Buffalo Roast for Friends and Dinner

Tags

Brown's Buffalo Ranch, buffalo hump roast

This was such a delightful meal to make for friends Krista and Jess – Krista helps weed the flower beds. And she even gave us a beautiful White Daisy plant for the front bed. – A couple of weeks ago, we made breakfast for Donna who also helps us in the garden. The breakfast was Eggs Benedict! – The buffalo was local from Brown’s Buffalo Ranch in Nyssa, Oregon. Phone: 1-(541)-372-5588 or 208-741-5449, 720 Stephens Blvd., Nyssa, OR 97913. Hump roasts can be tough. But this one cooked for 6 hours on low in the crockpot 1/2 cup bone stock and 1 cup sherry and it was awesome! Spring vegetables – baby carrots, baby turnips, spring onions and rutabaga – were placed in the broth at different times. Here are some photos. Enjoy!

Eggs Benedict

Fresh Beet Salad

Buffalo Hump Roast and Fresh Garden Vegetables. Served with Acme Bakeshop Garlic Scapes and Rosemary Bread.

Skillet Apple Pie with Cinnamon Fresh Whipped Cream (Recipe – Skillet Apple Pie)

The dinner

Thanksgiving 2017

Tags

Brining, crockpot, Dilly Bread

And a good Thanksgiving it was! Marnie had us all down to Marsing, ID for dinner. Robin, Chris, Eric, Emmet, Marnie and me. Beautiful view across the Snake River to Lizard Butte. Sunny and warm. We ate on her back porch. Served dinner buffet style. Much easier.
Eric made some fresh venison summer sausage so we had cheese and sausage to start. And yes, there was a variety of wine and drinks for those who do not drink wine. Emmet made a wonderful Pecan Pie and Marnie made Port Poached Pears. Oh yum! Robin and I made the turkey and some trimmings, including Crockpot Mashed Potatoes, a wonderful and easy way to make mashed potatoes. Chris made the Dried Corn for the first time. Good job, Chris. If you want to see these photos enlarged, Left-Click them.

Lizard Butte from Marnie’s front porch.

Robin on the porch.

The turkey is brining. Here’s how to brine the turkey – How To Brine a Turkey

Robin’s Orange Cranberry. (The recipe is on this site. Don’t leave home without it.)

Marnie, Chris and Eric in the kitchen at Marnie’s house, including Lola waiting patiently!

In the kitchen.

Marnie and Eric making Wilted Lettuce Salad.

Chestnut Stuffing ready for the turkey.

Dilly Bread is ready. Robin’s Dilly Bread

Candied Orange Peel

Dinner is plated.

Emmets Pecan Pie. It was good.

Marnie’s Port Poached Pear with Mascapone

Some Good Summertime Meals at The Captain’s Shack

 
Ah yes! Life in the kitchen in one of the hottest July’s on record at The Captain’s Shack (The Shack). But so much fun to make and serve. Some of these dishes are “eye candy”, too. Some have recipes; Some don’t. (If you want a recipe, just let me know. I’ll see what I can do.) As with most photos on this blog, Left Click them and see them enlarged. Enjoy these photos and if you make any of the recipes, let us know how you liked them. Thanks and Cheers!

Mango Salsa

Fruity and sweet with a moderately spicy component. Great with seafood.

Huevos con Mango Salsa and Avocado

Poached Idaho Trout Nage
Here is the recipe: Idaho Trout Nage

Eggs Florentine
with
Tomato and Bacon Sourdough Toast

Zucchini Galette

Crab Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms
Recipe: Crab Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

Chicken Yakitori with Jasmine Rice
Recipe: Chicken Yakitori

We modified the Yakitori sauce somewhat and have our own Teriyaki sauce that we use. Here are the recipes: Sauce Recipes.

And if you are interested, here are some of the main sauces we use. Enjoy.

