FrogPrincesse

I can't believe nothing has been posted on this thread for months. Little pre-dinner snacks/appetizers (I like to call them pupus, Hawaiian or not) are my favorite food. They are fun, generally easy to put together, and they allow you to taste a variety of things. And they can easily morph into a full meal as long as you have enough bites and diversity. Here is an example of what we had with our cocktails last night. Pears, Parma ham and saba; homemade ricotta on malted brown bread with a little bit of eureka lemon olive oil.

Trottoir = sidewalk I assume they are referring to sidewalk cafés? Great blog so far!

Japanese cocktail with homemade orgeat and a newly acquired bottle of Boker's bitters. It's a good thing that the bitters are exceptionally delicious because I suffered a major dropper disfunction and ended up with a rather massive amount of bitters in the cocktail.

A couple of weeks ago we had friends over for dinner and I made the Lamb Osso Buco (p. 192) again. On the first day, I prepared the seasoning for the lamb: lemon zest, thyme, garlic, rosemary, olive oil, and plenty of black pepper. The (giant) lamb shanks were marinated in the fridge overnight. The second day, I browned the shanks in a Le Creuset pot after having removed most of the herbs/garlic. Using the same pot, I cooked the aromatics: onion, carrots, fennel, thyme, bay leaves, and the herbs/garlic from the lamb. Then I deglazed with white wine and reduced it before adding chicken stock and a few parsley sprigs. I did not have veal stock so I used demi-glace and water to cover the shanks. Then the pot went in the oven for 3 hours. When it came out the meat was starting to come off the bone. I made the dish up to this point, and the night of our dinner party all I had to do was brown the shanks in the oven, reduce the sauce, and prepare the vegetables and tapenade. For the vegetables, I borrowed from two other recipes in the book and made red chard sauteed in olive oil (p. 301), and fingerlings sauteeds in butter (p. 86). I was a little skeptical about the tapenade but decided to give it a try. It's a chunky tapenade with a portion of the ingredients pounded in a mortar and the rest chopped and mixed in. The ingredients are traditional: black olives, garlic, anchovies, capers, parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice. Here is the plated dish. In the end the tapenade was wonderful and added a welcome acidity to the dish.

I made my desperation dessert tonight: a soft chocolate cake with whipped cream. Prep time less than 10 minutes, baking time 10 minutes.

Wow these ribs look fantastic. Tonight we had grilled local pastured chicken. On the side we had caramelized carrots baked with Lillet, coriander, and herbes de Provence.

Enjoying a cocktail with Averna tonight. A Black Manhattan with Bulleit rye, Bittermens mole bitters, and a brandied cherry. It is complex and a little spicy with the bitters. Really nice.

His cocktail, the Rack & Rye, was really wonderful. For mine I made the Rhum Club, a twist on the Pegu Club. I used La Favorite rhum agricole blanc (the book calls for Banks 5 Island rum), Clement Creole Shrubb, lime juice, Angostura bitters and Angostura orange bitters, simple. They were both very nice (and completely different). If I had to choose one I would pick the Rack & Rye. Too bad I am almost out of Batavia Arrack!

Rack & Rye: rye, batavia arrack, demerara syrup, angostura, angostura orange bitters, expressed lemon and orange peels (discarded).

Last night we had cocktails with a friend. We started with an Eastern Sour from Beachbum Berry Remixed (originally from Trader Vic). Bulleit rye, Cara Cara oranges, lemon juice, homemade orgeat, simple syrup. Then we had a very nice Corpse Reviver No.2 with Junipero gin and Cocchi Americano, and a brandied cherry.

Trader Joe's sells both grades.

Oro blanco grapefruit, blood oranges, almonds, pomegranate and avocado salad.

Variation on the Ramos Gin Fizz with fresh passion fruit syrup.

Absolutely French, and I have no claim of authenticity whatsoever regarding this dish. Anyway, we always end up cutting up the sausage and mixing it with the pasta and the sauce. Usually I braise the sausages in the sauce, but this time I wanted to grill them for a change. Your chiacchiere look fabulous! I have not had these (or their French equivalent, "bugnes") in years.

Using pomegranates in ceviche, what a great idea. Dinner last night was tagliatelle with ricotta and Italian sausage, all homemade.

A few months ago, I had preserved oranges in a clam dish at whisknladle, a restaurant in La Jolla. The dish was "Local Venus Clams Tomato-Clam Jus, Merguez Sausage, Charred Rapini, Preserved Orange & Grilled Bread". I think I want to steal this idea!

Thanks for the recipe, Kay, as I was actually the one who asked for it.

I made more crêpes last week for a mardi-gras party at my daughter's school. And I will be making more again tonight... This was a triple batch (9 eggs!). Using a couple of large non stick pans, my yield was 24 crêpes. The kids all wanted nutella.

Here is the recipe. 1/4 cup fresh passion fruit pulp 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh mint 1/2 pound shrimp (15 count) Combine everything in a bowl. Marinate for 1 hour. Skewer shrimp on bamboo skewers and grill until they are pink and cooked through (about 7-8 minutes), basting occasionally with the marinade.

Last night I had the pleasure to meet Sven Kirsten, the author of the Book of Tiki, and his wife. So I decided to make a tiki drink tonight to celebrate the occasion. Iuka's Grogg from Beachbum Berry Remixed 3/4 oz lime juice 3/4 oz pineapple juice 1/2 oz homemade passion fruit syrup 3/4 oz dark Jamaican rum (I used Appleton 12 year) 3/4 oz Demerara rum (I used El Dorado 5 year)

Our friends, whose parents have passion fruit vines in their yard, kindly donated some fresh passion fruit pulp last weekend. This became my inspiration for the challenge. I started by making a passion fruit syrup. I mixed the pulp with simple syrup (1 part each), heated the mixture gently, and strained through a fine sieve. For the cocktail, I went with the Hart of Darkness from Beachbum Berry Remixed. I found that it highlighted the fresh passion fruit flavor quite well, and the spice from the Lemon Hart 151 gave it a nice kick. 0.5 oz lime juice 0.5 oz homemade passion fruit syrup 0.25 oz lemon juice 0.5 oz honey mix (1:1 honey/water) 0.75 oz soda water 1.5 oz Lemon Hart 151-proof Demerara rum 1 cup crushed ice Blended We needed a little pupu with our powerful cocktail. I wanted to use more of the passion fruit pulp so I marinated some shrimp in it together with vinegar, minced ginger, brown sugar, and fresh mint. After about an hour, it was time to grill the shrimp. Mint-Passion Grilled Prawns (adapted from Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen) The flavor of the passion fruit really came through. This was really good.

Very tired tonight after a long week, so we had a low key/no fuss dinner. Baked citrus-crusted rock cod (recipe from Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen), white rice, and marron baby carrots from my CSA baked with coriander and white vermouth.

To do this, I just type the name of the book (or the author) in the seach box, together with the other search terms and/or filters.

For me it's this soft chocolate cake recipe. It hits the mark every time and is pretty much foolproof.

Coq au vin! I think that is very exciting, actually. I need more details, please. What is your recipe of choice? And did you use an old rooster, or did you have to settle for plain old chicken?