New recipes, April 4, 2016

We celebrated Mark's Mom's birthday with his parents with the Spring Vegetable and Sunflower Panzanella from the April 2016 Food and Wine, served with Mario Batali's Lamb Chops Scottadita from the Italian Grill. Dessert is Strawberries in Sambuca from Epicurious. We give the salad a 4, and the dessert gets a 5.

New recipe, October 6, 2014

The tomatoes are finally really getting ripe (in October!!) so we had the ever wonderful Scallops Alla Caprese from Mario Batali's Italian Grill. It is still a 5!

So the new recipe is the Saint Florent Cocktail from the October 2014 Bon Appétit. This is pretty tart--we would have liked a little more balance between sweet and sour. We give it a 3.

New recipe, October 12, 2013

We got Halloween up today (THE holiday in our neighborhood). We decided to celebrate the end of tomato season with a repeat of Mario Batali's amazing Sea Scallops Alla Caprese, from The Italian Grill. It is still a total 5! The wine was the Gilles Barge Condrieu La Solarie 2010. An amazing wine.

So the new recipe is the Fresh Pear Cocktail from the October 2013 Cooking Light. It is refreshing and captures the flavors of the fall. Not a lot of alcohol, great flavors. We give it a 4.

New recipes, June 29, 2013

We visited the Montanya Rum Distillery in Crested Butte on our ride. Who would have predicted that in Crested Butte? But the rums are excellent and they have a huge collection of carefully crafted recipes. Tonight we had the Breath of God, which is very tasty and gets a 4.

Our main course was the fabulous Scallops alla Caprese from Mario Batali's Italian Grill.  We love it, it still gets a 5.

For dessert, we had Figs with Parmesan and Balsamic (who could resist the first figs of the season) from Local Foods on About.com.  These were nice, we give them a 4.

Wine: Château La Rame Bordeaux 2010

New recipes, September 24, 2011

Tonight's new recipes are Chicken Alla Diavola from Mario Batali's Italian Grill, and Salad of Dandelion Greens with Almond Vinaigrette and Dried Ricotta (used Parmesan) from Epicurious.
Wine: Tenuta Sant' Antonio Nanfre Valpolicella 2008

New recipes, August 2, 2011

Today was our day to cook for the family reunion. We started with a collection of goat cheese from Basalt, just down valley from Aspen. They were all delicious. The salad was a Panzanella that we have made many time before.

The main courses were a Pork Tenderloin marinated in Balsamic Vinegar, Garlic and Red Pepper Flakes

, and (new for us) a Mario Batali recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Negroni Vinaigrette (sorry, I found reviews but not the recipe online). The recipe is from Italian Grill, and while it has many steps, it is not hard. It was delicious, and won a lot of kudos from the family, even after the tenderloin in balsamic, which we made before.!

Dessert was an Olive Oil Cake with Candied Orange from Epicurious. Amazing dish! The key is adding the orange syrup to the cake--it was fantastic!

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 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!

January 19, 2011 new recipes

Since yesterday's dinner was fairly robust, we decided to do a lighter dinner on 1/19/2011. We made the Grilled Mushroom Salad with Arugula, from Epicurious.com. This new dish for us was accompanied by another new dish from Mario Batali's Italian Grill, Asparagus Wrapped in Pancetta with Citronette (though I used Prosciutto instead of Pancetta), and some stellette pasta.

The wine was a 2008 Terredora DiPaolo Aglianico, which worked well with the grilled meat and the citronette.