Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Shelter Island 10K Weekend BBQ

Dollarhide style fire roasted fennel and red cabbage. Apply generous amounts of butter and salt and fresh herbs, wrap in tinfoil and bury in hot coals for about an hour. The fennel was seasoned with tarragon; the cabbage with sage.


Pork loin with basil orange tapenade from the Seven Fires cookbook, grilled green chili peppers and squash, Alice Waters style beet salad, and grilled pineapple seasoned with cayenne, chili powder, cinamon and lime juice. We cut the pineapple into longitudinal slabs and then trimmed the skin and spines. After grilling the core was completely tender and edible. I filled an old spice jar with the spice mixture and used it to sprinkle seasoning onto the slabs of pineapple on the grill.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Oven roasted new potatoes with whole shallots and cloves of garlic, olive oil, sea salt and rosemary from the garden. About 1 hour at 425. Grilled fennel, cut into 1/6th and lightly cooked in water then skewered, marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh tarragon and grilled over direct heat. Tuna marinated in lime juice, olive oil, rosemary, hot pepper flakes and grilled for 5 over 3. Grill could have been a little hotter for a better sear, but the inside was great. Not pictured, green beans blanched in a brown butter sage sauce with crispy sage leaves.

Sweedish style potato salad sandwich

Potato salad sandwiched between two Finn Crisp crackers. Brady insisted that he be photographed incognito while eating such a strange creation; although it is actually rather good.

Noel's Argentinian style pork ribs

Just learned this rib recipe last wednesday, and we made it again on friday. First trim fat from pork short ribs. 2 racks is about 8lb of ribs and serves six people with leftovers ( there was also beet, arugula and goat cheese salad and black asparagus ) Cut off the skirt flap ( aka. "the dividend" ) and peel off the silver membrane ( pleura ) on the back of the bones. It feels like a slippery meat balloon and is a pain to remove, but it is not good to eat, and doing so allows the bones to pull away from the meat as it contracts, giving you a nice handle to hold and really nice rib meat to eat.

Marinate the pork in the juice of 8 limes and a few cloves of pressed garlic for 2-3 hours until the outside of the meat starts to chemically cook in the acid, much like ceviche. Throw them on a direct charcoal fire, bone side up and covered with a generous amount of kosher salt. After 20-30 minutes, turn them over and salt the meat side. About 10 minutes before they are finished, cover the top with grated parmesigan cheese.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Spring!


Lots of gardening this weekend. These are the self irrigating tomato planters. Just transplanted 4 different varieties of tomato plants I started from seeds into their new home.

My first baby radish. Yummy. Ate the whole thing ( after I washed it off ).

86 Proof cake


This is Maida Heatter's 86 Proof cake ( a chocolate, bourbon and espresso bundt cake ) I baked for Kara's birthday. Recipe from the New York Times Note, where they call for 1/4c espresso, it should 1/4c of be instant espresso powder. Also, the additional bourbon is not optional, it is mandatory.
Pulled pork bbq! Beans cooked with home made bacon. Kara's cole slaw. Quick picked onions. Corn bread with hot peppers and whole corn kernels. Miles's amazing pork rendering bbq sauce.