer. FYI, I didn't measure anything exactly, you really just have to taste it and see if it's how you like it. I made a simple pickled shallot to put on the slider by just slicing a shallot very thin and cover with red wine vinegar, a good pinch of salt and good pinch of sugar. Let it sit in the frig for a couple hours then remove it from the pickle juice. When I was ready to assemble I cut open small dinner rolls and crisped them up in a skillet with a little butter until golden. Place a pork ball with the sauce in the bun and top with a little shallot.

We heard someone on Food TV say...Brussels sprout slaw...and that's all I needed to hear. It's a baby cabbage so why not? I shaved about 8 Brussels sprouts on a mandolin and that was plenty for 4 mini plates. I combined some mayonnaise, a dash of sugar, rice vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Mix the two together being careful not to overkill with the mayonnaise mixture. I added the slaw along side the sliders.

Salmon en Papillot

As I said above Salmon en Papillot means cooked in (parchment) paper, in the oven. You can really put anything in this package as long as it all will take about the same time to cook. I have found that it doesn't take long for fish to cook, and the "mini" piece that I served really would be fast. I assembled these ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator. So I also figured these packets are cold so I gave a couple more minutes to the time. I guessed at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and they were don't perfectly. Take a good sized piece of parchment paper and fold it in half. On one side start adding what you like. I put in shaved fennel, julienne carrots and leeks as the base (salt and pepper on the vegetables). I placed a small piece of seasoned salmon over that (3-4 oz), a tsp of butter on the salmon, 1 slice of lemon and a fennel fron over the butter. Drizzle in some white wine, I used Pernoid. Close by folding over the other half and making a series of small folds to seal as tight as possible. Place them on a sheet pan and place into the oven or refrigerate for a couple hours until you are ready to serve.

Crispy Mango Chicken with a Red Quinoa Parmesan Cake

I wanted to make a mango sauce and that is how this recipe was born. I decided to reduce mango juice (about 1 1/2 cups) by about half or until it turned thicker, so that's what I did. I tasted it and it was good but needed something so I added the juice of 1/2 an orange for brightness and a tang. I added Sambal hot sauce for the heat and I like how you can see the bits of pepper flakes, so you know it's going to be a little spicy. I minced a shallot and put that in and of course salt to taste. I just let it cook a little bit more until it had a nice consistency for topping a piece of chicken. I pounded out a chicken breast and cut 4 small portions. I seasoned with salt and pepper and coated each piece in flour, egg wash and then Panko bread crumbs. Place on a cooling rack, uncovered and in the refrigerator to let it dry out a bit (this will ensure a crispy crust). When I was ready to serve I heated a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and added about 1/4 inch of canola oil. Once hot cook the chicken on both sides until golden and cooked through.

Red Quinoa Parmesan Cake

I tried to make quinoa risotto by toasting the grain first in butter then add white wine then ladle in hot chicken stock a little at a time, just as you would aborio rice. I heard that before, that you can treat any grain as if you are making a risotto....but guess what? Not this grain. So I went to plan B which was to add some stock and cover until it cooked through (package directions). That worked just fine, but I wanted it to have the texture of risotto rice so I could form it into a cake and get it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside by cooking the "cake" just before serving in a little butter. So I added grated Parmesan cheese (it helped but needed something else). I added an egg and then some panko bread crumbs. Now we are getting somewhere, it's holding it's shape when I formed it. I added salt and pepper and some fresh chives from my garden. Mix together and I used a 1/3 cup measure to shape the "cakes". First line the measuring cup with plastic wrap, pack in the quinoa (bury a small piece of Parmesan cheese in the center) and the plastic wrap helps to get it out easily. I made 4 and put them in the refrigerator covered. When ready to serve I coated each one in some flour and in the same non-stick skillet I cooked the chicken in I cooked these "cakes" in. I added some pea shoots for a little green and that's it.

Free Form Apple Tart with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Check out "Friday Night, Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken"

Friday Night Bites

This week I did something a little bit crazy...and I liked it!
What do we look for when we go out? We want good food and different flavors and not necessarily a "meal". That's what I have been doing right along, an appetizer, main dish with a veg and starch then dessert, but you know what? We don't always want a meal. Maybe a spicy bite here and an acidic bite there and maybe a meaty bite... that's what we want.

Spinach and Artichoke Flat bread

Tony and I went to the mall last week and we ate at a place called "The Met Bar". We saw a show one time where they talked about the unique way they cook their burgers, with a vertical grill. We ate there before and wanted to go back. This time we had an appetizer first called "Spinach and Artichoke Flat bread" that I decided to recreate. We have all had spinach and artichoke dip but this was interesting. I made some pizza dough, I made spinach and artichoke dip and you just roll out the dough fairly thin and put it on an oiled sheet pan, I did a long rectangle shape. Spread out the spinach and artichoke as you would do tomato sauce on pizza dough, about 1/2 inch thick. Drizzle with a little olive oil and grate some Parmesan cheese over. Put into a 500 degree oven and about 15-20 minutes later it's done, when the crust gets golden. They also had some crispy, deep fried artichoke pieces on top, only a few, so that's what I did too. I made a little tempura batter and just used artichokes from a can that were packed in water, just one that I quartered.

