BKEats

Had some friends over to see the baby, yesterday.. What started as two friends from Philly coming to visit, ended in 12 people coming through out the day.. First meal of the day was steak and eggs with hash browns, a beautiful rye toast and bacon... My mother had purchased a lot of meat for me at the local butcher.. One thing she got was flap steak. i have not really prepared it too often but, it was a beautiful collection of meat.. Started with a coffee rub as, it was breakfast. Salt, peppercorns and coffee beans. served medium rare Bacon and rosemary hashbrowns eggs fried in bacon fat. as other people started to arrive, i just started baking bacon and making pancakes for them.. and the flan from the other night.

You would love me Lima bean and carrot meatloaf!

steak tarare: i was at eataly today and picked up some Piedmont beef. 8.80 a lb.. i bought a half a pound.. $4.20 dude. i was torn.. do i attack the beef like i the american french hybrid.. dijon, egg, cornichon, shallot, lemon, parsley, anchovy, worcesterchire sauce, ketchup, capers and whatever else is laying around.. Do i do the piedmont way with lemon, a little raw garlic. (we are avoiding lots of garlic for the baby. and i rubbed some on the bread) The beef was so clean and i was out of dijon.. so, i added a little whole grain mustard, one salt packed anchovy, a little parsley, a little shallot, a touch of sriracha.. but, it still had that clean beef taste.. i have this really nice lemon olive oil.. it's a sample for our place. we normally wouldn't have something this nice. but, i poured that over and lightly mixed some in.. It was a perfect touch.. cracked pepper and salt on top. i mean, i would have that if it was a job but, i normally don't keep the fancy stuff around the house.. a squeeze of lemon and a good olive oil would have normally been the trick. picked up a pound of pasta.. it was butternut with the almond cookies in it.. again, i am not a fan of their pasta.. Miss A made a good point.. it was only $9,80 a pound.. you can feed a family of 4 as a small app on that.. so, it's not that expensive and it's super convenient.. but, all their shit is made on machines.. the edges where the pasta closes was a little hard.. the inside slightly too gummy, not stuffed well. the seasoning was not super on point.. it could have used a little more nutmeg or cooking spice. i add some sugar and lemon to mine that, this wouldn't have been hurt by. it was good but, it tasted machine made and sort of soulless.. it was good for a quick meal but, ultimately, i would most likely opt for a box pasta even.. all of their stuffed pasta are not overly exciting. i made a simple sauce with butter and sage. a simple flan:

This is just insane

I made these really pretty porkchops last night. Lots of salt, served medium rare with a side of spinach cooked in garlic. I squirted a Little lemon over it and though it was unimproveable. It appears I was wrong

people keep bringing things to my house.. some lamb sausages.. A brief inventory showed that I only had large carrots, onions, celery and some lettuce as vegetables.. I took a large sweet onion and cooked it down.. added beer and butter, a large whole grain mustard. Served with rye bread and dijon mustard. grilled the sausages and then let it meld with the onions and mustard. grilled fresh rye also brought to the house.

Sort of made this accidentally. People arriving for the morning shift of baby holding.. 7 eggs, some dijon, some milk, salt and pepper thrown in with spinach cooking with garlic. A frittata flower... Homefries

made homemade fettuccine tonight. made a stock with frozen shrimp shells, monkfish skin and spine, onions, thyme, carrots, tomato sauce, spicy paprika, garlic, bay leaves, white wine and red and black pepper. blended the vegetables to a puree before adding chunks of monkfish and clams. Added clams and monkfish.

short ribs cooked in stout. with a maple glaze.

so, we had a baby about two weeks ago and there still seems to be a wave of people coming to visit.. Last night, at 430, we get a heads up that there will be 12 people visiting around 630 or so. There are two types of people in this world.. (obviously a simplification) but, this is a food board.. So, there is this group of people that believe, "food is magic" my son is one of these people.. He just believes, anything and everything can be a boob to provide him with sustenance. I am pretty sure, the harsh reality has already begun to sink in.. i can tell it does, just by looking at his face when he tries to suck on my cheek. But, I digress. Food is magic and it appears or is delivered by these magical elves.. And because it is magic, people can bring unannounced friends to dinner, people can cancel coming to a dinner, people can forget that they happen to be deathly allergic to certain foods that they never tell the host, among hundreds of other fun scenarios. So, last night, after a full day of feedings gluten free vegetarians on the afternoon shift, we get notice that, there are literally 12 people arriving in 2 hours. I had to clean up from lunch and put down a meal for the next way. On top of the dinner part, there was bruschetta served with this edamame spread, carrots, Pistachios, almonds, manchego, Brie, a blue, crackers, grapes, wine, cocktails and various beers. I went to the store and purchased two 2.5 lb trays of ground beef.. Rolled them into 12 balls of meat per tray. 24 martins potato buns i happened to have 5 large baked potatoes in my fridge.. I cut them into cubes, tossed with olive oil, lemon, parsley and red onion.. a lot of salt and pepper... I made two heads of broccoli rabe.. steamed and added olive oil, garlic, anchovy and red pepper. For the burgers, i made them White Maña Style.. I have a large cast iron flat top that covers two burners.. After frying up 10 pieces of bacon, i reserved the grease.. I added three sliced onions spread out over the flat top. added the bacon grease and cooked at a medium low temperature. say the grill was around 300 degrees.. I added the balls down on the grill and flattened with spatula and let them sort of steam in the bacon and onion. Was able to cook 12 at a time on the grill.. Toasted the buns in an oven. added a sliced tomato to the bottom, mayo and mustard to the top. dinner for 12 in about 45 minutes.. ugly photo but, i must say they were fantastic.. the had that oniony flavor that the white mana burger has.. they were juicy and really good.. all the food was devoured.

it has been about 3 weeks since I stopped by my fish guy.. I picked up some shrimp. made a garlic sauce. tomato paste, wine, a half piece of bacon, bay, garlic made into a paste, salt, hot paprika, thyme,black pepper butter and olive oil. came out super rich added this pasta.. it was really good. cooked for three minutes. it was dried and shelf stable but, tasted very similar to fresh. it was a sample but, i think it was like a 5 dollar retail. Added spinach with the par sautéed shrimp, moments before the cooked pasta. A shot of olive oil and black pepper. it was really nice.

