Weekend Cooking

We had Cabinet Lady and Dr. Debbie over for dinner on Saturday night. The two ladies and I were supposed to do the epic North Crest Trail hike but they had major furniture moving issues that got in the way. Booo on that. But it gave Wife and I an excuse to cook.

I'm going to have to do some major rebranding of food cred because Wife in the last year has really become my co-conspirator in the kitchen and needs to be recognized for her achievements.

We actually have very complimentary skills as she is great with things like frying, bread, dessert to compliment my grilling, braising, sauteing and overall flavoring skills.

The first course we did on Saturday was a great example of this. It was a Swiss Chard croquetta. It is inspired by a Spanish tapa that is made with many flavorings but nothing like what we did.

I improvised with the interior which was Chard from our garden, parboiled, drained, chopped, and flavored with garlic powder, onion powder, Pimenton, salt and pepper, with some sherry soaked fresh bread crumbs and a little Parmesan cheese as binders. Wife is an expert at shaping and breading with an egg wash and Panko bread crumbs. She did the last minute frying.

In the meantime, I had made a sauce of tomatoes, red bell pepper, onions, garlic, fresh tarragon, and fresh basil. I roasted these for 90 minutes at 30o degrees. The cooked for another 10 minutes on the stove with sherry, pureed and strained.

Here is the finished product.

The Chard was clearly the star. Not overpowered with the sauce a great compliment.

The main course was another great collaboration. Wife wanted grilled meat since we so rarely have that with our low calorie regime. So I wasn't out when our guests were with us, I pre-grilled a set of country ribs (marinated in soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, rice vinegar, white pepper, ginger and garlic) until they were to about 110 degrees internal temperature. Then I finished them later before eating in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes until around 140 degrees internal temperature.

Mrs. de-I in the meantime had made some fried potatoes from scratch. She pre-fried them at a medium temperature until they were cooked through. They were then drained and allowed to completely cool down. Just before serving they were browned in hot oil.

Wife serving the potatoes

Perfectly cooked meat with perfectly fried potatoes

The collaboration of Mr. and Mrs. de-I is just getting started. Book your reservation now!