Friday Night Dinner, Cast Iron Roast Chicken

  

I decided to set the table in a French style this time by using a table cloth and I cut some flowers from the yard. I also changed up my usual white plate (used only for better pictures) to a french blue plate. It really makes things a bit more special by making these small changes.

Fresh Figs with Lavender Goat Cheese and Prosciutto

I didn't have any good ideas for the appetizer so I left it up to the market. I figured I would see what looked good and go from there. The produce department had these really good looking figs, with a different name (which I can't think of), and there was a sign that said good when wrapped with prosciutto. That's all I needed to start the ball rolling. I came across some lavender and honey goat cheese in the cheese department and I got some really good prosciutto. So I cut the figs in half and filled the centers with the lavender goat cheese then wrapped in prosciutto. When I was ready to serve I put a little olive oil in a non-stick pan and place in the bundles of joy. I turned them as they cooked to caramelize the prosciutto slightly and warm the centers. I removed them to a serving plate and deglazed with a little balsamic vinegar and let it reduce for a second then add a tablespoon of butter and swirled it in to melt off the heat. I poured the balsamic glaze over the figs and walla. It was really yummy.

Cast Iron Roast Chicken

I recently watched an Anthony Bourdain show again where "my guy" Thomas Keller was on his show showing how he makes a basic roast chicken. It's different than the recipe in his "Ad Hoc At Home" cookbook. Also different than what I would normally do. I normally would add herbs or lemon to the cavity and some butter or oil on the skin and it's always good but he was showing how he just uses salt and pepper in the cavity and on the skin and that's it. He roasts it at about 425-450 for 25 minutes then turns down the temperature to 400 until the temperature of the chicken is at 160 degrees. He did his chicken in a medium sized skillet. I wanted to use my cast iron pan. I love when rutabaga or turnips are under a chicken while it roasts so I added that to the pan first. Of course you truss the chicken before roasting to keep it all together. What a great way to do it. It was juicy and the skin was crispy too.

Potato Pave'

This was the whole reason I bought the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook in the first place. I saw Thomas Keller do this recipe on a show (I think Martha) and it looked easy but impressive, and it is. You start by slicing russet potatoes very thin using a mandolin (or a meat slicer, which is what I used), and dropping the slices into milk seasoned with salt and pepper. Butter a loaf pan that stands about 3 inches tall. Start layering in the potatoes and every two layers add a bit of butter and salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum foil tightly and bake for 1 hour and 50 minutes at 375 or until the potatoes are very tender. Remove from the oven and weigh it down and let it come to room temperature. Chill at least 6 hours or overnight. Cut slices and cook in a non-stick skillet on it's side in canola oil. As it browns you start to see all the layers of potato get crisp on the outside and it's almost creamy on the inside. Brown on two sides and plate. Top with butter and fresh cut chives. This was good for days to follow and along side an egg for breakfast.

Crunchy Brussels Sprout Leaves with Pancetta

I started by cutting off the end a little to allow the layers to "fall off, with a little help form a knife" and when it gets down to the centers I just cut it into quarters. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and cut thick sliced pancetta cut into a small dice. Brown the pancetta and leaving the fat in the pan (remove some fat if there is too much) add the Brussels sprouts. Toss and cook for maybe 4-5 minutes over med-high heat, season with a little salt and pepper. Delicious!

Apple Fritters with Bourbon Ice Cream

This was in the October 2010 Bon Appetit magazine. We got the magazine in the mailbox just the day before and Tony commented on these fritters with the ice cream when he saw it, so I thought...there is the dessert for Friday Night...

The fritters remind me of a donut batter made with flour, sugar, spices, buttermilk, eggs and baking powder. The apples are sauteed ahead with butter and sugar then sparkling apple cider, apple cider vinegar and cinnamon are added. You combine the apples and the batter and deep fry for about 4 minutes until cooked through. Toss with cinnamon-sugar right out of the oil. The ice cream has 5 Tbsp of Bourbon in the whole recipe so it's subtle but really the right amount of flavor. It was great as we head into Fall. The best part was Tony stopped on the way home and bought a new liqueur that he's been seeing in drink recipes and he made me a drink that combined cinnamon and sparkling apple cider. It paired perfectly with what I made for dessert, I think he read my mind.

Friday Night Bites #11

Last Friday night we went to The Mills Tavern restaurant in Providence and it was fantastic as usual. We used some Hilton Honors points and stayed in Providence for the night, neither one of us wanted to behave and not drink.

This week I did some "bites". I had the "mortadella bignet" idea left over from "Friday Night Bites #10", it was another idea from Marc Vetri from his restaurant in Philadelphia. Dessert was something I have been wanting to do from our Chicago trip. We had a ricotta and chocolate chip filled sweet brioche as a dessert at "The Purple Pig". I wanted to use black truffle butter that I saw at Whole Foods somewhere and so I came up with an egg yolk ravioli to bath in the butter. The blue cheese souffle was something I printed off foodnetwork a few years ago and I came across it in my files so I thought I'd finally do that and maybe a salad would go nicely with it. That's it, too many courses is not needed as I am discovering.

Mortadella Bignet (meat donuts)


I started by making the mortadella mousse. I am calling it mousse but all I did was take some pistachios (a handful) and get them really ground up in the food processor, then about 3 big and thick slices of deli mortadella and get that really ground up with the nuts. Then I drizzled in some heavy cream just to make it more luscious and creamy. I put that into a piping bag and put it in the frig so it would be ready for later when it was time to fill the bignet's. For the bignet's I made a savory Choux Paste. Its just a basic recipe with out any sugar, but a little salt in it's place. Choux Paste is butter and flour and eggs basically, it's used to make chocolate eclairs and cream puffs. Then usually you would bake them and fill them but they showed Marc Vetri deep frying them so that's what I did. I put the choux paste into a piping bag and dropped round pieces into the oil and cooked them for 4-5 minutes. Once they come out of the oil I made a small hole in each one with a skewer and then piped in the mortadella mousse. It was fantastic! They were very hard to resist.

