Thanksgiving 2013

This year, we are taking it easy in the kitchen. We are running a 10K in the morning, and waited until the last minute to decide what we would do about food. So, given that we are busy, and there are only two of us, I think we have come up with a good plan.

We are roasting a chicken; no turkey this year – we are cooking a 5lb roaster, that is already sitting in the brine (2 qts water, half cup each of sugar and salt). Tomorrow, I will roast it just as our recipe here, but will add a little time for the size factor.

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On the side, I am making a roasted butternut squash risotto, roasted carrots and broccoli, and I will make a gravy from the drippings in the roasting pan; I have a stock simmering on the stove for the risotto, with which I can stretch the gravy.

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Will be good and simple – something we can handle after a 10K…

Update: Everything was fantastic.

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Monday Dinner – Rib Eye 11.25.13

On Mondays, we tend to be busy until 8ish. So, we don’t want to take on anything too extravagant or time consuming. Tonight, we are doing a boneless Ribeye with blue cheese butter. We will make the steak exactly as we have in our recipe: Steaks Made Easy

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For green: Frozen peas. Yes, we live in the Bay Area, we have fantastic produce less than a mile away, and we make frozen peas – and, we like them.

Still on that damn low-carb thing; thank god I had pasta for lunch.

Appy: sushi, from Bianchini’s.

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Saturday Ground Meat Day 11.23

Today, we are making our Tomato sauce, https://slowdownandcook.com/2011/07/19/meat-and-tomato-pasta-sauce/ and several burger patties; a couple we will eat today; the rest we will freeze. We have a burger press that is great for uniformity; every burger cooks the same, four minutes a side. We have a burger recipe here, https://slowdownandcook.com/category/beef/burgers/  but I will simplify it, because we are freezing; simplicity is good for that which will be frozen and cooked later: only the three meats with salt and pepper.

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This is the press.

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Bechamel with Saffron and Spice

This is an excellent way to make a simple bechamel into something really special; it is perfect for using in the baked broccoli recipe I have here: https://slowdownandcook.com/2013/04/01/broccoli-in-cheesy-cream-sauce

The bechamel is the same as my basic here:

https://slowdownandcook.com/2012/03/05/bechamel-sauce/

With the following additions:

While you are whisking the sauce, add a pinch (tiny) of saffron, one whole allspice and two whole cloves, and a tiny pinch of salt. Also, you can do the cheater bechamel, but it is better to heat the milk; the result is a smoother sauce.

Here is how it looks before and after adding the saffron:
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