Last night, we had some dear friends over, one of my pastors and his wife, actually. So, I wanted to cook up a special dinner for them. Han and I are still in our francophile stage (having just come back from our European trip), so I put together a French inspired menu:
Green leaf lettuce, Pomegranate and Almond Salad,
French Onion Soup,
Braised Chicken with Tomatoes & Olives and
Apple Galette. We had a wonderful time, chatting about Europe and travel; everyone seemed to love the food. By the way, our guests brought a Pinot Grigio that worked well with the meal.
Since we had them over on a Friday, I needed to start cooking on Tues! Tuesday night, I put beef bones, celery, carrot, onion, thyme and peppercorns into my crockpot and cooked it for 10 hours, then I put it on overnight, basically cooking it for about 24 hours. The result was a deep rich beef broth. Wednesday night, I started on the French Onion soup, cooking the onions til a deep golden brown, about 1.5 hours, adding garlic, thyme, shiitake mushrooms, then sherry (per a epicurious reviewer's suggestion). I added the beef froth and simmered it for another 1.5 hours. The flavor was still not there, as most of my soups tend to go. On friday, I simmered it for another 2 hours and added a bit of salt and pepper. My guests loved the soup, served in my Apilco lion's head soup bowls topped with croutes, emmental cheese and parmagianno.
On Thursday night, I prepped the chicken and veggies for the Braised chicken. Basically cutting the veggies (tomatoes, olives, onions) including red potatoes and a fennel bulb, adding fennel seeds, herbes of provence, salt and olive oil. I also prepped the chicken with the herb and garlic mixture, placing a lemon and fennel frond in the body cavity. On Friday, all I did was throw everything into our roasting pan. The chicken was tasty and juicy, the veggies rich in flavor.
Ever since I saw the Apple Galette recipe and accompanying video on Cook's Illustrated.com, I have been wanting to try this recipe. It's not a hard recipe, especially with the video that spells everything out.
I just received two cookbooks from Amazon that I hope to write about soon. I've cooked a bunch of recipes from
Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh and they were great, so I had to buy the book! I ordered the beautiful green book,
Fast, Easy, Fresh from Bon Appetit Magazine, so I'll be trying some of those recipes soon.
Even though I have grown up eating a multitude of Japanese dishes, like shrimp tempura, miso soup, teriyaki chicken or yakisoba, I appreciate the simple to make, yet complex-ly flavored everyday dishes that Elizabeth Andoh gives us in Washoku. I have a favorite Izakaya in Hawaii, Imanas Tei, and this pub food is what I've been missing all my life! Lovely small side dishes flavored with sea stock, shoyu, sake, mirin and other unassuming ingredients. Stews and soups that are full of subtle flavors, mingling of meats or vegetables that impart the indescribable gestalt that is Japanese food. I can't tell you how worthwhile some of these dishes are. Okay so here are some of the dishes I've tried and loved from the cookbook: Soy Braised Hijiki with Carrot, Asparagus Tossed with Crushed Black Sesame, Gingery Ground Chicken (except I used turkey), Flash Seared Steak with Two Sauces, Temple Garden Summer Chowder. I cooked up the Hijiki and Asparagus dishes this weekend so I have some pics:
Posts
