basquecook

So Saturday, it was my anniversary. What do Miss A and i do to celebrate. Host a lunch for a group of people from South Africa we never met. Well, it was Miss A's ex boss', sort of mentor family that was in town. They wanted to meet for lunch somewhere in our neighborhood. Our place is as good as any. Wake up by 830 am and can have most of it done by, 11:30. cheese plate: Biscuits with honey butter: I spent a little too much time with the butter Then put it on a plate with a honey base and put in a hot oven for 2 minutes mac and cheese.. The three important C's of mac and cheese.. Cheese Custard Cheese So good salad. We also made a soup. And fried chicken.. and a chocolate cake here is a shot of the chicken hours after it was fried.. it stays crunchy for the most part, in the fridge the last couple times. good picnic chicken i would say.. If i had to over analyze. that would piece of chicken, the drumstick in the front of the photo. The top meaty area was actually the side it was resting on in the fridge.. that's why it looks more flat and less textured. But, yeh, not important.

Chicken tinga, tostadas. Good stuff

Last night, i had some friends from High School over.. My one buddy, bought me that kronos grill five years ago and I am just getting around to using it. I had to wait for him to use it, so, i am happy I can now use it more frequently. it was a beautiful night last night.. perfect for sitting outside. I made three sets of skewers. lamb in yogurt curry, lamb hearts in soy and chinese wine with garlic, cumin, sichuan peppercorns and chicken with a korean bbq marinade, Everything was eaten.. only the heart part was mentioned after everyone ate it and said they liked it. it was my one friend's first time eating lamb Finally, i made a seafood stew.. started with onion,garlic, tomatoes, wine, paprika, a chile pepper, bay leaf, Chorico, crabs, clams, mussels and squid and basil. Really delicious. lots of liquid on the bottom too.. this entire thing was eaten by 5 people.

That looks great Franci. What kind of apparatus is that for grilling fish. I have been looking for something like that.

This guy gives my mother all of these hot peppers each year and I just make him some sauce. I would love to know which type the are. I usually prefer just habaneros as I love the flavor. This year had a different variety that perhaps I should have assorted and gone single varietal sauce. Though, it is really nice. I could have done single pepper sauce and then a mixed one too. But, I was not feeling like putting in all the effort I took a small slice out of each pepper. One of them really was The hottest pepper I ever tried. The endorphins were rocking. It felt a little meth labby for a sec

there is a southern recipe for pickled shrimp that i make from time to time that is well received.. Also you can do a shrimp pate both hot or cold.. If you are doing the charcuterie plate, then the shrimp pate spread would go well with that as well. or you can do like a shrimp and white bean salad. add an herb, like rosemary.. that would go well cold.. make the beans, add the cooked shrimp, a lot of olive oil and some vinegar. you can do like a tarragon vinegar, or you can do some other herb oil like the rosemary. that would be good with toasts too. or the classic italian seafood salad. you can either use an array of seafood or just do cold shrimp with chunks of celery half moons, some onion, fennel, parsley, garlic, beans would work too.

So, i have some of the hottest peppers i have ever tried.. So damn hot, i think the least strong one are the habaneros. I think the majority were ghost peppers. Orange, carrot, garlic, cumin, brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, vinegar, sugar and salt. I made a ton of hot sauce..

fried chicken.. my friend uses this term un-improvable. and i just love it. i have been making fried chicken for a long time, tonight was the best i think i ever made. brined for a day buttermilk'd for a day seasoned flour for an hour or so..i have this method where i flour and then sort of dab with my fingers with buttermilk on them and re-flour. you need to let them rest with the flour on them for at least an hour to get it tacky. stupid good.. i couldn't imagine a better chicken. gluten free green beans with hot apple cider vinegar and tarron biscuits, salad, honey, butter, hot sauce.. gelato:

Taquitos is an acceptable term. Dorado is "golden" so fried or golden taco. I live in NYC but, this is not apart of my culture. I was sitting on the couch last night and said, I want taquitos. Maybe I will have them for breakfast. But, the ones I bought at the bodega were just ok so, I still had the itch.

so, i ate tacos dorados twice today.. i threw in a jog so, i got that going for me.. one for breakfast out of my house, then i came home and made with oaxaca cheese. Refried beans, tacos, salsa lettuce, cheese, then creme and then a pepper sauce.. ugly photos but, i am surprised i even waited to plate them to eat them..

