Another Rotisserie Chicken

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Sunday Dinner- 31 March 2019

Rotisserie Chicken

This week we inaugurated the Weber Kettle Rotisserie for 2019, with a whole chicken and drip pan potatoes. It was a small fryer this time, a little less than four pounds. I used the Custom Culinary spice for dry brining, and chunks of cherry wood on the coals. I also cut up about four pounds of potatoes and par cooked them in the microwave for 15 minutes before putting them in the pan.

Because of the cold temperature, after an hour the interior of the breast was still only about 147 °F, so I moved everything to the Genesis gas grill, with the chicken on top of the potatoes, to finish.

We served this with one of Claudia’s lovely green salads and raided the freezer for some delicious local sweet corn that our brother-in-law, Jeff, had given us. Wine was Butter Chardonnay, and Aunt Pat brought a lemon meringue pie from Blue’s Cafe for dessert.

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St. Paddy’s Day 2019

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Sunday Dinner – 17 March 2019

St. Paddy Snow

The scene out our back windows Sunday Morning showed no hint of green, as a late season snow had covered everything in downy white. Inside the mood was festive though, with St. Paddy’s Day Radio from Sirius XM streaming throughout the house. I began peeling carrots about 7:30, and had them sautéing with onions and shallots before eight. I’d picked up two nice flat cut corned beef briskets (Morton’s of Omaha) from Aldi. They went into the pot next, along with malt vinegar, pickling spices and a can of Guinness.

Corned Beef in the Pot

After that simmered for five hours, I added about three pounds of red potatoes and a couple small heads of cabbage cut into wedges.

This was the second year using this recipe from Sunset Magazine. It turned out perfect this time. Last year I’d used cheaper point cuts from Jewel or somewhere, and it was good, but this year’s meal was dramatically better.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Claudia made dark chocolate Guinness cupcakes with vanilla icing and caramel that were awesome.

Guinness Cupcakes

For the wine pairing, surely you jest.

Irish Libations

So fill to me the parting glass, goodnight and joy be with you all.

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Pho

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Sunday Dinner – 10 March 2019

Pho

I love the Pho from Koi Asian Bistro, and have thought about making my own for years, but was a little intimidated by the process. I actually bought a 12-quart stock pot more than a year ago, for the express purpose of making a batch, but didn’t get around to doing it until this weekend.

I used Chef Qui Tran’s recipe, from Nudo House in St. Louis. I followed the recipe to the letter, with the following exceptions. Not finding knuckle bones, I substituted soup bones and shanks. For the rock candy, I used Turbinado Sugar. Star anise wasn’t available in our town, so I used anise seed and fennel seed. Finally, in place of the flank steak, I used bottom round roast.

We served the broth over rice noodles and thin slices of the beef, with bean sprouts, scallions, red onions, Jalapeño slices, lime wedges, Sriracha and chiffonade of basil.

Claudia made an incredible lime and ginger dressed salad for the side, and a Vietnamese coffee mousse for dessert.

Coffee Mousse

Wine was a beautiful Mendocino County Sauvignon Blanc from Franc Dusak, which paired perfectly. The other choices would have been rosé or Pinot Noir, but I can’t imagine those being any better.

I think the only change I would make next time would be to brown the bones and onions under the broiler a bit before starting the broth. The other note is that this should be served piping hot, which I was inattentive to because of the timing of the meal this time.

A little of the Sriracha goes a long way, by the way. I put some on every bite of meat, which was fine, but by the end of the bowl of broth, it had added quite a bit of spice. Caroline seemed to like it. A drop or two on a tiny slice of meat, and she said “Oooh!”

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Quiche for Sunday Dinner

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Sunday Dinner – 10 February 2019

This week we had Quiche Lorraine and Quiche Florentine, along with one of Claudia’s lovely salads.

I cheated and used store bought crusts, baking them blind for about twelve minutes first thing Sunday Morning. I also crisped up a pound of bacon, chopped an onion, and shredded 4 ounces of Swiss cheese for the Lorraine. For the Florentine, I chopped up a couple cups of fresh spinach, and grated the rest of the block of Swiss.

The custard was four eggs, two cups of whole milk, a little sugar, some salt and black pepper, and about a teaspoon of Herbs du Provence. I put the other ingredients into the shells, and then poured the custard mixture on top. They baked for 15 minutes at 425 °F, then I turned the oven down to 350 and let them bake for another half an hour.

Claudia and Aunt Pat put together the salad, and Claudia made the vinaigrette with raspberry vinegar and avocado oil.

Wine was Jacqueline Bahue’s Cabernet Franc from 2016, one of our favorites.

I think I’ll make my own crusts next time, and will nearly double the amount of custard. The Florentine might benefit from a little grated nutmeg, too. Might also use either Gruyère or Emmental cheese.

Kid loved this meal, and Claudia especially liked the Lorraine this time.

Claudia also made lemon bars for dessert.

Lemon Bars with Blueberries

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Burns Night 2019

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Sunday Dinner – 27 January 2019

Faux Haggis and Tartan Veggies

This week was our annual Burns Night celebration for Sunday Dinner.

It was some time in the 1980s that I first got interested in “the Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race.” There was a cooking show on Public Television called “The Frugal Gourmet” and the chef, Jeff Smith, made something approaching haggis in a coffee can instead of a sheep’s stomach. I didn’t ever attempt his recipe, but at some point in the last decade or so I found this recipe for crockpot faux haggis which uses ground beef and lamb instead of offal, and decided to try it. It’s essentially a meatloaf with haggis-like seasonings. We loved the taste and the aroma while it’s cooking, so it has since become an annual tradition. We make it as close to Burns Night (January 25th) as we can, and have added some other recipes to the mix over the years, including cock-a-leekie soup, roasted root vegetables and our version of cranachan.

The roasted vegetables are cubes of potato, carrot and beets. I toss them with oil, thyme, salt and pepper, and then par cook them in the microwave for 5 minutes before placing them on a baking sheet and roasting at 400 °F for about half an hour. The cooked peas are added to the bowl with the veggies when they come out of the oven, and we sprinkle on a little chopped chives. I used to make the more traditional “tatties and neeps” but these were a hit around the table, and preparation is a cinch, so I think we’ll keep them.

I adapted Bonny Wolf’s chicken soup recipe for the crock pot for the first course.

Wine was Matt Parish’s 2016 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, and it paired very nicely.

Dessert was a take on cranachan, with a mix of Greek yoghurt, Dewar’s Scotch, honey and oat granola layered with raspberries.

We proceeded the meal with Burns’ Selkirk Grace.

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be Thankit!

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