February 28, 2011 new recipes

Tonight's inspiration was Holly Arnold Kinney's new book, Shinin' Times at the Fort. We had Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Quinoa Salad with Fresh Garden Mint. The soup is the best quash soup I have ever had, and the salad is a lovely riff on tabouleh. We would definitely do these both again. We enjoyed a little Antelope Polish Sausage on the side, thanks to my friend Tom Hail. And for dessert, we had some diced dragon fruit.

The wine was a 2002 Columbia Crest Chardonnay. It was a bit oxidized and Graham crackery--a shadow of it's former self, I am sure. For some reason we did not open something else instead. Ah well!

February 27, 2011 new recipes

Once again, Mario Batali comes through in Molto Italiano. We can get duck and duck legs (but not breasts for some reason) at Har Mart, a great asian market not too far from here. So we made Braised Duck Legs with Dried Orange Peel and Almonds. The sauce cooks down during the braising to the thick near-stew you see on the duck. Fabulous! We had Roasted Asparagus with Capers and Eggs on the side, also really delicious. We would do both again!

We drank a Willamette Valley Vineyards 2006 Pinot Noir with this meal, a really nice match. Asparagus is notoriously difficult to match with wine, but when you roast it and then dress it like this, it becomes quite different, and does not seem to me to be as hard to match. It worked well with this wine.

February 26, 2011 new recipes

Tonight's recipes are from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. For a kid who hated fish and still dislikes very strong fish flavors, I find myself fascinated by seafood. This evening, we made Barbecued Octopus with Grilled Escarole and Mint, and Broccoli Sauteed in Wine and Garlic. We drank a 2006 Regilli Frascati with this (it was also in the broccoli), which was really past its prime. So we switched to a 2009 Fontana Candida Frascati, which was much nicer, with aromas of peaches and a little grapefruit.

The octopus came out much more tender than I feared it would, and the flavors were nice, but it didn't quite pop, to use an overused term. Makes me wonder if it is the dish or the execution--I may have to try this again some time. I did learn how to clean an octopus from the folks at the Sydney Fish Market, since my frozen octopi came fully equipped with eyes, beak, and innards. It was still a fun dish to make.

February 25, 2011 new recipes

Carl went all out today--three new recipes, all from Epicurious.com. We had Triple Pepper T-Bone Steak, accompanied by Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Red and Yellow Pipérade, and Brussel Sprouts with Marjoram and Pine Nuts. Am I allowed to say OMG? These were delicious!

We drank a Forefront Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 with this. In the aroma and flavor, it had plum, butter, a little violet and strawberry, a hint of cabbage, some white pepper. It was very nice with the potatoes and the steak. Brussel sprouts are always a dicey match with wine. Here, they didn't compete, just didn't sing together!

February 24, 2011 new recipe

This is Anne's last day before she goes home to France. We will miss her! We had Roasted Tomatillo Shrimp Tacos, which I found on the Cookincanuck's blog. They are very tasty indeed! We decided to have these with Margaritas, instead of wine. It was accompanied by a variant on Spanish rice, with carrots. We learned the technique at La Villa Bonita, from Chef Ana Garcia.

We did toast to a wonderful visit with some New Mexico Gruet Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine, along with a Dulce de Leche and Caramel Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

Au revoir, Anne!

February 23, 2011 new recipe

This evening we had an event (The Mental Health Center of Denver's Annual Meeting), so we had a very simple meal afterward. We had smoked salmon with homemade créme fraiche, and the new recipe was Rick Bayless' Toasted Almond Guacamole from Fiesta at Rick's. Rick adds chopped dried apricot--we didn't have any of those, so we skipped me. Rick came up with this recipe to recreate the flavor of wild avocados, which have a nuttier flavor than the Haas avocados we usually get here. It was really tasty! One thought--be sure to use plain tortilla chips with this. We had some black bean-roasted garlic corn chips, which are fairly tasty, but argued with the lovely flavor of this guacamole.

We drank a Borsao 2008 with this. It is a 75% garnacha 25% tempranillo blend, so it works well with spicy foods and was very nice.

