Roast Veal Dinner

Wine: Schloss Muhlenhof 2008 Muller-Throcken
The Prisoner 2007 Napa Valley Red Wine
Chateau Dassault 2005 Grand Cru Classe
Les Hauts Lastour 2006 Coteaux du Quercy

We ate at Palate and Jason had made an excellent Lemon Roast Veal with Rosemary based upon a recipe in a Lynne Rossetto Kasper “The Splendid Table”, a cookbook that we had given him for Christmas. We decided to make it ourselves.

It turned out to be quite a project to find a bone-in veal roast. Luckily, Bea had sent us a notice that a new butcher shop: McCall’s Meat and Fish had recently opened near us. We drove over, and checked it out. It is small but has an excellent selection. Once we decided to make the veal, we called them and ordered the veal. When we finally picked it up, it was a beautiful peace of meat.

We followed the recipe, rifting off of Jason’s adaptation. We added lucques olives and preserved lemon peel to the sauce at the end, as Jason had.

Kevin started the meal by making a Salad with Pears, Gorgonzola Cheese and Walnuts.

We also made Mashed Potatoes from a recipe in the cookbook: The Café Zuni Cookbook.

For dessert we had left over Birthday Cake from Barbara’s birthday dinner that we had frozen. It was excellent. We are grateful that Barbara didn’t want to take the cake back to San Francisco with her!


Lemon Roast Veal with Rosemary
Vitello al Forno
Lynne Rossetto Kasper “The Splendid Table”

Scented with lemon and herbs, this veal roast gains extra succulence from a fine mincing of pancetta, Tucked into slits in the roast, it flavors and moistens the meat as it cooks. Some Emilia-Romagna cooks baste the veal with milk, hut I prefer the equally traditional hasting of white wine and the unusual finishing
touch of fresh lemon, a favorite trick of a Modena friend Moist veal is
guaranteed by taking the meat only to the rosy stage. In Italy it would be more well done, a style that is delicious there hut turns dry when done with most American veal.

Serves 6 to 8

3 to 4 pounds boneless loin of veal
2 ounces pancetta, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced Italian parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3-inch sprig fresh rosemary, or 1teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
2/3 cup dry White Wine
1/2 cup Poultry/Meat Stock
Rosemary sprigs for garnish

Method

Working Ahead: For the best flavor, season the roast pancetta mixture 1
day abead. Refrigerate it, lightly covered, until about 1 hoar before roasting. The roast is best eaten as soon as cooking is completed.

Seasoning the Veal: Mince together the pancetta, garlic, and parsley. Turn into
a bowl, stirring in 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Using a paring knife, make 15 or 16 deep slits into the roast, over its entire surface. Using your fingers, stuff the seasoning mixture into each slit. Set the roast on a platter, cover lightly with wrap, and refrigerate 24 hours.

Roasting the Veal: Preheat the oven to 350 Rub the veal with the olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Set it in a shallow pan with the rosemary. The roast will take about 25 minutes to the pound (1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hours).
Roast 20 minutes, then pour half the wine over the meat, basting with the pan juices. Continue roasting, basting and adding small amounts of wine, until an instant-reading thermometer inserted in the meat’s center reads 150 F. Remove the roast to a warm platter and keep warm.

Making the Sauce: Skim the fat from the pan juices. Set the roasting pan on
a burner over high heat. Bring the juices t a boil, stirring in the stock. Boil, scraping up the brown glaze in the pan with a wooden spatula, 2 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly and is full-flavored. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the remaining 1-tablespoon of lemon juice.

Serving: Keep the sauce warm as you carve the meat into 1/4 -inch-thick slices.
Garnish the platter with a few sprigs of rosemary, and pass the sauce separately.

Sausage and Mushroom Risotto

Bea joined us for dinner. We made one of favorite winter dinners: Risotto con Luganegh Risotto with Pork Sausage and Porcini Mushrooms from The Cuisine of Venice & Surrounding Northern Regions by Guisti-Lanham Dodi. We love this risotto!
You can find the recipe in our blog of: April 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We started with a salad of: lettuce, walnuts, parmesan cheese, and dates.

We drank some great wines and Bea sure seemed to enjoy herself☺

Paella

We decided to make a Fish Paella. Jason at Palate ordered shrimp, monkfish, scallops and sausage for us. We have made this recipe before and it is excellent. We use the recipe from MORO the Cookbook. We really like Moro it is located in London and is a Spanish-Moroccan restaurant. They have 3 cookbooks and they are all excellent.

We started with a Caesar Salad from The Zuni Café Cookbook. You can find the recipe in our blog of: July 25, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe. It is a great rendition of the famous salad. Because they don’t have you cut up the romaine leaves you can eat it with your hands. My kind of finger food!

