Golden Beet Salad ith Walnuts and Goat Cheese

Another day dedicated to trying to get all the electronics working.  So the meal I was going to cook did not get finished, but I had these wonderful golden beets that I bought from Whole Foods and found this recipe that was absolutely delicious.  Because the beets were golden instead of red, Jim pronounced the meal delicious before he discovered it was beets!  I found this on FoodTV.com it is from their Network Kitchen.  It serves 4, but is all gone.  I would not serve this as a first course as I thought one serving was very filling.  Read the whole recipe as the beets need to marinate for 2 hours before final assembly.  Blog is messy as things are still not corrected.     

Ingredients:

1 ½ # medium beets minus tops (I used Golden beets)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 T red wine vinegar

1/3C EVOO

½ C walnuts

1 bunch arugula, trimmed and torn

½ medium head escarole, torn (I used a container of mixed greens that contained arugula)

4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1.      Put the beets in a saucepan with water to cover and season generously with salt.  Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until for tender, about 20 minutes.  (I had 3 beets weighing as it should and my beets took 40 minutes.)

2.      When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them-skins should slide right off with a bit of pressure from your fingers.  If they don’t, use a paring knife to scrape off any bits that stick.  I would say that if you cannot peel in this manner, they are not cooked.

3.      Cut the beets in bite-sized wedges.  I cut them in 1/8’s and then cut the 1/8’s in half. 

4.      Whish the vinegar with the salt and pepper in a medium bowl. 

5.      Whisk in the EVOO in a slow steady stream to make a dressing. 

6.      Toss the cut beets in the dressing; set aside to marinate for 2 hours.

7.      Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread the nuts on a baking sheet.  Oven toast the nuts until golden brown about 8 minutes.  Cool.

      8.      The recipe says to toss the greens and beets, divide between 4 plates and divide the cheese  and nuts on top.  I tossed it all in a bowl and served.  I also was pre-making tomorrow night’s dinner which involves bacon.  As it finishes they said the bacon was the cooks treat so Jim put all that bacon on his salad. 

This is a definite keeper of a salad.         

Eggplant Stroganoff

Do you think that Jim knew he was eating eggplant tonight?  I do not think so or he would not have praised this dish.  This recipe comes from the August Sunset magazine.  It serves 6.

Ingredients:

12 oz. egg noodles

12 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms

1 C chopped onion

1 medium onion

1 medium eggplant (12 oz.) cut into 1” cubes

2 T butter

2 T EVOO

1 t salt

½ t pepper

3 T flour

1 ¾ C vegetable broth

1 C milk

¼ C sour cream or crème fraiche (I used Greek yoghurt)

¼ t nutmeg

2 T chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

      1.      Cook noodles in a large pot as package directs.  Transfer to a wide, shallow bowl. 

2.      Meanwhile in a large wide pot over high heat, cook mushrooms, onion, and eggplant in the oil and butter, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Make sure the juice realized by the mushrooms and eggplant is totally absorbed. 

3.      Stir in salt, pepper, and flour and cook 1 minute. 

4.      Add broth and milk; reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. 

5.      Put sour cream and nutmeg in a bowl. 

6.      Stir in hot broth mixture ¼ C at a time, and then return to pot. 

      7.   Spoon eggplant sauce over noodles and sprinkle with parsley

Corn on the Cob with Mustard-Maple-Thyme Butter

We have been away for a few days and returned last night we excellent Indiana corn.  We had this recipe last night with veggie burgers.  This recipe is also in Fine Cooking Aug./Sept.

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn on the cob

¼ C unsalted butter

1 T Dijon mustard

1 T pure maple syrup

2 t finely chopped fresh thyme (about ¾ t dried)

1 t stone-ground mustard

½ t sea salt.

Directions:

1.      Bring a 6-8 qt. pot of water to a boil over high heat. 

2.       Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients.  I melted the butter partially and it was easier to mix all the ingredients. 

