New recipes, January 31, 2014

Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Cumin from the February 2014 Food and Wine--lovely and velvety, it gets a 4. Served with Roast Chicken with Sumac Za'Atar and Lemon from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi--delicious, another 4.

Wine: Terredora DiPaolo Aglianico 2010--a wonderful match with both.

New recipe, January 30, 2014

The new recipe is the Kale Salad with Apple and Cheddar from the January/February 2014 Cooking Light, which is a delightful combination of flavors--we give this a 5. Served with leftovers from the same issue--Braised Beef with Onion Sweet Potato and Parsnips, and Chicken with Turnips and Pomegranate Sauce.

Wine: Nicolas Potel Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Vignes Franches 2006

New recipe, January 29, 2014

Chicken with Turnips and Pomegranate Sauce from the January/February 2014 Cooking Light. This has a fun combination of flavors, and we give it a 4. Served with a mixed green salad.

Wine: Black Diamond Pinot Noir 2009--a nice wine, not a great match to the dish

New recipe, January 28, 2014

Braised Beef with Onion Sweet Potato and Parsnip (we used bison) from the January/February 2014 Cooking Light. This has the odd step of roasting the vegetables, and mixing them in with the meat at the end. It accentuates the flavors of the vegetables, making this on the the best pot roasts we've had! This is a 5!

Served with a green salad with Viandox vinaigrette.

Wine: Bookcliff Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Franc 2009. One of the best Colorado wines we've had, and a great match

New recipes, January 27, 2014

Roasted Scottish Pheasants with Apricots and Dates '21' Club from Epicurious. Very tasty, and we haven't quite figured out how to keep pheasant from being chewy. So we give this a 3. Served with Cherry and Sunflower Seed Kale Salad from the January/February 2014 Cooking Light. We subbed fresh pitted cherries for the dried ones--this gets a 5!

Wine: Dry Creek Dry Chenin Blanc 2012--a reasonable match

New recipe, January 26, 2014

Chicken Tomatillo Fajitas from the January 2014 Food and Wine. Great flavors, this gets a 4.

Wine: Piere Sauvignon 2007 Vie di Romans Sauvignon Blanc--a nice match for this dish

New recipe, January 25, 2014

Butter Basted Rib Eye Steaks from the February 2014 Food and Wine. This is simple and elegant--we give it a 5. It is a carnivore's dream, so not something we'd do every day, but definitely something we'd be proud to serve to friends. Served with a mixed green red pepper salad with a Viandox vinaigrette.

Wine: Forgeron Cellars 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon--an excellent match

New recipe, January 24, 2014

We went to the theater this evening, so the new recipe is a cocktail, One Flew Over the Cosmo's Nest from Tim Federle's Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist. This is good--we give it a 3.

New recipe, January 23, 2014

The Gin Eyre, From Tim Federle's Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist. Nice flavors, this gets a four

New recipe, January 22, 2014

Chickpea, Chorizo & Spinach Soup from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. Simple and delicious we give it a 4.

Served with Affligem 950 Cuvée ( a wonderful Belgian abbey beer)

New recipe, January 21, 2014

Apple Cheddar Quinoa Muffins from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. The flavors are nice but these were a bit dry--we give them a 3.

New recipe, January 20, 2014

Poached Tuna with Kumquats and Jalapeño from the February 2014 Food and Wine. Nice--this gets a 4. Served with a roasted beet salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Wine: Fire Road Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2012

New recipe, January 19, 2014

Winter Vegetable Dal from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. Excellent flavors, this gets a 4. Served with salted cucumbers and roti chapati.

Wine: Fire Road Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2012

New recipe, January 18, 2014

Lemony Chicken Stir Fry from the February 2014 Food and Wine. Very good flavors, this gets a 4. Served with cucumbers in a lemon juice dressing.

Wine: Château La Rame Bordeaux 2010

New recipe, January 17, 2014

We made Nuovo Pasta's Duck Confit Ravioli again, with our new recipe--Sweet Potato and Tomato Sauce from the December 2013 Food and Wine. The flavors are good but nothing really notable--we give this a 3.

Served with a spinach salad with a Dijon Smoked Paprika Vinaigrette done on the spot.

Wine: Van Ruiten Chardonnay 2009

New recipe, January 16, 2014

Tonight we saw the very funny "Legend of Georgia McBride" at the Denver Center, so the new recipe is a cocktail from Tim Federle's Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist--the Silas Marnier. We liked this, and give it a 4.

New recipe, January 15, 2014

Orange Glazed Shrimp from the February 2014 Food and Wine. This is a light and very tasty dish--we give it a 4.  A very successful adaptation of the Chinese classic without the excessive sweetness.
Served over rice, accompanied by Thai cucumbers.

No wine this evening.

New recipe, January 14, 2014

Spinach and Gruyère Stuffed Tilapia from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. This recipe looked good, and surprised us with the palette if flavors--we give it a 5!
Served with a green salad with a shallot Dijon and sherry vinaigrette, and pears, feta, pecans and roasted red peppers-a riff on last night's salad, and we like this one better.

