Weekend Food Tease
I apologize for lack of imagery here - I know that as in so many things, a visual can really help. But we're here to stoke your appetite, not your libido, kid, so get over it. I do poke my camera into the kitchen at times, but have learned thre hard way that not every chef is always thrilled at that, so I try to temper my photo-journalistic zeal.
We were delighted to have the opportunity to host our (four) parents for dinner Friday night. It was a great pleasure, an opportunity that is almost certainly not available to most. Two had met the delightful new canine red-heeler Cayenne, two had not. And of course there was a canine cacophony on arrival.
I offered up some English Keen Cheddar, Italian Parmesan, French Ossau-Iraty, and true Munster. Mother-in-law surprised me with some Irish Dubliner (I'm savoring a bit now), which perfectly rounded out the cheese course. We supped on home-made pizza a la Eric, assembled on crusts rolled from Trader Joe's pre-mix (our routine for home-made now). The 'zas featured either red sauce or pesto, and permutations of salami, chicken, kalamatas, soppressata, shrooms, choke hearts, roasted peppers, and sundried tomatoes. Yum. Mom brought a great tossed salad memorably crisped up with jicama. Wine was also donated, but we indulged instead in a couple growlers filled by the Georgetown Ale outfit that produces Manny's Pale Ale, a favorite of Princess Margaret's. Good food, good drink, good times.
Saturday turned out to be novelty night, all new recipes. Eric had shrimp poor-boys on his radar screen, from food-channel or on-line. From what I could tell he worked from memory rather than actual recipe, as is his wont, dousing shrimp in seasoned flour, deep-frying, and then assembling with from-scratch roasted-corn tartar sauce a la Tom Douglas, sliced tomatos, and mixed greens. We also did some oven-chips, starting from thin-sliced (mandolined, in this case) taters, planted on pre-heated and oiled cooking sheet for 10 minutes at 400 on one side and 5 on the other. I'd do 9 and 4 or something less anyway next time, but these were devoured also. M had assembled the perfect from-scratch Kathie Casey blue-cheese dip.
But it was my dish that was the odd boy out. Still exercising new pressure-cooker, I assembled some lima beans with onion, garlic, and tomatos. I wanted to wrestle with converting a recalcitrant ingredient (dry limas) into edible food in normal dinner-prep time-frame. I've judiciously refrained from polling dinner-mates on their enthusiasm for result, but I liked it and was pleased at remarkably short stove-top time - probably just shy of an hour.
Tonight we were back to more-familiar ground. Marg marinated pot roast in a mix of bourbon, soy, garlic and various and sundry (hoisin?), an old standby, to be ably bbq'd by Prince E. She assembled a great new recipe, called out as a potato salad but with the potatoes more like a companion to the peppers and other ingredients. I contributed (prior post) Bok Choy with sauteed garlic slices (and sub rosa dried red pepper). (I tweaked it with a little sesame oil this time!)
Yum times three! Hope you get as much joy out of food exploration, preparation and consumption as I do.
We were delighted to have the opportunity to host our (four) parents for dinner Friday night. It was a great pleasure, an opportunity that is almost certainly not available to most. Two had met the delightful new canine red-heeler Cayenne, two had not. And of course there was a canine cacophony on arrival.
I offered up some English Keen Cheddar, Italian Parmesan, French Ossau-Iraty, and true Munster. Mother-in-law surprised me with some Irish Dubliner (I'm savoring a bit now), which perfectly rounded out the cheese course. We supped on home-made pizza a la Eric, assembled on crusts rolled from Trader Joe's pre-mix (our routine for home-made now). The 'zas featured either red sauce or pesto, and permutations of salami, chicken, kalamatas, soppressata, shrooms, choke hearts, roasted peppers, and sundried tomatoes. Yum. Mom brought a great tossed salad memorably crisped up with jicama. Wine was also donated, but we indulged instead in a couple growlers filled by the Georgetown Ale outfit that produces Manny's Pale Ale, a favorite of Princess Margaret's. Good food, good drink, good times.
Saturday turned out to be novelty night, all new recipes. Eric had shrimp poor-boys on his radar screen, from food-channel or on-line. From what I could tell he worked from memory rather than actual recipe, as is his wont, dousing shrimp in seasoned flour, deep-frying, and then assembling with from-scratch roasted-corn tartar sauce a la Tom Douglas, sliced tomatos, and mixed greens. We also did some oven-chips, starting from thin-sliced (mandolined, in this case) taters, planted on pre-heated and oiled cooking sheet for 10 minutes at 400 on one side and 5 on the other. I'd do 9 and 4 or something less anyway next time, but these were devoured also. M had assembled the perfect from-scratch Kathie Casey blue-cheese dip.
But it was my dish that was the odd boy out. Still exercising new pressure-cooker, I assembled some lima beans with onion, garlic, and tomatos. I wanted to wrestle with converting a recalcitrant ingredient (dry limas) into edible food in normal dinner-prep time-frame. I've judiciously refrained from polling dinner-mates on their enthusiasm for result, but I liked it and was pleased at remarkably short stove-top time - probably just shy of an hour.
Tonight we were back to more-familiar ground. Marg marinated pot roast in a mix of bourbon, soy, garlic and various and sundry (hoisin?), an old standby, to be ably bbq'd by Prince E. She assembled a great new recipe, called out as a potato salad but with the potatoes more like a companion to the peppers and other ingredients. I contributed (prior post) Bok Choy with sauteed garlic slices (and sub rosa dried red pepper). (I tweaked it with a little sesame oil this time!)
Yum times three! Hope you get as much joy out of food exploration, preparation and consumption as I do.
posted by Sir Gumbo at 9:25 PM
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