In My Head

Hubby and I decided to cook together last night. We made a Tuscan white bean salad on parmesan cheese crisps, lamb chops with a balsamic vinegar/port wine/cherry reduction and toasted garlic bread accompanied by a nice cabernet sauvignon. Everything was made from scratch from cooking the beans to the various sauces. We had a good time cooking together, though by the time we were done, it was 11:15 PM. We definitely dined European style.

Today, I made a Dominican comfort food known as sancocho, a traditional stew that combines all matter of meat with starchy root vegetables, pumpkin, plantains, etc. Sour orange juice adds a uniquely Caribbean flair.

I must say that I’m pretty proud of how absolutely delicious it came out, since it was my first time making it.

WARNING:  I ended up having to use two 5.5 qt pots and could have actually used more room. I had so much stew that I had to invite people over for dinner, just to eat it down to a storable amount of leftovers. (Not that it was a bad thing.)

INGREDIENTS
Meats (about 1 pound of each)
Oxtails
Beef short ribs
Lamb neckbones (called for goat, but I couldn’t find it)
Veal bones
Smoked pork ham bones
Pork loin (cubed)
Longaniza (Dominican spiced encased mild pork sausage)
Chicken thighs bone-in, skin-on

Vegetables
2 Onions diced
1 Cubanelle or other mild frying pepper, chopped
4 heaping tbsp Garlic, chopped or minced
1 bunch Cilantro stems, chopped
1 bunch Cilantro leaves, chopped
1 pound unripe (green) plaintain, peeled & cut in 1 inch pieces
1 pound yucca, peeled & cut in 1 inch pieces
1 pound ñame, peeled & cut in 1 inch pieces
1 pound white yautía, peeled & cut in 1 inch pieces
1 pound calabaza (pumpkin or butternut squash), peeled & cut in 1 inch pieces
Optional: Some people add potatoes and corn on the cob

Herbs & Seasonings
2 tbsp Oregano
2 tbsp Coriander
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salted butter
1 cup fresh Seville (sour) orange juice (or 3 tablespoons regular fresh orange juice plus 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice)
1 cup Fino sherry (or dry white)
4 qts Chicken stock
1 can Beef stock
Salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large French oven or stock pot, brown each of the meats in 2 tbsp butter in batches and set aside. Leave the drippings in the pan and brown the next batch…and so on.
2. After all meats are browned, removed, add 2 diced onions, Cubanelle pepper and garlic to the pan with drippings. Sauté until softened.
3. Deglaze with the sour orange juice and fino sherry.
4. Add all of the meat back to the pot.
5. Add chicken & beef stock.
6. Bring to a low boil.
7. Add all remaining vegetables.
8. Simmer for at least 2 hrs on low heat.
9. Adjust seasonings to taste.
10. Serve while hot with Jasmine rice (on the side).

Since it’s chilly…

I decided to make my black bean/beef/sausage/espresso/beer chili. Mmm, mm, good!

Bill was ‘Sausage Ninja’. That was his ninja-chuck pose. He will destroy you! You don’t even know!

Disney Eggs:  They’re Eggs.  By Disney.
Just how long do you think it’ll take before kids catch on that they’re plain old eggs?  Does marketing know no boundries?  Trying to trick kids into believing that the plain old eggs are going to come out magically Mickey-shaped….  I want to know: 1. Do the eggs come with the mold? 2. How much does said mold cost? 3. Does egg seep out from under edges of said mold, rendering shape unrecognizable, as has been the case with other egg-shapery?

The recent stimulus package might have divided Congress, but a California winery has devised a bailout plan we can all get behind: a wine that gets cheaper as the market goes down.

Made by San Francisco-based Crushpad, the 2007 Bailout Napa Valley Cabernet is a blend of grapes from some of Napa’s most storied vineyards.  Here’s how the Bailout plan works:

1. You preorder the wine for $39 per bottle. Crushpad will record the closing value of the Dow Industrial Average on your purchase date.

2. For every 100 points the Dow drops from the purchase date, Crushpad takes $2 off the final price of each bottle (which can go as low as $9 per bottle). As of this writing, the lowest price has been $17.34.

