Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Vegetable Curry

Maybe you love curry. Maybe you don't. Even if you don't, I bet you'll like this curry. Regardless, it's a great recipe. And good for you, what with all the kale and sweet potatoes in it.

But before we begin, I gotta talk a bit about how I'm a really efficient cook. Like, I read through the recipe and figure out how much I gotta chop first before I can start cooking. I consolidate pots and pans, I wash the collander while the water's boiling. I'm good.

So let me help you out here. You're gonna need to chop and measure all of the ingredients up to the lime juice. There's a lot of fine chopping and mincing in there, and things are cooked in rapid succession until you get to the lime juice. Also, the ginger, garlic, jalapeno and scallion can go in one bowl, sweet potatoes and bell pepper in the second bowl, zucchini in the third bowl. You can reuse those bowls for the kale, because you can destem the kale during the 20-minute simmering in step 2. You can also chop up the cilantro then too, and start the grill and cook the pork.

And! The coconut water and sour cream are used to cut calories. But the thought of having to halve and drain god knows how many coconuts to get 2 cups of coconut water filled me with dread. So I just bought 2 cans of coconut milk and called it a day. I also used way more sweet potatoes, so I needed the extra milk to portion it. Also, I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, because I like the tang.

OK, now for the recipe.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Vegetable Curry
from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño
• 2 tablespoons minced scallion, plus 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1 small sweet potato (about 5 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
• 2 cups pure coconut water
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 cups coarsely shredded stemmed kale
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons full-fat sour cream
• 4 center-cut pork tenderloin medallions (about 4 ounces each), pounded to a 1-inch thickness

Directions

1. In a large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the ginger, garlic, jalapeño and minced scallion and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant, 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and sweet potato, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until barely softened, 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and curry paste and stir to coat the vegetables with the curry.
2. Add the coconut water and lime juice and simmer over moderate heat until the sweet potatoes are nearly tender and the liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Stir in the kale and cilantro and cook just until the kale is wilted. Add the sour cream and season with salt and pepper.
3. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Rub the pork with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper; grill over moderate heat, turning, until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the pork rest for 5 minutes, then slice and arrange on plates with the vegetable curry alongside. Garnish with the sliced scallions and serve.

Notes

One Serving 310 cal, 13 gm fat, 2.5 gm sat fat, 20 gm carb, 5 gm fiber, 28 gm protein, 590 mg sodium.

Food Memory

Do you have foods that evoke specific memories? I'm eating Cheez-Its right now, and they remind me of my grandmother, my mother's mother. She lived with us one summer, and I would watch TV with her in her bedroom. We had these small rice bowls that we used for ice cream, and I'd fill one with Cheez-Its and watch TV with my grandma. She preferred unsalted peanuts.

She liked to watch old westerns, Wheel of Fortune, even Nickelodeon. She didn't understand a great deal of English, so she liked programs she could understand by the images. Westerns, it's pretty clear what's going on, no dialogue needed. We used to watch a lot of Hey, Dude!, because it was on a ranch and you could figure out what was happening pretty easily.

I remember that my grandma was there, but not particularly warm. I know now that she showed her love with food, that when she was trying to force you to eat a rack of ribs, she was saying "I love you." When she let me watch TV with her in her room, she was trying to be closer to her grandchildren. I didn't know that then, but I know it now.

Another food that takes me back are grilled cheese sandwiches and pickles. Plain wheat bread, plain American Kraft singles, and sweet pickles. My dad would make this for us after church on Sundays. It makes me think of the sweet relief of being home again, after sitting through church, of getting to wear non-formal clothes. It was a meal that prepared you for the chores you'd have to do on Sunday afternoons, dusting and weeding and mulching and washing cars.

We always ate grilled cheeses with sweet pickles. I'm not sure why. I think it's because my dad liked sweet pickles. To this day, the combo makes me think of a respite, a time to breathe a bit in between Sunday duties.

