The Prodigal Daughter Returns

So our oldest daughter returned with a huge duffel of clothes which Ann says are clean, which confused me. When I came home from boarding school and college, my huge duffle would walk in the house on its own, the bacteria and dirt mutating into some new life form.

Clean laundry versus dirty...one of the many things that differentiates my progeny from myself. She's remarkable in so many ways that I won't discuss here. What I will say is that I gave her the choice of dinners tonight and Ann opted for steak.

Adventures in grilling.

I'll start off by saying I've got three grills. Yes, a little excessive. Okay, a lot excessive. But keep in mind, before we were in a recession nobody would think twice about such petty extravagances. Now, as the world seems to be collapsing around us, the idea of three grills seems so... so... unnecessary. 

One grill is a classic 22-inch weber though it is enclosed in a stand that includes a small propane tank which you use to ignite your coals. (This is a concession to convenience).

The second grill is a Sears natural gas beast. Six burners, tied into the house gas line. It is extraordinarily convenient and great most of the time. The challenge with this grill is that it never gets quite hot enough to do the high-heat crust-creating grilling I go for with steaks.

The third grill is a "Kamado", another beast. It is a huge ceramic grill, based on Japanese grill design. (Think the "Big Green Egg" and then think much more authentic. I'm still getting to know the grill so I don't use it enough. 

So let's talk about the prodigal daughter dinner. Because I was driving to BWI to pick up Ann, as well as Ellie and Claire, I didn't do too much advance work. What you'll see over time is that I have a few staples when I cook steak. So let's get into it.

Entree: New York Strip steaks

Whenever I have red meat I tend to put a fair amount of kosher salt on it as soon as the red meat gets into the house. If you can let the meat sit for a couple days the salt will dramatically improve the steak.

When I buy the steak on same day as cooking, i typically salt and pepper it and loosely cover it for a couple hours if I have the time.

Meanwhile, I roast a garlic bulb for each person having steak. I picked this up in Mexico of all places. We were in Cancun on the second half of a summer vacation. The first week was spent on this tiny island, Isla Holbox, where we swam with whale sharks and chilled. I highly recommend checking out Isla Holbox. It is a gem on the verge of being discovered. If you're interested here's a great article on it from the New York Times. Click Here.

Cancun was the antithesis. Touristy, bereft of culture, other than beautiful beaches there is no real reason to go there whatsoever. That being said, I did have a good steak there and hooked on the fact that everyone who gets a steak receives a roasted garlic bulb along with it. Thusly I now do the same.

Roasting garlic is easy. Start by taking off the outer paper. Get as much as you can without loosening any of the cloves. Next cut straight across the clove bottoms so you've exposed the garlic. (Visualize the garlic sitting on the counter, root-side down. You slice cleanly horizontally across the whole bulb so it is now also flat and you can see garlic exposed. Take a piece of aluminum foil and put individual bulbs into a small square of tin foil. Drizzle olive oil over the exposed top of the garlic and then close tightly.

Throw the bulb into an oven heated to 425°. The bulbs take a good 45 minutes. Take it out and let it cool. (You can do a bunch of different things with roasted garlic. After it cools, you squeeze it out from the bulb right on your steak. Or you can create roasted garlic butter by throwing some butter and the garlic into a mini chop and combine it.

Note: a ton of recipes for flavored butter talk about softening butter and then mixing in a spice or whatever you're adding. Then you're supposed to form a "log" in wax paper and throw the butter into the freezer for a few minutes. 

I used to do that. I won't tell you what my butter "logs" looked like or reminded me of.

I was out of wax paper one day and out of desperation threw butter (not softened!) and garlic and in that case, roasted red pepper, into a mini chop. The outcome was amazingly better. Smooth and truly blended. Instead of trying to create logs, I put the finished butter into a large ramekin and then through that in the fridge for a few minutes.

For the steak, all I do is salt and pepper. I'm a big believer that the better the cut of meat the less I want to distract from its natural taste. For grilling I look for thick thick steaks. I don't serve individual steaks "per person" so I don't worry that an inch and a half (or inch and a quarter, most of the times) would be too much meat. 

After they're salted and pepppered, right before cooking, I dip the steak in a mix of corn oil and clarified butter. Let the excess drip off. Why the fat? Because I read somewhere that this combination helps you with the crustiness, which is always my ultimate goal.

I used to build  a two tier fire. Burning hot on one side and almost no coals on the other side. I'd sear both sides for a couple minutes over the intense heat and then move to the far side of the grill. Cover and in a couple minutes flip the steaks around so the "cold" side of the steak was in the direction of the heat.

