Denver Life with Carl and Mark: 2021

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

New recipe, December 29, 2021

Christmas Day Clementine Sour from NYT cooking. A very nice range of flavors! This gets a 4.

Andalusian Chickpea and Spinach Soup from NYT Cooking. The story behind this soup—I have a mild breakthrough COVID infection, so I use one of those shopping services to get food delivered. One of the items I ordered gets a pound of spinach randomly substituted—honestly, I think it was for a box of elbow macaroni. Certainly nothing I planned for! Big when I looked for a spinach soup, I found this, which not only called for a pound of spinach but also let me use the last of the tomatoes ripening in the garage. And it is pretty good! This gets a 4.

New recipe, December 27, 2021

Mulled Manhattan from NYT Cooking. I always thought mulled referred to soaking spices in warm alcohol, but here it seems to refer to using grape juice, which made this bit sweet. This gets a 3.

New recipe, December 26, 2021

Modern Hot Toddy from NYT Cooking. This uses tea as well as rum and amaro. A nice toddy variation. We give this a 3.

Sunday, December 26, 2021

New recipe, December 25, 2021

A Hot Campari Cocktail for Christmas—Babbo's Toddy from Food and Wine. A perfect warmer for a Christmas evening. The Campari and orange work really well together, we give this a 4.

New recipe, December 24, 2021

Isn't there always something to do on Christmas Eve? So how nice to have a slow cooker meal ready for you! The Slow Cooker Chicken Tortellini Tomato Soup from NYT Cooking has layers of delicious flavors. We give this one a 5.

New recipe, December 23, 2021

Sea Scallops with Brown Butter, Capers and Lemon from NYT Cooking. Carl executed this perfectly. The ingredients play together beautifully. We give this a 5.

New recipe, December, 22, 2021

Crispy Tofu and Cabbage Stir Fry from NYT Cooking. the ingredients are humble, but they work together very well. We give this a 4.

New recipe, December 21, 2021

We celebrate the longest night of the year with this Khoresh Morgh Nardooni (Pomegranate Chicken Stew) from NYT Cooking. According to NYT, it is often served at Shab-e Yalda, the Iranian celebration of the winter solstice. It is full of delicious flavors, we give this a 5!

New recipes, December 20, 2021

Portobello 'Steak' Au Poivre, and Smashed and Fried Potatoes, both from NYT Cooking. These are both full of flavor, and work well together. The mushroom gets a 5, the potatoes get a 4.

New recipe, December 19, 2021

Soup is served with virtually every meal in Ecuador! Tonight's new dish is a soup, Slow Cooker Cauliflower Potato and White Bean Soup from NYT Cooking. It may look humble, but it is full of flavor. We give this a 5.

New recipe, December 18, 2021

We had no new recipes from December 6 to December 17 because we were traveling in Ecuador. But we did eat lots of new things!

Today's new recipe is the Enjoying a Margarita in Venezia cocktail from Epicurious. Aperol meets a margarita, and it is pretty darn good! We give this a 5.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

New recipe, November 29, 2021

Turkey Tikka Masala from NYT Cooking. The last of our Turkey went into this delicious dish. This is another winner, we give it a 5.

New recipe, December 5, 2021

Fried Egg on Toast with Salted Herb Butter and Radishes from Epicurious. A nice dish, no elements that really stand out. We give this a 3.

New recipe, December 4, 2021

Spicy Tomato Coconut Bisque with Shrimp and Mushrooms from NYT Cooking. This is another very nice dish with layers of flavor and texture. We give this a 4.

New recipe, December 3, 2021

Kimchi Fried Rice from NYT Cooking. The amount of kimchi in this looks like a lot, but it mellows with the cooking. It is quite good—we give this a 4.

New recipe, December 2, 2021

It's on the lower left—Pickled Garlicky Spaghetti Squash from the November 2021 Food and Wine. We made it exactly as written, and it is seriously over salted. We like the idea of the mix of the other flavors, but it was ruined by the salt. We give this a 2.

Re-reading the recipe, it calls for 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt. I am almost certain there is a typo, and it should be 2 TEASPOONS of salt. That is how I would make it again.

New recipe, December 1, 2021

Cyn-Cyn cocktail from NYT Cooking. A variant of the Negroni, with Cynar instead of Campari, and with a lemon twist. This was good. We give it a 4.

New recipe, November 30, 2021

Braised Chicken Thighs with Tomatillos from NYT Cooking. The tomatillos came from our garden. Spicy and full of flavor. We give this a 5.

New recipe, November 39, 2021

Turkey Tikka Masala from NYT Cooking. The last of our Turkey went into this delicious dish. This is another winner, we give it a 5.

New recipe, November 28, 2021

Leftover Stuffing Sopa de Pan y Ajo (Bread and Garlic Soup) from the November 24, 2021 Denver Post. More like a stew than a soup, but delicious in any case. A great way to breathe new life into Thanksgiving leftovers! We give this a 5.