February 22, 2011 new recipes

This evening we had two simple and very tasty dishes. From Epicurious.com, we had Penne with Broccoli and Mushrooms. This is a simple and very tasty, satisfying dish. It was easy to taste each ingredient. We also had a simple salad in three parts: diced avocado dressed with salt and hot smoked paprika, yellow cherry tomatoes with salt and pepper, and diced red bell peppers with Old Bay Seasoning. We just made this one up, and the seasonings really matched each vegetable.

The wine is from the Vineyard, one of our favorite local wine shops. Their Vineyard Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon is bottled by Castoro Cellars. It is not one of those huge cabs--it was a nice counterpoint to the creamy vegetables and pasta we had--nice oak and plum flavors and aromas, smooth tannins in the finish.

February 21, 2011 new recipe

This evening's new recipe was Goat Cheese and Scallion Ravioli with Black Olive Butter, from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. If you use the linked recipe, we did not use the sun dried tomato in the sauce, thought I think it would be a very nice addition. We had it with a celery, tomato, grapefruit and cucumber salad that Dwight and Anne made from scratch.

Here is Carl making the pasta. And the finished product!

The wine, which was a very nice match, was the Santa Alicia Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2008, from the Maipo Valley in Chile.

Several kind people have told us that they can't believe we are doing a new dish every day. This is not so hard for us, as we cook almost every day anyway--for us, it is just a matter of deciding to try something new instead of fixing something familiar. Now that we are in the swing of it (and planning ahead for new things), it is pretty easy. But it flows from the fact that we cook every day anyway. If you don't cook every day, try something new every week. We are having a lot of fun!

Though we've made fresh noodles before, this is our first foray into ravioli. It is not as hard as we expected. Carl had made the pasta before I got home, and started the filling. I finished the filling, and then put a little dollop on each little piece of dough, while he and Anne came behind and folded and sealed them. This would have been a big deal for one person to finish, but with a little assistance it was quick and easy!

February 20, 2011 new recipe

What is that, you are wondering? These are fabulous Galette de Sarrasin, made by Anne Tregloze. We watched, we learned, and I cooked a couple galettes. We tend to call these crepes, but the savory version made in Brittany and Normandy are larger than crepes, they are made for savory ingredients, and they are made with buckwheat flour. Every recipe I've seen online include at least a little wheat flour, but these were all buckwheat (sarrasin). We had three fillings--a soubise (pictured) , a fondue de poireau (leeks), and smoked salmon with crème fraiche (also pictured).

I was pleased to learn that our home made version of crème fraiche met with Anne's approval. I no longer remember where I got the recipe, but you take 1 cup of cream, warm it gently (80's, not hot), and add 2 tablespoons of buttermilk. Let is sit out on the counter for a say or two until it has set. The flavor should be creamy, with maybe just a hint of tartness, but it is not as sour as sour cream.

Galettes are traditionally drunk with cider or fermented milk. We opted for cider! No finding any French ciders, we has Aspall's English Dry Cider. It was very good, and worked nicely with the galettes.

February 19, 2011 new recipes

This was a fabulous dinner! I continue to be amazed by Mario Batali. I've really liked pretty much everything in Molto Italiano, which is the source of these 2 dishes. We started with Eggplant Bruschetta . Since we did not find Italian eggplant, we used 2 small regular eggplants, which worked just fine. We enjoyed that while we were making Duck Ragu. The original recipe was Garganelli with Duck Ragu. Rather than handmake the garganelli, we substituted penne. And this evening we used chicken legs instead of duck legs. We will certainly do this again with the duck!

The wine was a Santa Margherita 2006 Chianti Classico. This wine was a gift and if I could remember who gave ti to us I would be thanking you again!! It is a rich wine with the flavor and aroma of dark cherries, cocoa powder and oak, with gentle tannins. I am definitely going to look for this wine. It was a wonderful match to the food.

We finished dessert with homemade Profiterolles, which Anne showed Carl how to make. Time to go for a run!

