In addition to the fried rice previously described, we used the bo ssam leftovers to make pulled pork sliders. I bought brioche mini buns from Draeger’s, warmed up the bo ssam, squirted some gochujang on the meat, and topped it with Vietnamese do chua (pickled carrots & daikon). On the side were some sliced dill pickles, a recipe I am still perfecting. Last night, I tried Andrew Zimmern’s recipe…I’ll know the results in a few days! Read more…
Thirty Sanchez Brewing’s Intolerance Milk Stout
The Intolerance Chocolate Milk Stout is our 5th batch of homebrew…and its awesome! While I love our Berserker Breakfast Stout (a Founders clone) this one is a close second and definitely is on par with Left Hand’s Milk Stout, my inspiration for this batch. We added a bottle of chocolate liquer for some chocolatey flavor (for the Berserker we added Ghirardelli cocoa powder) and lactose/milk sugars for the milky dimension. I am proud of how this one turned out!
Unfortunately, stouts aren’t the best to drink on a really hot day so we won’t be sharing it this weekend. We’ll have to wait until the weather cools down…which it will…because we’re in San Francisco. What’s next? I’m feeling a lemongrass wheat or a coconut brown ale. Read more…
This scotch ale was Joel’s pick. We are quite proud of our third batch of homebrew: it has nutty caramel flavors and a robust finish! We debuted this, as well as our Berserker Breakfast Stout, at our housewarming and I believe it was well received by friends and family.
I just finished reading Julia Childs’ My Life in France and was inspired to make her bouillabaisse which is traditionally served with rouille (basically a roasted red pepper spread) on toasts. When I got to the fish market, I realized it would be kind of expensive to buy all the seafood for her bouillabaisse…plus this particular store only had salmon fish heads (probably my least favorite fish). So, I bought a pound of catfish filets and made a variation of a fish stew I’ve made in the past. This time, I used:
- 1 leek
- 2 shallots
- 4 cloves garlic
- handful of shrimp
- 1 lb tilapia filet
- 3 large roma tomatoes
- handful of chopped parsley
- 3 large chopped swiss chard leaves
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- Kitchen Basics seafood stock & sake
Though I didn’t make the bouillabaisse, I did make the rouille served on slices of sourdough baguette. Making this dish kept prompting me to sing 16 Going on 17 from the Sound of Music. Yeah, its “roues and cads and eager young lads,” but rouille fits right in there!
Rouille
- 1/2 jar of roasted piquillo peppers
- ground cayenne pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 small peeled garlic clove
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
- Fine sea salt, about 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
- a couple slugs of olive oil
Puree everything except for the olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil while processing to form a paste.
All of this was made while sipping on an Imperial Porter from Ballast Point. It is pretty good though the vanilla flavor is a bit strong for me.
We spent last weekend relaxing at a beautiful vineyard estate in Sonoma, which meant we came home with a case of wine from Peterson Winery. I have been a longtime fan of this winery for many reasons. They make great tasting yet affordable wines. Their pinot noir (which they don’t make anymore) was the first wine I tasted and really enjoyed (after a lifetime of drinking $4 swill from Trader Joe’s). They’re family run: Fred started the whole operation and now his son Jamie is the winemaker. Every interaction with them reminds me of how genuine and friendly everyone is at Peterson. One time several years ago, my friend’s car broke down in front of the tasting room and Jamie hung out with us until AAA came.
Though I had to take a two year hiatus for grad school, I’ve been a member of their wine club (Friends of Fred) for many years now. Its good to be enjoying their wines again. They’re close to their grapes and just very accessible people, which I appreciate. While at the tasting room this past weekend, we smelled something delicious that Fred was eating out front with his brother. Turns out, Jamie had made lamb stew, which he shared with us as well (very tasty, and I’ll need to make something like that when it gets colder…I’ve never cooked lamb before).
We had a little bit of Peterson wine left over from the previous week to cook with and to drink, we opened a fresh bottle of Peterson Sangiovese from our visit with the family over the weekend.
I could eat grits every day and we do make them fairly often in place of polenta. The ragu changes depending on what we have lying around. This time, we had farmer’s market tomatoes from the previous week threatening to turn and leftover wine for everything to simmer in. Joel picked up sausages from the butcher and swiss chard and mushrooms from the market. Sauteed everything with onions and garlic and served it over grits made with chicken broth and leftover cheese…a great chilly weeknight dinner.
The next day, I packed the ragu over brown rice for lunch. YUM!
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