I don't do that anymore. First, I use hardwood in lieu of Kingsford because hardwood burns hotter. I am extremely generous with the amount of hardwood I initially light. I want the thermometer pegged on the Weber (it only goes up to 550° or something like that. So, once all the coals are hot, I form a raging fire on one side of the grill. Coals almost up to the cooking grate. Enough coals to cook all the steaks in one fell swoop. (Yes, I said "swoop". Issues? Send them to who-cares-if-jason-is-occasionally-pretentious@have-you-nothing-better-to-do.com)

So you have to be careful with the steaks when cooking over a raging fire in case you unaware. Even the thickest steak will need to move away from the direct heat after four or five minutes. Hopefully you'll only have to move each steak just three times..

Once to put on the grill

Once to flip sides.

Once to flip back right before you take them out.

With hope, you won't have to move them out of the heat before they are done (medium rare...I don't want to discuss anything else. Sorry. Just keep moving. Nothing to see here.)

Critical! When they're ready to come off the fire, put them on a platter and cover loosely with aluminum foil. The steaks need to close up a little. This step makes a huge difference.

Side: steamed-in-the bag broccoli with mock hollandaise

Salad: Wedge. Again. I'm so sick of wedges it isn't funny.

Music: I spent most of the cooking time introducing Ann to the B3 Hammond organ. I don't think she loved the music but she humored me. Buddah is the only one who actually thinks it is hip.

Be well and stay in touch.

I'll 

The Simple Things In Life

Like black beans and rice. Last night I went to Morton's in Tysons Corner and had a fairly good sized reunion with current and former Redskins front office employees. Morton's and the Redskins brings players to the restaurants on Monday nights and this was Tyson's turn.

I had a filet which was done perfectly which isn't always the case there. In a stark contrast to my meal last night I opted for a simple meal tonight, rice and beans and salad. Recipes below.

Before I go there though, I would like to try to answer some of the reader email that's been piling up.

"Curious" asks if Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay were thrown into a vat of boiling olive oil ("EVOO" as perky Rachel likes to say) who would die first?

Who cares!

I'm kidding of course. I have nothing but the highest regard for Bobby Flay. And Rachel, why she's "delish!"

So that takes care of this week's mail.

Entree: black beans and rice

Drain two cans of black beans and reserve the liquid. Sweat a diced onion in olive oil. Add some tomato paste and let it cook. Then throw in a couple cloves of garlic minced. Add a diced red pepper. I also threw in a four ounce can of chilis.

I meant to get diced but got whole chilis instead. I drained the can and reserved the liquid. I diced the chilis and threw them in with the peppers. These were mild chilis, not particularly spicy.

Once the peppers and chilis had softened up I added a large can of diced tomatoes. At this point I added two packets of Sazón by Goya. ( Sazón is Spanish for "season").  Sazón is just a mix of Spanish seasonings. It is a little salty so I tend to cut back on the salt I add to this dish.

I also add the juice of a lime and maybe two tablespoons of roughly chopped cilantro.

For the rice, I used the reserved liquid from the black beans and the chilis as the base, adding water to get to the right quantity based on the amount of rice I'm making.

After the tomatoes have cooked I throw in the drained beans. By draining them, in combination with the tomatoes, the complexion of the dish is ruddy and much less murky than if you throw in the two cans of beans and their liquid.

And then I throw in my secret ingredient, a couple tablespoons of Chipotle Tabasco. Not hot but it definitely gives depth to the black beans. And then I squeeze in another lime right before serving.

Salad: Wedge again. Yeah. I'm in a salad rut. The problem is I can't stand tomatoes out of season. I think I'm going to try a fennel and celery root salad again.

So this dinner was a huge success...except, nobody in the family likes my "black-beany" rice. They have beseeched me to make just plain rice. Fine.

I'm gravitating back to my twangy music after my brief foray into the Hammond B3. I listened to an Elvis Costello bootleg concert from Evanston Illinois in 1989. "I know it don't thrill you. I hope it don't kill you. Welcome to the working week."

And there you have it.

Be well and stay in touch.

How can something so simple...

Be so hard to make well?

It embarrasses me to say that I've struggled with one of the most basic dishes one can make. Pasta with olive oil and garlic. I know what you're thinking. Okay, I know what you should be thinking: how can anyone who blogs about cooking admit struggling with a dish that has three, maybe four ingredient in it. Good question. Wait, I know the answer. I'm a fraud. 

By the way, I'm at the shore tonight waiting for the rest of the family so I was only cooking for myself.

Entree: spaghetti with olive oil and garlic

This time, (note the italics around "this time"-- I do this dish differently every time and still can't nail it) I tried roasting the garlic. After it was done I squeezed it into a bowl added diced fresh parsley, olive oil and salt.

After I cooked the linguini I threw it in the bowl, mixed it and added some more olive oil and a few tablespoons of the pasta water.

I didn't have red pepper flakes so I used so basic red pepper. 

