I personally liked this recipe for white hot chocolate, but nobody else was as fond of it as me.
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- whipped cream for garnish
I eat!
I personally liked this recipe for white hot chocolate, but nobody else was as fond of it as me.
This is a super easy and great way to make roasted potatoes. I particularly like it because I have a lot of rosemary growing by the side of my house. I cooked the potatoes at 425F, as I was cooking them with another dish that required that temperature, but the original recipe has them cooking at 400F. I think the added temperature had them dry out on the outside, and steam in the inside – something which my guests liked. I prepared the potatoes about an our before roasting without them turning brown.
Preheat oven to 400 to 425 degrees F.
Based on Robin Miller’s recipe at the Food Network.
Sometimes the best things are the simplest things, and this super quick and easy Madeira sauce just proves it. I made it to serve with a ribeye roast, but it could go just as well with roasted lamb, pork or venison. It has a wonderful nutty buttery flavor that really complemented the beef. It’s great to soak with bread too. Make the sauce in advance, and add the pan juices and heat right before serving.
I’ve used this method for cooking ribeye roast (aka boneless Prime Rib) before, but as part of a bigger recipe. I figured I’d include it all by itself for easier reference. It can be served by itself or with a sauce.
These instructions are for a 6lb roast. If yours is larger, add some additional cooking time. This recipe takes a total of about 6 hours, but only about 5 minutes of actual active time.
About six hours before your serving time, remove the roast from the fridge, uncover, dry surfaces with a smooth towel, and allow to sit uncovered at room temperature for about 3 hours. This will dry the surface, giving it a good crust.
About 3 1/2 hours before serving time, preheat oven to 450F
Rub the roast with the pressed garlic. Rub with kosher salt all over the surfaces. Sprinkle with black pepper and dried thyme. Put on a roasting pan and place in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 300F and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of about 130 F for a bright red medium-rare roast, about 90 minutes. Alternatively, once it reaches 125F, turn oven to 425F and cook for a few more minutes until it gets to 130F.
Remove from the oven. Tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Carve and serve.
Another year, another complex Xmas Eve menu. This year, my 11-yo daughter Mika said she wanted a 13-course dinner. She didn’t know why, that number just came to her head, but she wanted it. I could have argued against it, but I figured with a little bit of creativity I could get there. And Mika didn’t particularly care what the courses were, as long as she had 13. And she did – even though I overcooked one of the courses so it ended up almost inedible.
The key to cooking and serving a 13-course menu all by yourself is advanced planning AND advanced cooking, as well as flexibility. To make it easier I decided to revisit some of my favorite recipes, which come from all over the world. I did decide on a new one as my main dish, Orecchiette al Ragu di Braciole, basically beef rolls stuffed with cheese and cooked in a tomato ragout, but it didn’t work out. I made it the day before the meal, and discovered that the sauce was pretty bland and one-dimensional and the meat rolls were not what I would call attractive. So decided we would just have that for dinner that night, and sent my husband to get a roast.
Roasts are great main dishes because not only because they are simple to put together, but because they look impressive on the table. Sure, they are expensive, but it’s Xmas. On the minus side, a roast requires the use of the oven, which means displacing other dishes. My second and third courses needed to be broiled, but my oven can’t bake at 300 and broil at the same time. I baked them at 300, which wasn’t ideal for either – but I overbaked the shrimp, making them barely edible.
In any case, this is what I came up with. At the end of the night I asked each guest what their favorite part was. There wasn’t a consensus (the soup, the bastilla and the roast were all mentioned), but at least not one said “the cheese”.
I served dinner with a Chateau Souverain Estate Bottled 2003 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
I found this packaged cheese at Grocery Outlet yesterday, and I went back today to pick up four more packages. My haste was due to the fact that at 50-cents a package (regular retails is $5!), they will disappear soon, plus they expired on Dec. 16th – two days ago. I don’t know for how much longer it’ll stay good, but surely a few more days.
This soft cheese is made in Germany, and is specifically made to be heated before serving. It doesn’t have a crust, per se, though the outer layer becomes harder, while protecting a semi-melted middle. It’s very good. While officially a camembert, it reminded me more of a brie, though it’s milder and less bitter than most of those. It had a slightly nutty flavor, which I liked.