Blue Cheese Souffle with Crisp Greens and Toast

I decided to make a salad to go along with the souffle. The souffle was rich and very flavorful and the salad went perfectly with it, it really needs something crisp like a salad. The salad was arugula, red onion, thinly shaved celery cut on the bias and grape tomatoes. I made a dressing that included shallots, sherry vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper and olive oil. The souffle only has 3 ounces of Roquefort cheese and it's the perfect amount, other wise it would be too over powering. The Cheese Souffle is an Ina Garden recipe from the foodnetwork. The toast was a nice loaf from Whole Foods bakery that had sprouted wheat and raisins.

Egg Yolk Ravioli with Black Truffle Butter

I saw someone do this before, with the "mashed potato bed" and then place an egg yolk in the bed. I thought of it when I was coming up with this idea. I just made mashed potato and added in some chives, parsley, butter, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. The pasta dough itself is mostly egg yolk with a little of the whites, all purpose flour, olive oil, salt and pepper and I rolled it out fairly thin. Instead of boiling the ravioli (very delicate with the egg yolk) I decided to take a skillet and put in about 1/2 inch of water with a few tablespoons of the black truffle butter (bought at Whole Foods in the cheese department). I brought the water and butter to a simmer and added in the ravioli. Cover the skillet and allow the ravioli to cook and steam for about 2-3 minutes only. Remove the lid and let the water evaporate a little bit and the truffle butter to coat the ravioli adding another pat of butter at the end. I also added right at the end some pre-cooked panchetta pieces and the dark green parts of a scallion sliced thinly. It was a nice dish.

The next day I fried up the two left over ravioli in olive oil until it was completely heated through and the pasta browned up a little crispy, and some toast on the side for a perfect breakfast. Believe it or not the yolk was still perfectly runny.

Brioche "Cannoli"

I followed an easy recipe for brioche in the Jacques and Julia cookbook, Jacques makes it in the food processor. His was for a savory dish with sausage stuffed in the center but I was doing this sweet version so I added a couple tsp of sugar. After letting it sit overnight in the refrigerator to rise slowly I mixed together the filling which was ricotta cheese, confectioners sugar, vanilla, a tiny bit of whipped heavy cream just to make it creamier and bittersweet chocolate. I rolled out the dough and cut rounds out of the dough. I filled the centers of the dough rounds with as much filling as I could and completely enclosed them, and then placed them into a cupcake pan (which is what it looked like they did at the "Purple Pig" restaurant; above). It was tasty right from the oven but it wasn't the same as the restaurant. The one at the restaurant had a lot of filling and the chocolate was melted and it looked completely enclosed. Mine, I don't know where the filling went, it seems like the cheese became one with the brioche and the filling wasn't there. Like I said it was tasty but I wouldn't make them again, I'll just have to go back to Chicago and get one there!

Friday Night Menu, Bone-in Rib Eye

Tony was off this Friday because of Labor Day and I didn't want to be cooking ALL DAY as usual so I tried to keep the menu simple, but somehow I ended up cooking most of the day anyway.

Antipasto Plate
We usually think of an antipasto as a salad (I do anyway). But in my book "Food Lover's Companion" the definition for antipasto is "before the meal", it can include hot or cold hors d'oevres, like cheeses or cured meats or even marinated vegetables. One of the first things I thought of was something I saw someone do on Food TV. This chef sliced about 1/2 inch or so of a honeycomb slab and placed it in the middle of softened blue cheese and she wrapped the whole thing in Nori sheets with the help of a sushi mat. I did something similar but I used Gorgonzola Dolce instead of blue cheese and I used thin slices of prosciutto in place of the Nori. The rest of the plate included some watercress for color, some spicy salami, heirloom tomatoes, chard's of Parmesan reggiano, my version of a stuffed mushroom which is; the stuffing consists of softened onions, garlic and diced mushrooms in butter, some thyme from the garden and salt and pepper, some dried Italian bread crumbs are added to the onion mixture and softened with chicken stock. I then slice clusters of trumpet mushrooms in half and kind of did an "opened faced stuffed mushroom" with the bread stuffing. I sauteed the mushroom halves (that have been topped with stuffing) in a skillet then popped the pan in the oven to finish cooking with a pat of butter over the stuffing. I made some bread too called Fougasse which is kind of a flat bread, but slits are made through out the middle of the dough, which is great for people who like the crusty edges of a bread. I loved this bread, really good, from my Paul Hollywood bread book.

Bone-in Rib Eye
Tony charcoal grilled these while I worked on the sides. These were nice big fat, nicely marbled, grass fed bone-in rib eyes from Whole Foods. When we make a steak we let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes and simply season these with salt, pepper and olive oil. Tony brought them to a perfect medium for him and medium-well for me. I knew they were too big (for me anyway). But we love having leftovers. The rib eye and Fougasse left overs made a good pressed sandwich for lunch the next day.

Leek Bread Pudding

This recipe came from my Thomas Keller cookbook "AD Hoc at Home". It's really a great recipe. It's made with Brioche bread (I used a Portuguese sweet bread), lots of milk, heavy cream and eggs. It also has sauteed leeks and a cheese which I never tried "Comte" which tastes an awful lot like mushrooms. You would swear there is mushrooms in the finished dish because of this cheese. This was a big hit.

Green beans
I simply steamed these and seasoned with butter, salt and pepper.

"Twice Baked" Peach Crepe Souffle with Buttermilk Ice Cream

Years ago my mother-in-law got me a cookbook called "The White Barn Inn Cookbook". I was looking through it this week trying to get ideas for dinner and I came across this Crepe Souffle that sounded really good. The difference is that the recipe in the book was a Rhubarb flavored Crepe Souffle, but they didn't have any rhubarb at the store so I looked around the produce department to find something to use in it's place and they had these good looking organic peaches so I gave them a go. Basically you make some sweet crepes and line a ramekin with them after butter and sugar goes in the ramekins. You make a souffle mixture that includes Calvados, the peaches pureed, eggs, sugar and milk. The eggs are separated and you add the yolks at one point then the whites are whipped and folded into the mixture at the end. So you spoon the souffle into the crepe lined ramekin and bake them in a water bath. When they are done cooking you turn them out onto a plate so the crepe is now at the top and garnish with some lightly caramelized peach slices and buttermilk ice cream on the side. The ice cream is really good it's made with lots of egg yolks, buttermilk, heavy cream, sugar and a vanilla bean. Very rich.