It was good. Not great. The garlic didn't come through. 

Salad: arugula with a lemon olive oil dressing and some grated parmesan 

Music: Last time I wrote I talked about my obsession with Booker T and the MG's. That obsession has expanded to any and all Hammond B3 organ music, jazz and rock. I've been listening to Jimmy Smith, the jazz keyboard player who turned the B3 into a true jazz instrument. I've been listening Jimmy Smith's protégés, like Grant Green and Joey DeFrancesco. I've been grooving to some of the coolest music I've ever heard. I'm going to burn some mix CDs for anyone interested.

Be well and stay in touch.

Jason

What's Happening Hot Stuff?

Tonight went well. 

I found really good looking tuna medallions on sale and decided to build around them. The exciting and risky part of this was I didn't use any recipes so you never know how its going to work out. Tonight it worked out.

Main Course: pan-seared tuna with a soy vinegar wasabi sauce.

I started off trying to reduce the soy. That was a complete and utter failure. Even using low sodium soy the saltiness was overwhelming. I ended up using a mixture of two to one vinegar to soy with a couple teaspoons of wasabi. I added some corn starch and thickened it over a medum fire.

Debby loved it. Buddah didn't love the tuna but did love the sauce. MD was hungry and cranky so she was extremely happy to have anything.

Side: Asian Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage Stir Fry (If that's possible)

I stuck to the basics with Asian cooking. A tablespoon of minced ginger and a tablespoon of minced garlic. I had flash poached the sprouts, trimming and then putting in cold water. As soon as it boiled, I pulled them out and cooled them in an ice bath.

After I got the pan, (yes it wasn't a wok, so what?) good and hot with canola oil I threw in the ginger and garlic and as soon as it was fragrant followed with the sprouts for a few minutes and then the cabbage. If I wasn't trying to do too much at one time, I would have kept it on a high heat and wilted the cabbage and keep stirring and have it ready just as the tuna was coming off the pan. 

Not having that luxury, I turned the heat down and put a lid on the mixture. I also threw in some red pepper flakes because that another basic element in Asian cooking. As a result of cooking the mixture this way, the sprouts lost some their bright green hue.

Debby and Mary Douglass loved the mix and I did as well. Buddah doesn't eat anything purple she announced and didn't partake. She has also informed me that she's not a fan of sprouts or celery root as well.

Salad: Completely incongruous to the rest of the meal I went low maintenance with Arugula, parmesan shavings and a simple olive oil, lemon and a touch of honey. MD doesn't like Arugula but everyone else does.

All in all the meal was pleasant and everyone was in a good mood. 

Now let's talk music. I discovered a piece of music today that has blown me away. It is by Booker T and the MG's, whose are best known for the instrumental hit "Green Onions".  Look I'm totally into music and yet had no f'n' idea how influential this band was. 

The album I stumbled across is called McLemore Avenue. The album was recorded in 1969 and consists of only four tracks. All four tracks are covers of Beatles songs. Two of the tracks are medleys, ten and fifteen minutes long. Amazon actually has it for download and you can hear a sample.

That's it for now. Until later, I am listening to Booker T.

Peace out,

Jason

A Family Favorite...almost

Still under the weather. I made dinner for the girls (minus Ann who has returned to the permafrost of New Hampshire, until Christmas break in two short weeks!).

I wasn't in the mood for fancy still feeling like dreck so I went the easy route.

Main Course: sausage, onions and pepper over fusilli. 

I tried something different this time which reduced the cooking effort. First, I cut the sausage (sweet italian sausage) into pieces before I cooked it. The reason I did this was because I didn't do my normal cooking style, which involves putting whole links into a pan, covering them with water and boiling the mixture until there's no liquid left. When I do that, I end up cutting the sausage on a board and end up with grease and sausage everywhere. 

This time, I put some olive oil into a large pot and cooked the sausage over a medium fire for a good 25 minutes, being paranoid about undercooked sausage. When they were done, I pulled them out with a slotted spoon. I drained all but a tablespoon of oil in the pot. I then put three sweet onions which I cut stem to root and sofened them up for a good ten minutes, stirring frequently.

Once the onions were soft I push them aside and add a tablespoon or so of concentrated tomato paste out of a tube. (I use this stuff all the time. If I haven't already extolled its virtures, I will now. There's no waste. It is concentrated so one tablespoon equals two. When I put it into the pot I try to move it around, flip it over and actually cook it for two minutes before mixing it into the onions.

Right before I put the peppers in I throw in some garlic I've minced cooking it for thirty seconds before trying to mix it into the onions.

When I cut the red peppers, I typically cut off the crown as close to the top as I can. I pull out the seeds and use my hands to remove as much of the white ribs as possible. I then cut the bottom off so the pepper will stand on the cutting board. You can then slice off pieces pretty quickly. 

