Sunday, August 30, 2009

Food Extravaganza

Last night I made Country Style Ribs. Lee loves this meal and I have been making it since college. It is actually one of the only things I make now that I started in college. My mom showed me how to make this and it is super easy.

Basically - you chop up veggies, place them in the bottom of a roasting pan, place the boneless pork ribs on top, salt and pepper - then bake for about an hour. That's it.

I paired it with a salad of avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, parmesan, and vinaigrette.After drinking some rum after dinner, this is the mood I was in this morning:After a crazy brunch today, I spent some time in the kitchen preparing a few things...
Yes, there is alot of creamer and alot of beer. Yada yada yada.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Absentee Blogger

I need to get better at blogging, like I was when I first started STYR. But with life as crazy as it has been, things seem to fall to the wayside.

Last week and this week are Houston Restaurant Week(s). Last week we went to Feast on Friday night. This is like upscale - strange - British food (egads!) I was weary because of the strange food that was being served, but I was as brave as I could be.
Appetizers (there were 5 people btw)- Spanish Meatballs, Garlic Snails, Scallops, and Black Pudding ( blood sausage). I liked it all but the Black Pudding. It was just too strange.
Main Course - I had Fish and Scallop Pie. This was basically like a shepherd's pie and it was wonderful. Lee had Crispy Pork Belly and loved it.
Dessert - oh where do I even start? Sticky Toffee Pudding. Wow. just WOW WOW WOW. Awesome.

Then Saturday morning, because I didn't feel bloaty enough from all that food, I made a southern breakfast of bisquits, gravy, sausage, and eggs.
Then I didn't eat again until 4pm!!

Last night was turkey tacos - always a big hit. And honestly, I didn't cook on Sunday or Monday, I am not cooking the next 2 nights, and I think Friday we are hitting Pappas Steak House for Restaurant week. So please bear with me as I muddle through studying for my exam and not cooking as much.
I am looking to make a nice big meal this coming Sunday, so I will photograph that.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tuesday Night Dinner

Monday night dinner with Bunny has moved to Tuesdays since my study class is on Mondays.
Tonight was a meal, courtesy of Real Simple Magazine that i got in the mail a few days ago. I altered the recipe a bit - as it called for water - what?

Rigatoni with sausage and onion

Ingredients:

1 small onion, cut into thin rings
2 cloves garlic, minced small (i cheated and used the already minced - but it was fresh from central market - not in that jar...oh yeah, I added this to the recipe too.)
1 head broccoli, sliced relatively small
6oz (i used the whole package) pre-cooked sausage
1/2 cup parmesean cheese, grated
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 pound rigatoni

Place large pot on stove and bring water to boil for rigatoni.

Meanwhile, saute onion in a little olive oil until soft, add garlic and sliced sausage and cook until sausage is browned. Pour in broth and add broccoli. cook, covered, about 5 min. Remove lid and turn heat up to get the liquid really bubbly and evaporating. Once reduced until there is about 1/4 cupish left, remove from heat.

Toss cooked pasta with mixture and cheese. A little extra cheese sprinkled on top doesn't hurt a thing.

Except your thighs.

But whatever.

And a few glasses of chardonnay....

Friday, August 7, 2009

Food!

Donald loves BBQ Chicken Tacos (recipe here):

and we all love Grilled Pizza:

Monday, August 3, 2009

French Wine Night

Saturday night our friends Carlin and Damon hosted a French Wine Tasting at their home, and Ben and I cooked for it (Lee was a helpful sous chef I will say!). It was a tad stressful but it all turned out wonderful!
Carlin had the table set and it looked beautiful!Each wine had a custom dish to go along with it. For the first course, we had a Bollinger Champagne with handmade Sushi - by Ben.Smoked salmon with chive cream cheese and salmon roe (on top)Cucumber and crab rolls.
Then we had a Ruinart Champage paired with squash-feta-mint fritters - by Ben.These were a close call because we fried them at my house, then transported them so they got a little soft. Popping them in the oven for about 10 minutes crisp'd them right up!
Next course - Puligny-Montrachet, bourgone region grand cru (white wine) that we paired with a homemade true Caesar salad. Anchovies and all! -by Me.Next course - we spread over a few different bottles since having 7 courses sounded a bit much! Calon Segur, saint estephe region grand cru (this starts the reds), Chateau Larcis Ducasse, saint emilion region grand cru, Chateau Lagrange, saint julien grand cru. We served beef tenderloin with a red wine reduction and gruyere au gratin potatoes. DEVINE! - by Me. and the boys grilling. Recipe's for both of these courtesy of Jennifer!
To end the night we had Chateau DuTertre, margaux region grand cru served with Molten Lava cakes and mascarpone whipped cream - by Me.
excuse the blurry photo but at this point - lots of wine and it is like 10:30 at night!!!!
Carlin took the photo so we aren't all in there! Xanthia and Bryce are some new folks we met that night, friends of the Putmans'. We had a FANTASTIC night and I can't wait until next month - Italian wine tasting!
I might have to watch Moonstruck to get all in the mood for that!
Oh yeah - Carlin is an event planner - check out the name cards!!