Food Photos

Barbecued Brisket

Cooked in the oven and finished on the grill.  The cooking sauce was processed with an immersion blender and served on the side.

Sweet Corn and Basmati Rice Salad with Pecans and Watercress

I used to take this salad to Easthampton for 4th of July house party.  Serves a crowd, keeps, well, and the pecans and watercress make it special.  Finally found watercress at Whole Foods in Legacy Place, averting disaster.

Mascarpone Tart with HOney, Oranges and Pistachios from Bon Appetit

So easy and so rich and delicious.  Uses a dairy case pie crust, but of course, you could make your own.  Try it with blood oranges.  Yowza! 


The salad and the tart recipe links  are in the previous blog entry.  If you try them, let me know how you fared.


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Yet Another Summer Menu

It's cold in the Boston area this week and rainy today.  Yesterday I was a weeding fool, because the ground was so wet from Friday's rain and the weeds surrendered their roots with ease.  The wildflower garden looked so much better.  Damned chipmunks are digging everywhere, and something is eating the leaves of the marigolds, which I planted to DETER the bugs.  Mysterious.

We're have a friend for dinner tomorrow, and the menu is thus:

Broiled stuffed mushrooms

Barbecued Brisket

Sweet Corn and Basmati Rice Salad

Green Salad

Bread

Orange Mascarpone Tart with Pistachios

 Stuffed Mushrooms are almost a cliché but they're so tasty.  And easy.  And cheap!  The brisket is huge.  It is mostly cooked indoors then put on the grill to brown.  Good idea, due to the weather forecast.   The sweet corn and basmati rice salad is one of my summer faves.  The dessert is so tasty AND pretty and can be made with a dairy case pie crust.  

Yes!  

Off to cook up a storm.  I'll provide photos tomorrow.  


Links to recipes:  Mascarpone tart with honey, oranges and pistachios 

Sweet Corn and Basmatic Rice Salad  

The mushroom recipe does not appear to be on the Web, nor does the brisket.  There are plenty of recipes for oven cooked brisket (finished on the grill), but I'll have to (grrrr!)  key in the mushrooms.  The thing about them is that they have absolutely 100% ordinary, i.e. cheap ingredients, and offer some choices.  They're delicious, too.  All you need is mushrooms and stuff from your pantry. 

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Easy Party Menu

So, after four super-hectic days of NEIBA activities, we had a little dinner party last night. Normally I like to cook ahead for such events, but this was not an option.

We ate everything too fast for photos. Sorry about that.

Le Menu

Crackers with cream cheese and apricot pepper jelly
Hot Artichoke Dip

Pork Tenderloin with Smoked Paprika Rouille
Green Beans with Pancetta
Sweet Corn and Basmati Rice Salad

Italian Pastries

Below is a recipe for the salad, which is a great summer dish and note that it took the place of a salad AND a starch, hooray, hooray.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SWEET-CORN-AND-BASMATI-RICE-SALAD-103494

I looked around the web for Hot Artichoke Dip recipes, and didn’t find mine.

1 cup mayo (can be low-fat but not non-fat)
1 lg. can artichoke hearts in water, drained well
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¾ tsp. grated onion
Dash Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Dijon mustard

In a food processor, mix all ingredients. Pour into buttered casserole or soufflé dish.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until puffy and light brown. Sprinkle with paprika. Serve with Triscuits, Wheat Thins or any other crackers.

Here is the recipe for the pork tenderloin. I believe I got it from Stephen Weber’s email, as in Weber kettle.

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs/entry/5887511/9823827

Now invite somebody you like to dinner.

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