Beef with broccoli. My mom used to make simple Chinese dishes, meat, veg, brown sauce, white rice. I remember watching TV in the other room while my mom hacked a piece of meat into pieces, cooking it in the red electric wok. She'd take a few pieces out and lay them on a cutting board for my brother and I to snack on while we waited for dinner. In the rice bowls, soy sauce and cornstarch would mix to make a flavorful brown sauce. In goes the broccoli, in goes the meat, out comes dinner.

When I was really little, my parents tried to get me to eat broccoli by dunking it in the brown sauce. I would suck the sauce off of the broccoli, and then hand the broccoli back to them. I knew then it was the best part.

What are your food memories?

Banh Mi

Do you like sandwiches? And spicy food? Hey, me too! Let's be cool Internet friends!

The January issue of Bon Appetit featured two of my favorite foodstuffs: meatballs and sriracha. Sriracha, if you've never encountered it, is a hot chili sauce. Meatballs are balls of meat. But you probably knew that one.

Every week, we plan out what we're going to eat for dinner every day. This week, John had us making a meatball soup, but I said fuck that noise. I wanted a meatball sandwich.

So we made banh mis! Banh miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis! So goooooooooooooooooooood! So spicyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! You will need to drink so much miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilk!

Lemme just preface this recipe by saying that it takes a long time. Not a tremondously long time, but I used my MLK holiday to first make the mayo, then the slaw, then form the meatballs. There's a lot of chopping in this recipe. Be prepared. And then cook it, and be full. Oh, and the mayo is incredibly spicy. I had to drink 3 glasses of milk while I ate this sandwich.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Hot Chili Mayo

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)*

Meatballs

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
• 1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Sandwiches

• 2 cups coarsely grated carrots
• 2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)**
• 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
• 4 10-inch-long individual baguettes or four 10-inch-long pieces French-bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)
• Thinly sliced jalapeño chiles
• 16 large fresh cilantro sprigs

• *Available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.
• **Available at some supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Preparation

hot chili mayo

• Stir all ingredients in small bowl. Season with salt. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

meatballs

• Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

sandwiches

• Toss first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
• Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and cooked through, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
• Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapeños, then cilantro, in bottom halves. Fill each with 1/4 of meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables; place atop meatballs. Press on baguette tops.

The Great BBQ Cookoff of 2009

It all started with a little bragging. You see, John makes ribs. Good ribs. He's even got his own rib recipe, in which he makes his own BBQ sauce. He calls this recipe "Delicious Jerk Ribs Recipe." He's made it for his parents. His dad was telling Joe, Christina's boyfriend, about the ribs. Joe said his dad makes good ribs. And then Allison, the Madrids' childhood friend, started talking about her dad's rib recipe.
And thus the Great BBQ Cookoff of '09 was born.

It was scheduled for Friday night. About 20 people came over to taste the ribs. I made scorecards where the ribs were judged on tenderness, texture, taste, and overall ribiness.

These are John's ribs. They are super mega spicy hot. If I had made a "Burn Your Lips Off" category, he would've been a shooin.

These are Allison's. Her's were smoky and tangy. Delicious.

These are Joe's dad's. Very delicious. He won by a mere 2 points over John!

So that was the Great BBQ Cookoff of 2009. Winner must make all the ribs next year. Ha!

Comfort Food

John and I were supposed to make mole chicken last night, but then we decided to shelve it in favor of making grilled cheeses and tomato soup. We weren't feeling like cooking, you see. And this got me thinking about comfort food.

By comfort food, I mean food that makes you nostalgic, or is emotionally comforting. Food that you come back to time and again. Food that you can make easily, and that you usually have the ingredients for. Comfort food should be easy, in case you have to make it at any time.

One of my favorite comfort foods is grilled cheese sandwiches. On Sundays after church when I was growing up, we'd have grilled cheese sandwiches and sweet pickles. Plain wheat bread and American singles.

My grilled cheese last night was on whole grain bread, with asadero and some sort of goat cheese. John sauteed some mushrooms, onions and garlic and added that to the sandwich. He also uses mayo on the outside of the grilled cheese instead of butter. Gives it a zing. We bought some La Madelaine tomato bisque to eat with it.

It was the perfect comfort food. The bread was awesome, and the crusts were perfect for dredging in the thick, creamy soup. I kinda want one right now.

