Grandma’s Curry

Rumor has it that my Grandmother got this recipe from Ladies Home Journal or Good Housekeeping or one of the magazines in the 50’s/60’s. This is by NO means authentic…but it is a good use of leftovers and is incredibly quick to make. I have made my own improvements…such as substituting Coconut Milk for regular milk…which will also work but I prefer the texture and creaminess that you get with the coconut milk. Don’t tell my family though…they apparently hate coconut milk…but love my curry!

3 T butter
3 T flour
1 c Chicken Stock
1 c Coconut Milk
1 T Curry Powder (we prefer Hot Curry Powder; and you can be as generous as you like)
3 c Chicken (cooked)
1/2 t salt

Mix butter and flour in sauce pan to make a roux. Stir in curry, chicken stock and milk until smooth. Add chicken. Cook until chicken is heated and sauce has a nice thickness. Season with salt to taste.

Serve over rice with accompaniments Chutney, bacon, boiled egg, peanuts…or make up your own.

A Rose Wine makes a nice addition to the meal.

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Easy, Elegant Sunday Dinner

I remember the days before I found Christopher Ranch. Buying garlic and ginger to have on hand, only to go use it and find it wasn’t good anymore. The time spent peeling, chopping, and crushing. This menu is simple, easy and elegant enough to serve to guests.

Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce

Salad with Orange-Sesame Dressing

Fettucine Alfredo (athough, if we hadn’t already had rice 2 of the last 3 meals, I would have done a Jasmine rice)

Served with 2008 Pine Ridge Chardonnay Dijon Clones

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Easy, Elegant Sunday Dinner

I remember the days before I found Christopher Ranch. Buying garlic and ginger to have on hand, only to go use it and find it wasn’t good anymore. The time spent peeling, chopping, and crushing. This menu is simple, easy and elegant enough to serve to guests.

Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce

Salad with Orange-Sesame Dressing

Fettucine Alfredo (athough, if we hadn’t already had rice 2 of the last 3 meals, I would have done a Jasmine rice)

Served with 2008 Pine Ridge Chardonnay Dijon Clones

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Sesame-Orange Dressing

1 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce (optional)
1 shallot, chopped
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Cook the orange juice in a saucepan until reduced by half. Combine with the honey, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, water and hot sauce in a blender. Add the shallot and ginger and process until smooth. Store in the refrigerator.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Firecracker-Spinach-Salad-with-Orange-Sesame-Dressing-235683#ixzz1WMxSSQpd

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Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Mushroom Cream Sauce

This recipe was adapted from epicurious.com. Personally, I don’t know why anyone uses green onion when shallots are so much more interesting.

6 6-ounce tuna steaks, each about 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons peanut oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced (or mixed wild mushroom blend)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Lime wedges (optional)
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preheat oven to 200°F. Sprinkle 1 side of tuna steaks with pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Place tuna steaks, pepper side down, in hot oil and sear 2 minutes. Turn tuna over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 2 minutes for rare. Transfer tuna to rimmed baking sheet; keep warm in oven.

Add butter, sliced shallots, cilantro, ginger and chopped garlic to same skillet and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mix in mushrooms and soy sauce and simmer 30 seconds. Add whipping cream and simmer until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 3 minutes. Stir in lime juice. Spoon sauce onto plates; arrange tuna atop sauce. Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pan-Seared-Tuna-with-Ginger-Shiitake-Cream-Sauce-100670#ixzz1WMumZVER

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Pan-Seared Tuna with Ginger-Mushroom Cream Sauce

This recipe was adapted from epicurious.com. Personally, I don’t know why anyone uses green onion when shallots are so much more interesting.

6 6-ounce tuna steaks, each about 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons peanut oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, chopped
8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced (or mixed wild mushroom blend)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Lime wedges (optional)
Fresh cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preheat oven to 200°F. Sprinkle 1 side of tuna steaks with pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Place tuna steaks, pepper side down, in hot oil and sear 2 minutes. Turn tuna over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 2 minutes for rare. Transfer tuna to rimmed baking sheet; keep warm in oven.

Add butter, sliced shallots, cilantro, ginger and chopped garlic to same skillet and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mix in mushrooms and soy sauce and simmer 30 seconds. Add whipping cream and simmer until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 3 minutes. Stir in lime juice. Spoon sauce onto plates; arrange tuna atop sauce. Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pan-Seared-Tuna-with-Ginger-Shiitake-Cream-Sauce-100670#ixzz1WMumZVER

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It’s a dinner…so it must be a party!

