'Cooked for one Nephew plus Wife, and one Nephew plus Wife-to-be - TOO MUCH FUN ! Had a Chef Paul Luna (ish) cabbage salad with red and "regular cabbage" (white ? light green ??), toasted walnuts, gorgonzola (he uses gorgonzola dolce), mint, and a light lemon viniagrette to lead off with. I used my new mandoline, and cut the cabbage slightly too thin.

Then, chicken piccata, which turned out well. I did have one interesting issue, though. When I added some cream to the simmering sauce, the acidity of the sauce caused the cream to curdle some (I just shuffled it in and out through a strainer and removed the big pieces, although I probably could've just used the immersion blender and buzzed it into submission. I just added cream to my "Lemon Butter Sauce" last night made to pour on the "Flounder en Croute", and it didn't curdle,

so it is probably about the pH level. ??)

Couscous, garlic bread and green beans rounded out the chicken piccata entree. Black Raspberry Chocolate Mousse for dessert, with raspberries and whipped cream. Lesson learned - back off on the Chambord from 2 Tbsp. in the Mousse - a bit too boozy !; start earlier on the prep work, and also get that same group again, because they totally cleaned up the kitchen !!!!!!!?!

Sister's Brussel Sprouts

Sister emailed me - - -

"Made the best brussel sprouts tonight I have ever eaten.

Brussel sprouts cut in half, tossed in EVOO and salt and pepper
Roast 400 for 30 minutes
In a skillet: 1/2 c OJ with rinds sliced in big hunks so they can be taken out-Reduce by 1/2
Add 2 pats butter and swirl in
Add 8-10 dried apricots cut in pieces
Add a handful of toasted walnuts.
Pour sauce over brussel sprouts and finish with a little bottled balsamic glaze.

Even though I am just the sister of foodie guy, I can cook."

Birthday Fun - Cooking Class with Sister !!

Hard to beat this coming up this week ---





Holiday Hors d’Oeuvres --- Hands-On !
Wed, Dec 2, 6 – 9p

MENU: Petit Seafood Cakes; Broiled Figs with Stilton & Apricot
Chutney; Citrus-Spiced Mixed Olives; Camembert Walnut Pastries;
Bourbon Steak Toasts with Horseradish Cream; Spiced Pumpkin Seeds;
Trio of Savory Puffed Cheese Straws: Black Olive Tapenade, Pesto, and
Parmesan & Pepper Jack Cheese; Fried Shrimp Toasts; and Fingerling
Potato Bites with Smoked Salmon & Crème Frâiche.



With Chef Samantha Enzmann ! and Sister ! :-)

Wife made some wonderful burgers on the grill. Salted and peppered, with a great crust, they made a wonderful meal on toasted buns. Her good guacamole was a satisfying side. One one-inch-diameter tomato from the garden gave up its future to enhance my burger !



Alongside all of this production, I decided to try and make use of the eggplants that GrandMother had sent - two purple and two white.



I read several recipes online, and started winging it (which can be dangerous !).



I cut all of the eggplants up into about 1/4" slices, and salted both sides, waiting about 5 minutes for the moisture to come out. I recall that this "de-bitterized" the eggplant I rinsed the slices and dried them, and coated them in about 1 Tbsp. of good olive oil. Since Wife had the grill going for the burgers, I grilled them all, losing two through the grates. :-(


I headed toward Ina Garten's "Eggplant Gratin" recipe.


In that recipe, she slices the vegetable 1/2" thick, so we'll see how that difference turns out.

She made a custard of ricotta, half-and-half, and egg, then layered browned eggplant slices and marinara sauce. The gratin was then baked.

Mine was pretty good. I think that the thicker slices would haven been better.

As is always the case in a surfing session, I found some interesting stuff. The eggplant picture came from a blog called Tuesdays with Dorie , where, since January 2008, a collection of bakers - hundreds of them ! - have been baking through the recipes in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. (James Beard Award winner). They post their comments on each weekly recipe on their own blogs, posting a link to their blog post on the Tuesdays with Dorie site. HOW FUN !

Delightful (and not frequent enough) family gathering today - including food-stuff !

Wife made some Roast Beast (chuck) which cooked for about 11 hours in the crock-pot using a Paula Deen recipe - very tasty. Mashed potatoes on the side with some corn and roasted peppers completed the meal (oh, and the ubiquitous french baguette). I WILL make my own loaf one of these days (day number 720, possibly, of saying that to myself).

GrandMother brought a really good Key Lime Pie with that good graham cracker crust.

I whipped out the Valrhona "Coeur de Guanaja" finally. WARNING - BORING TECHNICAL DETAILS _ ON ---Valrhona calls this a "revolutionary chocolate concentrate" with a high chocolate content and lower cocoa butter. They say in the literature that, in "...some recipes the fat content restricts the amount of chocolate that can be added. The addition of most chocolate couvertures would add too much fat, resulting in ice creams and mousses that freeze too hard or are too stiff or crunchy. Cocoa powder is therefore used as a substitute with unsatisfactory results such as a pale chocolate color or disappointing flavor. Coeur de Guanaja is now the premium technical solution designed to strengthen the chocolate intensity of your recipes with no compromise in texture.

Possibly some other boring stuff follows, but no more technical and boring stuff.

Maybe one day I will understand what that blurb actually meant, but, for now, I know that the chocolate made a really rich dessert.

This is Shirley O. Corriher's recipe ("Simple Chocolate Mousse") from her BakeWise book (p. 96), copyright 2008, Confident Cooking, Inc. I may ask Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department for permission to reproduce her recipe, but, since Shirley lives in Atlanta, she would probably allow it without official permission.

