eG Foodblog: melkor

[Rhea_S]

That's exactly what I wish I had for breakfast, but I doubt two filled crepes would suffice. My aussies and I had banana smoothies with a sprinkling of oat bran -- so not exciting.

[melkor]

That's exactly what I wish I had for breakfast, but I doubt two filled crepes would suffice. My aussies and I had banana smoothies with a sprinkling of oat bran -- so not exciting.

I had four

[bloviatrix]

That looks so much better than the bowl of Coco Pebbles I chowed down this morning.

[melkor]

Cappa #2 :

Hopefully the nice weather will hold and we can go out for a bike ride before lunch.

[melkor]

Leftovers for lunch...

Shepherd's pie made from osso bucco leftover from dinner over the weekend and mashed potatoes from last night.

[JPW]

Hey melkor,

We had a small discussion on osso bucco on the Dutch oven thread.

What's your recipe?

[reesek]

melkor -

do you always eat so well?! very impressive...and the presentation is gorgeous...kudos to both you and the ms.

[MsMelkor]

do you always eat so well?! very impressive...and the presentation is gorgeous...kudos to both you and the ms.

Melkor is a self-admitted presentation whore. I like my food to look good, but I don't obsess to the degree that he does.

We don't always eat this well - if we are both busy lunch might be cottage cheese and fruit or a bowl of cereal - but we try to stock the freezer with provisions for these occasions (we'll probably freeze the rest of the osso bucco in 2-serving portions).

[melkor]

We more or less used this recipe. It came out pretty well, though I don't think I'd use that recipe again.

Most of the time we eat like this, unless we are both feeling lazy - then we eat cereal. We have a freezer full of stuff, great produce available, and we are home most of the time - so we spend a lot of time cooking.

edit: yeah... what she said.

Edited February 3, 2004 by melkor (log)

[Squeat Mungry]

Great blog, melkor -- thanks! Did you make a gremolata for the osso buco? If so, did you make that one? I've never heard of a gremolata without garlic!

I love osso buco and make it a lot in the fall and winter. Lately I've fallen in love with Lidia Bastianich's recipe in her Lidia's Italian Table. The barley risotto recipe she gives with it is also stellar.

Cheers,

Squeat

[melkor]

Yeah, we made the gremolata from that recipe - it went well with the dish. This was the first time we've made osso buco so I've got nothing to compare it to other than restaurant dishes.

[melkor]

Another cappa... I think they are getting better. This one would be much better if it were in the middle of the cup.

[Rhea_S]

This blog is making me crave a cappucino and I'm not a coffee drinker. The hearts are definitely becoming more defined.

[melkor]

Dinner is in the oven, we need to figure out what to have for dessert. We're having roast chicken (zuni recipe), potato & celeriac gratin, and a salad.

We've got meyer lemons, pears, raspberries, and all the usual chocolate/cream/eggs/nuts/etc.

Anyone got any bright ideas? Preferably something reasonably healthy (or small )

[ludja]

Not especially creative, but poached pears in their syrup are very nice with a simple dark chocolate sauce (not especiallly thick). A liqueur of some type with the pears or sauce could jazz things up...

or raspberries and cream

edited: was thinking more along the lines of just fruit, given that you have all that tasty bread stuffing to eat!

Edited February 4, 2004 by ludja (log)

[melkor]

We never got around to making dessert. Dinner was...

Roast chicken over bread salad, mixed greens from our garden, and a potato & celery root gratin. There are a few arugula and rosemary flowers tossed into the salad. To drink - 2000 Quivera dry creek cuvee (grenache/mourvedre/syrah/zinfadel blend) from sonoma.

[KatieLoeb]

Not only do you eat well, but your wine parings are admirable as well. First the Prum and now the Quivira. Bravo!

The cappuccino hearts are definitely getting better. More defined and more centered.

Turbo is here purring and sends high paws to Texas and Rosie.

[marlena spieler]

i know i'm late with dessert recipe/suggestion for your last nights dinner, but might i suggest the poached pears in white wine with candied lemon peel from last week's roving feast column? you can get it on http://www.sfgate.com my recipe, so i know intimately how delish it is.

while i used to be a fanatic for pears poached in red wine then the wine boiled down into a thick glaze, poaching them in white wine with strips of lemon zest is so light and vivacious you don't even need a shlomp of ice cream to go with (as i always needed, wanted, craved with the red wine reduced sauce pears.)

x

marlena

[melkor]

I think I've posted far more than enough pictures of these cappuccinos

We ran out of caffeinated beans yesterday, so this cappa is a decaf. After breakfast I'll roast some more liquid amber.

[ludja]

Any comments on the Zuni roast chicken Melkor or Ms. Melkor?

Did you follow the recipe pretty closely? Did it rekindle memories of eating it at Zuni (if you have)? Anything you would change? Comparison to other roast chickens you've made?

Alot of questions, I know; but Rodgers gives a lot of details in the recipe and I'm curious about...well I guess I covered that part above!

Edited February 4, 2004 by ludja (log)

[melkor]

Leftover crepes with raspberry jam and the leftover honey mascarpone creme, and of course a latte.

[MsMelkor]

Any comments on the Zuni roast chicken Melkor or Mrs. Melkor?

Did you follow the recipe pretty closely?  Did it rekindle memories of eating it at Zuni (if you have)?  Anything you would change?  Comparison to other roast chickens you've made?

Alot of questions, I know; but Rodgers gives a lot of details in the recipe and I'm curious about...well I guess I covered that part above!

We salted it the day before, slipped garlic and thyme sprigs under the skin, and left it wrapped in the refrigerator. Then we roasted it, along with the giblets, in a cast iron grill pan at 425 for about 50 minutes. The plan was to roast it for 30 minutes breast-down, then flip and finish breast-up, but the back looked so nice and brown, and we liked how quickly the thigh was cooking relative to the breast, so we decided to just leave it on its back.

Once it was done roasting we moved it to a cutting board, poured off the pan juices, spooned the bread salad into the pan, and put the chicken on top of that. Returned it to the oven for 5 minutes, then turned off the oven and let it sit for 10 more minutes inside the oven.

In the meantime, we tossed the greens with some of the drippings and made gravy with most of the rest. Surprisingly the gravy was not too salty. The chicken was moist and flavorful, and the finishing it on top of the bread salad helped integrate the flavors of these two items.

Next time I might try flipping it halfway through. Not sure I would roast only breast-up, since that can make the breast cook too quickly. Usually I brine the chicken and rub an herb paste under the skin, but this way was good too and certainly less work. I really liked roasting it in cast iron - it seemed to speed up the cooking time and was a great size for the bird.

[melkor]

Coffee is roasted... unfortunately it needs to rest for a couple of days. So it's decaf for us for the next day or two.

[JenBrava]

Is that the Liquid Amber from Sweet Maria's or did you decide to change it up and go for something else at the last minute? Is this the first time you've tried it, or have you roasted and brewed it before? Is Tom's description of the flavor accurate?

[melkor]

Is that the Liquid Amber from Sweet Maria's or did you decide to change it up and go for something else at the last minute?  Is this the first time you've tried it, or have you roasted and brewed it before?  Is Tom's description of the flavor accurate?

Yeah, it's liquid amber - this is the 4th or 5th batch of it I've roasted. It's a much harder blend to roast evenly than any other I've tried. I'd say Tom's description is accurate - I really like this blend in cappuccinos, it shows well through the milk.