So I had drinks earlier this week with a woman from work. I’m sure this will frighten some of you but we really could have been separated at birth! So I decided to have a dinner party and introduce Darcy and her husband Matt to some of our friends. You can only imagine the chaos that will ensue.

Champagne with St. Helena Olive Oil Company  BALSAMIC VINEGAR Methode Tradizionale (19 year old)

Summer Corn Chowder
Roasted Lemongrass Chicken
Coconut Lime Rice
Grilled Summer Vegetables
2005 Dutch Henry Argos Hillside

Cheese Course (Mt. Tam, Manchego, Covadonga Spanish Blue)
Blueberry- Lime Parfait
2009 Mill Creek Vineyards Gewürztraminer Estate

1995 Dolce Winery Late Harvest

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Improved Summer Corn Chowder

We’ve had lots of corn in our veggie box from our Fulton Farms Community Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) box. They have some of the best corn around but I was looking for something different than grilled corn-on-the-cob. Plus I need something that I could serve to 10 dinner guests.

I found a recipe for Summer Corn Chowder with Scallions, Bacon & Potatoes on Fine Cooking that looked good but the reviews were mixed. The changes I made were a hit with my dinner guests.

The original recipe calls for jalapeno peppers which I’m not a big fan of…they really don’t seem to add all that much flavor or heat. So I substituted chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. John isn’t a fan of scallions so I substituted shallots.

When making this for your vegetarian friends, I cook that bacon separately so that I can select to add it to individual dishes.

The final change I made was to not add salt while the dish was cooking. Instead, I added salt flakes to each dish just before serving.

Serves six as a first course.Yields about 5-1/2 cups.

5 ears fresh corn
5 shallots, chopped
3 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (don’t be afraid to use more if you want)
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 chipotle peppers with adobo sauce (more if you like)
Freshly ground black pepper
3-1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 large Yukon Gold potato (8 to 9 oz.), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1-1/2 cups)
1-1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 Tbs. heavy cream
Salt Flakes

Husk the corn and cut off the kernels. Reserve two of the corn cobs and discard the others. Trim and thinly slice the scallions, keeping the dark-green parts separate from the white and light-green parts.

Cook the bacon in a 3- or 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat until browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour off and discard all but about 1 Tbs. of the bacon fat. Return the pan to medium heat and add the butter. When the butter is melted, add the shallot and the chipotle, and a few grinds of black pepper. Cook, stirring, until the shllots are very soft, about 3 min.

Add the broth, corn, corn cobs, potatoes, and thyme and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the potatoes are completely tender, about 15 min. Discard the corn cobs.

Transfer 1 cup of the broth and vegetables to a blender and puree. Return the puree to the pot and stir in the cream and all but 1/3 cup of the scallion greens. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for a couple of minutes to wilt the scallions and blend the flavors. Serve sprinkled with the bacon and salt flakes.

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Max’s Miso-Glazed Tenderloin of Beef

This recipe comes from Too Hot To Touch by Louisa Edwards.  Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t appear on her website yet. I was especially excited by this recipe because I am a big fan of Yuzu!!

Ann’s Variation
We prefer many other cuts of beef to tenderloin. Hanger steak is one of our favorites because of the taste and price.
We also prefer grilling to roasting. Use the same approach – get a good searing on the outside of the beef before adding the first coating of glaze.

2-1/2 lb beef tenderloin
1 T butter
1 T neutral oil (like grapeseed or canola)

For the glaze:
2 T Toasted sesame oil
1 T Yuzu juice
2 t ginger
1/3 c Black Cherry Jam
1 T miso paste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pat the tenderloin dry, then salt and pepper it all over.

Combine all the glaze ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth and thick.

Melt the butter and neutral oil in a roasting pan over medium high heat. When the butter has stopped frothing, put the tenderloin in the pan. Brown it on all sides, about ten minutes, regulating the heat so that it doesn’t scorch or stick.

Brush the tenderloin  with half of the glaze, then put the pan in the over and roast for 15 minutes.  At that point, check the mean and apply the rest of the glaze. Roast to desired level of doneness, about 15 – 20 minutes more minutes for medium rare.

Allow the meat to rest for at least five minutes before slicing and serving.

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