Had one of those nights....went for a run, came home and dinner was spot on and super simple. Preheated the grill to incinerate, which on my propane grill isn't that high (about 700) unfortunately, I'm way too lazy to charcoal it for a Tuesday night. Aside from sourcing the morel mushrooms...(which I got at Whole Foods in Princeton for 39.99/lb....5 bucks worth was more than enough for a cup of risotto/4 servings)

Morel mushroom risotto




Marinated some lamb T-bones in red wine (shiraz)




served the rest with dinner

Grilled up some asparagus and topped with an egg.






perfect.

Such a simple quick dinner, and so damn good. Only prep in this dinner is dicing a shallot and rinsing some mushrooms for risotto really.

sneak preview for tomorrow...

Read More...

baked some babka coffee can style for the family for easter last night till about 1:30...yeah, my family requests the sprinkles...heh.



woke up, did all the "first nice day of spring" yard work and cleaning out of the garage....for about 7 hours.


backyard is grass looking good so far...




Then went grocery shopping, then...for 6.25 mile run.

tonight, experimented with the KA meat grinder and some chuck...came out good for a first time. Some margaritas. Ended up using some Patron silver I had leftover as I want it out of my cabinet already. Didn't wanna ruin the good stuff. Just didn't feel right...

click the READ MORE for pics...











I think maybe a little too fatty?





and a not-as-good-as-daniels money shot.

Read More...

Click the "read more" for the rest of the post/pictures...



So, my birthday is never that big a deal. Never used to be...until I met Laurie, and she decided it was. last year she surprised me with a trip to Rhode Island, this year, a spectacular dinner/evening.

A rundown of my evening.
Came home, went for a run, showered...
...came out to this waiting next to the recliner with my favorite bumming around shorts.

Lemme see if I get this right....
Goat cheese herb spread with some white wine drizzled with olive oil. Bruschetta of shitake mushrooms, some scallions and some mint with some parmigiano-reggiano. And a Negroni cocktail. Just in time to watch my guilty pleasure....TMZ.




After TMZ and a glass of white wine, I walked into the kitchen to find this...

Farfalle with hot italian sausage, roasted red peppers, and Kalamata olives, bread, and a bottle of Montepulciano.





and....presents!


Got a food grinder for my mixer (be ready for the best burgers an sausages ever)


some much needed slippers


So I lounged around in my slippers for a while and then came dessert...

Vanilla bean panacotta with raspberry coulis. Was awesome.


The whole dinner was most excellent. Lauries a damn good cook when I'm not over her shoulders telling her she's doing it all wrong! Doh!

Read More...

Click the "read more link" for the rest of the pictures....


Last year we had it at our house....here's the post.
http://randallpmcmurphy.blogspot.com/2008/03/easter.html

This year, at my parents. we made the crostini 'bar' and some loaves of bread. and a couple of magnums of some cheap italian wine. most people opted for herring and rye bread over our stuff.....such is life. Although my parents gave up on passing dishes around and serve it buffet style with these buffet stations they got at Sam's club. they were classy and went paper plates this year too!! our bread (from artisan bread in 5 minutes a day, almost ready to give a solid opinion on this book...) 2 vats of sausage and peppers and a crock pot of mashed potatoes.....ugh. happy Easter. To think it's not even our real easter...that's not till next week. pfft.

Read More...

Been on a beet kick lately....

Still on the beet kick.


At least I can laugh at myself...haha



get it?

The other night, I batched-up and froze from beet ravioli filled with goat cheese and ricotta.....and had to test out a few.








yeah, i messed around with 2 different ravioli "tools" I like freehand or the bear-trap ones best.

baked some bread from Artisan breads in 5 minutes a day. It's only the second or third time I used a recipe from there. Italian Semolina = fail, The regular boule with some herbs in there = very win. So far that book is 50/50 hit or miss (most likely due to me being incompetent)



then some left over sausages + some peppers and onions and a bunch of tomato paste.



Tonight I made some beet barley-sotto with some goat cheese and made the rest of the rosemary/thyme bread in the fridge.

Read More...