Sunday, October 14, 2007

A Saturday in October


Did some crazy cooking last week, as the above mise en place clearly shows...
What do we have?
  • Chicken and sun-dried tomato sausages- they got grilled grilled and tossed with pasta in a quick, shallot, red pepper butter sauce. Super quick, flavorful and a definite keeper!
  • Stew stuff... garlic, tomato, red chiles, wine, beef, carrot, onion, potato and some bacon. I used the rendered bacon fat to brown the beef and sweat the veggies. At the last minute, I tossed in some uncooked spaghetti pieces (like three inch segments) and Barry really raved about the change in texture this addition added.
  • I boiled a dozen eggs so Barry would have weekday snacks.
  • Four chicken leg thighs that got grilled for lunches through the week-good to eat cold, or nuked in the microwave, Barry really likes these!


  • And, last, but not least... two racks of baby backs. More smoking experimentation... a little over eight hours this time. Tender, yet with a bit of tooth pull, I'm getting closer-still not there yet, but my comfort level is rising.