What's cooking?

[Robin Garr]

I'd been meaning to make some bread from Peter Reinhart's "Artisan Breads Every Day" and finally got around to it this weekend. Naturally today was baking day, and I had to fire the oven up to 550 just as the temperature outside hit 91. On October 10 .... Yikes!

As it turned out, though, the nights are getting longer and the old house holds the cool so well that we didn't even need to turn the air conditioning on. The bread came out well, too. I did a "wet" baguette recipe but formed the breads as crusty rolls instead, and they were splendid. Reinhart is my bread guru.

Tonight we had Baked Rosemary Chicken Breasts on a bed of onion, red & yellow peppers, with plenty of EVOO, salt, pepper, and minced rowemaray and garlic. Also each breast had a sprig of rosemary under them. Just a great one dish meal with a bottle of Knapp Serenety. Made for a great birthday meal.

Made for a great birthday meal.

Happy Birthday to you?

Made for a great birthday meal.

Happy Birthday to you?

Yes, thanks Jeff.

[Jenise]

Happy Birthday, Carl!

On tonight's menu: crepes. I'm experimenting with white whole wheat flour in place of buckwheat, and the stuffing will be turkey (fresh, I'll saute strips), chanterelle and artichoke hearts in a white vermouth-scented veloute with fresh tarragon.

Happy Birthday, yesterday Carl....that sounds like my kind of dinner. I love cooking with peppers...they just add something special.
I'm 70 on Wednesday! Going to dinner at a neighbors, then next week, Gene is taking me to Anselmo Vineyards for their Fall music series dinner. I love it out there!

Cornish Game Hen halves, covered in butter, garlic, soy sauce and lemon, then broiled first, and roasted to finish. They will top a mixture of swiss chard, shallots, mushroom, a bit of half and half, nutmeg, and topped with Gruyère. Probably, sliced tomatoes from my garden, because I just got the first Goliath, and Celebrity. My tomatoes did terrible this year...wet spring and short growing season for us.

Thanks for the well wishes. Yesterday the family came over to celebrate since we were busy on Sunday. Smoked a 15 lb turkey with apple chips, and it came out perfectly. The others brought the fixings, and all went together splendidly. We matched it with Boho Vineyards, 2008 California Zinfandel in a box. It was better than journingman and just fine for a crowd or everyday drinking. It was recommended in an article our front page.

Pot roast in the crock pot....with fresh onion, mushrooms, carrots, garlic, and yes (cover your eyes) a can of cream of mushroom soup, mixed with white wine, some fresh herbs, and mixed with the meat, mushroom and onion juices. This will be served over mashed potatoes. Yes, it is almost 90° today, but I want Fall...NOW. And because we have a new puppy and I am busy with training: potty, leash and tricks! Puppy school in about a month.

[Jenise]

Pot roast and potty training in one post--Karen, all you have had to do is smoke some weed before dinner and you'd have covered the gamut of pot-sibilities.

Pot roast in the crock pot....with fresh onion, mushrooms, carrots, garlic, and yes (cover your eyes) a can of cream of mushroom soup, mixed with white wine, some fresh herbs, and mixed with the meat, mushroom and onion juices. This will be served over mashed potatoes. Yes, it is almost 90° today, but I want Fall...NOW. And because we have a new puppy and I am busy with training: potty, leash and tricks! Puppy school in about a month.

What kind of puppy? We need photos!

I live near the Maryland/Pennsylvania line and picked up 50+ lbs. of Fuji apples from a local farmer on the corner of Rt. 1 and Rt. 222 for $10 last Saturday after playing golf. Made this apple crisp this morning as well as a large pan of apple crisp for my wife to take into work today for her employees.

Drew

Bit of a shock. (Carrie asks for a photo of a puppy and the very next post contains a photo of a baked crisp....)

[Robin Garr]

I turned garden goodies and farmers' market leftovers into a Cajun dinner last night ... okra gumbo flavored with a little bit of ham and a little more leftover chicken.

A beautiful rib-eye steak is marinating right now. Gene and I will split it tonight. Sides are roasted brussel sprouts, with golden brown mushrooms, shallots, lemon, and cream. More mushrooms(different type) sautéed in butter and red wine,for the rib-eye and a salad consisting of arugula, parsley, tomatoes, cukes, with a lemon vinaigrette.

Bit of a shock. (Carrie asks for a photo of a puppy and the very next post contains a photo of a baked crisp....)

[Jenise]

I live near the Maryland/Pennsylvania line and picked up 50+ lbs. of Fuji apples from a local farmer on the corner of Rt. 1 and Rt. 222 for $10 last Saturday after playing golf. Made this apple crisp this morning as well as a large pan of apple crisp for my wife to take into work today for her employees.

Drew

Wow, 50 lbs of apples. That crisp looks great--you didn't skimp on the topping.

[Jenise]

Tonight I'm going Provencal with a root vegetable menu.

Amuse bouche: a soup of silky pureed celery root and cream topped with black truffle croutons
First course: a crab cake as I imagine you'd find it in Marseille, if they made crab cakes, with rouille and a salad of micro greens
Main course: braised veal loin roast, crispy roasted potato and fresh herb stacks, garnish of carrot and parsnip batonettes*
Dessert: a free-form apple pie

*to be served with a 66 Lafite Rothschild a guest is bringing!

Tonight I'm going Provencal with a root vegetable menu.

Amuse bouche: a soup of silky pureed celery root and cream topped with black truffle croutons
First course: a crab cake as I imagine you'd find it in Marseille, if they made crab cakes, with rouille and a salad of micro greens
Main course: braised veal loin roast, crispy roasted potato and fresh herb stacks, garnish of carrot and parsnip batonettes*
Dessert: a free-form apple pie

*to be served with a 66 Lafite Rothschild a guest is bringing!

Please tell me you got your sense of taste back. What a gorgeous menu. It would be a shame to miss out on some of those flavor nuances.

[Jenise]

Carrie, so funny you should ask: I just ran out of this room (second floor) and down the stairs screaming "I can smell it! I can smell it!" as I realized that the whole aroma of the braising veal--the herbs, the garlic, the vermouth--is filling the air spectacularly and just what it should be. Friday night at a wedding a glass of chardonnay I was handed had a faint hand-cream kind of smell to it if I got my nose all the way in the glass, but the flavors were off. Yesterday, nothing. But today? I can smell, it's all there. WOW, how I've missed this.

Great...now go cook up a storm, as if you already don't!

Parmesan Chicken (I've never made it) breaded in panko, browned in a pan, then finished in the oven with my home made marinara sauce and fresh moz. Thick slices of round squash, browned in evoo and butter along with a big sweet pepper from my garden, tiny, baby Yukon Gold potatoes, steamed, then browned in butter with fresh rosemary and finished with a drizzle of smoked olive oil.

Thai Mahogany Fire Noodles. The dish is a stir-fry of a pound of chicken cut into 1/4-inch matchsticks and a pound of fresh rice noodles (the thick, round ones). The fire comes from 30 Thai bird chiles and 10 cloves of garlic pounded to a paste. The darkish color of the noodles comes from dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Thai Mahogany Fire Noodles. The dish is a stir-fry of a pound of chicken cut into 1/4-inch matchsticks and a pound of fresh rice noodles (the thick, round ones). The fire comes from 30 Thai bird chiles

30? Whew. I love heat, but I'm sure 30 is far above my limit.


Dinner tonight: tomato slices with mint vinaigrette for a salad, followed by Oregon organic lamb shoulder chops on mixed braised greens.