Christmas in Baltimore 2009

Christmas was very fun this year. Having Gabe home was special but we did miss the rest of the clan... We made an awesome pork loin cooked in 8 cups of kosher salt with spices... it cooked really slowly. After it was done we had to break open the salt casing to get out the roast. It was delicious.
We paired it with a lovely buttery Chardonay, roasted carrots, parsnips, and fingerling potatoes, and a wonderful carmelized roasted onion grantine that was to die for. I hope the pictures do it justice. For dessert we had mini buche du noel and a pear tart that was sooooo good...

A Birthday Dinner to Remember

Stacy's birthday was a few weeks back and I've been totally slacking on putting up these pictures and this post. Blame it on the wildly hectic new job that's got me staying past 9pm twice a week. And the multiple weddings. And the spousal birthdays. And general laziness. But finally here it is... prepare to be gastronomically taunted.
Brian put together the entire 40+ person dinner - the menu, the cooking, the decorating, all of it. Well, he had some help on the cooking end, "borrowing" several chef friends who came in and helped him assemble a (seriously) multi-course meal in Stacy & Brian's tiny kitchen. The dinner was served at a long table (well several tables strung together) in a manner inspired by my and Noah's rehearsal dinner.
It was a beautiful night in Fairfax - sunny early on with some clouds and very, very light drizzle later in the evening. The moisture in the air even brought an auspicious rainbow along with it. So pretty!
The birthday girl herself, in the middle of their small but lush backyard vegetable garden.
This was one of the entrees, an amazing slow roasted pork loin. And the next day it made an even more amazing pork sandwich. Or so I was told, as someone may have put it all in his sandwich and left none for his poor, hungry wife.
This is the remnants of what was probably my favorite course - a black and white risotto. I believe it was a parmesan risotto with artichokes and sausage, with a black squid ink risotto "crust". I am salivating at the memory.
The non-vegetarian friendly ravioli.
The vegetarian friendly ravioli. I'm trying to remember what was inside...maybe beet greens & beets & ricotta? I don't think I got to this course.
The table before everyone sat down.
A view of Stacy & Brian's jam-packed garden. They've got enough tomato plants to keep all the folks who sign up for Patchwork Farms in tomatoes for the rest of the summer.
A delicious spinach, bacon and egg salad.
Probably my third favorite course - a variety of heirloom tomatoes and some seriously good burrata.
An heriloom bean, beet and mushroom salad with arugula. Another winning combination.
My second favorite dish, the homemade ceviche. It went fast, hence the less than awesome photo.
Roasted potatoes.
One of my 4 platefuls of food. I believe I am still running off the weight I gained that weekend.
A crappy picture of the traditional Kucserka family birthday dessert - Princess Cake. It's a marzipan shell over a white cake with cream and raspberries. I don't think there's a better cake in the whole world.
Mom's strawberry rhubarb pie. My favorite pie in the world. Mom was going to do an apple pie, but my sad face (I'd just found out I would be starting work unexpectedly that Monday and had to bail on the yearly family trip to Packer Lake at the last minute) made her reconsider her pie choice. I'm so glad you did, Mom!
The last dessert of the night, a "Blueberry Cheesecake in a Jar". Brian invented this one and according to those who could eat it without a lactose attack, it was awesome.

Overall a one in a lifetime, delicious multi-course meal prepared by (in my humble opinion) the best chefs in town. There were even a few sides that I think I missed, not to mention the pre-dinner snacks: cheese, meats, homemade preserved tuna poached in oil and lots of garden veggies to nibble on.

Noah's up in Marin for a few days again, going to concert with his brother and staying with my fam. There's a bbq at Stacy and Brian's tonight and I am super jealous. My takeout chicken just doesn't compare.

Oyster-gasm!!!

This weekend there were oysters. Lots of oysters. One dozen on Saturday evening, courtesy of the Fish King in Glendale. One dozen Sunday evening courtesy of the Carlsbad Aquafarm stand at the Hollywood Farmers Market.
We ate the Saturday batch (Hama Hamas and Fanny Bays) with the above wine - a killer Viogner we picked up at Rideau when we were wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley three weekends ago (wine tasting then Kings of Leon at the SB Bowl, are you jealous?). Sunday's Luna oysters were washed down with a few glasses of Saison Dupont.
Noah not only did all the shucking both nights, but Saturday he put together the entire gorgeous platter and made the mignonette. I love that man. He also fancies hot sauce on his lil' guys.
As you can see, we really had to force ourselves to get all 24 bivalves down. Mmmm, bivalves.