I added them to them to the onions and let them soften a fair amount...maybe 15 minutes. Then I threw the sausage back in, heated it up and its done.

Buddah and MD loved the dinner. Debby says "it isn't her favorite".

Salad: a wedge with diced carrots and red pepper. Debby's made some bleu cheese dressing that she likes but the girls feel is too cheesy. Buddah suggested that the diced carrots were too small to pick up with her fork and didn't add anything to the salad. 

And there you have it.

I didn't listen to any music. I was feeling like shite. Debby brought me up a bowl of pasta with butter for my dinner. 

That's all I got.

The Cook Off

I've got nothing to say about Thanksgiving.  

Too much food and drink. Too much of everything. 

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed being out at the shore. I enjoyed seeing everyone who was there -- some more than others. But I just don't think I'm particularly good company right now and while I am making an effort to "buck up" I'm not sure I am doing a good job of it.

Let's move on and talk about food, shall we?

Saturday night was the fourth annual "Cook Off". The idea was sprung by John and me a few years back when we thought it would be nice to get together and cook a gourmet meal, learning technique from each other, trying to outdo each other and in general creating a memorable evening for a select group of friends to enjoy the fruits and vegetables of our labors. 

This year, I made:

Lobster Rolls in a roasted garlic and lime aioli
Escargot sur doigt (escargot in fingerling potatoes)
Spanish-style garlicy shirmp with herbed rice
Salad: Celery root with pear and hazel nut salad

I'd give the lobster rolls a high grade, maybe more on presentation that substance. I found a great recipe for the aioli which is below. Because it is so flavorful, I didn't add any other seasoning to the lobster. I boiled three lobster tails until they curled,  seven - eight minutes, then let them cool. Cut 'em up and mix in the aioli which had been chilling for a few hours. I was conservative in the amount of aioli I used and probably should have made the mix a little wetter. For the rolls, I found long uncut dinner rolls at a bakery (Heidelberg for those who care). I cut off the ends and then inch wide little rolls. Then I split the top of the little rolls and voila you've got top-split tiny lobster roll rolls. I was pretty shocked at how well it worked to be honest.

Once I ready to serve, I brushed the rolls with butter and toasted for a few minutes in the Salamander set for low. The rolls came out crunch and warm. 

The escargot sur doigt was a huge pain in the ass. I had first had it in Paris, actually with Debby and Mary a day before John was joining us. We were at a baby bistro. I think it was La Rôtisserie d'Armaillé but I won't swear to it. I had basically the same dish I tried to replicate. 

First I found the most "solid" tubular potatoes I had. I trimmed the tops and bottoms so the potatoes could "stand". Then I roasted the potatoes for about twenty five minutes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

After they cooled I scooped out the potato from one end and filled with escargot which I had poached in mirepoix, red wine, bayleaf and peppercorn. I topped the escargot with a butter parsley garlic mix. Pretty standard stuff. Except, hollowing out one end of the potatoes was a huge pain in the ass. I was ably assisted by one  of the other chefs for the cook off who after his first potato regretted offering to help.

The potatoes were finished in an oven and a bit over-cooked, so I'm told.

I had left during the first course. I was as sick as a dog and could barely stand. I ended up not making my main entree, the garlickly shrimp. The good news is there was plenty of food and I don't think the shrimp were missed. 

I went home around 8pm and basically slept from the time I got home and then most of Sunday. I'm only now just beginning to feel better and I'm still nowhere near 100%.

So I don't know if the herbed rice was served. I suspect not. I know the celery root salad was served and was "nothing special". I knew it was nothing special before I served it for that matter. I should not have followed the recipe so closely. The salad was overpowered by the dressing which was supposed to be a creamy dijon but ended up being a very dijony dijon. The recipe also called for hazelnuts which I didn't have and used toasted pine nuts instead. Another strategic mistake. When toasted they tend to overpower other tastes.

All in all, not my best showing.

While I was cooking I listened to Los Straitjackets Live In Concert. They are a Mexican surf band and incredibly fun. The nice thing when you cooking something complex is that this album has no vocals so you can still focus.

Anyway, below you'll find the recipe for the roasted garlic lime aioli which was pretty wonderful.

ROASTED GARLIC LIME AOILI

Yield: Makes 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients
2 large garlic bulbs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
2 tablespoons fresh limejuice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon hot sauce
Preparation
Peel outer skins from garlic bulbs, leaving cloves together. Cut off top quarter of each bulb. Place bulbs, cut side up, in center of a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Drizzle 1 teaspoon oil over each bulb; fold foil over garlic, sealing tightly. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until soft. Remove from oven; cool. Remove and discard garlic clove skins. Scoop out pulp; mash and stir until smooth.

