Dinner At My House

Cubanos!

Tonight we had a simple early dinner of Cubanos, cuban sandwiches, with a bit of salad. The sandwiches are made from a nice bread, buttered and layered with swiss cheese, boiled ham, roast pork and bread and butter pickes. One presses these and bakes them in an oven until everything melds together. A good night's dinner. Had a salad with it.

Pasta with Roast Beef and Gravy

A saturday night dinner. My lover made the penné and warmed a late harvest sauce from the freezer. I made the roast beef, but overcooked it a bit. It was good nonetheless, not dry at all since I braised it in red wine. Could have been worse! We weren't sure what cut we had, something we got at costco and froze a couple weeks ago. I guessed on the time and was by about 15 degrees. Oh well. The gravy was a nice wine/roux/cream reduction.

A Tasty Pork Loin on a Friday Night

Sofritto, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Made a yummy dinner tonight. Here is an image of the sofritto, and more pics of the meal below. It's basically chopped onions, fresh sage from the garden (tromp through the snow) and flat leaf parsely). We had fried yukon gold potatoes, steamed broccoli with butter, and roast pork loin with a cream and wine sauce. For the pork I made the sofritto first, then set it aside, pan seared the pork loin, especially on the fat side. I added the sofritto back to the roast (on top of it and surrounding it) and transferred it to a 300 degree oven for about an hour. Once it was removed, I deglazed the pan with white wine and added a touch of cream to make a light sauce. The potatoes were nice small yukon gold's that I nuked until they were a bit soft, then fried in olive oil and butter. Yummy.

Here is the pork loin just before it went in the oven Had to nuke these before frying to break down the starches And the finished product.  A very satisfying meal.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinner, originally uploaded by wickenden.

I made farfalle with vodka tomato sauce, fried cauliflower with allspice and butter, and italian meatballs in a shallot and tomato sauce. We had a little garlic rosemary bread and I opened a bottle of Los Vascos Cab.

In attendance were Amy, Ben and Ayla, Auntie Cake, Auntie Melissa and Cousin Becky.

New Yorks, Broccoli, Fried Fingerling Potatoes and Gravy

New Yorks, Broccoli, Fried Fingerling Potatoes and Gravy, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Tonight D. was away, I cooked for Dean and I, Melissa and her friend Angie, and Caitlin. Was pretty good. Gravy had roasted garlic and steak deglazings in it.

The potatoes, were fingerlings, and I split them into thirds or halfs and pan fried them. They were topped with reggiano parmesano and parsely. The broccoli was a bit ... dry.

Chapatis, Kofta and Basmati

Chapatis, Kofta and Basmati, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Tonight we had less people that we planned on. But the food was good. In attendance was D., me, Dean, Betty, Caitlin, and Melissa. D. made the Chapatis, I made the kofta with turkey. A good friday night meal. I had a nice glass of wine with it.

Roasted Scallops with Pasilla, Shallots and Chard

My Plate, originally uploaded by wickenden.

One of my own concoctions, it's got a delicious brown sauce, made piquanté by the roasted pasillas, that is thrown up when one deglazes the shallot brown bits in the pan. I serve it over a long pasta, usually it's Fuscilli Longhi, but regular barilla spaghetti here.

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Despite missing a key ingredient, this dish turned out lovely. To make it, soak the chicken in lime juice, a bit of kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. I cut up about 12 breasts here and used about 3 limes. After marinating at least an hour, pat the breast dry and toss sautée in peanut oil until browned and tender. Set meat aside and sautée a large diced white onion, several diced up serrano peppers with seeds, and several red thai style fresh chilies with or without the seeds (depending on the heat you want). Add about 1 1/2 bulbs of good hard stemmed garlic, minced. Add chicken stock (I used about 4 cups of homemade stock) and about 1 can of coconut milk. Stir and reduce until desired thickness, re-add the chicken and let cook a minute or two, and serve over jasmine thai rice.

Pasta with Brown Sauce and Pork

Pasta with Brown Sauce and Pork, originally uploaded by wickenden.

Tonight we had an old standbye. Brown the pork on the fat side in olive oil, add onions and fry in the fat, deglaze with white wine, add chicken stock and reduce, then add cream. Make a butter roux and add that. Cover the pasta and top with generous amounts of reggiano parmesean.

Also, bbqed squash. Finished the pork on the bbq. Very tender and delicious. The pasta sauce was out of this world, as usual.

Chicken Habenero attempt 2

Trying that chicken habenero dish again, this time with a different beer.  It wasn't quite as good.  Tomato-onion-basil-feta salad with oil and balsamic, and a steamed artichoke with mayo-oil-paprika-salt-pepper dressing.  Rosemary bread with unsalted butter (lots of it, obviously!).