Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas

Or at least a festive drink.

Friday Night Supper Club

Sous-vide steak with sweet pea puree, carrots, and an all-crust potato gratin from Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen. The gratin didn't turn out quite the way I expected. I need to try it again. Overall, dinner was very tasty.
Searing off the steaks. Thought it might be nice to include an action shot.

Testing New Equipment

Alder-smoked salmon made with a stove-top smoker, which worked great, and risotto made with a pressure cooker which didn't, though it may be because I have an electric stovetop.

Fun With Chemistry

Tomato juice gelled with agar, poached in olive oil, and topped with basil powder. The powder was created by mixing basil oil with tapioca maltodextrin. It was pretty tasty.

What Happiness Looks Like

Again with the orange

Orange roughy poached in Tazo Wild Sweet Orange Tea and a sauce made from the poaching tea mixed with xanthan gum, with an orange gel cube made of orange juice and agar, mixed greens salad with a lemon vinaigrette. The lemon was too pronounced. I should have watered it down some.

Sometimes It's the Simple Things...

Homemade wheat bread & a fried egg. That's good stuff!

First Attempt at Caviar

Most were nice & round, with the occasional blob. I used a pomegranate juice cocktail. timing is very important, as some of the caviar took on a rather nasty taste if they sat too long in the calcium bath. Definitely a technique that requires a bit of practice, but a lot of fun.

My Chemical Romance

No modern kitchen is complete without a few hydrocolloids around. These were purchased from Le Sanctuaire.

I'm sorry

I feel the need to publicly apologize to the chickens that I butchered in order to make stock for the first time. The stock turned out well, but man, those poor chickens.

Orange + Orange = Culinary Gold

Carrots simmered in orange juice with a pan-seared chicken breast. The orange juice was seasoned with cardamom and possibly something else that I don't remember. When the carrots were done I used the juice to deglaze the chicken pan, adding a little bit more orange juice and a little apple juice.

Saturday Morning(-ish) Breakfast

Though probably a good way to start every day. Alton Brown's recipe for French toast along with a fruit salad and mimosas. And no I did not really use Veuve to make the mimosa.

My Bread's Got Ass

I never realized the importance of proper loaf shaping until I made my own bread for the first time.

Well, Thomas Keller and I have at least one thing in common

His favorite roast chicken is also my favorite. It's paired with green beans with orange essence and toasted maple pecans.

An unlikely source

I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I used an Ina Garten recipe the other night for dinner. And it was damn tasty too. The Portobello Lasagna reminded me of a really good peppery cream gravy. An excellent choice if you're having vegetarian guests for dinner.

Sunday Night's All Light

Sunday night's dinner came from two Cooking Light recipes. The protein was Barbecue Roasted Salmon, which was awesome. The starch and vegetable was Rice and black Bean Salad with Cumin Dressing, which was also very damn tasty.

Valentine's Dinner

Possibly one of the tastiest dinners I've made. I prepared Roti de Porc au Lait from Les Halles' cookbook. While it didn't look like the thing in the picture across from the recipe, it tasted fantastic. The only side we had was a baked potato a la Alton Brown. Dessert was chocolate-covered strawberries, made at home of course, that brought dinner to a close wonderfully.

Dinner with my mom-in-law

We had Thomas Keller's favorite roast chicken, his yellow bell pepper soup, steamed broccoli, and mashed potatoes.

Damn Good Soup

Dinner last night consisted of pork loin chops sauteed in a tablespoon of butter and olive oil for about 4 minutes on each side. It had been brined in a quart of water, 1/4 cup kosher salt, and a 1/4 cup dark brown sugar. I should have thrown in some whole black peppercorns for good measure. The best part of dinner was some yellow bell pepper soup from a Thomas Keller recipe. I served the pork with white rice and should have made a cranberry reduction sauce. Maybe next time.