Salmon
Peas and Beet Greens
Jasmine Rice

Salmon Yakitori
Lemon Rice
Green Salad
with
Shaved Baby Golden Beets
White Carrot Threads
Heirloom Tomato
Martin’s Swiss Dressing

Biscuits and Herbal Sausage Gravy

Curry Chicken Salad
Avocado Slices
Heirloom Tomato Slices
Acme Toasted Sourdough

Peach Jam on Cinnamon Pinwheels

Peach Jam on Cinnamon Pinwheels
Vanilla Ice Cream and Peach Jam Drizzle

Wild Root Cafe and Market at the JUMP in Boise

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JUMP, Wild Root Cafe

A good evening. Thanks to the JUMP Staff (Jack’s Urban Meeting Place – named for Jack Simplot) for their assistance in having a wheel chair available for Robin and handicap parking available for the car. Security was extremely helpful as was the Staff. Here is a link to their site: JUMP Boise.
I believe that this was the first time that Wild Root Cafe and Market was at the JUMP. They are located at 276 N 8th Street, Boise, ID 83702, Call. (208) 856-8956 Their hours are: 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM – Monday – Wednesday; 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM – Thursday-Saturday; Brunch served until 3:00 PM on Saturday; Closed Sunday. Kitchen closes 15 minutes prior to closing. Here is what was on the program tonight.

The menu was really interesting. Mignardises are: Small sweet tid-bits served at the end of the meal (after dessert), usually with coffee. It’s derived from the old French word, “Mignard” which means either small child, or graceful, pretty and delicate.

Salad –
Endive, citrus, shallots, pistachio cracker, cheese cake, pomegranate vinaigrette

Main Course –
Coffee bison short rib, beet gnocchi, celery root, fava, winter greens, demi and micros

Dessert –
Orange hazelnut mignardises, passionfruit puree, goat caramel, meringue, chocolate and citrus oil

2013 Tikal Malbec and Bonarda

2015 Moscado d’Asti

Preparing dessert

Two rows of tables were setup. This was our table.

All in all, a good night. The food was good, although Robin and I both thought a little salty. We really watch our salt intake and use very little at home. The room tended to be a little noisy and could use some sound baffles – tapestry on walls, etc. Wild Root Cafe uses as many local products as possible. Not much grows around here in the winter – especially this winter.

Orange Upside Down Skillet Cake and Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus

Tags

Egg Thread Soup, Mascarpone, Orange Upside Down Cake

Here is a wonderful – and very easy to do – Orange Upside Down Skillet Cake that we adapted from Rachael Ray. (Recipe in PDF) Really a super, good variation on the traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake. We topped the cake with a Tiramisu Mascarpone instead of the whipped cream. Change the orange to lemon and use Limoncello instead of Grand Marnier and you might have another variation. The variations are limitless. Then also check out the Egg Thread Soup with Aspagagus found after the cake – Eat dessert first, Life is too short! Left-Click the photos to see them enlarged.

Caramelizing the orange slices. I use a mandolin to get the thin slices.

Cake batter is poured on top of the carmelized oranges.

The cake is cooked and is now cooling before removing it from the skillet. Nice brown edges.

Put a platter over the skillet, turn it upside down and the cake should come out easily. If not, tap it lightly to encourage it.

Cross-section of the cooled cake.

Orange Upside Down Skillet Cake
Tiramisu Mascarpone Topping

And here is the awesome Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus:

Egg Thread Soup with Asparagus

It’s been a cold and snowy couple of weeks. Spend more time in kitchen to warm up.

Wonderful 5-Hour Roasted Duck

Tags

5 hour roasted duck, duck, duck sauce, Petit Verdot

Love to make this and it really is so easy. 5 Hour Roasted Duck and add to that some Roasted Root Vegetables and 5 Hour Roasted Duck Sauce, also really good with ham, and you will have a superb and wonderful dinner. A good 2013 Indian Creek Petit Verdot goes extremely well with it.

Several people have asked how to make the duck. Basically – season with Celtic sea salt and fresh ground Tellicherry Black Pepper, stuff with sweet apple and pear, prick the skin all over and cook in a 300°F oven and turn every hour for 5 hours. Last hour raise temperature to 350°F. Do not cover throughout the cooking process.

First of all, the moon must be full. If not, the recipe may not work.

Duck has been salt and peppered and stuffed with Braeburn Apple and Bosch Pear. Oven is preheated to 300°F

After each hour, turn the duck and prick the skin. This is after 1 hour. Pricking the skin at each turn, keeps the duck fat basting the duck.

