New recipe, November 30, 2013

This is the Apple Brandy Braised Pork Tenderloin from the December 2013 Cooking Light, served with Winter Salad with Avocado Pomegranate and Almonds from the December 2013 Food and Wine. Both were very good, with layers of flavors. We give them both a 4.

New recipe, November 29, 2013

Visiting our friends Rich and Tim, who let us cook for them. The new recipe is (upper left hand corner) Citrus Salad with Tarragon from the December 2013 Bon Appetit. This is amazing--it gets a 5!
Served with a perennial favorite, the African Adobo Rubbed Tuna from Epicurious. Still gets a 5!

New recipes, November 28, 2013

We had Thanksgiving at our house. We did 2 new turkey recipes, both from the November 2013 Bon Appétit: the Chile Rubbed Turkey (above), and the Fennel Chile and Maple Dry Brined Turkey. Both were quite moist and very tasty--we give them both a 4.  It was a nice family day together!

New recipe, November 27, 2013

We've been working to get ready for Thanksgiving, so it was Chipotle and a new cocktail tonight: the CEO Cocktail from Gary Regan's The Joy of a Mixology. Very tasty--we give this a 5--a delight!

New recipe, November 26, 2013

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Preserved Lemon from the October 2013 Cooking Light. Yummy, we give this a 4!

New recipe, November 25, 2013

Cauliflower Steaks with Maitake Mushrooms and Brown Butter Caper Sauce, from the November 2013 Cooking Light. Served with some sliced roast turkey breast. This sounds delicious, and we found it a bit plainer than we expected. Certainly a nice dish, we give this a 3.

Wine: Fire Road Sauvignon Blanc 2012

New recipe, November 24, 2013

Grilled Tuna and Broccolini with Garlic Drizzle (we used broccoli) from the October 2013 Cooking Light. We give this a 4.

Wine: Radio-Coteau Savoy 2010 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir

New recipe, November 23, 2013

Smothered Vinegar Pork Shoulder with Apples and Kale, from the November 2013 Cooking Light. We used pork tenderloin, and we give this an enthusiastic 4.

Wine: Domaine Jean Pascal et Fils Meursault 2009

New recipe, November 22, 2013

Crispy Chicken Breasts with Chermoula and Escarole, from the December 2013 Bon Appétit. We give this a 4. Served with a tomato green onion salad with a vinaigrette with blood orange olive oil.

Wine: Viña Urbezo Cariñena 2001. This wine considers to surprise us--it was never intended to be laid down, but it is still delicious!

New recipe, November 21, 2013

The Bacardi Cocktail, from Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology. This is quite tasty--we give this a 4.

New recipe, November 20, 2013

Crispy Pork Stir Fry with Baby Bok Choy from the November 2013 Cooking Light. We ended up using the adolescent Bok Choy we had. The flavors are standard but nice--we give this a 3.

Wine: Huia Marlborough Dry Riesling 2010

New recipes, November 19, 2013

Pan Seared Chicken Breast with Rich Pan Sauce from the November 2013 Cooking Light. This is quite simple to make, and quite delicious. We give it a 4! Served with a loose riff on Winter Squash with Spiced Butter from the November 2012 Bon Appétit. Loose because we used a mutant zucchini, minimal butter, and chicken stock instead of water. It was actually quite nice, and we give it a 3. With roasted winter squash, we think this would be spectacular--looking forward to trying it again!

Wine: Fire Road 2012 Sauvignon Blanc

New recipes, November 18, 2013

Two from the November 2013 Cooking Light: Port Stained Beef Medallions (you steam the tenderloin, which sounds so odd but gives amazingly tender meat), and Mexican Broiled Corn Salad. For the salad, I browned corn kernels and the onion in a dry skillet rather than broiling everything (too many steps!), but we still got the charting and caramelization. There were still a lot of steps, and the dressing sends this over the top. These both get a 5!

Wine: Fattoria Rodáno Poggialupi 2007

New recipe, November 17, 2013

Beef Tenderloin Swiss Chard and Caramelized Fennel Tacos, from the November 2013 Cooking Light. Delicious, it gets a 5!

Wine: Vin de Tabula Rasa 2009

New recipe, November 16, 2013

Chicken and Mushroom Fricasee from the December 2013 Food and Wine. Nice, we give this a 3. Served with arugula salad.

