tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27915712700175542732024-03-13T19:39:30.272-07:00a quarter cow, 100 dozen eggs, and happy lamb!a blog on food, made from a happy quarter cow, 100 dozen happy eggs, happy lamb, and much more foods!Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-29690174867129535102010-09-24T16:15:00.000-07:002010-09-24T16:16:27.257-07:00A barbecue is not just for meat or proteinsYes, we're carnivores, as you might have guessed from the title and the theme of the blog. But we also have lots of veggies. Especially if I have been to a Farmer's Market, and if we have unplanned visitors and I don't have time to defrost and properly prep meat.
Here are a bunch of ideas, slightly inspired by Bittman, on what to put on the barbecue for your last sessions of the summer. Or, if Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-49443074228620789512010-09-20T15:30:00.000-07:002010-09-20T15:30:43.896-07:00Cumin scented steak with roast veggiesOn my last China trip, I again had these wonderful cumin scented lamb ribs they serve in Hunan and Sichuan restaurants (in Shanghai at least). Plus I brought back (or smuggled in) a bag of best grade Sichuan peppercorns - which I learned to distinguish in one of my food classes in China - you only want the hull, the more of the seeds are in there the cheaper the product, because they are gritty Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-27500802475002261582010-09-20T14:14:00.000-07:002010-09-20T14:14:01.841-07:00Oven dried tomatoes - enough to last me through the winterEach time we drive to or from Tahoe during the daytime, we stop at this one farm stand in Davis, not for the produce necessarily, nothing is organic, but for this Middle Eastern and Asian drink that comes with many different names and grosses out 95% of Americans. It's just yoghurt mixed with salt and water. I've had it as Ayran (Turkish), Salt Lassi (Indian) and Doogh (Iran). And I could drink Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-74729868247183453092010-08-17T20:34:00.000-07:002010-08-17T20:34:11.015-07:00Just a quickie before I leave for yet another China tripLeaving on a jet plane... All my bags are packed and I'm standin' here outside your door. Well, not quite. Nothing is packed, but I'll have an hour tomorrow morning I guess, have to leave by 9.
So - just a few pics of two rainbow trouts we made last weekend. We discovered cedar planks, partly because we still have about 2000 sqft of cedar siding in our garage, courtesy of our contractor whose Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-65258687318500064632010-08-11T11:50:00.000-07:002010-08-11T11:50:30.933-07:00Breakfast QuinoaJust a quickie post today, I have soooo much work today! I'm home alone and free to eat when and what I want. Almost at least, I really have to drop a few pounds so it has to be sensible. I really wanted something sweet, for a few days, but cakes or cookies are out. So I decided to combine a late breakfast with an early lunch, and my daily intake of fruit. Quinoa also sounded really good.
I Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-14342010349401570612010-08-09T09:56:00.000-07:002010-08-09T09:56:53.076-07:00Cold Tomato Soup? With Vanilla Cream?This post could also be called: "Why should you try things that sound weird?". The NYT's Diner's Journal Blog had a recipe on a Gazpacho with Vanilla Cream last week. It wasn't just the vanilla cream that was weird (the soup is salty, after all), but it also used a bottle of lemon flavored Perrier. The lemon flavored Perrier was the inspiration to the recipe, but I'm not keen on buying waterSilkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-58323826524682141742010-08-06T09:52:00.000-07:002010-08-06T09:53:07.887-07:00More Porky Goodness: Wine Marinated Pork ChopsMoving from head to toe on my pig (yes, I still have a trotter in my freezer and am pondering what to do with it) I'm making it across the nice cuts. Ok, pork chops usually tend to be on the dry side, tender - yes, but quite something to chew on. I had made one of the chops a few weeks ago, after brining it for a few hours, and it was great in taste, but it still had a bit of that pork chop Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-27932056939587501202010-07-31T17:47:00.000-07:002010-08-11T08:43:53.918-07:00Merci beaucoup, Madame! - Taste test of the fromage de teteHere's the promised follow-up with the taste test. I was skeptical. Yes, I liked it when I tried it before we put it in the oven. I was still skeptical. I loathed it when my mom got Suelze when I grew up. Really not mine. I also really didn't like tongue growing up, and while I've had it since (thanks Jeff for trying, it's just got the wrong consistency for hot pot!) it's just not my favorite.
Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-37404668023652386222010-07-29T16:58:00.000-07:002010-08-11T08:44:09.846-07:00What to do when life hands you a pig's head?Still with me? Good. The head was part of the half pig that I shared with a friend. We were both a bit queasy about the head (You take it - no, you take it!), but we both couldn't just throw it out. There had to be something that we could make of it. I told this to my French friend, and she said that her mom makes a great pate out of pig's head. "Sulze" or "Head cheese" was what I was thinking, Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-58376003729848806502010-07-26T14:35:00.000-07:002010-08-11T08:43:36.319-07:00Michelle and Bill's Wedding CakeI'll start off saying that I'm sorry about the picture quality. I only brought my iPhone to the wedding, hence the low quality. Plus, in the relative panic of making the cake I also only used the iPhone. Blame it on the jet lag. I'm sure I'll get a nice pic of the cake sometimes soon and will update the post. However, I had a few good learnings so I figured I'll share right away.
Here is the Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-48469192818955256862010-07-17T22:48:00.000-07:002010-08-11T08:44:37.459-07:00How to make Beet Haters eat BeetsHere is the confession of the day: I was once a beet hater. Why, you say? Because the only way I knew them were pickled, out of a glass bought at the supermarket. Soggy, weird tasting, and very red. I hated beets. Until I walked past them one sunny morning at the farmers market. I asked the farmer what to do with them, and she said that she wrapped them in foil and baked them. Which I did that Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-50569123835348950422010-07-04T11:07:00.000-07:002010-07-04T11:07:21.297-07:00Happy Birthday USA!Just a very quick little post today, with my favorite of all cheesecakes dressed for the occasion:
Ok, the band doesn't have quite the right color, and the white isn't completely white... whatever.
It's the Cordon Rose Cheesecake. Not one of those Cheesecake Factory monsters, but a nice light custardy cake. Some of the sour cream replaced by pureed banana. And the ladyfingers dipped in a Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-45893592168680310802010-06-30T12:48:00.000-07:002010-06-30T12:48:59.412-07:00Beet Rösti, played with
And yet another Minimalist recipe that I love, and that I've made in many different versions - Mark Bittman's Beet Rosti. The original recipe (red beets, rosemary) is wonderful. It's super easy to prepare if you have a food processor with a blade - here it is before it goes in the pan. It doesn't look complicated to make, does it?
But I also play around with it. Often. I probably make one or Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-61873650746588956662010-06-23T16:25:00.000-07:002010-06-23T16:25:49.987-07:00Chinese Cucumber and Radish SaladsOne more post covering the cooking class in Beijing - two quick, yummy summer salads. The cucumber salad is actually one of my favorites when I go out for dinner in China, it's always good, and very refreshing. The radish was new for me, but perhaps it's a regional Beijing or Northern China specialty as I found it that night in my roadside restaurant.
The radishes we got where HUGE! They were Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-90213040759320923412010-06-18T16:13:00.000-07:002010-06-18T16:20:17.146-07:00Asparagus Pesto with GnocchiIt's asparagus season I guess, and this year there seems to be a proliferation of asparagus pesto recipes. I saw them on Bittman's blog, in Epicurious and in Food & Wine, so I decided to give it a try. After a few miserable weeks last year having what I found out recently was Pine Mouth (more info for example here: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2009/05/Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-80991888030538744842010-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:002010-06-11T16:51:41.230-07:00Dumpling Class in one of Beijing's HutongsWhat to do when I'm away from my kitchen? Find another kitchen to cook in. In Beijing, I found Chunyi Zhou's kitchen hidden away in one of the old hutong neighborhoods. Finding is the key word here - finding her online is easy when you're looking for cooking classes in Beijing. Finding her kitchen is a bit more challenging, it's deep inside this maze of alleys:
The dumpling class was what was Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-60550850580435144782010-06-10T11:21:00.000-07:002010-06-12T14:59:39.904-07:00Soup Dumplings and other Chinese Street FoodGoing to China for business is fun. Ok, not the business part - think of sitting in multi-hour meetings in Mandarin, with the occasional English question - but the evenings and weekends often are great food adventures.