3.      Remove the husks and silk from the fresh corn.

4.      Boil the corn until just tender, about 3 minutes.

5.      Remove the corn from the pot and let rest for a few seconds to allow some of the water to evaporate. 

6.      Slather each cob with at least 1T of the butter and serve immediately. 

Although this is not as low calorie as my old standby it was very good.  I have enough left to do 4 more ears of corn.

Grilled Korean Skirt Steak

Tonight Jim had his steak.  My brother and I are not steak eaters.  My mother was a working mom before TV dinners and microwaves.  So, she bought a ½ cow and everything was turned into steak or burger.  Jim loves beef.  I always look for recipes that you can do something with.  This was a perfect answer and it was really good.  Jim ate his steak and rice traditionally.  I made lettuce wraps and they were great.  This recipe is from Fine Cooking Aug/ Sept 2012. 

Ingredients: 

½ medium Asian pear or medium ripe pear, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks.  (Asian pears are larger than the pear I bought so I used the whole pear pealed.

6 T soy sauce

¼ C sake

3 ½ T granulated sugar

3 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 scallions, thinly sliced

1 T Asian sesame oil

1 T toasted sesame seeds

1 – 1 ½ # skirt steak, trimmed

2 C cooked short-grained rice, for serving.  I use Rose’s rice.

1 head red or green leaf lettuce, separate into leaves for serving. 

Directions:  

1.      In a blender, combine the pear, soy sauce, sake, sugar, garlic, ¼ t salt, and ¾ t pepper and process until smooth. 

2.      Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the scallions, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. 

3.      Set aside ½ C of the marinade in a small bowl for serving. 

4.      With the tip of a paring knife, poke the steak all over, and then slice it crosswise into 3 or 4 even pieces. 

5.      Submerge the meat into the remaining marinade and let sit at room temperature while preparing the grill. 

6.      Prepare the grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat (about 400 F).  Grill the steak, flipping once, until browned on both sides and medium rare, 6-7 minutes total.

7.      Let the steak rest about 5 minutes, and then thinly slice on the diagonal. 

8.      Arrange the steak on a large platter with the rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping. 

9.      Serve the reserved marinade on the side for drizzling.   

Like I said in the beginning, I took a lettuce leaf and put rice, steak and sauce in it.  It was a very good meal.

Jim asked me how I liked the wine after the meal.  He bought this at the Market Basket in Lebanon.  It is a Petrignone Sangiovese Reiserva, 2006, Italy.  I think he should buy more.  It is very good.     

Blueberry Peach Corn Bread Buckle

I generated lots of dirty dishes with this dessert.  I also got an oven full of burned cake from the cake running over in the oven.  The recipe clearly says bake in a 9” round cake pan.  I used an 11’ round pan.  Use a 9” only if you have very high sides like a spring form pan.  Even the 11” needed high sides.  This is from Desserts from the Famous Loveless Café here in Nashville.  It was very good and both blueberries and peaches are in season.  I had purchased great peaches at Trader Jo’s on Tuesday. 

Ingredients: 

1 ½ C blueberries

1 ½ C diced (1/2”) peeled peaches (2)

1 C sugar, divided

1 ½ t grated lemon zest

2/3 C corneal, preferably white

1 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

¼ t salt

1/3 C canola oil

1 egg lightly beaten

¾ C buttermilk

1 C Brown Sugar and Oat Crumb Topping (recipe follows)

Whipped cream to top (Jim had raspberry sorbet with his.)

Directions:

1.      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9” with very high sides cake pan. 

2.      In a medium bowl, combine the blueberries, peaches and 1/3 C sugar and the lemon zest. Toss gently to coat the fruit with the sugar.  Let it macerate while you prepare the cornmeal cake. 

3.      In another bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt with the remaining 2/3 c sugar. 

4.      Pour in the oil, egg and buttermilk and stir until smooth. 

5.      Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. 

6.      Arrange the fruits and their juices evenly over the top of the cake. 

7.      Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the fruit. 

