After sailing with Gilly on Friday, I had a fabulously productive day on Saturday that included, among other things, making a dynamite dinner of steak au poivre served over a salad of mixed greens and heirloom tomatoes dressed with lemon olive oil, as well as a couple of new things:

( #18 Smoked Trout Pate )

( #19 Strawberry Ice Cream )

I also made an old favorite, but couldn't find anywhere the recipe that I had previously used, so I went with this one, which may have been it and now I have a link for it on hand. I only made a pound of it, from a combination of halibut, shrimp, scallops and tilapia, so I cut the pepper down to just half a serrano and it could have used the whole thing, but otherwise it was tasty. Topped with avocado and served on the same bed of mixed greens dressed with lemon olive oil, it was wicked tasty and a delight to be able to serve such a cool, fresh, delicious meal in five minutes without turning on the stove.

I had raspberries desperately in need of use and some white chocolate chunks leftover from another project, so when I found this recipe, it seemed like the perfect solution. It came out beautifully creamy, sweet and tart, and just lovely for these hot evenings.

Thanks to hotpoint, we had an extra loaf of Iggy's bread that needed to be used, so I decided to try making panzanella again. I've tried it before, but never been really happy with the result. Working from this recipe, however, I made not only the best one I've achieved, but I think the best one I've ever tasted. Since I made significant changes, I'll go ahead and write up the whole recipe before I forget.

( The Ultimate Panzanella )

It's amazing and really convenient for taking along to rehearsals!

I've been making pickles for a few months now, but realized I haven't given myself credit for them. I started with this recipe, but tweaked it a bit. Turns out that 2 cups of water is as much as my container holds, and in that, 3 Tbs of salt is plenty. I'm using plain old McCormick's pickling spice, although I think that I may work on assembling my own, now that I'm less intimidated by the whole process, and it will have less allspice. I also added maybe 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar and that seems to work well. I've been re-using the liquid again and again for at least four or five batches now, adding more water and salt as we go. The first batch was too salty for Jason, the second and third were perfect, now it's getting a little bland. So I think the next time around I will start fresh. But wow--this is so easy and so much cheaper than the ones I was buying at Whole Foods. When market season starts up next month, I will probably indulge in Flora's spectacular pickles at least a couple of times, but these are darn good.

I finally started using my ice cream maker last summer, but had mostly focused on sorbets for various reasons. I had been thinking for a while that I should try making actual ice cream and thought I would start with vanilla--I like vanilla--but then this recipe jumped out of a magazine at me. It turned out very well. The recipe makes enough for two batches, so I tried two different sizes of dicing the peaches--smaller is better. The second batch was much creamier, for reasons I don't understand that might have to do with the custard sitting in the fridge for a couple of days before being frozen. Further experimentation is clearly required.

As y'all know, I don't consider myself much of a baker. So I am particularly proud that I made a cake today, in honor of the birthdays of dpolicar and smacaski. It was a Meyer Lemon Cake with cream cheese frosting, using the recipe on this page. It came out very nicely and didn't even look too bad, although I think the fact that I have not attempted cake frosting in more than a decade showed.

But hey, I baked!

Jason really enjoys pipián at Mexican restaurants, so when I noticed raw pumpkin seeds for sale at Shaw's, I decided to make some for him. I stuck pretty faithfully to the instructions for the sauce in this recipe, but served it over sauteéd paillards of chicken instead of thighs. There was a lot of sauce--we ate it pretty heartily and there is still almost a quart left over. I noticed this recipe for it over baked goat cheese, another of Jason's favorites, so I think I will have to try that next.

If you have never had pipián, the flavor is really different and interesting. I left out the serrano seeds, so it wasn't very spicy, although it did build up a nice low heat over time. It's got a really earthy, complex flavor. Even though it doesn't blow me away immediately, I can see becoming addicted to it over time, because nothing else is like it. If it turns out to keep well, I might make it more often--it was a fairly complicated process for just one meal, but if I get three or four out of it, it could be worth it. I'm thinking about a chicken salad, in addition to the goat cheese treatment.

Mostly for my own reference, here are notes, thoughts and recipe links for last night's tasting menu:

( Details Behind the Cut )

Overall, I was very pleased with this meal. I liked the way that certain flavors echoed in other courses--the mint from the chicken salad recalled by the garnish on the chamomile sorbet, the beef fat flavor in the onion soup echoed in the short ribs, the pears with the cake recalling the initial pear-ginger sorbet, etc. It also feels like I'm getting the hang of quantities--everyone was certainly full by the end of this meal, but it wasn't some kind of Herculean exercise in bloating. And we have remarkably few leftovers, considering.

I want to give a special shout out to muffyjo and heliopsis, who served as designated diners after two of our original guests were striken by stomach flu. It was a marvelous, casual evening and so fun to share all my cooking adventures with you.

I've been making Christmas dinner for my family regularly--not every year, but many--since 1991. I usually make roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. This year somehow it all came out and came together better than ever before, so I thought I should write it down while it's still fresh in my mind.

( Read more... )

We were all sad that bex77 and audioboy couldn't be with us and Dad had a bad spell this afternoon that threatened to make him miss dinner, as well. But he rallied and it was really nice to gather around the table for some family time at Christmas.

I hope you've all had a wonderful day!