Sunday, February 28, 2010

Back to the Kitchen...

A week with the creeping crud head cold, our house saw a lot of soup. Monday and Tuesday were soup, and Wednesday was pasta (sausage and "weeds" from Mario Batali) which is a big favorite. Thursday I was just way too beat, so it was pizza.

Friday I made it through the afternoon without cold medicine and without using a box of tissue, so we celebrated with something new from Pepin's More Fast Food My Way, crispy chicken thighs and mushroom sauce.

The thighs are cooked skin down with a tight lid in no fat until the skin is nice and crispy, these could have gone a few more minutes. Then some onion, garlic & mushrooms are sauteed in the chicken fat (drain all but about 2 tablespoons), with a bit of wine (vermouth in this case) until reduced to a nice sauce. With a nice salad, made a perfect Friday night dinner. The evening was rounded out with some popcorn and The Great Muppet Caper - love Charles Grodin's socks!

Saturday was errand day, with grocery store visits in between torrential downpours (its an El Nino, confirmed officially today). I had promised the Rabbit for a while that we would see the Percy Jackson movie, capped off by Bob's Big Boy (ok patty melt actually, though the meat was kind of dry).

Today, the sun came out, and I felt like spending some time in the kitchen. I made breakfast (eggs and chicken sausage), then put together some no-knead bread, and baked it.

During the USA/Canada overtime, I tried this quick "ricotta" cheese from Serious Eats.
Note my sophisticated cheese making equipment - Pyrex, colander, paper towels.

It actually turned out pretty good, with a drizzle of nice olive oil, a bit of salt, pepper & thyme. We had a little post-game snack.

Now, I have a pot roast going in the oven. Life is good.

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