February 18, 2011 new recipe

I could not resist making an old favorite, Sea Scallops alla Caprese, from Mario Batali's Italian Grill. It is such a simple recipe, and depends on really fresh ingredients. Fortunately, winter though it is, we can get perfectly ripe heirloom tomatos and fresh scallops. We had it with some roti chapati on the side (I love the uncooked roti chapati from Costco--you can make fresh bread in 2 minutes!). So what was new? Rick Bayless' Pure and Simple Shaken Margarita, which worked perfectly with this salad.

February 17, 2011 new recipe

We had an early theater performance today, so Carl made Rick Bayless' Grilled Garlic and Orange Guacamole, from Fiesta at Rick's. It ended up being our dinner, and is yet another delicious guacamole. Thanks, Rick!

February 16, 2011 new recipe

This evening's recipes came from Epicurious.com, which really does have a great selection of excellent recipes! I did Guam "Volcano" Tuna (Pepper Crusted Tuna with Ginger Wasabi Dipping Sauce). The name sounds scary but it really was flavorful but not excessively spicy. The salad was the Soba Noodle Salad with Cucumber and Mango, a very pleasant counterpoint to the tuna.

The wine was Leitz Out Rheingau Riesling 2006. It is a nice off-dry riesling, was a reasonable foil for the spicy food. I'm still on the lookout for an easily acquired, economically priced dry riesling, which I think would have been an even better match.

February 15, 2011 new recipe

The new dish today came from Epicurious.com: Spiced Pork with Celery Root Puree and Lentils. It was a wonderful melange of flavors, definitely a repeater! There was no wine with this dinner because Carl made it just before we headed out to see Rusalka at Opera Colorado.

February 14, 2011 new recipe

Valentine's Day! We both had to work, so this was a simpler dinner. Carl made Spanish Rice, which he has made many times before. He used the Peanut Mole we had left from the quail awhile back and prepared boneless chicken thighs in it. It is still a fabulous mole! The new dish was tostadas with the Bacon-Tomato Guacamole recipe from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Ricks.

The wine was Este from Bodegas Alta Amazora 2007. It is a deep red fruity wine, without a lot of tannins--nice match with the rich spiciness of these dishes.

February 13, 2011 new recipes

Tonight we had several more new recipes from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. We had Braciole di Vitello (Veal Rolls in Tomato Sauce) and Fenocchio alla Sambuca (Fennel with Anchovies and Sambuca). These are definite home runs (Mario has a lot of those!!), and the two of them worked complemented each other very nicely.

The wine was a 2000 Basilisco Aglianico del Vulture--a very robust red wine with lots of dark cherry, leather, tobacco and cocoa. I wondered if it would overpower the food, but it complemented it really well.

Anne made a homemade Tiramisu to finish the meal.

The entire meal was wonderful! Would make them all again!

February 12, 2011 new recipes

Today, we celebrated the fact that Mike wanted to and was able to come home! He has been doing better and better, and was ready to leave the hospital. Here is Mike with his son, Jordan.

Our meal had 2 new recipes, both from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. We started with Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto with Citronette (Mario uses Pancetta) from Mario's Italian Grill--we made this before, and it definitely works better with really big asparagus spears. The new recipes were Tuscan Style Artichokes, and Fettucine with Mushroom, Sweet Garlic, and Arugula. They were all fabulous, and worked well together. Our wine was the 2009 Santi Apostoli Pinto Grigio Delle Venezie, which worked really well. The combination of dishes and wine all worked very well together!

February 11, 2011 new recipe

Dinner on February 11 was simple but delicious. Carl made a green salad and the Portobello Mushroom Ravioli from Costco with the (new recipe) Mushroom Cheese Sauce from The Complete Book of Sauces by Sallie Y. Williams. We were on our way to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, so we went for something simple and still new. The play was exceptionally well done, having seen it a number of times before. It is also why we did not have wine with this dinner, but it was still very tasty!

We also celebrated with our friend Anne Trégloze the completion of the largest sculpture she has done in the US, "Le Grand Bateau."

February 10, 2011 new recipes

This evening we had Seared Corn with Green Chile and Mexican Herbs, from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen, which we have made before. Our new dishes were Rick's Mango Guacamole on a tostada shell, from Fiesta at Rick's, and the Grilled Shrimp with Feta, Cilantro and Lime, from Epicurious.com. They were all delicious, and they went together very nicely. Melissa, Carl's niece, said the shrimp is one of her favorites dishes so far.

