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Sunday, December 9th, 2007
...because I am cooking bacon soup. (Except the store had no fennel and only dinky parsnips, so I am using celery root and turnips instead. It's good, makes it seem a little more wintry. And the store had these enormous organic carrots -- so I cut some of those up into biggish chunks.) We are meeting Jim and Joyce and Anna this afternoon to watch Meet Me In St. Louis in Millburn, and then having them over for soup.
posted afternoon of December 9th, 2007: Respond
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Saturday, October 27th, 2007
This recipe is way better than I could expect it to be based on the amount of effort I put into making it. Specifically the ratio is Extremely good/Minimal effort. Bacon and Parsnip Soup- 2 or 3 yellow onions.
- Several strips of bacon
- A couple of cloves of garlic
- a head of flat leaf parsley chopped roughly
- 1 head fennel
- A half-pound or pound of parsnips
- carrots
Sweat the lightly salted chopped vegetables in the bacon, over low heat, for about 45 minutes. You could also add a bit of spice at this stage -- I used about a teaspoon of fennel seed, allspice or coriander might be good too. Add enough chicken stock to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer uncovered for an hour and a half or longer. You may need to add more stock (or water, or white wine) while the soup is cooking. If you want to make the effort, it would not hurt to skim off some of the foam that will develop at the top of the soup after it has cooked an hour or so -- I did not, just mixed it back in, and the result tasted great -- the soup has a strong enough, rich enough flavor that the bitterness of that foam does not impact the overall taste of it much.
Update: Leftovers are also very good, though not quite in the league of the first serving.
posted evening of October 27th, 2007: Respond
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Sunday, March 11th, 2007
A recipe I've been playing around with for a couple of months in various combinations bore fruit last night, when Ed and Nina came over for dinner. I cooked something I'm calling "home fries" for want of a better word, even though it's not particularly descriptive, and it was one of the nicest potato dishes I have ever made. - 4 or 5 smallish yellow onions, chopped roughly
- about 1 T. fennel seed
- several cloves of garlic, minced
- one pear or apple
- 1 ½ lbs. red potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes in moderate-size dice
In a skillet, heat a couple of T. olive oil and the fennel seed. Cook the onions and garlic with salt over low heat about half an hour, adding the fruit midway through. When onions are deep golden, add the potatoes and stir to mix. Cover the skillet and allow to steam for about half an hour, until potatoes are quite soft. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the skillet when you do. Serve with roast chicken.
posted evening of March 11th, 2007: Respond
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Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
I wouldn't have thought of this combination off the top of my head or anything; but that's what was in the fridge. And it came out pretty tasty. - 1 yellow onion cut in thin slices
- Several cloves of garlic chopped fine
- About ¼ head red cabbage, chopped thin
- 2 filets trout
Cook the onion and garlic with olive oil and salt in a skillet over medium-low heat, until the onion is golden. Add the cabbage and continue cooking about 5 or 10 more minutes, until the cabbage is soft and hot through. Remove to a bowl, put some more olive oil in the pan, and cook the trout. I served this with soup and some goat cheese. I think, though I did not do this, that you could make a pretty good sauce by deglazing the skillet with beer and cooking the beer for a minute or two.
posted evening of March 7th, 2007: Respond
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Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Sylvia and I were shopping yesterday and we thought dinner tonight would be pork chops with sautéed onions and mushrooms. When we were going downstairs to start making dinner (Sylvia learned how to clean and cut mushrooms, which she did very well), Ellen mentioned there was some applesauce in the fridge that would be good with the chops -- and I had an idea. The end result, an easy sauce that is very tasty with pork chops: - 2 onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
- 1 lb. mushrooms, in bite-size chunks (roughly cut in quarters)
- 1 apple, chopped
- 2 tangerines
Cook the onions and garlic in about a Tbsp. oil over a low flame for about 20 min. Longer would probably work fine, too. Add the mushrooms and apple, stir, and squeeze in the tangerine juice. Stir, cover, and let steam for about 15 min., while the chops are cooking. Everything should be soft. Spoon over the chops with a little yogurt or sour cream.
posted evening of February 18th, 2007: Respond
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Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Here is a really tasty dish that I cooked for dinner last night, that I don't really have a name for. - 3/4 lb. codfish, cut into bite-size pieces
- Pasta -- I used farfalle but I think any noodle would do.
- 1 green bell pepper, cut into pieces
- Butter and flour for roux
Steam the codfish. This takes very little time, like 2 or 3 minutes once the water is boiling. While you are doing that you can saute the bell peppers and start the pasta boiling. Take the peppers out of the pan and make a roux. (Remember to season the roux! I forgot, and salted everything after it was cooked, which was a mistake.) Thin the roux with white wine and/or the codfish-flavored water from the steamer. When the pasta is ready, add the fish and peppers to the sauce and toss it all together; then put that on the noodles and serve.
