Mother's Day, Wannabe Foodie Style

This week’s topic include why Mother’s Day is akin to the Boy Scouts, blackberry-infused syrup, food that tastes great and looks horrible, a review of Hacienda in Reno (hint – not good), and I revisit bourbon.

Mother’s Day, WF Style.  There’s a mother in the WF household, so Mother’s Day is justifiably a big day around here.  I think that Mother’s Day is like the Boy Scouts.  It’s all about the service projects.  Yes. Gifts are good.  But, giving Mom something you made or doing something for her seems to go farther on this day.  For me, service means cooking for the Red. 

A quick side note is in order.  I have never met a woman who did not like a man cooking for her.  Maybe such a woman exists, but I certainly haven’t come across her.  Frankly, I don’t even think you need to do it well.  The effort alone will earn you kudos.  Gentlemen – cook for the woman in your life.

Here’s how we do Mother’s Day, WF style:

Breakfast – scratch-made cornmeal and buttermilk pancakes with blackberry maple syrup and two fresh poached eggs.  Check it out.  If that does not say “Happy Mother’s Day and here’s your breakfast in bed,” I don’t know what does.  The Red still says they were the best pancakes she’s ever had. 

A quick note/recipe for the syrup you see.  Get a cup or two of some real maple syrup (no Aunt Jemima here!) and throw it in a pot.  As soon as it starts to simmer, through in a pint of fresh blackberries or blue berries, with a splash of vanilla extract for good measure.  Turn the heat off and put the lid on it.  Let it sit for 20 minutes or so, and…… Voila!  Blackberry infused maple syrup!  Damn good and embarrassingly easy.

Dinner – I asked the Red what she wanted and she pondered for a while.  “A risotto.”  “Any kind of risotto?”  “I was thinking you could try to recreate that mushroom and sausage risotto we had at that fabulous local Italian joint.” 

That’s girl’s a keeper.  Did I mention that?

So I make this risotto, and I used some red wine as the first liquid in the pot to infuse the whole dish with red wine flavor.  It tasted fabulous.  The richness of the porcini mushrooms with red wine and creaminess of risotto….  Awesome. 

However, I now know that you can’t use red wine in risotto and not have it look like purplish vomit.  It’s just impossible.  So, no food porn is forthcoming for that dish.

In the future, perhaps I’ll use white wine, which should help the aesthetics of the dish.  Or I’ll keep using red wine and move past the aesthetics!

The Red loved it, and that’s all that matters.

A Follow up on Bourbon.  Some readers of this blog may recall an early post about how I am slowly being indoctrinated into the ways of bourbon (a.k.a. ‘white trash scotch’).  Before you Scotch drinkers judge, stop.  There are some fabulous bourbons that any snooty Scotch-loving person would thoroughly enjoy.  They don’t all taste like Jim Beam, just like all Scotches don’t taste like Johnny Walker Red. 

Lately, I’ve taken great pride in serving very good bourbon to one of my Scotch-loving friends.  He says he hates bourbon.  “Too sweet.  Tastes like *&^$.”  On more than one occasion, I have served him good bourbon, only to be asked what kind of Scotch it was.  Inevitably, the following exchange occurs:  “That’s bourbon.”  “There’s no way this is bourbon.”  “Ok.  Would you like some more.”  “Absolutely.”

Set aside your prejudices and try some bourbon.  If you’re an avid whiskey drinker, I suggest Michter’s.  Trust me.

However, if you have some extra money in your pocket and you can find it,….. buy some Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve.  It will cost you a fair amount of money, but well worth it.  Actually, if you find any bourbon with ‘Van Winkle’ on the label, buy it.  It’s good.

A Review of Hacienda in Reno.  Recently, we were at a sixth grade science fair around dinner time.   We didn’t have dinner plans, so we decided to grab dinner with another family.  We were in a pinch so the only two choices were Chili’s and Hacienda, a local Mexican restaurant.  The other family chose Hacienda, so that’s where we went.

I believe that will be the last time I ever go to Hacienda.

We sit down and I ask the waitress, who is just about as smart as she needs to be, about her favorite items on the menu.  She says “Fish tacos.  They’re awesome.”  Cool.  Fish tacos it is. 

As this exchange was occurring, our friends were apparently trying to give me subtle hints that the fish tacos are not, in fact, awesome.  As the waitress leaves, they finally tell me.  And then it occurs to me.  I look around the restaurant and ponder if fish tacos were the best choice.  There could be downsides to such a choice…..

I changed my order to Barbacoa.  The Red got pork chile verde and our friends ordered a well done steak (eww) and Barbacoa.

The review?  The Barbacoa was tender enough and had some flavor.  I would call it adequate at best.  The well done steak?  Who the hell cares?!  It’s a well done steak and no matter what you do it will taste like burnt leather.

The Red’s chile verde wasn’t even adequate.  It was barely edible and looked like the results of bad fish tacos.  It was clearly made at the restaurant, and it had no flavor.  That’s enough to piss off the WF.  It is not hard to make tasty chile verde and I’ve done it many times. 

A Hispanic restaurant should not have bland, nasty chile verde.  It’s like getting piss poor fish and chips at a British pub, bad Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant, or nasty curry at an Indian restaurant.  It just shouldn’t happen.

Simply put, Hacienda is just bad and we will not be back.  The only upside was the margaritas, which were tasty, strong, and expensive.

That night, Chili’s would have been a far better choice. 

Happy cooking.