What's your favorite comfort food?

Easy Sesame Chicken

Everyone has those dishes that are easy, delicious, and company-worthy. This is one of my dishes. It doesn't take a really long time to cook. You probably have most of those things in your house already (honey, chicken, onions, rice). If you do it well (and I will tell you what you need to do to do it well), this dish is a hit. Many people love this dish when I make it. And it will look like the photo above, which I did not take. I'm not that good of a photographer.

Sesame Chicken
Ingredients
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp crushed red pepper (or more or less, depending on how hot you like it. I like it mildly spicy)
2-4 chicken breasts
Sesame oil
Vegetable oil
1 yellow onion
*1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
*1/2 cup honey
sesame seeds
1 green bell pepper
1 bunch green onions
Any other veggies you want (broccoli, carrots, bok choy, etc)
*These are for the sauce. You can use more or less, but keep the ratio 1 to 1. The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of each, which wasn't enough for me. 1/2 cup will make it saucy but not too sweet.

1. Put the chicken in a plastic Ziploc back and pound it. It doesn't matter how thin you cut it, this is more about making it a uniform thickness so all of the chicken cooks evenly and at the same time. Cut it into small chunks.
2. Mix the flour, sesame seeds, pepper, salt, and red pepper in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat 3 tbs of vegetable oil. Add to it enough sesame oil to 1/2"-1" deep in the pan. Heat all of the oil on high.
4. Coat the chicken in the flour mixture. Get it really coated, because some of the flour will fall off in the frying process. Once the oil is thoroughly heated, brown the chicken. You want it golden to medium brown. Not too light in color though, you want it crispy. Once browned, remove the chicken.
5. Saute the onions and peppers and veggies until done. I like mine a little firm still, but if you like them soft cook them as long as you want. They will cook a little more in the next step, but not much.
6. Add the chicken back to the pan. In a separate bowl, mix the teriyaki sauce, honey, and some sesame seeds together. Add the sauce to the pan. Toss more sesame seeds on top. Toss in green onions.

Voila! Sesame chicken!

NOTE: This is a really flexible recipe. Feel free to use more or less oil, or less sauce. Use any veggies you want, squash, zucchini, broccoli, onions, bell peppers, carrots. Any kind of firm veggie, because it'll cook well and take on the flavor of the sauce. If you like more sesame flavor, use more sesame oil and more sesame seeds. If you like it really spicy, go crazy with the red pepper. It's a recipe that you can tweak to your own liking.

The Best of Dinner Club, Part 2

In addition to chicken and dumplings, we also made 2 other dinner club hits - peach cobbler and cheddar chipotle scones. Recipes below, with my deviations and comments.

Cheddar Chipotle Scones (from Serious Eats)

Cheddar Chipotle Scones

- makes 8 servings -
Adapted from Cooking Light.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup low-fat sour cream
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon water
1 minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce I usually use 2-3.
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or a fork until mixture resembles coarse meal. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, cheddar cheese, 1 tablespoon water, chipotle chile, and egg; stir into dry ingredients until just moist. Knead in bowl with lightly floured hands just until dough forms.

3. Shape dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cut each circle into 8 wedges; arrange wedges 1 inch apart on pan. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until browned. Serve warm.

Chicken and Dumplings

From Staff Meals, a great homey cookbook

For the stew
2 chickens (3-3 ½ lbs each)
2 T. canola or other vegetable oil
2 small onions, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
8 cups chicken stock, chicken broth or water I use more, about 1o cups
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
10 grinds black pepper

Small pinch of cayenne pepper
4 carrots, peeled & cut into ½" rounds
3 large white turnips, peeled and diced You can substitute potatoes or parsnips, or a combo
Coarse (kosher) salt, to taste

For the dumplings
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt

1 tsp snipped fresh chives
1 tsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup milk
Walnut-sized piece of beurre manié*


*Beurre manié (kneaded butter) is a mix of equal parts softened unsalted butter and all-purpose flour, thoroughly worked together to form a paste. It should be whisked quickly into the liquid and allowed to simmer until the flour loses its starchy taste, at least 15 minutes. I use 1/2 tbs of butter and 1/2 tbs of flour.