Anne is in the photo, as she was a tremendous sous chef! None of these were hard to do, but there were a lot of simultaneous steps, and Anne made sure they all got done.

We had the 2009 Côté Est with this meal--a very nice match!

February 9, 2011 new recipes

Dinner this evening was back in an Indian theme. The recipes are both new, from Best Ever Indian Cookbook, by Mridula Baljekar, Rafi Fernandez, Shehzad Husain, and Manisha Kanani

We had Potatoes and Spicy Cottage Cheese, and a Mango, Tomato, and Red Onion Salad. Both were very nice. Sorry, I can't find links for these recipes.

The wine was a 2008 Bodegas Goulart Torrontés. It is a fruity, grapefruity wine--I thought the fruit might work well with this. I am not sure it was perfect, but it was not bad.

February 8, 2011 new recipes

This lovely dish is La Soupe de Louviers, from Epicurious.com. It is a fabulous vegetable soup, and our new dish for today. We did not use chicken broth--just plain water, as the recipe calls for. The bay leaves, clove, fresh thyme (this needs fresh!) and nutmeg work really well to make this a very interesting soup. We made the soup the whole meal.

We drank a 2006 Château Peyruchet Sauvignon Blanc with the soup--this bottle was a little oxidized, but it was a good match overall.

February 7, 2011 new recipes

Today was Anne's birthday. She asked for seafood and lemon cheesecake, so we made Zuppa di Pesce, a lovely seafood stew. The recipe for the sauce is from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. The seafood, of course, was what looked best at the market--scallops, halibut, clams, shrimp, and dungeness crab. It was fabulous.

Dessert was a Lemon, Ricotta, Pine Nut Cake. I first saw this recipe in the March 2007 copy of Tastes of Italia magazine, but it comes from Italian Two Easy: Simple Recipes from the London River Café, by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. This link is to a recipe that is similar and adapted from the original, though it looks a little less rich. Let's just say there was very little of this cake left!

The wine with this meal was a 2007 Sinfarosa Zinfandel. A number of bloggers recommended a zinfandel with cioppino and similar seafood stews (such as our zuppa), so I thought it would be good to use an Italian zin. It was very nice with this meal.

Happy Birthday Anne!

February 6, 2011 new recipes

Sunday, February 6 had a Mexican theme. We started with Rick Bayless' Grilled Garlic and Orange Guacamole, from Fiesta at Rick's. This was a new recipe for us. We also made Spanish rice, using a recipe we learned from Chef Ana Garcia at her cooking school in Tepoztlan, Mexico, La Villa Bonita. This was accompanied by Spicy Jicama Salad with Tangerine and Fresh Coriander, from Rick Bayless' book Authentic Mexican, and Frijoles Borrachos and Chicken in Mole Teloloapanse from his book Mexican Kitchen. As I have learned to do for my vegetarian friends, I left the bacon out of the Frijoles, and used a little more oil and some smoked paprika to get the smoky flavor. We made the mole a year ago, and made a double batch of the sauce to freeze, so we could use it for occasions like this evening, to make a chicken mole without the hassle of making the sauce quickly. It still has fabulous flavors.

You can see in the guacamole photo that I forgot to take the picture before it was all eaten!

Tonight's wine was the 2009 Garnacha del Fuego Old Vines, which is still a great choice with spicy food, especially with the spicy earthy flavors of the mole and frijoles.

February 5, 2011 new recipes

Friday February 5, we had Mike's parents and brother join us for dinner, along with our friend Anne, who returned from her travels, and Dwight. We went with an Indian theme. In the pots, on the left, is Gujerati Style Cabbage and Carrots. The pot in the back has Sour Chickpeas (Khatte Chhole)--we've had both before, from Madhur Jaffrey's excellent cookbook, Indian Cooking. You can use canned chickpeas in the Khatte Chhole--just reserve the required amount of liquid from the can. The pot on the front right is today's new recipe, Pork Balchao, from the Best Ever Indian Cookbook, by Mridula Baljekar, Rafi Fernandez, Shehzad Husain, and Manisha Kanani. This was also excellent.