Salmon Rillette [ree-YEHTS] with Toast

This came from "The best thing I ever ate" show. I think it was Tyler Florance that raved about this dish from "The French Laundry" restaurant ran by Thomas Keller in California. They don't give the exact recipes on this show but they give you a quick look at the basic way they do it and I watched closely and I think I may have been right on. It was really delicious. Here is what I did...1/2 Lb salmon steamed in a Pernod for about 8-10 minutes then let it cool and break it into pieces (not too much). Add the steamed salmon to a bowl then add 1/2- 3/4 cup half inch dice of smoked salmon. Soften minced shallots in butter and cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes let it cool then add it to the salmon. To the bowl add about 2-3 Tbsp Creme Fraiche, 1-2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 egg yolk, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Mix gently together and taste for seasoning. Pack it into a short fat glass (he used a cute little mason jar with a flip top lid) and pour over the top about 1/4-1/2 inch of clarified butter. Chill for an hour and serve with slices of toasted French Baguette. When you serve you remove the butter in one piece and put it on the side and you can spread the butter and/or the salmon rillette on your toast. It tastes like a fancy restaurant dish.


Braised Pork Belly and Frisee

In case you didn't notice, pork belly is big now in fancy restaurants and I come across it more and more when I flip through food magazines. It's the same cut that bacon is made from but it's not smoked it's braised. I am not one to enjoy a lot of this kind of thing because let's face it, it's mostly fat. But when we went to NYC on our restaurant hopping trip a couple months back, this was something we had at Momofuko restaurant, and it's very good in small bites. But the problem is that it's usually sold in a big slab, too big for just Tony and I. So I came across this small package of Salt Pork (which is the same cut) that was pre sliced and it was kind of meaty looking. I didn't know what I would do with it at the time but then it came to me. I could do something Julia Child would do to bacon when she wanted to remove some of the smoke flavor, except I want to remove some of the salt. I will boil it then treat it like it's just a small piece of pork belly. So I found a recipe that Emeril has on Food Network.com and I followed it. It's marinated over night in orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon and lime juice, garlic and ginger, green onions, sambal and chicken stock. Braise it in the oven for a couple hours and chill it for 6 hours then reheat it. It's really good, Tony loved it. Perfect for a small bite and I served it with frisee lettuce dressed with rice wine vinegar and salt and pepper.

Fried Soft Boiled Egg over Stewed Vegetables

I served this on the same plate as the braised pork. We were watching Iron Chef and the ingredient was basil. One of the chef's made some stewed vegetables and topped it with a deep fried soft boiled egg that was breaded. So I said "Ooo I'll do that"! I soft boiled an egg for 6 minutes and let it cool in cold water. Tap the whole egg with the back of a spoon and starting at the fat end of the egg start to peel carefully under cool water and it takes a minute but you can easily peel it. I chilled the eggs until I was ready to fry them a few hours later. I made some stewed vegetables by just throwing into a sauce pan; green and red peppers, baby tomatoes, basil, onions, olive oil, splash of red wine vinegar and salt. I covered it and just cooked it slowly until the vegetables looked delicious. When I was ready to serve I breaded the eggs with flour, egg and bread crumbs then deep fried for about one minute until it's golden in color and the inside warms through. Wow the egg on top of the vegetables and when you cut into it and it oozzes, it's something else. Who knew?


Sweet and Tangy Salad in Endive Cups with Mignonette Sauce

I wanted to do something light amongst all the other "bites" and I also wanted to use Mignonette sauce. Tony loves this sauce with his oysters at Mills Tavern, every time he gets them he's always loving the sauce. So I came across a recipe which is just 1 minced shallot, 1/4 cup sherry vinegar, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I don't think I will ever have oysters so what can I do? I thought I would do some different exotic fruits and vegetables all cut into 1/4 inch dice and use the leaves of the endive lettuce as the vehicle. So I cut up some kiwi, green grapes, Bosc pear, fresh mint and golden beets that I roasted ahead of time. I squeezed the juice of a half a lemon into the bowl just to prevent the pear from browning. I spooned the mixture into the endive leaves and put it in the refrigerator until I was ready to serve. Just before serving I spooned the mignonette sauce on top and around the endive "boats". We loved the combination of everything and I think it was a good way to use the sauce.

Martini Ice Cream with Candied Olives

Originally I was planning to make 3 mini examples of homemade ice cream of flavors we never tasted in ice cream (I will save that for another time). To get ideas I was looking through my "Food Lover's Companion" book and I saw Gin, it explains how they make it and what other flavors go into it. It's made with juniper berries (which we just happened to have in the spice cabinet), anise, caraway seed, cardamom, cinnamon, citrus peel, coriander seeds, ginger root and a couple other things I wouldn't be able to get. I thought that I would crush all these different flavors in my mortar and pestle and then steep them in the milk of the ice cream for 30 minutes and proceed with making ice cream as I normally would. But this gave me another idea. If I make ice cream that tastes like gin I will have to serve it in a martini glass (Tony drinks his martini's with gin not vodka so this was just a natural thought). And you can't just do that you have to have something that would be the olive... Well what if I just candy some real olives... That's what I did. I made a simple syrup and just gently cooked olives over low heat for about an hour. When I tasted them while they were warm they were great, a sweet olive, perfect! I put it together and put the martini glasses in the freezer. The ice cream was delicious but you don't think gin when you taste it, you think cardamom with some other flavors. The olives when frozen and next to the sweet ice cream tasted too savory, almost like I didn't candy them at all.