1. Rinse the chickens, inside and out, under cold running water, removing any excess fat. Cut each chicken into 10 pieces and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or large, wide, flameproof casserole over medium-high heat. When it just begins to smoke, add only enough chicken pieces to fit into the pot without touching and sauté until well browned on all sides, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a platter and set aside. Cook and remove all chicken.
3. In empty pot, add the onions and garlic and reduce the heat to medium low. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Return chicken to the pot, add the wine. Turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until the wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves, black pepper and cayenne. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and barely simmer, partially covered, until chicken is almost done, about 1 hour. Skim any foam. Prepare the beurre manie.
5. Add the carrots and turnips and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the batter for the dumplings. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, chives, and parsley in a medium-size bowl and whisk thoroughly to mix. Pour in the milk and stir to make a thick batter. Set aside.
7. Transfer the chicken pieces to a platter and set aside. Discard the bay leaves. Taste the broth and add salt as necessary, then add the chilled beurre manié and whisk until it is completely incorporated and the liquid is somewhat thickened, about 15 minutes. While the beurre manie is incorporating, debone the chicken and shred it in medium chunks. Return chicken to the pot and bring to a simmer.

8. Drop the dumpling batter by the teaspoonful directly onto the stew. The dumplings will expand, so leave about 1" between them. Cover and simmer over low heat for exactly 15 minutes. Don't peek!

Peach Cobbler

from the Food Network

I have no alterations to this recipe. It is awesome.

Ingredients
For the peach filling:

* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 10 cups frozen peaches, thawed, about 3 pounds prepared
* 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
* 1 lemon, juiced
* 1 teaspoon butter

For the crumb topping:

* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup oats
* 1/4 cup slivered almonds
* 1/2 cup dried cranberries
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 8 pieces
* Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving
* Special Equipment: 12 by 8-inch oval stoneware dish or 13 by 9-inch rectangular glass or stoneware dish

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

To make the peach filling: In a large bowl, stir together sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add peaches and gently toss to coat. Mix together cornstarch slurry and lemon juice and stir into peaches to incorporate. Butter a 12 by 8-inch oval dish and add peach mixture.

To make the crumb topping: In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients, add in butter pieces and combine with hands until crumbly.

Top peaches with half of the crumb topping. Place in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, then add remainder of the crumb topping. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake until golden and bubbling, another 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

The Best of Dinner Club

When Dinner Club was first born, John and I started with simple dishes, and then got progressively more complicated with our tastes, flavor pairings, desserts. We used Dinner Club as guinea pigs, and we served them tried-and-true dishes. We had some food we'd prepared for days (brisket), and some hastily thrown together (like the time we had dinner club 2 days after we got back from Hawaii - lasagna, rum cocktails and braised pineapple).

We have dinner club every 2 weeks, rotating between 3 couples. So John and I cook every 6 weeks, which amounts to about 8 times a year, if you count in scheduling conflicts and holidays and such. So we've probably made 20 meals for dinner club.

A few weeks ago, Kate suggested that we each host a Best of Dinner Club this year to celebrate the end of the year. Each couple would make one of their dishes that they'd made before. Instead of the host picking the dish, we let everyone else decide which of our 20 dishes they wanted to eat again.

Except I can't remember more than 10 of the things we've cooked for Dinner Club. The ones I remember are:

-lasagna
-Brisket
-Stuffed steaks
-Chicken rillettes
-Surf and turf
-Shrimp tacos
-Sesame chicken
-Ribs
-Chicken and dumplings
-Omelets (breakfast for dinner)
-Chicken cordon bleu

Out of 4 votes, 2 people voted for chicken and dumplings. I think people remember dish not only because it was delicious, but also because John and I completely botched the timing by forgetting this dish needs to simmer for an hour. So we served the dessert, pecan pie, first and the entree second.

To stretch out my NaBloPoMo action, I'm gonna what we cooked and recipes this weekend. You'll just have to wait!

The Saucier's Apprentice's Wife

Who is the Saucier's Apprentice's Wife? Me.

