Chinese take-out

Spicy chinese with a good sauvignon blanc is utterly divine, and it’s still good with an OK SB.

Read Full Post »

Sole a la meuniere

I should start off by saying that my sole meuniere does not contain sole.  Neither sole, nor flounder, are ever readily available here in middle-America.  Served with an AU sauvignon blanc.

Read Full Post »

Broiled lamb chops

Tonight was broiled lamb chops with a Madeira reduction, served with an AOC Rhone.

Read Full Post »

Bacon corn chowder

My basic recipe starts with a can of corn.  I add the spices du jour (today that’s garlic, onion, thyme, celery seed and Northwoods blend) and heat it on the stove.  At the last minute, I puree it in a blender before adding the thickening agent.  Last time, I used straight roux, but it turned out too thick.  So, this time I used a veloute.  Served with an Aussi sauvignon blanc.

Read Full Post »

Broiled salmon

I’ve been slacking at posting here, but I’m going to try and be more diligent.

Tonight, I broiled a piece of salmon.  I topped it with browned butter, lemon juice and parsley.  Served with a WA riesling.

Read Full Post »

Sometimes, you just have to eat

This is not fancy haute cuisine, but like the title says, “sometimes you just have to eat”.

I put a can of no-bean chili in an 8″ cast iron and put a batch of Jiffy corn bread on top.  I baked it and served it with a Rhone wine.

Read Full Post »

Sunday around the house

Well, last night I put a quart of heavy cream in the bowl of my stand mixer.  I mixed in 1/3 cup of my homemade yogurt, covered it loosely with waxed paper and left it on the counter overnight to sour slightly.

This morning, I churned the cream into butter using my stand mixer.  A quart of cream yields about 13oz of butter and 3+ cups of real buttermilk.  I divided the butter into three logs and put them on waxed paper in the freezer.  After they were frozen, I wrapped them in waxed paper and aluminum foil, and then put then in the deep freeze.  The pre-freezing helps keep the butter from sticking to the wrapping.

I labeled the Sauvignon Blanc that I bottled last week.  Instead of the sticky labels that I normally use, I printed them on regular paper and affixed them with rubber cement.  The labels slid around on the bottles, so next time I’ll probably go back to the sticky labels.

I’ve got a quart of 2% milk that I scalded cooling on the stove.  I’ve got a bowl with 2T of yogurt and when milk is cool enough, I’m going to mix in the milk, and around bedtime I’ll have more yogurt.

I thought that my chardonel would be ready to rack out of the primary today, but the SG was only 1.011.  I’m guessing that tomorrow it will be around 1.0, and, therefore, ready to rack.

Read Full Post »

Tomato soup & grilled cheese

I’m not sure how you’re supposed to make tomato soup, but here’s what I did.

While I made a roux, I put a can of organic tomatoes in the blender with a heaping tablespoon of julienned sun-dried tomatoes.  I added this puree to the roux and let it simmer while I made the grilled cheese.  I added salt, spices and some white wine to the soup and called it good.  When serving, I garnished it with chevre, bacon and basil.

Read Full Post »

Pasta roller

This past weekend, I picked up a manual pasta rolling machine.  My first attempt at linguine came out like little tree trunks.  Tonight, my second attempt came out a little better, although the pasta was still way too thick.  The sauce was a garlic bechamel, topped with grated romano, bacon and parsley.

I made a batch of dough over the weekend and froze part of it.  My plan is to make the dough on weekends and just defrost it later.  I’m hoping that eventually it will be as fast dry pasta.  It cooks in just a few minutes, so that would still leave time to roll the defrosted dough.

Read Full Post »

Tuna corn chowder

I had a recipe for this, but I couldn’t find it, so I had to wing it.

I started with 2T of roux in a pan.  To that, I added one can of pureed corn and a can of portabella mushrooms.  For seasoning, I used chicken bouillon, garlic and white pepper.  Just before serving, I added a pouch of tuna and some leftover peas.

Good…

Read Full Post »