Friday Night, Boeuf Bourguignonne

The idea came from Anthony Bourdain's show on techniques, the same show that inspired the homemade pasta dish last Thursday night. Throughout the whole show he made this beef dish, while it cut to different chefs doing their "technique dish". I'm sure I made this before but I probably didn't do it exactly the same way. I am sure I used more vegetables and I didn't use all wine as the braising liquid like he showed, more like a American beef stew. It was hard to tell exactly what he did...Did he keep adding wine as it evaporates...Did he add something else...Did he cover the roasting pan, it didn't look like it...So I did it his way and my way.

Muhammara

I looked through some magazines to find an appetizer idea that I haven't made and I found something. Muhammara, which is a Syrian roasted pepper and walnut spread that is a great alternative to hummus. You just throw all the ingredients into a food processor until a coarse puree forms. The recipe calls for walnuts (I used almonds), I don't know how it happened but I was out of walnuts, I always have a big bag from BJ's in the freezer. It's 12 oz of roasted red peppers, 1 cup of almonds or walnuts, 1/3 cup of Panko bread crumbs, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of cumin and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. I served it with store bought pita chips. Really good and easy to do and not bad for the waist line.

Boeuf Bourguignonne

I would normally use my LeCruset heavy bottomed cast iron enamel covered pot for something like this and just brown the meat in two batches. Instead though, Anthony Bourdain used a heavy bottomed roasting pan spread over two burners on the stove top, it saves time to do it with the roasting pan. The reason is because when you brown the beef chunks, you really need to space them out a bit, otherwise you will end up with a tan color on the beef and it will turn watery and start to steam, and that is not what you want. So I browned some 2 inch pieces of chuck beef on all sides in a little bit of olive oil, which takes about 10 minutes or so. Remove the meat pieces to a plate and pour off the extra fat. Place the pan back on the heat and add an onion that's medium diced. Cook the onion over medium heat, scraping the brown bits and making sure the onions don't burn for about 10 minutes. Add Burgundy wine (about 2-3 cups, he didn't really say but that's what I did) and continue scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add big 1 inch chunks of carrots and the meat back in and just let it cook for 3 hours. Now that's when I was worried about evaporation, he never said he covered it but I took a big sheet of parchment paper and wet it, squeeze out the excess water and put it right on the stew, tucking it along the inside of the pan and every 30 minutes I removed the parchment and stirred it and replaced the parchment. It was still evaporating a little so I had made some beef stock a week earlier, it was sitting in the freezer, so I heated it to defrost it and reduced it down a bit. After it was reduced I added the stock to the stew when it needed it. I don't know if Anthony Bourdain did that, but I would suggest you do that. If you add more wine later on it won't taste very good, and you want a nice meaty sauce in your Boeuf Bourguignonne, it won't be good if it's dried out. That's it, after cooking for 3 hours the meat is very tender and the sauce is rich and tasty. Plate it in a shallow bowl and garnish with fresh parsley.


Homemade Basket of Flavored Breads and Butters

After going to the Mill's Tavern last week and getting a basket of flavored breads, it inspired me to do it myself. I have been making bread lately from Jim Lahey's book, the no-kneed method. At the restaurant they served a fennel and raisin bread, a sourdough and an Italian bread. I had a thought one day that the spice fennugreek (which has a maple syrup flavor) would pair well with bacon. So I thought I would do two breads; the fennel and raisin; the fennugreek and bacon. I cooked the ingredients ahead and after the second rise of the dough when I was shaping them into the final bread shape, I incorporated the ingredients to make the two flavors. The butters were just a really good European style butter which has a higher percentage of fat, and in turn it tastes really good. The other butter was something I never had and I kind of knew it might not go with Boeuf Bourguignonne but I made it anyway was, apple butter. It's apples and cider, sugar and spices and you cook it down until it gets really thick, which takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It was really good, I think it would be perfect with pork.


Mixed Berry Tart with Coffee

I have made lots of tarts... apple, peach, chocolate... I don't believe I have ever made a berry tart with pastry cream. I can't believe it myself! If I did it was a long time ago. So I got John Barricelli's new book, he is a guy that Martha Stewart has made famous. He's on her shows once in a while and he's like the 3rd generation of bakers in his family. He's got a bakery in Connecticut called The Sono Baking Company. He's got some good looking pictures of this berry tart in his book, I had to make it. I wanted to make the smaller tartlet shapes but I couldn't find the mini pans you need in the couple days I had, so I just used a bigger 12 inch tart pan. It's really easy to do and impressive looking. The one thing I would change is the crust, I made his which is very different than I usually do, his is a much more wet dough. So you make the dough and "blind bake" it, and let it cool. You make a pastry cream, which is simple and delicious. Use whatever berries you want, I used black berries and raspberries. To assemble just spread the pastry cream onto the cooled off tart crust, heat a couple Tbsp of apricot jam and coat the berries in the jam then spoon the berries over the top of the tart. Sprinkle some sliced almonds on the edges. Serve it with a rich cup of coffee.

