A New Direction
I'm going to take this blog in a new direction. This thing was pretty much a rudderless ship anyway, so here goes.
Cooking. Cooking has been upgraded from passion to obsession recently. I will start posting about meals prepared, dishes I like/dislike, cooking techniques, equipment, recipes, etc.
Saturday, December 30th, 2006.
Christmas dinner with my wife's family. I took over cooking from my mother-in-law. She was much relieved by this offer. Menu:
Appetizers consisted of fresh baked bread using a poolish starter with honey butter, garlic butter, and herb butter (fresh chopped thyme and basil). I made classic bruschetta (Roma tomatoes with shredded basil) served on sliced bread drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and browned in a 450F oven.
The main course consisted of the following: 16 rib crown roast of pork with cider/shallot gravy, wild rice risotto with shiitake mushrooms, glazed carrots, roasted green beans with red onions and walnuts.
What went right: the risotto was great. Wild rice is much easier to work with than arborio, and in my opinion more flavorful. The bread was good and the butter worked out great. The crown roast finished in the required time and was juicy and tasty. The gravy was unique, delicate, and delicious.
What went wrong: Crown Roast First off, the butcher screwed me on the crown roast. I asked for the bottom portion of loin, and he talked me into the middle. This led to the chops being far too large for individual servings. Also, the bastards forgot to french the ribs, cut the chine, or notch the ribs for easier cutting. With the size of the roast, I think the stand time could be increased to 20 mins. Carrots The glaze was not as thin as I would have liked, most likely due to excess broth/not enough sugar. The flavor was good, however. Green Beans could have roasted longer, they did not wrinkle as much as anticipated. I'll blame the oven this time. Possibly because the amount was triple the normal recipe? Hmm.
Cooking. Cooking has been upgraded from passion to obsession recently. I will start posting about meals prepared, dishes I like/dislike, cooking techniques, equipment, recipes, etc.
Saturday, December 30th, 2006.
Christmas dinner with my wife's family. I took over cooking from my mother-in-law. She was much relieved by this offer. Menu:
Appetizers consisted of fresh baked bread using a poolish starter with honey butter, garlic butter, and herb butter (fresh chopped thyme and basil). I made classic bruschetta (Roma tomatoes with shredded basil) served on sliced bread drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and browned in a 450F oven.
The main course consisted of the following: 16 rib crown roast of pork with cider/shallot gravy, wild rice risotto with shiitake mushrooms, glazed carrots, roasted green beans with red onions and walnuts.
What went right: the risotto was great. Wild rice is much easier to work with than arborio, and in my opinion more flavorful. The bread was good and the butter worked out great. The crown roast finished in the required time and was juicy and tasty. The gravy was unique, delicate, and delicious.
What went wrong: Crown Roast First off, the butcher screwed me on the crown roast. I asked for the bottom portion of loin, and he talked me into the middle. This led to the chops being far too large for individual servings. Also, the bastards forgot to french the ribs, cut the chine, or notch the ribs for easier cutting. With the size of the roast, I think the stand time could be increased to 20 mins. Carrots The glaze was not as thin as I would have liked, most likely due to excess broth/not enough sugar. The flavor was good, however. Green Beans could have roasted longer, they did not wrinkle as much as anticipated. I'll blame the oven this time. Possibly because the amount was triple the normal recipe? Hmm.
posted by Jormundr at 8:28 AM
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