So, hoping that's true, here it is - - -

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1-1/3 cups semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. heat the cream until you see steam. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar (I used vanilla sugar that I made). Stirring slowly, dump in the chocolate all at once. Stir slowly until everything's dissolved. (I talked with a pastry chef at Whole Foods about this simple method just yesterday, and he said that this would not work. Take the time to read Shirley's scientific background on the situation and you will realize that she knows what's going on at the molecular level, and, also, the results reflect that he may need to rethink that position.)

2. allow chocolate cream to cool for 30 minutes, then pour into a medium bowl, cover tightly, and put in the fridge for at least four hours. The cream must be thoroughly chilled.

3. whip with hand mixer or stand mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Carefully, continue whipping until you get a moderately firm peak consistency - perfect for a mousse.

4. ...Keep in fridge until serving. You can garnish with a swirl of whipped cream.



It's all about the ratio of those three ingredients, I believe, so if you have less than 1-1/3 cups of chocolate, adjust accordingly.


-Lessons Learned - she said "finely chopped". It is important not to try and short-cut this, like I did with the little chocolate lozenges the first time (unless you like the little flecks of chocolate dispersed throughout).

It is also important to ensure that the cream is starting to steam, not just the one wisp that I stopped at. I believe the cream was not hot enough that first time to melt the entire mass of chocolate adequately. The second time I did it I took it to 200 degress (using my digital thermometer that I enjoy so much), and the finely-chopped chocolate melted adequately.

I also didn't whip it enough, but, again, it was good and rich.

So rich, in fact, that everyone complained about "too much of a good thing" with the portions (from 1/2 cup to 1/3 of a cup). A shot glass full, Sister suggested, would have been just right. And, even for a chocolaholic like myself, she was right.

post-Grilling session

'Twas fun making dinner as usual !

The teriyaki salmon has been better. It was cooked well, but Wife said that she used the Publix version of the marinade, and she likes the McCormack's version better. Also, she said that she should've turned the filets over one more time for more caramelization.

The fresh corn, brined in the husks for a couple of hours, probably should have been cooked longer. Home-made garlic butter brushed on helped, but we've made better versions of that, too. (The garlic bread turned out fine.)

My favorite dish was clearly my labor of love - - -

The Tomates à la Japonaise (Tomatoes Stuffed with Panko, Herbs, and Garlic) Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child, from the previous post, recipe included.

There were three good-looking beefsteak tomatoes to serve us three. It turns out that, upon slicing them open, they were not as beautiful on the inside. I made cups out of the resulting 6 halves. It was probably intended by the recipe author that the little section walls be retained, after seeding and juicing, but I removed them. I seasoned the cups first with a bit of salt and pepper, and put in the mixture I'd assembled.

The mixture got SLIGHTLY off-course when I realized that the Panko crumbs were "Italian seasoned" instead of plain. Already awry, I decided to make up my own version. I added some herbs - 6 leaves of out-of-the-yard basil, some fresh oregano, and some fresh flat-leaf parsley. I used the dunk in boiling water method (microwaved in a plastic measuring cup this time, instead of boiling water on the stovetop), and then shocked them in an ice bath. They kept that nice green color - that's certainly worth the extra couple of minutes effort.

I minced three cloves of garlic, diced one-half roasted red pepper, and chopped up six Kalamata olives. A half of a tablespoon of chive cream cheese was dolloped into the bottom of each cup. Then I seasoned with salt & pepper, and spooned the bread crumb mixture into the tomato halves and topped with a splash of EVOO (you prob. know that Rachel Ray coined that acronym and got a certificate from the editor of some big dictionary when they added it). I want my own entry in a dictionary !

I oiled the grill grates and put the cups on for about 15 minutes. The tomato skin had blackened, and, once plated, it was easy to cut down into the tomato and just fork up the good stuff. Outstanding flavor, and a good combination of ingredients, if I do say so myself. This summer tomato recipe is a "keeper".

p.s. - R. asked that a raw version be produced alongside, next time...

Grilling out

The Wife mentioned that she has some components for tonight's envisioned grilled dinner - fresh corn, salmon, green bell pepper, and portabello mushrooms.

Hmmmmm. 3:00 on a Saturday with such good stuff to work with !

I may brine the corn, as Wife suggested, then grill in its husk, and grill the other veggies too. She makes a great teriyaki glaze that is just one of those things that shouldn't be adjusted, which has my vote for the entree treatment.

I just happened on this recipe which I may venture into tonight, even though it might tip the scales to too many vegetables. (Recipe now "borrowed" from that site with my modifications. I couldn't find it in MTAOFC's index, which is strange.) http://www.lafujimama.com/

Tomates à la Japonaise (Tomatoes Stuffed with Panko, Herbs, and Garlic)
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child
6 servings
6 firm, ripe, red medium tomatoes
Salt and Pepper
3 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbsp. minced green onions
4 Tbsp. minced fresh basil (recipe adaptor used a mixture of basil and shisho, which I had never heard of. It is apparently a related herb to basil and mint, used in Japanese fare)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (mafujimama's far eastern twist on MTAOFC's use of bread crumbs)
Olive oil, to sprinkle on top of stuffed tomatoes

1. Preheat GRILL to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Remove the stems and wash the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise. Gently squeeze out the juice and seeds. Sprinkle the halves lightly with salt and pepper.
3. Blend remaining ingredients (from garlic on, except for olive oil for topping) in a mixing bowl.

Fill each tomato half with a spoonful or two of the mixture.

Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil.

Arrange the tomatoes in a shallow, oiled roasting pan (just large enough to hold the tomatoes easily in one layer)--do not crowd them.

4. Shortly before you are ready to serve, place them in the grill and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tomatoes are tender but hold their shape, and the panko bread crumb filling has browned lightly.

I believe that this should work with the oven-to-grill substitution I'm planning on, and it seems like this summer recipe will be another "keeper". We'll see...