At 3 hours, things happen. Starting to brown nicely.

Root vegetables are large cut and put into the bottom of the baking pan. This roasts the vegetables and keeps the duck off of the pan surface. The vegetables here are heirloom carrot, heirloom beet, local onion, parsnips and turnips.

Make stock from the vegetable pieces and the duck neck and parts. Simmer low and slow!

Lay the duck directly onto the vegetables and return to the 300°F oven. Cook for another hour.

At 4 hours last turn. It is smelling yummy now.

At 5 hours, remove from the oven and let cool, somewhat.

Yummy slices.

Here is the Cranberry/Cherry sauce for the duck.

Oh yes. Dessert – Pound Cake with Fresh Raspberries and Fresh Whipped Cream.

Thanksgiving 2016

Tags

Dried Corn, heirloom vegetables, Spatchcock, wilted lettuce

And a great day it was! Dinner finished almost on time. Marnie, Chris and Anna joined us. The turkey tuned out fantastic – the first time I have done a spatchcock turkey and it was awesome. Veggies roasted great. Turkey was moist, tender and delicious. I took several pictures on my phone – 3 – of the dinner plated, Marnie and Robin and Chris and Anna, but they never appeared on my phone. They’re out in La-La land somewhere. Here, though, are some photos of preparing the dinner and maybe I’ll make a photo of the plated dinner – at least close to it. Cheers – This was really fun to do!

Getting the Bacon Wrapped Dates ready. Stuffed with Chopped Almond.

Dates ready for the oven.

Mushroom Stuffed Puff Pastry.

Finished product.

Turkey has been spatchcocked (backbone removed) and sitting on heirloom root vegetables – carrot, parsnips and onion – to keep the turkey off the bottom of the pan.

Cooking in the oven at 400 degrees F. This after 1 hour. One more hour to go for a 14 lbs turkey.

Plated

Spatchcock Turkey
Robin’s Cranberry Sauce
Dried Corn
Wilted Lettuce Salad
Roasted Heirloom Vegetables
Stuffing Cups
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy throughout
2006 and a 2008 Indian Creek Winery (ID) Pinot Noir

Skillet Apple Pie

These wines were available for dinner. We only had the oldest two on the left. Super paring and wines.

In order to do a dinner like this, one needs to make a “schedule of events”. Thursday, I also made a schedule like this hour-by-hour.

From Our Kitchen To Yours!

Tags

BFM, Buy Local, herb chart, spice chart

It could be anything! But hopefully, it’s always pretty good. Mostly healthy and always has a local product element. Local. That’s what we try to feature always! Beef, pork, lamb, seafood, greens, fruit, vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, sprouts. You get the idea. And what’s even more fun – sometimes … most times – is preparing the meals. Here are a few photos of some of the dishes we have made recently. If there is a recipe for the item, it may be in the recipe file as listed above or you can look for it by Clicking Here.
We were going to make Greek kabobs and I wanted to find a good Greek herb blend. There is a really good Greek restaurant near us, Mazzah Mediterrean and every time I walk by it, I get this wonderfully awesome aroma of Greek spices. So I found this chart of cultural Spice Blends. We used the Greek Spice and added Sumac and Marjoram. If you are looking for a particular blend, this may help. Save the image and print it out if you need to.

I recently saw an article where folks were planting vegetables and herbs in their front yard, instead of grass! Talk about local and fresh! But we have been doing this for years. Our front lawns, as small as it might be, is our herb garden. Pretty blooms. Great smells and absolutely fresh herbs. Something to think about.

Lamb Kabobs with Greek Spices
From the spice chart above. Local lamb and vegetables.

Greek 5-Cheese Filo on Spinach Bed
Local spinach! No we didn’t make the filo.

Vanila Ice Cream
It was super. Local dairy products.

Bacon and Cheese Omelet
Apricots
Toasted Basque Bread
Local eggs, bacon and Basque bread.

Creamed Spinach Popovers
Local spinach and dairy

Braised Scallops
on
Shredded Napa Cabbage
Sliced Strawberries and Kiwi
Strawberries are local.

Braised Scallops on Crab Rice
Green Salad with Carrot Strings and Micro Greens
Greens and carrots for the salad are all local.

