Sunday, August 1, 2010

What I've Been Doing With Myself Since January

Well, it's been a while since my last blog update, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking, baking, and trying new recipes in the intervening months. I thought it might be a good idea to share a bit of what I've been up to before I start making (potentially false) promises about more regular updates in the future.

During the winter I had an amazing meal of braised short ribs with cheddared spinach on a bed of fresh made pappardelle at Caseus, an excellent fromagerie and bistro style restaurant. It inspired me to finally braise some short ribs of my own, and I settled on this recipe from Simply Recipes, which I've made two times. The resulting meat was so amazingly tender and full of flavor from the wine reduction - the beef literally falls of the bone, cuts like butter, and melts in your mouth.

As Easter approached, and I found out I would be hosting my parents and brother for dinner, I decided to try and recreate my entire dinner from Caseus, substituting lamb shanks for short ribs. Of course this meant making my own fresh pasta, something else I had never done. I followed this tutorial, rolling out the pasta sheets by hand since I didn't have a pasta machine. The dough was easy enough to make, but I just couldn't roll the dough out thin enough, and the resulting noodles cooked up thick tough rather than thin and delicate. I bought a pasta machine, and a few days later, made my first batch of delicious fresh pasta (with an assist from my lovely wife since I couldn't quite seem to crank the dough through the machine and hold it coming out the other end at the same time).


The lamb shanks came out beautifully, as did the fresh fettuccine, and I served it all over my own version of cheddared spinach (steamed baby spinach leaves tossed with microplaned sharp cheddar). I must say that while my recreation didn't quite measure up to the original, it was pretty darn close.
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I have a few more things to share...

This is the simplest and best pasta recipe I've come across in quite a while, thanks to one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. Apparently, spaghetti with cheese and black pepper is an Italian pantry cooking staple that I'd somehow missed for my entire life. It's also one of the most beloved dishes at Mario Batali's acclaimed New York restaurant, Lupa. I've probably made this five times since I discovered the recipe, and that's only because I can't justify eating a pound of spaghetti and cheese more than once a week. I want this all the time.

Also from Smitten Kitchen comes the excellent "best cocoa brownies" recipe, which I can't endorse highly enough. Really delicious brownies on the chewy end of the brownie spectrum. I suggest trying peanuts instead of walnuts, for an interesting Snickers-esque quality.

A wonderful guacamole with bacon from Rick Bayless is delicious as a topping for quesadilla, spread on a turkey sandwich, or just eaten with chips. Smoky, spicy chipotle peppers blend nicely with the bacon and tomatoes to make a truly excellent guacamole.

And last but not least, tuna burgers with wasabi mayo. This recipe had been in my "to make" pile for a few years, and I finally decided to make them for a some friends. I would say that these burgers were probably the single best thing I've cooked since January. The comment I left on the blog where I got them pretty much says it all...

I’ve had this recipe in my “to make” pile for 3 years! Well, I finally got around to making it last night, and though I was initially hesitant about doing anything with such beautiful tuna as giving it a light sear and eating it extremely rare, I must say this recipe is amazing!


Without hyperbole, I can honestly say this is the best non-beef burger I’ve ever had, and it’s not even close. Great recipe! Thanks!

Using high quality tuna is a must, so this recipe is not a cheapie, but as an every once and a while splurge, is definitely worth the high price tag. I also baked some pita to stuff these into, and highly recommend you do the same (or at least buy some pita).


So that pretty much brings us up to speed...now, I promise to update more regularly from here on out (heh heh heh).

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