Sunday, November 28, 2021

New recipe, November 28, 2021

Bitter Giuseppe cocktail from NYT Cooking. This is interesting but we thought the combination of sweet and bitter was a bit odd. We give this a 3.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

New recipe, November 26, 2021

Dry Rye Manhattan from NYT Cooking. This is definitely dry! We think it needs a touch more sweetness, and wonder if substituting orange peel for the lemon peel would add enough sweetness. We give it a 3.

New recipes, November 25, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving! Our 3 new contributions to the meal:
Cran Royale cocktail from Epicurious. Nice balance of sweet, bitterness and tartness from the lemon. We give this a 4.
Garlic Aioli Roasted Turkey with Lemon Parsley pan Sauce from Epicurious. Never used aioli to marinate a Turkey before but it was tasty and incredibly moist. We give this a 4.
Sausage and Cranberry Whole Wheat Stuffing from the November 2021 Eating Well. This has layers of good flavors, a lot richer than our typical stuffing. The recipe includes variations to keep it moist, and to allow it to crisp up a bit. It was a bit over moist, would do the crisper version next time. We give this a 4.

New recipe, November 24, 2021

Croque Madame with Cranberry Mustard Relish from Epicurious. There is a reason this sandwich is a classic—delicious and very satisfying. We give this a 5.

New recipe, November 23, 2021

Mixed Greens with Preserved Lemon Dressing and Feta from the November 2021 Eating Well. This has layers of delicious flavors, we really liked it a lot. We give this a 5.

New recipe, November 22, 2021

Another failure to photo! Today's new recipe is Three Sisters Stew from NYT Cooking. This is a very tasty and satisfying stew, nice southwestern flavors. We give this a 4.

New recipe, November 21, 2021

Missed taking the photo. Shichimi Togarashi Pork Chops with Spicy Greens from the November 2021 Eating Well. This has a great combination of flavors, we give it a 4.

Saturday, November 20, 2021

New recipe, November 20, 2021

Chicken Cutlets with Roasted Red Pepper and Arugula Relish from the November 2021 Eating Well. This is a quick and delicious dish—we love it! It gets a 5.

Friday, November 19, 2021

New recipe, November 18, 2021

Cranberry Margaritas from Gimme Some Oven (gimmesomeoven.com). Fun, quite tart. I tend to prefer a little more balancing sweetness in a Margarita. This gets a 3.

New recipes, November 17, 2021

Three from the November 2021 Eating Well: Green Beans with Pine Nuts and Gremolata; Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry Port Sauce; and Slow Cooker Honey Whole Wheat Rolls. The beans and the pork are both delicious and get a 5. The rolls were pretty dense and we gave them a 3. We would replace 1 cup of the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour, or just switch to all white flour.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

New recipe, November 16, 2021

Charred Cauliflower Stew from NYT Cooking. Wonderful layered flavors, with the cauliflower being used in 3 different ways. We give this a 5.

Monday, November 15, 2021

New recipe, November 15, 2021

Bobby Boucher from the September 2011 Food and Wine. Nice flavors, nuanced. We give this a 4

Sunday, November 14, 2021

New recipe, November 14, 2021

The Aqueduct from the November 2007 Food and Wine. A variation on the Old Fashioned. This is a nice drink, tastes like an old fashioned—we give this a 3.

New recipe, November 13, 2021

Maple Bourbon Smash from the February 2013 Food and Wine. Really great balance, we give this a 5.

New recipe, November 12, 2021

Eggs in Purgatory from NYT Cooking. Simple and very flavorful. We give this a 4.

New recipe, November 11, 2021

Rosa Amargo from Food and Wine Cocktails 2015. Very refreshing! We give this a 4.

New recipe, November 10, 2021

Smoky Lentil Stew with Leeks and Potatoes from NYT Cooking. Lots of smoked paprika, it gives great depth of flavor. We give this a 4.

New recipe, November 9, 2021

Rice Cakes with Peanut Sauce and Hoisin from NYT Cooking. The rice cakes stuck to the pan more than we expected—probably needed more oil than the recipe calls for—but the flavors are very enjoyable. We give this a 4.

New recipe, November 8, 2021

Forgot to take the photo. Instant Pot Pork Stew with Red Wine and Olives from NYT Cooking. This is excellent, and the pork is so tender! We give this a 4.

New recipes, November 7, 2021

For lunch, Chow Dau Miu (Garlicky Stir Fried Pea Sprouts) from the February 2021 Food and Wine. Fabulous! We give this a 5.

For dinner, One Skillet Roasted Butternut Squash with Spiced Chickpeas from Epicurious, and Wild Arugula Celery and Apple Salad with Anchovy Dressing from NYT Cooking. These are both delicious, we give them both a 4.