It was nice to be able to have a nice meal together after a long day at the hospital. We had a 2006 Château Cailleteau Bergeron Bordeaux Rose with the meal.

February 4, 2011 new recipe

Friday, February 4 was a hard day. After being grateful that Mike could come home with us after his head injury, he had a seizure in the middle of the night. He went by ambulance to the Granby Emergency Center, and then was moved to St Anthony Hospital Central in Denver. The good news is that he did not need to have any surgery, but the hard part is that he has a longer recovery ahead of him than we had hoped.

Carl and Melissa came back to the house after the ambulance left to get everything together to go to St Anthony's. Since I had already gotten all the ingredients together to make scones for breakfast, I made them before they left--Meyer Lemon and Dried Blueberry Scones from Epicurious.com. I used grated Buddha's Hand instead of lemon zest. Buddha's Hand is a type of citron, so it is a citrus fruit with a fabulous lemony flavor in the zest. Unlike lemon, it has almost no pulp--it is almost all zest. The scones were very tasty, and a nice little bit of comfort in a stressful day.

February 3, 2011 new recipes

This evening we celebrated the 25th birthday of Zachary Clark, Carls's nephew (that's him sitting with Carl, waiting for dinner). We also celebrated the fact that Mike Guillen, the husband of Carl's niece Melissa, is at home with us recovering from a concussion he had today snowboarding at Winter Park. The celebration, of course, is not that he had the concussion, but that he is recovering at home. He is very lucky, and so are we all that it was not a worse injury!

This evening's new recipes are both from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. We were looking for vegetarian (ovo-lacto) and these fit the bill nicely. We had Zuppa di Cicoria con 'Uova (Chicory Soup with Egg)--the recipe is also on the Food Network site. The recipe calls for pancetta, but we have found a nice way to get that bacon flavor without the meat--add a little olive oil, and the add some smoked paprika to the dish. In this case, I added about 1 teaspoon to the onions. The surprise element in this recipe is that you stick a crouton in the bowl, crack and egg over it, and then pour the soup over it the cook the egg. The egg is a nice surprise! We had this with Pasta Norma, also called Baked Penne with Eggplant. There are a lot of recipes for this on the web--the one in Molto Italiano is a little different from them all, even from the Mario Batali recipe on Epicurious.

The pasta is the photo on the top, and the soup is below it--I thought it looked so colorful in the pot!.

Suffice it to say, both recipes were very good, and we would make them both again!

We had this with a Clif's Cuvée Pinot Noir (no year, produced by Eola Hills Wine Cellars). It was a very nice match to both dishes!

February 2, 2011 new recipe

Tonight's dinner (2/2/2011) was Thai Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Orange Curry Sauce--that was the new dish, from Epicurious.com. We served it with white Basmati rice and a quick cucumber pickle. It had great flavors, but we were surprised that it wasn't spicier. Next time, I would add more red curry paste, and/or more peppers.

The wine was the 2009 Leitz Out Rheingau Riesling. Epicurious suggested using a Shiraz, but the Riesling was good with these flavors, and would have been even better if it were spicier.

February 1, 2011 new recipes

Dinner on 2/1/2011. Two new dishes today. From Mario Batali's Molto Italiano, Pheasant Farmer Style. This is a wonderful rich dish! It worked very nicely with a green salad with our usual dressing, and a Farro Salad with Peas, Asparagus and Feta, from Epicurious.com.

The wine was a 2007 Stoller Pinot Noir.

January 31, 2011 new recipe

Dinner on 1/31/2011 came from the Denver Post. The recipe for Braised Rabbit with Mustard and Mushroom was published on 1/19/2011. It took a little effort to find a rabbit (I found it at Har-Mart), but it was worth the effort! It was delicious. Carl did a medley of herbed roasted vegetables with this, including potatoes, turnips, red peppers, carrots and onions.

We drank a sublime 2004 Damilano Barolo with this.