Don't Hate Because My Dip Is Awesome

Sometimes you're struck with an idea to make something and it turns out...meh (see tonight's attempt at Boho's farro salad). And sometimes...you kill it. Like serious, murder, kill. That's the deal with this dip.

Dip's not something I usually make, unless we're having a party. But tonight (due in small part to said meh farro dish), it seemed like having a little somethin'-somethin' to start off the meal was a good idea. And my ass really did not need another cheese plate, as much as it may have wanted one. So I'm at lunch with Noah and we come up with the idea of a dip - the better to use up the shit ton of leftover crackers from Craig & Sharra's baby shower.

Lately, my go-to dip has been this one. And this one also got cleaned out at the baby shower. But tonight I wanted to make a dip with a) the leftover ricotta I have that's about to go south, b) ingredients that could be found already in my house, and c) that didn't require fatty chips or bread to make it work (again, the crackers REALLY need to get eaten).

That's where the internet and my general awesome met at the intersection of Brilliant Idea and made this dip. And because of it, I encourage each and every one of you to go look in your fridge, see what's dip worthy, stick it in a Quisinart (or should I say Quisin♥rt) and rock your own snack poetry. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Most Awesome Ricotta & Sun Dried Tomato Dip In the Universe
by Sarah (with an assist from Rose Reisman from Light Vegetarian & the Big Oven website)

3/4 c. ricotta
4-5 healthy scoops of sun dried tomatoes in oil
1 tsp. of oil from sun dried tomatoes (or olive oil)
10 basil leaves
1 tbsp. pine nuts
2 tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated
a couple splashes of balsamic vinegar
salt, to taste

Stick everything in a Cuisin♥rt and pulse to desired consistency. Serve with water, rice or whole grain crackers. Or a baguette, if you insist.

A Valentine's Food Extravaganza

This year for Valentine's Day, Noah and I decided to forego the ridiculously overpriced restaurants (yeah, I'm talking to you Sona) in favor of a homemade Valentine's feast. I proposed a fun idea - each of us makes three courses (app/main/dessert) and we end up with a six course tasting menu. Above is the table, set with the first round of dishes.
This homemade pork terrine was my first course. I used a recipe from the Chez Panisse Cafe Menu Book (which I will be posting later). And while it was time intensive, 2-3 days of meat marinating and 2-3 days of terrine resting, it wasn't all that labor-ific. And when the pork guy at your farmer's market doesn't blink when you ask for half a pound of back fat, you know you're good to go. I served it with a crusty sourdough boule, cornichons and Dijon mustard. I like to think it was as good as the one at Le Regalade in Paris.
Noah's dish was this Venetian Shrimp on Polenta dish, with a yummy butter lemon garlic sauce drizzled on top. The recipe came from an old Food + Wine article and was really simple and tasty.

My main course was the above crab duo. Bonus points for creative use of a claw. It's the crazy simple crab cake recipe from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market Cookbook and an equally simple Dungeness crab salad recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. The salad is deconstructed and made up of roasted beets, avocado, watercress, crab and creme fraiche. The crab is dressed in a light dressing of oil, vinegar, lemon juice (which I subbed for the recommended lime juice), shallots and jalapeno. It was brilliant and complimented the crab perfectly.
Noah's main was a roasted game hen with thick bacon slices and roasted grapes. This simple combination kind of blew my mind. In fact, I'm thinking I'll eat the leftovers for lunch in a few minutes... Strangely enough, the recipe came from the same article in Food + Wine as the shrimp polenta, even though Noah had planned them out separately.
Above is the table, set with the second course. We drank an Alsatian Pinot Gris with all four of the dishes. A nice, dry match.
And finally, the dessert courses. I had been obsessing over the Whole Lemon Tart recipe that Deb at Smitten Kitchen posted a week or so back. I decided to use one of the precious Meyer lemons from my tree to make it, and instead of a full sized 9" tart, I went with mini tartlettes. I was kind of worried, having never tarted it up before (that's what she said), but everything turned out really, really well. Noah put together a mini cheese course - St. Andre triple cream and a 6 month aged Manchego. We ate it all, along with a 1999 Veuve Brut Rose champagne that Noah had given to me for Valentine's Day in 2005. So good!

By the end of the three hour meal, we were both stuffed and very, very happy. Who needs $500 dinners when you can make something even better at home for nowhere near that amount?

And did I mention I have enough dough and filling for two or three more tarts hanging out in my freezer right now. Yeah, let's see how long that lasts.