Kebabs

For dinner last night Craig grilled kebabs and baby bok choi.  The ones you can see are wild caught US shrimp and turkey chorizo.  It was our first experience with turkey chorizo, and I recommend sticking with the less healthy original--this was sort of dry and didn't have a great texture.  Underneath are more kebabs of grape tomatoes and whole mushrooms, and underneath those is a wild rice blend.  Very tasty.  We drank a dry Argentinian rose, a nice summer wine.

We're eating so many garden greens right now, I thought I'd post a picture of their source.  You can see that things are starting to bolt, especially the arugula, but soon we'll have CSA greens and the garden can move on to beans and brussels sprouts.  I seeded a bunch of herbs, but right now we're making do with all the cilantro volunteers and a couple of parsley plants I bought.

Grilled Pizza!

Ben gave us a pizza stone for our grill for a wedding gift and I tried it out for the first time on Wednesday. I bought the fresh ww dough from Olga's bakery, and topped it with leftover asparagus ravioli fililng, roasted garlic, sauteed mushrooms and shallot, pesto, and mozzarella. YUM. Unfortunately, the stand for the stone was a little high, so when I closed the grill the top of the pizza got messed up. Next time we'll take it off the stand and it will be even more delicious. Thanks Ben!

Asparagus Ravioli and Grilled Salmon

Erika and Grace came over for dinner on Sunday night.  The plan had been squid ink pasta, but it was not a good spring for squidding.  Instead, we started with asparagus ravioli in broth.  I mostly used an Epicurious recipe, although I made up the pasta dough (with help from Mom by phone).  It was a total pain to make, but I'd probably do it again.  The filling is asparagus and mascarpone and some other stuff and really really good.  The broth was supposed to be from homemade stock, but I didn't have enough of that and threw in some boxed--a mistake, but OK.  The recipe has you halve the tips lengthwise, which makes for a really pretty presentation.

For the entree we served Bobby Flay grilled salmon with sherry-honey glaze.  It was very good, but next time I'd reserve some glaze and top the salmon with it at the end for just a little more flavor.  It was accompanied by garden greens tossed in lemon juice and good Spanish olive oil and roasted red potato salad (roasted with rosemary and sage, tossed in olive oil and a balsamic vinegar reduction, served at room temp to make my life easier).  Grace and I drank Nyakas 2007 Budai Sauvignon Blanc, Craig had our 3 Mollusk House Red, and Erika enjoyed Magic Hat's Lucky Cat.

Finally, dessert!  Epicurious again, waffles topped with what they called salted caramel coulis.  I would have called it butterscotch, either way it was really good.  I definitely should have whipped the remaining heavy cream to make this beautiful and even more delicious, but it was a fun and tasty dessert anyway

Dinner yesterday was nothing to blog about, but we did ring in summer on the porch.  Outdoor pretzels with mustard and gin and tonic, an excellent way to finish up a long weekend.

Grilled Pork Chop

On Friday Craig prepared a wonderful grilled pork chop with grilled sweet potato spears and Swiss chard.  The chop (Michael Chiarello) was rubbed with sage, rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, and bacon, and it was delicious.  I'd never had bacon in a rub before.  We had a garden salad and drank a gift from Henry and Marion, 7 Deadly Zins and celebrated the start of the long weekend.

Moroccan Chicken

This is such a bad picture I shouldn't even post it--sorry! But the good news is that Date Night is back! Craig finished his class and we have our Wednesdays again. This week I made Moroccan chicken, based on a Cook's recipe. Their recipe avoided preserved lemons as too time-consuming, but as I already had them, I adjusted. I also threw in some spinach. Underneath all of that is a chicken leg and prune couscous. It was very tasty, although I think it needed more lemon and Craig thought the olives should have been cut smaller. The salad on the right is made with greens from the garden--beats the socks off grocery store lettuce!