Friday Night at the Mill's Tavern

I had plans to go to Boston on Friday morning with a friend so I thought, instead of rushing to put together a fancy meal after returning home from Boston, I would take this opportunity to suggest going out to dinner. Tony is always saying, "You know if you don't feel like cooking we can always go out...". It turns out we never went to Boston because it was such a rainy and raw day. So we kept our plan to go out anyway and we decided that the Mills Tavern in Providence was the place.

The thing we love to do is sit at the bar at the Mill's Tavern to dine. They always serve a small bowl of cashews, which we have started to do at home, at times, and we find that cashews go well with a drink. But I have to say this time the cashews were different. They seemed to be very buttery almost like they tossed the nuts in butter in a pan. They didn't feel buttery in your hand but a definite butter taste. I like them a little less buttery and a little more salty myself.  Tony asked for blue cheese stuffed olives in his martini, but the bartender said they were not available (they usually are at the Mills).  But "Tomolives" were which Tony also likes.

The options for an appetizer are limited. They have a "raw bar" and Tony always takes advantage of that, he got some oysters, which he always enjoys very much. He says they have extra good ones there. For me it's a salad. I have probably gotten all of them and they are always pretty big and can be filling so I opted for the mixed greens with raspberry vinaigrette. It's a good size and not filling at all. They served some mixed breads, raisin with fennel seeds, sourdough and Italian. It's hard to resist trying each of them.

I ordered the Filet Mignon with a grilled duo of beets. I was drawn to it because the Filet was served bone-on which you never see. Usually it's cut off the bone so I thought, I have to see what this looks like. I have made porterhouse steaks many times and basically that the same cut with the NY Strip still attached to it. So that was very flavorful, delicious and moist. The beets were interesting, it was red and yellow beets and you could see the grill marks on them. They had a very interesting and pleasant smokey flavor. Tony will be trying to recreate them on his smoker some time.

Tony ordered the Braised Short Ribs with Orange flavored Fennel. Of course we had a bite or two of each others and his was really yummy. Super tender, meaty short ribs and the fennel cooked perfectly with what seemed to be grated orange zest as the orange flavor, very interesting. I'll be stealing that idea.

We shared a side of Sweet Potato and Carrot puree. It was very fall tasting because it had a strong Cinnamon flavor to it. It paired nicely with both of our meals.

For dessert we shared the Cream Brulee with Warm Berry Compote. Very nice with the warm raspberry over the top, it could have used more berries. I will be stealing that idea too.

Thursday Night, Fresh Pasta

This weekend I knew we were going out on Friday night so I did a "quick fancy meal" on Thursday. After watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show, I was intrigued by a pasta dish. It was a show on "techniques" and he had guest chefs on. Scott Conant was making "pasta with red sauce" and he did some different things while making the sauce. I didn't have the real recipe, I just guessed at the amounts. What he does is uses fresh tomatoes that he peels the skin off of and puts it in a pan with a little olive oil and a good pinch of salt. The salt will help to break down the tomatoes, but he helps it along with a potato masher and lets it cook for 45 minutes. I used canned San Marzano whole tomatoes because I didn't want to go to the store and they were, I am sure just as good. While the tomatoes cook down he infuses olive oil, he said 2 cups I did about 1/2 cup or 3/4 maybe, with 10 whole garlic cloves, a handful of fresh basil leaves and a good pinch of crushed red pepper. He said he thinks of it as tea, just cook over very low heat until the oil takes on all those flavors, it probably took about 10-15 minutes. Once the tomatoes are cooked down and the oil is infused you strain all the oil into the tomatoes and mix it together. When he's ready to serve, he does one serving at a time by putting one serving of the tomato sauce in a skillet and cooking one serving of spaghetti then adding the pasta to the sauce along with a little pasta water and toss it with about 1 tbsp of butter, more fresh basil, more olive oil and more red pepper flakes. He tosses adding a bit more pasta water if necessary until the sauce becomes almost creamy from the butter added at the end. It's heavy duty with all that oil and butter but it is good, I must say.

To make it special I made fresh pasta. You can make fresh pasta with out a recipe and the amounts aren't important. I scoop some All Purpose Flour onto my butcher block counter, probably about 2 cups and a pinch of salt. Mix it together a bit and make a well in the center, add room temperature eggs into the well; you can do all yolks, all whole eggs, some of each... I usually do some of each, this time I did 3 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk...The last couple times I made pasta I have used some olive oil and I like that addition. The oil adds a nice texture to the dough, again no measurements, maybe I used 1-2 Tbsp this time. Use a fork and break the eggs and mix, adding some flour a bit at a time with the tines of the fork and when it's thick enough start to bring it together with your hands and a bench scraper, adding more flour as you need it but not so much that it starts to make a tough dough. Then roll it through the pasta machine (I have the attachment to my Kitchen Aid) about 10-15 times until it's silky then rest, covered with a damp towel for about 30 minutes. Then roll out and cut into spaghetti. It's ready to be boiled now, but I let mine sit on the counter with a little flour until I was ready, about an hour later. Fresh pasta only needs about 3 minutes of cooking in boiling salted water.

