Susan in FL

LOL, ain't it the truth.I thought I would share an obligatory chicken recipe, and of course a fish dish as well. The sauce with this chicken recipe is great! I like Miavita recipes and sometime make them simply because they look so good, regardless of calorie counting during the week. Likewise, this fish recipe is a favorite of ours. Happy New Year to All!

Nice! That is on my list of "cold" weather dishes to try, but the way it's been for the past couple of weeks I'm not sure when that will be! Thanks, I appreciate your taking the time to post how you make it.

Yes that's the one. LOL, Carvel... I haven't thought about that for so long. Does it still exist? JPW, same here. It was back in the day. I've had some of the same thoughts about Gourmet myself, and stopped subscribing for a while. I recently ordered a year, to try again.

Jason, can you supply a link to the recipe for that? It sounds great, and really good slow-cooked recipes aren't as common as one might think. It sounds a bit more sophisticated than the usual.

Yum! Interesting, I read one suggestion -- I think it was David Rosengarten's -- of dusting them with Wondra before searing, to form a bit of a crust. Just the idea of serving it with shredded duck confit and truffle butter... I wish I had heard that earlier! Definitely next time, will do.

The cover of Gourmet magazine this month looks like it's Martha Stewart's magazine! ... Or a Target ad.

Don't ask me exactly what I did, but I poached the small amount of foie gras that was left, using the plastic wrap, and after it cooled, processed it with some butter and a few other pate ingredients we like. It turned out wonderful. Thanks for the advice on cooking the foie gras, for making the recipe. The more savory preparation I made, before making the pate, was still on the sweet side, but not as sweet as the one on the previous night. The sauce had diced pineapple, shallots, rice vinegar, duck stock, etc. in it, and was reduced and serve with mixed baby greens again, and a pineapple garnish. This one actually went better with the Sauternes... more of a contrast.

I'm with you, Malarkey... Wonderful reviews, Malachi, thank you. It's time for a BBBCS and a Unibroue.

Rog, if I understood you, you asked for some recipes... Give me a little time, and I'll either post or email you more, if you wish. We count calories during the week, and I've found some good recipes. Click here for a shrimp recipe we made for a first course this week. In larger proportion, it can be part of a main course. To save calories and get a tasty mashed potatoes fix, we like Toasted Barley Mashed Potatoes, a recipe I clipped from I don't remember where... 1/2 cup pearl barley, 3 cups vegetable stock, 4 fresh thyme sprigs, 1 pound potatoes, 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk, S&P; toast the barley in a saucepan, add stock and thyme, cook for about 35 minutes, drain, discard thyme. In another saucepan cook the potatoes, drain, mash, and then stir in the barley, buttermilk, S&P. Click here for a pasta recipe that isn't real high calorie (shrimp again). Enjoy!

Tonight we wised up and discovered eating the cheese course first: Parmigiano Reggiano Riserva, Beaufort, Le Petit Billy, and Cabrales (thank you, Di Bruno Brothers). Main course: For the first time, capon, and with it polenta and really beautiful skinny green beans with a new EVOO. Wine was a nice Clos du Bois Cabernet. Recent dinners: Roasted Spiced [fresh local] Shrimp on Wilted Spinach Once again, David Leite's Roast Goose Roasted garlic mashed potatoes Buttered brussels sprouts and chestnuts Glazed carrots Tropical Bananas Foster Wines were dry Riesling and Pinot Noir Bow tie pasta with sausage, tomatoes, vodka, and cream... special request of my son who was on leave, and with us for Christmas. Choppped salad Chianti

Avoid beef? Hell, no!

Thanks for the idea. I haven't developed a taste for honey, but I'll definitely grate some nutmeg on them the next time I have mashed with butter and S&P.

I do like their "Chardonnay Champagne." But say it was proper to use the term Champagne, would that be a redundancy?

I made that Oysters Rockerfeller Soup too, and it was delicious... a nice change from the basic. Another change from the basic is an oyster stew with brie. If anybody wants the recipe, I'll try to find it.

We have an empty nest, but still do the same as when the kids were with us. We sit at the table to eat 99.9% of the time, and always with candle light, cloth napkins, etc. The exception is when we want to have dinner and a movie, or watch something in particular on TV, and the plan is to use the TV trays or our laps. When the kids were with us, we always sat down for dinner together, even if after the ball games or practice, even if 10:00 PM, and the huge majority of the time I cooked from scratch, like I do now. It's not because of some deep conviction and strict adherence to rigid family values or allusions to religion. It's because we liked and still like that. My 25 year-old son still loves to remember and retell this. I think this is a heavy duty value judgement. In our home the TV is in view in the dining area, and is usually on. We often watch while we eat, and talk, and it does not deprive us of anything (it's an addition, not a deprivation) or draw us into noncommunal experience. We still connect. We still talk about things not related to the TV, or talk about what's on TV, or laugh at what's on TV. Usually it's Fox news or Jeopardy or a sports event when we're eating.It seems fashionable to brag about not liking TV. If you don't like TV, that's fine. There is more bad TV than good TV, but still I get the feeling that some people get kicks from claiming they never watch it. We never eat dinner not together. I can't imagine being home together, and eating in separate rooms or at different times. We eat on the porch February through mid-November, and yes we have a TV there, too, and often it's on.

