Carnage du Jour - 25 February 2012

Ground lamb patties? Yep - they look like a nice big burger patty, but the taste is something quite different and delicious.

I had come across a package of pre-cubed acorn squash in the market, and I decided that I didn't mind letting someone else do the knife-work, at least this once, so I bought it, along with a couple of lamb patties - about a pound each of lamb and squash in all.

So, how to put them together? First off I gave those squash cubes a bit of a sear in some canola oil, just to colour them up nicely, and then removed them from the skillet.
Next, in went the lamb to brown up most of the way, at which point the squash rejoined the party in the pan. A cup or so of lamb stock was added to the mix, along with some curry powder, some chipotle powder, and a bit of summer savory.
While all those flavours worked together to everyone's benefit, I reheated the tub of yellow rice with green peas from a few nights before.

I must say, as easy as it was, it was awfully delicious. Much recommended.

Carnage du Jour - 06 February 2012

Ah, salmon once again. What a flavourful, yet versatile fish is our friend Salmo salar (the salmon)!

There was a nice piece of salmon fillet in the refrigerator, just calling our names, and it would have been impolite to ignore it, so - out it came.
I gave a nice dusting of Old Bay (!) and then a bit of corn meal to the flesh side and gave it a quick sear in the skillet. Then I flipped it skin side down and put the pan in the oven (400 or so, as I recall) with a nice pool of Vermouth Bianco as the liquid for a nice oven-poach.

It actually was joining some potato wedges that had been roasting for some time (with some salt, pepper and dill), so all would finish up at the same time.

Oh, but what to go with potatoes and salmon? How about some sautéed spinach? Great idea. A bit of onion sautéed up first, then in goes the spinach and some pine nuts, finishing off with a bit of alfredo sauce, just to make it nice and creamy.

Can you say delicious? I knew you could. Now I'd like to hear you play your bass.

Cheers!

Coinage du Jour - 20 January 2012

PRIMA FASCIITIS - n

def. The act of putting one's foot in one's mouth as a result of basing an analysis on a cursory or first-impression basis.

sample - "I based my decision on having read the somewhat misleading headline of the article, now I have quite a case of prima fasciitis."

SOPA and PIPA

Here are a couple possibly well-intentioned pieces of legislation (barely possibly - I'm giving some folks the benefit of a ton of doubt) that will do almost nothing to accomplish their stated goals, but will have some horrific unintended(?) consequences.

We joined with many other sites on the 18th to show how the post-SOPA web might look, but we're back to normal now.

Please contact your legislators to let them know they need to come up with something far better than just breaking the internet to stop piracy.

grr.

Don't Forget

the Real Meaning of Christmas!

Blessings

What a year it's been!

Christian was deployed to Afghanistan.
Heidi's knee required surgery.
Dad was hospitalised with heart trouble.

Yes, it's been stressful, but it's also been blessful. (sorry)

Heidi's surgery turned out better than we could have hoped.
Dad got a pacemaker, and now he's right as rain.
Christian came home for two weeks leave, and we're having a great time.
Thanksgiving was excellent - the family made it up from Nashville, the turkey and all the other food was excellent.

All in all, a great year of blessings, and there are so many more that I couldn't begin to count them (at least not before I fall asleep after a liverwurst sandwich and a glass of buttermilk).

No complaints here. (A little snow would be nice, though.)

Carnage du Jour - 17 October 2011

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

What to do with all those peppers this year? In an odd twist of agriculture, hot peppers of various varieties were nearly the only thing that grew well in our garden this year. Eggplant and yellow squash were fairly productive, but the banana, serrano, and cayenne peppers were the stars of the season.

Well, roasted chile peppers are great, so we have roasted a bunch of them, but then the question becomes what to do with the oil that had been on them while they roasted.
Aha! Make an emulsion with some decent Cabernet, and marinate a top round steak for a while. What a nice combination of heat and semi-sweet.

After a good long soak, the steak gets a quick sear on each side, then back in the bath with a bunch of sweet onion wedges for some time in a moderately slow oven (275F or so).

A batch of rice and some corn slathered in butter and it was a very nice meal.

Oh, and as a bonus, the now-cooked marinade becomes a tasty - and spicy - sauce to perk up the steak and rice.

Very tasty, if I do say so myself (and I just did).