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We had an awesome experience this past week and that was we had an awesome dinner at Bacquet’s Restaurant in Eagle, Idaho.We have been there before and it was superior then. It still is. We had more than the scallops pictured above, much more. But these, at least in my opinion, stood out. The food and the restaurant is easily deserves a 5-Star rating. Service was outstanding as was the food. If you are in the Boise area, Google the restaurant to find it and make reservations! (1117 E Winding Creek Dr, Eagle, ID 83616 (208) 377-6238) I asked for permission to use the recipe, and Michele Holly, Manager, was happy to give me permission to use the recipe. So here is a link to the recipe. https://www.rockinrs.com/St-Jacques-Scallops.pdf This recipe is not for the faint-of-heart home cook, but it is doable. Just take your time and follow the recipe.
The recipe calls for U10 scallops, so here is an explanation of just what that means. U10 size: Jumbo scallops are a dry scallop. All cold water ocean scallops have a succulent sweet texture and are 100% white meat. What does u-10 mean? It means that there are less than 10 scallops in a pound, and they are perfect for sauteing and broiling! These wild, jumbo sized Sea Scallops are harvested off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts. Their size ensures a tender, succulent texture with loads of sweetness and just enough briny salinity to be both refreshing and satiating.
Over the past several weeks, we have made some really good meals. Potato Latkes for one (https://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Latkes.pdf), Hopping John, aka Hoppin’ John, (http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Hopping-John.pdf) and an East Coast style Crab Dip (http://www.rockinrs.com/Marges-Crab-Dip.pdf). Potato latkes are a traditional Chanukah dish,Hoppin’ John is a traditional southern, New Year’s Day meal with ham hocks and black eyed peas (cow peas) and a superb East coast style crab dip. I do hope you enjoy these.
From Chabad.com we learn that,
“Latke (pronounced LOT-keh, LOT-kah or LOT-kee) is Yiddish for “pancake.” On Chanukah, it is traditional to serve latkes (most often potato)fried in oil to celebrate the Chanukah miracle, which involved the oil of the Templemenorah lasting for eight days instead of just one. Those of the Jewish faith, eat foods that reflect the significance of a holiday—such as matzah on Passover and apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah is no exception. For at least the last thousand years, Jews have traditionally eaten oily foods on Chanukah.” In other words, it’s tradition.
Hoppin’ John, on the other hand, is a traditional southern United States dish that is usually eaten on New Year’s Day to bring good luck. The recipe, although not totally like this one, dates back to the early 1800s and is made with ham, or ham hocks, black eyed peas (cow peas), rice, bacon and collard greens, or if you want spinach or rainbow chard. The first written recipe appeared in “the Carolina Housewife” in 1847. It was written by Charlestonian Sarah Rutledge.
This third dish is actually an appetizer. We originally had it at the home of my brother and his wife. I love it! Full of blue crab and I have added the salad shrimp and green onion. It is probably best to make it and then refrigerate it for a while so as to let all the flavors “marry”. Chilling after making, brings out the sweetness and flavor of the blue crab. Chilling brings out the Taste of The Sea, Goût de la mer.
I hope you try some, or all, of these recipes. All are good and fun to prepare, even though the Hoppin’ John is a little involved to make, but not impossible.
We had a great time this past week, developing some recipes and grilling. Never have done a Tri-Tip, so it is time to dive in! And this one was superb. Great grill taste and smoke that did not overpower the beef, as smoking does. Good smoke ring and cooked, I think, to perfection. Juicy and succulent and medium rare. Here is the recipe we came up with. Enjoy! http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Grilled-Tri-Tip.pdf And to go along with the BBQ, one needs to have a good BBQ Sauce. I prefer a KC Style sauce and here is what I came up with. Enjoy with your BBQ. http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-BBQ-Sauce.pdf
Here is the Tri-Tip on the grill with some roasted corn.
This is the sliced Tri-Tip. Good color and smoke ring.
Dinner is plated with the Roasted Corn and the BBQ Sauce.
I know from our FB page and from the emails I have received, that folks are interested in some information about a Tri-Tip. So here is some. From steakschool.com,
Tri tip is a triangular cut of beef cut from the bottom of the sirloin. Named after its triangular shape with a tapered “tip”, tri tip might just be one of the most flavourful cuts of meat that you’ve never heard of.