I served a salad before the pasta. Tony smoked his own bacon and a beef brisket last weekend and we hadn't tried the bacon yet. I cut the bacon as thin as I could with a chef's knife. I wanted to cook some as is and some of it with brown sugar. Place a cooling rack on a sheet pan and place the bacon strips on the cooling rack. Over half of the slices sprinkle on brown sugar, maybe 1-2 tsp per strip of bacon. Place into a preheated 375 degree oven and 15-20 minutes later it's done. So I tossed the brown sugar bacon, fresee lettuce and thinly sliced radishes together. I made a salad dressing using shallots, mustard, honey, sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and after emulsifying it I grated some Parmesan Reggiano in and stirred together. I was thinking of Caesar Salad Dressing with the grated cheese. Toss it together and it was really a great combination.

Friday Night, Braised Chicken Thighs

This week the style of "a`la Florentine" was on my mind. A` la Florentine means; In the style of Florence Italy, which is something (like chicken) presented on a bed of spinach and topped with Mornay Sauce. I didn't want to do chicken breast, which is my first thought, I wanted to do something I haven't done much and believe me, I have cooked plenty of plain old chicken breasts. Chicken Thighs came to mind because it's Tony's favorite cut. I thought the best way would be to braise them, cook them so they fall off the bone and make a really comfort food dish.

Steamed Artichokes with Almond Saffron Dip

I've often thought that artichokes are an enormous waist of time and artichoke (really), to deal with from the produce department so I never buy them. I usually buy them marinated in a jar or I have even gotten them frozen. Today I thought, Ok let's give artichokes a chance again, they looked nice and fresh at the store. I wanted to try this whole steamed artichoke that you kind of scrape out the goodness from each leaf of the artichoke with your teeth. It was surprisingly good with this Almond Saffron Dip, which you can find on the Foodnetwork.com, it's by Ellie Kreeger. I cut off the top 1/3 of the artichokes and removed some of the outer leafs, then snipped off any pointy tips that were left. Cut the stem off at the Base of the artichoke. Steamed in a big pot with the stem side up for about 40 minutes. Then I removed the choke and filled in where the choke was with this dip. It makes a good snack before a meal because they are really not filling at all, but it gives you something to chew on.

Braised Chicken Thighs Florentine Style

Instead of making the sauce separately I wanted to make it all in the same pan. So I seasoned the chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on) with salt and pepper and seared them in a cast iron pan with olive oil on both sides. I removed them to a plate and poured off any fat. To the pan I added a good splash of white wine, a splash of water (out of chicken stock), crushed garlic, bay leaf, 1/2 of an onion cut in half and black pepper. I removed the skin from the chicken and put the chicken into the liquid in the pan, covered tightly and simmered gently for 90 minutes (turning over the chicken half way through). Once it's falling off the bone, remove the chicken to a plate and keep warm. Pour off the liquid in the pan and return to medium heat. Put a bit of olive oil in the pan and throw in some minced shallots. After about 5 minutes add minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, add about a cup of white wine and reduce in half. Add about 1 cup of heavy cream and reduce that in half. Whisk in about 1/2 cup of fontina cheese, a bit of fresh parsley. Place the chicken back into the pan and coat with the Mornay Sauce.

Fontina Stuffed Risotto Cakes

I made just a basic risotto in the morning, but you can also do it the day before. It's butter and oil in a pan with some onions then garlic and some short grained rice (I used Carnarolli). After toasting the rice for a couple minutes you add some white wine and evaporate it completely. Then over the next 25-30 minutes you add ladles of chicken stock, one ladle at a time letting it evaporate each time, and stirring the whole time. When you stir the grains of rice rub against each other and the starch is rubbed off and after 25-30 minutes you have perfectly cooked rice that is in a "creamy" sauce. So later in the afternoon I took the risotto out of the refrigerator and stirred in some thinly sliced scallion tops for color and flavor. I was able to make 9 risotto cakes out of the one cup of rice I cooked. They were about 1/3 of a cup in size. I made a little indention in the center of each one and put in a small square of aged fontina cheese. I filled in the hole with more rice and shaped them again. I coated each risotto cake in some panko crumbs (Japanese bread crumbs). Put them on a plate and chill in the refrigerater, covered, for at least 20 minutes, I let mine sit for a few hours. When I was ready to serve I heated about 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a non-stick skillet until the butter melts and added in 4 of the risotto cakes. Cook over medium heat until the outsides are golden brown and they are heated through so the cheese melts in the center, this takes only 5-6 minutes total. This was really a good way to do it. In the past I have made these, coating them with flour, egg and regular bread crumbs, I have to say this is a much better way of doing it.

Trumpet Mushrooms

I saw these mushroom at Whole Foods and they looked very fresh. I had never had them and I am still exploring different mushrooms to find the ones I like. They are expensive per pound but I only needed a little bit to go along side our dinner and they don't weigh very much. And that is what Friday Night is all about, spending a little bit more and trying really good and different stuff, instead of going out and spending even more. Well I am happy to say it was a good choice. I did cook them in really good European style butter and a little olive oil but they tasted buttery, I think on there own, and they were very nice, Tony loved them. So what I did was cook them until they were done and I put in some baby spinach and 30 seconds later it was done. I put that combination on the plate and put the chicken over it. Very nice!

