ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2004/12/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/01/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/02/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/03/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/05/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/06/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/07/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/08/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/09/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/10/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/11/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2005/12/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2006/01/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2006/02/ ARCHIVE: http://whatisfordinner.blogspot.com/2006/03/ AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/31/2005 10:16:00 AM TITLE: New Years Smorgasbord ----- BODY:

Well, it was a Chinese food Smorgasbord, pardon me for mixing metaphors. We were invited to David Janes' house along with his friend Doug and family. We all brought a few dishes which turned out to be too much good food. Dishes included peanut chicken, sweet and sour pork, sesame chicken, mixed vegetables in Thai red curry sauce, Asian spiced flank steak, Singapore noodles, chicken fried rice, Vietnamese spring rolls, Italian cream puffs (for desert). All the food was excellent and there were more than a few comments, including myself, that the food rivaled many an outing to authentic Chinese restaurants.

Happy New Year!

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/28/2005 11:24:00 PM TITLE: Turkey Quesadilla and Turkey Vegetable soup ----- BODY:

What to do with Christmas turkey leftovers? For a change of pace I made turkey quesadillas along with a simple turkey vegetable soup, it was all very tasty. I wanted to do something different from turkey pot pies, stew, sandwiches and hot open faced sandwiches, ad nauseam.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/28/2005 11:10:00 PM TITLE: Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo ----- BODY:

This is a fairly traditional southern dish, think Cajun, with shrimp, a yard bird, okra and filé powder to name the key ingredients. I kind of like this recipe and approach by J. Michael Spector - Gumbo Recipe Served with a mound of basmati rice.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/23/2005 02:36:00 PM TITLE: Rogue Chocolate Stout Stew ----- BODY:

This isn't as weird as it sounds, and far exceeded my expectations, I used about half a bottle to make this stew (I drank the other half of course) along with a little white wine and some veal stock. The sauce was velvety and very tasty, better than most of the Guinness stews I've ever had. We served the stew over a bed of rustic mashed potatoes. There is just a hint of bitterness from the chocolate in the stout, simple superb. This is going into high rotation at our house.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/22/2005 02:27:00 PM TITLE: Sausage and Peppers on Polenta ----- BODY:

Sweet and Hot Sausage fried up with fennel, red and yellow bell peppers and tomatoes served on fried polenta. So simple and easy.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/21/2005 12:09:00 AM TITLE: Pork Loin alla Porchetta ----- BODY:

This is from Mario Batali's Simple Italian Food, the stuffing is all about fennel and is very good, but ultimately I found the pork to be very tough. I attribute the toughness to the high roasting heat (425 F) the recipe calls for. Next time I'm going to try a much slower temperature and see how things work out. Our good friend Nancy was over for dinner and being Italian I thought I'd give her the full experience by making a truffle infused polenta. I also served some simple boiled carrots. Until next time mister Porchetta.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/20/2005 12:47:00 AM TITLE: USDA Prime, Strip Loin ----- BODY:

You could boil this steak and it would taste good. It's hard to compete with a well marbled piece of USDA prime steak. The steak was pan fried and a sauce made from the pan juices, which used shallots and Cremini mushrooms, porto, white wine and veal stock (my wife and I shared this steak). The mashed potatoes were finished with cream, butter and white truffle oil and fresh shaved white truffle (and at $10/gram for the truffle, this was an expensive dinner, but very tasty) finally we finish with some sautéed white asparagus.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/19/2005 12:26:00 AM TITLE: Rack of Lamb (Mushroom Battle) ----- BODY:

In honor of one my best friends Petro we had a healthy sized rack of lamb. If this was an episode of Iron Chef, this would be the mushroom battle. The appetizer below is sautéed wild mushrooms: Cremini, Chanterelle and Shitake, with butter and veal stock and finished with black truffle oil and black truffles carpaccio (as they are called.) We also had a Mozzarella di Bufala and tomato salad. The wine was excellent and the first wine I've had from Napa in probably a year, I need to dig back into Californian wine a little more. Finally the main course was roasted rack of lamb, medium rare and served with a sauce from the marinade and Cremini mushrooms, for the starch we had a mushroom risotto which consisted of Cremini, Chanterelle and Shitake along with a soft goat cheese and finished with truffles again. The green stuff on the plate is steamed broccoli.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/18/2005 12:20:00 AM TITLE: Chicken Parmesan ----- BODY:

A classic Italian dish, breaded chicken cutlet, baked with a tomato sauce and Mozzarella di Bufala (to make it a little more special) linguini. I made the bread crumbs from scratch grinding up light rye bread and seasoning them with paprika, Italian seasoning and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/15/2005 12:09:00 AM TITLE: Bay Scallops and Fennel with linguini ----- BODY:

Sweet bay scallops sautéed with onions, fennel, white wine and touch of Pernod, finally 35% cream is added to thicken the sauce; Simple and very easy to prepare.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/14/2005 12:01:00 AM TITLE: Chicken Stew ----- BODY:

This could almost be a stir-fry dish, simple chicken stew made with the left over braising liquid of the ox-tail of a few nights ago along with some fresh vegetables like carrots and celery, the one thing I should have added was some peas, next time.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/08/2005 11:51:00 PM TITLE: What's for Dinner 1 Year Anniversary ----- BODY:

Well it's been a whole year of "What's for dinner", so to celebrate we had my favourite, beef tenderloin with Cremini mushroom and veal stock sauce. The starch is Rosti made from scratch, pretty easy to do with the right tools, and some boiled carrots.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/07/2005 11:02:00 AM TITLE: Ox Tail and Fennel Ragu ----- BODY:

This is a very tasty but simple dish to prepare, totally a fabric of my imagination. Braised ox tail is shredded and then the sauce is made from sautéed fennel and onion and the shredded meat along with some of the braising liquid. Although you can't see it, there is polenta pan fried in rosemary olive oil, under all that ragu. This is great on a cold and windy winter night. There is also a side of steamed green beans.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/06/2005 10:54:00 AM TITLE: Chicken Marsala ----- BODY:

Chicken Marsala, my wife and I never get tired of this, paired with polenta the traditional way, i.e. no instant polenta or polenta in a tube, just lots of elbow grease. Included in the polenta: goat cheese, milk, chicken stock and Parmigiano-Reggiano, served soft. The veg is medallions of zucchini sautéed in balsamic vinegar and white wine.

-------- AUTHOR: Tim DATE: 12/04/2005 10:48:00 AM TITLE: Brom Lake Duck Breast ----- BODY:

Brom Lake duck breast cooked medium rare served with a thick brandy cream mushroom sauce. Accompanied with couscous cooked in chicken stock steeped with red bell pepper and cilantro; finally, some sautéed asparagus in butter and white wine.

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