New Year’s Paella

Our annual tradition: celebrated the new year in Madrid at 5:00 p.m. Central then made paella.

Enhanced Gravy

Last Christmas, a bottle of red wine was corked, so I reduced the wine to an excellent syrup. Over the year, it’s added a fruity note to dressings and sauces. Today, a couple tablespoons added a pleasant dimension to the gravy.

Tip The Fridge

Dinner tonight: tip-the-fridge galette, with a tip-the-fridge salad on the side. Tomorrow we travel.

Categorized as Cook

Best With Bacon

Kicked off Thanksgiving dinner with our Holiday go-to: warm Brussels sprouts salad. It’s a lot of hand-chopping, which is more consistent than a food processor. It would be raw vegan without the essential bacon, Parmesan, and sautéed shallots(!).Recipe.

Seeing Red

Filled my backpack with exactly what we need, and no more, for Thanksgiving dinner. For us, a small amount of cranberries goes a long way.

Chopping Veggies

Chopped and prepared veggies for two dinners: cabbage and onion for a braise tonight, and roasted eggplant and zucchini for a veggie lasagne tomorrow night. One of the joys of travel, for me, is renewed appreciation for everyday home activities.

Categorized as Cook

Meals For Cooler Weather

Decided it’s time for cooler weather meals. Braised local root vegetables: carrots, celeriac, onions, turnip (purple), and potatoes. The Dutch oven contains a pumped-up-umami base. The turnip came with greens in excellent condition, so I added them later

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Preserving Broccoli

Dwight bought way too much broccoli at the farmers market, then drove up to Fargo to see his mom for a few days, leaving me with the broccoli. I roasted it, which halved the volume, set aside enough for two or three meals and froze the rest. I’ll use the chopped stalks in soup.

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Dinner Tonight

Roasted Brussels sprouts, deconstructed eggplant parmigiana.

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Sausages on the Weber

It’s sausage-and-cabbage Saturday: summer on the Weber, winter in a braise.

Categorized as Cook