Ever since we saw Julie & Julia, John has been on a cooking rampage. He bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which is one billion pages long and contains recipes for aspic (vomit). He also bought this little book right here.

It's a whole book about sauces.

See how old it looks, like it was written by people who have hours and hours to make sauces? Or who have money to pay people to make sauces?

I am not one of these people.

This is a diagram of the sauces you can make. First, you must make your own stock. Then you make a Demi-Glace. Then, you finally make the sauce you want. All of which takes a lot of time.

So, a couple weeks ago, John and I trucked down here:

to get 18 pounds worth of bones:

which now live in my freezer:

To make these sauces, John bought a 32 quart stockpot. I told him he had to find someplace to put it before he bought it.

His solution was to buy a bookcase:

so we could move all of our cookbooks off the top of the fridge and move this up there:

I put it next to a coffee cup for perspective. I tried to make Buster sit next to the stockpot, but he is scared of it. Probably because it is bigger than he is.

So yeah, we haven't actually made any stocks or sauces yet. We don't have a spare 38 hours to make all this stuff. But it will happen someday.

Someday.

Underground Kitchen

WARNING: DELICIOUSNESS AHEAD
Side effects include intense hunger, envy, jealousy, and eating.

Friends, I will never be the same. I fear my life has reached its pinnacle already. I have peaked. Colors will never be as bright, birds not as joyful, food not as delicious, laughter not as loud.

Let me explain: Jason Dady cooked in my kitchen last night.

It all started weeks ago on Twitter. Jason Dady (@chefjasondady) said he was starting DUK, Dady Underground Kitchen, where he would come cook, in your kitchen, for you and 4 other couples. 10 people total. The menu would be a secret. We would provide the wine, a wine for each of the 5 courses.

So we assembled the DUK crowd - our usual dinner group (John and me, Kate and Sam, Casey and Jarret) and we asked our friend Beth and Jason, and Nicolette who brought her friend Vickie.

We cleaned the house. We bought fresh flowers. We gave everyone our address. And then we waited.

And then Jason Dady was here!


Here are some facts about Jason Dady: he has Tre Trattoria, The Lodge, Bin 555, and Two Brothers BBQ. He is really tall. He will give you a hard time. He makes magical meals.

Let's see him cooking again, shall we?


Jason Dady came with a helper, Josh. Josh didn't talk much, but he kept our glasses full.

Jason Dady announced that the first course would be out of things he found in our fridge. I was struck with fear, because we hadn't gone shopping the previous weekend because we were in Cleveland. I was afraid he would be forced to make something out of frozen bacon and pudding.

But he came up with a bruschetta with cheese, leeks, and peaches.

He also made some popcorn with butter and smoked paprika for a snack.

Then came more appetizers. This is chorizo with Nutella and olive oil. Gotta admit, we were dubious, but it was fucking delicious. From now on, that's how I eat chorizo.

Who doesn't love meatballs? If you count, you'll see that there are 12 meatballs for 10 people. I ate one of the extras, and Sam ate the other one.


Jason Dady gave us the menu for the night. I look insane here because I saw that it said "ohmypuddin" at the top. OMG, that's meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

That's Josh there in the background, looking for some wine to pour.


FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS!

With goat cheese, honey, balsamic vinegar, and proscuitto. Oh man, it was good.

Crusted scallop in a bed of forbidden rice corn and peas, and the most delicious tomato beurre blanc in the world. Seriously. I would leave John for that sauce. I love you, sauce!

I think this is when I started getting really drunk. 10 bottles of wine for 10 people. Cmon. I'm only 5'2".
Rabbit head-to-toe. Or, as Jason Dady calls is, head-to-fluffy-tail. Rabbits are adorable, and delicious. There's also some celery bulb puree and japanese eggplant.


Kate dreams about the crostada she had at Tre Trattoria. Dreams. Every day. Sam (not so subtly) hinted to Jason Dady that he wanted a crostada, so he got one. This is a nectarine crostada. Remember my onion goggles? Jason Dady wore them for me! ZOMG!

Also for your amusement:


No, I did not actually eat this butter. I only pretended to.