Combine roasted garlic and remaining ingredients in a small bowl; stir well. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Man oh Manacotti

Monday night: 

We're all pretty excited. Ann is coming home from college tomorrow evening and we're headed to the shore for Thanksgiving. We're having dinner with John and Mary on Tuesday will all the kids which will be extremely nice. 

From a cooking perspective, I'll be making dinner tonight and that's about it for the week. My involvement with the Thanksgiving dinner is minimal. Debby will lead the efforts to recreate a meal that we've had for the last twenty Thanksgiving. In other words, it ain't broken, and nobody wants it fixed, unlike Christmas eve and fish dish. But that's another entry for another time.

Main course:  Manicotti with cheese and sausage

Started with no-boil noodles which you pour boiling water over and wait until they get pliable.

The filling: ricttoa, parmesan, mozzarella, a little egg.

The sauce: diced tomatoes and sausage.

Side: diced celery root 

What a surprise. More celery root. This time sautéed in a little olive oil and then at the last minute I threw in some diced pears. I love the fact that the pear and celery root look virtually identical and have such different tastes.

I got a little frustrated with the lack of interest the meal seemed to receive. This goes to the differences between my wife and daughters who have very different tastes. When I served the meatloaf last week, Debby's response was: I'd just assume we had hamburgers. Mary Douglass is the least vocal and happy with anything. Budda wants casseroles. Tonight, I argued that manicotti was fundamentally a casserole but she wasn't buying it.

Next week I'll try a casserole.

Music: A mix called "Driving Mix II

Mary Had A Little Lamb Stevie Ray Vaughan Texas Flood
Bright Lights  Matchbox Twenty More Than You Think You Are
Ramblin' Man The Allman Brothers A Decade Of Hits 1969-1979
No Such Thing John Mayer Room for Squares
Fallen (Live) Sarah McLachlan The Best Acoustic Versions
Black Magic Woman Charlie Musselwhite I-10 Chronicles
Use Me Bill Withers American Beauty
I Melt with You Modern English Ultimate New Wave Party 1998
Michael And Heather At The Baggage Claim Fountains Of Wayne Traffic And Weather
Heaven Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys
Sunday Morning Maroon 5 1.22.03 Acoustic
With Arms Wide Open Creed Human Clay
Oye Como Va Santana Abraxas
Some Kind Of Wonderful Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad - Greatest Hits
Love's A Mystery The Pretenders Break Up the Concrete
Start Me Up The Rolling Stones Tattoo You

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday Night Romance

Debby and I had dinner by ourselves. 

I took Buddah and two of her friends to BWI earlier in the day to catch a flight to Manchester VT and then a car to NH where they were visiting Ann at college.

Mary Douglass had a school dance and dinner before hand so Debby and I had a very relaxing, romantic dinner for two.

As previously noted, yesterday I did most of the work on the short ribs.

Main Course: Braised Short Ribs

I don't really have a recipe but they're pretty much fool proof. 

Day 1: In a large heavy dutch oven add some vegetable oil -- a couple tablespoons. When it is hot, put as many ribs in as you can fit comfortably, meat side down. Brown for about 5 minutes and then brown the other sides. Put browned ribs into large bowl and repeat until all ribs are browned. 

I cut a couple onions pole to pole. About 3 to 4 cups? Throw them into dutch oven and brown them over a medium, medium high heat. Once they're browned add a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. I swear by the tomato paste in a tube deal. Much less waste than the cans and better quality in my humble opinion. 

When you put the tomato paste into the pot, move all the onions over to one side first. Then really "cook" the paste for a good two to three minutes. It'll get fragrant and deeper in color. 

Then throw in five or six peeled garlic cloves. Whole. Let them get fragrant. Maybe a minute at the most.

Turn up the heat to medium high and add a couple cups of wine and let it reduce about half.

Once it is reduced I add peeled carrots, a cup of beef broth, a bay leaf, and then the ribs along with any juices that accumulated in the bowl. The goal is to cover the ribs completely. If necessary, I either add more broth or red wine if the mixture is too shallow to cover as much of the ribs as possible.

Then you take the whole thing, covered and throw it into a 300 degree oven and cut it for a good 2.5 to 3.5 hours. You basically want the ribs on the edge of falling apart. I move the ribs around once or twice while they're cooking but if you have enough broth you don't have to do that.

After they've cooked, I put the entire dutch oven into the outside fridge and let them chill overnight.

Day 2: Remove the fat from the dutch oven. There will be a thick crust at least a quarter inch thick. Once I've done that I take the ribs out of the broth and put them on an armetale platter which I cover with foil and put into the warming drawer until dinner. (The temperature in the warming drawer is about 180 degrees so if you are using the oven, just set it for the lowest temperature. 

