veal stew

finally had some good stew weather today--chilly, indoors, and snow outside. there was a delightful hiss most of the day as a light snow fell outside. even stuck a little bit! i feel like a little kid looking out the window hoping for a snow day!

so i didn’t quite have all of the proper ingredients. didn’t have any marsala wine, for instance, and didn’t have any “stew meat” at whole foods when i was there yesterday for a massive shopping spree. but i DID snag some serious quality bacon, and the fresh green beans, and some mushrooms, and some osso bucco shanks. i figured that since one has to stew osso bucco for several hours, it should be suitable in my own little stew. i was worried about how long they should stew, since osso bucco usually goes for 2 or 3 hours and my recipe was only for one, but my fears were totally unfounded. the veal positively melted into its sauce (mostly consisting of mushrooms and broth, with a splash of red cooking wine just to deglaze the pan).

as is my usual custom, i served it on a bed of brown rice with some steamed green beans, and a glass of water.

new year's eve menu and notes - final draft and photos

Dim Sum – Appetizers

Edamame
Spiced Tofu Katsu
Marinated Beef Skewers with Egg Noodles
Duck and Green Apple Spring Rolls
Bok Choi Rolls with Chicken

Ginger, Blood Orange and Pomegranate Martinis

Soup and Salad

Japanese Fresh Corn Soup
Trimbaugh Riesling 2002

Indonesian Gado-Gado with Spicy Peanut Dressing
Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztramainer 1999, Clos Windsbuhl

Intermezzo

Main Course

Asian-Style Short Ribs with Laquered Baby Carrots
Served with steamed Thai Jasmine Rice
E. Guigal Cote-Rotie 1995, Chateau d’Ampuie

Dessert

Warm Chocolate Cakes with Lemon Mousse and Citrus Compote
Mueller-Catoir Riesling 1999, Eiswein

another picture-perfect sunday evening

spent the entire afternoon, practically, on this one, but for a change i completely nailed the timing. dinner consisted of mushroom soup (out of this month’s martha stewart living), and a braised sausage recipe from my new braising book. i combined the sausage recipe (which uses lentils) with a recipe out of my rice cooker book to make braised italian sausages with cremini mushrooms and brown rice. the soup took, by far, the longest, because all i really had to do was brown the sausage and then throw everything into the rice cooker. the soup was very satisfactory, but needed more salt, and also more mushroom and less leek. i was overall very pleased. the soup, alas, did not reheat well the next day.

then, to make it extra hunky-dory, i made the bread fresh in the afternoon. spent the rest of the week making toast and sandwiches. excellent! i felt particularly clever after this one...

(got some new halloween candles from papyrus, just for the hell of it. i like to be festive sometimes!)