Friday Night Bites #10

This weeks menu came together from a couple different shows on food TV and one from a magazine. I just happened to not have any good ideas and it was Wednesday night (I usually have it figured out somewhat by Wednesday so I can shop on Thursday) and I was watching the show "Unique Eats" and everything this guy Marc Vetri made looked really good. He's got this Italian restaurant in Philadelphia called "Vetri". They showed about 5 of his menu items and I picked 2 of them along with an idea for a 3rd dish. The dessert came from the show "Drink up" where the host made a Banana Rum Flambe'. The other dish was something I came up with.

Fried Sausage Stuffed Green Olives

This was in the Bon Appetit magazine September 2010. Really the perfect little thing to eat with a drink. We love olives as is but this way is really good... it says to get some big green pitted olives and cut a slit down one side. Fill in the center with this sausage, Parmesan, garlic, parsley, lemon zest, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper mixture (some sausage is still showing). It's then coated in flour an egg wash and Panko then fried until golden and the sausage cooks through. Yummy, crispy, salty, spicy and flavorful.

Spinach Gnocchi

This was one from Chef Vetri (above). They don't give the recipes on the show but say how they do it very quickly. I think it was good but his looked more light and airy. He said it's made with 100% spinach and a little bit of flour, a little bit of egg, a little bit of Parmesan and nutmeg. The spinach is made into a smooth paste in the food processor and those few ingredients are added to the spinach (I think If I put a little more than a little bit of the other things it would have been light and airy like his). His in the final product even looked lighter in color. He served it in a dish with some Parmesan sprinkled over the top and then he spooned brown butter over it, so that's what I did. I thought they were good but I would have to figure out the right way if I were to make them again.

Roasted Turkey Roulade with Mushroom Stuffing and a Blueberry-Cranberry Sauce

I was at the meat counter looking at my options when it occurred to me. That's something I tend not to buy unless it's Thanksgiving, a whole turkey breast. I think I will do it more often too because it was easy and delicious and we had lunch for a couple days after. First I brined it; I heated about 2 cups of water in a pan and added 1/4 cup kosher salt and 1/4 cup sugar, a few Tbsp fulls of Hoison Sauce, 1 Tbsp dried sage and 1 star anise; once everything was dissolved in the water I poured it over ice in a large bowl to cool quickly; I added the turkey (making sure it was completely submerged in cold brine) and refrigerated it for 24 hours. I made a mushroom stuffing with Shiitaki mushrooms and Italian bread, onions, fresh sage and chicken stock. I stuffed the turkey, rolled it up and tied it with kitchen string. I brushed melted butter over the skin and roasted it in a 350 degree oven until it reached 160 degrees internal temperature. I think it took about 45-60 minutes ( I forgot). I let it rest for about 15 minutes before carving into it so it wouldn't dry out. I served it with red (beet-stained) cous-cous and not just cranberry sauce but Blueberry-cranberry sauce. I got the idea for blueberries because the Vetri guy and another guy on the same "Unique Eats' show used blueberry jam in there dishes. One was on a pizza after it came out of the oven and the other was dibbled around a plate of a fancy lasagna. So I did about equal amounts of wild (whole) blueberry jam and canned whole cranberry sauce with some lemon juice to loosen it and to add a tang (I think it's going on the Thanksgiving table in November).

Almond Tortellini

This was one of Marc Vetri's dishes. He cooks down Arborio rice as you would a risotto until it turns mushy and almost a paste which takes slightly over an hour using water instead of chicken stock. Once it cools he adds eggs, ground toasted almonds, Parmesan and almond extract. He puts it in a pastry bag and pipes onto squares of fresh pasta dough which he makes using just the yolks, then forms them into tortellini shapes. So I did everything he did and I think I was pretty accurate. This is a good thing to make for someone who doesn't like cheese so much, you would never know it's RICE in the filling. He melts butter in a skillet with truffle paste and cooks the fresh pasta right in the butter sauce. I just used butter with fresh parsley, toasted bread crumbs and Parmesan at the end, because I didn't have the truffle paste. This was good I never formed my own tortellini shapes before, it wasn't too difficult at all.

Banana Rum Flambe' with Homemade Banana Ice Cream

This was a great find because it was so easy and really good. This was on the show "Drink Up". The host of the show made it and it takes no time at all. You melt a couple Tbsp of butter and a couple Tbsp of brown sugar in a medium skillet; once melted add a couple sliced banana's and coat the banana slices in the sugar syrup; Add a good splash of rum away from the heat then flambe' it carefully with a match holding it away from you and anything around it; once the flame goes out spoon the banana mixture over either vanilla or in my case the banana ice cream and top with nuts. He used Macadamia nuts but I used Walnuts and the next day when I made it again I used crushed Almonds, all are good.

Friday Night Bites #9

The last couple restaurants we have been to served thin bread sticks as a bar snack and I love the idea. They are thin and crispy and not too filling (as long as you don't eat too many). So I wanted to start things off with some homemade bread sticks. So I had to start of the menu with...what else??? I knew I wanted to try something new for dessert. I always make butter cakes when I make a cake as many people do. A butter cake starts with the creaming method (creaming butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add eggs and vanilla then incorporating the flour mixture in along with a buttermilk or sour cream kind-of-thing). I wanted to try a different method. I tried making a Genoise cake years ago and I remember thinking "I will never make that cake again, It's terrible", well that's why I wanted to make it. I know it's made by many pastry chefs as a go-to recipe and I wanted to concur it. It turns out I did a much better job this time and I will definitely make it again. I was also interested in making a Dacquoise which is a baked meringue that turns chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside (It has been a while since I made a dacquoise but in a different way, I made "mushrooms" and a "crust" for a "pizza cake" one time). I pictured the dacquoise layered with the genoise and chocolate and berries and whipped cream holding it together. Now I had to figure out the small bites between the bread sticks and dessert...