8.      Bake for 1 hour and fifteen minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. 

9.      Let the cake cook in the pan for 15 minutes; then invert it onto a flat tray.  Place another tray and bring it right side up again.  (Another reason that this would be better in a springform pan.)  I left mine in the pan. 

10.  Cut the cake in wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream. 

Brown Sugar and Oat Crumb topping 

Makes one cup.

Ingredients:

½ C unbleached all-purpose flour

½ C rolled oats

½ C packed light brown sugar

½ t ground cinnamon

1/8 t baking soda

4 T cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Directions:

1.      Place the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and baking soda in a bowl and mix gently to break up any lumps of sugar, taking care not to crush the oats. 

2.      Add the butter and gently rub the ingredients together with your fingertips to produce a mealy mixture with some lumps that clump together when squeezed in your hand. 

You can use a paddle attachment on a mixer if you really want to dirty one more item, but hands work fine.  Do not use the food processor it will cut up the oats.    

Wehani Brown Rice & Fish with Mango Black Bean Salsa

Well, instead of enjoying a movie on Friday night after dinner, I am writing my blog due to Comcast.  I do not understand why the entire country does not revolt against this company.  Everyone you talk to hates them.  They control our lives and communication.  They are more inept than our government, and that is hard to do.  Dinner tonight was delightful. I had been at Whole Foods and they had a Mango Salsa for sale.  I had seen a recipe that called for a black bean mango salsa on chicken.  I decided to mix a can of black beans with my salsa and serve over trout.  It was delicious.  I also fixed the following rice dish.  This was in my Essential Pepin Cookbook.  I was looking for a rice dish and noted that there was one for Wehani Brown rice which is reddish in color.  I got this rice from Vianza a long time ago and had a rough time cooking it, never tried it again.  Here was Jacque talking about these California reddish-brown kernels and they are hard to cook.  This recipe worked fine, but took a longer cooking time than even he said.  It was excellent.  Recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

2 T EVOO

1 medium onion, chopped (1C)

1/3 C natural pumpkin seeds

1 C Wehani rice

¾ t salt

2 ½ C warm water

Directions:

1.       Heat the oil in a medium saucepan until it is hot but not smoking.  Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. 

2.       Add pumpkin seeds and cook for 1 minute.

3.       Mix in the rice thoroughly, add the salt and water, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. 

4.       Cover, reduce the heat to low, and boil gently for 1 hour, or until the rice is tender and the water has been absorbed. 

5.       Fluff the rice and serve. 

Chinese Turkey Salad

I was watching FoodTV a couple of weeks ago while working on my art room.  Giada De Laurentiis made this salad.  I thought we would go to Shakespeare in the Park last night so made the turkey and the dressing the night before.  But after playing golf in 90+ degree heat and swimming laps for a ½ hour it was all I could do to finish this salad.  It is absolutely delicious.  It serves 4-6.  I mixed all the lettuces and then divided in half.  I then divided everything else in half.  If you make the entire recipe you had better have an enormous bowl. 

 Ingredients:

Turkey:

4 C low-sodium chicken broth

1 C low-sodium soy sauce

1 C OJ

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1-2” piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1-3 to 31/2# bone-in, skinless turkey half-breast (I had to buy a whole one and Jim cut it in half.  The other half is in the freezer.)

Wontons:

2 C vegetable oil

10 wonton wrappers, cut into 1/2” strips

Dressing:

1/3C grapeseed or vegetable oil

3 T low-sodium soy sauce

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 T maple syrup

2 T OJ

1 T toasted sesame seeds

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Salad:

½ C sliced almonds, toasted (I had a ton a pine nuts, so I substituted)

1-1# head roamine, torn into 1” pieces

½ head iceberg lettuce, shredded

½ head Napa cabbage, 8oz., shredded

3 scallions, thinly sliced

½ red bell pepper, stemmed, seeds and ribs removed, cut into ¼” strips

Directions:

1.      For the turkey:  In a 4-5 qt. saucepan, combine the broth, soy, oj, garlic and ginger.  Add the turkey, breast-side down, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 165 degrees F, 45 to 50 minutes.  Mine took about 10 minutes longer and I turned the breast when it did not register after the allotted cooking time. 

