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Indulgence of the Night - May 09

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Grilled blackened red snapper
remoulade sauce
Grilled asparagus
Rice

A bottle of Pewsey Vale Riesling - perfect accompaniment
 
Well, it's really hard to compete with pictures of such wonderful food . . . especially since I had Popeye's fried chicken and supermarket potato salad tonight! :001_rolle

Not that it wasn't tasty!

But tonight's indulgence is, as usual, good booze and fine cigars:

Ron Matusalem Espiritu de Cuba rum to drink, smoking:

Tatuaje Verocu #9
Esencia Corona Gorda

And I planted a hummingbird garden today, in honor of First of May. It's an ancient observance I always keep by adding to the landscaping here at the Fortress of Smokitude.

NANP™
 
Grilled blackened red snapper
remoulade sauce
Grilled asparagus
Rice

A bottle of Pewsey Vale Riesling - perfect accompaniment

MMmmmmm tasty!

Tonight was the best meal of all - cooked by someone else who loves to cook.:biggrin1:
Grilled fresh Swordfish, sparacus and grilled potatoes, salad, good brewed Iced tea- with a couple of good friends.
 
Bacon and Onion tart
Some nice mesclun from the garden, with red wine vinagrette
the remnants of last nite's Riesling

A perfect light meal.
 
New Amsterdam Gin Gimlet. First time having a gimlet, I think I found my new favorite summer drink.
 
Spring produce is showing up in force at the farmer's market. Apples are gone, but cherries and basil made their first appearances yesterday.

The basil was a dollar a bunch, and the bunch was more like a bouquet in size - a bouquet of flowers, not a bouquet garni.

Mrs Rughi and I were inspired to make pesto pasta. She mixed basil, asiago, olive oil, garlic and a little s&p in the cuisinart while I rolled out a 3egg batch of linguine. I love fresh pasta almost as much as I love fresh pesto!

We were so bewiched by the scents in the kitchen and the promise of the linguine hanging to dry that we totally bagged on the broccoli and ate pasta with only some good Acme baguette (you Bay Area guys know how good Acme is fresh).

I already am looking forward to leftovers at lunch tomorrow.

Roger
 
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Spring produce is showing up in force at the farmer's market. Apples are gone, but cherries and basil made their first appearances yesterday.

The basil was a dollar a bunch, and the bunch was more like a bouquet in size - a bouquet of flowers, not a bouquet garni.

Mrs Rughi and I were inspired to make pesto pasta. She mixed basil, asiago, olive oil, garlic and a little s&p in the cuisinart while I rolled out a 3egg batch of linguine. I love fresh pasta almost as much as I love fresh pesto!

We were so bewiched by the scents in the kitchen and the promise of the linguine hanging to dry that we totally bagged on the broccoli and ate pasta with only some good Acme baguette (you Bay Area guys know how good Acme is fresh).

I already am looking forward to leftovers at lunch tomorrow.

Roger

Nothing like fresh pesto, we are at least a month away here in NY for our home grown basil:frown:, So no toasted pinoli in your pesto?
 
Nothing like fresh pesto, we are at least a month away here in NY for our home grown basil:frown:, So no toasted pinoli in your pesto?

Well,
When I got there the cupboard was bare
But for a trip to the store there would have been.

Roger
 
I am continuing to work on my pizza technique and I like the results. I have been using a new technique for mixing/kneading the dough. This is a technique described by a guy naned Jeff Varasano, if anyone is reading the pizza forums.

Simply put, you add 75% of the flour to the mixer, along with all the rest of the ingredients and just mix well, for 1-2 minutes, to let them come together well. Let the very wet dough (more like thick batter), rest for 20 minutes (**), start kneading the dough (I use the paddle on my my kitchenaid) and let it run for 5 minutes before adding any more flour. Switch to a dough hook and add the rest of the flour and let it mix/knead for about five more minutes.

(**) The resting period allows the high moisture to react with the gluten in the flour in a process called Autolyse. This is the same process as used in the no knead bread recipe, but you are resting for a shorter period and then doing some mechanical kneading.

I pulled my temp down from 700 to 600 and really did not like the results as well. The pies were nice, but it took longer to cook and I ended up checking 2-3 times. I thing I will split the difference on the next cook.

I have been using a blend of mozzarella, sharp provolone, and munster with great results. I like grating my own cheese, because the grated cheese had something added that inhibits clumping and I think the fresh cheese melts and spreads better.

So, here are the results.

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Nice looking pies!

I don't like the texture of pizza dough using autolyse. I find it a bit too soft and yielding for a NY style pie, but to each his own.
 
Short Ribs with a red wine demi-glace and potato salad.

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Dessert: Turkey Hill Choco-chip mint ice cream.

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After dinner: Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban and a lovely Oliva Serie G.

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Pictures have been added. :001_smile
 
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This weekend I made 2 gallons of homemade chicken stock. It was time to clear out the freezer from all the bones I have collected from buying whole chickens and breaking them down. I froze most of it, but saved a quart for tonite's dinner.

Several margaritas (no chicken stock in those)

Pozole
Warm flour tortillas
Lots of hot sauce
 
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