Pork Cracklins

Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers

2008-07-22T06:10:42Z

Wow, were these turkey burgers good. Great flavor. I used half dark meat, half white meat and served them on pita with a cucumber & yogurt sauce. We also liked the salad a lot. The tart was also really delicious, with a light, buttery crust.

Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 50)

Cucumber & Yogurt Sauce (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 50)

Cucumber, Fennel & Roasted Potato Salad with Parsleyed Yogurt (Fine Cooking #92, May 2008, p. 44)

Plum Tart with Lemon-Shortbread Crust (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 64)

Wine: Cakebread 2003 Rubaiyat (Napa Valley, California). We should have drank this a long time ago. I didn't like it at all (past its prime), Larry and Jay thought it was drinkable but just okay.

Mexican Black Bean Burgers

2008-07-14T05:20:50Z

Larry requested these burgers from the latest issue of Fine Cooking. They were delicious served without buns but with an tomatillo & avocado salsa.

Mexican Black Bean Burgers (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 51)

Tomatillo & Avocado Salsa (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 51)

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Butter Lettuce Mix with Buttermilk Herb Ranch Dressing (California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups and Sides, p. 23)

Moist Mustard-Rosemary Chicken for a Crowd

2008-07-06T05:02:50Z

We had a few people over for a post-July 4th barbeque: Assana, Dan, Chris, Tony, Janett. This chicken was excellent, and I think it would make a great chicken salad. We used both breasts and thighs. I hadn't made the zucchini roll-ups before but we liked them a lot. Janett and Tony brought a pumpkin polenta and Chris brought curried lentils and roasted veggies in a tomato sauce - all really good.

Grilled Zucchini & Goat Cheese Roll-Ups (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 55)

Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 98c)

Moist Mustard-Rosemary Chicken for a Crowd (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86)

Quinoa with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 156)

Black Forest Trifle (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 58)

Wine: - Loma Prieta 2000 Zinfandel (Lodi, California). Assana brought this yummy Zin to start us off for the night. - Sextant 2004 Wheelhouse Zinfandel (California). Delicious as always.

BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad

2008-07-05T04:58:28Z

I haven't made this salad for a long time. For some reason I thought making a half-recipe would be perfect, but I could barely finish half my salad. This recipe makes a lot of salad and a lot of dressing. I made a full recipe of the dressing so we'd have some leftover for weekday salads. We love this salad and it's great for a summer night.

BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad (California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups and Sides, Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, p. 23)

Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze (Inside America's Test Kitchen, p. 249)

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Sage

2008-07-04T04:44:14Z

Another test recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I used whole wheat penne. There are so many good butternut squash and sage recipes out there, I probably won't make this one again.

Pasta with Butternut Squash and Sage (Cook's Illustrated Test Recipe)

Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Born in Berkeley Burgers

2008-06-16T03:55:08Z

Jay came over for burgers - I've been wanting to make these again but have been waiting until I could get figs at the market. Finally! I made these with turkey instead of beef this time, and they were really good. The cake.... well, I had issues. It didn't look the best but it turned out okay in the end.

Born in Berkeley Burgers (Food Network Challenge, Build A Better Burger III)

Roasted Baby Beets

Grilled Bread Salad with Tomatoes & Spicy Greens (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 38)

Chocolate Stout Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 422)

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

2008-06-08T03:13:36Z

My surprise guest for the weekend was my friend Kathy from Georgia. Larry and several friends were in cahoots to bring her into town to celebrate my dreaded 40th birthday (June 13). We had a great weekend, and I decided we needed to make dinner together but I wanted it to be something easy. This pasta is easy to make, but I wasn't overly thrilled with it. Not sure why.

Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (Fine Cooking #92, May 2008, p. 57)

Butter Lettuce and Radiccio & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Oven-Roasted Beets

Wine: - Fontodi 2005 Chianti Classico (Chianti, Italy). We thought this was one of the bottles we brought back from Italy last year. It was good, but my notes say we bought it at K&L Wine Merchants. - Ridge 2002 Buchignani Ranch Carignane (Sonoma County, California). Really good, especially after it opened up a bit.

Broiled Steelhead

2008-06-01T03:02:13Z

I've been eyeing the beautiful steelhead fillets at Whole Foods for a while now, so we finally decided to try it. Neither Larry or Jay had eaten steelhead before either, so I decided to just broil it with some salt and pepper. It was delicious! Kind of buttery and a little rich. The flavor is similar to salmon but not as strong.

