I ordered a chest freezer, which hasn’t come yet, but in anticipation I made six liters of trotter stock (it’s like Fergus Henderson’s Trotter Gear, but I separate the meat and strain the liquid. I also don’t use Madeira). It’s such a jiggly joy to have on hand, and I always freeze most of it in ice cube trays for convenience; even one cube adds superlative lip-smackery to anything from simple sautéed greens on up.…
Category: Awesomeness
A while back, I crafted an obscenely fabulous burger. But since it had been a while since I wrought such decadence, I felt something similar was in order. To begin with, I had come home with local beef and lamb, and couldn’t decide which I wanted to eat. So I ground some together, adding in a nice fatty heel of duck prosciutto for good measure since the beef was very lean after I trimmed it. I seasoned the grind with garlic, herbs, and finely minced scallions.
Not a great picture, admittedly, but a good example of how about five things can be turned into a pretty satisfying and nutritious dinner in next to no time. To wit: A head of cauliflower, caramelized hard in a pan with a bit of duck prosciutto and olive oil, with garlic and minced dried porcini added towards the end A bag of penne, cooked just shy of al dente A splash of roasted chicken stock…
So the other night I had a hankering for a nice lemony, olivey tagine. We got some chicken thighs, and everything was going as planned when I got it into my head– based on the squishiness of the ground in certain places– that a trip to the garden might be a good idea. And so it was. The beds are mostly thawed, and we got a ton of carrots and parsnips out in no time,…
An inauguration, of sorts, for the new kitchen, in that I actually took a few minutes to plan and think through a whole meal for the first time in a month. I had been to the store to get a few things, and as I always do at this time of year I grabbed winter veggies: leeks, fennel, turnips, and kale. I knew we had a duck breast in the freezer, and there were some…
Before: After: All told, it came in at just about two weeks of work, though spread out over three. There’s a bit more to do, but it’s all minor aesthetic stuff like trim and paint and doors for over the hood. I’ll get to all that much later–probably after the garden is planted. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go fondle my butcher block.
Shichimi Togarashi means “seven flavor chili pepper” in Japanese. Besides ground chili, it has nori, sesame seeds, citrus peel, sansho pepper, and poppy and hemp seeds in varying proportions. Many in the West like to call it “togarashi” because it’s easier and sounds cool, though sticklers point out that that basically just means “chili” and thus is not accurate. Those people also tend not to get invited over for dinner very often, but that’s sort…
This dinner took place a couple of weeks ago, but given the groggy indolence of today I thought it would be appropriate to put up a post that consists entirely of other people’s work. Jen and Chris had a holiday gathering at their lovely home here in town and chef Dave went all-out making us a glorious feast. Here’s the menu, with pictures by Jen: hors variés coconut chicken satay on banana bread muffin macaroni…
So I got a deli slicer for my birthday. Which I sort of asked for, in that not-exactly-asking-but-making-it-pretty-obvious-way that my expert wife has figured out over the years. It was a tough call, since I really want a new juicer (the old one suffered a child-related mishap, rendering it useless) but the one I want is three times more money than the slicer. So I got a slicer. It was win/win, really, since she knew that the minute I opened it I’d rush out and buy hunks of meat to cure, hang, and then slice into glistening tissues of salty splendor for us all to enjoy.
And that is pretty much exactly what happened.