It was also very easy to prepare. You can either put it on the grill or on a lightly oiled pan on the stove. Cook for six minutes, flipping from time to time. That’s it. The 3.2 oz portion is definitely dainty, and I wouldn’t buy it at its regular $25-lb price, but for $5-lb, it’s well worth it, even if I have to hurry and eat it all this week 🙂
Camila wanted to make Christmas cookie, and while I have a pretty good recipe, it called for some ingredients that I didn’t have at home. That was fortunate, because while searching for another recipe I came upon this one, from butter company Land 0’Lakes. I like it more than my regular recipe, specially with the frosting.
Without the frosting the cookies are too dry. That’s because of all the extra flour you use on them while you roll them. Making them thicker helps – mine were too thin. The icing, however, helps tremendously. The best part was that the kids didn’t like them that much – Mika found them too dry and while Camila likes to make baked goods, she doesn’t really like to eat them. The flavor was very good and, yes, you need all that vanilla extract. All the recipes for rolled cookies I’ve found call for orange juice or lemon juice, so I suspect the citric acid element is needed for chemical reasons.
The key to making rolled cookies is getting the dough at the right temperature to make them rollable. It takes 2-3 hours in the fridge, but I’ve noticed that 45 minutes in the freezer also do the trick. Work with dough in small batches. As soon as one gets too soft, put it back in the fridge and get another one.
Ingredients
Icing
Instructions
For the cookies
With an electric mixer at medium speed, cream the butter with the sugar and the egg. Add the orange juice and vanilla extract and continue mixing until combined. Add the flour and baking soda and mix at low speed until combined.
Wrap 1/4th of the dough. with each plastic wrap square. Flatten slightly. Refrigerate until firm, 2 to 3 hours.
Heat oven to 400°F.
Lightly flour a working surface and a rolling pin. Roll out one package of batter to a 1/4″ thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Place 1″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes. It’s ready when the edges of the cookie start to turn brown. Remove from oven and let stand for one minute before transferring to cooling racks.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.
For the Icing
I have a pretty nasty cold, so I only want to eat things which are smooth going down my throat and so flavorful that I can taste them despite my stuffed nose. Ciao Bella blood orange sorbet fit the bill perfectly.
Of course, I can’t tell you how someone that has their 5 senses would experience it, but to me it was delicious. The sorbet had a strong orange flavor, with some welcome bitter undertones. It was very creamy and smooth.
They have these at Grocery Outlet here in San Leandro for $2 now, and I think I’ll stock up.
UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED
You get what you pay for. At Li Do, that’s a lot of bread and very little meat in your Vietnamese sandwiches.
It’s been a while since we got there, so I don’t quite recall what we got. I think one of us had the grilled pork and the other the BBQ pork sandwiches ($3.50). Whatever filling was there was good, but I rather pay twice as much and have a sandwich with a filling I can taste.
They also have noodle or rice plates for about $5
We haven’t return and won’t bother to.
Li Do Vietnamese Sandwiches
1338 Fairmont Dr
San Leandro, CA
M-Sa 8 am – 6:30 pm
UPDATE May 2014: Looney’s has been sold. The new owner will open a Mexican/American restaurant.
We had returned to Looney’s back in February and had a pretty good dinner. I liked my tri-tip quite a bit, Mike was enthused about his ribs, but they were good enough, and Camila was happy with her French bread pizza. We all loved being able to try all the sauces.
—
We love BBQ. More to the point, we love Everett & Jones BBQ. We want our ribs slowly smoked for hours and presented with a complex and exciting BBQ sauce. We don’t want uniformity and we want a good value.
Looney’s can’t offer any of it. To be fair, I think new environmental regulations do not allow for the type of commercial smokers that make E&J’s BBQ as amazing as it is. But, well, that just means we have to drive a bit further. We got the spare ribs at Looney’s and were pretty disappointed. They were tough, uniform in texture – which suggests they had been boiled – and pretty tasteless. The BBQ sauce was pretty generic, somewhat vinegary but also just blah. For $20 for a half-rack we expected more.
In addition to BBQ and BBQ sandwiches, Looney’s offers burgers (~$10), stuffed potatoes ($6 + $2-$3.50 for toppings), steaks ($18-24), jambalaya ($15), catfish ($20) soups and salads and pizzas.
Looney’s Southern BBQ
14680 Washington Ave
San Leandro CA
510-969-8889
http://www.looneysbbq.com/
M-Th 11am-10pm
F-Sa 11am-1am
Su 8am-10pm
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