Lately, Dinners

After I came back from my dad's house, I tried my hand at a recipe that was suggested by the waitress that I'd ordered at the restaurant (Casa Christine's in Pvrovidence, on Fedevral Hill). Here first, is a pic of the end of that meal:




It was so good. Basically veal in a sauce made from garlic in olive oil, red roasted peppers, sun-dried peppers in a cream sauce with anchovies.

So, here's my attempt:



Ok, so... too much garlic, too many anchovies, too many sun-dried tomatoes and too many chili's, and reduced the cream way too much.

But, I'll get it.

The good note is that a few days later, with the yummy leftovers (I didn't say it wasn't good) I added them to a dinner I was making that had pork, pan roasted on the fat side and then broiled, with a sauce that started with garlic, onions, balsamic vinegar and white wine, and then I added the leftovers of the veal dinner. It was wonderful. The way the balsamic vinegar combined with the anchovies.

Another dinner you can never replicate.

Once

At the end of last night's dinner, my friend Michael came up to me and told me about a film he saw, titled like my post here-- about a group of people who came together through some happenstance, ate a marvelous meal with wine, and experienced something singular.

It was not only a compliment to which, after a fretful 48 hours of planning and creation, was how I felt as well. It was nothing short of beautiful, despite the few snafu's. As Nils Christie, one of my distinguished guests told me, he'd personally rather be in the middle of it all, than have it all done behind the scenes. Good, I thought, as I pushed plates, knives, forks and so forth around the already crowded, already relaxed group that were off on a million conversational journeys.

In attendance were: Nils Christie, Bud Welch, Margaret Vandiver, Sandy and her husband Richard, Michael, Deano, me and occasionally my daughter Tina, coming in to sparkle (literally) for us in greeting or in a quick plate of food. The first three are all speakers in tomorrow's Death Penalty Symposium.

Here's what I made:
We started with fresh tomato-vodka, with garlic and cream over farfalle. Then we had an end-of-summer tomato, basil, and red onion salad, dressed with very special olive oil and balsamic and finished in feta. Third course was a cauliflower fried in allspice and butter dish that I love (I adapted it from a preparation stage of a Mahqloube) and the last course was sweet Italian sausages and a side of very picante salsa verde, made from neighbors anaheim's and jalapeno's, roasted and simmered together with a beer reduced over a sofritto of onion and garlic.

We had 4 wines. Two white and two red. Clois Du Bois Sauvignon Blanc (very nice) and a rather too sweet Reisling and Renwood 2005 Red Zinfandel and another Renwood I don't remember the name of. The two Renwoods were lovely, about 10 bucks each.

Dinner was a hit, as I've alluded, and the food met my requirements with a couple of minor caveats. There, I'll leave it at that.

Baby Back Ribs, Squashes, and Tortellini

Tonight a yummy dinner, perhaps a bit rich -- could have used a course of something with more acid...a tomato salad or something with vinegar.  But it was good anyway, and a glass of wine seemed to help it along.

The day before I marinated baby back ribs (2 slabs) in white wine, worcestershire, olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a decent dash of xxxtra hot habenero sauce.  I turned it several times during the day and let it come to room temp while I prepared the rest of dinner.  


I love using my mandoline, but I tend to forget I have it.  I took some zuchinni and yellow squash and made nice little julienned strings.  I fried them in batches in olive oil in a pan with two red jalapenos that had been frying in the oil.  When they were all done, I returned them all to the pan and added a half cube of butter and stirred until it melted and covered all.  I topped it with reggiano parmesean and put it low, under the broiler for about 4 minutes, and then let it sit on warm until dinner was ready.

I put the ribs on the bbq and alternated them between full heat bone side down, to short stints meat side down until they got color.  Finally, I banked the fire to one side and cooked them bone side down on the cool side until done.

I boiled water and salted it and cooked Barilla Tortellini's stuffed with "three cheeses".  When they were done I buttered them and stirred in about a 1/2 cup of reggiano parmesean.

So, you can see... a lot of fatty yummy... not much acid.  I was the only one who drank wine, but no one really complained.  Deano was here and ate with us (second dinner, and literally sucked his bones devoid of meat.

