Easter Eating

This entry is dedicated to my mother-in-law who is generally no slouch in the kitchen but totally managed to knock everybody's socks off with a dish she prepared for Easter brunch. It was a savory tart with wild mushrooms, leeks and Gruyere cheese. I swear it was right up there with one of the best things I have ever tasted. I made her promise to make it every Easter (if I can wait that long..)

I took on Easter dinner and prepared Anchovy and Rosemary Roasted Lamb...

(has anyone bought a leg of lamb recently? They are pricey! Maybe I should start raising lambs. But then again, I could never actually slaughter one so I'd just end up with all of these sheep as pets ... I guess I should stop complaining about the price, right?)

...Asparagus, Green Onion, Cucumber, and Herb Salad

....and boiled new potatoes that I mashed with a little cream and butter and blended with a healthy amount of a spring pesto I created using olive oil, pine nuts, cilantro, chives, mint, a jalapeno chili, garlic, salt and pepper.

I have to credit Chef Mortimer (again) for the pesto/potato idea. He mentioned it in his last cooking class. However, I had to refrain from appearing hypocritical and using a traditional basil pesto (after whining in an earlier blog about how I felt using basil in the spring was just somehow wrong...) so I chose different herbs for this dish.

The whole meal came together beautifully - and rather quickly. I did discover in the cooking process that I own three different instant-read meat thermometers and that none of them are even remotely accurate.

It might have something to do with the fact that they are all electronic and that my three-year-old likes the different beeping noises they make when he presses all of the buttons at the same time ...

I had to borrow my mother-in-law's.

I recruited my husband for help with the dessert. It was very hands-on, and baking and pastry 'cheffing' are not my strong suits. We made Chocolate-covered Poached Pears with Apricot-Pecan Stuffing and Chile Sabayon

(I researched the word 'Sabayon' and discovered that it is just a fancy French word for the Italian dessert known as zabaglione -- which is sort of humorous since the dessert above is described as being a staple at Mexican passovers -- talk about fusion..)

My family enjoyed all of this with a Salvestrin Rettagio and a Buena Vista Pinot Noir.

(...and you know us. Of course there were more wines opened - they just aren't worth mentioning here...)

What?

It was Easter , after all....

The Reckless Chef

Wow, it's been four days already.

The carnitas turned out awesome - some of the best I've ever had - despite my inability to follow directions and my intentional adulteration of the recipe in some places.

First off, I didn't marinade at all. I didn't plan ahead enough and was running out of time.

Next, I started rubbing all of the spices into the meat before realizing that the quantities given were meant to create a batch (a whole cup) of rub and that I was only supposed to use one tablespoon for the recipe...

..OMG. I was pretty certain I had destroyed the pork with that overload of spice and salt-- but I decided to press on....

Switching into mad scientist mode, I browned the completely spice blackened pork and threw it in the crock pot on low with all of the ingredients called for in the marinade section of the recipe (minus the soy sauce because I certainly didn't need any more salt).

Miraculously, it turned out fantastic. I think the slow cooker thing kind of has a tendency to mute flavors, so it was probably a blessing that I over did the seasoning to such a huge extent.

I served the carnitas in warm corn tortillas with homemade pico de gallo, sour cream, shredded cabbage and chopped avocado(..and a Salvestrin 2005 Sauvignon Blanc...)

I will definitely make these again -- I hope I can re-create such a happy accident!

We're Starting the Weekend a Little Early...

The Potato, Greens & Goat Cheese Quesadilla recipe was nice and quick but the flavors were sort of a let-down.

The salsa + the chili powder + the pepperjack cheese gave it nice spice but also made it sort of acidic. I think if I made it again I’d leave the salsa out of the quesadilla and serve it as a condiment along with sour cream. I might add cumin and cilantro to the quesadilla itself.

I think I will serve an off-dry white wine, like a Viognier, with this dish if I prepare it again. However, I must mention that last night it paired exceptionally with Diet Coke.

(We are trying to refrain from drinking wine with dinner every night. It gets expensive and, strangely, encourages excessive sleeping in.)

I’ll try to post a new recipe every day, but I’m not going to post another recipe for tonight -- because I’m not cooking.

Chef Jon Mortimer of Mortimer’s Restaurant is hosting Rich Salvestrin, winemaker and owner of Estate Vineyard and Winery in Napa Valley, for a vintner dinner.

The menu?

Seared Sea Scallops / 2006 Sauvignon Blanc

Cedar-roasted Chinook Salmon and Field Greens / 2005 Rettagio (I know all my friends think I’m a wine snob, but I’m here to admit that I have never heard of this varietal… so there.)

Fennel-Braised Herb-Crusted Pork Loin / 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon (Rumor has it this is very rare – the wine – not the pork.)

Beef Wellington / 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

Strawberry Cheesecake with Mascarpone Filling in a Hazelnut Graham Crust / (This course doesn’t appear to be paired with a wine – I guess they just assume we’ll all be too toasted by this point to appreciate it anyway…)

I’ll fill you in on the details of the evening (and all that yummy food) tomorrow.

Hopefully my husband will go easy on me and not tease me too badly about the little crush I have on the chef…

The Politics of Preschool and Potato Chips

Case in point and a perfect opening to this blog …

I’m reading the “Parent Handbook” for the preschool my son will be attending in the fall.

There is a section here entitled “Snacks.” They talk about a monthly snack calendar and how each child will be assigned a day of the month on which they will be responsible for providing the snacks for their class.

In bold it says, and I’m quoting here: “

“SNACKS SHOULD BE COMMERCIALLY PREPARED AND SHOULD ARRIVE AT SCHOOL IN THE ORIGINAL UNOPENED CONTAINERS. DO NOT SEND HOMEMADE SNACKS. THEY WILL NOT BE SERVED.”

Sigh…


I don’t live in a bubble.

I realize that this “rule” stems from concerns that some child at the preschool will have a psychotic parent or guardian that would get their kicks out of adulterating some ‘homemade’ product in a way that would harm the children at the preschool.

Need me to give them more benefit of the doubt? Maybe some parents are concerned that snacks have an ingredient list for allergy purposes.

I don’t remember one instance growing up of a preschool child suffering from a serious allergic reaction or dying from the ingestion of a poison or a razor blade presumably carefully hidden in a cupcake that some mother prepared for her child’s class.

Are those truly the things we are concerned with protecting our children from today?

Isn’t obvious that we are doing more harm than good?

Obesity realted health problems are killing people at an alarming rate.

Obese children are being diagnosed with malnutrition.

Why?

Because children are being led to believe that commercially prepared foods are what’s “normal” and “safe”.

Our childrenhave been and are rapidly developing a taste for commercially prepared foods that are full of refined sugars, salt, additives and preservatives.

Unfounded and paranoid concerns are causing us to set these children up to suffer lifelong health problems.

Don't believe it?

Look up the statistics.

Is a human being more likely to die from HEART DISEASE or a peanut allergy?

DIABETES or poisoning?

Swallowing a razor blade or CANCER?

As parents, we need to make it a priority to take the time to introduce our children to delicious whole foods so that by the time they must to make their own decisions about what to eat, they will know that whole foods actually taste better …

… and they feel better when they eat them.