the thing with eggplant is.. My bride is pregnant and not eating red meat. Well, at her whim. Like, i made a 5 lb meatloaf last week for some friends and she loved that.. Though, the next day she made a cold sandwich and she couldn't even eat it. So, it's a safe bet to just stay away. In terms of tasteless eggplant, i don't know.. I heavily salted them to drain the water. then i added a seasoned crust. it was much more textural but, the sauce rocked and the thai basil from the garden was a nice touch. But yeh, for me, eggplant is not my favorite. Though, because of her love of eggplant, there have been times when I have been shocked by how good some eggplant dishes have been. You throw enough miso on eggplant and well, it tastes like miso. It can be a good vehicle. it holds smoke well. but, i have had stuffed eggplant pasta that was good.. i have had noodles that were actually made with pureed eggplant and that was really surprising. . But, yah, would I have liked to have used some veal shoulder instead. Yes. Tonight I brought home a salmon steak for the little one and tied it up the way she likes it. Served medium rare after searing in butter.. Lemon after. I cooked a branzino on the plancha. Cooked it like perfectly.. Detached the filets for the most part from the spine.. added slices of garlic and salt. Cooked for about 4 minutes on each side in olive oil and healthy amount of salt.. The skin on the branzino was like a potato chip more vegetables on special.. arugala, peppers and tomatoes from the backyard. dinner was like 14 bucks for three people edit to add. come to think of it, the best eggplant dish i may have had in recent memory was while in this last trip to china.. they stuffed eggplant coins with pork, fried and served in a garlic and ginger sauce.. that was stupid good.

Howdy. Still cooking, just not taking photos. Glad to see you all are! eggplants were selling two for a dollar at the store yesterday. I had tomato sauce in the fridge already made. I purchased a half a pound of sliced mozzarella, Boars Head. Salted the eggplant.. Then, instead of using bread crumbs, just dipped in flour egg and flour. Deep fried the eggplant, topped with sauce, thai basil and then broiled the cheese. Despite all the short cuts and whatever, it came out good.

Are you saying, there is no low quality matcha tea?

i have had a hard time finding liquor in Chicago Chinatown... I am heading to Chicago tomorrow morning.. I like Go 4 Food out there and also, Lao Sze Chuan is the best I have had so far.. I go about 7 times a year and usually try a different Chinese Place each time. Go 4 Food is more Cantonese.

Check out Hollyeats.com .. Holly is a contributor here and is a great place to start.

No problem.. just on a sheet pan.. Greek yogurt is thick and you add the spice mixture so it adheres well in like a paste. But, there are tons of recipes on the internet that can guide you.. I actually started researching after you asked me how or what i did.. some use cheese.. i would considered marinating the cauliflower or going so far as to injecting it with something..at the very least, i recommend cutting slits. But, I just had some greek yogurt left over from the lamb so, i used it on the cauliflower.

Sorry about that! That was Greek yogurt mixed with curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, Chile powder and a few other things. Slathered on a Cauliflower and Roasted at 400 degrees for like 40 minutes or so.

Dinner last night, was a good one. It was an unusual pairing of flavors for me. I had fresh tomatillos that i quartered, tossed in with garlic, oil, shallots, a habanero from the garden, a jalapeno, a few slices of cauliflower,two salt packed anchovies and a few capers. Made this sauce and then put in a frozen flounder i had deboned and vacuum sealed. Let it bake in the oven.. the tomatillos were really lovely. Sauce was just water added to the tomatillo, garlic, peppers, onion and fish. Served along side basmati rice cooked with coconut oil, garlic, honey pollen, mustard seed and a ton of salt.

here is a guacamole. 12 avocados. cilantro, lime, onion ribs

here are a few things made this weekend.. Pasta with clams, garlic, tomatoes, white wine, a shot of butter. 36 clams. 2 boxes of pasta. Grilled Sardines Frittata with leftover goat cheese, leftover chicken, some leftover roasted squash mixed with mint. i think i used 18 eggs bagel with white fish here was some cured crusted cauliflower Roasted a few legs of lamb Started out on like 500 on the grill and brought it down and smoked it medium rare some farm fresh beans.. the description was a more tender haricot vert. boiled in salt water, tossed with raw garlic and vinegar. there were several pies being made plum and berries and peaches

it looks like I have this steak thing down Golden egg potatoes stuffed with cream fraiche. Brussels sprouts fried then topped with a sriracha honey sauce.. Bernaise and bordelaise.. To start we had bone marrow salad.. Homemade peach and blackberry pie.. It was an awesome night with one of my best friends growing up and his husband, who I met for the first time. Always a good night, when your dinner guests end up sleeping over..

We call this pasta from the pantry. Cooked some smashed garlic in olive oil.. Removed the garlic, added a tomato, tomato paste, lemon, a chile pepper. Then some smoked sardines, then a salt packed anchovy. added cooked spaghetti to the pan, added some chopped bitter lettuce, a squeeze of lemon and then some aged Pecorino. This was so damn good. The leaf @ 9 o clock on the plate is the walnut leaf the Pecorino was wrapped in.

Beautiful as always Darch.. I am in Brooklyn..I purchased the squash blossoms at a green market.. Union SQUARE has them and Eataly have them off the top of my head.

That sounds about right. Yeh, it's so easy once the crust is done. And The results are so impressive

It's a feel thing. Butter cut in cubes and frozen, sugar, salt, four, water. It's like pasta dough, I just eye it. Roughly 5 cups flour 4.5 sticks of butter. close to three tablespoons of sugar 2.5 tablespoons of salt would be a rough estimate. Makes 4. So I can either do 4 pies or two closed pies. I usually have a couple of doughs in the freezer or fridge. But I make pasta dough for 100 people or 5 people and just arrive where I need to be.