Sunday, May 4, 2008

Weekend Cooking

The memory aspect of Modzilla Firefox reminds me of how uncreative most of my post titles are. Perhaps that is because my life is fairly unexciting as well. I only did a short hike today because I needed to leave time to cook for some friends coming over for dinner.

I made a four course meal of:

  • Panzanella
  • Spanish Style Chicken Fricassee and Rice Pilaf
  • Cheese
  • Raspberry Shortcake
I was inspired by Motherrocker's recent post to use the Panzanella for my first course. To change it from a meal to a first course, I eliminated the beans and substituted a light chiffonade of dried sausage just to give it a bit of salty zest without too much weight. My veggies were fennel, red and orange bell pepper (parboiled a la MR) along with cucumber and marinated artichoke hearts. Properly admonished by the estimable MR, I was not about to skimp on the croûtons. I flavored the with garlic and fresh oregano from Wife's garden.

Croutons in Raw State

My Garlic, Oregano, Olive Oil Mixture


Finished Croutons
I decided to leave each element separate in the bowl which I had out on the counter when our guests arrived. Then I added the croutons, fresh oregano and parsley, the vinaigrette and mixed it tableside. It was a big hit.


Our main course was a chicken fricassee with Spanish style flavorings. I used my classic chicken fricassee recipe and augmented it with carrots, celery, parsley and thyme. Then added pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika) and saffron. I cooked this all the day before. Then on the day, I separated the meat from the sauce. The finished chicken is below.

I made a sauce with some sauteed elephant ear mushrooms (don't ask, it's the first time I saw them or used them and the cooking juices.

My shortcake I made myself


I made the sauce from some raspberries we had frozen from last years crop. Turned out fantastic.


CinderCella

Somehow granddaughter C is under the impression that grandchildren are to be spoiled. I've informed her that it's more like Cinderella where she has to work for the wicked grandparents. While I was cooking she was working in our garden with Wife for around 4 hours. Actually she loves it and was making up songs singing to herself about working in Grandma's garden.

C doing Hard Time Mixing Soil Additives

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So that's why people look forward to being grandparents - they need people to labor for them.

stef said...

How nice that she is so close to come and labor for you! :)

alexis said...

did she summon woodland creatures to sing while she worked? Make sure for next time!

Michael Podolny said...

No Alexis, the woodland creatures no better. As C herself once said while munching on spare ribs;

"I'm so glad we're not vegetarians Mom."