E-mer-gency dinner

We had a great day -- had to buy a new mower, but, at least we got the lawn mowed.  But, for dinner, what?

Finally I decided to pan roast those green beans I got the other day from the neighborhood "take what you need" booth, and I decided to bbq the baby back ribs.  A bastamati rice dish with peas and butter completed the ensemble.

Good enough. 

Cait's dinner

Cait's dinner, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Caitlin had an assignment to make a dinner with nothing but "american" foods. So, here is a succotash of black beans, petite corn and fried yellow squash, a plate of tomatoes, some corn tortillas, and some broiled salmon.

Chicken baked in honey

Chicken baked in honey, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Dinner a few weeks ago. A rather uninspired night in an uninspired summer...

Pork chops, beans and garlic, potatoes and a glaze

Pork chops, beans and garlic, potatoes and a glaze, originally uploaded by wickenden.


My plate

We had a small sunday dinner. I made pork chops, green beans with garlic and fried potatoes. I marinated the pork chops in a mixture of beer, olive oil, salt, pepper and apple jelly. I seared the chops on the fat side in a frying pan, then transferred them to the grill (the non-flame side) to finish. I reduced the marinade and used it to deglaze the pan to pick up all the meat fat.

The potatoes were small red ones that I cut up and nuked until partially done, then I fried them in olive oil and butter. I normally like to brown the green beans in a pan, but I had too much liquid so they merely boiled. I added about 3 tablespoons of pressed garlic (about 2 bulbs). That's a lotta garlic.

We had a margarita with dinner. Not bad. The glaze was delicious.

Spinach Salad wilted with Bacon Drippings

Spinach Salad wilted with Bacon Drippings, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Ingredients
4 cups Fresh spinach leaves. 12 oz diced grape tomatoes. 1 cup crumbled Feta cheese. 1 cup cut up Cran-Raisens. 1/4 cup Chopped fresh walnuts. 1 lb Bacon chopped up. 1/2 cup Bacon drippings and 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar. Cane Sugar (a tablespoon)

Toss the hot bacon drippings with the leaves. Add the vinegar and toss more. Toss in the dry ingredients and serve immediately.

Chicken Pesto and San Marsano Tomato Sandwiches

Chicken Pesto and San Marsano Tomato Sandwiches, originally uploaded by wickenden.

I made this for an early dinner. Asiago cheese bread, buttered with a base sauce made from a reduction of red wine, chicken deglazings and tomato broth, pounded and lightly breaded chicken fillets, fried in olive oil, goat cheese, pesto and san marsano tomatoes lightly dried under the broiler. The sandwiches were broiled to this state and then gobbled up.

Dinner Prep

Dinner Prep, originally uploaded by wickenden.

A quick dinner, a vodka pasta sauce with spaghetti, some spring greens and some cherry tomatoes for the salad.

Cobb Salad Supremo

Tonight's Cobb Salad was superb. It was a bit early to be wanting tomatoes and avocados -- and neither were fantastically ripe, but they were edible. Amy, Ben and Ayla and Tavian were to dinner, as were my two younger daughters. Dean was there for the evening cocktail and stayed to dinner. He brought Betty home a plate. Finally my Missa arrived as dinner was ending and there was plenty left for her to enjoy. For dessert, Amy and Ben brought a cheesecake, but it was a bit sweeter than I prefer. Cookies and Cream, or some such. I like a nice dry New York.

I love laying out a Cobb Salad on a big platter and coming up with an arrangement that seems appetizing and festive. We must have one again as soon as the heirloom tomatoes come in this summer.


There's the platter in all its glory.


And my plate!

Pasta Putanesca

Putanesca Cooking, originally uploaded by wickenden.

One of my favorite things to cook, simmering waiting for the pasta to finish. I started with 2 diced onions sauteed, two bulbs of garlic, peeled and chopped and sauteed. Then, 4 tins of anchovies with the oil, one small jar of non-pareil capers, about 1/2 cup of kalamata olives, minced, and one quart of last summers san marsano and roma tomatoes (from august!). I let that simmer and reduce a bit. Then, top the pasta with it, add some chopped flat leaf parsely and some freshly grated reggiano parmeseano.