Gracie's

On Sunday Craig and I celebrated 4 years since we went on our first date. We went to a really fun play, Paris by Night, at the Trinity Repertory in Providence, and then to dinner at Gracie's. Our second time there, and I can't say enough good things about the place. I could not bring myself to take any pictures there in the restaurant, but I will do my best to describe.

Knowing it was our anniversary (she asked when I made the reservation), the hostess gave us a secluded booth at the rear of the restaurant, with menus that had a special page reading "Happy Anniversary" in the front. Our waiter brought us a complimentary aperitif of sparkling wine while we looked at the menu. I had basically memorized it from the website already, and I was disappointed to see the buffalo tartare had been removed as a first--the waiter explained that it just wasn't being ordered so they had to pull it.

So what did Megan eat??? We were brought an amuse bouche of a cold melon soup that was sweet and just a tiny bit spicy, with a dab of creme fraiche. The waiter then appeared with a gift from the chefs, who had heard I was disappointed about the buffalo. It was a small portion of beef tartare with white truffle oil and some beautiful parmesan shaved on top. The single most amazing thing I've ever eaten. The meat was so tender and soft and the aroma of the cheese and the truffle oil just filled up my mouth and nose. I was so happy, I could have stopped then but I'm glad I didn't.

We ordered a half-bottle of Champagne, a Duval-Leroy Rose, to begin.  For his first course, Craig chose the agnolotti with favas and morels. I'm a big fan of anything involving favas that someone else prepared, and this was really good. The morels were sliced thinly, which makes sense given their price, but I was a little disappointed because I think they're so cool-looking. The flavor was definitely there, however. I had previously obtained permission from my husband to order two firsts (I SHARED), because I really wanted the foie gras, but I've never had pork belly and it seems to be all the chefly rage. Now that I've tried it, I'm not sure why, though. It was good, with a yuzu-miso glaze and served with edamame and threads of pickled cucumber and honeydew, but I'm just not sure what the fuss is about. The foie gras, on the other hand! I love foie gras when it's done right (and it's the grossest thing ever when it's done wrong), and they did it right. It was crisp on the outside and just melted on the tongue. That was served with a blueberry lemon verbena reduction and a tiny croissant. We also enjoyed the house-made breads, rosemary onion foccacia and beer bread made with Murphy's Irish Stout--Craig said he could taste the beer, I couldn't but I still thought the bread was super.

We chose Rosenblum Cellar's 2004 Carla's Zinfandel to accompany our entrees.  Craig surprised me by not ordering the scallops for his. Perhaps the scallops he'd cooked on Friday were so delicious he rightly worried Gracie's would pale by comparision; at any rate, he ordered the lamb. I didn't want to get the same thing, so I went for the other baby animal on the menu. My veal came "two ways"--as far as I can tell that means plated with two different sauces. Beautifully plated, by the way, I have a lot to learn in that department. I had three small tournedos (if you can say that with veal), each wrapped in bacon and plated carefully atop the two sauces, a carrot emulsion and a brown sauce. They were accompanied by sweet peas and baby carrots and sweetbreads, which I'd never had before. It was all good, not spectacular, but very good. The sweetbreads didn't really taste like much of anything, although they were beautifully fried and had a nice delicate texture that offset the meat well. Craig's lamb was out of this world. It was cooked medium-rare and served with fiddleheads, morels, "spring onion rings," and a minted lamb jus. The onion rings were also well-fried and felt just perfect in my mouth with the incredibly tender lamb, and the fiddleheads were so tiny and so delicious in the jus.

To cleanse our palates, we were brought a bite of lemon sorbet, then another gift from the chefs, shortbread served with tiny mugs of chocolate-Chambord sabayon. After that, Craig thought we couldn't manage another bite, but I really really wanted to finish with a cheese plate. They get all their cheeses from Farmstead in Providence. At this point in the evening, I really should have taken notes if I wanted to remember anything, but here's my best attempt. The first cheese, and my favorite, was a very mild and subtly flavored soft thimble from Shy's Farm in Westport, MA, called Hannahbells, accompanied by apple butter. You have to take your time and bother to taste this cheese, but it's worth it, I think. The next two were less memorable--sorry! Both hard cheeses, served with complimentary condiments. The last one, the blue, was Craig's favorite, natch. Cashel Blue, served with raw honeycomb (which is WAY better than cheese served with regular honey, I think), quite creamy and fairly mild, for a blue.