2.      Let the turkey cool for 20 minutes.  Using 2 forks shred the meat into 2” pieces.

3.      For the wontons:  In a heavy, medium saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375 degrees F.  Add the wontons and fry until golden 30-45 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.  Set aside.  (You can also buy them and I did.)

4.      For the dressing:  In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, syrup, oj, sesame seeds, 1 ½ t sald and ½ t pepper until smooth.  Season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. 

5.      For the salad:  In a large bowl, toss together the almonds, romaine, iceberg, Nappa, scallions and bell pepper.  Add the dressing and the shredded turkey and toss until coated.  Garnish with fried wontons and serve.       

 

 

 

Won Ton Soup with Appitizers from the Market

Today was such a good day.  Upon awaking, I was told the very expensive garage door would not open and a call was in.  OK, time to change all magazine subscriptions.  When you move it is a never ending quantity of tasks.  After that I made out the weeks menus and did my blog for the last two days.  Garage door fixed, I am off down the hill to the market.  They had it all, but they do not make sushi in our local Publix.  It could be because we have a gazillion Japanese restaurants in the area.  Not a problem you will see my substitute and Jim liked it. 

In March of this year you can find Five-Spice Broth with Salmon & Onion Dumplings.  If you look farther, you will find pork dumplings.  I made the broth again and had a remaining package of the pork dumplings from the freezer.  Not wanting to keep the dumplings forever, I used them up tonight.  I added about 12 oz of organic spinach to the broth.  I asked Jim if he still thought this was the best broth ever.  He asked, “Did you have spinach in the broth before?”  “No, why?  Don’t tell me a little spinach ruined the soup.”  Apparently it did to Jim.  Give me a break.

I do have to tell you about something I just learned from FoodTV.  Keep your ginger in the freezer.  Keeps forever and is easier to grate.  I could not believe how much easier it was to grate.  This miracle tidbit was provided by Melissa d’Arabian.

I wanted to have sushi with the soup, but my Publix only has mediocre sushi.  So I went to the frozen section and bought Margaritaville Calypso Coconut Shrimp and from Gardein, Chipotle Lime Crispy Fingers.  Costco introduced us to Margaritaville Coconut Shrimp a long time ago.  Don’t tell Jim as he thought the Crispy Fingers were chicken, but completely vegetarian.  I thought they were delicious.  Tonight I am starting tomorrow night’s dinner.  I almost have a normal life again.        

Wilson County Fair and Watermark Restaurant

It has been two nights of not cooking and the contrasts of eats could not be more.  Monday night we went to the Wilson County Fair.  I wanted to go Monday as David Frizzell was going to be performing.  I am not much of a country music fan, but I about drove off the road laughing the first time I heard his song, “I’m going to hire a wino to decorate my home.”  I truly understand as I live with a man who where the wine will be stored, how it will be served and what to have so he can serve a certain bottle is top priority.  The gist of the song is taking out the dining room table to make room for a bar.  Not too far fetched in Jim's mind.  I haven’t been to many fairs so I was looking forward to fair food.  We got there and were driven around by the ground’s manager’s wife, who happens to be our friend Pam to get the lay of the land.  We all had a corn dogs and they were acceptable, but later Jim was still hungry.  He decided on a burger and fries at the Lion’s Club concession.  I have never tasted anything worse in my life.  I than began my search for something eatable.  Chicken on a stick sounded good, but it was deep fried on a stick.  I then began to notice, everything was deep-fried on a stick, except this plate of fried dough.  They had Oreo’s, snickers, chicken, foot longs, etc.  There was homemade ice cream, I bought peach and found it so sweet that I couldn’t finish mine.  Luckily it melted fast so it went away.  They also had walking tacos.  As I understood it, they take a bag of Fritos and throw everything in on top.  Doesn’t that sound appetizing?  As you walked around, about every other person had something they were munching on, but I came home hungry. 