Paella de rape con azafran
MONKFISI-I RICE WITH SAFFRON
MORO The Cookbook by Sam & Sam Clark

Clams or prawns can added to this rice with great success. Put the prawn shells in the stock for extra flavor.

Serves 6 as a starter, 4 as a main course

7 tablespoons olive oil
400g monkfish fillets, trimmed and cut into 2-3cm bite-sized pieces
2 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
2 green peppers, halved, seeded and finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
800ml hot Fish Stock
1 teaspoon (about 100) saffron threads
250g calasparra (paella) rice
80 ml white wine or fino sherry
1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
225g piquillo peppers, torn in strips
1 lemon, in wedges
sea salt and black pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 30=40cm paella pan or frying pan over a medium to high heat. Carefully add the monkfish to the pan and stir-fry until still fractionally undercooked in the centre. Pour the monkfish and any of its juices into a bowl and put to one side. Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper, and put back on the heat. Add the remaining olive oil and when t is hot, the onions and peppers, and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring every so often. Turn down the heat to medium, add the chopped garlic and fennel seeds, and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the garlic and onions have some colour and are sweet. Meanwhile bring the stock to the boil and
add the saffron to infuse for 10 minutes off the heat. Now add the rice to the pan and stir for 1 minute to coat with the vegetables and oil.
(Up to now everything can be done in advance, and you need only continue 20 minutes before you wish to eat.)

Put the heat to medium to high, and ad the white wine or sherry to the pan, followed by the hot stock. At this point, add half the parsley and the paprika and season perfectly with salt and pepper. Do not stir the rice after this as it affects the channels of stock, which allow the rice to cook evenly. Simmer for 10 minutes or until there is just a little liquid above the rice. Spread the monkfish out evenly over the rice along with its juices. Push each piece of monkfish under the stock. Gently shake the pan to prevent sticking and turn the heat down to medium to low. Cook for 5 more minutes or until there is just a little liquid left at the bottom of the rice. Turn off the heat and cover the pan tightly with foil. Let the rice sit for 3-5 minutes before serving. Decorate with strips of piquillo peppers, the rest of the chopped
parsley and the lemon. We would serve this paella with a salad.

Rainy Night Dinner

It has been cold, rainy and miserable in Los Angeles the last week. We decided to make the ultimate cold weather dish: French Onion Soup. It is perfect on a winter night. We always make French Onion Soup from Julia Childs first book: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It is the best! It is really quite easy, and always works out. The trick is to cook the THINLY sliced onions slowly to bring out their flavor. You can find the recipe in our blog of: Dec. 21, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

We started with a frisee salad recipe from Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book . It is a delicious salad and I especially like the hot dressing that she uses. Any salad with croutons has to be good in my book.

Sort of Frisee Lardon
From Twist of the Wrist by Nancy Silverton

I've taken my favorite bistro salad—frisee, poached egg, and bacon—and turned it into my favorite sort-of sandwich. Large chunks of bacon, rustic hunks of toasted bread, peppery greens, and scoops of soft-cooked egg tossed together with a warm mustard-sherry dressing will satisfy the Francophile in you.

6 ounces bacon, preferably applewood-smoked, sliced off the slab into 3 1/2-inch-thick strips

FOR THE CROUTONS
1 pound white sourdough loaf
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled
5 extra-large eggs
1 medium head (about 8 ounces) radicchio, leaves removed and torn into large pieces – we only used frisee lettuce in our version
1 medium head (about 4 ounces) frisee, center core removed, pulled apart into small bunches
1 large bunch (about 4 ounces) dandelion greens, mizuna, or arugula, tough stems removed – we only used frisee lettuce in our version

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE
½ cup bacon fat (If you don't .get enough rendered fat from frying the bacon, add enough olive oil to make up the quantity)
1-2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
¼ cup sherry-wine vinegar
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

FOR THE BACON: Cut each strip of bacon into 4 pieces. In a skillet, over I medium-low heat, cook the bacon until cooked all the way through but not crisp. Drain it on a paper towel, and reserve the fat.

FOR THE CROUTONS: Cut the loaf of bread in half and reach in beneath the crust to pull out i'/2-2-inch pieces of bread. Place the bread chunks on a I baking sheet, drizzle them with the olive oil, and toss well Toast them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, until they're lightly browned, shaking the pan occasionally to ensure they're evenly baked. When the croutons are cool enough to handle, rub them with the garlic clove and set aside.

TO COOK THE EGGS: Place the eggs in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Bring them to a boil, and then turn down the heat to a low simmer. Sim¬mer the eggs for 5 minutes, then plunge them into a large bowl of ice water for a minute or so. Take them out as soon as they're cool enough to handle.

