Sausages and mash at the Warrington. A half pint of Porter. I am a tourist.
Category Archives: Food
Tax Time
The traditional post tax meeting lunch at Willow Wood in Graton. Market Plate for the win.
Rush Creek Reserve
Yes, that says Dodgeville, Wisconsin!
Poor Man’s Cane Rosso
One of my big rules for myself is to buy chickens whole and break them down.
They are usually so much tastier and less dry.
In the summer I usually grill, but in the winter, I roast.
When, I roast chickens, I usually spatchcock them, rub with herbs and olive oil, place them on my oven’s broiling tray, and then convection roast at 375 F.
However, at a couple of Bay Area restaurants, they do a cool thing where they cook their potatoes under the rotiseries where they roast chickens. The potatoes become saturated with delicious fat and meat juices. Mmmmm…
Leaving aside any issues of cross contamination, and a lack of pan gravy, I wondered if I couldn’t do something similar. Anyway, unlike myself, Mrs Flannestad isn’t a big fan of gravy.
Preheat your oven to 400F (375F if convection).
Spatchcock and rub your chicken with oil and spices as desired. Cut up your potatoes and toss with a little oil, salt, and pepper. I’ve discovered the potatoes need a bit of a head start on the chicken, so put them in the dripping pan of your broiling rack and place in the oven for 15-20 mins or until they start to cook. After 15 mins, move the potatoes around a bit and then place the chicken on the broiling rack. Put the broiling rack on top of the dripping pan and potatoes. Cook until desired degree of doneness is reached (internal temp of around 150F). Remove chicken to rest. Remove potatoes from pan, scraping to get all the good stuff, carve chicken, and serve with a salad or other vegetable.
For bonus points, serve Persimmon Pudding for dessert with Mitchell’s Pumpkin Ice Cream.
Gold-n-Berg-n-stein
Gold-n-Berg-n-stein at Deli board.
Green Chile Chicken Pot Pie
Green Chile Chicken Pit Pie from Chile Pies. Mmmmm!
Pork, Kraut, and Cider
“What do you want for New Year’s Eve Dinner? Lobster? Beef Tenderloin?”
“Not really.”
“How about Pork Tenderloin stuffed with Prunes, herbs, and chestnuts?”
This is kind of a joke, as I’ve made two dinners recently have involved prune stuffing of various small animals.
But, hm, Pork sounds like a good choice, maybe something like Charcuterie Garni, but not so complicated?
1/2 tsp juniper berries, 1/2 tsp caraway seed, 1/2 tsp aniseed ground and mixed with curing mixture of sugar and salt.
Smoked Salmon with Fromage Blanc mixed with meyer lemon zest, juice, and thyme.
La Tur Cheese. So good!
Brown the Pork Chops. Give the apples a slight head start in the oven with hard cider. When chops are browned, place in pan, cover with warmed kraut and cook until done.
Dinner! Serve with some delicious hard cider and maybe roast winter squash.
Chinese Style Curried Chicken with Squash
There’s a specific kind of Chinese American comfort food which you will often find on a menu in San Francisco.
The Chinese version of “Curry” doesn’t really have much to do with the Indian version of same.
Basically, it is meat or tofu served in a curry powder flavored gravy thickened with corn starch.
Mrs Flannestad wanted stew and I wasn’t really feeling like American/European Stew.
Well, Curry is stew, isn’t it? I’ll adapt my Chicken Gumbo recipe and instead of flavoring the ‘gravy’ with ‘Creole Seasoning’, I’ll flavor it with Curry.
Cover a quartered chicken with water and add to the pot some roughly chopped garlic, onion, and ginger. Bring to a simmer, and reduce heat. Cook until the chicken is done. Cool enough to handle, and remove chicken from bones. Chop and reserve meat. Return bones, skin, and cartilage to liquid and continue cooking as time allows, at least an hour.
Mince Garlic, Ginger, and Jalapeno chiles. Make Curry Powder*
In a heavy pot, make a roux, about 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or Ghee) and 1/4 cup flour. Cook flour until it no longer smells like raw flour. Drain
Chop a winter squash and set aside. Chop a Turnip and set aside. Chop some potatoes and set aside. Chop a large onion. Add Minced Garlic, Ginger and Chile to roux. Cook briefly, and add chopped onion. Cook until onion is clear and wilted. Strain solids from stock and pour into roux, stirring vigorously to avoid clumping. When it reaches a simmer, stir in curry powder and check salt level. Add chopped squash, turnips, and potatoes to liquid and cook until vegetables are just about tender. Stir in cooked chicken.
Check seasonings again and serve over rice and garnish with cilantro and yoghurt. It’s better the second day.
*Curry Powder
1 tsp Whole Coriander Seed
1 tsp Whole Cumin Seed
1 tsp Whole Fennel Seed
1 tsp Whole Fenugreek
1 tsp Whole Brown Mustard Seed
4 Whole Cloves
1 Small Stick Cinnamon, Broken
1/2 tsp White Peppercorns
1/2 tsp Black Peppercorns
3 Whole Chili de Arbol
1 tsp Ground Tumeric
Toast whole spices in a dry pan until fragrant. Grind in Coffee Mill or Spice Grinder. Add Tumeric.
Home Again
Celebrating with burritos from Papalote, yum!
Aristocratic Rice
A little unclear what makes rice ‘Aristocratic’. Am I the only one thinking of Sarah Silverman?
The box affirms, “…that CARNAROLI variety of rice is the gem of all the available varieties because of the PURENESS that it possess.”
And that, “FAMOUS INTERNATIONAL CHEFS favor the CARNAROLI variety of RICE because of its special nutritional and delicious nourishment it assures in all RISOTTO preparations.”
The package may not contain any, “BROKEN, CHALKY, or STAINED GRAINS,” but their English translations are another matter.
It does stay a bit more reliably toothsome than most Arborio I’ve cooked with. Is that an ‘aristocratic’ trait?