Denver Life with Carl and Mark: April 2024

Sunday, April 21, 2024

New recipe. April 20, 2024

Kaddu with Greens and Shrimp from NYT Cooking. This has layers of great flavors with all the spices, the squash and coconut milk. We give this a 5!

New recipe, April 19, 2024

Migas with Tortillas and Beans from NYT Cooking. This is a pleasant recipe, we give this a 3

New recipe, April 18, 2024

Tuxedo from NYT Cooking. An interesting variant of a martini. We give it a 3.

New recipe, April 17, 2024

Brandy Crusta from NYT Cooking. This is a really nice cocktail, with very well balanced tartness and sweetness. This gets a 4.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Turmeric Fried Eggs with Tamarind and Pickled Shallots from NYT Cooking. This is a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi, and like so many of his dishes it has layers and layers of wonderful complementary flavors. It is wonderful! This gets a 5.

New recipe, April 15, 2024

Sweet Breakfast Quinoa from Food and Wine. This surprised us a bit—the flavors of all the ingredients blended nicely with the quinoa without overpowering it. We give this a 4.

New recipe, April 14, 2024

Warm Sausage and Lentil Salad from Food and Wine. This is a dish with a fair amount of mustard, making it a bit monochromatic for us. We give it a 3

New recipe, April 13, 2024

The Gold Rush from NYT Cooking. The use of honey syrup softens this bourbon sour, which we liked a lot. We give this a 4.

New recipe, April 12, 2024

Root Vegetable Minestrone from Food and Wine. The herbal flavors of minestrone are here, but the vegetables are different. We enjoyed this variation, which is very satisfying. It gets a 3.

New recipe, April 11, 2024

Turmeric Chicken Stew from Food and Wine. This has a rich mix of warming spices and lightness from the lime juice. Really enjoyable! This gets a 5.

New recipe, April 10, 2024

Spicy Mushroom and Tofu Mazeman from NYT Cooking. We love the sauce in this—tahini, chili crisp and miso. This gets a 4.

New recipe, April 9, 2024

Hilib Suqaar (Beef and Vegetable Sauté) from NYT Cooking. This is a Somali recipe, and we love the flavors. It has you brown the meat and then cook with some water added for 15 minutes, "til the meat is tender." Stew meat needs a low braise to be tender. We love the flavors but the meat was really tough. We should also have cut the meat much smaller, but we don't think cooking the meat quickly is going to yield a tender dish. As made we give this a 2–great flavors, and we think we could fix the meat by cooking it lower, slower and longer.

New recipe, April 8, 2024

Spicy Kimchi Tofu Stew from Food and Wine. My dad, who served in Korea, never liked kimchi, which does have a pungent aroma (which I love). He would definitely have said no to this! It has a pound of kimchi, but it is interesting how kimchi mellows when it cooks. We really enjoyed this, it gets a 5.

New recipe, April 7, 2024

Chickpeas and Kale with Spicy Pomodoro Sauce from Food and Wine. We aren't vegetarian but we have enjoyed exploring vegetarian dishes like this. It has robust flavors and is very satisfying. It gets a 4.

New recipe, April 6, 2024

Warm Puttanesca Pasta from Food and Wine. I don't like anchovies, but as an ingredient in a sauce like puttanesca it brings a lovely umami to the dish. This is really tasty. We give it a 4.

New recipe, April 5, 2024

We went out to dinner to celebrate the 92nd birthday of Mark's mom, Ann, so the after dinner new drink is the Remember the Maine from the Moody Mixologist. Starts off like a Manhattan but the addition of Cherry Heering and Absinthe makes it unique. We give this a 5!

New recipe, April 4, 2024

Giardiniera with Ham and White Beans. The vegetables are only lightly pickled, and then the pickling liquid is added to the dressing. We were surprised by how well it all came together. We give it a 4.

New recipe, April 3, 2024

Chicken Koftas with Lime Couscous from NYT Cooking. The couscous is nicely flavored with cherries, pine nuts, parsley, and of course lime. The koftas are also nice spiced and with a bit of heat. They combine very nicely. This gets a 4.

New recipe, April 2, 2024

Lentils Cacciatore from NYT Cooking. Who would have thought you could do this with the humble lentil? The flavors are delicious. This gets a 5.

New Recipe, April 1, 2024

Stauning Salted Maple Old Fashioned from the Stauning Whisky website. We really like this whisky, so we decided to try this drink, which has maple syrup and olive brine. It was too sweet for us. We give it a 3.

New recipe, March 31, 2024

In the hustle and bustle of Easter dinner, I forgot the photo. Our new recipe was Rosemary Rack Of Lamb with Crushed Potatoes from NYT Cooking. It's a winner! This gets a 5!

New recipe, March 30, 2024

Five Herb Frittata with Prosciutto and Parmesan. This has a nice blend of flavors from all the herbs. We give it a 4.

New recipe, March 29, 2024

Slow Cooker Picadillo from NYT Cooking. Picadillo is a wonderfully flavored Caribbean stew, and this easy version is very good. It gets a 4.

New recipe, March 28, 2024

Microwave Eggplant with Scallion Chili Crisp Oil from Food and Wine. This has an interesting way of cooking the eggplant which we found entirely unsuccessful. Some parts were cooked through, others were raw. This didn't improve with extra cooking. The scallion chili crisp oil was very tasty, but we give this recipe a 2. I would certainly serve the oil on a nicely roasted eggplant.