New recipes, October 31, 2012

Golden Temple Lamb Curry from John Gregory Smith's Mighty Spice Cookbook, and Red Kuri Squash Soup from the February 2012 Food and Wine.
We give both a 4!

Wine: Domaine de la Fouquette Cuvée Rosée d'Aurore 2011.

New recipes, October 30, 2012

Carl cooked a great meal! Mashed Potato Parsnips from the Denver Post (with parsnips from our garden!!) and Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi from the November 2012 Cooking Light. The parsnips are creamy, delicious, and Ver low in fat--they get a 4! The shrimp is also excellent and gets a 4. Served with a green salad.

Wine: Crane Lake Pinot Grigio 2009--a very nice match

New recipe, October 29, 2012

Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers from the November 2012 Cooking Light. Quite nice, it gets a 4! Served with a green salad.

Wine: Domaine du Prieuré Bourgogne 2006

New recipes, October 28, 2012

Dongbei Cumin and Cilantro Stir Fried Lamb, from John Gregory-Smith's Mighty Spice Cookbook, served over rice. We give the lamb a 3. Accompanied by an Asian inflected salad that Carl made that included ginger, Sriracha, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, peanut and sesame oil, garlic and mango powder, and soy sauce, with sesame seeds on the salad.

Wine: Domaine Pontifical Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2001

New recipe, October 27, 2012

We went to a Halloween party at our neighbors, Cameron and Alexi Tune's, so the new recipe is a cocktail, the Ginger Mojito, from the folks at Domaine de Canton. We give it a 4--really tasty!

New recipe, October 26, 2012

Braised Chicken with Apples and Calvados from the October 2012 Food and Wine. Delicious--we give this a 4. Served with brown rice and a few more garden tomatoes.

Wine: Bookcliff Vineyards Cabernet France Reserve 2009

New recipe, October 25, 2012

Because of a dinner meeting, the new recipe is the Aviation Cocktail from Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology.
This is a 1930s sour, and we give this a 3.

New recipe, October 24, 2012

Today's new recipe is a riff on Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce from the November 2012 Bon Appétit. To try to lower the fat, we used low fat ham instead of prosciutto, and nonfat feta instead of provolone. I think I pushed this a little too far--it was a bit dry, but the flavors are great! As prepared, it was a 3, but it might have been a 4 if it was moister.
Served with roasted parsnips and turnips from our garden!

Wine: Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage 2004

New recipe, October 23, 2012

From the November 2012 Cooking Light, Mongolian Beef, served over rice noodles, with fresh tomatoes from the end of our garden. Who could go wrong with ginger, garlic and onions? We give it a 4.

Wine: Cantele Negroamaro Rosato 2010

New recipes, October 22, 2012

We got red and green tamales from our friends Nolbert Chavez and Judy Montero (yum--THANK YOU!). So the new recipes, from allrecipes.com, are a Tomatillo Salsa Verde and Corn Tomato Salad. We liked the tomatillo salsa (you get a 4). The corn salad was nice, it gets a 3

Wine: LAN Rioja Crianza 2006

New recipes, October 21, 2012

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples from the November 2012 Cooking Light--we give this a 3, would be a 4 with a little less salt and cooking the meat a tad less, served with Golden Beet Carpaccio from the April 2007 Bon Appétit. (look at the beautiful beets in the photo--right out of the garden!!) We give this a 3 as well--the onions were a but too hot, and there was too much of the green salad, but this would be a 4 with tiny changes!

Wine: Vouvray de Gautiers 2003. This was the last bottle of this we had, and was really quite good in spite of its age!

New recipe, October 20, 2012

Curried Lamb Pot Pie from the October 2012 Food and Wine. We decreased the lamb and increased the veggies--still a wonderfully sophisticated take on the humble pot pie--we loved it, it gets a 5!

Wine: Grant Burge Barossa Meshach 1996 Shiraz. A glorious wine, and and excellent match!

New recipe, October 19, 2012

Tonight's new recipe comes from Mario Batali's Molto Italliano: Roman Style Veal Cutlets with Sage. Served with a kale red bell pepper salad with lemon dressing. We liked the veal--we give it a 4.

Wine: Droin Chablis 2010- great match!

New recipe, October 18, 2012

The new recipe this evening is the Ginger Margarita, from the folks who make Domaine de Canton. Delicious--the ginger is a great element in a margarita. It gets a 5!

New recipes, October 17, 2012

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mustard Thyme Sauce from the October 2012 Cooking Light, and Cubed Eggplant Cooked with Onions, from Madhur Jaffrey's Worlds of the East Vegetarian Cooking. We give the chicken a 3, and the eggplant a 4.

Forgot to take the photo!!

Wine: Glass Mountain Chardonnay 2008

New recipe, October 16, 2012

I had a bison steak pan grilled, with a roti chapati. The new recipe is Cold Chinese Style Eggplant, from Madhur Jaffrey's Worlds of the East Vegetarian Cooking. This is simple and very tasty--it gets a 4!