I then strained the sauce in which the ribs were cooking. The problem was it still felt greasy. So I took the strained sauce and put it in the freezer for twenty minutes. A new layer of fat solidified which I removed and then I strained the strained sauce again. Now it didn't have any kind of greasy taste.

When I had reduced the sauce by almost half, I added another couple cups of wine and reduced it again. I also made a roux separately. Half a stick of butter melted and then  maybe 3 tablespoons of flour whisked in, one tablespoon at a time. When it was smooth and the flour was cooked I added it to the sauce and it was done.

I have spent a very long time in search of perfect brown sauce.  The reality is unless you start with veal bones and create meat stock and then reduce it for years...etc....anyway, the brown sauce that short ribs produces as a by-product is pretty rich and full of taste.

Side: Sautéed brussels sprouts

I think brussels sprouts rock. Trim them. Remove the outer leaves. Quarter. Put them into a pot of cold water and add some salt. Put the heat on high. As soon as the water boils, pull the sprouts out and put them in ice water to stop the cooking. They should be a rich green.

When they're done, throw some clarified butter into a pan. 

Clarifying butter: easier than you think

Take a stick or two of butter. Put it in a small pan and put it over a low burner. Once the butter's melted. Turn off the fire and let the butter cool for ten minutes or so. Then take a ladle spoon and start to skim off the white stuff on the top of the butter. The white stuff is milk parts. The milk in butter either rises to the top or settles on the bottom of the pan. 

After you've skimmed as much of the milk parts as you can, pour the remainder into a container. You should be able to pour about 75% of the butter before the remaining milk parts start to pour.

That is clarified butter. The great thing about clarified butter is it doesn't burn. You can heat it up to high and it won't brown. It won't smoke. 

So put some clarified butter into a pan, set it for medium and right before you're sitting down to eat, throw some shallots into the butter. It'll cook fast. Then throw in the brussels sprouts and a handful of kosher salt. It'll just take a minute or two to heat them up.

That was all we had. All we needed.

It was a pretty wonderful meal. Relaxing. tasty. We had a pink martini or two before dinner. Some wine with dinner. All in all, a great meal.

Two Dinners Tonight

Actually, one dinner tonight and a second one made for tomorrow night. At least the main course.

It is cold and grey here.  I haven't made short ribs yet, a dish I associate with winter, with the kind of weather we're just starting to see. There were flurries yesterday or the day before. I don't remember. It doesn't matter really. 

Regardless short ribs were on my mind and while I was at market today shopping for ingredients for tonight's dinner I decided to kill two birds...actually, two cows with one stone. 

Tonight, we're having meatloaf;  a dish I've never made before. I was at the dog park last week when a fellow dog parker extolled the Cooks Illustrated recipe so I figured I'd give it a shot.

There are a few more steps to it than I am normally used to, meaning more effort and more advance planning. Frankly, the dishes I typically revel in have a minimum of ingredients but a ton of taste. So when it comes to something like Cook's Illustrated meatloaf with tons of ingredients and steps I tend to shy away. I also wonder if June Cleaver went through the type of things Cook's Illustrated requires you to do in order to make the perfect meatloaf ever made. I suspect not. I suspect June could whip together the ingredients and have it in the oven in twenty minutes and still end up with a crusty loaf, nice glaze and all sorts of compliments from her men, Ward, Wally and of course, her Beaver. (Really immature joke there but I couldn't resist.)

The sixties gal I can't imagine making meatloaf is Lovey Howell, from Gilligan's Island.  Can you say "reservations"? Like she ever cooked! 

Anyway, I digress. My challenge is to come up with food everyone likes and to not get into ruts with my cooking. Lately Buddah (a code name for one my daughters -- she came up with it) has been  jonesing for casseroles. I suspect both Buddah and Mary Douglass are a little tired of "pieces of meat" or "pieces of fish" or "pieces of chicken" or...you get the idea. (If not, the next word was "pork".)

My job tonight is to convince Buddah that meatloaf is a casserole sans the casserole dish.  I'll let you know how that works out.

Salad: Arugula with shaved parmesan and a lemon dressing. Probably the simplest and my favorite salad. A couple lemons, making maybe a quarter cup of juice and a half cup of olive oil. "EVDO" to quote the Sarah Palin of the Food Network, Rachel Ray. Is it me or do her recipes stink? 

Side Dish: Roasted Asparagus

Incredibly simple -- aspargus on a cookie sheet or armetale. Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt. I added the zest of one of the lemons I'm using for the salad to add a little flavor. (Debby firmly believes that there is almost no food product that cannot be improved by the addition of lemon. Ask any waiter within a five block radius of her office. She basically orders iced lemon flavored with a little tea for lunch on a daily basis.)

