Our cooking adventure

As many know Mark and I love to cook. We cook everyday unless something like going out to dinner gets in the way or we are traveling. So we have decided to cook a new dish everyday this year. I actually started on Monday before the new year. I made Omelet de Lyonaise which is an onion omelet topped with a white wine vinegar that you heat in the drippings from the omelet and pour on top. Tuesday I cooked Mesquite smoked chicken with roasted potatoes. I bought Mark a cold smoker for Christmas and his mother bought me a set of different woods to use in it. So I must admit that I actually used Mark's gift before he had a chance. He did of course get to eat the chicken. On Wednesday, I made carrot ginger soup and Thursday I cooked risotto with peas and prosciutto with a side dish of Brussels sprouts with a maple walnut vinaigrette.

Friday Mark and I went out to Dinner with his parents, Ann and Mike and his sister Mary with her husband Kenny and their three kids, Georgia, Julia and Brett. Since I could not cook I had a dish that I love yet have not ventured to make yet. Chioppino.

Last night Mark made a terrific meal, curried black eyed peas, chanterelle mushrooms cooked in butter shallots and garlic. The main dish was chicken thighs cooked with juniper berries. Fantastic although I think it made me dream of gin last night.

Tonight we are having Grilled rack of lamb with honey pasilla glaze, Roasted new potato salad with poblano Mayo. After a day on the slopes I can hardly wait.

January 2, 2011 new recipes

This is the dinner on 1/2/2011. Carl and I were in the mountains, near Winter Park. The temperatures were very cold for skiing. That didn't stop us, of course, but we wanted a nice warming meal afterward. The main course was Grilled Rack of Lamb with a Honey-Pasilla Glaze, from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's cookbook (one of my Christmas presents). He has such a love of Mexican food, and so many good recipes! The Salad of Roasted New Potatoes with Poblano Mayo came from the same book. We also had a salad I make often with caramelized corn kernels, and diced cucumber, red bell peppers, dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette and shredded basil or tarragon.

The wine was a garnacha--a fruity red wine that often matches well to spicy foods.

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.

December 31, 2010, new food but no new recipe

Dinner on 12/31/2010 was courtesy of my parents. We went to eat at Venice Restaurant. Obviously, we could not cook something new, but we both ate something we hadn't had before. I had a wild boar ravioli, and Carl had Cioippino.

We have decided that we really are going to try to make something new every day, so in the future that means making something new for another meal if we are going to be eating out. Haven't quite worked out what to do if we are traveling together without a kitchen . . .

December 30, 2010 new recipes

Dinner on 12/30/2010 was Venetian Style Risotto with Peas, and Steamed Brussel Sprouts with Maple Vinaigrette.

Both of these were new. The risotto came from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano, well loved and used in our house! The brussel sprouts came from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. Both were good, they did not seem to be the best fit with each other though. Live and learn!

I don't recall the wine.

December 29, 2010 new recipe

Dinner on 12/29/2010: Ginger Carrot Soup, with Herbed Chicken Thighs and a green salad.

The soup was the new (and delicious) item, and it came from the Moosewood Cookbook. Carl often makes chicken this way--the thighs get salt, pepper, and some herbs like Herbes de Provence, and they are sauteed in olive oil.

I don't recall the wine--we will get better about that!

December 28, 2010 new recipes

So our grand experiment is to prepare at least one thing we have never made before, everyday. Here is the first dinner on this adventure--December 28, 2010. Carl made Mesquite Smoked Chicken in Garlic, Shallot and White Wine Sauce. It was served with Maple Infused Fingerling Potatoes, and a green salad.

The chicken and the potatoes were both new. The chicken was smoked with my Christmas present, the smoking gun--it is an indoor cold smoker, very convenient for smoking small amounts of something without heating it at all.

Carl created the chicken recipe. The potato recipe came from David Chang's cookbook, Momofuku.

The wine was a Pinotage, though at the moment I can't remember which one.