And then the ball ended and we got into our pumpkin and went home. I really recommend Gracie's, the food is excellent, the staff is pleasant and very professional, and they've figured out that a little attention paid to special occasions makes them feel even more special.

Websites

Gracie's: www.graciesprov.com

Farmstead: www.farmsteadinc.com

Two Fridays

I was lazy last week and didn't post any food, but I did take a picture of Craig's wonderful Friday meal.  We've both been having tough times at work, and being the great guy that he is, Craig made me a favorite comfort food--chicken parm.  He grilled the chicken (thighs 'cause they're better!), but otherwise it was good and unhealthy--note the smoked mozzarella on top.

Last night, though, Craig really outdid himself.  He made a Jamie Oliver recipe, several kinds of seafood with asparagus and rice.  In the pan you see monkfish, Chilean sea bass, squid, scallops, and chinook salmon.

And here it is on the plate with the asparagus.  It's seasoned with thyme, lemon juice, and a mild Italian pepper.  We enjoyed it with a gift from Dave, a 2006 French white from Chereau Carre.  What a delicious way to celebrate Friday.

In Law Dinner

Craig's parents and his brother Kurt came over for dinner on Saturday night.  I've been pondering this menu for a while, and I was happy with the results.  We started with asparagus soup with lemon creme fraiche (Epicurious).  I've made this before and it's lovely.  You strain it so it's really light, and it's much lower-fat than it tastes, until you add the creme fraiche, of  course.  We served a 2006 Tiziano Pinot Grigio alongside.

For the entree I chose honey roasted pork and Mediterranean stuffed escarole, also from Epicurious.  I couldn't resist the escarole recipe when I read it, and I'm glad I didn't.  It's blanched and wrapped around a mixture of arborio rice, pine nuts, golden raisins, capers, and roasted red pepper, held together with egg and parmesan.  I doubled the recipe and had extra filling, so I baked that off to serve alongside--it all got eaten!  The pork was a boneless rib roast, and very good, albeit slightly overcooked (we can't seem to keep a working thermometer in this house).  It marinated for an hour at room temp in honey, coriander, thyme, lemon juice, and olive oil before roasting.  Pretty mild, but a good company standby, which we enjoyed with 2004 Mirassou Cabernet Sauvignon.

This was the dessert I'd been thinking of when I began preserving lemons a month ago.  They turned out well, I think.  I've never had them before, so I guess I wouldn't know, but they seem like something that would be good in a lot of things--I'm going to have to learn Moroccan food now I think.  Anyway, last night we had them chopped finely in lemon panna cotta with blueberry sauce.  The blueberry sauce and sort of the panna cotta were Emeril, and I really recommend the sauce.  Very smooth and intensely flavored--I used blueberries Ellie and Dave picked and froze last summer.  I'm not sure I would have thought the panna cotta recipe was worth much without the preserved lemons, but with them it was very nice.

And a springtime bonus!  Last year I discovered asparagus growing on the very edge of our yard, and this year I've been very diligent about harvesting it.  It is so sweet and delicious, miles beyond the grocery store variety.  I just steam it with a little salt, so good.

Braised Greens with Chorizo

Last night Craig had a meeting until 6 so we needed a quick dinner.  Thank goodness Ellie and Dave had given us some delicious chicken chorizo when we visited.  I don't remember the brand, but I'd love to know what it is--that stuff is good.  So I made beer-braised mustard greens with the sausage over polenta.  Very delicious, although spooning the remaining braising liquid over the plate was a mistake, because it made the polenta mushy.