In a huge bowl toss to combine the radicchio, frisee, dandelion greens, toasted bread, and bacon.

TO MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE: In a medium-sized skillet, over medium heat, warm the bacon fat (and olive oil, if necessary). Add the' shallots, and I cook them for 2-3 minutes, until they just begin to sizzle. Whisk in the vinegar, salt, and pepper, and cook for about i minute. Whisk in the mustard, and cook another 30 seconds. Remove the vinaigrette from the heat, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour most of the vinaigrette over the salad, and toss well to combine. Cut the top 1/2 inch off the eggs and, using a spoon, scoop them out of the shells in large spoonfuls into the bowl. Pile the salad onto 4 plates, and driz¬zle the remaining vinaigrette over each.

Tim's No-Show Surprise Birthday Party

We decided to make a vegetarian Indian Dinner. Cathy found a recipe for Mung Bean Dal With Apples and Coconut Tarka in the New York Times. This is the first time that I remember cooking with Mung Bean, they look like yellow lentils. It is cooked with both coconut milk and shredded coconut. It is a good recipe. With the Dal and Rice we served Roti that we purchased at India Sweet and Spice. With recipes like this, I could become a vegetarian (or at least eat less meat.

The dal came in handy when Billy and Kevin decided to have a surprise birthday party for Tim. Because one of the guests, Sumon, was from Bangladesh, and we mistakenly assumed he was therefore a vegetarian, we took the dal. The surprise was on us, however, because Tim, unaware that this was his birthday party, never showed up. Once we realized he wasn't coming over to eat his birthday dinner, we decided to go on without the birthday boy. Sumon, who as it turned out, was not a vegetarian, declared the dal as excellent!

We also made Macaroni and Cheese. As faithful readers of this blog know, this is one of our ALL-Time favorite dishes! he recipe is from Paris Bistro Cooking by Linda Dannenberg and is called: Gratin de Macaroni a l’Ancienne. You can find the recipe in our blog of: Feb. 2, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We also purchased a delicious Coconut Cake from The Village Bakery and Cafe. They made the cake especially for Tim. He picked up the leftovers the next day, but didn't get to blow out the candles.


Mung Bean Dal With Apples and Coconut Tarka
New York Times
Time: About an hour
1 1/2 cups dried mung beans, washed and picked over
2 medium green apples, cored, peeled and chopped
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Pinch ground turmeric (optional)
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
Juice of 1 lime.
1. In a large pot, combine beans, apples and coconut milk. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn heat down to medium-low so mixture bubbles steadily but not violently. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding salt as beans become tender, until beans are quite soft, 45 to 60 minutes; add water as needed to keep everything moist.
2. When liquid has thickened, put butter or vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat until it melts and is foamy (or shimmering if using oil). Add coconut, ginger and garlic and cook. Stir frequently and adjust heat to prevent burning, until mixture (called a tarka) crisps and turns golden, 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Add turmeric if using it, then stir in scallions, mint and lime juice. Cook for a minute or two more, then stir butter mixture into pot of beans. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Moroccan Chicken

We made Expatriate Roast Chicken with Lemon and Olives from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. This is a very easy chicken to cook and the Moroccan flavors are exceptional. You need Preserved Lemons which you can either buy or preserve yourself. I love the taste of the olives and the preserved lemons.

With the chicken we made Cous-Cous, the traditional side for this dish. It absorbs all of the great sauce that the Chicken recipe creates. The recipe is on our blog of: Aug 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

New Year's Eve 2010

Billy and Kevin invited us to their house for New Years Eve. We said we would bring a few of the courses. We started by making at his house: Spaghetti with Caviar, Scallions and Chopped Egg. The recipe is from The New York Times. This is an outrageously good and easy way to prepare Caviar.

We then served a salad of Shaved Foie Gras from: Chez Panisse Café Cookbook by Alice Waters. This recipe has to be started a week before you eat it! The Foie Gras is packed in salt and cured. It is then sliced over a salad. It is very rich. Definitely not a dish you can eat often!

Finally we baked our traditional holiday cake. Mary Ann’s Fruitcake
From: Craig Claiborne’s The New York Times Cookbook. No cake gets worse press than a Holiday Fruitcake. This cake is not like any of them. It is GOOD! It is also easy to make, although it needs to be made at least a week before you serve it. We love it, and served the leftovers toasted for breakfast. If you are reticent to make a cake try this one, it is full prove and easy.

Billy and Kevin made a beef tenderloin and asparagus and an ultra-rich potato gratin for the main course and served us wonderful wines. Happy New Year!

