Friday Night: Bagna Cauda

Since we had a lot of veggies that are suited for it, we had bagna cauda on Friday. I followed the recipe in Hazan for the dip and we ate it with cardoons[CSA], arthichokes, asparagus, and yellow pepper. To serve the dish we jury-rigged a warming dish by setting the bowl with the dip on top of a ramekin in a pot of boiling water. We switched pots of boiler water every 10 minutes to make sure the dip stayed warm.

Before serving, I parboiled the cardoons and steamed the artichokes and asparagus.

This was very nice food.

Wine: Rosemount Estates 2002 GSM. Not the best pairing, but it worked ok.

Thursday: "Oh! So sorrel!"

Last night we finished off the pasta and sauce from Wednesday. To go with it I made a cauliflower[CSA]-parmesan gratin from Hazan and another batch of butter-stewed chard[CSA]. The cauliflower thing, which differs from our normal baked cauliflower in that it's boiled first, was very nice.

However, when I went to adjust the seasonings on the chard, I discovered that I had grabbed the wrong bag from the fridge and cooked the sorrel. That explains why it didn't behave like chard. :-) Even after adding a bit of cream this was still a bit too intense to eat as a vegetable, so it's in the fridge to make soup with. I know I tasted a leaf before I pulled the bag, but I either got a very mild leaf or I was really not paying attention.

Wednesday Night Miscellany

We got a new CSA box yesterday. In this week's box were... cardoons! Two bunches of cardoons, in fact, because there was a bunch in the trade box. Since I've been wanting to cook with cardoons for a while, it was a no brainer to trade a bunch of cilantro for the cardoons.

Of course I had to do something with them last night. I started simple just to get a feeling for what they taste like and how they behave. After figuring out an efficient way to peel the stalks, I cut them into 3 inch strips and tossed them in acidulated water (suggestion from CPV). I boiled them for about half an hour in salted acidulated water, drained them, and then sauteed them off in some olive oil. The taste was still rather bitter to be served plain, so I added some balsamico to the pan to add some acid and sweetness. The end result was good, but not fabulous. I've still got 2-3 meals worth of the veggie left, so I'll see about alternative serving modes. Maybe I can figure some way to use it with the pound of sorrel that also came in this weeks box. A pound of sorrel. A *pound* of sorrel.

I also made a bit of chard [CSA] by parboiling it in salted water and then stewing it with some butter and white pepper. That was very good.

The main course was pasta (fusilli) with a sauce made from caramelized leeks [CSA], tomatoes, lardons, chopped italian sausage (the last of the sausage from the charcuterie night), red wine, and thyme [CSA]. Topped with some parmesan, this was very nice.

Of course we had a green salad too.

The wine was a Valley of the Moon 1999 Barbera. Not great, but not bad.

Tuesday Night: Leftovers + Asparagus Poriyal

Last night we did leftover fried chicken and cauliflower sambar. To supplement that, I followed the Dakshin recipe for green bean poriyal, but I used asparagus instead. The results were unusual because we're so used to asparagus with western flavors, but very good.

Memo to self: don't forget the poriyal technique as a general recipe for vegetables.

Monday Night Celebration

Andrea handed in her thesis yesterday, so we had a little celebratory meal. Andrea requested Indian food; this is what I made:

1. Cauliflower sambar (from Dakshin)
   
2. Spicy Indian "home fries" (from BittmanWorld). This is basically home fries with mustard seeds, cumin, chili, and amchoor. I used dried chili instead of fresh, and that was just fine.
   
3. Parsi-style fried chicken (from BittmanWorld).
4. Basmati rice

This made way too much food, but it was all good. I particularly liked the amchoor on the potatoes; it complemented the mustard very well.

The wine was a bottle of A.G. Ferrari prosecco, which matched both the mood and the food.

Saturday Night Grilling

Yesterday we fired up the grill for the first time this year. I chose to start slow, so I can be sure I haven't forgotten how it works. ;-)

Dinner was grilled sausages (the remainders from the charcuterie night), grilled leeks, guacamole, and fried plantains with chipotle salsa. Notes:

1. The only plantains we could find yesterday were overly ripe for this dish, so the fried plantains were a bit too sweet and the texture wasn't right. Still, fried plantains with chipotle salsa are just sooooo good.
2. The leeks really took on a nice smoke flavor; they could have used a bit of sauce (maybe either a vinaigrette with sherry vinegar or a mayonnaise? perhaps a tarragon mayonnaise?), but there were already enough disparate flavors on our plates. Still, this is something to remember for the future: grilled leeks good.
   
3. The garlic sausages grilled up really nicely.
   

Wine: David Bruce 2002 Paso Robles Petit Syrah; This would have been a bit too intense for non-grilled food, but it went nicely with this meal.