Putanesca is an old italian dish -- the "whore's" dish, but stories vary as to why it is so named. One version is that prostitutes made it to lure men in, another that such women weren't able to shop on regular days, and so made a dish from what was in the larder. Whatever -- it's one of my favorites.

Here is the family bowl. You can see I put both spaghetti and linguini in, but it was unintentional.


Here's my plate with a nice glass of red wine. I also served a fried cauliflower with allspice (which is a regular recipe of mine) and a salad made of strawberry-tomatoes with basil and green onions, dressed in olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper.


Finally -- I added some chili flakes to my plate and a dusting of reggiano.

Today I'm making a cobb salad. I feel a bit ill, but hope I'm up for making dinner later this afternoon.

Bratwurst Braised in Beer

Bratwurst Braised in Beer, originally uploaded by wickenden.

I use the following method when cooking Bratwurst, Weisswurst or sausages:

Sear the brats in a medium high hot pan with a bit of olive oil so that the brown on both sides nicely. Add a bit of beer and increase the heat. I prefer a nice brown / pale ale. It will foam and pick up the brown, if you knock it a bit with a wooden spoon. Keep adding beer as soon as it begins to reduce away. When you've done the whole bottle this way, the brats should be about done and there will be a lovely, unctuous, brown sauce to top it with.

We had this with lovely little 3 cheese tortellini's from Barilla.

Friday Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce and Broccoli

Friday Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce and Broccoli, originally uploaded by wickenden.

I picked Dorise up on the way home from work, as it had snowed and we car-pooled in the 4 wheel drive. Swung by Albertsons and picked up some burger, some ground italian sausage and some dessert. Diced an onion and fried it, added a bulb of chopped garlic and reduced that a bit in beer. Set that aside and fried ground beef and ground sausage and combined that with some tomato sauce. Topped with reggiano and had a side of steamed broccoli with it.

As can be seen below, Ayla liked it.

Broiled Salmon and Pasta with Mussels

I made the yummiest dinner on Sunday.  Costco has these bags of black mussels, they are huge -- for about 12 bucks -- and I took them home and cleaned them.  I also bought an expensive slab of Salmon.  I marinated the salmon in olive oil, a bit of lemon, and salt and pepper and a touch of vermouth.  I also cleaned and then braised two bunches of rainbow chard.  For the mussels, I sautéed a diced onion and bulb and a half of peeled, crushed and chopped garlic.  I added chicken stock and vermouth and reduced it until it was about a third the height

I added the mussels after I cleaned them of beards and stuff and discarded all the broken ones or ones that wouldn't close.  I covered them and in no time at all they all opened.  As soon as they were opened I dressed barilla spaghetti with them.

They were absolutely delicious, and work beautifully with the salmon on the side.

Sunday Night is Pasta Night

Saturday is Pasta Night, originally uploaded by wickenden.

A spaghetti dinner. My little Ayla likes "big pasta", meaning not penne or farfalle, sometimes. Her night is saturday, when we traditionally keep her while her parents have a night out. She wanted "big pasta" tonight, and this is what I made: spaghetti with a pork sausage and beef sauce with mushrooms, a side of fried cauliflower with allspice and some cheese breadsticks.

Good enough.

Omelettes for Everyone

By noon on Sunday everyone was hungry and ready for some brunch. I decided to make omelette's and they turned out great. I started by frying a serrano pepper in oil, then adding onion spears to the oil and cooking them until they carmalized. I then added garlic and sautéed it for a bit. I added about a cup of beer and let that reduce to a nice unctuous sauce (isn't it funny that sauces are great if they are unctuous, but people are annoying if they are?) and set that aside.

I used cheddar and feta for the cheese filler. I nuked some baby frozen peas in butter and chopped up some Italian flat-leaf parsley. As the omelet readied I layered in the cheeses, the onions, the peas and dusted it all with parsley. I sealed the omelet up and gave it a further dusting, and then poured the lovely beery sauce over the top.

It was good.

The Main Spread

The Dinner Spread, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Frankly, we've been eating a lot of chicken. Here is a dinner of pasta, squash and chicken back in October. Must-start-documenting-my-dinners again.

My plate