What did you cook this weekend?
This past weekend included some entertaining for family from out of town. My parents and my wife's cousins from Montreal. All were here for a surprise b'day party for my MiL (her 65th).
I decided to make a dish that I know that my parents have never had before, so I set out to make Osso Buco something that I haven't made since culinary school. I bought 11lbs of shanks, got taken to the cleaners by the bucher shop, won't go there again, but it was a necessity situation.
At the last minute, we decided to invite my wife's cousin and his family to join us for dinner as I had made plenty.
While the Osso Buco was cooking, I also smoked 2 briskets.
What about you? What did you cook this weekend?
Alan
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42 Comments:
Boca Burgers
bessfour at 10:36AM on 11/17/08
Cornell chicken, scalloped potatoes, fresh corn.
1stmakearoux at 10:38AM on 11/17/08
I got a jump on the holiday -- I made my great great grandmother's clover leaf rolls- I made chicken stock for the freezer-- I needed to "stock up" (ha ha) I also made a big pot of vegetable beef soup. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend.
lakeloverhh at 10:38AM on 11/17/08
Wow, that's pretty ambitious. I made homemade pizzas and roast citrus chicken with wild pilaf and homemade rolls. The weather was particularly blustery and I wanted something warm and comforting. It's snowing here right now--darn lake effect--so I think it will macaroni and cheese tonight.
dhorst at 10:38AM on 11/17/08
It was a perfect, chilly fall weekend here in Atlanta, and just right for simmering savory soups and hunkering down before a nice fire. Last night I made my favorite French Onion Soup. We had a loaf of crusty bread and some pinot grigio. Heavenly.
My recipe for French Onion Soup:
4-5 large Vidalia Onions
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 Tbs. butter
salt/pepper/tarragon
8 cups beef stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup sherry
toasted rounds of crusty bread
gruyere cheese (or Provolone or a good swiss if Gruyere is not in the budget)
caramelize onions over medium heat in olive oil and butter until a lovely golden brown. season with salt, pepper and tarragon. deglaze pan with sherry, then wine. add stock and let simmer for 1/2 hour. Put toasted crusty round of bread in bottom of oven-proof single-serve crock. Pour soup over bread, making sure to get plenty of the onions. Put slices of gruyere over top and put under broiler just until cheese is bubbly and golden on edges -- should be quick. Serve! YUM.
juliebugsmama at 10:43AM on 11/17/08
@dhorst - where are you located? I know they're having lake effect snow south of us....this time of year I'm lucky...I live close enough to Lake Erie, the warmth of the lake keeps us safe for now.
I make homemade french fries, cheeseburgers, applesauce & chocolate cake w/peanut butter frosting for my daughter's b'day on Sat. Oh yea...and baked onion dip too.
Yesterday I made venison chili....it was great on a cold day!
mepolo at 10:49AM on 11/17/08
I have a potluck at my work on Wednesday and somehow our area got stuck with appetizers and salads...not my strong point, when it comes to make-ahead material. I didn't want to have to schlep a crockpot for meatballs or anything like that, and I didn't want to have anything that if made ahead would not taste good the following day. So, in the end, I took on my mothers old 1950's Americana-style cookbooks called simply "Salads" and found a recipe fro tuna-pasta salad. I had to have her taste test it, though, since I really really cannot stand the taste of mayo in any form. She liked it, so I hope that others do, too. And it least it won't go bad by then.
And I discovered a new gingerbread recipe that I love...probably because for an 8 by 8-inch pan, it called for a full cup of dark molasses. You can't beat that. :)
Traveller at 10:50AM on 11/17/08
Red lentil soup and roasted cauliflower
Toast with Dijon mustard, topped with baby mixed greens, 2 poached eggs, parm cheese and a few shakes of Frank's Red Hot.
Veggie quesadillas
And tried to make my menu/shopping list for Thanksgiving
erinlovestoeat at 10:50AM on 11/17/08
Mmm...I need to smoke some brisket...
No guests here, and we ate out on Saturday. But on Friday, I grilled a marinated top round steak (medium rare, thinly sliced), which we had with chimichurri sauce; roasted potatoes and a big salad on the side. Back in August I canned several pints of chimichurri sauce, and I'm so pleased about that decision now:-).