Spaghetti with Caviar, Scallions and Chopped Egg
New York Times

Coarse sea salt
4 eggs
1 pound spaghetti
5 tablespoons butter
freshly ground black pepper
6 scallions, thinly sliced
8 tablespoons osetra caviar, or more to taste.

1. Fill a large pot with water, season gener¬ously with sea salt and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, fill a small pan with water and bring to a boil. Add eggs to small pan, and reduce to an active simmer. Cook for 9 ½ minutes. Drain. When eggs are cool to the touch, peel and finely chop. Set aside.

2. When large pot of water boils, add spaghetti, and cook until al dente. Drain reserving ½ cup cooking liquid. Add butter and a few tablespoons of cooking water to pot and place over medium high heat. When melted and bubbling, add spaghetti, and toss to coat. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper.

3. To serve, divide spaghetti among four plates. Sprinkle chopped egg and scallion on top. Spoon caviar in center. Serve immediately; guests will mix spaghetti as they eat.

Yield: 4 servings.

shaved foie gras and rocket salad
from: Chez Panisse Café Cookbook
Alice Waters

Fall is a time when we make delicious composed salads with bits of duck and gizzard confit, pigeon liver toasts, little grilled quails, or duck skin cracklings paired with new-crop nuts and autumn fruits. This is the luxurious extreme of such salads. A fresh duck foie gras is expensive, but a little goes a long way. The recipe makes enough cured foie gras for several meals.

serves 6.

1 fresh duck foie gras, about i po
Salt
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pepper
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 large handfuls rocket

Prepare the foie gras several days in advance. Let it soften at room temperature for about an hour. When it is pliable, pull the two lobes apart, grasp the veins and gently pull to remove them. Don't worry about disfiguring the foie gras; it will be pressed later. When all the veins have been removed, lightly season the two lobes with salt and re-shape them into their original form. Cut a 2-foot length of cheese cloth, place the foie gras at one end, and roll up the foie gras in the cloth. After 2 1/2 turns, trim off any remaining cheesecloth and tie the ends firmly, making a tight sausage shape. In an earthenware or glass vessel that is 4 inches taller than the rolled foie gras and at least 2 inches wider, make a 1 1/2-inch layer of salt. Add the foie gras and cover completely with a layer of salt at least 1 inch deep. Place a weight-on top (a full wine bottle works well), and refrigerate foi:3 to 4 days.

In a preheated 400 oven, toast the hazelnuts for about 15 minutes or until golden and aromatic. Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. In a mortar, mash the garlic to a paste with a little salt. Add the sherry vin¬egar, red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and freshly milled pepper. Whisk in the olive oil, taste for acid and salt, and adjust. While the nuts are still warm, rub them in a clean kitchen towel to remove their skins. Chop the nuts coarsely. Wash and dry the rocket. Retrieve the foie gras from the salt and remove the cheesecloth. Wrap the foie gras in plastic and keep it very cold while preparing the salad, either in a bowl of ice in the refrigerator, or, briefly, in the freezer. Dress the rocket lightly with the vinaigrette, divide among 6 chilled plates, and sprinkle with the hazelnuts. Use a sharp vegetable peeler to make shavings of the cured foie gras over each salad. Be generous. Fin¬ish with a flourish of the pepper mill. The foie gras left over will keep a week in the refrigerator, well wrapped.

Variation: Serve the cured foie gras with a salad of thinly sliced sweet garden fennel, raw cepes, and tender parsley leaves. Instead of shaving the foie gras, cut it into 1/4-inch-thick slices, and drizzle the salad with a little aged balsamic condimento and fruity extra-virgin olive oil.


Mary Ann’s Fruitcake
From: Craig Claiborne’s
The New York Times Cookbook


1 pound golden seedless raisins
1 pound pecan meats, broken
3 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon warm water
1/4 cup Grand Marnier



1. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric beater. Start beating and gradually add the sugar. Cream the mixture well and add the egg yolks one at a time, beating constantly. Blend the soda and water and add it, beating. Beat in the Grand Marnier. Pour this mixture into the nut mixture and blend together with the hands.

2. Beat the whites until stiff and fold them in with the hands. Continue folding until the whites are not apparent.

3. Spoon and scrape the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake for 2 to 2x/4 hours, or until the cake is puffed above the pan and nicely browned on top. If the cake starts to brown too soon, cover with aluminum foil. Remove the cake from the pan shortly after it is baked. Tapping the bottom of the cake pan with a heavy knife will help loosen it. Store the cake for at least 10 days. If desired, add an occasional touch of Cognac or rum to the cake as it stands. Keep it closely covered and refrigerated until ready to use.

Yield: 1 10-inch cake.