posted evening of January 23rd, 2007: Respond
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Monday, January 15th, 2007
Dinner tonight was popular with the family. - 4 medium-size yellow onions, chopped
- A few carrots, chopped
- 6 smallish red potatoes, diced
- 2 heads of broccoli, cut into florets
- Canola oil
- Cheap white wine
- 3 filets of catfish
- Flour, salt, pepper
The stew Fry the salted onions in a tablespoon of oil, in a stew pot. Add the carrots and potatoes. When everything is sizzling and wet, pour in some wine, lower the heat and cover. Cook over low heat about 20 or 30 minutes, stirring occasionally; toward the end when the potatoes are starting to soften up, add the broccoli. (I added it too soon and it got a little overcooked.) The fish While the stew is simmering, heat some oil in a skillet and mix flour with salt and pepper on a plate. Dredge the filets (you may want to cut them in half for easier handling). When the oil is hot, start frying the fish -- you will need to do it in shifts. Drain the cooked filets on a paper towel. When everything is ready, cut up or tear up the fried fish and toss it in with the vegetables, and serve.
posted evening of January 15th, 2007: Respond
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Monday, May 17th, 2004
Refried beans are a favorite dish of mine and I like to cook them now and then. I made them yesterday for my birthday party barbecue, and they came out very well. Here's how you do it: - Soak about a pound of dry pinto beans overnight, in the refrigerator. I like to buy beans from places that sell them in bins; the bagged beans from Goya are not so good. I don't know if it's relative freshness or what. When you soak the beans, be sure to use enough water; I usually cover them to about 2-3 times the height of the dry beans.
- About 2 hours before you want the beans to be ready, put them up to boil in a stock pot, partially covered. Good things to add to the water are several bay leaves, and a yellow onion cut in half (with the skin on).
- While the beans are boiling, get the seasonings ready: roast and grind about 1/4 cup of cumin seeds and a Tbsp. of anise seeds; and reconstitute some dried chilis. You do this by pouring boiling water on them, waiting about 20 minutes, and then scraping the chili paste away from the skin with a spoon. Also you should be checking the beans occasionally to see that they are at a slow boil and are not too dry -- if they are, add water and return to a boil.
- When the beans are soft, fish out the bay leaves and onion (you could probably mash the onion and return it to the pot, but I have never done this), and turn the heat up to high. The water will start boiling away -- keep stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot, and you will wind up with a sort of pasty consistency.
- Empty the pot into a bowl; heat up about 3-4 Tbsp. oil (canola or lard) in the bottom of the pot and fry 5 or 6 chopped yellow onions and about half a head of garlic, with the cumin and anise and chili paste. After about 5 minutes add the beans back in and lower the heat down to a simmer.
- You're basically good to go now -- my rule of thumb is that the longer this mixture simmers the better (within reason), but the downside is you need to pay some attention to it so it does not dry out or burn to the bottom of the pot. I usually end up simmering it for 15 minutes or so.
posted evening of May 17th, 2004: Respond
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Saturday, June 7th, 2003
10 years! Ellen and I have been married 10 years now. Last night to celebrate, we went out for dinner at Artisanal, in Murray Hill, with Ellen's brother and sister-in-law; Ellen's parents babysat Sylvia and joined us for dessert. Ellen and I arrived early for martinis and escargots. Nice! Mixed strong enough for Ellen to lose her cool; and the olives were very pungent, stuffed with a little tidbit of pecorino cheese. Be sure to get the escargots, they are wonderful. We took Robert Sietsema's advice and skipped the main course. We started with two fondues, Stilton with Sauterne and the fondue of the day, which was some brie-like cheese with apricot chutney; the Stilton in particular rocks. We drank Willm Gwertztraminer, which complimented the cheese very nicely. Then some gougeres and mussels, some of the best mussels I can remember eating. Be sure to get some bread with the mussels so that none of the delicious sauce goes to waste. For dessert we had chocolate fondue (served with marshmallows, cookies and fruit) and a cheese plate, goat cheese, istara, and aged gouda. Sylvia (who had joined us along with grandma and grandpa) just about went apeshit at the idea of a big pot of chocolate that you could dip things in. (Me too!) Of the cheeses, I would strongly recommend the goat cheese, and weakly the istara. The gouda was not my thing. The goat cheese was amazing, about halfway in both texture and flavor between sour cream and cotton candy.
posted afternoon of June 7th, 2003: Respond
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Wednesday, April 30th, 2003
About a month ago I ate breakfast at Cheyenne Diner, on 9th Ave. and 33rd in midtown Manhattan. It was excellent -- perfect homefries, perfect sunny-side-up eggs, near-perfect corned beef hash. I hesitated though, to trumpet its virtues based on a single excellent meal... but this morning I went back and it lived up to my expectations. Well, fell short in one regard -- the homefries this time were only very good. But the eggs! This time I forgot to specify sunny-side-up as I normally do and ordered fried eggs; they came over easy as they generally do by default in this part of the country. And these were the best over easy fried eggs I have ever eaten -- ever. This is the best breakfast I know of in Manhattan. I am going to be recommending it to anyone who asks. A note about the corned beef hash -- it is a little peculiar. I like it a lot but it is different from most, kind of goopy or something, I'm not sure how to describe it besides by saying it has the approximate consistency of refried beans -- which is an unusual consistency for corned beef hash.
posted afternoon of April 30th, 2003: Respond
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