Often confused with brisket or picanha, tri tip is most popular in southern California, so you can be forgiven if you’ve never come across it before. It is also called a California cut, a bottom sirloin butt, a Newport steak, a Santa Maria steak or even referred to as a “poor man’s brisket”. But unlike brisket – which comes from the front of the cow, below the chuck – tri tip is actually considered a steak.
Tri tip dates back to early 19th century America, where it was a write-off and ground up to be used in hamburger meat. It wasn’t until the 1950s when Bob Schutz, the then-owner of Santa Maria Market, upon receiving an excess of hamburger meat, decided to prepare and eat it like a steak. The result was well received and the rest, as they say, is history.
First of all. I made it to 80 the first of April and I thank all who helped me make it an awesome day! Parma Ridge Bistro and Winery for a super great dinner as always and the German Chocolate Cake! And Marnie and Eric for opening their house and the Open House. Thank you one and all!
The kitchen has been slow and moderately successful. If I must throw away “leftovers” then that tells me that it was not especially liked. But that’s just my opinion. So lets start with the German Chocolate Cake and homemade Cupcakes. Thank you Stephanie and Michelle. And a very special thank you to the Love of My Life, Robin – you always make these time so special!
Special Occasion Sweets by Michelle Smith, our Granddaughter-In-law Anna Shanner’s sister.
Now for the dinners. One of the better ones was a Salmon Papillote. Eric caught the Kokanee 2 days prior ton the meal and it was delicious! Moist and succulent.
Salmon Papillote right from the oven.
Salmon Papillote plated with a Green Salad and Carrots and Broccoli cooked in the papillote
And finally, we had some boneless, skinless chicken thighs leftover from the Butter Chicken, so I made some Chicken Rice Soup and I really liked it.
Homemade Chicken Rice Soup
So there you have some of the menus we had in the past week or so. The “not so popular” ones are not included. But enjoy these. I did. There is no recipe for the papillote. From Wikipedia, “En papillote (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ papijɔt]; French for “enveloped in paper”), or al cartoccio in Italian, is a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. This method is most often used to cook fish or vegetables, but lamb and poultry can also be cooked en papillote. It is a combination cooking method of baking and steaming.
The parcel is typically made from folded parchment paper but other material, such as a paper bag or aluminum foil, may be used. The parcel holds in moisture to steam the food. The pocket is created by overlapping circles of paper or foil and folding them tightly around the food to create a seal.
The moisture may be from the food itself or from an added moisture source, such as water, wine or stock. The choice of herbs, seasonings and spices depend on the particular e being prepared.
The parcel can be opened at the table to allow people to smell the aroma when it opens.”
Coq au Vin, Rooster in Wine, was my choice this year to make for Robin, my wife of almost 40 years, and Marnie, my daughter. It’s not for the faint of heart. It takes some ambition and time. But it is well worth it. Delicious!
Just a few suggestions. Prep your ingredients first. I suggest paper bowls for your prep work. Take your time and don’t rush through this. If you are thinking of using an Instant Pot, try, instead, a large cast-iron skillet, at least 2″ deep and a glass lid, you can’t watch the cooking through a solid lid. The dish takes almost a constant vigil.
I used a package of frozen Pearl Onions instead of fresh ones that I would have to peel; heirloom carrots instead of the orange ones; Courvoisier Cognac instead of brandy; dried morel mushrooms reconstituted in the wine used for the dish instead of button mushrooms; pork belly cut into strips instead of bacon and for the beurre manie, I just added to the oil in the pan some flour for thickening. For the chicken, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The original recipe, Julia Child’s, calls for you to cut up a chicken. (Still had to skin and de-bone the thighs.)
And this really needs to be emphasized: Watch your temperatures and don’t burn the sauce. Keep the liquid level just covering the chicken – use chicken stock, not broth, if necessary – and use a medium to low simmer temperature.
In my opinion, the dish has enough vegetables in it. So I did not use asparagus or rice to serve with it. I also served it with a dish of fresh cut fruit. Marnie had a Red Velvet Cake for dessert Try this and let us know what you think. We loved it.
Here are two meals we made. The first is probably one of the best alfredo sauces I have ever eaten. Not “gummy” with cheese, but rather clean and smooth. Shrimp went very well with the sauce. The second is an “Old Persons Meal”, of sorts. Fried chicken with garlic mashed potatoes with pan dripping gravy and garden green beans. Enjoy these.