No wine this evening

New recipes, January 13, 2013

Tonight's new recipes are two Scallop Crudos from the January 2014 Food and Wine: Scallop Crudo with Lemon and Piment d'Esplette, and Scallop Crudo with Pecans and Ponzu Sauce. Both are pleasant--we give them a 3. We had as fresh a scallop as you can get in Denver, but it may be that these are even more exciting with sea-fresh scallops.

Served with a green salad with a shallot Dijon vinaigrette, and pears, blue cheese, walnuts and roasted red peppers.

Wine: Récolte Franclieu 2012 Mâcon Charnay

New recipe, January 12, 2014

We had a reprise from last night, the Chicken Braciole with Spinach from the January 2014 Food and Wine--still a perfect 5! The new recipe is the Fennel Citrus and Roasted Beet Salad from the January/February Eating Well-very tasty, we give this a 4.

Wine: Radio Coteau Savoy Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2010--a perfect match!

New recipes, January 11, 2014

We had dinner with our friend Dwight Davidson, and will Paulanne and Diane, and Diane's sister Susan.

The appetizer was pate de foie gras.
Wine: Champagne Laurent Perrier Brut (thanks Paulanne!)

The first course was Celeriac Cress and Spinach Salad with Parmesan Crisps from the January/February Eating Well. This is great--we give it a 5! We decide to use pomegranate seeds instead of dried cranberries.
Wine: Paco & Lola Albariño Rias Baixas 2010

The second course is the Quinoa Mushroom Soup from the January/February 2014 Eating Well--a reprise.  We tweaked this by chopping the vegetables more finely, browning the mushrooms more deeply, and using beef broth instead of chicken.  It moved it up from a 3 to a 4!

Wine: Nicolas Potel Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Vignes Franches 2006

The main course is Chicken Braciole with Spinach from the January 2014 Food and Wine.  This is spectacular--it is a perfect 5!

Wine: Radio Coteau Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2010--a perfect match!

Dessert is the Orange Gratin from a January/February 2014 Cooking Light--this is nice, we give it a 4.

Wine: Aresti Curicó Late Harvest Gewürztraminer Reserva 2007 

New recipe, January 10, 2014

Today we had Nuovo Pasta's Duck Confit Ravioli from Costco. The new recipe is the sauce--we did a variation of the glaze from the Orange Mustard Glazed Pork Chops in the January/February 2014 Cooking Light. We liked the combination of orange and mustard--we give this a 4.
Served with a lettuce orange pomegranate salad.

Wine: Domaine Allimant Laugner Gewürztraminer 2011

New recipe, January 9, 2014

Quinoa Mushroom Soup from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. Nice flavors, we would like a little more depth. We give it a 3, thinking it might have greater depth with beef broth.

Wine: Sokol Blosser 2009 Pinot Noir

New recipe, January 8, 2014

Savory Cauliflower Cake from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. Wonderful! We give this a 5. Served with salted tomatoes.

Wine: Clos du Bois Pinot Grigio 2009

New recipe, January 7, 2014

Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. Quite nice, we felt like the tomato sauce needed more time to develop, so it gets a 3.

Wine: Fattoria Rodáno Poggialupi Toscana 2007

New recipe, January 6, 2014

Baked Tilapia Curry from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. Nice flavors--easy to make, straight forward Thai flavors--we give it a 4.

No wine this evening.

New recipe, January 5, 2013

Prosciutto Wrapped Pineapple Bites from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. This is nice, highly reminiscent of a Hawaiian pizza. We give it a 3.
Served with black eyed peas and a pear and lettuce salad with a honey Dijon vinaigrette.

No wine this evening.

New recipe, January 4, 2013

Mushroom Squash and Chicken Salad with Sesame Dressing from the January/February 2014 Eating Well. East and tasty, with an unexpected melange of flavors. Quite excellent, we give this a 5.

Wine: Guy Drew 2010 Russell Vineyard Riesling--an excellent match!

New recipe, January 3, 2014

From the January/February 2014 Eating Well, Tilapia with Grapefruit Caper Sauce. Excellent, we give this a 5.
Served with a reprise of the Apple Salad with Mustard Dressing from the January/February 2014 Cooking Light, which is still a 5!

Wine: Jean Paul & Benoit Droin Chablis 2010

New recipe, January 2, 2013

Farro and Kale Soup from the January 2014 Relish (which comes with the Denver Post). This is a really nice winter soup. We give it a 4. It has some thyme in it--ramping it up a bit would probably make it even tastier!

Wine: Domaine de Saint Siffrein Châteauneuf du Pape 2008. This works beautifully with the soup--the smokiness in the wine plays off the sweetness of the squash and the tartness of the tomatoes beautifully.

New recipe, January 1, 2014

We are into our 4th year of a new recipe a day! Today's is Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup from Bon Appétit, with some modification. We doubled the pork and ramped up the spices to match. King Soopers was out of mustard greens, so we used chard. This is delicious, and gets a 5!

Served with the traditional bowl of black-eyed peas.

Wine: Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Blancs