Crab Rice and Shredded Napa Cabbage

Sunnyside Up Eggs
on
Spinach and 5 Greek Cheese Filo

Sausage Links
Apricot Chunks
Local eggs, sausage and spinach.

Mushroom Omelet
Sausage
Pineapple
Toasted Basque Bread
Everything but the pineapple is local!

Parsley Salad
with
Shaved Radish and Fresh Miners Lettuce
All local from the Boise Farmers Market (I’m there every week!)

So there you have it. Not 100% local, but darn close. And this time of year with the Boise Farmers Market being open, it gets easier to buy those local products. Plus, our herb gardens are in full swing – bloom! Enjoy.

Awesome Mother’s Day Weekend in the Kitchen

Tags

coq au vin, crab cakes, Pinot Noir, popover

Just a super fun and good weekend celebrating Mother’s Day with Robin. Exciting coming up with meals that were different and surprisingly good. Fun to make. Easy to make, although some were rather involved. Great to have Marnie over for Sunday dinner. Even Ray, her Golden Lab, had a good time with Buddy.
Some of the photos that follow of the dishes I prepared, have the recipe hotlinked in the article. Please feel free to use the recipe if you would like. The Coq au Vin – Chicken in Wine – is not difficult to do, but it does take some time. The Popovers are quick and easy. The Crab Cakes are different. We had these for both dinner a breakfast! the remoulade is a pretty basic sauce and can vary widely. “… Rémoulade (English pronunciation: /reɪməˈlɑːd/; French: [ʁemulad]) is a condiment invented in France that is usually aioli- or mayonnaise-based. Although similar to tartar sauce, it is often more yellowish (or reddish in Louisiana), sometimes flavored with curry, and sometimes contains chopped pickles or piccalilli. It can also contain horseradish, paprika, anchovies, capers and a host of other items. While its original purpose was possibly for serving with meats, it is now more often used as an accompaniment to seafood dishes, especially pan-fried breaded fish fillets (primarily sole and plaice) and seafood cakes (such as crab or salmon cakes).” Ours is mayo, chilli sauce, ketchup and green tomato relish. And a touch of horseradish.

Crab Cakes on Biscuits
with
Strawberry Fan and Remoulade

Here is the recipe for the Old Bay Crab Cakes. They are differently good.

Strawberry Pie

After the Crab Cakes, we just had to have this Strawberry Pie Recipe. I’m not a baker, but this is wonderful!

Crab Cakes and Eggs

This was an awesome breakfast! Nothing better than seafood for breakfast.

Popovers

Fresh from the oven. Great with butter and jam, too!

Popovers
with
Creamed Spinach Filling

Another suprisingly easy recipe. Popover with Creamed Spinach Recipe

Coq au Vin – Chicken in Wine – getting happy!

Coq au Vin
Popover with Creamed Spinach Filling
Fresh Green Salad

One awesome and fun to make dinner. Here is the recipe for Coq au Vin, Chicken in Wine. Enjoy this one. It is a superb French classic!

Add to this dinner a very good

2008 Indian Creek Pinot Noir

and we had a fantastic experience. Plus the Coq au Vin had some in it too!

Yum Meals this Week!

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dump cake

Yum meals an fun to do! Breakfast and twoi dinners. As folks say, “You do eat well!” and yes we do. Meals from scratch make it so much fun, interesting and nutricious. You can pick and choose what ingredients are included in the dishes. We try very hard to eat local. And now that Spring has arrived, the Boise Farm,ers Market is open every Saturday and we get fresh and locally produced items.
Let’s start with Tuesday dinner. A wonderful Asian Grilled Salmon, although I did not grill the salmon thgis time but rather braised it in the Asian marinade. And as a note, most – not all – but most of the ingredients to these dishes are local products – Idaho grown!

Tuesday’s dinner –

Asian Salmon
Braised Mushrooms
Steameed Asparagus

Wednesday –

Mushroom Omelet
Fresh Fruit

Lamb Chops
with
chardonnay mustard cream sauce

Mashed Parsnips, Turnip and Blue Potato

Steamed Brusssels Sprouts
in
balsamic vinegar and sherry reduction with butter

Dump Cake
with
strawberry fan on whipped cream