WF

Please hand me a vodka martini and let's discuss our feelings

This week’s topics include another visit to La Creperie, mmm… lamb shanks, saving the bits and pieces, a cry against laziness, one of the best dishes I’ve made in a while, and a new favorite gin. 

A Follow up review of La Creperie.  I have favorably reviewed a number of restaurants in the last year of this blog.  I often wonder if I would like those restaurants as much if went back. 

A recent business trip took me to Colorado Springs, Colorado, which gave me an opportunity to revisit La Creperie in downtown Colorado Springs.  Here’s my initial review of this quaint and locally-owned French restaurant that I just stumbled upon.  Review of La Creperie  

On this trip, I walk into La Creperie and I am the only customer.  The waitress tells me that their mid-week business is all over the board.  Swamped or dead.  And I forgot the best part.  She tells me this in a heavy French accent.  I had pleasant flashbacks to a Paris trip the Red and I took a few years ago.  Women with a French accent serving me food……

But I digress.

I order a glass of Cote du Rhone red wine and the braised lamb shank bourguignon.  Yes, I know it’s traditionally beef bourguignon, but what part of braised lamb shank was unclear to you?  The woman with the heavenly accent tells me that it takes 15-20 minutes, to which I respond something to the effect of “If it’s good, I’ve got nothing but time.”

So I order a dinner salad and patiently wait while I read my book and drink my nice French wine.  Yes, I had a book.  Actually, it was a book on the kindle app on my iPad, but whatever.  I was out to dinner alone and I can only chat up the woman with the heavenly accent so much before it gets awkward.  I am, after all, beholden to the Red.

Was it worth the wait?   In a word or two… Hell yes!  Here’s the picture.  The shank was fall off the bone tender with the rich, slightly piquant  bourguignon sauce.  Plus, lamb shanks done well have this richness to them which goes well beyond beef.  Good lord.  Plus, it was served with lightly steamed green beans and fancy French ‘scalloped’ potatoes. 

If you live in Colorado Springs or spend any time there, seek this little gem out.  It just north of Kiowa on Tejon in downtown Colorado Springs.  Be sure to order a crepe as well.

Using Everything.  I like to make everything from scratch, and I like to save bits and pieces for future use.  Some examples:

I love to smoke chickens over the weekend.  I slice the breasts for lunch meat for lunches during the week.  I carve up the rest of the chickens for use in pasta, enchiladas, soup, chicken and dumplings, fajitas, and so on.  You can use really good chicken for any number of dishes. 

Plus, I save the carcasses and freeze them.  When I have 4 or 5, I defrost them and, along with some raw chicken carcasses and chicken feet, I make stock.  A couple of weekends ago, I made the mother lode of stock.  I pulled out my 5 gallon turkey frying pot and made about at least 4 gallons of stock.  Check ‘em out. 

I lay them bags flat on half sheets and freeze them.  Then I can stack them vertically or horizontally in my freezer for future use.

I know what you’re thinking.  WF – why in the hell do I care about making stock?  I can buy it at the store. 

To which I say:

1.         It’s easy to make your own stock.  Don’t be lazy.

2.         The stock you buy simply won’t compare to the flavor of what you make at home.

3.         The whole house smells like chicken noodle soup when you’re making stock, and that’s always good! 

4.         It costs a couple of dollars in ingredients to make a ton of stock.  I think I made 4 gallons of stock and spent maybe 3-5 dollars.  I don’t count the cost of the carcasses since they would be thrown away if I didn’t use them for stock. 

5.         You always need stock on hand.  You need it for most Mexican sauces, paella, soups, pasta, and….

Saffron Risotto with Prosciutto and Scallops.  Let me first say that it was as good as you think it was.   Check out the food porn: 

I have come to love making risotto.  It’s foodie comfort food and not easy make.  It takes time and effort, but it’s well worth it.

For this one, I threw the prosciutto in with the onions and garlic as they sweated down.  I tossed in the scallops at the very end and stirred them into the hot risotto for 2-3 minutes.  Just enough to warm them up, but not overcook them.  I took the risotto off the heat and folded in some butter and grated parmesan. 

The Review?  Fabulous.  Creamy and rich like only good risotto can be.  The scallops were soft and buttery since they weren’t overcooked.  Plus, you could taste just a hint a smokiness from my stock made from smoked chicken carcasses. 

This was one of the better dishes I’ve made in a while. 

My new favorite gin.  In a prior post, I went on a diatribe about gin and martinis.  I may have suggested that anything without gin is a cocktail and not a martini.  No vodka 'martinis'

I still feel that way.  If you want to drink vodka ‘martinis’ with pomegranate and talk about your feelings and how your day was, go ahead.  Just don’t call it a martini.  Frankly, I’ve drank plenty of fluffy drinks in my time, so I’m not judging.

Ok.  That’s a lie.  I am judging. 

I believe I have found the best gin on the planet.  I have previously espoused my love for Bombay Sapphire, and that’s a solid gin.   However, it doesn’t compare to Hendrick’s gin.  Hendrick’s is softer and more luxurious than Bombay Sapphire.  To me, it’s a more mature gin.

How to serve it?  In a dry martini on the rocks with hand-stuffed blue cheese olives.  In my ever so humble opinion, there is not a better cocktail on the planet.  However, if you step up to order this drink, please put your big girl or boy pants on.  You’ve got to own it when you order this drink, or you sound like a douche. 

Here’s how:  “I’ll have a Hendrick’s martini.  Dry and on the rocks with blue cheese olives, if you have them.  If not, with a twist.”

Now that’s a grown up drink!

Happy cooking.

WF