Family Dinner at Sandra's

On Sunday we drove to Sacramento for a get together at Sandra's new house. She made us a delicious dinner - salad, spaghetti and garlic bread. Thank you Sandra!Nick & Milissa:Matthew & Zack:Sonny gives Grandpa a domino lesson:Jerry, Sandra, Charleen & Shirley:Shirley and Nick Jr:

Our great-granddaughter Mariah:
Vanessa with cousin Marco:

Sarah introduces Marco to Nick Jr:

Thanksgiving Weekend in Oakland

We drove to Oakland on Wednesday to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with Sarah, Jeff & Marco. The first couple of days were a cooking marathon. On Wednesday Jeff gave me a demonstration of his baguette technique:I'm sorry to say that was pretty much it for food pictures. We were having so much fun cooking and eating that I kept forgetting to take pics. On Wednesday we also made homemade ravioli and an apple pie. For lunch on Thursday we made homemade Dim Sum - mini eggrolls, pot stickers and steamed dumplings. Sarah also made a spicy Asian salad. Darn, I wish I had pictures. The lunch was beautiful, fun to make and delicious. Sarah's mom, Pam, and her Grandma Alice also came for the weekend and joined us for lunch. Time to start cooking Thanksgiving dinner! Jeff cooked a dry-brined turkey on the rotisserie. See the Cecchin Family Blog for a video of the beautiful bird. Sarah made her now traditional corn soup, we also had dressing (using Jeff's bread) with Italian Sausage and cranberries, roasted fall vegetables, mashed potatoes & gravy and Pam's delicious cranberry sauce. And for dessert apple pie a la mode.

Marco gave us a hand in the kitchen:Sarah's beautiful table (Jeff's parents also joined us for dinner):Marco's first Thanksgiving: He needed a bath after that meal!

Our last night in Oakland we went to Whole Foods to pick up some steaks. What an incredible store. We have a Whole Foods near us but it is nothing like this store. It was a food Disneyland!! We picked up some air-aged rib eye steaks to bbq, arugula & pears for a salad, baking potatoes, garlic pizza dough braids and sushi.

Here's our sushi appetizer. Wouldn't you know, I forget to take pictures of all our delicious homemade food but manage to take one of our store bought food.

Sarah, Jeff and Marco: Thanks so much for a wonderful and memorable Thanksgiving.

Early Thanksgiving

We're going to Sarah & Jeff's for Thanksgiving and Ma is in Mississippi with my brother and his family, so we decided to cook an early Thanksgiving dinner and celebrate with my dad and sister.On the menu was dry-brined turkey (delicious - the only way I will be cooking turkey or chicken for now on- recipe link), dressings (one plain and one with added dried cranberries and apples), mashed potatoes, gravy (made with the homemade turkey stock I made last week), sweet potatoes w/apples, peas, homemade cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie.Everything was delicious, especially the turkey, except for the rolls. My rolls were a disaster!! I didn't use my starter, just a normal white bread recipe. I kneaded the bread by hand and I think the problem was I kneaded in too much flour.

The pumpkin pie, thank goodness, was a hit. Here's a picture before going in the oven:And ready to eat:



Laura is not a pumpkin pie fan so I rolled out the leftover pie dough, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar:Rolled up the dough into a log, cut into pinwheels and baked in the oven until browned:

Trust me on the dry-brined turkey recipe, it makes the moistest turkey you can imagine!

Too Hot for the Galley! (Grilled Chicken Salad)

It was just way too hot to spend much time in the galley this weekend - 96 degrees in Ventura! I decided a nice cool salad was in order. I started by making a salsa with chopped tomatoes, green onions, red onion, corn, black olives and cilantro. Black beans and avocado would be a good addition.

