Kevin's Watch

We went out to our favourite restaurant again tonight, first time in about six months as we've been trying to cut down on eating out, to save money for a big holiday coming up.

omg it was so good!

I had vegetarian crepe things to start, they had asparagus and spinach and lovely bits of things in them, topped with melted cheese and a white sauce. The gf had pork belly (that I'm not too fussed on) but in a gorgeous soya/sesame oil marinade with spring onion and peppers salad.

Main course I had venison loin steaks. I couldn't remember ever having venison before when I ordered it, but then remembered I had had it before and didn't like it. But they were heavenly. Served with a creamy peppercorn sauce and spinach mash and caramelised onions. i was in gastroparadise!

We skipped dessert but had some lovely brandy, twice refilled (for free)by the owner who does that sort of thing to make your night special!

We'll be at our fav Italian restaurant tonight with some friends. I'm in the mood for some risotto ai frutti di mare or if they have it tonight ossobuco.

Both delicious choices. I had baked figs with goats cheese and honey. Deliccccccccccccccccciousssssss. It was the first time I had ever tasted fresh figs.

Fresh figs are to die for. A few of them (together with parma ham if you like) make something simple as caprese a dish for Gods.

Ok, turned out I was at a restaurant that served Pruebens (Ruebens made with Pastrami) and I figured I'd give it a try (Menolly had previously raved about it on Facebook). It wasn't too bad, reminded me of a regular Rueben but with meat of a softer, less tough texture. Now, I do like the texture of corn beef, but a Prueben will do in a pinch.

Of course, as this was a restaurant, they were stingy on the sauerkraut... *sigh*

I always get confused when you guys switch the vowels in German words (for example [*weiner* instead of wiener). Took me a while to figure out that *rueben* is reuben (especially since Rübe/Ruebe is the German word for beet) ...

Okay, so we were at this Italian restaurant yesterday. The missus chose a creamy tomato soup. I had a hearty lentil soup with Salsiccia (spicy sort sausage).

For the main course Mrs Vader had lemon sole in a creamy lemon sauce with potatoes. The wine was a Gavi di Gavi.

I took the veal cutlets with parma ham, topped with melted cheese and fresh truffle slices (obviously no Alba or Périgord truffles since I'm still not a millionaire). They served fresh bread, oven roasted potatoes and sweet honey glazed carrots with it.
The recommended Carmignano rosso turned out to be a good choice.

Since I'm not exactly keen on desserts I had an espresso and (a free) grappa to make it perfect. Mrs Vader opted for a cappuccino just to tease me (I always tell her in Italy they only drink cappucino for breakfast with something to dip in and laugh at tourists who order it during the day)

My big sis does a starter of fresh figs and parma ham, with some salad leaves and a tiny drizzle of balsamic vinegar. *drools at memory*

Im not really sure what parma ham is (in my mind Im envisioning something like proscuitto) but something like that to add to figs sounds mighty delish!!!

Tonight tho, its just a simple homemade chicken and corn soup with lots of garlic and shallots. After nearly 2 weeks of rainy weather and the eating of comfort foods that usually accompany wet days, Im in the mood for something simple and light.

Im not really sure what parma ham is (in my mind Im envisioning something like proscuitto) but something like that to add to figs sounds mighty delish!!!

That's the stuff!

Stonemaybe wrote:

Im not really sure what parma ham is (in my mind Im envisioning something like proscuitto) but something like that to add to figs sounds mighty delish!!!

That's the stuff!

Parma ham is prosciutto di parma - the best ham ever (and don't let them tell you Spanish Serrano or Pata Negra is a substitute. It isn't.

Ok, so.... BGB picked me up and we went for snacks then shopping. Then we made homemade pasta, spinach pasta, we used a basic recipe and added a cup of blanched heavily ground spinach. I made my sauce but rather than leave it chunky I blended it so it was more like a bolognese. Then we layered it with sauce, pasta, arugula/basil/garlic pesto, small curd cottage cheese laced with egg white and romano/parmesan/asiago blend then a layer of italian parsley and arugula then more pasta then meat sauce nice and thick then another pasta layer then another cheese/pesto layer then more meat sauce topped with a healthy dose of mozarella with a sprinkling of the asiago/romano/parmesan blend. It was crack on a plate.

Yum!!!

Oh, yes, you have had my lasagna and participated in it's creation. This was better. You and LT would have married me on the spot as well as Bob V. BGB had a big part though, he was the brains and creator behind the pasta and the pesto. He and I do work well as a culinary team. It was an interesting change texturally and it worked incredibly well. BGB was out of fennel so that effected it and I forgot to add the truffle oil but the sauce stood out anyway. So delish.

One day I will get to try this...
*drooling*

Indeed. Both Yum! and Drool...

I am pretty proud of my lasagna -- hopefully with some justification, but I will shamelessly try to adapt some of these ideas into my next attempt (whenever that is; I don't get as many opportunities to cook as I used to, and I miss it )

Yesterday my parents were there for dinner and I prepared fried monk fish filets, scallops and scampi with rice and wok vegetables. Today it was a hearty tomato soup with majoram and croutons.

kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... 990#758990

I can't get any decent pesto these days so I made a new pasta concoction last night with sundried tomatoes, jalapenos, chorizo bacon AND tuna, garlic (of course ), shallots, mushrooms, tom puree, balsamic vinegar, capers (basically, everything I could lay my hands on!).

Had it for dinner last night, and it stunk to high heaven, so the gf didn't have any, leaving me enough for lunch AND dinner tonight.

It was delicious!

Last night was a bit of C.O.R.N, using a couple of meals of planned over chicken to make a tettrazini. I only made for Beorn and me, as Hyperception is low-carbing again so used half the amount of pasta I usually do. However, I went ahead and cut the sauce (I'll admit it, it is cream of mushroom condensed soup based) in half as well, and the tettrazini just came out dry, despite the excessive amount of cheese I added to it.

So, there is about half left. I went ahead and made a garlic and freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg (on my microplane) scented bechamel with some fresh mushrooms added and poured that over the top of the already cooked tettrazini. I am reheating it in a moderate oven for 15 minutes, then will rotate it and continue heating for another 15. I am hoping the bechemel will brown nicely on top; I may turn the oven on to broil for a few minutes if it needs it at the end.

I am generally not one that experiments that much with a recipe I've used before. But, last night's tettrazini needed something more...

oh my...yes!
Adding the bechemel was quite lovely.
I may just do that from now on everytime...

It's going to be a (German) classic tonight: Beef roulade with red cabbage, potatoes and gravy.