Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving Feast

We had Jim's brother's family and one of Peta's co-workers over for the feast. The heritage turkey (a Black Spanish) that our friend Matt's mother raised arrived Tuesday and we immediately did a dry brine even though we had but two days rather than the suggested three. Didn't even matter. It's called the Judy Bird and it helped us to produce a fantastic turkey.

Here's the menu:
Appetizers
  • Cheese Plate (with too many cheeses to list)
  • Dates Stuffed with Parmesan and Toasted Walnuts
  • Domain Carneros Brut 2006 Champagne

Main
  • Dry-brined Black Spanish Heritage Turkey stuffed with Date, Sage, Walnut and Preserved Lemon Stuffing
  • Herbed Oyster Stuffing
  • Mashed Potatoes
  • Brussel Sprouts with Cider and Bacon
  • Louis Martini M^2 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, MacMurray Ranch Winemaker's Signature 2006 Pinot Noir and/or Trefethen 2006 Chardonnay

Dessert

  • Apple Crisp with Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Kona Blend Coffee

The 15 pound turkey was cooked for around 4 hours at 325 and flipped once until the internal temperature was 145 F, since heritage birds can dry out and they aren't all infected like mass-produced birds. Carry-over brought it to 152 F while the potatoes cooked at an agonizingly slow rate. It was unbelievably good.

While we waited, we played a little bocce and ate the Stuffed Dates (The New Best Recipe) and cheese plate and drank a magnum(!) of Domaine Carneros champagne.

We cooked mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts with cider and bacon from The New Best Recipe book. We subbed apple juice for cider which was a mistake. If nothing else, we should have added a bit of cider vinegar for some acid punch. The dish really missed it. It also could have used Parmesan cheese in my opinion as well. The potatoes were good but nothing to write home about.

Peta's non-US upbringing did not stop her from making up a great stuffing recipe out of nowhere. She used the breadcrumbs from the Peasant White Bread loaves that we baked out of "Daily Bread". It's a sticky, yeasty recipe but serviceable. We used less honey than required and that probably hurts the crumb. We are on the lookout for an easy, quick, tasty recipe, so let us know if you have one.

I cooked the Herbed Oyster Stuffing from Epicurious also with a sourdough and homemade bread mixture. Boom... the bomb.

Jim's brother's family contributed the Apple Crisp which they make with double crisp from the Bride and Groom Cookbook. So tasty!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Dinner for three with Morels, Venison, etc.

So we had Katherine (AKA KP) over last night. Started her off with a super strong Hendrick's Martini. Peta and I stuck with our respective G&T and Party Girl with a Yellow Hat (stupid name for my vodka, soda and lemon) while we made Mussel and Fennel Bisque. We used all of the same ingredients except subbed bourbon for brandy because we were out. The difference was in the cooking order. We did the recipe a couple of weeks prior and realized that we could just sauté the fennel and carrots, pull a few pieces of fennel out, add the shallots then add the clam juice and wine to steam the mussels. It's not as precise and you have to eyeball things, but so what if the bisque isn't as bisque-y and you only use one pot!

KP brought a Round Pond 2005 Cab over to eat with the main that we were serving which was pan-fried sirloin and tenderloin of venison, honey-ginger glazed carrots, simple mashed potatoes and morel sauce. I got the morels in a trade from a friend. We got the morels and would return the finished sauce. Now all they have to do is add the creme fraîche and they are good to go. The sauce recipe came from Sonja Lee's book Sauce, which Peta gave to me as a birthday present. Good stuff.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Takeaway at home

We were rolling by Vallejo on the way back from a night and a morning in San Francisco and stopped into The Asian Market at 1800 Spring St. The staff there was super friendly and although they didn't have everything we wanted (no holy basil, etc.), the owner told us to call him the next time we were coming by so that he could harvest some kaffir lime leaves from his own trees. Sweet!
We felt like some Pad Thai and I figured that we should make some Tom Ka Gai while we were at it. For the soup, this recipe seemed pretty "authentic" and we liked the fact that it went into the story behind kaffir lime leaves. Here's what we did with it.

Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Ka Gai Recipe)

Photo and recipe of Thai Chicken Coconut Soup (Tom Ka Gai) courtesy of my buddies at Andrews McMeel Publishing. A note on galangal/ginger: while often used together, they are not the same ingredient and taste very different! Many recipes will have you substitute ginger for galangal (which can be difficult to find), which isn’t really a “substitute.” Think of it as – if you can’t get galangal, ginger would be great in this soup too. Find galangal at the Asian market – sometimes you can get fresh galangal otherwise you may find it frozen. ~jaden

Tessa’s intro: “I just wouldn’t cope with not knowing how to make some version of this soup. I love it. You can add a few mushrooms, a couple of fresh spinach leaves or some slices of zucchini in with the chicken. Also wonderful instead of the chicken is to cook some large, shelled shrimp on a barbecue or grill pan and toss them into the soup just before serving. The fish sauce is the salt in this soup so adjust the quantities according to your taste (and the same with the chile). I like it not too strong. Keep the cilantro stems in your freezer to add flavor to a broth or stew.”

