D.'s Fabulous Dinners

Photos in this post have been deleted... newer photos have been added here. The link for the photo of the spaghetti/eggplant was broken and I have decided not to reload it.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, life has been hectic lately. I'm incredibly blessed, however, by the fact that D. is a fabulous cook. During the last week, I came home to several great meals, but two were particularly noteworthy.

The first was one of D.'s excellent kinda-homemade meals. Courtesy of Trader Joe's, the eggplant cutlets were excellent. Pre-made with the dollops of cheese and sauce, they were light and flavorful. D. tossed the angel hair with some spaghetti sauce (we like Classico's tomato and basil or sun-dried tomato), the gourmet tomato medley from TJ's, Parmesan cheese, and basil from the backyard. It was a great meal and the fact that quality ingredients are readily available make it that much better.

A few nights later, D. made his trademark flank steak with green beans, baked potatoes, and K.'s fabulous sweet potato casserole as a side. Holy cow, that casserole is good. I almost ignored D.'s awesome steak, green beans, and baked potatoes for it.

The flank steak, as always, was cooked medium-rare and was tender and flavorful. He uses a spicy-ginger marinade from Vons. Buy the marinade and upend the bottle into the bag. Add the steaks, then freeze. Then, whenever you want to eat it, defrost it the night before and plop it on the grill. Quite easy for great results.

Star Trek party

Saturday, October 6, was our Star Trek party! This entry comes so late because life has been absolutely insane lately. I barely have time to turn on the computer at home, let alone finish a whole blog entry. Plus, there were issues with uploading photos, so that added to the delay.

Good company, as always, for a showing of Voyager, Star Trek (the original series), and The Next Generation. D. was a big help, taking the lead with several dishes. I was overly ambition and planned a menu that wasn't easy in terms of getting the dishes out in a timely fashion. However, the dishes turned out beautifully, so I can say that my (or rather, our) A-game was definitely on.

Our cooking day began with the desserts. Molasses spice cookies (Bon Appetit Nov. 2006) started off the day's baking:



The cookies were a little flat, but the spicy and rich flavor was quite nice. They're a bit like gingersnaps without the spiciness that's usually associated with ginger. I liked them a lot.

There were the red velvet cupcakes (Bon Appetit June 2006):



They were topped with a cream cheese frosting. The red food coloring was a bit of a pain to work with, but the recipe was easy and the cupcakes super-moist.

D. made his trademark chocolate chip cookies. They're always fabulous and he definitely has a way with them. He says he uses the recipe on the Nestle chocolate chip bag and adds a little more vanilla, but I think there's a special touch to them that's associated only with him.



The whole wheat dinner rolls (Bon Appetit November 2007)... these are the rolls being proofed right before baking, while they're cooling, and after they've been pulled apart and put in a bowl:



They were a little too dense, though. The flavor was ok. I was expecting something lighter. Apparently, the secret weapon in these rolls is instant potato flakes. They were supposed to make the texture even fluffier, but I'm not sure that happened in this case.

Last on the baking list was a lemon angel food cake. It's yet another Barefoot Contessa recipe. I think it turned out beautifully.



I used an aluminum angel food cake pan. The pan is left ungreased so the cake can climb the walls. Once the cake is finished baking, it is placed on a wine bottle to hang, so gravity doesn't collapse the cake. When the cake is cool, it is carefully removed from the pan with a butter knife. A quick glaze of 2 cups of powdered sugar, the juice from one lemon, and some zest was mixed up and drizzled over the cake.

The cake was very light and the lemon flavor subtle. It would be fine on its own, but the glaze was a nice touch. After the party, I took a slice and paired it with macerated strawberries, which was fabulous.

As for the entrees, those turned out fabulously, too. D. used a family recipe for meatballs, which are braised in grape jelly and chili sauce (usually Heinz 57). The sauce is amazing and it's hard to believe that it's grape jelly, which I'm not fond of. This dish is wonderful with a bowl of rice.



We also made carmelized onion flatbreads (Bon Appetit February 2006), which came out really well. D. did a great job with the onions, which require quite a bit of patience. There was also a carrot orzo (Bon Appetit March 2007), potato pancakes (Bon Appetit January 2006), manchego/pear/fig jam crostini, and ham/Gruyeres/onion quesadillas.




The flatbreads had a creme fraiche drizzle that was really runny during preparation, but baked up really nicely. I like the carrot orzo's subtle flavors of carrot and parmesan cheese. The bland pasta muted it out just enough. D. fried the potatoes crisply and they were topped with creme fraiche and diced red onion.

The crostini was good return for flavor vs. effort. Manchego is a pretty mild cheese with a smooth flavor. It pairs well with the sweet pears and the really sweet fig jam. The quesadillas are inspired from a Trader Joe's frozen pizza. It's the greatest combination ever... smoky ham with the semi-sharp Gruyeres cheese and strong onion.

Chevy's, Pho Tu Do

Note: Pho Tu Do is now closed.


It's been a crazy few weeks, work-wise. Not too much done in terms of cooking. However, I have a couple of pictures to share.

Last night, we dropped by Chevy's because we had a coupon. Keeping my previous bitchy post in mind, I avoided the seafood and the enchiladas. I especially avoided the seafood enchiladas. Anyhoo, I ordered a soft picadillo beef taco. Granted, "picadillo" is Chevy's word for "cooked ground beef". Picadillo is supposed to contain more than that (even the Mexican version, which can be used as a taco filling) and I can say that Chevy's picadillo goes nowhere compared to K.'s fabulous Cuban picadillo.

Chevy's picadillo taco did taste just fine, however. What I liked best was the flautas. Chevy's website describes it as:

Salsa Chicken with roasted red peppers, grilled corn and a melted trio of cheeses, rolled in flour tortillas, lightly crisped with chipotle aioli drizzle. Served with mango-habanero salsa and homemade jalapeño jelly.

I tasted the chicken, the cheese, and the fried tortilla. It was kind of spicy, which I attribute to the peppers. Where was the corn? Whatever... it was still delicious. The chipotle aioli is pretty good, but the spicy, tangy jalapeño jelly is amazing. It's the perfect thing to put on something fried. There was no mango-habanero salsa. They were very kind and substituted beans for more of that yummy sweet corn tomalito. Yay, corn!

The picture's rather dark because I didn't want to use the flash in the restaurant, which was pretty dimly lit. Blinding our neighboring tables wouldn't make me the most popular patron.



Next picture is of a typical lunch item: pho. We go out for Vietnamese often and while I usually stick to the rice plates, pho is the Vietnamese dish. Stereotypical or not, pho is one of the first dishes that comes to mind when Vietnamese cuisine is discussed. At least, when it's discussed in the United States.

There's so much more to Vietnamese food, but we'll start with pho. The broth is pungent with a hint of sweetness. I usually order mine with slices of beef and strips of tripe. You can have yours with meatballs, brisket, flank, whatever. As long as it was part of the cow. For those who don't like red meat, there's pho ga, which is chicken-based.



Pho is served with a side of Thai basil, lime slices, bean sprouts, and chili slices. It's ridiculously cheap and is quickly served, thus making it an optimal lunch dish. This photo was taken at Pho Tu Do, which is pretty good (I don't agree with the Yelp reviewers). Their banh beo is awesome, but we didn't order it this time, so no picture is available.