Caramel Brownies with Fleur de Sel and Deep Fried Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

On the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", someone was saying they loved the brownies at this place in NYC, where they made these brownies and layered in the middle of the batter some caramel sauce. I saw that episode a few weeks ago and I have been thinking about them ever since. I gave it a go and they were tremendous brownies but the layer of caramel got lost in the batter somehow. They showed them pouring in the caramel before baking them off and I think they made a thicker caramel and maybe they put more than I did. Then I thought well I can't just have a brownie for dessert on a Friday Night so I thought of every one's favorite thing...ice cream... but what can I do different? "How about fried ice cream, I have heard of it, I never did that"!! So I looked it up and came across some "You Tube" videos and basically there are two ways of doing it. You can either cover a scoop of ice cream with slices of pound cake and fry it or do what I did and that was coating it with corn flakes mixed with a little bit of sugar then egg wash then more cornflakes and sugar, freezing the balls between to make sure they are really hard and frozen then you fry them in canola oil very quickly (before any ice cream leaks out and splashes everywhere). I did it and in 30 seconds they were golden brown and delicious. It was interesting but I don't know if I would do it again, I am happy with just a scoop of ice cream. But now I can check -Fried Ice Cream- off the list.

Friday Night, Rack of Lamb

This menu started with the "persille'" that was a component of the lamb. It just takes that one seed to get things started. I was thinking about what I saw Jacques Pepin do on his cooking shows and he did something called a "persillade" to finish off a lot of his dishes. It's taking fresh parsley and garlic and chopping them together and chopping finely, then sprinkling it over a finished dish; meats, eggs, vegetables, etc... So I looked it up in my favorite book "Food Lover's Companion" to see what it said about it and basically it said just what I said but also...a dish finished in this fashion is often described as a persille'. For example lamb persille' is a lamb dish topped with persillade mixed with breadcrumbs." So the seed started to grow and here's the menu.

Creamy Mushroom Bruchetta, Watercress and Goat Brie Salad

I have been on this kick lately with mushrooms, I am discovering that they are pretty good. I have always ordered dishes without them or pushed them aside, and I am still not sure of some like I really don't think I like the portobello, maybe I'll try them again some day. Again, the show "Follow That Food" was on mushrooms and Gordon really raved about a dish that was made in Europe somewhere, "Sauteed Mushrooms in a Hot Crusty Pita". So instead of the pita I thought that same mixture would be good on crusty bread and so that's what I did. I used Baby Bella and I used some European style butter that I found in the cheese department at Whole Foods, that butter costs a little more but it's really something delicious. You can get that recipe on fineliving.com and instead of pita I took Chibatta bread and sliced about 1/2 inch slices and toasted them under the broiler on both sides, salt, pepper and olive oil. Then just for fun I saw this goat's milk brie cheese at WF, never had it before so I gave it a go and it's a little funky but it was very nice in our opinion. Along with the mushroom bruchetta I served the cheese and some good looking watercress tossed in some homemade shallot and sherry vinaigrette. Delicious!!

I probably wouldn't have done the horseradish creme with this dish because it already had a lot going on but Tony had picked up some fresh horseradish a couple days before and I wanted to use it. I mixed sour cream, lemon juice, fresh horseradish, salt and pepper, honey... I think that was it, just keep tasting it until it's right. I seasoned then seared the rack of lamb in a skillet and removed it to a plate. I brushed mustard on top of the rack where I wanted the persille' topping to go. For the persille' I combined a couple cloves of garlic with a handful of fresh parsley and chopped it, then mixed in an equal amount of fresh bread crumbs (that I let sit out for about 3 hours to dry a bit) and just pressed this mixture over the rack on the top side. I covered it and put it in the refrigerator just because I wanted to get that step done so there is less to do later. Then when I was ready to roast it I allowed the lamb to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before putting it in a pre-heated 425 degree oven. I roasted it for about 30 minutes but for me I should have left it another 5 -8 minutes. Tony thought it was perfectly done but he usually orders things more rear and I am more medium-well.

For the roasted garlic mashed potatoes I just roasted the whole head of garlic in a 400 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. I first cut the top off and drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over the garlic then wrap it tightly in aluminum foil then into the oven. Make the mashed potatoes as you normally would and just squeeze all the garlic from the paper into the mix.

For the swiss chard I cooked off some bacon and removed it from the pan. Drain the extra oil off and add in the swiss chard stems that are cut into 1 inch pieces. cook for a few minutes and add the swiss chard leaves that are cut so it's easy to eat. Season with salt and pepper and add the bacon back in to warm though. I used thick cut bacon just to get a more meaty bite, and it was good but you don't need too much bacon maybe about 1/4 cup to a whole bunch of chard.

Cherries Jubilee aside a "Bruleed" Crepe Pie with Chocolate and Cherry Sauces

I saw a picture of a dessert where the crepes were stacked high and it looked like a cake with many layers. I remember trying this same idea along time ago, I don't remember if it was a success. I thought of the crepes I made about a month ago on Friday night the butter and sugar crepes, they were so good. So I thought I would do the same idea but stack them and the butter and sugar will kind of "glue" them together then I will cut a shape out of them and use the blow torch to "brule" the edges. Well the "brule" thing didn't work but the crepes were very good and I love how it looks. I found a jar of cherries at WF and I needed some kind of fruit to go with the crepe pie and I thought I would do Cherries Jubilee. It's cherries cooked with a little sugar and Kirsch (cherry flavored liquor), then you flambe' it and pour it over ice cream. I used Cherry Garcia ice cream. If you are going to have cherries you need some kind of chocolate so I made some chocolate ganache and to enhance the cherry flavor I got some cherry juice and reduced it to get a nice syrup for the plate. I was trying to made a decoration but it didn't work, I think the chocolate ganache was too thick, but it tasted really good!

