recent food musings

pot roasted rosemary lamb with fingerling potatoes
this is what i made for new year's eve dinner and it was amazing. so super easy and so succulent, tender, and flavorful. the gravy was the most luscious i have ever had.

goat cheese, pesto, and sun dried tomato terrine
i first ate this totally delicious combination in giant form at a weeding in the berkshires. realizing that i could easily replicate it, i googled it and found this recipe. its a true standby appetizer that everyone loves. i made it for both thanksgiving and christmas eve this year.

maine shrimp season
seth has a goal of cooking with maine shrimp as frequently as possible. so far he has made shrimp quesadillas, shrimp cocktail, and shrimp curry. the shrimp curry is a variation on a thai chicken curry he has been making for years. i asked him to add less water so it would be more saucy. he threw the shrimp in at the absolute last moment so they wouldn't over cook.

duck fat
i read somewhere reports of soggy fries at duck fat. i am happy to report that my last two visits have resulted in delicious crispy fries.
favorite dipping sauce: truffled ketchup

a little peruvian beach action in maine

seth did it again. he made an amazing creation utilizing sweet maine shrimp. this time it came in the form of cebiche (also known as ceviche). seth and i fell in love with cebiche while traveling along the pacific coast of peru and one bite of his maine shirmp cebiche brought my right back to an open air restaurant in huanchaco. a good cibeche can't be simpler with lime juice, cilantro, red onions, and salt as your only seasonings. this dish warmed me up on a cold february night in portland, maine.

asian home cooking

as i have mentioned before, seth really loves asian food, and i am a pretty big fan myself. so we have been cooking up some yummy asian food at home. seth recently made this awesome thai curry he has been making for years and i tried a new recipe for pork meatballs from this new cook book we got call food lovers vietnamese, a culinary journey of discovery. both recipes follow.

red or green chicken curry:
heat 1 oz oil and 2-3 tbsp red or green curry paste for one minute
add 3/4-1 lb cubed chicken until brown
add 1 cup coconut milk and 2 cup water, bring to boil, simmer 15 minutes
add veggies (tomatoes, snow peas, shitakis, etc.) cook 5 minutes
add 1 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp brown sugar, 2 tsp grated lime rind, 1/2 cup basil
toss well and season with salt and pepper to your liking
serve with basmati rice

this past time seth made this dish he used maine shrimp in addition to chicken. the shrimp worked beautifully. any protien really would. my only complaint about this amazingly flavorful meal is that the curry is never as thick as the ones you get in thai restaurants. in looking at the recipe it may be because you add so much water. cutting back on the water a little may help to thicken it. we also always use low fat coconut milk which probably changes the consistency a little. i'm sure we have tried to thicken it with corn starch before, but i can't remember how it turned out.

vietnamese pork meatballs (nem nuong):
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1lb coarsely ground pork
1 head tender lettuce, leaves separated
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin strips
1 small cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced into half-rounds
12 or more fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp vegetable oil
pepper

put fish sauce and sugar in a bowl and whisk until sugar is completely dissolved. stir in shallot and garlic, and season with pepper to taste. add ground pork and mix together thoroughly. cover and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.
pinch off about 1 tbsp pork mixture and shape into small meatballs.
arrange lettuce leaves, carrots, cucumber, and mint leaves in individual piles on a large platter.
heat oil in a nonstick skillet, then add meatballs and cook, rolling them around, for 5 minutes, or until golden all over.
to eat, put meatball in center of lettuce leaf with carrot cucumber and mint leaf. wrap up and dip in your favorite sauce.

i served the meatballs with a super simple peanut sauce made by mixing equal parts water, hoisin sauce, and peanut butter. i also make a quick nuoc cham by mixing fish sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, garlic, and thai chilies. both sauces were also from food lovers vietnamese.

the meatballs were delicious. the sugar sort of caramelized all over the outside so even though they were quite savory they had this delicate sweetness to them. we ate them as dinner but they would also be a great appetizer.

i could get used to this

seth is unemployed. in these hard economic times it is a little stressful, but we are managing. he has defiantly picked up the slack around the house, which includes making dinner. i have a very long commute to and from work and there is nothing better to coming home to a home-cooked meal, ready and waiting.
especially if that meal is vietnamese-style maine shrimp summer rolls and chicken satay with home-made peanut sauce. in an effort to keep himself from going stir crazy, seth set about cooking this extravagant meal this past tuesday night. he consulted 3 separate cook books for the peanut sauce recipe. it had a wonderful flavor but was a little thick for actual dipping. he julienned carrots and cucumbers, boiled up some rice vermicelli noodles, broiled the chicken satay, and blanched the shrimp. luckily he didn't roll the rolls himself because it turns out he is no good at that. so we each assembled our own rolls, one by delicious one.
the following night i cooked dinner for seth, otis, and marya. from my stack of recipes to try i selected a pork loin stuffed with figs and blue cheese and a quinoa and spinach gratin. the pork loin, from cooking light, turned out pretty good. it was my first time using my new probe thermometer and i didn't quite realize that i wouldn't be able to hear the alarm in the living room. so it was a little overcooked. and as much as i love that fig-y taste, i don't like the crunch of all the seeds. the gratin recipe i got from the garden of eating blog was amazing. i changed it just a bit, skipping the gruyere and just using some sharp chedder we had in the fridge and i didn't use any of the three fresh herbs the recipe called for. its winter in new england, i have no herb garden, and i'm not spending a small fortune for a few teaspoons of herbs. even without the herbs it was great. cheesy and comforting and filling without being heavy. i ate it with gusto as leftovers for days after.
for dessert marya brought a selection of cookies from two fat cats bakery. yum yum.

another reason to love maine

maine shrimp. the small sweet, naturally pink morsels of deliciousness. otis and marya had told tales of these treats many times. on monday december 1st, i heard announced on mpbn that the maine shrimp season had officially started and would be an especially long season, i knew i was going to be indulging within days.
saturday, as we did our grocery shopping, we picked up one pound of unshelled maine shrimp for about $4 a pound. later that night, as seth shelled them, he said to me "these are cooked right?" he was fooled by the naturally pink color because they were raw. we blanched half and had shrimp cocktail and sauteed the rest in olive oil and garlic and put them on top of our pizza. SHRIMPALICOUS!!!!
we may have though our shrimp feast was done for the week but it wasn't. sunday night we went to otis and marya's for dinner and after some amazing appetizers of wellfleet oysters in the nude and rockefeller and blue fish smoked by otis's father, we dug into some amazing maine shrimp etouffee prepared by otis.
i have no doubt there will be much more indulging on maine shrimp.