Herb Bread Sticks

I wanted them crunchy and flavorful. I decided the best recipe to use would be by favorite new pizza crust recipe in the Jim Lahey bread book (which you can order by clicking on the link below) because I love the crunchy crust and this recipe never disappoints, and the ease of it. It's so easy you mix about 5 things together for 30 seconds and let it sit for 2 hours and you've got the dough. After it sat for 2 hours I rolled out the dough to about 1/4 inch and used a pizza cutter to make long thin strips, about 1/4 inch wide. You want to go pretty thin because they will rise slightly in the oven and end up being about double the size you cut them. Before putting them in the oven I brushed the strips with olive oil then seasoned them with salt, pepper and fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme and oregano). I baked them in a 350 oven for 15-18 minutes. We loved them. Next time I will try adding some Parmesan cheese to the dough too.

Beet Custard with Whipped Goat Cheese Salad

I have wanted to make this Wolfgang Puck idea for a while. Every so often I see an article or something about Wolfgang's recipe ideas and the combination of red beets and goat cheese both cut into disks and layered nicely is always there. I am assuming this is sort of one of his signature dishes. I have done many salads with goat cheese and beets but not for a Friday Night. So I had the idea of putting my own spin on it and making it special by making a beet custard, then whip the goat cheese maybe with some heavy cream to make it super creamy. So I found a recipe for a savory custard and I kind-of followed it but kind-of did my own thing too. I heated some olive oil in a pan and added a couple shallots minced. After the shallots softened I added about 6 small beets that I roasted the day before and cut into small pieces. I found some beet juice at Whole Foods so I added some of that along with some half and half and reduced it a bit. Pureed it with my stick blender and strained it, then let it cool. Once cool add more half and half, 3 eggs, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. I baked them in oiled ramekins in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes (the ramekins were cooked in a water bath too). The goat cheese I just brought it to room temperature and whipped it with heavy cream until the consistency was just right then I seasoned with salt and pepper. I dressed some watercress with reduced beet juice and balsamic vinaigrette. I plated the watercress around the un-molded beet custard with a dollop of whipped goat cheese over top.

Fish and Sweet Potato Chips

I saw someone on foodtv make a skinny and long piece of fish that was battered and cooked in the oil in just about 3 minutes total, because it was cut so thin, about an inch at the most. It was stacked up on a plate with some fries and I thought that's a cleaver idea and it would make a good "Friday Night Bite". I found a batter on line for fish that was 1 cup flour, paprika, salt, pepper and then slowly whisk in 3/4 cup beer. I got some Halibut (I had never had halibut so it was new for me) I cut it in long thin strips and coated the fish with flour before dipping into the batter. I fried them in hot oil until golden and crunchy. I also threw in the oil some pre-roasted sweet potatoes just to crisp them up a bit (I saw someone do that on foodtv) I probably should have left them in longer to get them really crispy but they were still good. I served some lemon wedges on the side and I have to say it was pretty good.

Buffalo NY Strip Steak with Cherry Sauce, Fresh Corn Polenta and Snap Peas

For the first time in Friday Night Bites history, we were so full and we still had dessert coming so we made this dish for lunch on Saturday instead of Friday Night. This portion would have been much smaller if we had it Friday. I got a Buffalo NY Strip steak at Whole Foods. They say it tastes the same as a NY strip steak you get from a cow but with a lot less fat (the same as a skinless chicken breast). I thought I'd give it a go. I thought a cherry sauce would be nice. I softened some shallots in oil then added a good handful of jarred sour cherries and about 1 cup of sour cheery juice. I reduced that down then added a couple Tbsp of balsamic vinegar. I had some beef stock in the freezer that I cooked down from a quart to about 1/2 cup and added that in. I tossed in some finely chopped rosemary (about 1-2 Tbsp) and cooked another 10 minutes just to meld the flavors and to thicken slightly and just before plating I swirled in a Tbsp of butter. The Polenta was from Bon Apetite August 2010. It was very good just simply cooked with water and course corn meal simmered for 30 minutes then add in some fresh kernels from the cob and cook for 5 minutes and finish with a little marscarpone cheese. We charcoal grilled the buffalo steak and I made a parchment pouch to cook the snap peas on the grill just olive oil, salt, pepper and a wedge of lemon along with the snow peas for about 7-8 minutes on the grill. It was really good, the fresh corn polenta was really good with the cherry sauce dripping down from the steak. The steak was good but slightly underdone for me but perfectly cooked for Tony (I only got one steak with the idea that we would each just have a few slices over the polenta). Because the buffalo has much less fat I didn't want to overcook it and dry it out but next time I know to leave it on the grill a bit longer. The snap peas were good too, they still had a nice snap to them and still bright green.

Layered Dacquoise and Genoise with Fresh Raspberries and Chocolate

As I said in the opening these were two things I wanted to try the Dacquoise was the cooked meringue combined with ground almond and hazelnuts and the Genoise was the chocolate cake part. I layered the four layers (2 of each) with sweetened vanilla whipped cream, chocolate ganache and the top was something else I wanted to make which was Seven Minute Frosting. Its a frosting that is very much like a soft meringue, it's heated to 140 degrees over a water bath beating the whole time then continue beating on high speed while still in the water bath for exactly 5 minutes, remove from the water bath and beat 2 more minutes to cool it down. Over the Seven Minute Frosting I mounded some fresh raspberries because my favorite thing with chocolate is raspberries. By the way I also flavored the whipped cream with raspberry liquor and brushed some on top of the cake layers for more raspberry goodness and moistness. I really liked my new adventurous cake.

Maine trip

I didn't do a "Friday Night Meal" this week because we went to Rockland Maine Saturday and Sunday with plans to eat well! Tony was watching his favorite show "Anthony Bourdain No Reservations" where he traveled to Maine on the show and went to a restaurant that looked great (and come to find out it was great)! Tony looked it up on line just to check out the menu and it looked very good so he booked the hotel and made a reservation. The restaurant is called "Primo".

