Last night I made Coq au vin, a favorite recipe of mine. I got that recipe from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine, and I’m not sure how authentic it is. When I’ve had coq au vin at restaurants, the sauce has been more bitter and more liquid. However, it’s absolutely delicious (if incredibly fattening), and I’d recommend it as a special treat.
Author: marga (Page 72 of 114)
My sister Kathy came to visit us this weekend. Her birthday is on Monday, so we decided to celebrate it while she was here. She wanted a special dinner, and I told her I’d cook anything she wanted me to (except for Beef Wellington, I just couldn’t commit to that). She chose this recipe for Short Ribs Braised in Porter Ale with Maple-Rosemary Glaze that I had made before. I decided that I wanted to braise with wine instead, so went to epicurious and found this recipe which sounded pretty good. It was! Restaurant quality I would say.
I did use 3 1/2 tablespoons of the herb mixture on the ribs. I considered putting the rest of the mixture on the pot (I think there must be another use for the mixture or they wouldn’t ask to make so much), but ultimately didn’t. Not sure if it’d have made a difference. I also didn’t put the vegetables on the blender after cooking. I’d already messed up enough plates and I didn’t have to have more dishes to wash (we don’t have a dishwasher). The sauce was a little chunky but still delicious.
In all, I’d make this recipe again in a heartbeat.
I served it with mashed potatoes, and, before the meal, my Mixed Green Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette, which is delicious and a favorite of Kathy. For dessert we had birthday cake.
I made this 1956 recipe for Rosemary chicken a few nights ago. I rotisseried the chicken rather than roasting it, which meant I couldn’t really baste it during the cooking process. It was fine. Mike really liked the flavor of the chicken, though it was too mild for my taste. The skin tasted great, but it wasn’t crispy enough. I don’t think I’d make it again.
I just found out, by looking at my web logs, that a month ago Cary Tennis linked to my review of Lovejoy’s from one of his columns. I think that’s very cool because I love Car Tennis, he’s by far my favorite advise columnist (not that I read that many advise columns, mind you). So I’m thrilled he read something I wrote – even if he was mildly making fun of it.
Last night I made this recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Marsala Sauce. It was very good, though the sauce was pretty similar to the chicken marsala one I made a couple of weeks back. That one was absolutely delicious, while this one was just quite good. I’m not the biggest fan of pork, so I’m not sure I’ll make this exact recipe again, but it’s worth making at least once.
Tonight I made chicken with prosciutto, rosemary, and white wine, from an epicurious.com recipe. It was delicious. The sauce was intense, with bold flavors, and went great with the chicken. The chicken, by itself, was plain enough that my kids would eat it.
It was also fairly easy to make, all I had to chop was the prosciuto, the garlic and the rosemary (no onions). Definitely a keeper.
Tonight we had this cheap Trader Joe’s white wine. I’d bought it because I liked the off-shape frosted bottle. The wine turned out to be quite nice. It’s dry, easy to drink and quite refreshing. I don’t distinguish any particular flavor in it, other than wine, but it did become a bit buttery when drank with chicken (cooked in the same wine). In all I liked it and would buy it again as an all-around white wine.
Panda Express is one of my sister Katherine’s favorite chains. We go there when she is in town and practically never otherwise. However someone mentioned that they often went for take out there, and it occurred to me that we could give it a try. My conclusion is that it’s OK, but nothing special.
I had a three entree plate ($6.75) with chow mein (one side dish is free), orange chicken, mandarin chicken and chicken with mushrooms. I liked the bitter tangy sauce that came with the mandarin chicken and the mushroomy one that came with the chicken with mushrooms. The orange chicken tasted good enough, it was just a tiny bit spicy, but the breading was pretty thick. It was even thicker in the sweet and sour pork that I ordered for Mika ($4 for a kid’s meal which includes a side, a small drink and a cookie), but it also wasn’t unpleasant. The chow mein was the most disappointing part of the meal. The ultra thin noodles were crispy but had no flavor at all. I’d definitely wouldn’t order them again.
The restaurant itself is pleasant enough, though the high tables and chairs are not the most comfortable in the world.
Panda Express
1271 Marina Blvd.
San Leandro, CA
510.667.9585
A couple of nights ago I decided to make pork chops and apple sauce. Truth be said, I wanted to make something with pork chops, because they are always on sale at Safeway (of course, that one day it turned out they didn’t have any on sale, but that’s just my luck). I looked for a recipe in epicurious and came up with this one. I know that pork chops and apple sauce are an American classic, and I haven’t really cooked classic American food despite living here. It also appears that there is a classic Brady Bunch shtick on this dish that makes people laugh. The food, however, did not. This Epicurious.com recipe was delicious and quite simple to make. Apparently the key is in marinating the pork chops, I assume to somewhat brine them and make them softer. My only problem with the recipe is that the breading stack to the pan, and as the breading was the best part, we missed it on the chops.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve gone to CreAsian, the Asian fusion restaurant on Macarthur in San Leandro. I never think of going there, mostly because it’s not particularly cheap, not particularly child-friendly, and when I go out with Mike on a date, I prefer to go to a new place. Still, I’ve gone to CreAsian a few times for drinks/dessert – and I like it for that purpose.
I went there Monday night with five friends on a “Mom’s night out” sort of thing, just for drinks and dessert, and it was pretty good. They have an extensive list of mixed drinks, in addition to coffees with a variety of alcohol and hard liquors. Their dessert selection is somewhat limited, and I suspect they don’t make their desserts in house. Their creme brule cheesecake was OK, what I had, was OK but nothing spectacular. People did like their fried calamari and tuna tartare, and the pineapple fried rice I had was pretty enjoyable. Their food presentation is quite good.
The atmosphere, however, is a tad weird. Service is competent yet on the cold side, and I never manage to feel completely comfortable there. Another minus is that it closes at 10 PM on weekdays.
Still, it’s not a bad place for an occasional night out.
CreAsian
1269 Macathur Boulevard
San Leandro, CA
510.895.8028
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