Wednesday Night

It was a busy week, so I'm having to catch up.
To go along with the leftover beans and ham from Tuesday, on Wednesday I made asparagus sauteed with chorizo, almonds, and croutons (from JPFF); and a potato-turnip-carrot gratin (from CPV, but I added the carrots).

The asparagus dish was excellent. The gratin had excellent flavor, but was waaay too soupy. I'm guessing I didn't pack the veggies tightly enough in the baking dish.

The wine was a bottle of Bastardo.

Tuesday: Pork and Beans

This was a pretty simple dish made by cooking a bunch of garlic and diced onion in olive oil until soft and adding some stock, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, a couple sprigs of thyme[CSA], and some cubes of smoked ham that we browned in a separate pan. After cooking for 5-10 minutes, I added two cans of drained white beans, mixed gently, covered the pan and simmered for another 10 minutes or so to meld the flavors. Simple and delicious.

As sides I did asparagus sauteed with shallots (a la JPFF) and broccoli [CSA] that I pan steamed with a bit of olive oil and preserved lemon peel. Both were very good.

Of course we had a green salad.

Wine: the last of the Marques de Cacera Rioja.

Sunday Night: Snapper and Potato Patties

I've been saying for the past couple weeks that I should make the potato-crusted fish fillet dish from FStoS but somehow never getting around to it. Then we had a dish at Kaygetsu with ice fish pieces mixed with shredded potato, formed into small patties, and deep fried; that reinforced the need for fish and potato.

So yesterday we picked up a snapper fillet from the fish guy at the farmers market and I made:

Snapper and Potato Patties

3/4 pound snapper fillet, cut into 1/4" strips
4 medium yukon gold potatoes, shredded
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 egg, beaten
salt, pepper, cayenne

Wrap the shredded potato in a kitchen towl and twist out as much moisture as possible, then place in a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix gently, but well.
Form into small, reasonably flat patties, and saute in olive oil until nicely browned on each side.
Serve hot.

The fish was quite good. It would have been even better if it were deep fried, but that was a pain in the ass I wasn't willing to take on.

As sides, I made broccoli [CSA] sauteed with ginger threads and butter; and mashed golden turnips [CSA] (peel, dice, microwave until soft, mash, add a bit of cream, salt, and white pepper). And we had a green salad.

Wine: Marques de Cacera Rioja, 2002

Saturday Charcuterie

Last night we did the big charcuterie evening over at Cati and Jons. We had rillettes and pate from last weekend, some duck confit that I made this week, and three types of sausage (red wine and garlic, hot italian, and sweet italian) that Cati made. To go along with that there was potatoes roasted in duck fat (with thyme and rosemary), a green salad, bread, a beautiful cheese plate, sauteed asparagus, and copious wine.

Since there wasn't enough other food, Cati made a couple of very nice cakes for dessert.

The charcuterie all turned out pretty well:

1. the rillettes were undersalted and a bit subtle in this company
2. the pate was ugly until Andrea decorated it, but it tasted fabulous
3. it's hard to go wrong with duck legs cooked in duck fat; I didn't get the crispy skin I wanted, but that was no huge tragedy.
4. Andrea and I both *really* liked the garlic sausage. The italians sausages were good, but they didn't compete with the garlic. I'm kind of curious to see if my opinions there change after the sausages have a bit of time for flavors to meld.
   

The specific wines I remember are:

1. Prosecco from AG Ferrari
2. a white bordeaux that was nice, but a massive change of gears from the prosecco
3. a malbec
   
4. a zinfandel
5. a CDP (1999 Quartz)
6. a sauternes

but I think that list isn't complete and I should ask Cati for more details.

Friday Night Pasta

For Friday's dinner I chopped up some broccoli rabe and green onion [both CSA] and sauteed them with some crushed garlic cloves, a couple dried cayenne peppers. We ate this quickie sauce over spaghetti.

For a side I did caramelized carrots with cream. That stuff is just soooo good.

Naturally we had a green salad with this.

Wine was the remaining McManis Cab.

Microreview: Kaygetsu in Menlo Park

Last night Andrea and I went to Kaygetsu and did their kaiseki dinner with sake pairings.

Other than some minor blips in the service (unfortunate given the price tag on the meal), it was a very, very nice experience. The food was absolutely beautiful and excellent, and the sake pairings were most interesting. We don't really know sake at all, so it was fun to try the different styles.

Oh, and did I mention that the food was excellent? :-)

Wednesday Night: Veggie Fest

Yesterday we got a new CSA box, so I needed to finish out older veggies and start using up the new ones. Here's what we had:

1. Cremini mushrooms diced and sauteed with finely chopped Spanish chorizo, shallots, and fresh thyme [CSA]. Served on thin pieces of toast, drizzled with truffle oil.
   
