Month: February 2008

February 26, 2008

I hardly ever used to cook steak; lamb and duck are more interesting (and also best cooked rare.) There are not so many cuts of beef that I love. But now that we have a water bath, steak is much more interesting. First off, any flavoring agents really get pushed into the meat by the vacuum-sealing. Second, it’s always perfectly done all the way through with no possibility of overcooking. And last, less tender cuts…

February 24, 2008

Today was just gorgeous. Sunny, well into the 40s- though shaded snow stayed powdery all day- it nonetheless harbinged Spring something fierce. By midafternoon the sun had melted off enough of the accumulated snow and ice in the garden that I was able to wrest the plastic from withunder and take a look at how the veggies have been faring. One of the benefits of so much snow is that they’ve been left to their…

February 22, 2008

The fridge was getting silly with crowded containers of leftovers, so I took those that were not certifiable biohazards and tried to convert them into something good. To start, some of the local 10-grain mix went in the rice cooker- it’s a beautiful thing, since some dissolve while others remain toothsome- they cover the full spectrum of doneness and have a really rich flavor. Then, the baked sweet potatoes from last night, the pheasant broth…

February 21, 2008

I like stuff in my burgers. Not a ton of things, or any big chunks, but minced onion and garlic, herbs, and occasional spices can all elevate the experience to something much nicer than the usual (as can using local, organic meat.) They can also be halfway healthy, too- especially if you bake rather than fry the sweet potatoes, and serve them with a brassica-heavy mesclun, braised fennel, and roasted beets on a spelt English…

February 20, 2008

I’ve been obsessed with this wine-braised fennel lately; I first “invented” it in Chicago a dozen years ago (although then I usually used muscat, because I liked the sweetness) and it’s so luxurious and wintry that it goes with everything this time of year, and I’m craving it. Fennel has this way of storing summer’s bright sweetness deep into winter, and now that spring is creeping up on us, I find myself craving it a…

February 19, 2008

Christine’s sister & Mike visited us on their way back to the city Monday which gave me an excuse to make pâté. I had bought some pork shoulder, fatback, and chicken livers in anticipation, so I ground them all together (after browning the livers and deglazing with Armagnac) with lots of herbs, spices, and garlic. I also added a couple of eggs and a spill of flour for a panade, and green peppercorns for texture…

February 18, 2008

Last weekend when Chris and I had the 2000 Gemstone cab we also drank a 2005 White Barn Black Blend, made from the same vineyard as Coturri‘s Albarello but in a decidedly different style. It’s funny, because the fancy-ass boutiquey overpriced cab got its ass kicked by this tangy, funky, multi-faceted, inexpensive homebrew with no label; with Chris’ excellent beef stew, you’d think the Bordeaux blend would be a no-brainer, but the Black Blend kept…

February 17, 2008

We had a few of the crew over for dinner, and everyone brought something. We began with the peanut soup, enhanced with cayenne and togarashi, and complemented incredibly with the rest of the Moulin Touchais. It was like peanut butter and jelly all over again. Crazy good when the spice and rich peanut flavors collided with the big tangy-sweet grapey wine. Pure pleasure. Next, John’s poke of gorgeous ‘ahi and Liz’s collard rolls with carrots…

February 15, 2008

So herewith the tardy Valentine’s dinner: I tried to combine decadent pleasure with some of the things already in the fridge to make good use of some of the nicer leftovers. The first course was kind of a riff on peanut butter and jelly; seared foie gras trimmed into heart shapes on raisin toast with homemade grape jelly and some of the peanut soup underneath, garnished with Indonesian long pepper. We had a glass of…

February 14, 2008

Alright, it’s lame. I admit it. But I had a finite amount of paint mixed, and it wasn’t going to last until tomorrow; it needed to go on the piece today before it dried on the table. So this is what I was able to pull off. Lasagna (jerusalem artichoke pasta, with ricotta, tomatoes, herbs, and smoked mozzarella.) And a really nice mesclun salad. And a bottle of the ever-awesome and love-inducing Pleiades XV, the…