Bear Down Wildcats

damn scum that look killer!

I'd love that German dinner.

Scotch broth tonight, followed by a dram of whiskey and ginger bread

Really really good. One of my favorite meals I've made. The cabbage was perfect and the gravy was pure heaven.

Spaghetti tonight.

Does any one know an Italian restaurant in Tucson that makes fresh gnocchi? Craving some. I saw a recipe for butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter sauce and now I cannot stop thinking about it.

Zero wrote:Does any one know an Italian restaurant in Tucson that makes fresh gnocchi? Craving some. I saw a recipe for butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter sauce and now I cannot stop thinking about it.

No, sorry Zero, I don't know. It's a shame how rubbery they are when you buy them packaged. And they really are a project to take on, with pitfalls. You screw up and they dissolve in the boiling water.

Tonight: roasted potato soup with a fried egg and bacon sandwich

Zero wrote:Does any one know an Italian restaurant in Tucson that makes fresh gnocchi? Craving some. I saw a recipe for butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter sauce and now I cannot stop thinking about it.

Is DaVinci's still around? I was a regular in the Fina household back in the day and Dr. Fina was good friends with Cosmo Ali, owner of DaVinci's. They used to get together and cook in the Fina kitchen from time to time. It was always good to stumble into gnocci night . . . Never been, but daughter Pina's place has it on the menu: http://www.trattoriapina.com/menu/" target="_blank

SPECIALITA DI CASA

Gnocchi $17.00
our homemade potato dumplings with your choice: all’arrabiata (spicy garlic marinara cream), or al’pesto (basil cream), or marinara sauce

Raviolis with pesto sauce.

Neapolitan pizza in Salt Like City

BearDown89 wrote:

Zero wrote:Does any one know an Italian restaurant in Tucson that makes fresh gnocchi? Craving some. I saw a recipe for butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter sauce and now I cannot stop thinking about it.

Is DaVinci's still around? I was a regular in the Fina household back in the day and Dr. Fina was good friends with Cosmo Ali, owner of DaVinci's. They used to get together and cook in the Fina kitchen from time to time. It was always good to stumble into gnocci night . . . Never been, but daughter Pina's place has it on the menu: http://www.trattoriapina.com/menu/" target="_blank

SPECIALITA DI CASA

Gnocchi $17.00
our homemade potato dumplings with your choice: all’arrabiata (spicy garlic marinara cream), or al’pesto (basil cream), or marinara sauce

DaVinci's is long gone but his brother Damiano started Michelangelo's on Magee Road. It is still operated by his sons and is always a good bet for really, really good Italian food.

I did a couple of AJ's TBones in a sous vide @ 137 F for an hour (beer cooler, h/t to Kenji at Serious Eats) and seared them with a plumbing blow torch. The easiest and best steak I've ever made. I'm a total convert to sous vide, the beer cooler makes it simple, affordable and portable.

A side of Marmite mushrooms were like an umami a-bomb.

Made paella totally from scratch and had a bottle of cst's recommended terrazas 2012 reserva malbec. Perfection.

Paella is my wife's gig. Makes it outside over the fire in the big paella pan. My favorite. But you can't feed kids rice anymore so goodbye to all that, risotto, etc.

I had a Spanish girlfriend whose father made awful paella like twice a week when we used to visit.

Homemade bread, parmesan brussel sprouts, and crispy skin roast chicken thighs with a white wine/brandy/thyme/dijon/butter pan sauce

Pork neck and pea soup
Pancakes

Shrimp scampi over spaghetti squash

Wow, Detroit-style pizza. I know others of you have been enjoying it. Had my first last night. Delivery from Jet's.

I deeply apologize to myself and everyone involved. One shouldn't live without Detroit-style pizza. That was amazing. Beautiful, too.

One of the best pizzas I've ever had.

For the sake of solidarity with those who share facts, I'm starting to cook the New York Times recipe of the day.

I did Kenji's Tortilla Pizza in a cast iron skillet and finished in the broiler method.

Simple and quick and pretty damn tasty. I made the first one with egg in the middle, if you've never had egg baked on pizza - you are missing out!

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014 ... ecipe.html" target="_blank

Made a potato/sweet potato, bacon and chicken sausage hash. Soooo good

Take out: Cuban sandwiches and fries

Work white elephant Christmas dinner at Cheddars tonight since everyone I work with thinks that's a fancy dinner. Had some mediocre pasta. Everyone had steaks that they had cooked medium well and doused with A1 sauce. Sigh.

I'm back to medium rare, which I had failed to appreciate with always going rare. Medium of some cuts like skirt steak. Lute gets his medium well.

I bought anellini ("little rings") shaped pasta...



... and made home-made Spaghetti-O's. Cooked them right in the sauce to save an extra pot and let the starch take hold. The sauce was Marcella Hazan's butter-tomato sauce. Serious comfort food.

Swedish enchilada pie

Longhorned wrote:Swedish enchilada pie

does it have meatballs and lingonberry jam?

ASUHATER! wrote:

Longhorned wrote:Swedish enchilada pie

does it have meatballs and lingonberry jam?

I'll let you know after it's invented during the process of making.

Water Grill -- Costa Mesa

cant mutha fuckin wait

97cats wrote:Water Grill -- Costa Mesa

cant mutha fuckin wait

You should try Charcoal Faucet

Longhorned wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:

Longhorned wrote:Swedish enchilada pie

does it have meatballs and lingonberry jam?

I'll let you know after it's invented during the process of making.

