March 9, 2011 new recipes

Tonight's recipes come from Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican. We had Herb-Green Rice with Peas and Quick Fried Fish with Toasted Garlic. (Sorry, I can't find either on other sites). We had it with a quick red cabbage and carrot slaw dressed with the Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette from Holly Arnold Kinney's Shinin' Times at the Fort. The fish and the rice were both delicious, flavorful without being very spicey. The slaw was a nice counterpoint.

The wine was a 2009 Crane Lake Pinot Grigio, which worked nicely with all the dishes.

March 4, 2011 new recipe

Today's dishes are both new for us. The Lime and Coconut Shrimp with Curry Sauce is from Epicurious.com. My first thought, seeing deep fried shrimp, was that this was going to be too much. Well it was fabulous, and it made a great lunch the next day, as well! Peas with Horseradish came from David Chang's Momofuku. As someone who enjoys Wasabi Peas, I have to say this was definitely better!

The wine was a Wolf 2009 Gewürztraminer. A great match to these flavors!

January 1, 2011 new recipes

New Years Day, 2011. We made Chicken with Juniper Berries, from Ruth van Waerebeek's Everyone Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook. We also made Fresh Chanterelles with Shallots from Epicurious.com, and a green salad. Both were new to us.

Our usual green salad is made with a very simple vinaigrette--olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a little Viandox. Viandox is a Knorr product, which our friends Anne and Gilles introduced us to when we visited them in France. We have not been able to get it in the US, so we tend to return from France with a bunch of bottles in the suitcases! It is a salty sauce with yeast extract, some spices, soy sauce, and beef extract.

Being New Years Day, we also had to have black eyed peas. I modified the Curried Black Eyed Pea Soup recipe on Epicurious.com. I didn't use bacon, just olive oil and the smoked paprika for the smokiness of bacon. It was really nice! The chanterelle recipe also came from this site.

I can't remember what red wine we had with this.