Guest Chef: The Hunter

Yesterday, The Sun got back from vacation and was recharged and ready to cook.  Unfortunately, The Wolf had prior commitments and was unable to take part in the cooking process.  Enter: The Hunter (previously known as Joshua Bates).  He decided to step up and completely take over this week's dinner.  He sent out the invitation, planned the menu, went grocery shopping, and aside from some prep work from The Sun, did all of the cooking himself.  It was an excellent dinner, and despite feeling overwhelmed at times, everything went great.  


The menu: pork chops with Dijon sauce, roasted new potatoes, and carrot and parsley salad. 
Guests: 9

Pork Chops with Dijon Sauce- from simplyrecipes.com

Serves 4

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

4 pork chops

salt and pepper

¼ cup shallots, chopped finely

1 cup Chardonnay

¾ cup chicken stock

¾ cup heavy cream

2 tbsp Dijon

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over them.  Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.   As soon as the butter has melted, add the pork chops to the pan and sear them about 3 minutes per side. 

2. Remove the chops from the pan and pour off the fat.  Add the shallots and cook for about 30 seconds.  Add ½ cup of the wine and bring to a boil while deglazing the pan.  Stir in the stock and return the chops to the pan.  Bring the sauce to a simmer then reduce heat, cover and cook until done (about 10 minutes depending on thickness of chops).

3. Remove the pork chops and set aside on a warm platter and cover with foil.  Add the remaining half cup of wine and boil.  Reduce the juices by half.  Add the heavy cream and boil 3 more minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in parsley and mustard.  Place over chops and serve.

Roasted New Potatoes – from simplyrecipes.com

Serves 4

1 ½ lbs of red potatoes, cleaned and quartered

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons rosemary

¼ teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450.  Place potatoes in a mixing bowl with all the ingredients and toss until well coated.  Spread the potatoes as a single layer on a baking pan and roast for 40 minutes or until browned.  

Carrot and Parsley Salad-- from MoosewoodCooks.com

3 ½ cups carrots, shredded

1 bunch parsley, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsps fresh lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Combine shredded carrots and chopped parsley and mix.  In a separate bowl combine the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Stir dressing into the salad while tossing.  Serve. 

 And the final product:

                                                    Good job, The Hunter!

                                           The Hunter, sooo happy that it turned out well

                                                     The Hunter and The Sun
And then after dinner...

                                               Will, back after a Wednesday dinner break

                                              

                                                        Justin looking cartoon happy

                                                     The Wolf made a brief appearance

Revisiting Thai Night

After the "toenail" lemongrass incident from our Thai night in January, we wanted to retry that soup recipe and include a new one.  We decided on the menu to be the spicy coconut soup, tom yum baked chicken, and dumplings.
We asked Joshua Bates to assist us once more in making the dumplings with the supervision of Kenny Chen.  Thanks, guys!

The Wolf has been on a big work station kick lately which has proven to be quite helpful. 

                                                               For the chicken

                                                        For the soup

Tom Yum Baked Chicken
Serves 4-6

 3 pounds chicken (we chose whole chicken legs)
3-4 shallots
2 stalks lemongrass
9 cloves garlic
1 large thumb sized piece galangal or ginger (we used galangal)
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 cup chopped cilantro, leaves and stems
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
5 tablespoons coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all ingredients except for the chicken into a blender.

 Taste test.  Place chicken in zip lock bags and cover with mixture.  Marinate for at least one hour, or up to 24.  As we were pressed for time, we did it for one hour.
Place in flat baking dish uncovered.  Bake for half an hour and then baste with liquid at the bottom.  Add warm water if necessary (we didn't need to).  Bake for another half an hour and then enjoy!

Spicy Coconut Soup

View our recipe in our preview Thai night post here.

                                                     Starting the soup

                                  Joshua Bates teaching The Sun how to drain tofu correctly

                                                       The soup in progress

                                                        Ready to serve

The Dumplings

As The Sun and The Wolf were not much part of this process, what we can say is that Joshua Bates and Kenny Chen first steamed the dumplings and then sauteed them.  

 Joshua Bates then made a yummy dipping sauce.

And then after dinner. . . 

                                                     The Bean and her beau

                                                     Jules post pee off the deck

                                                      Kenny Chen

                                          Jules, with Jenny Mintz and Bo in the background

                                                   The Wolf making it an early night

                                                 Jenny Mintz and Greg, our newest visitor

                                            Obligatory Emo Jon Shot (with the sweet jacket)

                                                The Sun with Kerri :-)

And then, Bo and Jules decided they liked the chicken SO much... they mixed the au jus with vodka!

                                           Not sure.

                                          Don't know why the sad face... Bo with The Sun

                                                    Getting late... with Justin Rockman

                                                    And then this happened

                                       Roommates Shot

                                                  End of the night

Pasta Wednesday

The past few weeks have been busy with work and The Sun going on vacation.  So, our apologies that this post is now 3 weeks overdo.  


This specific Wednesday, The Wolf had had an hour long meeting right in the middle of cooking time one block up the street from the Wednesday Dinner Kitchen.  In order for The Sun not to be too overwhelmed, we decided to make simple pasta dishes.  Even still, Joshua Bates and The Witch were a big help.
The Menu: rotini with penne vodka and chicken on the side, tortellini with creamy pesto, and salad.  
The Wolf very kindly set up The Sun with two work stations before he left.

                                    

Vodka Sauce

Salt

28 ounce can whole plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 shallots, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ cup vodka

2/3 cup heavy cream

½ cup Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

Fresh basil leaves, torn, plus more for topping

 

Crush tomatoes with your hands.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 30 seconds.  Remove from the heat and add vodka, tomatoes, and salt.  

 Return to medium heat and simmer until the alcohol cooks off, about 6 minutes.  Stir in the heavy cream and cook until the sauce thickens.  Stir in the parmesan and basil.  When serving, add more parmesan and basil.  

                                                     The Witch kindly helping

Creamy Basil Pesto Recipe

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed in

½ cup Parmesan cheese

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 medium sized garlic cloves

1/3 cup Ricotta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Combine the basil and garlic in a food processor.  Pulse.  Slowly add a stream of olive oil into the processor while it is running.  Add the Parmesan and pulse again.  Fold in Ricotta cheese to desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper and serve over pasta.  *Thank you, Joshua Rott, for making delicious pesto for us.

 

For whatever reason, we took no pictures of the food that night.  I'm sure The Bean did and then held them hostage.  Oh, well. 

                                                 Thank you, Bo, for tossing our salad

                                                   Kenny

                                                 Where'd those come from??

                                                   The Bean and The Wolf

      Our special guest, Israel bound Thomas, eating dessert first per his request

                                                  Obligatory Emo Jon Shot

                                                   Joshua Bates and Ferny

*** On a side note, the blog was almost deleted permanently today.  Thank you, Kyle Aaron, for helping us.