Last night, I made a miso soup with spinach and scallops, soba and chicken salad with sesame-ginger dressing and roasted Brussels sprouts.
Tonight is our "random pizza night" (it used to be "pizza Friday":-)), so I'll be making two pizzas, as usual - chesseless for the OH, pizza bianca for me.
brooke29 at 10:50AM on 11/17/08
Bison fillets and sunchokes see picture and recipe. It was great and the best part was that my four-year-old loved it.
5starfoodie at 10:53AM on 11/17/08
I made chilil and potatoe bread for dinner, shortbread for christmas, blueberrie muffins for breakfast....
Lilartist at 11:05AM on 11/17/08
5star,
That's great! I have to say that my 5 year old daughter is quite the little foodie. She had a BLAST last night when her grandmother helped her and her close to same age cousin make dessert for the family last night. She loves to help me in the kitchen, and is willing to taste just about everything. She and I have a deal, if it's something new, she has to try a bite, if she doesn't like it she doesn't have to eat any more. Thus far, the only thing that she's been consistent about not liking is summer squash.
Alan
aholsber at 11:08AM on 11/17/08
@mepolo--Liverpool, NY a northern burb of Syracuse. We've had an inch and a half in the last hour--our golden retriever pup is thrilled, dancing and snapping at the snow. Oswego and parts of the Tug Hill got nailed overnight with some places seeing as much as 2 feet. We won't see that much though. I think I may make some bread today. I also made some Nutella cookie bars yesterday. The kids were in heaven!
dhorst at 11:09AM on 11/17/08
@dhorst-- I lived in Liverpool many, many moons ago. Well, many moons ago for me, haha. It was only for a short while, and during elementary school (wooo longbranch!). But my aunt & uncle lived there for years, and some of my favorite memories come from summers at Cross Lake and obligatory Byrne Dairy Chocolate milk! And of course, Wegman's!
I made sticky rice (in a pot, rice cookers are for wimps!) and made about 50 onigiri triangles and then froze them for lunches.
Then I got homesick and made homefries, haha
machellebelle at 11:37AM on 11/17/08
Saturday, my boyfriend made a pizza with bresaola; yesterday gave rise to a plum pudding (annual event), some castagnaccio (nostalgic wallow), two loaves of bread (this happens at least bi-weekly), and for last night's dinner, duck breasts with rice and cannellini.
mongoose at 11:40AM on 11/17/08
I made crawfish etouffee to use up the last of the frozen crawfish and some potato soup for lunches this week, but the big project was half a dozen stuffed artichokes. I should have made a dozen. After deliveries to my artichoke lovings friends I only had one left for me.
NO_Pam at 12:03PM on 11/17/08
Salmon loaf. Four of them, actually, after the first batch of two was eaten quickly. I did not partake but everyone, including the hound, approved.
lsuttell at 12:09PM on 11/17/08
Tea.
Christina at 12:09PM on 11/17/08
green curry (following recipe from Chez Pim) with tofu, green bean, bell pepper, and curried, fried butternut squash.
Tom kha soup.
stir fried gai lan with chili, ginger, garlic, soy, and fish sauce.
Gingerbread (recipe a mixture of Laurie Colwin and Shuna Fish Lydon of eggbeater blog)
oven fried chicken thighs with steamed broccoli, sneaky collards, and cornbread.
pretty good weekend.
intheyearofthepig at 12:10PM on 11/17/08
Didn't do much cooking this weekend. Ate pizza 3 times, and had a lovely restaurant meal with family. The closest I came to cooking was dumping some frozen ravioli in a casserole dish with some tomato product and mozzarella and baking it for 45 minutes. Wasn't very good.
