Chez Us
This is our story of what we create in our 20 sq. ft. kitchen nightly.
November 17, 2008 at 10:59 pm · Filed under Dessert, Eat Local Challenge 2008, Tuesdays with Dorie
Isabelle of Les Gourmandises d’Isa picked one of our favorite desserts, one that goes back to both of our childhoods and our cultures - Lenny, Portuguese and I, Basque. We both remember our great-grandmothers, our grandmothers, and our mothers making rice pudding. It is a very comfortable ending to a meal. The only thing with these old family recipes is that they seem to come out a bit dry or startchy no matter how much extra milk I add. I feel bad even saying this, but, I have tried and tried …. now there is a new girl in town!
Dorie always seems to have the “perfect recipe”. Every time I make a TWD recipe, it is right on, from serving size, to baking times and ingredients. This recipe was the exception ….. it was even easier, in fact it was the easiest rice pudding I have ever made. Basically, you gently simmer rice with milk and sugar, then add flavorings, I did use a vanilla bean instead of extract, which gave it a really nice warm taste and essence. T add a bit of fall to the recipe, I soaked unsweetened cranberries in a French orange brandy for 10 hours and then lightly drizzled it over the top - very good! The end result, it was ultra creamy with a slight bite of crunch (that texture we so love) thanks to the Arborio rice.
I served this after we had the Merguez Lamb stew dinner- it was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal, the flavors all really came together. This was definitely the easiest and the best rice pudding recipe I have ever made and it will become the go to in our house and you should make it yours as well.
Thank you, Isabelle!
November 15, 2008 at 10:38 pm · Filed under Pork, Uncategorized
I grew up eating lamb very often, by the time I flew from the nest at the tender age of 18, I did not like lamb. Four years later I found myself in the Bay Area and submerged myself into becoming a foodie. I remember the first time I had lamb again, it was roasted with loads of garlic and rosemary, that taste still lingers in my mind. We are pretty much meat eaters around here and will eat just about anything; I more so then Lenny. Read the rest of this entry »
November 14, 2008 at 10:47 pm · Filed under Easy Eating
Lenny has been gone all week. I always miss him, but, this trip I missed him even more. Lenny has been gone all week with his cousin Dave and they both come home tonight. I have not had a chance to really cook a great meal for his cousin’s visit as of yet, so I decided to surprise them tonight with a little late night dinner - notice how romantic the table was set for a party of two! ;) I set out a board with triple cream cheese, nice local dry chorizo (I need to get you the name), olives, Acme bread and a freshly roasted chicken - okay I cheated and bought it already roasted, topped off with a really nice French Bordeaux.
Read the rest of this entry »
November 13, 2008 at 10:51 pm · Filed under Events
No post tonight as I cooked but forgot to snap a photo. I am hanging out with MEM tonight and we did cook, but I did not have a camera to shoot a photo. So instead, I am asking you to go Vote, for Chez US that is ….. our entry is in the round-up for the Paper Chef Challenge.
November 13, 2008 at 8:30 am · Filed under Soups & Stews, Vegetarian
You are probably wondering by now as to why we are only having soup this week, after all, I did mention last week that we were having company. Yes, Lenny’s cousin David, is here from Montreal; but, the boys have been in Vegas all week ……. not having fun, I am sure, but rather working. Now, I am bummed not only because it means I have not seen my other half for almost a week, but, I like having company stay with us. It gives me a great excuse to show off my cooking talents and to make some things I normally don’t make for two of us. Unfortunately, I am not sure how much cooking we are going to get in for David’s holiday with us. They get back late Friday night and then we have a huge job until the following Thursday at which time David is going to have to fly back to Montreal. So, that is why we or I have been dining on soup all week.
I normally don’t post about leftovers, because we don’t have them around and we really don’t like them. But, I wanted to post tonight and Ijust had to tell you that the soup was even better the second day. The flavor of the sunchokes was really more intense tonight, a deeper earthy taste and it actually had a hint of artichoke hearts. I really enjoyed it even more the second time around.
November 12, 2008 at 9:36 am · Filed under Events, Recognition, Vegetarian
YEAH, our entry won the Chow Food Fight for Thanksgiving Sides! Thanks for all your votes and thank you to the Chow Editors for liking our recipe!
Want to add it to your Thankgiving Menu, here is the recipe.
November 11, 2008 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Easy Eating, Soups & Stews
In all honesty, I was not really sure what a sunchoke was before tonight. I was just interested in trying something new as I did the shopping last weekend. I actually thought it was related to our friend the artichoke, but after some research, I found out it is related to the sunflower and has nothing to do with Jerusalem. “A sunchoke is an underground vegetable like a cross between a rutabaga, potato, sunflower seed, and water chestnut. Also called a Jerusalem artichoke, it is not like an artichoke bloom, nor does it grow in Jerusalem. It’s one of the few native tubers of North America.” Want to learn more click here.
I made a soup out of the little bag of sunchokes. Just a plain simple soup. It was easy. It was very tasty: a bit earthy like a potato and nutty like a just roasted chestnut. I did add some left over Anaheim pepper, which gave it a mild spicy taste. Overall, it was really a nice little soup.
Next time, I may try to add some sunchokes to mashed potatoes instead of our new favorite add-in, Celery root or maybe I will add some to a salad as it has a nice crisp texture when eaten raw.
Recipe
Next entries »
