basquecook

you must really like steak!

beautiful stuff Linda. That spinach pasta is on my list of things to cook. Here is a salt cod brandade gratin, with a fennel and parsley salad. I later found out that i made Brandade de Morue au Gratin. Who knew I was so fancy.

No doubt there needs to be some cooking techniques or alteration to some of the tougher cuts of meat. Or even in Europe they will often eat the older milking cows which does not have the best meat. But the purpose of French Cooking is not to brtter these genetic nightmares we produce in this country. You sure could add tons of salt and all sorts of sauces but, you are covering up a really terrible product. In the long run, it is best he just find a place with good steak. I do a lot of my meat purchasing from a farm a few hours a way from me. I call the rancher, he processes his cows a couple of times a year and I buy multiple ribeye steaks at one time for 7.99 a pound. I also do that with my pork most of the time. For my house, I will split a hog between my inlaws and a few of our friends. Berkshire Pork that sells at the fancy butcher for 12 bucks a pound, I get for 2.99.

to suggest someone use salad dressing as a marinade on a rib eye steak, we are talking about two different things. in my opinon, if you have to soak a steak in flavor enhancers, maybe just drink the flavor enhancers and don't bother with the steak. it's not about the money it's about buying meat that hasn't been bred to be sold in a ponderosa.

It has to be that you don't like the actual piece of meat you are buying at Costco. By what you described in your original post, you know how to cook a steak. It's not like you are getting grey soggy steaks, or dry over cooked steaks. Are you happy with the way the steak was cooked? It must be you don't like Costco steaks. The next time you go somewhere and like the steak ask about it. Find out whether you like grass fed or corn fed. Try steaks that you know are dry aged. Try wet aged. The easy way out would be to order steaks from the Internet. But it would most likely be better in the log run if you find a local place. A steak needs very little besides a fire, sometimes it doesn't even need the fire. If you are going to stick to the Costco steak, char it and keep it medium rare to rare, slice it, throw a bunch of salt and serve a garlicky salsa verde or chimichurri or drizzle the salty sliced meat with an awesome olive oil and drink a bunch of Tempranillo. Just keep it salty I guess.

I have never tried their gnocchi. I recently have seen you are getting into pasta making, gnocchi is a really fun thing to make. Though, I was watching them make gnocchi at Eataly, they were doing it the right way for sure.. The place smelled of baked potatoes and they had all of these riced potatoes out on a wooden counter. It was a fun to watch.

Bought another 15 pound pig last night.. In the Brine till Saturday.

So, I had this pork shoulder from Christmas. I had roasted it but, we did not get to eat it. So, I broke it into half and covered it with tomato sauce.. And there it stayed in my freezer until the other tonight.. Defrosted the sauce and tossed it with some pasta from Eataly. Pan seared swordfish, finished in the oven with some white wine and capers. Took the fish out and reduced, added a pad of butter. Frisse salad with radicchio, mashed potatoes and swordfish.

Dinner with my old daughter i bought 8 dollars worth of whole sardines. They were really pretty. I cleaned and season floured them. A quick fry in olive oil. I served the hot sardines over mashed potatoes with a salad made from tuesdays frisee and radicchio. Miss k loved this dish. I learned how to make her a salad. You dress it with a proper emulsified dressing and then sprinkle sherry vinegar over the dressed salad.

Now, I have been looking at Eataly's dry aged steaks since Tuesday. A man can only take so much. After work today, I stopped by and picked up a 1.15 pound steak. it was a bone in ny strip.. 30 bones pretty much on the dot. c steak browned in a cast iron.. though i heated the pan for 10 minutes, did not have it at the highest temp.. Miss K is not a fan of the char with the steak, I made a dal, a gringo dal.. made a quick paste with ginger, garlic, onion and tomato. cooked it in a hot pan, added mustard seeds, coriander and some turmeric. to the cooking lentils, i added a shot of soy and cream, some salt, pepper, harissa and a shot of lemon. roasted a potato, stuffed with creme fraiche. took the steak out of the oven with an internal temp of 119 The quality of the steak at Eataly was fantastic.. it had that earthy, musky beef flavor. it was stellar.