Kerosena at 12:26PM on 11/17/08
@machellebelle--My kids go to Elmcrest right across John Glenn from Longbranch. The Wegmans on 57 is now a new "super Wegmans" bigger and better than ever, and it's less than a minute drive for me. Did you ever go to Beaver Lake out in B'ville as a kid? We take the kids there all the time, something I'm sure they'll remember if they move away.
dhorst at 12:39PM on 11/17/08
Creamed spinach as a dress rehearsal for Thanksgiving. I need to practice more.
marieinla at 12:54PM on 11/17/08
Turkey chili on Saturday, and Chicken and Dumplings yesterday. I just love cool-weather comfort foods!
hungryinhouston at 12:59PM on 11/17/08
I tested a few Thanksgiving recipes ahead of time. Here's the I will admit that I have never been excited about the mushy result of canned green beans, canned soup, canned crunchy onions, and cornflakes. The whole dish is like a tribute to the processed food industry. Let's un-process it, shall we?">best ever Green Bean Casserole (REAL food!) plus we made spice-crusted pork tenderloin with maple and apple sauce, orange-fennel and pomegranate salad, roasted potatoes, polenta rounds with sauted spinach, roasted tomatoes and goat cheese ...
ExpatChef at 1:04PM on 11/17/08
@dhorst....you're a bit east from me...I'm in Angola, right on Lake Erie. They did get about 20" in South Dayton, a small town southeast, and of course ski country got about a foot or so. Lake effect is the craziest thing....I'm in the city right now (Buffalo) and the sun has been shining here...go 20 miles or so southeast and it's a snowstorm....isn't Mother Nature grand?!
mepolo at 1:28PM on 11/17/08
Made an old-school rice-chicken-broccoli casserole for lunch for the week, while making a simple dinner of (frozen) gnocchi with fresh string beans, topped with vodka sauce and ricotta.
Also made marinated roasted eggplant for the first time, which was fabulous - in a crunch for time, I used Newman's Own Italian dressing as a marinade...what was some slightly bitter eggplant turned out delicious!
savecara at 1:34PM on 11/17/08
Tortilla Soup on Friday. With homemade stock, of course. Grilled steaks with radish, cucumber and red bell pepper salad in lettuce bowls on Saturday and turkey chili last night. @hungryinhouston I'm afraid I'm going to run out of cool-weather comfort foods here in Maryland!
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 1:38PM on 11/17/08
chicken marsala saturday and penne alla amatriciana sunday. it's smoky and 90 degrees here in southern california, so i was less than motivated. my apartment reeks of ash.
megannesta at 1:41PM on 11/17/08
My bf was seriosly ill this weekend; and so the cooking enthusiasm at home was amost n-ill.
I did get to eat my favourite Hot and sour soup from our local favourite northern-chinese resturaunt--so it wasn't a TOTAL loss :)
@brooke29 - I'm curious to try cooking a miso soup soon--I haven't even tried it yet; care to share the recipe? I think if I add seafood it'll be great!
hungrychristel at 1:51PM on 11/17/08
lentil soup with kielbasa, sweet italian sausage, and bacon...sauteed carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, little tomato paste, then simmered in chicken stock with the lentils for about 2 hours - used basil and cumin to flavor it.
i actually made my own bread to make crostini pieces for the top of the soup, the recipe from smittenkitchen.com Rustic Italian Bread or something worked really really well!
z911empire at 2:16PM on 11/17/08
lemme see...Friday night I ate some frozen Traders Joes pizza and the last of the red leaf with creamy feta dressing.
Saturday was our girls dinner club and italian was the theme, so I made chicken parm and rigatoni and the other girls brought italian salad, fried greens, sausage stuffed banana peppers, italian bread, tiramisu and wine.
Sunday I went to my favorite place, Beachwood Mall in Cleveland and ate, for the first and last time, Cheesecake Factory. It was just meh. We got the spicy chicken nachos (cheese barely melted, fantastic guac though), I had the kentucky hot brown (meh...a little salty), Sarah had the orange chicken (very orangy, lots of veggies, nice rice) and Jess had the roasted eggplant sandwich (I can do the same at home...ya know?). I didn't even get cheesecake. It was not worth 60 bucks and that was not including the eggplant sandwich. She had her own check. Sarah's raspberry lemonade (no booze) was FIVE BUCKS!
Right now I have a loaf of cinnamon bread rising to make french toast tonight. Its cold, icky, snowy, blowy and Im just not in the mood.