2. Red cabbage [CSA] braised in stock and orange juice
3. Diced butternut squash and carrots (both [CSA]), roasted with olive oil, whole cumin, and ground coriander. Served with a sauce made from chipotles, lime juice, thinly sliced scallion, and minced garlic.
4. Green salad

The wine was McManis 2004 cab, which complemented the food pretty well. Particularly for an $8 bottle of wine.

Tuesday Night: Quickie Pasta Sauce + Braised Broccoli

Last night I used up the last of the roasted chicken making a quick pasta sauce with copious olive oil, chopped garlic, sliced leek, diced chicken, a bit of crushed red pepper, stock (from making rillettes), and finely diced preserved lemon peel. I reduced the sauce a lot to concentrate the flavors and added the lemon peel at the very end. This went very nicely over spaghetti, topped with some fresh parsley, parmesan, and drizzle of good olive oil.

As sides I braised the last of the stalky broccoli from the farmers market in a bit of stock and Andrea made a chopped salad with persian cucumber, red pepper, avocado, and spanish radish.

The wine was Mauritson's 2003 Sauvignon Blanc.

Monday Dinner: Leftovers + Braised Broccoli

Last night we had leftover roasted chicken with preserved lemon and stuck pot rice. To go along with the leftovers, I braised some broccoli (the stalky thin kind from the farmers market) with leeks in a combination of stock (the stock used for making rillettes over the weekend) and cream. We also had a green salad.

Not that we're frequently going to have stock with quite as much flavor as that stuff, but this was still an awfully good side.

I'm going to try and remember to start recording our wines along with the food: last night we drank Mauritson's 2003 sauvignon blanc. This was a much better choice than the Ridge 2001 Santa Cruz Mountains blend (bordeaux) that we drank with the chicken on Saturday, but then that was just silly.

Sunday: pre-charcuterie and Joe's special

Yesterday we did some preparation with Jon and Cati for a planned charcuterie meal for next weekend. We made a batch each of rillettes and pate de compagne, and started the cure for some duck confit. For all this we followed recipes from Cati's book Charcuterie. No real report so far on how these things turned out, since they aren't done yet, but preliminary indications are that the rillettes and pate taste pretty good. :-)

For dinner I made a pan of Joe's Special using dino kale Cati brought from her garden and Cati made a batch of braised veggies (baby artichokes, carrots, onion, asparagus, bacon) and a big salad. It's hard to go too wrong with either Joe's Special or the braised veggies, and we didn't.

Saturday: Roasted Chicken with Preserved Lemons, Rice with Potato Crust

The preserved lemons I started back in March had officially pickled for long enough, so I did a roasted chicken on Saturday using one. I took the pulp and rubbed most of it under the skin of the breast and thighs, then rubbed the rest of the pulp and put one quarter of the rind in the body cavity. We ate the bird with diced rind from the rest of the lemon and a sauce made from pan juices deglazed with some vermouth. The chicken was very good - the lemons have a really nice flavor that complements the chicken pretty well. I'm not sure that it would be worth the wait of doing preserved lemons just for this dish, but it certainly is nice if you just happen to have some.

To go along with the chicken, I also made a Bittman recipe from earlier in the year for rice with a potato crust. I'd been thinking of making this for a couple of weeks and it was a good excuse to use up some CSA fennel. The rice turned out great, but next time I think we shouldn't cut the potatoes with the ceramic slicer: the slices were just too thin for the dish.

Naturally we had a green salad to accompany.

Thursday: Stirfry

Last night I made kung pao chicken from the recipe in BittmanWorld (no peanuts though). This is pretty quick, simple, and very good. I served the chicken over rice (of course).

As a side, I made a "chopped salad" of diced daikon, carrot, spanish radish, scallion, and red pepper that I salted for a while (not the red pepper) then dressed with sesame oil and xiao-xing wine and served on leaf lettuce.

Wednesday Leftovers

Last night's dinner was leftover Japanese food from Tuesday. The fried fish crisped up nicely in the toaster oven.

Because there was a bit less food (no more broiled tofu), I also made a bit of miso soup with the remaining dashi, scallions, and the barley-mushroom miso.

Tuesday: Japanese

Last night I made a few things out of Washoku:

1. Broiled tofu with miso sauces (spicy red miso and leek miso)
   
2. Simmered daikon on citrus miso
3. Carrots and yam cake in creamy tofu sauce
4. Fried halibut

To add some dark green to the plate I also did a quick pickle with japanese cucumbers sliced on a bias using the ceramic slicer. After salting the cucumber for about 20 minutes, I rinsed it, squeezed it out, and tossed it with some ponzu sauce, mirin, and rice vinegar. I served the pickles topped with a drop of sesame oil.

Of course we also had rice.

This meal was a beautiful plate and a fabulous demonstration of "things you can do with soy". It was also very tasty.