Home-made corn tortillas
Home-made red chile sauce from New Mexico pods
Oaxaca cheese
Charred Anaheim peppers
Grilled chicken
Cured ham
Epazote

Do you nixtamalize your own corn, or use masa harina for the torties?

wyo-cat wrote:Do you nixtamalize your own corn, or use masa harina for the torties?

No, I've never nixtamalized corn. Do you? I used to buy fresh masa sent down to Champain from El Milagro in Chicago, but I changed my mind about the advantage of that. I avoid Maseca because of the politics, and am happy to use the Bob's Red Mill masa harina, which you have to let rest an hour after forming the dough.

When I have more time, I'm going to take on this multi-day project:



http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes/468?recipes_by=grain" target="_blank

Sandwiches for dinner: butter, fig jam, and taleggio, toasted with the cheese melted, then topped with prosciutto -- open-faced.

Longhorned wrote:Sandwiches for dinner: butter, fig jam, and taleggio, toasted with the cheese melted, then topped with prosciutto -- open-faced.

That sounds amazing. I'm running on an empty fridge, bachelor I am, so I just popped a huge leftover sweet potato in the microwave for like 6 minutes then skinned it, mashed it with a fork and doused it in butter, salt and pepper. So delicious. And simple!

Soy/mustard glazed sockeye salmon with a shitake/bok choy stir fry

- Celery root soup (improvised, the 7 month old baby hated it and thereby showed poor taste)

- My famous maple cornbread. Which isn't famous (but should be) and is shamelessly northern adaptation, adding half a cup maple sugar to:

http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes/464" target="_blank

Home made Big Mick, I used Cleo McDowell's secret...no seeds!

I smashed the burgers and melted the cheese after the flip. Eating it makes you think how good a Big Mac could be, but isn't.

wyo-cat wrote:Home made Big Mick, I used Cleo McDowell's secret...no seeds!

I smashed the burgers and melted the cheese after the flip. Eating it makes you think how good a Big Mac could be, but isn't.

What do you mean? I googled that and can't figure it out. You mean you took Cleo's no-seeds Big Mick but invented the recipe? I mean, what did you do for the sauce?

Home made red chili tamales and fried eggs.

Zero wrote:Home made red chili tamales and fried eggs.

How on earth did you take on a tamale project? That task intimidates the shit out of me. The only home made tamales I'm eating are the ones made in the home of the lady in the supermarket parking lot who says, "Hey. You looking for tamales?"

Longhorned wrote:

Zero wrote:Home made red chili tamales and fried eggs.

How on earth did you take on a tamale project? That task intimidates the shit out of me. The only home made tamales I'm eating are the ones made in the home of the lady in the supermarket parking lot who says, "Hey. You looking for tamales?"

This is 1000% my semtiment. I've thought about it many times but never followed through. I had the tamale lady from the parking lot on speed dial in my phone like a drug dealer at one point.

I made an amazing beef chili with jalapeño corn bread yesterday. The toasted ancho chiles really made it work. And braising it in a covered Dutch oven

Longhorned wrote:

wyo-cat wrote:Home made Big Mick, I used Cleo McDowell's secret...no seeds!

I smashed the burgers and melted the cheese after the flip. Eating it makes you think how good a Big Mac could be, but isn't.

What do you mean? I googled that and can't figure it out. You mean you took Cleo's no-seeds Big Mick but invented the recipe? I mean, what did you do for the sauce?

The chef of McD's has a video of how to do it without measurements. The sauce is easy - mayo, relish, mustard, garlic powder, sugar and paprika. He shows how to put it together and everything. I did a dry run tonight for whipping it up this weekend.

Made a meat sauce with some ground sausage and now I'm thinking I'm going to use it in a lasagna.

Got some time on my hands, so I might as well make myself into a serviceable cook. I can follow a recipe, but I'm thinking I might try and get creative.

For the range of information available to you I'd say your money would be best spent on a $70 all access annual americas test kitchen membership. If you want to learn how to cook a variety of things well that will always taste good (if not necessarily 100% authentic or using the most expensive ingredients) then that's your best bet.

Chicat wrote:Made a meat sauce with some ground sausage and now I'm thinking I'm going to use it in a lasagna.

Isn't that how Carmela Soprano makes hers?



Junior...



... explained to Bobby...



... that Janice...



... stole Carmela's lasagna and presented it as her own.

Carmela stole it from my Nona.

Longhorned wrote:

Zero wrote:Home made red chili tamales and fried eggs.

How on earth did you take on a tamale project? That task intimidates the shit out of me. The only home made tamales I'm eating are the ones made in the home of the lady in the supermarket parking lot who says, "Hey. You looking for tamales?"

Every year before Christmas my sister and I make tamales. We did 25 dozen yesterday.

Zero wrote:

Longhorned wrote:

Zero wrote:Home made red chili tamales and fried eggs.

How on earth did you take on a tamale project? That task intimidates the shit out of me. The only home made tamales I'm eating are the ones made in the home of the lady in the supermarket parking lot who says, "Hey. You looking for tamales?"

Every year before Christmas my sister and I make tamales. We did 25 dozen yesterday.

how much? ha.

i'm considering taking on the tamale project...but enlisting the help of my wife and family and several friends. everyone contributes and everyone gets a couple dozen.

scumdevils86 wrote:For the range of information available to you I'd say your money would be best spent on a $70 all access annual americas test kitchen membership. If you want to learn how to cook a variety of things well that will always taste good (if not necessarily 100% authentic or using the most expensive ingredients) then that's your best bet.

We've got a plethora of cookbooks, some that haven't even been opened. But I'll keep that in mind.

Tonight - Lasagna
Tomorrow - Martha Stewart's Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Lemon (and hopefully a hot stock tip)