ChelleyD01 at 2:46PM on 11/17/08
friday - fettucine with proscuitto, peas, and parmesan cheese
saturday - mushroom barley soup & french bread.
redhead at 3:47PM on 11/17/08
@hungrychristel - mine is ridiculously simple. I make it in small batches, often several times a week. I don't really measure, but I'm going to try to figure it out for you, more or less.
In a small saucepan, briefly saute 3-4 chopped scallions in about 1 Tbsp of toasted sesame oil (medium heat). While you're doing this, boil 2 cups of water - I use my electric kettle for this (you could, or one would argue should use dashi instead of water, but I don't always have it, and water works fine). Add about 4 oz of frozen spinach to the saucepan (don't have to thaw it first), and the two cups of boiling water. Stir and let cook for a couple of minutes, to thaw the spinach. At this point, I dissolve 2-3 Tbsp of white miso paste (OK, I really just take two soup spoons, one heaping, one level) in a cup of cold (filtered) water.
When the spinach is thawed, add about 1/3 lb bay scallops (could use shrimp), let cook for 2-3 minutes and add the miso-water mixture. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes, until it's about to boil but does not boil. Take off the heat. That's it. It's quite good when it's cold, as well.
I sometimes saute some sliced shiitake together with the scallions, omit the spinach and use cubed tofu in lieu of scallops (that was the original version I used to make), but my OH, while quite fond of miso soup, does not fancy either mushrooms or tofu. So I came up with this - and he never gets tired of it:-).
brooke29 at 3:50PM on 11/17/08
I made french breakfast puffs, buttermilk biscuits from the article on here last week, and a very nice pork roast, also my gf made a chocolate cake and experimented making her own cream cheese frosting, turned out well! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/french_breakfast_puffs/
Patwcampbell at 4:03PM on 11/17/08
Friday night I grilled Ina's herb marinated pork tenderloin - it was the best! Also made dill potato salad with marinated cucumbers and radishes. On Sunday afternoon I made crockpot chicken tortilla soup. I made a vow this past summer that I'd start making a lot of the recipes I've been copying off the internet or out of library cookbooks and it's been fun and tasty!
annzee at 4:10PM on 11/17/08
Sunday early dinner for friends.
Roast Stuffed Pork Loin -- Stuffing of Prunes, Dried Apricots, etal, with herbs
Mashed Potatoes
Sauteed Beets -- Shredded -- butter, red wine vinegar, S&P
A Killer Gravy
Peach Cobbler
lochaven at 5:35PM on 11/17/08
i made falafel and tahini sauce on saturday and little english muffin pizza's on sunday. and ham steak for the morning. i love when i have the house to myself, i can eat when i'm ready and not worry about everyone else.
dearrie at 7:28PM on 11/17/08
Saturday morning I made coconut french toast, which was really good, though the coconut flavor was pretty subtle. We had a lot of batter left over, so we saved it, and on Sunday my husband added a bit of flour to it and made coconut crepes. Oh. My. GOD! They were fantastic - we had sliced bananas in vanilla yogurt and TJ's turkey bacon with them. Yum!
CookiePie at 10:29AM on 11/18/08
Smothered Pork Chops w/onions & 'shrooms, mashed potatoes w/apples, Swiss Chard, cheap Pinot Grigio. The chops were expensive, but worth it; I still have plenty left to reheat and eat until Thursday.
I got the smothered chops recipe from "Harlem Really Cooks" by the late Sandra Lawrence. There are lots of awesome soul food, Caribbean, African and Latino recipes in that little book.
BITTER at 11:48AM on 11/18/08
I was all alone this weekend, and when I'm alone I tend to cook! I made split pea soup, chicken with shallot sauce, pralines (see candy thermometer thread) and butternut squash soup with cider cream. I also stuffed a baguette with dried cranberry and walnut stuffed brie and baked it (mmmm)
embolini9 at 7:10PM on 11/18/08
I also had my sister visiting from Miami, my aunt's birthday and my dad'd upcoming birthday this week... I invited them all to lunch and we had a roasted garlic and tomato whole wheat pasta... side green salad with a whole grain bread pudding for dessert. Delicious!
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 12:37AM on 11/19/08
nada have pneumonia (sp) and have no appetite. But can't wait till I get it back and drooling over all the aboves things lol.
pjracz10 at 6:38PM on 11/19/08