We walked through the exhibits and felt there might be enough categories to enter that every person in Wilson Country could get a ribbon in something.  They had a dog contest that night also, which we missed as it was the same time as the concert.  However, I doubt if they had a worst behaved category so Max couldn’t have received a ribbon. 

Tuesday was our 47^th wedding anniversary.  We made dinner reservations at the Watermark.  I have wanted to go there for as long as we have lived here, but Jim thought the wine list (told you) was too expensive.  Upon pursuing the menu we found out they do wine parings by the glass and that was perfect.  We could each do our own thing without the bottle of wine dictating the evening. 

To start, I had Roasted summer beets, arugula and pressed cantaloupe over a Tennessee goat cheese mousse in and orange and citron vinegar dressing.  I was paired with a Schramsberg Brut Rose’.  You put beets on a menu and I am all over it.  This was without a doubt the best beet dish I have ever tasted.  Jim had American blue crab and wild shrimp galette with tomato confit and grilled asparagus in a kaffir lime, tarragon and caper sauce.  I assume it was good, he did not share or even offer a bite.  The waiter called it their signature dish. 

For my main course I chose Pan seared Islamorada yellowtail snapper and a half Maine lobster over caramelized fennel, cherry tomatoes and orzo pasta, scented with lobster bisque.  It was paired with Domaine Bouchard Pere & Fils, 1er Cru, Beaune du Chateau, 2008.  You also get a choice of 3oz or 6 oz pours.  Guess which size I chose?

Jim had a Berkshire pork duo: slow roasted chop with a grilled peach, pearl onion and champagne vinegar reduction; and bourbon maple syrup braised belly with whipped russets and country cracklins.  When it arrived at the table, Jim said, for once I have ordered the larger dish.  Quantity of food is very important to Jim.  Again he ate it all.  I heard a lot during the meal about his Domaine Carneros, 2009 Pinot Noir.  He loves his Pinots and possibly chose the meal based on the wire paring.

We shared a dessert which was the evening special.  It was a cheese cake made of goat cheese with blackberries.  It was a premier dessert.  I had announced that I was full and couldn’t eat another bite.  I sure managed after one taste. 

So if I was asked to make a choice between dining at the Watermark and the fair, I think the Watermark would win hands down.                           

French Toast with Peaches

This morning we had a make ahead French toast with peaches.  I used frozen peaches, because you do not have to peel them.  This is an Ellie Krieger Cook Smart recipe that appeared in USA weekend back in July.  Again it was very easy to cut in half for the two of us.  The full recipe serves 6 and would be great for overnight company.  I think you could use any fruit in season, or from your freezer. 

Ingredients: 

Cooking spray

1 large whole-wheat baguette (about 8 oz)(I used sliced bread and just weighed out the proper amount.) 

4 large eggs

4 large egg whites

1 C non-fat milk

1 t vanilla extract

5 C fresh sliced peaches or frozen unsweetened, thawed

2 T firmly packed brown sugar

¼ t ground cinnamon

1 ½ C plain non-fat yogurt (optional)

¾ C pure maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

1.      Coat a 9 x 12” baking pan with cooking spray.  Cut the baguette into ½” thick slices and arrange them in a single layer in the pan.  (I broke up the slices in large chunks and spread in an even layer in the pan.)

2.      In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg whites, milk and vanilla. 

3.      Pour the mixture over the bread in the pan.

4.      Scatter the peach slices evenly over the bread. 

5.      Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. 

6.      Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight,

7.      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover and bake until slightly puffed and the bread is golden brown, about 40 minutes. 

8.      If desired top with yogurt and drizzle with maple syrup.   

Jim used the syrup, but I thought it was better without.  Great dish to have in my repartee for overnight guests. 

