No dessert needed

Who needs dessert, when you've got sausages that look like that? 

Tonight's dinner?  A trip to Italy.

The sausages get a slight boil, before the real cooking gets underway.

Butter goes into a roasting pan.

Beautiful grapes, Italian style!

The grapes join the butter.

Butter, grapes and a good red wine.

Then the slightly boiled sausages get added.  All goes into the oven, to roast.

Some sliced potatoes, boiled to perfection.

"J" used a rice grater to grate the potatoes.  Clever trick!

Some milk and butter heats up.

Little sour cream.

Salt.  Pepper.

And the milk/butter mixture.

All makes for some incredible mashed potatoes.

A good balsamic joins the roasted sausages and grapes. Notice the color of the sausages.  Nice and brown.  The grapes have cooked down beautifully as well.

Even a few have busted, allowing their juices to marry with the butter, wine and balsamic.

Sausages go down on the platter first.

Everything else gets poured on top.

A nice bread from Sunflower market. 

And a beautiful outdoor setting. 

Delicious! 

Another fabulous meal from "J", along with an even more fabulous evening with friends.

Until next time.....A la cuisine!

Sweet Spot

The title "sweet spot" is for many reasons.  Two, we'll discuss. 

First: "J" is back in his "sweet spot". 

Yes, these are short ribs.  Look at all that meat! 

This is the best prosciutto you can find.  "J" used it in both the appetizer and main course. 

The main course getting started with the fresh prosciutto, taking a searing in the pot.

Short ribs were dredged in flour, and then seared in the pan that the prosciutto was cooked down in.

Fresh veggies.  Beautiful photo.  Onion, shallots, and carrots.  All used in the entree.

Chopped up, and cooked in the same pot that the prosciutto and ribs were cooked and seared in.

A good red wine gets added.

The seared short ribs join the fun, with fresh rosemary (from the garden).  This cooks for hours (don't ask me how many).  :)

Appetizer starts with fresh shrimp.

Fresh basil from the garden.

The shrimp get wrapped with the basil and prosciutto.

How pretty are these, and they aren't even cooked yet!  The best thing about this appetizer, besides the taste, is the preparation.  You can make these ahead of time, and keep them in the fridge until your guests arrive.  Easy breezy.

They go in the fryer.  That's right, you read it correctly.  We are deep frying them. 

To accompany the shrimp, "J" made a fresh lime and jalapeno jelly.  Did I say "J" was back in his "sweet spot"?

Not only did the basil come from the garden, so did these beauties.

The jelly cooking.

This was the BEST appetizer to date.  Seriously, no recipe needed (except for the jelly, and "J" doesn't have one....he did it by chance....).  The shrimp are the perfect appetizer.  I loved how the basil got crispy along with the prosciutto.  Delish!

Back to the entree.  This is some organic chicken stock, coming to a boil.

(organic) Heavy cream, a good (organic) Gorgonzola cheese and (organic polenta).  Great (organic) side dish.  Honestly, the (organic) touch wasn't planned.  But, great nonetheless!

Chicken stock is ready, so the polenta gets stirred in (slowly).

Thickening up, nicely.

Cheese gets added.

Along with the cream.  I wouldn't have thought to add cream to this, but it made it perfect.  Smoothed out the polenta, and added such a nice creamy texture.

The pot, and "J" ready to unveil the short ribs (after cooking for XXX hours).  :)

Unreal.  Look at the beautiful, rich, deep color. 

Polenta down on the plate.

Rib on top.  All we each needed was one.  They were huge!  I loved the onions and carrots on top.  They were so tender, and the juices added such a rich flavor.

Done.  "J", you're back!

So, in dinner conversation it came out that both "A" and myself grew up on McDonald's birthday cakes.  This is our next "sweet spot" of the evening.  Readers, if you haven't tried one it's a must.  They are frozen, and the icing is to die for.  You have to get them at a McDonald's that has a Play Place.......but it's worth it.  AND, they are only $6.00!

This picture is priceless.  "How many McDonald's employees does it take to ring a McDonald's birthday cake up at 9 p.m. on a Monday night?".  We, being the responsible adults we are, called ahead before making the trip over.  They said, over the phone, that they had them and would sell it.  When we pulled up at the drive-thru, "J" (in "J" classic form) said "Um, yes.  We would like two of your birthday cakes.".  The lady's response?  "We don't got birthday cakes.".  What?!?!  "We just called, and you said you did!".  "Alright, pull to the first window".  "A" made a great point.  It wasn't like we were trying to order tacos.  hahaha.  What a great story.

This is "A" in the backseat with our prized possession.  We won't discuss how disappointed we (myself and "A") were that they didn't have chocolate....only white cake.

That's right, we just went straight in.  That's how you do it, McDonald's style.

It was great being back to regular Mundane Monday's, and seeing "J" in his element.

Until next time.....A la cuisine!

Facing your fears......

NOTE: This is written from the perspective of "A".

With a lot of encouraging from "J" and "A", we talked "K" into facing down her fears and taking on the box of secret ingredients.  "K" was most impressive!  First let me say that I will not live up to the standard of writing that you are all a custom from "K" but I will try to give you the best play by play I can.

"K’s" first reaction to the box was silent!  She was hard at work thinking how to conjure up the tastiest treats with what we had given her.  The ingredients were as follows…faba beans, chicken tenders, Jiffy biscuit mix, and mozzarella cheese.

With a nervous yet confident hand "K" began to move around kitchen quickly shelling the beans and putting them into a pot.  She boiled the beans off and then added them with a chopped onion, avocado, and cubed mozzarella cheese, to create the most amazing cold bean salad!  Next she took the chicken tenders dreaded them in the jiffy mix and fried them in a iron skillet.  They were juicy and tender.  Finally she shaved red potatoes very thin and added prosciutto and baked those in the oven.  This side dish was just what the doctor ordered they were perfect with the chicken and the bean salad was an amazing fresh taste with the chicken.

Finally we had the dessert round.  Now I must tell you that this was a little pay back for me and "J".  You see we both know how "K" is not a fan of dessert so as the great friends we are her final box was…yep you guessed it DESSERT!  It was our little way of saying thanks for the canned salmon and chicken livers of the previous weeks.   But, there is a catch,  we decided to actually be good friends and when "K" opened the box to her surprise and relief there was already a delicious La Baguette chocolate waiting for her along with whipped cream in a can and a pint of vanilla gelato.  "K" was ready for the task and perfectly cut each piece with care and every scoop of ice cream and squeeze of the whip cream was done with the upmost care ;) 

Chopped was a great success and full of surprises.  It was a defiant challenge for all of us.   Now I feel that we all have a newfound appreciation for each other and for secret ingredients! 

Until next time.......this is "A" signing off for "K"…

A la cuisine!