May Postmortum

So I thought having a baby would mean I cook less - but I guess that's stupid, less going out means more cooking at home.

I have made a routine of making pizza dough and pasta every week.  I guess I'm done for the most part with ridiculous techniques, and really just focus on doing things well; and that's what you need; cease-less practice.   Not sure if it matters - lately I've been either experiencing a blandness in lots of my cooking; other times I get only harsh flavors.

All of the sudden we're on a schedule - Pizza Monday, Pasta Thursday, Asian on Friday, Grill on Saturday....when did this place turn into a cafeteria?

Maybe the new routine will mean I stop keeping track of all this, I'm starting to not have the time anyway...same thing every week, seasonal ingredients; weak cooking skills....no need to mark it down.


Pan Seared Duck Breast -
Ramp Vermouth Sauce, Sauteed Kale, Chickpea Cake

This duck was a little over-cooked, so thank god I brined it; because it was still pretty good.  The chickpea cake was okay, but not really crisp.  These ramps haven't been tasting very strong, maybe all this rain is making flavor's diluted.

Bacon, Asparagus, Braised Leek Pizza - Saison Crust/Fresh Mozzerella.

- Too many toppings, it was just a mess; no browning.  I'll say if I'm going to err one way or the other on pizza toppings, it better be not enough; because at the very least you'll hopefully have a decent flat bread with some stuff on there.  If you have too much its a sloppy mess

Parpadelle w/ Kale, Corn, Onion, Fresh Mozz.

- Again technique out the window - added the mozzarella too early - and it all melted and got all sticky.  The flavors are good, but texture was unpleasant.

Braised Bean and Calaloo tostata, sauteed corn and ramps, chili lime crema,

Cinco De Mayo always mean some mexican-ish food and a michelada (very-loosely so). Tostadas are good - salad on giant tortilla chip - probably the source of all those crappy mexican entree salads back in the 90's.

Ramp and Calaloo Paejong/Ramp green and Sesame noodles

See- Asian Friday - Basically a scallion pancake but different filling - had some seasame noodles on the side with sauteed ramp greens.

Brioche - 


Some kind of egg/sugar enriched bread is completely necessary for any good French Toast of bread pudding.  Gretchen wanted French Toast (and I agreed) so I made some brioche.

I probably should have mad it richer- and I had a blow out - but it was good for french toast a couple times this month.

Dark Lager Ice Cream- 

I've been waiting to make this ice cream until Gretchen was no longer pregnant.  I used Session Dark Lager (Full Sail) -

Roast Cabbage Crepe- mustard Beschemel, sauteed radish greens

Quick lunch made with some sourdough starter that I had out (was going to make bread but scrapped it.

I think Saturday lunch can be the easiest/best meal for me - no expectations.

Spring onion, Sorrel, and cheddar sandwich,
Salad (romaine, roasted potatoes, asparagus, cheese, radish, ww vinegrette)

'Benedict'  - Fried eggs, asparagus, hollandaise, Brioche toast

My hollandaise broke - kind of BS; every a-hole line cook who works at a brunch place can do this - I can't

Sirloin Steak (sorrel/spring onion tripel sauce),
Chickpea Puree, spring veg salad (Asparagus, corn, sorrel, basil, mint, olive, sheep milk cheese)

This was Mother's Day dinner  - pretty good stuff here. Gretchen requested ingredients instead of dish.  I wasn't feeling creative; but the salad was pretty good.

Sourdough Boule

Bulgar Salad - Thurnger, Lima beans, collards - too much green veg out there; we still weren't seeing real vegetables yet.

Collard and Steak Sandwich (buckwheat bread)
Oat/Soybean/spring onion salad.

Sandwich and a cold grain salad - it was fast, I'll say that.

Margarita Pizza - Found some greenhouse tomatoes at the market -nothing really tasted like anything here....again a bland couple of weeks in there.  The crusts have been getting better.

Thyme Maple Rocky Road Ice Cream  - 

Thanks to a groupon we had some vegan marshmallows from a local commercial bakery (Sweet and Sara) - they had cinnamon and pecans on them.  To use those up, they went in an ice cream with some chopped up dark chocolate kisses and almonds.  The ice cream base was steeped with thyme and sweetened with maple syrup.