Well as you can see we are back in business.  Sunday night about 8:00 PM Comcast after going over everything in the house determined that it must be outside.  Remember they said they fixed the outside and it must be in the house.  Remember the smoking pole from the frist morning we were out of power?  That was the problem.  So the power company has my gratitude.  Comcast, three days to find and fix a problem that they should have figured out would be a problem when they called the power company and told them that there was a smoking hot down wire on our property at the pole.  Jim spent hours on the phone to get them to address the problem.   

Pasta with Raw Tomato Sauce

You readers think I haven’t been cooking.  Not true, I have been cooking but had no way to communicate with you.  I live in Comcast land.  Not only that, but we have a bundled service.  So I have no internet, phone, or TV when it fails.  I mentioned at the end of my last blog that we had a tremendous storm in Nashville Thursday night.  The electric company had everything back in a jiffy.  Today is Sunday and we are still chasing Comcast.  First it was reported by the Thursday Comcast guy that the outside stuff was damaged.  So we wait, we see Comcast trucks outside.  Friday, still no service, we call again.  The outside is fine; we think it is something inside your house, maybe we can get someone there on Tuesday.  Jim has finally had enough.  With 7 no shows for service, I think they owe me at this point.  When I am on the internet I am after them like a dog on a trail, so they turn Jim over to customer relations and they are supposed to show up today between 8 AM and 4 PM.  Want to take bets on whether they show?

Friday we had lunch out and tomato sandwiches for dinner.  We had picked up great tomatoes at the Lebanon Farmer’s Market.  I started a pot of vegetable broth in order to make Jim’s favorite Won Ton soup.  It’s on my blog, the blog I can’t access thanks to Comcast.  So I saw in the August issue of Bon Appétit pasta with raw tomato sauce.  It was delicious.  It serves 8, but is easily divided.

Ingredients:

¾ C EVOO

1 ½ T balsamic vinegar

1 ½ T red wine vinegar

4 ½ # plum tomatoes, halved, pulp discarded, flesh cut into ¾” pieces.  (I used heirloom tomatoes and wasn’t real particular about the ¾”business.)

¾ C (packed) fresh basil leaves, torn

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1# fusilli (spiral-shaped pasta) (I used cup shaped spinach pasta)

Directions:

1.      Whisk ¾ C oil and both vinegars in a large bowl to blend.  Add chopped tomatoes.  Using a potato masher or your hands, slightly crush tomatoes to bruise and release juices. 

2.      Stir in basil and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

3.      Cover bowl and let tomatoes marinate at room temperature for 1 hour to allow flavors to develop.

4.      Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. 

5.      Drain and add the pasta to the marinated tomato sauce. 

6.      Let pasta stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes to allow pasta to absorb flavors from sauce.  Very important step to get the pasta to soak up the sauce.   

7.      Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper and drizzle with more oil, if desired.  I had used about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper initially.  It did not need any more.  My tomatoes were so ripe and delicious that I also did not add more oil.

Coconut Corn Ice Cream with Brown Sugar Syrup & Peanuts

I know that since I first mentioned it, you have all been waiting for the results of this dessert.  Well, the pain of making it is worth the result.  Actually it is only the ice cream itself that is kind of a pain and that is the grating of the corn off the husk.  What makes it great is that it is not super sweet.  It was very pleasant.  Mine could have been greater than most as I had the great Indiana corn that I made it with, thank you Bud.  I will preference the dessert with our dinner was very simple.  We had Jim’s brother and his wife here, and they wanted to tour Studio B, see the quilts at the Frist Museum and the art that is leaving Nashville for a two year stint in Arkansas from Fist University.  I wanted to see all that also, so dinner had to be easy to make upon return from touring.  Jim also wanted to have steak to go with the wine he was serving so we had steak, sweet potato fries (frozen) and asparagus.  I did my usual, Chicago steak seasoning from Penzeys, on the steak and the lemon EVOO on the asparagus.  Jim grilled the steaks, I cooked the asparagus in the Advantium oven and the fries went in first in the oven as they took the longest.