Saturday morning I set out to find the perfect soup dumpling in Shanghai. Ok, the locals probably have their well kept secrets, but I trusted Google and went to Jia Jia Tang Bao, Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-13221342192935733342010-05-19T09:24:00.000-07:002010-05-19T09:25:32.947-07:00Ulrich's AlbondigasA very long time ago I had a very good friend that I hung out with a lot. It was student times, and we cooked a lot for each other, nothing fancy, but mostly good. My favorite of his foods is still one of my staples - his Albondigas. Albondigas is nothing else but a fancy way of saying meatballs. But these are soooo good. And they get better!
Emptying out the freezer and getting it ready for Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-60258248295339230472010-05-08T08:59:00.000-07:002010-05-08T09:00:48.578-07:00Ricotta!It looks like this is my "make everything from scratch" week. No, I'm not making my own cheddar yet. But Ricotta? Ricotta is easy, and so much better than what you can buy. Especially the stuff at Safeways in the plastic tubs, which has this rubbery consistency... Homemade, really fresh ricotta is very light, and I have to stop myself from just eating it straight from the bowl. Why not? Because Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-33331265836899862292010-05-05T17:07:00.000-07:002010-05-05T17:07:19.129-07:00Pork RillettesSo here we go with the quarter pig.... It's safely in my freezer. Including a trotter and a half head. Why a half head and not a quarter head? Because my friend Mark, whom I'm sharing the half pig with also wasn't enamored of having dead pig stare back at him whenever he opens his freezer. Luckily I have a friend that's from France, and her mom makes a pate (head cheese?) out of pork heads. She Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-56908257087824986562010-05-03T18:09:00.000-07:002010-05-04T18:07:48.210-07:00Maionese de LeiteOhhhhh...... Did you ever see a recipe, and knew you had to make it? Immediately? That's what I thought when I found David Leite's recipe for milk mayonnaise here: http://leitesculinaria.com/32983/writings-milk-mayonnaise.html
I'm a sucker for homemade mayonnaise, so this sounded very intriguing. And the ingredients are milk - check - lemon juice - check - garlic - check - salt and pepper -Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-27425440535539600932010-05-03T14:22:00.000-07:002010-05-04T09:48:31.641-07:00Chocolate BreadThe ski season is coming to an end, which means that everybody has to come up one more time to take advantage of the recent snowfalls. Of course this doesn't only mean skiing, it also means crowds for dinner and house guests, and it means that even if I make cheese fondue I like to have a dessert in my back pocket, for the off chance that people are still hungry. The chocolate bread that David Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-59142314406653397642010-04-30T08:08:00.000-07:002010-04-30T10:49:40.467-07:00Thyme Lavender Lamb Loin ChopsWhen bread and cheese is verboten as a weeknight dinner because I'm trying to loose weight it usually comes down to meat and salad. Stopping by Karin's farm on the way and desperate for a dinner meat I fished the thinnest piece of meat out of her freezer that I could find. And man, was I in for a treat. It was lamb loin chops. 4 of them, for a scant half pound, and all of them for me. I put them Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-80656548208605594882010-04-29T19:29:00.000-07:002010-04-30T10:49:01.542-07:00Real FoodHector's post on Rose's Forum got me thinking today. What is real food? Here is my real food:
What's different about these eggs? First off, they are not all the same color, nor the same size, and they taste delicious. But the main point is: I know where they come from. I saw the hens that laid them today, and I saw the ones that will lay them in a few months:
And they all looked as happySilkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2791571270017554273.post-7134128500664043042010-04-26T19:26:00.000-07:002010-04-26T19:26:51.954-07:00Peppered StrawberriesIt wasn't possible for me to pass the strawberry stand at the Los Gatos farmers market last weekend without getting some. They were beautiful. They smelled so good. And they handed out samples - they did me in. The first basket was gone by the time I was home. The second one didn't survive the next two hours. But the third one was safely tucked away in the trunk, and actually survived till today.Silkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07128147568499289106noreply@blogger.com8