Gumbo

Posted Sun, 02/14/2010 - 15:28 by Jon
Gumbo and bread

Prep the Trinity

Chop the onions, bell pepper, and celery and mix together. Pull of 1/4 to preserve for the final step.

Make the Roux

Heat oil in heavy 6-quart pot (or dutch oven) over medium-high heat until very hot and almost smoking. Add flour and stir constantly until mixture is a deep, clay red - well past "peanut butter", but not burnt/dark red/dark brown either. Reduce the heat as you go -- 15-30 minutes.

Add the Trinity

4
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Sidecar

Posted Sat, 02/13/2010 - 15:37 by Jon

The sidecar is nice, citrusy drink with brandy as its base spirit. Modern mixtures often have equal parts, I prefer a 3/2/1 mix:

3 parts Cognac
2 parts lemon juice
1 part Cointreau or triple sec

Mix the ingredients in a shaker half full of ice. Strain and serve with crushed ice in a sugar-rimmed lowball. Garnish with a strip of lemon rind.

Note that the original mixture, according to The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, is:

8 parts Cognac or Armagnac
2 parts lemon juice
1 part Cointreau or triple sec

Sidecar
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Brewing Schedule

Posted Sat, 02/13/2010 - 09:44 by Jon

I'm beginning to plan out my beer brewing and bottling schedule for the year. On tap (sorry) for 2010:

Early Spring: Irish Red
Late Spring: SpingBo(c)k
Early Summer: Lemon Spice
Late Summer: West Coast Pale Ale
Early Fall: Pumpkin Lager
Late Fall: Coffee Stout
Early Winter: Cranberry (?)

Greek Week (Feb 7)

Posted Sat, 02/13/2010 - 08:34 by Jon

This past week was a greek and mediterranean foods week. We had our favorite [[Brick Chicken]], a new lamb dish based on this roasted, stuffed lamb concept, but using the leftover grape/port reduction from this recipe, which has been taking up valuable freezer space. Regardless, the lamb didn't turn out all that exciting.

Indian food week (Feb 1)

Posted Fri, 02/12/2010 - 08:43 by Jon

We have a few core Indian dishes we've learned how to make pretty well; but they're not quite enough to fill a week. Each time we settle on an Indian food week, we try a new dish, with ... well, mixed results.

The new recipe this week was Mughal style lamb (stew) on saffron rice. We substituted fresh saffron pasta from Eastern Market for the rice. It was OK, but not really a "keeper" .

Indian meal with Naan

Zereshk Polo

Posted Sun, 02/07/2010 - 20:11 by Audrey
Zeresk Polo

Growing up, I was exposed to much delicious Persian food (owing to the large Iranian population in LA). One of my favorite dishes is Zereshk Polo - basmati rice with barberries. The first time I made this, I added pistachios and slivered almonds to make a more complex jeweled rice (as shown in the photo), but over time I decided that prefer the simpler zereshk polo better.

Adapted from this recipe. Makes enough rice to serve 4.

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Apricot Couscous

Posted Sun, 02/07/2010 - 17:11 by Audrey
Apricot couscous

1 cup couscous
1 small red onion, small dice
1 1/2 cups chicken stock, warm
1/4 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup whole almonds toasted, coarsely chopped
2 scallions green parts only
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped plus leaves for garnish
1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
pinch of lemon zest
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

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Mojito

Posted Sun, 02/07/2010 - 14:38 by Jon

4.0 parts White Rum or Cachaca (cut down the sugar if using cachaca)
3.0 parts lime juice
3 sprigs of Mint
2 teaspoons Sugar
Soda Water (or just water)

In an old fashioned glass, muddle most of the mint with sugar and slices of lime plus a dash of lime juice. Add in ice, Mix in rum and soda water. Garnish with sprig of mint.

Mojito
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Caipirinha

Posted Sun, 02/07/2010 - 14:22 by Jon

Brazil's national cocktail.

2 oz cachaça
Juice of one lime
½ lime cut into 4 wedges (or tahiti lime, but not key lime)
2 teaspoons crystal of raw sugar

Place lime slices and sugar into old fashioned (low tumbler) glass and muddle. Fill the glass with crushed ice and add the Cachaça. Top with soda.

Caiprinha
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Arganica Week 5

Posted Sat, 02/06/2010 - 13:50 by Audrey

We decided to add a second "trial month" to our Arganica membership. We repeated some favorites from earlier weeks and tried new things too. This week we received:

Plain Yogurt (with "yogurt cream" on top ... delicious)
Cucumber
Red Onion
Fresh Parsley
Avocado
Hydroponic Lettuce
Croissant
Lemon Poppy Scone
Granola
Polyface Farms Delmonico Ribeye Steak

... and a local food magazine.

Arganica Week 5
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