Broiled Steelhead

Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic and Olive Oil

Wine: Copain 2004 Cerise Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Not Larry's favorite, but I love Copain wines more and more.

Seared Scallops With Tarragon-Butter Sauce

2008-05-27T04:04:56Z

A fairly quick dinner tonight. I had planned on doing something different with the green beans but was too tired so I just tossed them with sliced shallots, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, then roasted them. The scallops were good, nothing overly special.

Seared Scallops With Tarragon-Butter SauceGourmet, March 2008

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 61)

Roasted Green Beans with Shallots and Garlic

Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

2008-05-26T03:14:45Z

Dan, Assana and Chris came over for a casual holiday weekend dinner tonight. I make these roulades for company all the time, but hadn't made them for this group yet. We liked the zucchini salad okay, but I probably wouldn't make it again. The pie, on the other hand, was spectacular.

Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)

Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Ribbons with Daikon, Oregano & Basil (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 51)

Black & Blueberry Pie with Lemon Cornmeal Crust (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 70)

Wine: - Gamba 2004 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Yum - probably needed to be decanted, but it eventually opened up. - Ridge 2004 Caboose Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Good, but we should have had this one first. - Don Pedro Ximenez 1979 Gran Reserva Sherry (Spain). Assana brought this over to drink with our pie - we both picked up bottles at The Spanish Table on our last trip there. It's really delicious.

Grilled Chicken with Apricot-Balsamic Glaze

2008-05-19T03:05:17Z

Another simple but really good dinner for Larry and Jay tonight. I substituted boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the bone-in chicken parts. The blueberry bars are excellent.

Grilled Chicken with Apricot-Balsamic Glaze (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 43)

Roasted New Potato Salad with Dijon & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 40)

Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 70)

Wine: Thumbprint 2004 Beasley Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Wow - lush berry fruit in this wine. This is why Dry Creek Zins are my favorite.

Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon

2008-05-12T05:10:54Z

Since it was just Larry and I tonight, we splurged on our favorite peppery filet mignons. Larry wasn't overly crazy about the scallion/peas but I liked it. We both loved the pound cake. The lime in it went perfectly with the blueberries.

Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon (America's Test Kitchen)

Baked Potato

Quick-Braised Peas, Lettuce & Scallions (Fine Cooking #92, p. 51)

Blueberry-Lime Pound Cake (Fine Cooking #93, p. 73)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Lytton Estate Syrah (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent Syrah - I think it's probably at its peak right now. Which is good, since this was our last bottle.

Quinoa and Chili-Scented Pork Chops with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

2008-05-05T04:19:14Z

I was worried that this would be too spicy for Jay, but it wasn't. Instead, it was plain yummy. I made a slight change to the quinoa salad - the tomatoes are supposed to be dressed with olive oil and served on the side. I just mixed them in with the quinoa salad, which I would definitely like to make again. I was too lazy to make anything else for dinner, but the salad was pretty filling so it was fine. The tart was good, but not make-again good.

Quinoa and Chili-Scented Pork Chops with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 156)

Chocolate and Polenta Tart (Dolce Italiano, p. 154)

Wine: Ridge 2004 Carmichael Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Wow - one of the best Zins we've had from Ridge in a while. This is the first Carmichael we've had, but we have three more bottles.

Salmon With Lentils And Mustard-Herb Butter

2008-04-28T05:01:28Z

Jay wasn't in town tonight, so we invited our neighbor Chris over for dinner instead. We probably won't be having much more salmon this year due to the cancellation of the season, but this was really good. I love lentils. I thought the idea of the potatoes was good, but they weren't as creamy as I like my potatoes. We all loved the tart, though.

Salmon With Lentils And Mustard-Herb Butter (Gourmet, March 2008)

Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes With Caramelized Shallots (Epicurious, November 2007)

Butter Lettuce and Radiccio & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Honey and Pine Nut Tart (Dolce Italiano, p. 145)

Wine: Copain 2004 Hacienda Secoya Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Copain Pinots are becoming a favorite for me, and nothings more perfect with salmon than Pinot Noir.

Salmon With Lentils And Mustard-Herb Butter

2008-04-28T05:01:28Z

Salmon With Lentils And Mustard-Herb Butter (Gourmet, March 2008)

Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes With Caramelized Shallots (Epicurious, November 2007)

Butter Lettuce and Radiccio & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

Honey and Pine Nut Tart (Dolce Italiano, p. 145)

Wine: Copain 2004 Hacienda Secoya Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Copain Pinots are becoming a favorite for me, and nothings more perfect with salmon than Pinot Noir.