The flavor was pretty good; overall not as great as it should be.

Saison Rolls

Hot Link - Onion Beer Jam,  Grilled Potatoes and Asparagus with Beer Cheese Sauce,

Coconut Milk 

They have fresh coconuts at the supermarket - so made some coconut milk.  The hard part isn't getting the thing open (back of a meat cleaver) - it's getting the flesh out (all over the kitchen table).

Smoked Curried Lamb Neck Pizza - Grilled Green Onion, Coconut curry Sauce

Gretchen asked - when do toppings prevent you from calling it a pizza.  I don't know but this might have been the best thing we made all month.

White Bean and Spinach Ravioli (ramp butter sauce)

I didn't have ricotta for a filling, so I improvised with some white bean and a little bit of egg.  It wasn't bad; but as you'd expect a little dense; probably better calling this a perogi.  It changes how you expect the texture to be.

Goat Curry Sausage, Curried Kale and Rye Berries

- This sausage continues to be good, yet I continue to undercook it - the kale was ok; I was having real problems that week.

Sausages - Brats, Cheddar Brats, Hot Dogs, Ramp Fennel Saison Sausage

Not particularly thrilled with the hot dogs, but the Ramp Fennel sausage is tasting good.  We'll see about the brats, a side from the little patty I made before I stuffed them I haven't had them yet.

Sourdough Multigrain Sandwich Loaf

Hot Dog - 
French Fries, Grilled Asparagus

Used the confit-like fry technique from cooks illustrated - it works pretty well.  You start the fries in cold oil.  It's also mentioned in one of the Steingarten books - so you know I was going to try it.

Saison Dupont Braised Pork, Lamb's Quarters, over Polenta

This was supposed to be more of a polenta 'pizza', but I can never make firm polenta.....everything else tasted really good though.

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Parsley Root Latkes (tzaki and parsley pesto), 
Sauteed Lamb's Quarters, and Farro Salad (corn, Green Onion, Spring Garlic, Lemon, Oregano, Thyme)

Spring Pizza - Ramp Fennel Sausage, Grilled Spring Onions and Garlic, Asparagus, Havarti

Kicked off a week of super spring ingredients.  They only are in season for like a week before we're completely overwhelmed by corn, squash and eggplant.  So you have to act fast.

Sauteed Sweetbreads with Radish Greens, parsley pesto

This was my first time making sweetbreads, and it came out really good.  There's a reason why people call it the gateway offal, it's like creamy beefy chicken nuggets.

Soba Noodles - Wilted Mizuna, Scallions, Adzuki Beans

Herb Pasta - Asparagus, Braised Artichoke Hearts, and Scallions

This is a total do ahead thing, made the pasta over the weekend with a bunch of fresh herb that looked like they were goining, braised the artichoke hearts in vermouth and stock while making pizza on Monday - and then just put it all together on Thursday.  This was pretty good; I'm fairly settled on a pasta ratio - 4 oz FGF bread flour, egg yolk, 20 g water(give or take).

Mint Honey Ice Cream
This actually tasted pretty good, but a little icy - to much milk to cream...

Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp- 
I don't know if I've made a crip or cobbler in years and it showed, the topping sucked.

Pork Chops (Green Onion/Spring Garlic sauce), Roasted Red Fingerlings, Wilted Sorrel

Hot Dogs - Cheddar, Mustard and Sourkraut on Pretzel Rolls

Falafel - Rye/Fennel seed flatbreads, Chermoula, roast potatoes and asparagus,

Smoked Chili Rubbed Turkey, corn tortillas, grilled veg  Salsa,
Mole Baked beans (biscuit crust), Corn Salad

It was Memorial Day - so needed some BBQ - so smoked meat, grilled vegetables, and baked beans.

Corn Dogs/Cheddar Corn Fritters - 

This was the beach-food component of Memorial Day.   Like an idiot - I use the same corn dog batter every time I make them and it never sticks, maybe I need to change something.


Spring Onion/Garlic Pizza (Kolsch Crust, Tomato sauce fresh Mozz)