I am such a dork, I made everyone sign my menu. Jason Dady wrote, "Explore your palate!"

I would like to thank my fellow DUK-ers, John, Beth, Jason ("Pumpkin"), Kate, Sam, Casey, Jarret, Nicolette, and Vickie, for being awesome and enjoying this experience. Thanks to Casey and Jarret for watching Buster so he wouldn't go berserk, and for loaning us the table and chairs. Thanks to John for all of the cleaning we did. Muchos gracias to the internets and Twitter for facilitating this. Thanks to Josh, for being patient and helping Jason Dady.

And the biggest thanks of all to Jason Dady, for cooking us dinner, being cool, wearing onion goggles, telling us stories, not mocking the food in our fridge, and drinking wine with us. Will you come cook for me all the time? Pretty please?

More photos on facebook and flickr. And don't forget to read Kate's account of the night on her blog, Sincerely Yours, Kate.

Someone come rub my tummy

Internet friends (just like real friends, but more Internet-y), I am really full.

For dinner club yesterday, John and I made:

Pear tarts
Chicken rillettes, which we served with baguettes, croissants, pickled peppers, brie and pickles
Chocolate cake

It was all homemade except for the pickles. So not only am I full, but I am also exhausted.

After the tart, I wasn't all that hungry anymore, but I ate the rillettes and the accoutrements because it was SO GOOD. I kept telling everyone that I was going to throw up from eating to much. But I finished my dinner. And then I had a piece of cake. I know! I'm crazy! But look at that cake! It's so moist and delicious!

After everyone left, John and I laid in bed and bemoaned how terribly full we were. I started moaning to see if that would make me feel better, but that only made Buster come lick my face and stand on my stomach, neither of which helped me.

BUT! I have some exciting information! Kate told me that the sommelier at Il Sogno READ MY BLOG! OMG 34DFGH)r*(ugfklj! And he remember me! I am Internet famous!

So if you're reading Sommelier, hello! I wanted to go to dinner there on Friday, but I am afraid Il Sogno will be too busy! Alas! Some other time.

I'm gonna go lay down now.

How cool do I look?

Very cool.

These are some onion goggles. They have padding around the eyes to prevent onion vapors from making you cry.

Yes, I am wearing these in a photo. And yes, I am wearing these in my office. And of course, I wore them during a presentation. That's just how I roll.

The Recipe Dilemma

My name is Lauren, and I collect recipes.

There, I've said it. That feels better.

I subscribe to Bon Appetit, Food + Wine, and Real Simple (which isn't a food mag, but does have lots of "mom" recipes. They aren't always great, but they easy and the time is usually accurate). I read Serious Eats. I get email newsletters every day from Allrecipes and MyRecipes. I get newsletters every week from Chow and Epicurious. I have about a dozen cookbooks. I save recipes online, print them out, write them down, tear them out of magazines. I used to print them out and tape them on index cards.

In short, I have recipes everywhere. This makes it hard to keep track of recipes we've tried, recipes we like, recipes we want to cook again. We're constantly saying things like, "where's that salmon recipe we made that time?" "do you know what was in that steak sauce?" It's annoying that we don't have a centralized system.

Until now! Behold, our recipe book!

I tore out all of the recipes that we have tried and want to try, and I taped them to white paper and inserted them in plastic sheets. They are organized thusly: meat, seafood, sides, sauces, sandwiches/pizzas, desserts.

It's not a foolproof system, but until I actually break down and buy this, it'll have to do.

Dinner Club

UPDATE: Kate chimed in with some suggestions, listed at the bottom of this post.

dinner club (dĭn'ər klŭb): noun- A group of people who meet for dinner at each other's houses on a regular schedule. Works best in groups under 10.

You may have asked yourself recently, is a dinner club right for you. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I like food?
2. Do I like eating with other people?
3. Do I have friends?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then yes, a dinner club is right for you.

There are many different kinds of dinner clubs. Maybe you'd like to be in one that meets at restaurants, or only orders in, or only meets at one's person's house. I can't help you with those dinner clubs. I can only tell you about mine.

