Sunday, October 30, 2005
What the hell do I know about Latino cooking...
Food:
The interesting thing for me was that everyone loved something different. The enchiladas had a special ingredient because SP made her home-made Mexican-style salsa. If you're thinking of that chunky Pace style stuff, get the thought out of your head. This was closer in consistency to what Little Tijuana's serves. But better. It gave a nice zip, and even more so if you dared the extra hot version. The red beans and rice were pretty standard, and we've done them before. Still people seem to go gah-gah. The last minute addition that totally rounded out the meal for me was the sweet corn cake. This wasn't cornbread. It was something wholly different, but very tasty.
For dessert, I wanted to try adding a peanut butter swirl to our home-made brownie recipe. At the last minute, I thought, "Why not try making the swirl out of our spicy peanut sauce." It worked, but the sesame flavor came out far more than I expected. It added a nice complexity to a fairly ordinary (but good) brownie.
- Nachos, two ways (meat and cheesey; vegetarian)
- Chicken enchiladas
- Corn cake
- Red beans and rice
- Peanut butter, sesame brownies with vanilla ice cream
The interesting thing for me was that everyone loved something different. The enchiladas had a special ingredient because SP made her home-made Mexican-style salsa. If you're thinking of that chunky Pace style stuff, get the thought out of your head. This was closer in consistency to what Little Tijuana's serves. But better. It gave a nice zip, and even more so if you dared the extra hot version. The red beans and rice were pretty standard, and we've done them before. Still people seem to go gah-gah. The last minute addition that totally rounded out the meal for me was the sweet corn cake. This wasn't cornbread. It was something wholly different, but very tasty.
For dessert, I wanted to try adding a peanut butter swirl to our home-made brownie recipe. At the last minute, I thought, "Why not try making the swirl out of our spicy peanut sauce." It worked, but the sesame flavor came out far more than I expected. It added a nice complexity to a fairly ordinary (but good) brownie.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Who Knew Ham Could Be That Good???
Food:
All three of the dinner dishes were uniquely flavorful, especially considering the somewhat basic nature of each. The ham was of course strongly "hammy", yet had undertones of the ginger, brown sugar, and honey. The string bean were glazed with the leftover pineapple juice leaving them sweet but not sugary. But the stuffed tomatoes had the most flavor layers. I was surprised that they maintained both a rich developed flavor and a spry, raw tanginess.
Even Robin agreed that the tartlets needed something more. They were a bit dry, and a little small for our usual portions. Ice cream, icing, glaze, or something else woul have been nice. They needed something semi-gooey.
- Mixed green salad with champagne vinegarette dressing
- Champagne baked ham
- Pineapple blanched string beans
- Risotto stuffed baked tomatoes
- Pineapple tartlets
All three of the dinner dishes were uniquely flavorful, especially considering the somewhat basic nature of each. The ham was of course strongly "hammy", yet had undertones of the ginger, brown sugar, and honey. The string bean were glazed with the leftover pineapple juice leaving them sweet but not sugary. But the stuffed tomatoes had the most flavor layers. I was surprised that they maintained both a rich developed flavor and a spry, raw tanginess.
Even Robin agreed that the tartlets needed something more. They were a bit dry, and a little small for our usual portions. Ice cream, icing, glaze, or something else woul have been nice. They needed something semi-gooey.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
A Pig, a Cow, and a Chicken Walk Into a Bar...
And we ate them. Yum.
Chow:
First of all, it's good to be back. And it's good to have people back. Of course we were expecting a ton of people, and after doing all of the shopping and whatnot, we remembered that Trail of Terror will probably keep our numbers skinny until the end of October. So we had plenty of space, and plenty of left-overs.
We switched up the baked pasta recipe this time around, and it was "ok". The noodles were a little bigger, and they didn't really keep their shape after mixing the meat sauce in. Not that that affected the taste. What did affect the taste was using a different set of cheeses. Our old recipe called for feta and gorgonzola, we used fontina and asiago instead. We also subbed flat leaf parsley for the original spinach. The result was a much blander dish.
The soup however was fantastic (although the early bowls were more brothy than good stuff). Not overly salty, but a good unami, savory flavor. I was afraid the escarole would make it slimy, but no, it just added to the yummines. I'm glad the leftovers in my freezer are from the bottom of the pot where all of the good stuff was.
Ok, I technically haven't taste the cake yet, as I'm typing this as it's being cut. But it looks really cool.
Chow:
- Wedding day soup
- Baked rigatoni
- Peppers and onions
- Garlic bread
- Zuccotto cake
First of all, it's good to be back. And it's good to have people back. Of course we were expecting a ton of people, and after doing all of the shopping and whatnot, we remembered that Trail of Terror will probably keep our numbers skinny until the end of October. So we had plenty of space, and plenty of left-overs.
We switched up the baked pasta recipe this time around, and it was "ok". The noodles were a little bigger, and they didn't really keep their shape after mixing the meat sauce in. Not that that affected the taste. What did affect the taste was using a different set of cheeses. Our old recipe called for feta and gorgonzola, we used fontina and asiago instead. We also subbed flat leaf parsley for the original spinach. The result was a much blander dish.
The soup however was fantastic (although the early bowls were more brothy than good stuff). Not overly salty, but a good unami, savory flavor. I was afraid the escarole would make it slimy, but no, it just added to the yummines. I'm glad the leftovers in my freezer are from the bottom of the pot where all of the good stuff was.
Ok, I technically haven't taste the cake yet, as I'm typing this as it's being cut. But it looks really cool.