Simple dinner last night.. We had the baby out for his first round of doctors. we left at 11 and arrived home at 4. a full annoying day.. My mother in law had dropped off a tray of Cosco pork chops with the steaks, the other day.. They actually looked really nice.. they were thick and had good color and marbling. My friend who does the purchasing for his restaurant was over.. He too was impressed the offering. I didn't have much in the house and we were not all the hungry. Miss k had come home from school and i made her a grilled cheese with bacon. So at, 730 dinner time, there was much indifference. I made a paste with garlic, cumin, thyme, salt and black pepper in the mortar. Pounded out the pork chops and painted a layer of paste on each chop before stacking. I eventually squeeze two sour oranges into the bag. I took it a step further and floured with my fried chicken flour and deep fried. Served with an avocado and red onion salad. that got people eating..

Saucier's Apprentice.

dumplings heated up.. boiled and pan fried. We bought a bag of 50 from the local Chinese Dumpling place.. a dumpling squirted across the table

15 egg yolk batch sounds very Piedmontese. i make pasta dough quiet a bit. i add some eggs and some olive oil. On special occasions when I am trying to make Tajarin or a regional pasta, I will use certain amounts of egg whites, or all egg whites, or all yolks, or water, or whatever is called for.. But, my normal, everyday recipe for ravioli, or regular pasta is fairly straight forward.. i don't like to have wasted or leftover egg whites though, ideally a few more yolks without the whites is best. i keep a little finger bowl of water on the counter that I can just dip my fingers in. Spray bottle is a good idea if you have a spray bottle.. Last I saw that thing, it was being used as a cat training device.

I was making this soup for dinner last night.. i have these two beautiful smoked ham hocks.. (now only one left)i added some carrots, onions, several whole cloves of garlic, some wine, a half a can of tomatoes, bay leaves, celery and potatoes with the beautiful ham hock.. diced in a couple of pieces of bacon. people called and said, we are coming with steaks and potatoes. i made a couple of pounds of spinach and a watercress salad. We were in business. it was smokey and rich and incredibly homey. Using a ham hock, turned a soup that I cooked for maybe 1 hour to an hour 1/4 into something that tasted like it took all day. the potatoes added a body. A handful of spinach at the end, brought a brightness. it was raining last night.. steaks were from Cosco. It's been awhile since I had steak from a place like Cosco.. We eat so little of it that, when we do eat meat, it's a dry aged fancy piece of meat. I took a bone marrow out of the freezer and baked it for awhile.. i greased up my cast iron flat top and tried to create a controlled grease fire with the marrow oil. it worked. the marrow butter added some dry aged flavor and i salted and peppered the shit out of it. Served I would say around 120 as rare was requested.. i went a little over as, I don't know the meat all that well. it looked good enough. Served mashed potatoes. I hate mashed potatoes.. or dislike them. i like polenta over mashed potatoes. Or like a very small smear of them. this idea of a bowl of mashed potatoes at the table is not something i like.. but, it was the fastest way to prepare them and the room was calling for them. i added like a stick of butter and a half a cup of sour cream and some milk, salt, white pepper and a shot of lemon. Salad had a white balsamic dressing and just like a spoonful of sour cream as it was out at the last moment. Dinner for 7 in just about an hour.

I made a soup yesterday with smoked ham hock.. very delicious. a few carrots, some celery, onions and a few hand full for garlic cloves.. half a can of tomatoes, water, wine, bay leaves, thyme, potatoes. i also took my two last strips of this smokey bacon and thew them in, diced. few handfuls of spinach at the end of maybe a 45 minutes cook. it was absolutely delicious.. i made a big pot of it.. like, what always happens.. i get a phone call that 5 people are coming for dinner in the next hour or so. they are bringing steaks and potatoes. it was a perfect starter.

I too had a club sandwich. There are these sandwiches called Sloppy Joes. They are not Manwiches or loose meat sandwiches that share the name. These are triple decker deli sandwiches. Turkey, roast beef and corn beef each make a layer between rye breads. There is also some really nice coleslaw thrown in. One sandwich can take a couple of days to eat.

Tonight was green chile and country style pork rib stew.. also made a simple white rice I served over it. A dab of sour cream. Hatch New Mexico Chiles, cooked with garlic, cumin, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice.. thickened with masa at the end. Browned, cooked for about 2.5 hours..

Kim, I agree 100 percent! My mother was at the house a couple of days and expressed the same sentiments. She said, the only reason why I use to make meatloaf was for the sandwiches. I had a few slices and was wondering how the leftovers would be in a ravioli but, the sandwiches are too darn good.

leftover soup and a grilled cheese.. three slices of cheese. i have a non stick. put the cheese directly down on the non stick for a moment, then flip and get that side hot.. throw into bread and this way, the cheese is melted on the way through.

i disagree.

Just to give another perspective.. I am not a fan of steaks that are prepared sous vide. So, it's quiet possible, you just don't like sous vide. I think the texture suffers greatly.