zoramargolis

butter lettuce salad with cuke, sungold tomatoes, avocado

meatball sub sandwiches: meatballs were made with a mix of eco-friendly ground beef and bulk Italian sausage. They were oven roasted and then simmered in homemade marinara sauce. Topped with melted jack and parmesan. The bread was Breadfurst "ciabatta baguette."

vanilla ice cream with dulce de leche

2011 Vií±ademoya Bierzo

Is the almond milk/coconut milk to accommodate a lactose-free diet of for flavor? This sounds great btw. Can't believe I have all the ingredients for it. Will do.

No dietary issues involved. I used to make it with a mix of skim milk, coconut milk, and water. The coconut milk is for flavor, and it adds creaminess. One time, I was low on regular milk, but had lots of almond milk, so I substituted it. I liked how the oatmeal came out, so I eliminated the skim milk. J likes to eat his with some half and half, a pat of butter, and maple syrup. I find it almost sweet enough with the dried fruit in it, so I just add a tiny bit of maple syrup. And I like a bit of cold almond milk poured around it--just because I like the taste.

a shakshuka variant: with the addition of smoked eggplant, d'Artagnan merguez sausage, and feta. The verdict: delicious!

garlic toast

berry compote with vanilla ice cream

2011 Ch. Croix-Mouton

oven-braised boneless short ribs with mushrooms

polenta

peas (frozen)

2008 Ridge three valleys meritage

cream of asparagus et al soup (fennel, leek, rutabaga, celery, onion, potato, aromatics)

slow roasted salmon with green garlic-dill butter

haricots verts with garlic and lemon

basmati rice

mixed berry compote with vanilla ice cream

2013 Nobilo sauvignon blanc

cooked in the cast iron wood stove tonight:

ribeye steak

bok choi with miso crust

sweet potato puree (leftover)

vanilla ice cream with raspberries

2007 Ridge three valleys

our snow-day tradition:

steel cut oatmeal cooked in a mix of almond milk, coconut milk and water, with chopped ripe banana, chopped golden raisins and dried green figs, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, slices of ginger, whole black cardamom, orange peel. The oatmeal is cooked on the lowest possible flame for at least 45 minutes and the solids are removed prior to serving.

Boodles and Dolin dry martinis

gougeres from Fresh Baguette in Bethesda

herb-brined, charcoal grilled, hickory smoked chicken thighs with ZQ sauce

Carolina-style collards (cooked with onion, garlic, bacon, red pepper, brown sugar, hot sauce, and cider vinegar)

sweet potato puree with orange zest and juice

Speaking of abundance... I have too many clementines.  Way too many.  I am going to make the citrus pound cake from Smitten Kitten subbing clementines (she has used grapefruit http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/01/cake-paradisi/ ).  I also saw a bunch of recipes for salads with clementines so I will get some ready to toss in some salads this week.  Any other ideas?

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest, cut into thin strips and cook in sugar syrup.

Cut away the white pith and slice the clems crosswise into wheels. Julienne some fennel and make a slaw with the clem wheels and a light citrus vinaigrette.

Squeeze and make juice.

Make tangerine curd, or a tangerine tart.

This would be better with some narration, but I was fascinated by the way the mussels are fed into mesh tubes--reminded me of stuffing sausages...

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soup weather:

curried coconut-butternut squash soup with lots of misc. additions: onion, celery, carrot, fennel, rutabaga, apple, tamarind, ginger.

garlic naan

last of the spiced wine-poached pears

2014 Comolaluna

last night:

pan-roasted duck breast with Montmorency cherry sauce*

haricots verts with garlic and lemon

left over pommes de terre MontRouge

spiced wine-poached bosc pears with Talenti vanilla bean gelato

*In the past, I have made this sauce with preserved brandied cherries that I make for garnishing Manhattans, and also with rehydrated dried sour cherries. If I continually use the brandied cherries, there won't be enough left for cocktails. Dried cherries work ok but not great. Last week, I found frozen pitted sour cherries at Mom's Organic Market. They are fabulous! The sauce started with chopped shallots sauteed in butter, some dry marsala, homemade veal stock, brandy, sherry vinegar, Italian grape must condiment, a sprig of thyme, and the cherries. Simmered and reduced for about 15 minutes while the duck breast cooked. Finished with a bit more butter and some chopped fresh thyme and parsley. I believe it was the best version of this sauce I've made.