Dinner for one the other night Quick pasta started with garlic and olive oil, added sardines from the pantry, salt packed capers, black and red pepper, a cup of pureed tomatoes, then the cooked pasta, a little water, perhaps a dusting of cheese. such a good dinner.. a glass of red wine with dinner and then a glass of homemade limoncello

Some gorgeous meals here. Been away the last month. In 30 days, I was in Cologne Germany, Amsterdam, Yangzhou, Shanghai and a couple of other cities in China, Chicago and Atlanta. The wife made lamb shanks for dinner last night. With lemon segments, olives and white wine. Sauce was very well balanced. Shank, fall off the bone. served with polenta and sprouts.

in China now.. Very interesting shrimp pizza.. Each shrimp is sitting on their own little tower.

wow, what a spread.. Looks beautiful.. I too do an open house for Christmas Every year.. it is much better that way as people come and go and there is a lot less pressure on the hosts. I would have and still want to eat everything you made. And i love how you have so many different dishes from family members. Your mother's mousse, your father's paprika dressing. This is very emblematic of the importance of food in our culture and pretty much who we are. Can you tell me more about your mother's shrimp mousse.

I made an asparagus arancini. Basically, mixed a puree of asparagus into the risotto at the end. Then added parm. let it cool, added a piece of mozzarella and fried. then sat the three mini arancini on a smear of bearnaise sauce as a sort of appetizer. I had been thinking about freezing squares of béarnaise and added them to the center of the arancini with the mozzarella so the sauce oozes out but, have not come around to it. Will be experimenting with it in the spring.

Last night, lobster fra diavolo over a spaghetti made from farro. Brown the bodies in flour, deglaze the pan with tomato sauce, add the claws and cover for 15 minutes. Then add the bodies and tails and cook for another 5 before tossing everything with the spaghetti Lamb chops with creamed spinach and roasted sunchokes. For dessert, homemade ice cream and lava cakes. Lamb chops had a coffee and pepper crust topped with a wine reduction. Wine reduction was 4 cups of wine, one cube of frozen pork stock, bay leaf, sugar, a little of the coffee and pepper rub. pre sauce. not the prettiest photo but, you know, when the food hits the plate, my first priority is not taking a photo.

I had leftover roasted pork shoulder in the fridge. So, not wanting anything to go to waste, I made up some pasta to freeze. I ground up the cooked shoulder, added some parm, some egg. Nothing fancy but, it beats throwing it out. I don't throw anything out really. I placed the agnolotti or whatever shape you want to call these guys on a plate in the freezer. once they froze, i transferred to a larger container.

I will be heading to Cologne shortly and am really looking for some nice food. I am not looking for a three star Michelin Experience but, more looking for local and exciting food. Also, any advice as to Breweries. I would like to go on a few tours and check out some really cool beer spots. Thanks.

another photo surfaced from last night:

well, since the thread is for german and austrian, i will stay the course and suggest, prime meats, as having a very nice steak tartare. http://www.frankspm.com/food.html

Roasted Pig baby pig, farro salad with carrots, onions, peppers and raisins in a caper raisin sauce. There was truffle polenta, roasted cauliflower topped with serrano ham and bread crumbs, wedge salad with homemade fancy blue cheese dressing and topped with bacon and some pickled beets. A butternut squash lasagna with béchamel, beans boiled in bacon stock and baked with brown sugar and then finally Great NY Noodletowns Ginger Scallion sauce for dipping.. The pig came out really nicely. crispy skin and all that good stuff. Brine for three days, stuffed with vegetables, roasted at 275 until internal temp was around 155. Took out and crisped up at 450.

Really pretty!

Had lunch out today.. Portuguese Food.. A huge plate of pork and clams and a larger glass of vinho. Served with rice and fries: And a very large glass of wine and awesome bread: One glass and I am ready for a nap.. Especially when the one glass is a pint glass. I had two espressos but, the dessert brandy did not help. I am pretty sure this is why cigarettes were invented.

well, thats good to know.. In terms of mussels, most time, even at supermarkets, they come in those little two pound sacks. If they are in those sacks, most places keep the fish tags on the netting. So, you can quickly glance and see at the date they were pulled from the water. I live next door to a pretty shady supermarket. I have literally watched the same bag of mussels sit on ice for two weeks. Last night, I noticed the tag made the mussels only 2 days out of the water.. that was impressive! Last night, I was looking for yucon gold potatoes and found, all we the store had was Eastern Potatoes. There were perhaps many other types of starchy vegetables from Yucca to Malanga put, one damn potato. But 2.99 is not a terrible price, especially for wholefoods. In Chinatown NYC, it's 2 bucks a pound. Your mussels look beautiful.

the misses made dinner tonight. pretty short rib on potatoes.