Month: September 2007

September 20, 2007

Plating, schmating. This was money. Local, organic lamb leg steak with endive mash, kale, and little cakes made from the leftover yam-sweet potato mixture with black olives, lemon zest, and Moroccan spices added. All drizzled with a reduction I made from the lamb chop bones in the fridge, mirepoix, bay leaf, and red wine. I got started early on this, which is why the reduction had time to happen, since I was blanching and freezing…

September 20, 2007

I’ve been working like mad to get ready for a show, so dinners have been necessarily limited in scope. This time, a good hunk of salmon in the oven for a few minutes with ras-el-hanout, salt, pepper, herbs, and paprika got just firm while I steamed Japanese yams and sweet potatoes to whip together and I busted out some mash since summer is ending and the simple pleasure of fresh bitter greens is about to…

September 20, 2007

Milo got another cold- mild, but still requiring this sort of medicine: a broth made from mirepoix and chicken thighs in which cannelini cooked for two hours, and into which I dumped broccoli, parsley, and peas at the last minute. Just before that, some frozen porcini agnolotti from the store had a simmer. A 2006 “Petit Bourgeois” Chavignol (by Henri Bourgeois) sauvignon blanc was good, but a tad crisp and austere for such hearty peasant…

September 18, 2007

Christine got some fresh cream from Juliette’s cow, so I pulled out the stand mixer and within a few minutes it was glorious butter. Washed, salted, and rolled in wax paper, it waited patiently for me to make another loaf of bread the next day. Homemade bread and butter with homemade grape jelly for breakfast- the apotheosis of simple, local, and delicious. My brother and I ate it together and remembered our Mother, who made…

September 13, 2007

This isn’t the best picture I’ve ever taken, but it tasted pretty great; Christine was out shopping for Milo’s birthday party and I figured she’d come home tired, stressed, and hungry. One of the keys to my marriage is anticipating such contingencies and dispatching them with appropriate culinary remedies. Thus lamb chops (shoulder, which I prefer to loin for both price and character) along with mash, a ragout of zucchini, leek, artichoke, carrot, celery, fennel,…

September 13, 2007

My Brother came by for the night, and it was still cool and rainy, so I made suitable food for the occasion- casual, but refined, and above all yummy. Local organic beef stew meat plus soaked kidney beans, mirepoix, smoked chicken broth, spices, and tomato paste became a first-rate chili after a couple of hours. Potatoes and zucchini with a sauce of milk, yogurt, leftover cream of garden soup, plus grated goat cheddar, pecorino, and…

September 12, 2007

Faced with a cool day, perfect things in the garden, and some milk left in the jar we got from Juliette, a creamed soup seemed to be the right choice. Tofu provided a nice flavor and textural complement, as well as protein. So the heavenly mirepoix from the garden began a really nice soup that then included potatoes, leeks, and broccoli, then got stick-blended with milk into a thick unstrained purée; I wanted this rustic…

September 9, 2007

I remembered to soak some mung beans when I came back from our walk, so they cooked pretty fast when it was time to make dinner. Into a pan of our divine mirepoix they went, with water and pepper, and simmered while I took the chicken mushrooms from calzone night and added them plus some maitake (confusingly referred to as hen-of-the-woods) to smoked chicken broth I made with all the carcasses from the party. Bean…

September 9, 2007

Over the weekend we went to the farm stand at the flea market in town and got a big bag of plum tomatoes to can (ours are almost ripe, but won’t be anywhere near enough.) Cooked down, they yielded 5 1/2 quarts. Today, Christine and Milo picked all of our ripe many-colored cherry tomatoes- they magically just filled our 6 quart stockpot- and I cooked and strained them into 4 quart jars. Not enough to…

September 9, 2007

The happy coexistence of leftover ratatouille and homemade pizza dough in the fridge led me inexorably (and lazily, but that’s what leftovers are for) to a calzone. To accompany, fabulous salad from the newly exploding bed of fall lettuces, a side of chicken-of-the-woods sautéed quickly with guanciale, garlic, and parsley, and a sauce made from the few plum tomatoes that remained from canning. Good food for a rainy evening- hearty, but it is still summer…