You know I agree in a lot of ways, and for a lot of things. I’d never buy stock from a box or can, never a jar of roasted red peppers, no pre-made pizza dough… Heck, we even mill our own almond flour for the lemon tarte! But some things are definitely about that’s-for-someone-else. Talutto’s in the Italian Market makes lasagna sheets every day that are perfect. I will never make my own tortillas, especially since I can get those made fresh every day at the Mexican joint on 9th.
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No photos, but last night I had some leftover soup and 1/2 of a little frozen pizza from Aldi. Too tired to cook and too hungry to care after spending the day in my cold warehouse! I’ll try to do better, but the first dump of BD16 boxes are getting dropped off in a few.
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So you’ve seen our coppa chops before, the rich little guys that look like steak inside, but I’m posting again because the colors are so pretty! Coppa brushed with mustard/curry/sherry vinegar, Kalibos cabbage sautéed in bacon fat and finished with apple cider vinegar, salad of red leaf/cucumber/fennel/Cherry Bell Radish.
Also, mixed the leftover cabbage with leftover chicken, some quinoa, bit of baked sweet potato, pickled red onion and avocado for an amazing breakfast bowl, no picture.
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Nothing memorable but we really like this salad.
Strawberries, labneh, micro greens, roasted pecans. Drizzle evoo and balsamic glaze. There was some pasta and bread but the salad is the star.
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chicken thighs (yes, again … sue me), but this time with some pan-fried Parmesan polenta on the side
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Blistered cherry tomato toast, with lemony yogurt sauce beneath. This was awesome, and super easy! Will likely be doing again this weekend.
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We were gifted some of those “grow your own mushroom” boxes at Christmas and they worked. Pappardelle with mushroom time!
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2025 Reset - Day 44: Sautéed Shrimp over Spiced Spinach with Yogurt/Garlic/Olive Oil Sauce. Finished with smoked paprika.
And for good measure, a shot of my now favorite breakfast bowl.
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Iberico Pork Belly BLT on Toasted Ciabatta with Arugula, Heirloom Tomato, Point Reyes Blue Cheese and Smoked Paprika Aioli.
No wine, still recovering from nasty bug going around.#Valentinesdinner
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Last year my partner and I visited COQODAQ in NYC. For Valentine’s Day she thought it’d be fun if I tried to make some Korean fried chicken and I successfully pulled it off!
I made:
- Korean fried chicken two ways - one regular and one with a gochujang glaze I made
- homemade chicken nuggets with caviar and crème fraiche (ridiculous but I though it was hilarious when they served that to us at the restaurant)
- cucumber salad (instead of COQODAQ’s celery side)
- pickled daikon
- Kimchi
- a huge thing of Mac and cheese
- bbq and Parmesan pepper sauces
For the occasion I opened my first bottle of La Rogerie Heroine! Solid BdB
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Ah weekend.
Time for more experiments with baking. My baking steel now had enough oil treatments to handle baking with a bit of steam in the oven to get an even more caramelized crust.
Great result. Now I just need to improve my final shaping of the bread. But after months of experiments, I am finally at a point where I am truly satisfied with the results.
With bread, and a red Burgundy in line to be opened, I decided to make pannini with mushrooms and Tomme de Savoie cheese. Green fresh salad on the side. The panninis were amazing!
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Oooohhhh! With that 2019 red Pillot, them paninis were probably divine!
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For the last three years, we’ve been lucky and have had a lot of family time (just the four of us). But since July, there’s been a lot of short trips here and there detracting from weeknight dinners and lazy movie afternoons.
I got back from Paris on Wednesday, got food poisoning on Thursday and was finally back to normal today. We figured this was the perfect time to teach the kids how to make sushi (sashimi, maki, etc.).
I made a quick seafood stock and miso soup (lobster shell stock boiled again and reduced with shrimp heads and tourteau shells from sushi prep with white miso and green onions). Is tourteau Dungeness Crab in English?
I prepped everything for the kids but there was little choice at the fish market today. The only fish that looked good enough to make raw was the salmon. So, we added cooked shrimps and tourteau, smoked trout and flying fish roe.
I’m pretty proud of my boys! Here’s their first stab at it:
They realized inside-out makis weren’t easy 
!
Meanwhile, the adults were taking care of business:
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Valentine’s Day dinner - we permitted wine, but mostly stuck with the diet otherwise. We started with some Russ & Daughters smoked salmon, then
Flannery ribeye and strip over cauliflower mash, with sautéed “kalettes” and tri colore salad. Not a great picture, but a great plate of food, despite these steaks having been in the freezer for…?
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Match made in heaven 
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We were supposed to go to the Cheap Trick show in Reno for Valentines day but the show was cancelled on thursday (that was a pretty cheap trick). We usually don’t go out on Valentines day as it is amateur hour (lots of people going out for the one or two times/year and restaurants squeezing in more tables and over pricing “valentines” menus). So we whipped something together quickly, Had a rack of Lamb from Flannery in the freezer, Asparagus, and went to the market for Fettuccine. Had rack of lamb cut into lamb lollipops after cooking, grilled asparagus, and fettuccine alfredo along with a 2000 JL Chave Hermitage Rouge.
Intermetzo course was a cheese plate of four cheeses (Parmesan Reggiano, Andante Ostinato, Comte, and one more)
For desert we had a slice of Bakesale Betty’s chocolate cream pie (which I forgot to take a picture of)
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It’s been a while…wanted to do a porchetta and then put some wintry stuff around it. Fortunate that I have an amazing farmer’s market nearby on Saturdays.
I forget the name of this mushroom but the mushroom lady was excited about it- said it was an umami bomb. I already had mushrooms on the menu but wanted to give it a go, so I served it as an amouse. Lightly sautéed in butter and brown miso, and finished with a couple drops of rice wine and a broccoli shoot.
Raw squash salad from the wonderful Six Seasons cookbook. Shaved squash, spring onion, dried black currants soaked in red wine vinegar, smashed roasted pecans. Then tossed in brown butter and drizzled with the vinegar. Great bite on the squash and the dish was both comforting and bright at the same time.
Alongside the porchetta I sautéed shiitake mushrooms (not pictured), and did carrots glazed in chili butter (sous vide for about one hour at 185f, reduced in the pan). The pectin didn’t quite break down so these had just a bit more snap than I wanted but were still well received.
30 hour porchetta. Rubbed with herbs (toasted fennel, black pepper, sage, rosemary, thyme) and garlic, rolled and then some salt on the skin. Into the sous vide for 30 hours at 162.5f. Wanted to do something more like 36 hours at 155 but ran into scheduling complications. Texture still worked. Deep fried for about 3-4 minutes to develop the crust.
Base for the sauce was the liquid the porchetta gave off in the sous vide bag, reduced. Added cream, Dijon mustard and sherry vinegar. Rich but bright enough to compliment and yet cut through the richness of the pork.
Paired with ‘98 Musar.
For dessert, three different options from our favourite patisserie. Pumpkin creme brûlée, a chocolate gateau, and an earl grey gateau.
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Looks like a great meal, makes me want to make a porchetta!
I’ve had this happen also, it’s crazy what just a degree or two at that temp will do to the texture of root vegetables.
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Bravo!
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My plating skills are terrible, but this tri-tip from Costco was excellent! Our son came over to watch the USA-Canada hockey game, and I grilled this during the 1st period of the game, while all the fisticuffs were going on!
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