A new decade deserves a new thread. I thought I'd start it with this interview with Anthony Bourdain that you might find interesting.

http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/20 ... rdain.html

I made roasted Cauliflower with Kalamata Olive Relish for dinner last night - it was pretty awesome.

Chop up Cauliflower and baste with a little olive oil - roast for @ 45 mins on 350.

Chop up kalamatas into a relish, squeeze half a lemon and mince a clove of garlic onto the mixture, top with lemon zest.

If you are feeling squirrely, you can add capers and some golden raisins like they do at Houston's.

Great side, but Fat Boy tryin to cut some weight, so I am eating much more sensibly.

i made fennel and onion chicken, with green beans and roasted red bliss garlic potatoes the other night.

i was shocked that it was actually good.

White chili tonight for me and the broken-winged lady. It were good, too.

since my dad's diagnosis, my mom's been fixing a lot more raw-foodie type meals. she's been dabbling for a while now and has a veritable library on the subject.

she made this pie last month and goddamnit if it didn't stuff me all t'hell. hurt so good.

prepared properly, it tastes like a very rich brownie

Raw chocolate cake (by momma toots)

3 cups raw walnuts
1/8 tsp. salt
16 pitted medjool dates
2/3 cup raw cacao powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp. filtered water
1/3 cup Chocolate Ganache (icing)

Place the walnuts and salt in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until finely ground. Add the dates and process until the mixture begins to stick together. Add the cacao powder and vanilla extract and process until the powder is incorporated. Add the water and process briefly.

Line a 6-inch cake pan with parchment-paper (or wax paper). Pour the chocolate mixture into the pan and distribute it evenly. Press down with your hand to compact.

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a serving plate upside down on the top of the cake pan. Invert, then lift the pan off. Remove the parchment or wax paper.

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup dark agave syrup or maple syrup
3/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1/8 tsp. plus a pinch of salt

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the blender jar with a rubber spatula.

Use spatula to spread ganache over cake.

Personal notes:
+ Cacao powder - you can use cocoa powder instead, but it won't be a completely raw dessert then since cocoa powder is cooked.
+ You can shape the dough into a round cake with your hands if you don't have a round cake pan.

I made Roasted Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad last night which Bourdain has said he would pick for his last meal.

Sear Bones on both sides for 2 minutes over high heat
Transfer Pan to Oven and Roast for 20 minutes at 450 F

When Bone Marrow is almost finished, mix chopped parsley with capers, lemon juice and olive oil

Scoop Marrow and spread on toast points, lightly season with cracked sea salt, spread parsley salad on top.

I don't think I'd want this for my last meal but it was pretty good.

A suggestion...

Take a wheel of brie and slather on some preserves, apricot works well, so does blackberry if you like going that direction.

Wrap in a sheet of frozen puff pastry.

Bake at 375 until golden brown.

Serve with some crackers.

Pastry, fruit, melted gooey french cheese...everyone loves this and it is about the easiest thing you can ever make.

If you wanna be fancy you can sprinkle on some slivered almonds and/or drizzle on a bit of honey.

for my birthday I got:

Shun 6" Chef's Knife, which brings me up to 6 of these knives now. Time to make a magnetic wall holder for them with only wood showing, so they don't get scratched.






Le Creuset Cast Iron Skillet (and matching mortar and pestal). Made bacon and hashbrowns in it Sunday morning, and seared some ocean perch in it last night that was really good. The wife mentioned it like twice last night and again this morning, so it must've actually been decent.

I've never owned a slow cooker before, but my wife wanted one so as of this weekend there's one sitting in my kitchen. Anyone have a good recipe to try, to break this sucker in?

I like to slow cook short ribs. Throw the short ribs in. Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and a bay leaf. Pour beef broth until half of the ribs are covered half way up. Cook 4 - 6 hours until they almost fall apart.

Real simple but it's great.

Also you can do an entire small chicken in there, if it's big enough, with chicken broth and similar veggies around it.

so easy, and so good. i recently tried a recipe that added in some irish stout and other spices i never would've thought of (and can't remember now other than curry)...damn good.

also, not so gastronomical i guess, but while i'm in here...did up 2 really good versions of hot wings yesterday. maple-chipotle and mango-curry (covered in crushed pistachio). good shite.

Instead of just corn on the cob with my steak, I made the following last week.

1. slathered fresh corn on the cob with roasted garlic, butter, s&p
2. wrapped in tinfoil, corn went on the grill
3. chopped up some bacon into bits, cooked it till it was slightly crispy
4. pulled the bacon out, added chopped onions into the bacon grease, cooked till done
5. pulled corn off the grill, cut all corn from husks into a mixing bowl
6. dumped in the cooked onions and the bacon bits (with a little grease from the bacon), mixed it all up good
7. chopped green onion garnish

FLAVOR TOWN.

J, this sounds finger-licking good!

Made a decent dinner last night:

Spinach salad with strawberries, toasted almonds and goat cheese.
Then smoked lamb ribs with asparagus almondine and smashed potatoes.
Finished up with some home made chocolate covered strawberries and ice cream
Downed a couple bottles of decent wine with it all.

sounds brutal, but overall good. you didn't smoke the lamb ribs on your own, right?

Actually yes I did.

The smashed potatoes are pretty easy and tasty and non-brutal though. Boil small new potatoes for about 15 minutes until they get soft and then press them down into little puck-like things and drizzle on some olive oil some seas salt and cracked pepper and bake until they get crispy a bit.


OH...and speaking of food I think I am developing an addiction to Manchego cheese. Any suggestions of other firm, dry cheeses that are tasty would be appreciated...especially if they're a bit on the cheaper than Manchego side of the equation.

Those taters sound interesting. I always wondered the difference between mashed and smashed.

Manchego is fucking amazing. I haven't found much close in that category.

Been doing a lot of slow cooker stuff cos it's been cold here. Mexican style pork, pot roast, etc.

Manchego is friggin awesome but some varieties are a little greasy.

the potato thing sounds interesting. with what did you smoke the lamb?

Just a cheap electric smoker with some applewood chips. I'm not gonna say it is as good as a more elaborate means of smoking meat. But, for just a small amount of something, one of those little electric jobs does quite nicely. I toss a couple chickens in there pretty regularly.

I used to have a huge terrace on the roof of the house where I live so I wanted to get one of those but they locked it now so this idea is on hold. I saw these metal boxes, very simple, nothing electric, but I'm not sure if you can use it for cold smoking as well.

manchego is great, so is p'tit basque which is a sheep's milk cheese as well. It isn't aged as long so it isn't as complex. Still very good though.

I have a p'tit basque sticker from a wheel of cheese on a guitar case. I was planning on covering that case in stickers from those wheels.

and for dinner, i blackened a large salmon fillet in olive oil with black pepper, sea salt, and a bit of cayenne. Flaked into some penne with tomato vodka sauce, then broiled some mozzarella on top. Served with some garlic bread twists.