Primo's is in an old house that was converted into a restaurant 11 years ago. Nice big Victorian style house where they grow all there own vegetables and the meats are from a local farm where the animals are grass fed. After looking at the menu I was excited to try it out. I love to see a menu with approachable foods that sound like new or different combinations of ingredients. I don't like fancy restaurants that serve brains or liver or loads of seafood (because I am still new at seafood).

So we left around 10:00 am on Saturday, what's the rush? We figured it would be a 4 hour drive (well that's what the GPS said). We would stop for lunch somewhere in Maine where Tony could get a lobster roll (he was craving one). Well we hit traffic then more traffic and then more traffic!! We were hungry so we stopped off at Portsmith NH for lunch. We remembered a place we went to before with our friends that was good so we headed to "The Gas Light Co." restaurant. We sat in our favorite spot, right at the bar (this was more a food counter) right in front of the wood burning oven and watched the cooks at work. We had a beer and Tony got his lobster roll and I got a nice roll-up sandwich that had red pepper hummus, lettuce and onion flavored very nicely with a red wine vinaigrette. We both had coleslaw on the side. We got back on the road and hit a little more traffic but we finally got to the hotel at 4:30.

We had reservations at 5:30 and we decided we weren't going to be hungry in an hour, we felt like we just had lunch. We cancelled the reservations because on the web site for Primo's they said how there is ALWAYS a seat if you just walk in. We changed up for dinner and headed out about 5:30 with the idea we would go someplace for a drink first. We drove around a bit and soon decided we were ready to head to Primo's. We probably got there about 6:00 and he gave us a couple options of where we could sit and we chose the bar (of course, our favorite spot). The room was decorated just as I would do if it was my restaurant. The bar was covered in copper, the room was dimly lit, the wooden shelves to hold all the glasses and plates fit in perfectly. It was probably an old bedroom but you would never know it. On the bar they placed tall glasses every so often and filled them with long and thin bread sticks as a bar snack. There was a drink special on the chalk board and the other chalk board had a list of bottles of wine you could order that were newly delivered (a bit pricey, but I am sure delicious). The bartender handed us the rest of the bar menu. I ordered a drink that had rhubarb and prosecco, it sounded interesting with the rhubarb (he quickly said we are out of rhubarb, it will be made with nectarine instead) I was fine with that. Tony got the special drink of the day which was a "Rita Hayworth" it was made with Tequila, fresh cucumber puree, a splash of house made chili vodka and a salt rim. He liked that a lot. My second drink I wanted something more interesting so the ginger vodka cosmopolitan caught my eye (I love anything with ginger). It was very good.

We ordered dinner. I had the Farmer's Salad with Frisee, romaine and radicchio lettuces tossed with lemon and Parmesan vinaigrette, croutons, house made bacon and a poached egg. Then the Scaloppini of Pork "Saltimbocca" with roast garlic mashed potato, garden spinach, prosciutto and a sage-mushroom-Madeira jus. Tony got Pemaquid River Oysters roasted in the wood oven with lemon butter, chanterelles, cilantro and sweet corn. Then the Wood Grilled NY Strip Loin with crisp potato gnocchi, wild mushrooms and roast cipolline. We had to get dessert even though we were full (we did drive 6 1/2 hours to go to this restaurant). We shared two desserts...one was a molten chocolate cake with espresso gelato and fresh berries (see photo below). The second was a really moist carrot cake with a carrot syrup and a "cream cheese-cake" so the idea of that was the cheese-cake is like the cream cheese frosting that you would normally have on carrot cake. I have to say I liked the carrot cake dessert better but the chocolate dessert was very good too. We had cappuccino with our dessert.

For breakfast on Sunday morning we saw a place that sounded good, we listen to a pod-cast called "The Splendid Table" and the host of the show always talks to this married couple that goes to many restaurants and talks about them. Tony said the guy on that pod cast said this was a good place to get breakfast. We found it and it was closed. While we were driving to find that restaurant we noticed another popular looking place called "The Brass Compass Cafe". We stopped there because there was a sign in the window that said "Bobby Flay's Throwdown..." . I guess he had a "Throwdown" ( a show on food network) with the owner on lobster BLT and the lady won. So I had Eggs Benedict with home fries and Tony had Penobscot Bay Benedict which is made with a clam cake at the base of the eggs. He also had home fries and a side of corned beef hash. It was a good breakfast but nothing to write home about (look at me writing about it at home...).

We headed out of Rockland and figured we would stop here and there on the way home. We drove a couple hours to York Maine to check that out and maybe there would be a good spot by the water to have lunch. We drove all around and there was some spots that looked ok but it was so busy and no place to park, we kept driving down Rt 1 and we ended up driving into Kittery Maine. We saw a place right in the middle of all the outlet stores called Robert's Maine Grill. We gave it a shot and it was great, for a lunch place to get some good eats. Tony tried again and ordered the Jumbo Lobster Roll (the last one didn't do it for him). I got Turkey on grilled cranberry, orange and walnut bread. It had goat cheese, red onion, tomato, tarragon mayonnaise and baby spinach. We were both very happy with what we got, I loved my sandwich. Tony got onion rings and I got coleslaw again. We got in the car and headed home.

Friday Night Bites #8

This week was perfect! The prep was easy and came together quickly. The amount of food was perfect, we didn't feel full until the last course. Everything was delicious ( if I do say so myself). I had an appointment in the morning so (because of the timing) I bought the ice cream for dessert instead of making it and also the pound cake. It just turned out that everything else was very simple to bring together.

Reuben Spring Rolls with Russian Dipping Sauce

I don't know where this idea came from...I think I thought of using sauerkraut in something and it started there. However it came, it came, and I'm glad it came. I just used spring roll wrappers from the oriental market, some good corned beef from Whole Foods, sauerkraut, caraway seeds and Swiss cheese. Then you must dip the finished spring roll in something, and what better than Russian dressing. The dressing was a combination of Mayonnaise, ketchup, hot sauce, chives, capers and lemon juice.