last night:

albondigas de conejo* en salsa verde

masa corncakes with poblano chile

monterey jack cheese

refried beans (homemade)

DB Vienna lager

*made with eco-friendly ground rabbit found in my freezer along with the masa corncakes, which were left over from the fall DR picnic. I sprinkled the corncakes with cheese, placed a meatball on each corncake, ladled on the green sauce, topped with more cheese and popped the plate in the oven until the cheese melted. Garnished with chopped cilantro and scallion. Served with beans topped with more melted cheese, at the request of J, who had just read Tim Carman's ode to Tex-Mex food, and requested "lots of gooey cheese."

last night:

after a junk food guilty pleasures lunch of Popeye's spicy fried chicken, a more abstemious dinner was in order. (I thought it was delicious and liked it so much better than lunch. J, Mr. "Isn't there any meat in this?" was willing to eat it, though less than wholeheartedly enthusiastic.)

shakshouka: with olive oil, onion, garlic, roasted red bell pepper and poblano chile, roasted eggplant, canned tomato, cumin, saffron, sumac, pomegranate molasses, simmered for 40 minutes and then eggs were poached in the sauce.

toasted multi-seed bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil and salt

fat tire

Agree with those above who say caster sugar=superfine sugar. I don't buy it, I just run granulated sugar in my food processor for a couple of minutes.

Beautiful big poblanos were $1.99 a pound at the Georgetown Safeway a couple of days ago. I usually get them at Whole Foods. Same with tomatillos. Shoppers Food Warehouse usually has them, although the one in Seven Corners at least has them bagged up in multiples, so you can't choose the ones you want.

Apparently, Costco will be severing its relationship with American Express next year.

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charcoal grilled, hickory smoked, herb brined eco friendly pork rib chops

charcoal grilled miso-marinated baby bok choy

pommes de terre mont rouge: puree of potato, celery root and carrot--yellow carrots in this case-- with roasted garlic, dijon mustard, and parmesan cheese (and butter, whole milk, creme fraiche, and an egg yolk). An old Dionne Lucas recipe that I used to make in the 1970's. Something about the half of a large celery root and the bag of yellow and orange carrots in the drawer made me think of it. It's a complicated process, because the veg need to be cooked separately, since they have different cooking times--ok, I did cook the celery root and carrots together--but separate from the potatoes. All need to be riced, then blended into a puree with the other ingredients, then piled into a casserole and baked until a bit brown and crusty on top. But, damn, it is delicious!

bosc pear

2009 Gloria Ferrer pinot noir

A truly great writer. IIRC, Jonathan Gold is the only food writer to have won a Pulitzer.

last night:

a pantry-fridge pasta: de Cecco spaghetti with olive oil-packed tuna, garbanzo beans, roasted red pepper, olives, capers, charcoal-roasted eggplant, green garlic and parsley.

2013 Nobilo sauvignon blanc

If you use a lot of Kerrygold butter and are a Costco member, that is the place to get it. Costco only has the salted variety, however.

Agreed! And, lesson learned. It was a bit tougher than I expected given the quality and time/temp used. Guessing that could be because too much time in the acidic marinade might have broken down the fat and made the finished product less rich/moist?

What an overly acidic marinade can do if meat is left in it too long is break down the meat fibers too much, and turn the meat mushy. A short marinade flavors the outer layer of meat, but doesn't penetrate very deeply. A four to five day yogurt marinade, on the other hand, both flavors and tenderizes the meat without rendering it mushy. My guess is that the cut of meat you bought started out not being tender enough for kebab grilling. Perhaps it would have worked better to grill it in one piece and slice it thinly.

- two different kinds of grilled kabobs. one was lamb marinated two days in Greek yogurt, lemon, etc. the other beef marinated like time but with red vinegar, soy, worcestire, olive oil. Different fresh herbs in each. Both good but the lamb was better.

Two days seems like it might be too long to do a vinegar-based marinade for the beef. What was the texture like?

pan fried panko crusted sole filets

remoulade sauce

snow peas wok-cooked with ginger and soy

squid ink orzo

pretending that it might as well be spring...

charcoal grilled ribeye

grilled cauliflower with roasted poblano chile, cilantro and lime vinaigrette

pureed sweet potato with creme fraiche and orange

B&J's vanilla ice cream with warm dulce de leche

2011 Domaine Laroque