Jim served an Amarone Marano by Boscaini, 1994, Italian red.  We also had a Catena Alta Malbec, 1997, from Argentina.  Not that we hadn’t enough, but Jim was still eating, we had Four Vines Zinfandel, 2009, from CA.

But here is the recipe for a spectacular ending to any meal.  This recipe appeared in the August issue of Bon Appétit.

Ingredients:

Syrup

2 t coriander seeds

1C packed dark brown sugar

½ t whole black peppercorns

Kosher salt

Ice Cream

6 ears of corn, husked

2- 14oz. cans unsweetened coconut milk

2/3 C sweetened condensed milk

1t kosher salt

Garnishes

1 C salted, roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Finely grated lime zest

Special Equipment: ice cream maker

Directions:

Brown Sugar Syrup

1.      Toast coriander seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. 

2.      Transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush. 

3.      Stir sugar and 1/3 C water in a small saucepan over medium low heat until sugar dissolves. 

4.      Add coriander and peppercorns; season with salt. 

5.      Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer, swirling pan occasionally and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. 

6.      Let cool.  Strain; cover and chill for up to a month. 

I made the syrup just the day before, and did not refrigerate it.  The left over syrup is now in the refrigerator. 

Ice Cream 

Using the large holes on a box grater, coarsely grate corn kernels for cobs into a large bowl; reserve cobs.  (This was not fun and very messy.  My new large deep sink was a saver as I could grate down in the sink; otherwise corn juice would have been everywhere.) 

1.      Heat the coconut milk in a large saucepan over medium heat until almost simmering. 

2.      Add grated corn, corn cobs, and condensed milk; cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture barely begins to simmer, about 5 minutes. 

3.      Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 1 hour.  Discard cobs. 

4.      Strain corn mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. 

5.      Discard solids.  Whisk in salt.  Cover corn ice cream base; chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. 

6.      Process ice cream base in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.  This was 25 minutes in mine.  Remember it will not be solid as your next step is to transfer to an airtight container, cover, and freeze for at least 3 hours or up to 1 week. 

Garnishes

1.      Scoop ice cream into bowls. 

2.      Drizzle some brown-sugar syrup over.

3.      Garnish with peanuts and lime zest. 

Last night we went out to dinner at Tayst in Nashville.  I was disappointed.  We did the chefs 4 course tasting menu.  The wines were wonderful, but I was disappointed that none of our courses include a fish.  The first course was an oxtail dumpling, very good.  We next had a pork belly lollypop.  I did not like this at all.  The main or next course was a beef dish.  We will try it again, but I will pick my courses off the menu or be more specific as to what I am expecting.

During our day today we had lunch in the white table cloth area of the Country Music Hall of Fame.  They do a very good lunch.  I highly recommend it and members get a discount. 

Right after dinner last night we had a horrendous storm.  We lost power and this AM we discovered why.  A large tree tore down the power line to the house and was across the driveway.  Cousin Dave saved the day.  He is retired from the electric company in Lebanon and came out and determined that the lines under the tree were dead.  He brought his chain saw and he, Vince, and Jim cleared the driveway.  We had called the electric company last night and told them the power was out, but felt that as we were a one house outage we would be last on the list.  Comcast was working the area and called the electric company, as whatever got turned back on somewhere, was causing another pole on the property to burn and smoke.  So there was a brief time when I felt my new house in the forest may burn to the ground.  All was restored while we were away and I did not lose the contents of 2 freezers full of food.

But what can we do about breakfast?  Luckily I have maintained my CA earthquake survival mode and have never let Jim hook our grille to the gas line.  I know that refilling tanks is a pain, but we had gas in the grille and cooked our bacon and eggs on the side burners and Jim toasted the muffins on the grille.  Our only problem is that I gave all our French press coffeemakers away as Jim would never use them.  So I had my tea, burner number 2, but the coffee drinkers suffered.