Tomato and Onion Salad with Tamarind Dressing

I have been wanting to use Tamarind in something so I found an easy recipe, this salad. There were many other recipes I could have tried (more complicated and probably very good) but I had never had it before and what if I didn't like it? Then I would be waisting all that time only to find out we don't like the flavor. This was simple and light it's cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, green chili and cilantro. The dressing is tamarind puree, brown sugar and water. It was very good but I could only find one kind of Tamarind at Whole Foods and it was a concentrated one. I think there are better choices in the right kind of store. I served the salad in whole Romain lettuce leaves.

Fillet Mignon on a bed of Soft Potatoes with a Shiitake Madeira Cream Sauce

I wanted to use Madeira wine in something. Somebody was talking about Madeira wine and I thought "...I should use Madeira, I have some I haven't use lately..." So I looked on the Food Network.com for ideas, I typed in Madeira and this idea came out. I didn't follow the recipe exactly but I did take the idea. It was from Tyler Florance, one of his old shows "how to boil water". He did the whole beef tenderloin and roasted it in the oven and I just did 2 servings in a pan on the top of the stove and finished them in the oven while I made the sauce. I pretty much followed his recipe for the sauce except I didn't measure anything, just eyeballed it. You add some Shiitake mushrooms slice up into a pan with butter and cook over med-high heat for about 5 minutes, add shallots then salt and pepper and thyme. Add Madeira wine and reduce then add heavy cream and reduce until it thickens. I placed the fillet Mignon over a bed of mashed potatoes and then spooned the sauce over the fillet. I had just picked a tomato from the garden so I placed that on top sprinkled with flaky sea salt for a crunch.

Baked Alaska

I had been dying to make a baked alaska since our trip to NYC a few weeks back, when we had one for dessert at DBGB. I tried to make it look exactly like the one in NYC. I formed the ice cream in a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap for easy removal. First the vanilla ice cream and hollowing out a bit in the center for some raspberry sorbet. I topped it with a layer of chocolate ice cream and then I pressed a 3/4 inch layer of pound cake over that. I wrapped it with plastic wrap and into the freezer for a few hours. I made the meringue by whipping egg whites with cream of tarter and slowly adding sugar until it was stiff peaks but still shiny. I got out my piping bag with a big star tip and filled the bag with the meringue. I removed the ice cream from the loaf pan and put it on a serving platter (so now the pound cake is at the bottom and the vanilla ice cream is at the top). I piped on the meringue as I remember it looking then I took a blow torch and charred the meringue to look as it did at DBGB restaurant. I put it back in the freezer until we were ready for dessert. When I was ready to serve I cut two slices, each about an inch thick out of the center to get a nice pretty piece and placed them onto dishes. I poured over some Grand Marnier and lit it on fire. I loved the flavor the Chartreuse gave it at DBGB but we didn't have any. This came in at a very close second to the masterpiece at DBGB.

New York City Trip!

We went on a food trip this time with Lisa and John to NYC. We had a great time eating and drinking and figuring out the subway system. We stayed at The Thirty Thirty Hotel on 33rd and Park. It was a very nice hotel in a great location...and Lisa got it for a great deal. We arrived on Friday about 1:00. We parked the car and found the hotel then we set out for lunch. We headed to the closest place on Tony’s list.  That was “Blue Smoke”. Tony and I had already been there on our last trip but we only had a drink and an appetizer because we weren’t really hungry at the time. This time we would have a proper lunch. We shared a couple appetizers, “The BBQ Potato Chips with Blue Cheese Dressing Dip” and “Deviled Eggs” that had been seasoned with cumin and powdered mustard (if our guess’ were right). Then I got the salmon with fennel, onion and zucchini. Tony got the beef brisket sandwich and Lisa and John shared the muscles and a salad of greens, goat’s cheese, peas and radishes with a wine vinaigrette.

We walked on and decided to stop at Grand Central Station just to check it out again and maybe we’d find something to eat. We stopped at the Oyster Bar where John and Tony shared just 6 oysters (we still weren’t hungry really), they got 3 New Zealand and 3 Wellfleet. We had a beer or two and we were on our way. We walked through Grand Central Market and Lisa bought me some Madjool Dates and some fresh Lychee fruit.

We made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner; we had reservations at 6:30 at DBGB restaurant. DBGB is a Daniel Boulud restaurant. We definitely wanted to try this one after seeing it featured on a couple different shows and after we had a great lunch at Bar Boulud (another of his restaurants) last time. This was just as good, maybe less choices for Lisa and I but what we had was good. I had the pork, Lisa had the chicken, and Tony and John both got house made sausages (there specialty) and they shared so they got to taste 4 instead of 2. Lisa and John shared the Frozen Tiramisu Sandwich and Tony and I shared the Baked Alaska for two (which could’ve been for four, so Lisa and John were able to try that too). It was a fantastic finish to the dinner.

We headed back to the hotel with the idea we would stop and have a drink somewhere on the way. The sky was about to open up and it would be a doozey; we had to hurry and find something… We sat down in front of our hotel restaurant where that was a cover, so it can rain all it wants now, we made it! Then the sky opened and boy were we glad we were under cover. We had a drink and we really could only stuff 1 or 2 drinks in our bellies, after all we had been eating and drinking all day.

On Saturday morning we had reservations at 10:00 for brunch at Balthazar Restaurant. We met between our two rooms (only a few doors down) in the morning so we could head out and find our way to Balthazar. Lisa had a fantastic idea that we would take the subway and get an all day pass. We got there a little early so we walked around a kitchen store while we waited. At 10:00 we sat down at the restaurant. Tony and I had also been to Balthazar before, but thought it was a good place to bring Lisa and John for breakfast/brunch. Bobby Flay said Balthazar has the best French fries he’s ever eaten so after Lisa heard that she had to order them as a “home-fry kind-a-thing” and let me tell you, they are very good! I had the eggs Florentine with artichokes. Tony had the eggs with salmon, which Tony has had there a couple times and he can’t get enough of that dish. Lisa had eggs in a puff pastry shell with asparagus that she really liked. John had eggs benedict. We were served some nice French style breads (they are famous for there bread bakery attached right to the restaurant) and they were all good.