Dinner club was born from a mutual love of Top Chef between 6 friends (3 couples). John and I wanted to have a Top Chef-inspired cookoff with our friends, who also watch Top Chef. We invited them over and told them to bring the makings of one entree. When they arrived, each couple had to make nachos usings fixings we'd already bought. Sam and Kate won with the nachos on the lower right - nachos on bell peppers.

Then we all had to cook our entrees. It was a really long night, but a lot of good food.

Dinner club used to be every week at a different couple's house. We switched to every other week because every week is just too much cooking. There's usually an appetizer, entree and dessert. We ask other couples to bring wine or beer or bread or a side, something small.

Dinner club starts at 7:30 on Wednesdays, but we usually don't eat until after 8.

Here are some things John and I have cooked for Dinner Club:
-Shrimp tacos and chocolate cake
-Chicken and dumplings
-Ribs
-Lasagna
-Breakfast for dinner (omelets)
-Sesame chicken

I'm sure there were other things, but I can't remember them right now. They were delicious, I'm sure.

Dinner club is kind of a snooty sounding name, but it's really just a group of us who like to cook and get together. It's nice to know that you'll be seeing your friends on a routine basis.

The next dinner club is scheduled for this week at Kate and Sam's. Yay for dinner club!

Kate's comments:
"First, take note of how many chairs, plates, forks, and spoons you have in your house. If you can only accommodate six people reasonably in your dining room, well then that should be the size of your dinner club. Also, remember at what size you must start doubling recipes. Trust me on this one, having enough chairs and food is harder than it sounds.

Two, come to a mutual agreement with all parties involved about the cost, style, and "vibe" or your dinner club, or risk being outdone or underdone constantly. Nobody wants to be THAT girl who only made grilled cheese and canned tomato soup on her night. Likewise, nobody wants to be THAT girl who spent 8 hours de-boning chickens and making a french demi-glace for a group that prefers takeout Chinese. In a dinner club, all parties should be contributing about equal time, effort, money, and quality on their efforts. Yeah... this sounds obvious, but just like chairs, it is easy to overlook in the initial enthusiasm of start up.

Three, Dinner Club should involve wine. Lots of wine. Even on a Wednesday. Our preference is at least one bottle per couple or more. And if Lauren is there, you might want to bring one extra, just in case! :)"

Ha! So true. I will always be the one suggesting we open that bottle too.

If you don't like hot dogs, then you can leave my blog right now. And never come back. (Just kidding.) (Not really. I like hot dogs a lot.)

I grew up loving hot dogs and I ate them with ketchup and sweet pickle relish. I think I got this from my mom, who loves hot dogs so much, I bought her one of those hot dog and bun cookers for Mother's Day one year. She loved it.

I'm an adult now, which means I'm supposed to like adult things, like PBS, historical fiction, and talking about retirement plans. Well, fuck that noise. I don't like those things. But I do like adult toppings my hot dogs.

This recipe is from Bon Appetit in an article about hot dog toppings from around the world. We had a really hard time deciding which one to pick.

This recipe is pretty simple. You cut up and cook leeks and apples. Then you add some stuff, including hard apple cider. Then you top the hot dogs with dijon mustard, cheddar cheese and the topping. Delicious!

From Bon Appetit

Cheddar Dogs with Cider-Braised Leeks and Apples

Leeks and apples simmered in cider add a hint of sweetness—a nice contrast to the sharp melted cheddar. If you can find oblong pretzel rolls at your market, they'll make an ideal accompaniment to these English-style hot dogs.

Makes 6

By Andrew Schloss

Photograph by Kenji Toma

July 2009

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
• 2 cups (generous) thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only)
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
• Pinch of ground allspice
• Coarse kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups hard apple cider or 1 1/4 cups apple cider and 1/4 cup bourbon
• 6 grilled hot dog buns or brioche-style oblong rolls
• Dijon mustard
• 6 grilled all-beef hot dogs
• 2 oz sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (1/2 cup packed)

Preparation

• Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and apple. Cover; cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Mix in caraway and allspice; season with coarse salt and pepper. Add hard cider; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until most of liquid is cooked away, about 16 minutes.
• Arrange buns or rolls on plates. Spread each with mustard, then top with grilled hot dogs. Sprinkle dogs with cheese and top with leek mixture.