3. The final price will be settled on August 14, 2009, and you’ll be reimbursed for the difference (consider it a “stimulus check”). Your wine will then be bottled and shipped.

Even if (by some miracle) the market should rebound this summer, you won’t have to pay more than $39. Plus you’ll have a great excuse for popping the cork right away.

Bailout Wine
Dude Where’s My 401K?

HRP, this one goes out to you!   Maybe LTP can beat the BLT sandwitches incident.

Bacon Explosion: The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes
The Bacon Explosion is a massive torpedo-shaped amalgamation of two pounds of bacon woven through and around two pounds of sausage.

Recipe from the NY Times is here.

Not enough bacon?  Check out the Bacon Today web site.

I tried this pumpkin mousse recipe this weekend, and it was both easy and delicious.  Thought I’d share.

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Ginger snaps, for garnish

Directions

1.   Combine pumpkin, 1 cup cream, sugar and spice in a medium saucepan.

2.   Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Cool fully.

3.   Whip remaining heavy cream and vanilla to soft peaks and fold into cooled pumpkin mixture.

4.   Pour into a serving dish and crumble the ginger snaps over top before serving.

Tonight I made shrimp in spicy lime sauce over a bed of cilantro rice paired with a nice fruity chardonnay from Washington state. (Click on image for larger version.)

Credit:  Shrimp in Spicy Lime Sauce recipe courtesy of Mark Bitten’s blog in the NY Times. (Cilantro rice is my own recipe.)

Came across this site and found it fascinating.  Thought I’d share…

Trattoria L’Incontro, 2176 31st St, Astoria, NY 11105, (718) 721-3532, http://www.trattorialincontro.com/main.html

Vino di Vino, 29-21 Ditmars Blvd, Astoria, NY 11105 , (718) 721-3010, http://vinodivinowinebar.com

The hubby and I wanted to treat ourselves to a nice meal out tonight and decided to try Trattoria L’Incontro, an Itlian restaurant located – yes, you guessed it - around 2.5 blocks away.  I was hesitant to try it as I’ve often been disappointed by “Italian” restaurants in the past.  Thankfully this experience was pleasantly surprising.

We arrived as early birds since we made reservations at the last minute and their openings consisted of 5:30 PM or after 9:00 PM.  The hostess was nice & friendly. 

While the menu is extensive, return patrons know that the majority of the dishes aren’t found on paper.  Our waiter, who was quite knowledgable, smiled when he told us he had about 42 specials, and silly us, we thought he was kidding!  He recited  the 25+ specials and all of their details from memory!

If you’re looking for eggplant/chicken/veal parmigiana, this isn’t for you.  Sure you’ll find these (boring!) standards here, but who orders eggplant parm at a fine Italian restaurant???

We started with two appetizers, the beef carpaccio with arugula & parmesian and the fried/stuffed zucchini flowers.  While the zucchini flowers were too over-batterd to really let their delicate flavor come through, the beef carpaccio was to die for.  Hubby and I almost orered a second serving!

As a main course, Hubby had the wild boar tasting which consisted of two wild boar & herb sausages and two lightly breaded wild boar chops.  If you like gamey meats, which we do, this was a fantastic choice!  The sausages were especially delicious with intricate flavor nuances.  I ordered a medium-rare pork chop with a port wine reduction sauce.  It came out well done… dry as a bone.  HOWEVER, the waiter talked with the maitre d’ and they both apologized profusely & insisted that I should get a new one.   Really wanting to know what that dish should taste like, I accepted. The second time, executive chef Rocco Sacramone brought it out himself and apologized for the mistake.  He too was extremely friendly.  The dish was oh-so-delicious!

Afterward we enjoyed desert and cappuccinos on the house.

Our experience was so good that I asked to thank Rocco personally if he was available.  Though it was quite busy, Rocco came out and shook our hands and thanked us after we raved about the excellent food and service.  He then invited us to enjoy some live jazz music and a glass of desert wine (on the house) next door at Vino di Vino, their sister establishment.  This cozy wine bar with with over 60 (mostly Italian) wines by the glass,  and nearly 400 bottle options, including amarone, brunello, super Tuscans, and reds from the trattoria chef’s native Abruzzo region was the perfect spot to end the evening.

Overall, Trattoria L’Incontro was worth every penney.