Side Dish: Smashed Potatoes

No peeling, which is appealing. Throw red potatoes and salt into cold water bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Dump the water. The heat from the pot gets rid of all the moisture which is a good thing. Then add milk or sour cream and or butter. I'm adding some fresh parsley as well.  You can eyball the amount of bad stuff you add and they're pretty difficult to mess up.

Main Course: Cook's Illustrated Meatloaf

If you go to Cook's Illustrated and you search for meatloaf the first recipe that comes up is the one I tried. It has gelatin in it, which I had to buy. I ended up accidently throwing out the bag that had the gelatin and when it came time to add it in I couldn't find it. The good news was I distinctly remembered not putting it away so after a few minutes of fruitless searching I went to the trash cans and found the box. It was a CSI kind of moment. Me rooting through the garbage for evidence....

Any how, the recipe has a fair number of ingredients and frankly right now I'm skeptical. Particularly because of the glaze for the meatloaf, a combination of brown sugar, ketchup, cider vinegar and corriander. When I was making it, the color brought me back to the Islander.

The Islander was the first and for a very long time, only "Chinese" restaurant in the town of Vernon Connecticut where my parents grew up and where I lived for the first seven years of my life. 

The Islander, in reality was a polynesian restaurant, with architecture, decorations and menu seemingly based on a stay at the Polynesian Resort at Disney World, before the renovation.

The restaurant had palm trees, a log "bridge" across a stream...well it had probably been a stream at one point but now was as dry as my father's sense of humor. (Inside joke.)

I ate there often when visiting my grandparents who continued to live in Vernon/Rockville even after their son and daughter drove up the turnpike to Washington. I often went there for lunch with my Grandfather George. And I always got the same lunch special every time: Sweet and Sour Pork, an egg roll and a perfectly-shaped mound of the whitest rice money could buy. 

And I love it. What wasn't to love? Deep fried egg roll with shredded lettuce, a few chunks of some meat product for show, coated in a mainly sweet and a little sour sauce.

Deep fried pork nuggets swimming in a sea of more sweet sauce...which brings me back to the meatloaf glaze.

Stay tuned until tomorrow for a follow up on the meal.

Oh, because I was cooking retro, I listened retro: Ella Fitzgerald Live In London. 

This is a later album in her career and not particularly outstanding. What attracted me to it in the first place was the opportunity to hear Ella sing "You've Got A Friend".  As some of you may know, I am a little obsessive when it comes to music, particularly finding unusual covers of songs.

Anyway, here's the song list and if you're interested in hearing it let me know.

Sweet Georgia Brown

They Can't Take That Away From Me
The Man I Love
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Everytime We Say Goodbye
You've Got A Friend
Lemon Drop
The Very Thought Of You
Happy Blues

Every Night Is Not Saturday Night

Debby gets home later tonight. I wasn't keen on cooking and didn't go to the market so I used what was in the house.

Salad: Wedge with toasted pecans, bacon and roasted pepper left over from last night.

Main Course: Pasta with Costco Pesto. Yes, pesto from a jar. The girls love it and it makes dinner incredibly easy. 

For the record, no post-mortem tonight. 

What I was listening to: Heroes: Giants of Early Guitar Rock by Dion (No! Not Celine...Dion DiMucci who started his career as a do wop singer in the 50's with hits like: "The Wanderer," and "Runaround Sue.")

This is a new album that came out this year. It is fun. Also definitely check out "Son of Skip James" another recent album by Dion.

1. Summertime Blues
2. Come On, Let's Go
3. Rave On
4. Believe What You Say
5. Bye Bye Love
6. Be-Bop-A-Lula
7. Runaway
8. Jailhouse Rock
9. I Walk The Line
10. Blue Suede Shoes
11. Who Do You Love
12. Sweet Little Rock and Roller
13. Dream Baby
14. Shake, Rattle and Roll
15. The Wanderer

More to come. In the meanwhile. It is 9:01 Eastern. Think how much easier life would be if you didn't have to add the "Eastern". (Global Eastern Standard Time: help spread the word!)

Post Mortem

Roasted Broccoli: Zero Stars

The broccoli was almost inedible. Too much salt. I need to figure out if I read the recipe wrong. Three possibilities:

1. The recipe calls for too much salt (not likely but possible).
2. I put more salt in than the recipe called for (entirely likely).
3. I didn't put as much broccoli in as the recipe called for (entirely likely).
4. I put more salt in than the recipe called for and didn't put as much broccoli (unfortunately, with me at the helm, this could be it.)
5. The recipe calls for too much salt, I put more salt in than the recipe called for and I didn't put enough broccoli in (okay, I know...silly and highly unlikely, sort of the Perfect Storm of Cooking. When I do this, and oh yes, I will, I will admit it).

Wedge Salad: 3 Stars

The wedge salad was a hit. No surprise. I didn't do much. I did use a half a head iceberg for the three of us -- slightly less lettuce than my usual 1/4 head per person and I think the portion reduction was a good way to go.