1 1/2 inch piece of galangal or ginger, peeled and sliced (we used powdered galangal)
small bunch fresh cilantro with roots
4 kaffir lime leaves (makrut), torn (we used lime peel)
1 stem lemongrass, halved lengthways
3 tablespoons fish sauce
juice of 2 small limes
1 3/4 cups coconut milk
1/2 pound skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 red chile (chilli), seeded and sliced

(we added sliced button mushrooms)

Result: We could have eaten the whole thing (serves four)

At the same time, we worked on Alton Brown's recipe for the Pad Thai. I don't know how authentic the recipe is, but it was similar to those being cooked by Thai women on other websites. BTW -- If you ever come across a Pad Thai recipe that calls for ketchup, DO NOT COOK IT!

Ingredients
  • 1-ounce tamarind paste
  • 3/4 cup boiling water
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons palm sugar
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (we used seasoned rice wine vinegar)
  • 4 ounces rice stick noodles
  • 6 ounces Marinated Tofu, recipe follows
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil
  • 1 cup chopped scallions, divided
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 whole eggs, beaten
  • 2 teaspoons salted cabbage (we didn't use this)
  • 1 tablespoon dried shrimp (we used shrimp paste)
  • 3 ounces bean sprouts, divided
  • 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped, divided
  • Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges
  • (we added chicken and shrimp)
  • Marinated Tofu:

    6 ounces extra-firm tofu, not silken

    1 1/2 cups soy sauce

    1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

We made our own Chinese five-spice powder from this recipe but subbed ginger and white pepper for the Szechuan peppercorns that we could not find. And we only marinated the tofu for an hour.

Result: Glad we made it for four!!

Downtown Joe's Napa, CA

While watching the New England Patriots dominate the New York Jets at Downtown Joe's Brewery and Resturant, Peta got a little peckish. She ordered the wilted spinach salad, but I did not notice the dish description of "baby spinach, pancetta, pine nuts, olive oil and Laura's cheval goat's cheese". I don't know if that's the exact menu listing (it's not listed in the pdf on the website), but it's close. I love a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing and I was looking forward to stealing a few bites. Unfortunately...

Food:
Wilted Spinach Salad: The goat's cheese was excellent, but things deteriorated rapidly from that high point. The pine nuts were not toasted enough and may have been past their prime. There was a touch of rancidity that may have been the pancetta standing in for what should have been regular ol' bacon. Restaurant folks: don't try to feign class by disrespecting a class-ic, AKA dance with the one that brung ya.

The salad was oily, in part because olive oil was used rather than the traditional bacon fat, in part because there was too much of it and in part because there was no/not enough vinegar to cut through the oil. That's all I can remember about that forgetful dish.

Drinks:
Bloody Mary with well vodka: They come in a big glass with a big price, but celery salt on the rim, the copious amounts of horseradish and the olive and cocktail onion garnish are nice touches. I use Old Bay myself and a bacon stirrer rather than celery salt and celery, but I liked the attention to detail regardless.

Double Secret Probation IPA: Super hoppy and clean tasting.

Staff:
Laid back, not too chatty, comfortable vibe

What we are about and why we're writing this blog...

Who we are:

Jim has been eating his whole life (a lot) and has been an arm-chair cook for twenty years. He brings a scientist's perspective to recipes and restaurant food and is constantly trying to "make it better" along the lines of America's Test Kitchen.

Peta has worked in the wine industry for years and is a self-described "flavorist". She makes the food that Jim cooks far better and is a demon in the kitchen. Just last night... well we'll get to that in a second.

What we are doing and why:

We got tired of spending exorbitant sums of money for bland, weak-ass food and drinks when eating out, but never were bold enough (or jerks enough) to give our suggestions to the staff, even when asked! But if, for example, we asked for the orange-honey butter that a restaurant used to serve and were told that they were under new management and that they did not have orange-honey butter but that they had oranges, honey and butter by the clueless (yet friendly) waitstaff and then were brought margarine rather than butter... Well, we're gonna be a little upset about the lack of attention to detail.

However, we do understand why restaurants use margarine instead of butter: it's waaay cheaper. And if nobody ever complains that the "butter" is not butter, how are restaurants to know that anybody really cares? Well, we care and we think that you care too.

Similarly, years ago, we made a pad thai from a recipe that was insistant that we not forget the ketchup. Ketchup? It was clearly insane and the results were predictably awful. We also got sick of making a recipe that just didn't seem quite right or included a bunch of fussy steps that we felt served only to make more dishes to clean.

So last night, we gave our first "napkin o'suggestions" to the server when asked how everything was. The chef probably just threw it away, but it would be nice to think that we are doing something to help restaurants keep customers and helping to raise the quality of food in our corner of the world.