Wine: Le Clos Milléseme 2008

New recipe, October 15, 2012

I made this one up. The salad has kale, roasted corn, red pepper and scallions, with chicken breast. I found the recipe for Chipotle's salad dressing on line, and decided to try a no fat version. So this had 2 chipotle peppers with the adobo sauce they came in, some red wine vinegar, and a bit of honey and salt. Quite tasty, though I do recommend being cautious with the chipotle--they can get pretty picante! Overall, I give this a 3. (Carl is outbid town).
No wine with this--I enjoyed a Leffe beer.

New recipe, October 14, 2012

Lacinato Kale and Ricotta Salata Salad, from the January 2007 Gourmet. Nice enough--gets a 3. Carl is traveling, so thus was my contribution to my dinner with Scott and Kate Noble and their girls, Jana and Lucy.

New recipes, October 13, 2012

We got our Halloween Decorations up, after the rain finally settled (we did need it!). So we celebrated with a Dark and Stormier Cocktail from Domaine de Canton. Dinner was from the November 2012 Food and Wine: Milk Braised Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (we skipped the potatoes), and Warm Brussels Sprouts with Honey Caraway and Lime, served with Roti Chapati.
We give them both a 4--the milk braising really does produce tender pork!

Wine: Cantine Barbera Nero d'Avila 2004--pleasant, but a little past it's prime.

New recipes, October 12, 2012

Chicken Stir Fry with Corn Pineapple and Red Pepper from the November 2012 Food and Wine. Nice--gets a 3.

Don't recall the wine.

New recipe, October 11, 2012

We went to the Mental Health America-Colorado's annual Tribute to Leadership Dinner, where Carl was recognized for his leadership! So the new recipe was a cocktail--The Opening Act, from the folks who make Domaine de Canton French Ginger Liqueur. This was great--we give it a 4

New recipe, October 10, 2012

Mole Style Pulled Pork Buns from the Denver Post, October 10, 2012. We reduced the amount of almond butter. It could use more cocoa and chile to make it richer--it is nice, not as complex as a true mole. (we also skipped the bun). We give it a 3. We served it with a reprise of the Lemony Kale Salad (used lime juice, as that is what we had).

Wine: Garnacha de Fuego 2009

New recipe, October 9, 2012

Beef Goulash Soup from the November 2012 Food and Wine. Very fast to make, and very tasty! We especially liked the extra layer the caraway seed adds. We give this a 4!

Wine: Terredora Dipaolo Aglianico 2008

New recipes, October 8, 2012

From the November 2012 Food and Wine comes the Brussels Sprouts Salad with Pepitas and Dates--we used some of our fresh dates from California, and thus was delicious! We give it a 4. We also had an impromptu dish of chicken breast sautéed with poblano pepper from the garden, onion, and fresh mint. Also very tasty--we give it a 3.

Wine: the Velvet Devil Merlot 2010

We got behind!

Fear not--we have not stopped making something new, and we are fine--we just got way behind in cataloging what we've been up to!  We'll be getting back up to the present over the next week or so.

New recipe, October 7, 2012

Ethiopian Spiced Lamb Stew from the November 2012 Food and Wine. We had beef, so that's what we used, and it was tasty! We give it a 4. Served with the last hurrah of tomatoes from the garden, and kale chips.

Wine: E Guigal St Joseph 2003

New recipe, October 6, 2012

With our hard freeze this weekend, this is the end of our tomatoes and basil, so we decided to make Mario Batali's excellent Scallops Alla Caprese again--still gets a 5 with fresh heirloom tomatoes. So the new recipe was a cocktail, The Gold Rush, from the folks who make Domaine de Canton French Ginger Liqueur--delicious! It also gets a 5!

New recipe, October 5, 2012

From the February 2009 Bon Appétit, Kale Salad with Pinenuts Currants and Parmesan, served with grilled sirloin with paprika.  The salad was delicious--we give it a 4!  Great fun to find so many great things to do with the large volume of kale we have been growing!

Sorry, I don't recall what wine we have with this.

New recipe, October 4, 2012

Tremblement de Terre from Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology. We made a cocktail as we went to see a very entertaining production of The Three Musketeers at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The drink was supposedly a favorite of Toulouse Lautrec, we give it a 3

New recipe, October 3, 2012

From Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology: the White Spider. We give this a 3--minty!
We had dinner with friends while watching the presidential debate, so the new recipe was a cocktail after we got home.

New recipes, October 2, 2012

Spicy Basil Chicken, and Sautéed Snow Peas and Peppers, both from the April 2012 Cooking Light. Really tasty, fresh flavors! We give the chicken a 4, and the veggies a 3.

Wine: Domaine de la Fouquette, Cuvée Rosée d'Aurore 2011

New recipe, October 1, 2012

Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad from the November 2011 Bon Appétit. Very tasty--gets a 4. Served with leftover prime rib.

Sorry, can't recall the wine we had with this.