Penny… how does your garden grow?
On a one month delay, apparently. Everything seems to have made a run for it the past couple days. I think the rain at the beginning of the summer delayed things.
Someone grew up on the coast
Penny managed to remove the skin of a $80 piece of Salmon for a catering job since americans don’t like skin even though it hold the fish together while it cooks. Coastal upbringing comes in handy sometime.
And without a fillet knife. Thought it was noteworthy. Give props!
Grilled Eggplant caprese salad and Marrow fries
Last night I made a salad I saw on a blog a couple days ago for grilled eggplant caprese salad. Someoone gave us an eggplant from their garden, we have some basil in the garden and got a tomato and some mozzarella cheese and voila.
We also have many gourds, squashes and marrows growing in the back. What to do?
Penny made some marrow fries with a mustard horseradish dipping sauce. She made a light beer batter and cut up the marrows (which are like huge zucchinis) and fried them up. Yum.
Marrow fries
Penny’s Royal Wedding Brunch menu in Cincinnati Enquirer
I hope you enjoyed the Royal Wedding brunch article in The Cincinnati Enquirer. Would you like to know the other recipes that didn’t fit in the article but made it in the pictures? They are Champagne Wedding Punch, Raspberry Cranachan, and Classic Sausage Rolls. I’ll be blogging those recipes soon. Check back. If you’d like to receive email updates for my future cooking classes or book updates sign up below. Check which you’d like or both.
[contact-form 2 "Royal Wedding mailing list post"]
Thanks.
Muscovy Duck sausage, charred cauliflower, peppadew, and carmelized onion penne pasta
The meat grinder came out again but we only had muscovy duck breast as a meat (don’t you see the tear?). We imitated a meal that we had in NYC in the meat packing district recently. It was earthy, sweet, spicy, rustic and toasty all at the same time. Good stuff. Eat this like we did with a nice bottle of chateauneuf du pape and you’ll hate yourself.
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- Muscovy duck breast cubed with all that heavenly fat + thyme
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- Muscovy duck sausage – haven’t seen that for sale…
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- The slow cook to carmelized onions and peppadew delight
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- It tasted better than it looked – fresh chives from the garden – they fought the cold for us – thanks chives!
What’s in chocolate ice cream?
What IS in chocolate ice cream?
“Who cares! It’s delicious, keep it coming”, was my answer before a few weeks ago. I have an ice cream maker attachement now for the KitchenAid (thank you wedding anniversary giver).
This is what is in triple chocolate ice cream:
That’s it. To make a gallon on ice cream! I didn’t add any water. The pitcher of water was there by accident. It came out more like a custard or a mousse until it had a couple days in the freezer. Then the consistency was fantastic.
Oh yeah.
The recipe came with the attachment. It took four days to do. You cook up the mix (day one). Let it settle and chill (day two). Actually make it into ice cream (day three). But since it’s like the consistency of very soft serve you put it in the freezer to (day four) and it is ready. Worth every effort. [Day five you get the flu for two weeks and can't have dairy products if you want to breath...bummer. Bad timing]
Wait… I saw 8 egg yolks, but no whites! Did you put them down the drain?
No. Like a good husband I put them in a bowl like a pile of snot and put them in the fridge waiting for them to go to the Land of Oz, or something. Fortunately, this is the ‘something’ that happened.
Coconut Macaroons
With chocolate ganache
An army of them
They magically appeared. OK, Penny made them. If I were you, I’d ask for the recipe. They’re great. So if you have any egg whites lying around, husbands, learn from me. Put them in the fridge and watch what happens!
(Brad is not responsible for any ‘situations’ which result from these suggestions)
Pork chop, pancetta, fresh sage, and red onion homemade sausage
Someone has a new meat grinder…
Pork chop, pancetta, fresh sage, and red onion homemade sausages. Delicious. Much more expensive to make than buying but the fresh herbs made a huge difference. I would have taken some more pictures but since it was our first time using it it took both of us to do it and due to food handling restrictions we just got pictures of the finished product. Thank you kitchen aid attachments.
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- Some mash, onion gravy and cabbage to make my ancestors proud
How much horse manure can you fit in a Mazda3?
This much:
Thank you craigslist, kind horse farmers, a tarp, large rubbermaid containers, bacteria, worms and a couple of years. This garden is getting ready.
Yeah. That’s one trip.
Missed a little- anyone want a ride?
Brussels Sprouts – Sweet, not stinky!
A week or so ago we ‘popped’ into Trader Joes whilst out to pick up some nibbles and I was delighted to see they were selling WHOLE STALKS of Brussels Sprouts – for cheap!! For a little over $3, each stalk held at least 4 pounds of Brussels Sprouts. They are funny to look at. Like nobbles on a thick spine. I have a little fetish for greens, especially in the winter. Kale, spinach, chard, cabbage and the babies of their family – Brussels Sprouts. I can’t get enough. So I picked up a stalk and proudly carried my purchase back to the car, ignoring the looks of other customers – a mixture of distain, distrust and disgust. ”What is that monstrosity?” “Is that a new tropical flower for a display?” “Surely she’s not going to eat those??” I thought I could hear them say. But yes, we did eat them – ALL.