I grilled a couple of skinless, boneless chicken breasts that had been rubbed with Mexican seasonings and then chilled them. A little mayonnaise mixed with Arriba hot sauce was my dressing for the chopped lettuce. To serve, I topped the tossed lettuce with some of the salsa, the sliced chicken breast, grated cheddar cheese and a little more salsa. Mm mm good and very refreshing.
It finally cooled down enough for me to make turkey stock for Thanksgiving. I browned turkey wings (very inexpensive) in the oven for about 45 minutes.While the wings were in the oven I cut carrots, celery and onions. The parsley, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns could be wrapped in cheesecloth so they can be easily removed after cooking, but I plan on straining the stock, so just threw the herbs in whole.I added everything to a large pot, covered with water and simmered for about 3 hours.
Now I have some delicious stock to take to Sarah & Jeff's that we can use in the turkey dressing (instead of the usual chicken stock) and of course to make lots of tasty gravy. I can't wait for Turkey Day!!

Coniglio al Vin Santo (aka Thumper)

The view from my galley this evening:

This recipe for Braised Rabbit with Leeks, Turnips and Vin Santo is from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. The butcher offered to cut the rabbit for me, but I wanted to practice my butchering skills.

Not too bad for a first try:


First I seasoned the rabbit with salt & pepper, dredged in flour and cooked in olive oil until it was golden brown, about 10 minutes:

I removed the rabbit from the pan and sauteed cubes of turnips and rounds of leeks for about 5 minutes. Next I added dry sherry (I didn't have any Vin Santo), Mario's Basic Tomato Sauce (canned tomatoes cooked in sauteed onions, carrots, garlic and thyme) and chicken stock:

When the mixture came to a boil I added the rabbit back to the pan:

The covered pan went into a 375 degree oven for an hour and 15 minutes:

Except for the Rabbit Tostada I had at Cindy's Back Street Cafe in Napa a couple of years ago, I hadn't eaten rabbit since I was a kid. My grandma used to make fried rabbit for my dad on his birthday and I loved it. John & I were both a little disappointed in this dish. I don't know if it was because of my poor rabbit skills or the quality of the rabbit, but we had both hoped for a juicier bunny. Also the turnips cooked too long and the sherry made the rabbit a little sweet for my taste. Despite these criticisms, we still enjoyed the dish and I'm looking forward to the leftovers (without the overcooked turnips and leeks!) for lunch one day this week.

Pork Challenge

At last Friday's Halloween Happy Hour, Dave challenged me to a cook-off. We decided on pork, but I didn't think we had decided on a date. This afternoon I get a call from Dave: What did you decide to cook? Me: I haven't decided yet, but it will be awesome. When do you want to have the challenge? How about tomorrow night? Dave: What? We have to do it tonight, I've been prepping for two days! Me: Uh, oh, guess I better get home and think pork.

Bonnie - Pork? I thought you said peanuts!

Dave brought some incredible food - ribs cooked three ways (my favorite was with a cranberry sauce-yum), bruschetta with pistachio & lime crusted pork tenderloin, and chile verde. All delicious!! Luckily, in the freezer, I had some of the Pork Guazzetto (link to recipe) and homemade pasta (link to recipe) I made last week. I also had some ground pork and ground veal in the freezer, so I made meatballs (link to recipe), only this time I called them pork meatballs instead of veal meatballs!

The official tasters:

John in the Galley !! Veal Uccellini & Butternut Squash Soup

Now this is blogworthy - John was back in the galley and he hasn't lost his touch! He made Veal Uccellini ("little birds" in Italian) and they were incredible. He started by layering a piece of prosciutto on top of a thin piece of veal, seasoned with salt and pepper:

Next a basil leaf:

Then Jarlsberg cheese:He rolled up little bundles and secured them with toothpicks:Sauteed garlic in butter and olive oil and browned the veal:
Next he added a little vermouth and cooked until it mostly evaporated, removed the garlic and swirled a little butter into the sauce:

I made a butternut squash soup by sauteing diced onions and diced squash in olive oil for a few minutes. Then added chicken stock and cooked until the squash was tender. I pureed the soup until smooth with an immersion blender and seasoned with fresh nutmeg and salt & pepper.

Thank you John for a wonderful Sunday supper and for making my 50th post special!