We headed out and got on the subway to go to the NYC Library. We found the right one after stopping at a very unexciting library first; Lisa was looking for the beautifully designed one with arches and murals on the ceilings. We headed to Times Square and walked around a bit and found a brewery for a snack and a beer. Tony and I shared BBQ chicken quesadillas and Lisa and John shared spring rolls. It was getting later now and we had to head back to the hotel to relax a little before dinner. But we couldn’t resist the sign outside the hotel on the other side of the building that said…” Happy Hour Specials”… so we stopped there and Lisa had a Cosmo special, the rest of us had beer (I think).

After relaxing we headed to LeHalles for dinner. Tony and I had been to this restaurant before too and it was always very good (lunch and quick snack) but we were all a little disappointed in our dinner tonight. The excitement though was when Tony ordered Steak Tartar for an appetizer and Lisa who doesn’t eat red meat couldn’t believe the guy who made the Tartar tableside wasn’t going to bring it back in the kitchen to cook it. Tartar is freshly ground tenderloin or a good cut of meat that is mixed with a few flavorings and served raw. The problem was that the kitchen was way too fast in making our main course that we think it sat under a heat lamp for 15 minutes before it was served to us because we were still on our appetizers and that was just enough time to overcook every one of our (cooked) steaks and Lisa’s chicken which was JUST DRUMSTICKS, no breast! Very disappointing! We still had to pay the bill, I felt very bad.

We started walking (this time) to make our way to the southern most tip, to sit by the water and have a cocktail. We walked back up the eastern edge until we found a nice place to view the water. We sat outside and it was dark out so you could see Lady Liberty in the distance holding up her torch. There was a concert on one of the islands and so the ferries were busy bringing everyone over to the island. Lisa ordered some fried plantains and some chips, we all had some beers. After walking that much Lisa’s and My feet were killing us so we found the subway for the way back.

The next morning (Sunday) we decided we would have breakfast and hit the road. Right in the hotel there was a nice little restaurant that served breakfast and we just did that. We checked out and got the car. We couldn’t resist one more meal together as we were driving through Connecticut, Frank Pepe’s Pizza. Tony and I had made the drive from home a few times because it’s so good and really only about an hours drive from home. This may have been Lisa’s favorite meal. Lisa loves a good pizza, like the rest of us. We had a pitcher of beer and great fresh tomato, garlic, mozzarella cheese pizza and it hit the spot!

Friday Night Bites #7

I usually start cooking for dinner as soon as Tony leaves in the morning for work on Friday's and I end up in the kitchen all day. I forced myself to start after lunch so I had some time in the morning to do some other things. It worked out pretty good. I got everything done still ahead of time so I got to relax outside in the later afternoon too. Compared to two weeks ago when I took it too far.

Blinis topped 3-ways

I never made blinis before and I liked them. I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit, January 09 for Whole Wheat Blinis with American Caviar. Since I didn't want to do the caviar I tried to come up with other ideas for toppings and I thought of three and figured I'd try them all. One was a dollop of sour cream with grated lemon zest over top and then some finely diced roasted red peppers. Another was goat's cheese that I rolled in ground pistachio nuts, I chilled it then sliced into rounds and topped it with Balsamic Jelly (that I saw a recipe for in Bon Appitit, Aug 10). The third way was caramelized onions topped with blue cheese. Our favorites were the last two. The sour cream and roasted red pepper was good but when we ate the other two there was an explosion of flavors in our mouths.

Suppli over Micro Basil Salad

Suppli [SOO-plee] is an Italian style Croquette made with risotto and stuffed with cheese, coated in egg wash and bread crumbs and deep fried. I always thought the name of that was Arancine [ah-rahn-CHEE-neh], but I looked up arancine for the spelling in my "Food Lover's Companion" book and the description was a Sicilian specialty with the use of Saffron rice balls that are filled with meat, meat sauce or cheese and deep fried. So they are almost the same but I was using risotto so I thought I would use the correct name. So anyway...I made the risotto first thing after lunch so it would have time to cool in the refrigerator, the risotto has to be cold in order to form it into balls and for it to hold (the origin of this recipe comes from having left over risotto).

So I used an ice cream scoop to make them uniform in size and I made an indent in the ball and placed a chunk of fresh mozzarella in it and formed more risotto over the cheese to enclose it and form a perfect round with cheese in the middle. I let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours until I was ready to fry them off. It's a good idea to let them sit in the refrigerator anyway so they get really solid (you don't want them falling apart in the oil). I coated them with beaten egg and then Panko bread crumbs, I let them sit about 10 minutes and then I fried them in canola oil just until they turned a golden brown and I removed them from the oil and onto a sheet pan and into a 375 degree oven for 5-7 minutes just to make sure the inside is hot and the cheese is melted. I put one on top of a little basil salad I made with "Globe Basil" from my garden and a small dice of tomatoes. I drizzled olive oil and lemon juice over the salad with a little salt and pepper. This was a winner! Anybody would love this and it really is easy.

Two Cheese Flatbread Rounds with Asparagus Tips, Egg Yolk and Parsley Chive Oil

I love a dish that has egg yolk oozing somewhere in or on it, and that's where this idea started. I wanted a really crunchy crust to hold up to the oozing egg yolk so instead of my regular recipe for pizza dough (which is very good) I used Jim Lahey's recipe which I made a couple other times and it's a really strong and really good crust. I formed the flatbread into rounds (Friday Night Bites sized) and topped it with some cheese. We love Boucheron cheese and I used Emmenthaler cheese too. I place three asparagus tips on the top and popped them in the oven at 400 degrees. After 15-20 minutes when they were pretty much done, I took them out and placed an egg yolk in the center of the asparagus, then popped them back in the oven. Set the timer for 3 minutes and they were perfectly done... (it made a perfect breakfast this morning too, using the leftover's). I smashed up some chives and parsley in my mortar and pestle then added olive oil and salt, and after letting it sit for an hour and letting the herbs soak with the oil, I had chive and parsley oil that I drizzled on the flatbread just before serving. Delicious!