Got some Sun

We've been considering another quick trip to Mohegan Sun Casino for a while now.  We needed to get out of the house, so today was the day...

We left the house about 11:30 and headed down Route 290.  By the time we arrived, we were hungry for lunch so we immediately tried to find Bobby's Burger Palace.  This is the latest restaurant by Bobby Flay of Food Network fame.  We had heard about the place from a feature on Channel 5's Chronicle program.



After finding a seat at the bar, we each ordered a beer and a burger.  Jeanne went with the "L.A. Burger" and I did the "Napa Valley Burger".  I guess we were in a California mood today. We ordered one side of sweet potato fries to share.

The burgers arrived with a side of regular potato fries (not sweet potato), but this worked out OK.  They were well salted and crispy.  The chipolte dipping sauce they were served with was great.  The burgers were good, we were very impressed with the bun, creative toppings and the high quality pickle on the side.  Unfortunately, the burger itself was mediocre at best.  It seemed that not the best quality beef was used, or maybe it was just over handled.  It's hard to describe, but the burger meat had some little hard bits in it.  It was the type of thing that you avoid when you form your own burgers at home.

After lunch, we did some wondering around the casino.  After a bit we ended up at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for a drink.  The margaritas were quality and the atmosphere reminded us of Key West (or at least the last Jimmy Buffet concert at Gillette Stadium).  Here's some video of the restaurant's hourly "blender" show....

Friday Night, Tilapia

As you all may know I am new to the seafood thing. Salmon is so far my favorite. I have tried Black Sea Bass (Momofuko restaurant) and that was a strong fish flavor so not one of my favorites. I had salmon a few ways and...It's good. A few people have said to try Tilapia so that's what I did. I think it was meant to be that I try this recipe because I was trying to get more familiar with sauces and in my "Food Lover's Companion" book, I saw a sauce called, Bagna Cauda [BAHN-yah KOW-dah] so I was reading about it and it's a specialty sauce made in Piedmont, Italy, made up of olive oil, butter, garlic and anchovies, usually served warm with raw vegetables. So I went on The Food Network about five minutes after reading about that sauce to look up a tilapia recipe. I came across "Tilapia with Citrus Bagna Couda". The only reason I was drawn right to it is because it was rated with 5 stars and about 250 people rated it. You know it's good when that many people rated it with 5 stars and I couldn't believe that the recipe included the very sauce I was curious about. So when I went to Whole Foods Market I went to the fish counter and the guy was just putting out some fresh tilapia, of all things. So It was meant to be...

Smoked Salmon Beggars Purses with Spicy Lemon-Dill Oil

I don't remember what gave me the idea to make these but I have seen different chefs do Beggars Purses in the past and if I made some, it was a while ago. It's crepes that are filled with something and then tied with a long piece of scallion or leek. I thought I would just put a dollop of creme fraiche (basically a sour cream and whipped cream combined) and smoked salmon and maybe some capers or chives, I wasn't exactly sure. I looked on foodnetwork.com and Michael Chiarello has a recipe that's pretty much what I was thinking except he was using marscarpone cheese and cream cheese, both of which I had in the refrigerator, so I decided to make it that way. His recipe doesn't have a sauce but I wanted to make something so I mixed together in a blender 1/2 of a bunch of fresh dill (blanched and shocked in cold water to help retain the green color), 1 tsp mustard, 1/2 of a lemons juice and zest, 1 Tbsp capers, 6-7 peri-peri picante peppers (tiny little spicy red peppers from a jar), salt and pepper to taste and olive oil to emulsify. It was perfect with the Beggars Purses. I garnished the plate with a few more spicy peppers and very finely cut scallions at a very sharp angle so you get long strands, then into ice water until they get crisp and curly.

Tilapia with Citrus Bagna Cauda Sauce

This is Giada De Laurentis' recipe, you can find it on foodnetwork.com. We didn't get a very good picture of this but it was on the plate. The tilapia was simply cooked in a skillet with olive oil for a couple minutes on each side and the citrus bagna cauda sauce was spooned over. The mistake that we made was Tony offered to spoon the sauce on the fish while I finished cooking the rest of the fish fillets and I forgot to tell him that the sauce is 6 portions...the zest in the sauce was a little much, so if you make this don't use anymore than 1/6th of the sauce per portion. Otherwise it was good, very mild tasting fish.

Zucchini, Carrot and Baby Red Potatoes cooked en Papillote

En papillote means to cook in paper or parchment. In order to do this you really have to cut everything fairly thin, otherwise it can take forever to cook. I thought the potatoes might take longer than the vegetable so I made two packages. The potatoes I cut into 1/4 inch disks. I drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper and I added some sprigs of fresh thyme. For the vegetables I cut them into a very thin Julienne and put them on a piece of oiled parchment. I topped them with more thyme, a couple pats of butter, salt and pepper and a couple thin slices of lemon. You top the oiled parchment paper with another piece of oiled parchment and fold all around the edges to seal it tightly. I pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees and put the parchment packages on a sheet pan. I cooked the potatoes for 30 minutes and the vegetables for 20 minutes and they were perfectly done. I do like to cook this way because the flavor has no where to go. I really noticed this with the potatoes, they were very potatoey (if you will).