Wine: Joseph Drouhin Chorey les Beaune 2010

New recipe, November 15, 2013

Sweet Potato and Mushroom Salad from the December 2013 Food and Wine. We give this a 4--very nice flavors! Served with sliced cucumbers and D'Artagnan Venison and Pork Sausage with Cherries.

No wine--off to the theater.

New recipe, November 14, 2013

Aloo Gobi from the December 2013 Food and Wine. The Indian flavors could have been more forward with this, we give it a 3.

No wine--off to the theater!

New recipes, November 13, 2013

Sautéed Swiss Chard with Onions, from the November 2007 Gourmet, and Pomegranate Mint Relish from the November 2013 Bon Appetít. Served with a grilled lamb chop. We give both new dishes a 4--very nice!

Wine: Amethyst Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

New recipe, November 12, 2013

Back from Mexico! Tonight we had Skillet Pork Chops with Warm Escarole Caesar, from the December 2013 Food and Wine. We didn't have escarole, so we used power greens (spinach, Kale, chard, arugula). Great flavors, we give this a 4.

Wine: Kosta Browne Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2011

New recipe, November 11, 2013

Pork with Smoky Tomato Sauce Potatoes and Avocado (Tinga Poblana) from Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican. This is a great stew--we give it a 4.

Wine: Caleo Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2012

New recipe, November 10, 2013

I forgot to take a picture! Today's new dish, from Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican, is Zucchini and Pork with Mexican Flavors (Calabacitas con Puerco). The rainy season is supposed to be over in central Mexico, but we had rain again today, so a nice stew was perfect. We give this a 4.

Wine: Kirkland Côtes du Rhône Villages 2011

New recipes, November 9, 2013

Still in Mexico, and both are from Rick Bayless: Stewed Mushrooms with Onions and Garlic, from Authentic Mexican (served as a soft taco filling), and Mushroom Ceviche from Fiesta at Rick's. Both are quite tasty. The ceviche looks traditional, and the mushrooms (we used gorgeous fresh tree ear mushrooms) were perfect in texture. The stew is also delicious. We give both 5s ( depending on your taste, you might want to cut back on the serranos--both dishes are spicy.

Wine: Caleo Montepuciano D'Abruzzo 2012

New recipe, November 8, 2013

Today's new recipe is another from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's: Crispy Flank Steak Shreds with Golden Onions and Red Chile Salsa (Mochomos con Cebolla Dorada y Salsa Roja). This one is a lot of work (shredding the beef, frying the onion and the beef), but really nice! The salsa and the guacamole make the dish. We give this a 4.

Wine: Viu Manent Carmenere Reserva 2012

New recipe, November 7, 2013

From Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's, Avocado Dressed Shrimp a la Mexicana (with tortillas), and from his Authentic Mexican, Mexican Tomato Colored Rice with Fresh Vegetables.  We give them both a 4.

Wine: Caleo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2012

New recipe, November 6, 2013

Crema de Elote con Camarones (Corn Soup with Shrimp) (the link has the Crema de Elote, but does not include the addition of the shrimp) from Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican. Rich and wonderful, we give this a 5.

Here in Mexico it was easy to find field corn, which has a very different flavor than sweet corn we get in the US. It really does give it a flavor like a potato soup.

No wine tonight, we enjoyed this with a Leon beer.

New recipe, November 5, 2013

Creamy Chicken and Greens with Roasted Poblano and Caramelized Onion, from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's. Nice flavors, we give it a 4. More poblanos would have been just fine!

New recipes, November 4, 2013

From Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican, we made Empanadas de Picadillo. And Sopa Xóchitl. Served with more of the Yucatecan Guacamole from his Fiesta at Rick's. We give them both 4s

Wine: Caleo Montepulciano D'Abruzzo 2012

New recipes, November 3, 2013

Chiles en Nogada, from Diana Kennedy's Cuisines of Mexico. With Roasted New Potato Salad with Poblano Mayo from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's. We really liked both of these. We give the chiles a 5, and the potatoes get a 4.

Wine: L. A. Cetto Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

New recipe, November 2, 2013

Tonight we made Yucatecan Guacamole (Aguacate Machacado) from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's. We are cooking in Mexico again, and the avocados were perfect like nothing we've ever gotten in Colorado, and with sour orange juice this was amazing-we give it a 5, knowing we won't be able to reproduce this at home.

New recipe, November 1, 2013

Happy Día de los Muertos! Chicken Thighs with Couscous and Kale from the December 2013 Eating Well. The flavors are muted and go together nicely. We give this a 3.