Dick, thanks, but I realize that a whole poached foie would not be pate, and I guess I should have mentioned that I sometimes use the terms pate' and mousse and terrine and blocks and etc. interchangeably, even though I know the differences. I appreciate your advice. That being-careful part is why I am glad to have the advice of all.

RP, I love reading your reviews. It helps me know whether I really want to seek out a beer to try it, not to mention what a kick I get out of it.

Good advice, all. Thanks. If I go with the poaching, I'll use the plastic wrap. Welcome, rslee, and thanks! Very helpful. Ahhh, a cookbook, what a novel idea. In fact, it's a Pepin recipe that is my favorite for a regular duck or goose liver. I probably have more than 12 ounces left, but before making pate' I wanted to make one more dish, sauteing and serving in a more savory preparation. If I abandon that idea, there will be more to cook for the pate'. I'll report back. Yes, fleur de sel sprinkled on top.

First, I was wondering if anybody has a recipe or idea for a savory preparation of foie gras, rather than sweet. We don't have any problem with sweet, but that is what we usually make and usually find when looking for ideas, and would like a change, to use some of the duck foie gras we have. Tonight we had it seared and served over mixed baby greens, with a sauce of reduced Port, mango, papaya, and butter. Delicious. Next, I really need some advice about making pate' using duck foie gras. I love duck liver pate' and have made it several times with the liver straight from the duck. I would like to make a pate' with the remaining 12 ounces or so of duck foie gras, but I'm afraid the cooking is going to give me a bunch of melted duck fat instead of liver. Any instruction about this will be appreciated.

Nice! Thanks. That would be Chicory Stout. It is real fine. One of my friends from DE sent me a Dogfish Head vodka t-shirt for Christmas. Anybody tried it? My favorite food there was the calamari with an Asian dipping sauce. Yum!

Several of my gifts to my husband were really cooking/food stuff for us both, and several of his gifts to me were really techie/electronics stuff for us both, LOL. I can make a case for the flat computer monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, and digital camera he gave me being food-related. I'll be giving food photographing a try, and of course using the computer stuff for eGulleting, etc. He also gave us cutting boards and wine. I gave him wine, wine glasses, martini glasses, raclette grill, pizza stone set, and creme brulee torch. We ordered specialty foods from Di Bruno Brothers and Marky's Caviar... great cheeses, duck foie gras, truffle in a jar, caviars, all kinds of wonderful goodies. Others gave us wine, chocolates, wine, butter warmers and lobster cracker things, and wine.

We stayed in the local Hilton in a room overlooking the ocean on Christmas eve. The weather cooperated with our plans for a gorgeous sunrise to watch from the balcony and then a run/walk on the beach. Brunch was the lavish buffet at the hotel and it was really good, but we always eat too much at those things. So we did away with our planned first course for dinner, duck foie gras that I ordered from Marky's in Miami (anybody else discovered that awesome place, either online or in person?) and we'll do something with that this weekend. It was nice having just a 10 minute drive home, to open presents and later enjoy a dinner of boneless prime rib roast, horseradish mashed potatoes, mushrooms, baby carrots, Caesar salad, Beringer Merlot, Pineapples Foster with vanilla icecream, and Dow's Port. I forgot to make the Yorkshire pudding, but it wasn't missed.

Friday night was a buffet at a BYOB-and-bring-a-dish-and-bring-a-gift-for-Chinese-auction holiday party. Last night: Smoked salmon, bubbly, beef tenderloin steaks with a red wine reduction/ pancetta, mushroom, and onion/ butter sauce, oven-roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic, glazed root vegetables, Zinfandel, chocolate truffles, and Pedro Ximenez. Tonight was duck, first boiled in a broth with garlic, ginger, lemon grass (our very own homegrown), soy sauce, nuoc mam, brown sugar, etc. and then roasted and cut up, and with it noodles and cauliflower, using the boiling liquid.

I appreciate the advice. On another subject... I made "your brussels sprouts" (with the sesame seeds) last night to take to one of our office parties and they were a hit. Thanks for that, as well.

Glad you had a pleasant pheasant experience. That recipe looks great. I saved it and will use it next time we do pheasant. Thanks!