Dinner and Family

It has been some time since I have taken the time to blog.  Today we are at Andy and Theresa's house (Jim's brother and his wife).  We came to do a little work to help them after they had some water damage.  Here's the menu they offered us today.

NY strip steaks
Twice baked potato salad with bacon
Veggie tray
Fruit tray

Andy does seem to be a grill master. I am so full I feel like I could roll back to Georgetown.  I am enjoying watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Theresa. I am also enjoying listening to the menfolk play cards.  Not as much smack talking as when all 3 brothers are together, but amusing none-the-less.

I bought a nice Tempranillo to go with the steaks.  It was a 2001 vintage.  Here's a picture of the label. Surprisingly, it was less than $8.00 per bottle. 

It has been a great day.

Summer Berries

I love summer berries! Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries!  Summer sun ripened berries need only the barest sprinkle or sugar or drizzle of liquor to make them a perfect summer dessert.

Summer Berries
1/2 pint blackberries
1/2 pint raspberries
1/2 pint blueberries
1/2 pint strawberries quartered
2  Tb Gran Marnier or other orange liquor

Great Salad

On a warm summer evening, I think salads for dinner are very refreshing. Last evening I had Grilled Endive Salad.  I think it is a recipe I can make at home.

Here's my recipe for 4 people.

2 cups baby arugula
1 package bacon bits or 4 slices bacon crisply cooked and broken into bits
1/2 c walnuts, broken into large pieces
1/4 c candied pecans
1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled and finely chopped
1/2 c blue cheese crumbles
4 heads endive
Balsamic vinaigrette

Preheat the grill and clean if necessary.

Divide the arugula, bacon bits, walnuts, candied pecans, Granny Smith apple, and blue cheese evenly among 4 plates.

Cut the endive into quarters and brush with olive oil.  Place them cut side down on a hot grill.  Grill until endive is slightly soft and has nice grill marks. Remove the endive from the grill.  Arrange 4 endive piece atop each salad. Serve immediately along with your favorite balsamic vinaigrette.

Dinners in a Stressful Week

For this past week, planning ahead paid off.  Our annual Beat the Heat conference was Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  To finish up presentations, web posting and other tasks, I worked at home a couple of evenings.  Based on previous years, I knew total exhaustion and cooking antipathy would set in by Tuesday afternoon. They both arrived on schedule.  With my weekly schedule in place, I was able to get dinner on the table with a minimum of effort on my part.
Here was the menu for last week.

Monday - Chicken Pot Pie (made with the leftover chicken fajitas)
Tuesday - Grilled pork chops with roasted asparagus , salad and baked potatoes
Wednesday - Crockpot 3 bean soup
Thursday - Leftover 3 bean soup
Friday - Cheese, veggies, crackers AND a very large glass of wine

Sunday Dinner

Once the hustle and bustle of the weekend draws to a close, we have Sunday dinner. Tonight we had chicken fajitas again.  They are easy and all the extras are easy to prep. Since I've written about chicken fajitas recently, I am writing about cheap wine. 

I once read an article about a wine maker, whose philosophy was to produce a good, quality wine at a price a person could afford to drink every evening with dinner. This is an idea I can get behind.  Currently one of my favorites is Rex-Goliath.  Tonight we are having the Rex-Goliath Shiraz.  The description on the back of the bottle says it is peppery and plummy.  This is a description I can understand.  I thought it held its own with our meal.

My father-in-law always remarks on this wine producer's label.  As you can see it is a drawing of a large rooster.  He says: "That sure is a big rooster!"  According to the legend on the back, HRM (His Royal Majesty) Rex Goliath was a treasured circus attraction.  He was billed as the "World's Largest Rooster." This wine maker equates their wines to the rooster's larger than life personality.  All I can say is that for less than $7/bottle it this Shiraz is a rich, tasty wine.

As Julia Child would say, "Bon appetit!"

Primo Leftovers

I don't know whether it was good planning or just sheer good luck, but today I used primo leftovers to make a very delicious salad. We had grilled chicken thighs in the freezer.  These were the marinated HEB chicken fajitas so they were full of garlic and other good spices.  We had blue cheese left over from Friday's cheese and crackers.  And finally I had some pecan pieces in the freezer. 

I made my version of Waterloo Ice House's Texas Pecan Chicken Salad

Texas Pecan Chicken Salad - Serves 4

2 c cooked chopped cooked chicken
1/2 c blue cheese crumbles
1 Granny Smith apple, roughly chopped
1/2 c toasted pecans
6-8 cups spring mix, baby spinach or baby spinach/arugula blend (or a combination of these)
Raspberry or other fruit vinaigrette

Divide the spring mix evenly between four plates.  Divide the remaining ingredients between the four plates.  Serve with the vinaigrette. 

Serve this with a nice crusty bread. This makes a cool summer dinner.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all fathers everywhere!

In our family on special occasions we prefer to eat at home.  When asked, Jim wanted Rib Eye steaks for dinner.  He and Sarah went to the liquor store yesterday and bought what they thought was the perfect wine to go with dinner. We ate well!

Menu
Rib Eye Steak
Salad
Roasted Potatoes

Wine
Cimes de Lartigue 2005 (See image of label attached to this entry)
85 points
Jim was just reading the notes on the wine.  We aren't sure what this taster meant by this review.

"This wine is a blend of 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, aged in seasoned oak barrels.  To the eye a deep purple color.  To the nose, there is a sweet cherry fruit with notes of dusty gravel and tobacco.  The sweet fruit lasts on the palate through the medium length finish."  Alain Harvey on 4/19/2013.

Okay, we have determined that it does not smell or taste like a dusty road.  Maybe the taster just wanted to say earthy?  To us it was rich, dark and delicious! Do we have a discriminating palate?  Who knows?

Recipe: Roasted Potatoes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2# small red potatoes (or fingerlings)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive Olive

1.  Cut potatoes in half or quarters, depending on the size.  Place in a casserole pan.
2.  Sprinkle the potatoes with the chopped garlic, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper.
3.  Drizzle with olive and mix
4.  Place in preheated oven and roast 45 minutes - 1 hour.  You might want to mix the potatoes once or twice during the baking process. The potatoes should be nicely browned on the outside and a fork should pass through them easily.