Can we talk about Rick Bayless?

So. Rick Bayless is a fancy-pants, big-time chef. He's very important. You know, I thought I knew more about him, but it turns out that my knowledge is limited to "fancy-pants, big-time." So here's his official site and bio. If you want to know more about him, read that.

I found out about Rick Bayless from a Food & Wine cookbook. I think F&W puts a new cookbook out every year, the best of the year. We have a couple.

The first Rick Bayless recipe we made was this shrimp recipe. Friends, it is WAY good. It's not too hot if you seed the peppers like it tells you to. So do that. I've made this before without the peppers and it's still really good and garlicy. The mojo can keep in the fridge for a couple weeks, so you can make it and save it. It's good on all types of meats.

Then we made two other Bayless recipes. One was a quesadilla. It was good, but it took like an hour to make. A quesadilla should be like a grilled cheese sandwich - something simple and quick and good. If it takes an hour, you're not doing it right.

The other dish was a tortilla casserole. Oh sure, Bayless said it wasn't a tortilla casserole, but it totally was. That's not why I was mad at him though. I was mad because you put two whole cans of chipotles en adobo in there, without seeding them. This dish was HOT. Like, Hades hot. So hot I couldn't eat it at all. So hot I cried after eating one bite. So eff you, Rick Bayless, for making me waste two hours and loads of food on a dish so hot I couldn't eat it.

So I was kind of mad at Rick Bayless for awhile, because he makes things that take too long and are really, really hot. I like his shrimp recipe, but I didn't like his other recipes.

And then Rick Bayless was on Top Chef Masters last week. He was really corny and kind of like a cheesy uncle. He made tongue tacos, and one of the people he was serving asked him to slip him some tongue. Rick thought this was hilarious and told that story twice, just like a corny uncle would.

And then he won that round! So Rick Bayless has endeared himself to me by making good food and being a huge dork. I totally changed my mind about him.

And he's on Twitter! How cool is that?

John wanted to make this cake for dinner club and I told him that if he wanted it, he had to make it. But guess who made it? Me! I am overcoming my fear of cakes. This was a pretty easy cake to make.

Ingredients. Lots of sugar, butter, and heavy cream.


Batter, pre-cooked. Please resist the urge to lick spoons.


Cake. Cool it completely on the rack. It was really moist and delicious on its own, but even better with the ganache and praline topping. Oh, the praline topping, so delicious.


Um, there were some other steps in there, but I didn't take pictures of them, evidently. So here's the finished product. So: chocolate cake, ganache, praline topping, raspberries and blueberries. The berries were John's idea.


Oh yeah. That's the stuff. Do you see the pecans? Kate and Sam taught us how to make out with raspberries. That was different.

What's that? You want to know if it was as delicious as it looks? It was. In fact, it was 137,000 times more delicious than it looks.

Chocolate Cake with Ganache and Praline Topping

From Bon Appetit

Cake

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, room temperature
• 1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ganache

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Praline

• 3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup pecans, toasted, chopped

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch cake pan with nonstick spray. Line with parchment. Spray parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
2. Place butter and cocoa powder in medium bowl. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over; stir. Let stand 2 minutes; whisk until blended. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and coarse salt in another medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, egg, and vanilla in large bowl. Gradually whisk cocoa mixture into buttermilk mixture; whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, whisking to blend between additions (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Run knife around pan edges to release cake. Invert onto rack; remove pan and parchment. Cool completely.
   

Ganache

1. Place chocolate and cream in microwave-safe bowl. Heat in microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Stir in butter. Let stand until spreadable, about 30 minutes. Spread over top and sides of cake. Transfer cake to plate. Chill 2 hours and up to 1 day.
   

Praline

1. Stir first 3 ingredients in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat until butter melts. Boil 1 minute without stirring. Remove from heat; whisk in sugar and vanilla. Add pecans; stir just to incorporate. Quickly pour praline over cake. Spread just to edges (topping sets quickly). DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome. Store at room temperature.