Celery Root: 1.5 Stars

The celery root was well-received. Okay, a little boring. Next time I make it I'm going to try a pear and celery root salad recipe I saw somewhere. 

Stuffed Chicken: 1.5 Stars

The chicken was good. it wasn't amazing. I need to figure out how to apply the balsamic reduction more effectively, i.e., so it doesn't "roll" off the chicken and pool. It was good, but from appearances, it basically "stained" the chicken breasts rather than uniformly give them a good color.

The combination of flavors -- roasted garlic and pepper and balsamic definitely work and with a boneless, skinless chicken breast I am guessing it is pretty healthy. 

Over and out.

Welcome to Dinner Thoughts.

It is Tuesday and Debby's away. The girls have been bugging me to make stuffed chicken breasts. 

Salad: Iceberg wedge salad with bacon and toasted pecan pieces 

A perennial favorite. I've started toasting the nuts in the oven rather than on the stove top. Much less maintenance. For pecans, 350 degrees around eight minutes. Bleu cheese dressing (out of the bottle).

Side dish: Sautéed Celery Root 

I love celery root. I am winging it tonight, meaning no recipe. I've been getting less reliant on recipes in a desperate attempt to prove Debby wrong. We were recently talking about cooking and she may have suggested that my best work comes when I'm following a recipe. Okay, that bothered me. There I admit it. But I'll show her she's wrong. I hope.

I used about a tablespoon of the bacon grease from the bacon I cooked for the salad. First I threw some shallots in the pan until soft. Then I added the diced celery root and cooked it covered over a medium fire until soft, maybe twelve minutes? I threw in some kosher salt and then put the finished side into a bowl and into the warmer. 

If I weren't concerned with cleaning while I cook I could have timed the celery root to finish right when the chicken was coming out of the oven. 

I should probably give a little background. Most nights when I cook I try to clean as I go along. As a result, I will often cook things earlier than necessary and use the warming drawer more than I'd like to. Being a fan of familial harmony, its a trade-off I'm more than happy to make.

Side dish two: Roasted Broccoli 

Broccoli is a family favorite, dark green and healthy, I usually steam it. Some of the healthy aspects of it are somewhat negated by the addition of mock hollandaise sauce (butter, mayonnaise, lemon and more butter).  

So when I saw a video on Cooks Illustrated talking about roasting broccoli I was intrigued and decided to give it a shot. 

Cut the florets in half if they're small, quartered if they're large. Heat up a baking pan in a five-hundred degree oven. Drizzle olive oil, garlic a little salt, pepper and sugar on the broccoli and put cut side down on hot pan and back in oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Main course: stuffed chicken breasts with roasted red pepper and roasted garlic and balsamic glaze

I roasted two heads of garlic and two red peppers. I also reduced some balsamic vinegar. I pounded the breasts down. Note I didn't have any parchment paper (my first choice when pounding breasts) or wax paper. So I improvised with Glad "press n' seal" which worked well.

After they were flattened, I put some of the diced roasted red pepper and roasted garlic in the middle and rolled them up securing them with tooth picks. I browned them in olive oil on the stove top and then put them in the oven for thirty minutes. In the last ten minutes I put the reduced balsamic on top of them.

I'll report back tomorrow night.

What I was listening to while I cooked:

Acoustic Mix

1. I Wanna Be Sedated Joey Ramone In Their Own Words (Vol. 1) 
   
2. The Ghost In You Counting Crows August And Everything After (Disk 2)
   
3. Let It Bleed The Rolling Stones Stripped (Disk 1)
   
4. I Knew The Bride Nick Lowe The Basher Back At The BBC
   
5. Blinded By The Light Bruce Springsteen VH1 Storytellers
   
6. Romeo and Juliet Indigo Girls Rites of Passage
   
7. Man On The Moon R.E.M. The Best Of R.E.M. In Time 1988-2003
   
8. Reason To Believe Rod Stewart  Unplugged and Seated
   
9. In the Air Tonight Ray Wilson Live And Acoustic
   
10. Ain't No Sunshine Paul McCartney Unplugged
    
11. Watching The Wheels John Lennon  Acoustic
    
12. Everybody's Talkin' Willie Nelson  I-10 Chronicles
    
13. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da The Beatles The Acoustic Submarine (Disc 2)
    
14. After Midnight J.J. Cale Naturally
    
15. American Tune  Eva Cassidy American Tune
    
16. Knockin' On Heaven's Door Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & Tony Rice The Pizza Tapes
    
17. I Shall Be Released  Nina Simone  The very best of Nina Simone
    
18. No Woman, No Cry Graham Parker  The Bottom Line, Vol. 2
    
19. Pinball Wizard Pete Townshend Another Scoop (Disc 1)