Smoked Pork Chop and Chilaquiles

On Friday night Craig cooked our remaining two Neuske's pork chops.  He made a delicious sauce with mustard and white wine vinegar that was really excellent against the salty meat.  I requested white rice pilaf with shallot and mustard seeds, and he sauteed Swiss chard for our veggie.  Yum.  Wish we had more of those pork chops!

Last night I made my own version of Rick Bayless' chilaquiles.  It's sort of like Mexican hot dish, with tortilla chips broken up in chipotle-tomato broth.  I added white beans and skipped the chicken, and subbed spinach for the Swiss chard.  I made my own tortillas and then baked them to make chips.  It was my first time making tortillas and I don't have a press, so they were sort of thick, but tasted good and I was proud I made them.  We topped the dish with guacamole, Greek yogurt, shredded queso blanco, and cilantro.  This was really easy and everything can get done ahead of time.

Curried Lentil Squash Soup

I read an Epicurious recipe for lentil-squash soup with curry, and used it as an inspiration for this. We have a bunch of garden squash in the freezer, so I pulled out one of those (it might be a golden acorn squash), and put together my own approximation of curry powder--coriander, cumin, ancho chile powder, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, turmeric, cayenne, and a little VERY old actual curry powder. I used red lentils and white wine and chicken broth, and topped the whole thing with the Epicurious-suggested cilantro oil. It wasn't bad. We had leftover beet/carrot/watercress salad and some good hippie bread alongside.

Valentine's Day

A Valentine's Day on a Saturday was a perfect excuse to cook.  We started with scallops in a mushroom-white wine sauce.  I definitely had the breadcrumbs on the top too close to the broiler:

It was really good though.  The sauce was difficult, but I didn't need too much, and it tasted good.  It's made by poaching the sea scallops in white wine and water, with some onion and bay leaf.  I added some shrimp shells for a little extra flavor.  You then add egg yolk and cream to a roux, then mix it all together.  Mine was way lumpy, but I got enough for two servings, and this was delicious.  We drank Gloria Ferrar Sonoma Brut.

The salad was the star of the show.  Another Cook's roasted vegetable recipe, carrots and beets with watercress, in a honey vinaigrette.  Amazingly delicious.  I should have trimmed the watercress better--it made for a beautiful presentation, but was difficult to eat.

And finally, the dish I've wanted to make all winter.  Mario Batali's Osso Buco with pine nut gremolata.  I made it in the morning and reheated it, and it was wonderful.  The sauce was really really good, made with the chicken stock and tomato sauce I made last weekend.

I was disappointed in the gremolata, however.  I thought the texture of the pine nuts really didn't work with the silkiness of the rest of the dish.  That was my only criticism.

Enjoyed atop risotto Milanese, with a 2003 Planeta Merlot (way good and really interesting), it was a great, low-stress, but fancy, meal.  We finished the evening with a little Lake Champlain milk chocolate and port.  Perfect.

Black Beans with "Gnocchi"

Since acquiring my fancy Mexican oregano, I've been reading Rick Bayless more. The dinner I made on Sunday did not call for the oregano, but sounded pretty good anyway. It's basically black beans with chipotle and spinach, and little cornmeal dumplings floated on top. It took the beans about 2 hours longer than he said to get even close to done, but it was very little work. Craig really liked it, particularly because the dumplings remind him of jonnycakes (West Bay jonnycakes, of course). It was good, and definitely healthy, but not super great company food.

Chicken Caesar and Squash Risotto

I made chicken caesar and butternut squash risotto for dinner almost 4 years ago, and remembered it as a great dinner but a lot of work.  When I revisited it last night, however, it went smoothly.  Both recipes are from Cook's.  The recipe calls for boneless skinless breasts, but I cut up a whole chicken and brined and broiled all the meat according to the recipe.  We ate the dark on the salads and saved the white for Craig's lunches--it's a great way to cook chicken.  I used the scraps to make one of the sauces for next weekend.  The caesar dressing is really good, with just enough anchovy and garlic.  The risotto, a standby recipe, was great.  We drank a 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from Parducci, a carbon-neutral winery.  A very nice wine, and it worked really well with the meal.

Superbowl Chili

I thought chili would be a great dinner to enjoy during the Superbowl, but first we needed a vegetable, of course.  I made a Cook's recipe for oven-roasted mushrooms and fennel with sliced radishes.  It was really really good!  The veggies are tossed in a mustard vinaigrette.

And what better to accompany chili than cornbread?  This was from the Bread Baker's Apprentice--the only quick bread he includes, because he loves it so much.  He calls for crumbled bacon on the top, but I didn't like the idea of that on the leftovers, so I skipped it.  The bread is very sweet and sticky, made with coarse cornmeal and frozen corn kernels.  It was good, but I like it a little less cakey.

And the chili!  I started with a recipe from Penzey's, which has you roast short ribs to get a lot of the fat off, then add chorizo to the chili.  I also added adzuki beans.  I actually just got a box from Penzey's, so had a good time with my new Mexican oregano, and Ancho chile powder, along with a bunch of other things.  I was worried it would end up tasting like tomato soup with meat in it, but it was very good, topped with 2% Greek Yogurt and cilantro.

In that box of spices was my impulse purchase, juniper berries.  Guess it's time for me to walk the walk and go locate some fresh rabbit...

Garlic Shrimp

Now that I know how bad farmed shrimp are, both for the people who live near the farms and for the people who ingest them, we stick to the wild-caught.  This is the time of year for wild-caught Maine shrimp, tiny and sweet and pink as if cooked even when they're raw.  They do take forever to peel, since they're so small, but are well worth it.  I marinated them in garlic and olive oil, then sauteed them in more olive oil infused with more garlic.  I pulled some grilled eggplant and green beans from the freezer, and threw in cherry tomatoes, parsley, and ricotta salata.  

It was really good, but missing something.  Olives?  Anchovies?  Maybe a little butter to finish the sauce.  We drank an Italian table white, Lugana Pilandro, a wonderful fruity wine that would do well on its own, but was great with this meal.