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Turnips, Cauliflower and Goose Berries

On our "Food Trip" to Chicago a few weeks back we had this dish at Avec Restaurant and it was a highlight from that trip. I got the gist of the recipe down and it was really good but I couldn't remember if there was lemon or balsamic or something like that in it. I basically seared some boneless skinless chicken thighs in a pan with oil, removed the chicken and poured off the extra fat. To the hot pan I added cauliflower, turnips, onions and salt then scrape up the bits at the bottom of the pan and deglaze with white wine, let it reduce and add chicken stock and the chicken back in. I put the lid on and into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I knew I would reheat it later so I didn't want to cook it too long at this point. I left it in a low oven for an hour and when I was ready to serve I put the oven on 400, took the lid off and let it cook about 20 minutes more. The dish we had in Chicago had fresh currents added at the end, I couldn't find them at the store but I came across goose berries so I gave that a try. It was super tender and really good. Next time I would put the cauliflower in later, they were a little too soft, I would have liked some more texture to them.

Mint Julep Panna Cotta

This was in our new favorite magazine called "Imbibe Magazine" which is all about fancy cocktails and non alcoholic drinks too, and they have a handful of food recipes in each one. This one was Tony's request. You cook down some bourbon in one pan and set aside. You very slowly (30 minutes) bring up to a simmer some milk, cream, sugar, vanilla bean and fresh mint, this gives plenty of time for the mint to get infused into the cream mixture. Then basically you add some softened gelatin and mix in the reduced bourbon and pour into serving cups or ramekins to set up in the refrigerator. Panna cotta of any kind is so easy to do. It tasted like a mint julep and it was very good.

Friday Night Bites #6

I started the dough for the mini French Baguettes on Thursday night, (it's the Jim Lahey method of a slow 12-18 hour rise). On Friday morning I made the ricotta cheese from whole milk and lemon juice for the Ricotta Panna Cotta and the stuffed squash blossoms. After that I made the custard for the homemade vanilla ice cream and got that chilling while I went on the treadmill for a work-out. After my shower I made the pastry dough for the Almond Cream and Blueberry Tart and got that chilling, then the homemade pasta sheets and the dressing for the salad and the............

I did too much! I have been missing my Friday Nights the past few weeks because of our anniversary and the prep for the big party and then the party, so I wanted to cook, but I went too far. Everything was good but by 7:30 PM I was wiped out!

Spring Mix Salad with Fennel Foliage and Fried Chick Peas with Homemade Bread and European Butter

The dressing included shallots, garlic, lemon juice and zest, spicy mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. I coated some canned chick peas (that I drained, rinsed and dried) in rice flour and fried until golden in Safflower Oil, removed to paper towel and seasoned with salt and pepper. Picked some Fennel tops from the garden and tossed it with the spring mix lettuce. A handful of really good olives (about 4-5 different ones) from Whole Foods. I combined all the components of the salad and topped with the dressing. Served some crusty homemade baguettes and really good European butter from the cheese department of Whole Foods along side. It was lemony and fennel-ly goodness to start things off.

Ricotta Panna Cotta with Crispy Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms

I found a recipe in a Bon Appetite magazine a while ago for homemade ricotta cheese, and I have used this recipe to make goat cheese, by just substituting goat's milk instead of cow's milk. Its 1/2 gallon of whole milk in a sauce pan and 1/2 tsp salt; bring to a simmer and add 3 Tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice; continue simmering and after about 2 minutes, remove the cheese curds that form with a slotted spoon to a cheese cloth lined colander; let sit for 1 minute to drain and transfer cheese to a bowl. I made the panna cotta by following a recipe in my "joy of cooking", and in place of the milk I put in the ricotta (1/2 the sugar and no vanilla and a pinch of salt). For the squash blossoms I mixed together the ricotta with an egg, salt, pepper and fresh tarragon (for a change). I have planted squash in the yard just to get the blossoms and it seems to work out good, I am letting a couple actual squash grow too. I usually make a tempura batter for the squash blossoms and that works fine, but I saw that someone on line dipped it into egg and flour and I tried that (that's what Friday Nights are all about, trying new things), I won't do it that way again, tempura is better. As far as the panna cotta goes, it was good but I should have used no sugar at all.

Swiss Ravioli, Chicken Tenders and Crispy Prosciutto on a Bed of Soft Eggs, topped with Sage Cream Sauce

We were watching a show and they showed a chef (who was making small dishes) who was finishing a dish by taking some just boiled ravioli and putting it into another pan that had eggs, and tossed that pan to cook the eggs in and around the raviolis, he plated it and put on a sauce. I did a spin on that idea. I put just a square of Swiss cheese into small ravioli shapes and boiled that up, and put it into eggs that I had beaten and just started to cook. I also made a sage cream sauce, I cooked off just about 6 pieces of chicken tenders, put slices of prosciutto in the oven to crisp up and brought it all together for form kind-of-a...saltimbocca--cordon bleu kind of thing. It was good I'd like to taste it again today (but I only made a small amount) to really tell you if it was perfect, it may have been too much sauce and egg and cheese in one dish, a little too heavy, but the flavors were really good together.

Blueberry and Almond Cream Tart wit Almond Strusel topping and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

I didn't have a good idea for dessert but I knew I wanted to use some blueberries I had in the refrigerator (there was a two for one special at the store), and I wanted to make an almond cream, which is basically a mixture of eggs, almond flour, butter and sugar that can be the base of a tart. I also was interested in a strusel topping I saw Ann Burrell do on her show. It looked different and it had whole wheat flour and oats and vanilla, I put everything together to come up with this. It was very good, if I had a few more blueberries I would have put a bit more in. I served it with the homemade vanilla ice cream. I used my vanilla sugar in my pantry, which is just regular granulated sugar in a mason jar and every time I scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean, I submerge the vanilla pod into the sugar, the sugar picks up all that great vanilla flavor and you just keep adding sugar and vanilla pods and it will last forever.