Caramelized Pineapple with Creme Caramel and Banana Ice Cream

This was from "Follow That Food" show on pineapples. I remember Julia Child saying her favorite dessert is a creme caramel and I had never made one up until now (that I can recall). I remembered she said that because Gordon Elliot (the host of the show) said the same thing. So I had to make it. I thought it was good but I'd like to do it again and add some Flor De Sal to the caramel, I love what salt can do to caramel. I almost did it but decided to follow the recipe exactly. I also would fill up the ramekin a bit higher to get a taller finished creme caramel. Otherwise it was very simple to do. The pineapple is cut into thin rounds and basically is macerated with a mixture of some of the caramel from the creme caramel, orange juice, rum, vanilla extract and raisins. As you know I would have made the ice cream myself but I couldn't find a good recipe using eggs. They all used corn syrup or sweetened condensed milk and I just gave up and decided to buy some. All I could find at the store was Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey which was perfect because the chocolate chunks in it worked with everything. It was all a great combination together.

By the way, I love how things happen. A few weeks ago I told you about a brazilan mojito I had at Bar Boulud's in NYC and how I was trying to make it at home. Well we got the April addition to Food and Wine magazine and Daniel Boulud was featured in it. One of the recipes they put in the magazine was a drink that was very similar to the mojito. It was a Caipirinha which is 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice, plus 3 lime wedges, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 ounce simple syrup and 2 ounces of cachaca. I changed the lime to lemon, I put in natural sugar cane granules, a bit of fresh ginger and some fresh mint and muddled all that then added the cachaca and ice and shook it with ice. I think that is it exactly!!

Friday Night, Orecchiette Alforno

I thought we needed a good "comfort food" night. This is a recipe I had made many times before, except it usually is called Penne with Five Cheeses. Quick story... We had been to Alforno restaurant in Providence RI before, that's where we went the night Tony purposed to me. One day a few years later I was watching the Bearfoot Contessa on the food network. She was making this recipe and she said she ate it at Alforno restaurant and loved it, she asked for the recipe and this is it. So I printed up the recipe and soon after we went to the restaurant and it was still on the menu so I ordered it. I was soooo good, it was made with a really good imported pasta that was cooked al dente. It's mixed with a creamy cheesy mixture and baked so the top gets slightly charred and the bottom half is so creamy and yummy...

Antipasto Platter with Homemade Ciabatta Bread

I wanted to do an appetizer with an array of different flavors and textures because the main dish would be just the one pasta dish. So I did some different olives, cherry peppers stuffed with cheese, artichoke hearts, caprese salad (stacked mozzarella, fresh tomato and fresh basil) and what I thought was going to be something different and ended up being a fancy biscuit. I saw this recipe for "Pancetta and Peccorino Cakes", and read the recipe quickly and it seemed like something different, and it looked like something that was going to be baked and crispy (which I wanted something crispy for the texture). It was good but I had made the homemade ciabatta bread and it was like having two breads. It was all very good and the bread was great, I love that book I got called "My Bread" by Jim Lahey. If you want to impress your friends you must try his recipes.

Orecchiette Al forno with Five Cheeses and Pancetta

Al forno is Italian for "baked or roasted". This is an easy and great recipe, it's not low calorie though. In a bowl add 2 Cups heavy cream, 1 Cup crushed canned tomatoes, 1/2 cup grated peccorino romano, 1/2 cup shredded Italian fontina, 1/4 cup gorgonzola, 2 Tbsp ricotta, 1/4 fresh mozzarella and 6 basil leafs chopped. Par-cook Penne or Orecchiette pasta, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way done. Combine with the cream mixture and pour into a gratin dish then dot with a bit of butter to help it brown. Place in a pre-heated 500 degree oven and bake for 7-10 minutes until bubbly and brown on top. I like to add some thick cut pancetta that I cook ahead of time and chop, just add it to the cream mixture when you add the par-boiled pasta.

Frozen Chocolate Malted, Malted Milk Balls and Gourmet Smores Stack

Well guess what? I bought some malted milk powder and it was inspired by our NYC trip. When we stopped at Momofuko's Milk Bar for cake that night Tony had a chocolate cake that had malted milk crumbs and charred marshmallow between the layers. I got some malted milk powder when we got home. So I saw a recipe for the Frozen Chocolate Malted and decided to do that. So what goes with something like that??? I remembered Tony's cake had the marshmallows and so I made homemade marshmallow, homemade Graham crackers and made a double stack of the smores with chocolate rounds that I melted and formed into the same size round as I made the other two components. Put it in a low oven for about 5 minutes so everything is ooowy and gooey. I needed one more thing to make the plate look finished so I made the malted milk balls, which is just melted white chocolate mixed with the malted powder until it's thick enough to form into balls and then chill. Once the are hard dip them in melted chocolate and chill again.