What repulses some people with these harmless baby cabbages is that they may have only known them in their overcooked, smelly state. If cooked too long, they release a sulfurous odor because they start to exude glucosinolate sinigrin, which is pretty stinky. However, they do have qualities which far out way that funkiness. For example all brassicas contain sulforaphane, a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties, as well as indole-3-cardinol which is a DNA boosting chemical, proven to block the growth of cancer cells. The trick is, like most veggies – don’t overcook them.
My usual thing to do with these baby cabbages is to steam them for all of 4 or 5 minutes, just to soften them a little, then coat them in some olive oil and salt and pepper and roast them in a 400 (degree F) oven for about 15 minutes. The result being a deliciously caramelized but soft in the middle baby brassica, which tastes like a mixture between a roasted chestnut and sweet cabbage. So we had them like that 3 or 4 times, until it got to the last pound left on the stalk. What to do? Fortunately I had seen an episode of ‘Good Eats’ by Alton Brown, on which he had tried to save the reputation of Brussels Sprouts somewhat. This is probably the most delectable side dish I’ve tasted this year. If Gordon Ramsey had given me the blind test on this dish I would have sworn that I was eating some kind of sweet and sour crunchy chinese noodles. It has the most complex texture and taste. The walnuts and the cranberries complement each other, for they not only bring in the sweet and salty elements, but they give you the impression that you are eating something far more substantial than a vegetable. We ate it alongside a sauteed chicken breast which was the perfect match. The taste goes so well with poultry it’s almost as if the sprouts, standing alone, have a hint of chicken in them. I beg you to try this recipe – even if you previously wouldn’t have given Brussels Sprouts a chance.
3 oz chopped walnuts
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 pound of Brussel Sprouts thinly sliced lengthwise in the food processor or (if you have all the time in the world) use a mandolin
4 oz Chopped Dried Cranberries
Salt and Pepper to taste
In the bottom of a high-sided saute pan, dry toast your walnuts over a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, giving them a toss every now and then for even browning. Don’t let them burn. Add the butter, allow to melt then add your Brussel Sprouts and salt and pepper. Cook, turning with tongs, every now and then until the sprouts are browned on the edges and soft. Add the cranberries and stir through, until they are warm and incorporated into the mixture. Serve along side a simply sauteed Chicken Breast or Duck Breast. ENJOY!
Portrait Class at Manifest Galleries
The past 3 Mondays Penny and I did a portrait class at the Manifest Gallery Studios. It was great to be able to work from a live model and not to feel guilty that someone had to hold still for 3 hours (not straight through, we took breaks).
It was quite an open format in that the instructor would explain some guiding principles, set up the model, gave us something to work on and let us go. Not too much more instruction other than observations while we drew.
I learned that I don’t like using graphite because of the incredible glare/shininess. Almost impossible to photograph too. But I lost my conte crayons sometime the past year! Oh where are you my broken little bits of friends?! I may have lost them in Rome, which would be an awesome reason, but it’s more likely its in the basement somewhere. (PS- why is the most visited page on this blog the conte/graphite gallery? That doesn’t make sense to me.)
First day:
We drew a skull, trying to get the major forms. Then he set up the model in the same position next to the skull then we drew the models face on top of the skull we drew. Good excercise.
Penny's drawing - day one
Brad's drawing - day one
Day 2:
The instructor set up the light behind the model so we would just draw the outline silhouette (a lot of resemblance comes from just the outer shape apparently). Then he moved the light to above the head and we had to draw the major light areas then work to the middle tones. Another good exercise.
Penny's drawing - day 2
Brad's drawing - day 2
I had some ‘ah ha!’ moments with his hair and shoulders about relative light. It was worth the class to figure those ones out. Never got to many mid tones though.
Day 4:
This time the instructor set up the model on the floor so that we were looking at her upside down. This was to help us see organic shapes of light and form and not ‘eyes’ and ‘nose’ etc. I think it worked. For those that embraced this exercise created the most accurate portraits. For those that fought it brought frustration upon themselves.
Penny's drawing - day 3
Brad's drawing - day 3
I was feeling artsy so I used some smaller, colored paper. Almost a terra cotta color. I put some effort into the composition this time and ‘borrowed’ a piece of white chalk that I ‘found’ in the corner. (Don’t worry, I put it back later)
Taking the class was fun. More of paying to force yourself to draw on a regular basis than instruction but I really appreciated the help when I needed it, especially being forced to try something different. I’m glad Penny could come. She loved it and did a great job.