Monthly Archives: December 2009

12.26.09
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Flounder with Mustard

w_rayes_stackSon Eric and Alison in Maine sent six jars of Raye’s mustard for Christmas. They swear by this mustard. Of course those Mainers stick together.

Being grateful, I fired off an email thank you which precipitated a lively dialog.

Me — So the catcher sez to the pitcher, he sez, “Nice pitch, but put some mustard on it!” We now have no lack of mustard.
Thanks!

E — You are welcome. Not sure if we’d sent you Rayes before. But it’s still my favorite mustard in the world. I sent it ahead of Xmas so you could plan for some mustard-centric courses for Christmas dinner.


Me — Do you have suggestions for mustard centric dishes?

E — How about Fra Mani sausages n stuff? Especially some Boudin Blanc for Xmas?  Knockwurst? How about smoked salmon for the sweeter mustard? How about corned beef? Ham and cheese sandwiches?


Me — I was thinking something exotic like a mustard crusted roast or something.

E — Use your weak west coast mustard for crusts. Use this mustard when you want to take a flavor and turn it up to 11…


Well, it was getting close to dinnertime. I had some nice flounder fillets and jars and jars of mustard. In spite of his advice, I Googled “mustard crusted” and got all kinds of results for salmon, pork, beef and so on. I took the concept of a couple of the salmon dishes and started dinner. It surely wouldn’t take long.

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I started by putting the fillets on parchment paper on the Countertop Convection Oven baking sheet, oiled them up and sprinkled them with salt, pepper and herbs d’ Provence. Preheated the CCO to 375°F on regular bake.

w_mustard_flounder_prep
Next, I generously slathered on Raye’s Brown Ginger mustard and sprinkled fresh bread crumbs over the fish. That went in the oven for about 10 minutes until the flounder was tender and lovely.  It wasn’t crusted so much as dressed with the mustard.

I served the flounder with lard fried fingerling potatoes and sauteed cauliflower leaves.

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Yum.

12.10.09
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Barndiva Revisited

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Oh yes, and maybe for the enth time. We happened upon it in April of 2006, having read about it in a New York Times story on Healdsburg Restaurants by Frank J. Prial. I wrote about it then, and again in April of this year when we made our semi-annualish trip to Simi Winery to pick up our wine “shipments.”

I belong to five wine clubs — a self imposed limit — Simi, Cline, Bonny Doon, Navarro and Mahoney. I’ve been in many others over the years, but settled on these because I consistently like their wines. The good part; they send bottles of their choice periodically at substantial discounts. The discounts also apply for re-order. The bad part; they send bottles of their choice periodically. I choose to pick up the wines at Cline, a short trip, I save the shipping cost and use it as an excuse to stock up on their California Zinfandel and Syrah; tremendous values, with the discount. Simi, on the other hand, makes an excuse to go to Healdsburg — and Barndiva — a couple times a year.

The last weekend in May, Simi had their garden cafe open to members for their Wine and Pizza Forage.

Here’s my journal entry for that trip:
Saturday afternoon, we went to Simi for their members only Wine and Pizza Forage. Turns out they have a lovely; lower patio off of their party room. For $25 we got pizzas of our choice made in their brick oven, and all the wine we dare drink. They were pouring Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1993, 1999, 2001, a 2000 Reserve Zinfandel and a 2005 Reserve Chardonnay. They had a few bottles of each left, priced at $100 — $70 for us on this day only. Great wine, but… great wine is even better when its free. Continue reading →

12.02.09
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Chicken Liver Pate

Back in July, 2007, I posted a story called A Chicken’s Liver, about what to do with the liver you find inside your chicken — make a quick one-liver pate. I do that as a matter of course when I have the occasion to use a whole chicken.

And that’s good, but not plenty. Carol recently said, “You know what we haven’t had for a while? Chicken livers.” I listened.

From time to time, I make the traditional Chopped Chicken Liver — liver, onions and hard cooked eggs mixed together — most recently for my Super Bowl XLIII Party. Good, but it lacks finesse; and on that occasion it was overshadowed by my Bacon Explosion, wildly popular at the time.

I went in search of a real chicken liver pate — buttery and boozy and rich — and found the answer on the KQED blog in a recipe by Thy Tran, a food writer I had seen in the Chronicle from time to time.

Here’s what she thinks about a real chicken liver pate:

“For those trying to watch their cholesterol intake, you can stop reading right now. Ditto for the vegetarians and the hard-core dieters. Teetolers might also want to move along.

For those remaining — those of us who still manage to reward ourselves during the dark days of winter — it’s time to whip up some chicken liver paté.

As buttery treats go, liver is dense with protein, vitamins and minerals. A few crackers spread thinly with this paté will make the bitterest salad sweeter. Accompanied with a thinly sliced apple and a glass of wine, it becomes a very adult way to enjoy a movie at home. And little ramekins set out for guests never fails to impress.”

That’s my kind of food treat — I’m not much into sweets — so I set to work.

w_chix_liversFirst, marinate the livers in cognac and thyme to get all flavorful and joyful. OK, it doesn’t look all that good… yet. But chicken livers, cognac and thyme… there’s no bad in there. I did a half recipe, so that’s a half pound chicken livers, an ounce of cognac and one and a half tablespoons fresh thyme. Continue reading →