The recipe calls for penne pasta, but we didn’t have any. So we used linguini which worked very well. The shrimp really added to the dish – you could probably use any seafood, scallops, lobster or Dungeness crab might be good, or other protein. Use your imagination.
The Alfredo was smooth and creamy and not grainy. It added to the shrimp we used and did not conflict with it. Several flavor levels came through that were delicious.
Fried Chicken
I have had problems when frying chicken, but this one seems to have over come that flaw. I added some baking powder to the flour that I used to coat the chicken and beaten egg to dredge the chicken in before the flour. We also made sure the chicken was dry before dredging. Cook slowly over medium high heat for about 5 minutes per side, taking care not to burn the chicken. Start cooking skin side down. We always use thighs, or second joints if you are on the East coast, bone-in and skin on.
The gravy was made from the pan drippings to which we added some flour and some wine. Made sure that was all mixed then added some half and half and completely combined to make the smooth gravy. It was delicious.
So there are two more meals from this past week. Next thing I am trying is Coq au Vin, Rooster in Wine. Probably not as good as Julia Child would do, but good nonetheless. Stay tuned and Good Eating!
Sorry for the long delay in getting articles or recipes posted. It’s been a crappy Fall, but things are returning to normal now. I will create this post, as I have done in the past with all posts, with a good description of the dish and a link to the recipe that we have created. Most of the recipes, however, are original only to the point that we have altered the original recipe to fit our needs. Most of the recipes presented here and on this blog, have a note attached to them “Source: adapted from (some other recipe)“. At least then, you know where you can find the original recipe. Please, as in the past, feel free to use and try any recipe presented and let us know how it came out and if you liked it or not.
Let’s start with a great soup. Did you ever see the movie Tortilla Soup? Well here is the recipe for that soup, Tortilla Soup http://www.rockinrs.com/Tortilla-Soup.pdf. I’m sorry I don’t have a photo of it. This is fun to make – you can make it as spicy as you want – and great eating. We love it!
And to start the main course off, how about Roasted Prime Rib of Beef? Really easy to do, but be sure you follow the cooking directions exactly. Recipe – http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Prime-Rib.pdf. This recipe calls for an herb butter and we used our Herb de Provence, http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Herbs.pdf. Use it liberally and mix well with room temperature butter. I even went so far as to, after adding the herb butter and salt, to dry brine this in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Came out great!
And here is a great leftover prime rib dish, Leftover Prime Rib Beef Stroganoff. (recipe – http://www.rockinrs.com/Leftover-Beef-Stroganoff.pdf) The original recipe called for Baby Portabella mushrooms, but we had some dried Morel mushrooms collected this past Fall and I reconstituted them in a little vodka and used some of the liquid in the sauce.
Leftover Prime Rib Stroganoff
Total time to make this dish is about 20 minutes, not counting preparing the egg noodles or rice. If you would prefer not to use noodles, you can always use rice. If you use rice, I would probably use Basmati or Jasmin. Either way, we loved this and will make it again. Delicious flavors and easy to do. I even had someone tell me they have made a similar stroganoff with leftover meat loaf.
For the last of the prime rib, you can also make a delicious and scrumptious Prime Rib Soup. This is almost a one pot meal. Hearty with the barley in it. Great on a cold winter day. Just takes some time to make, about 3 hours and 15 minutes. But well worth it. Great herb combination in it. Here is the recipe – http://www.rockinrs.com/Prime-Rib-Soup.pdf
Prime Rib Soup
It takes a little time, but well worth it. The barley is really a great addition. That pretty much uses up the prime rib leftovers. But, there are 3 different meals from this cut of beef.
This is a big, hearty meal that will satisfy most big appetites. The speck gives a wonderful flavor the the spaetzle a great texture. We used a store bought spaetzle because I don’t have a spaetzle maker. We bought the spaetzle and the speck from a German shop here in Boise.
A great shortbread treat full of toasted pecan bits, almond extract and a little rum, that is not in the recipe. I don’t usually do this, but our neighbor has a cookie business and they are good. Her business name isCrumb by devlyn and can be reached at (910) 405-4718 or emailed at crumbbydevlyncookies@gmail.com (No. I made the shortbread cookies!)
Enjoy these dishes. They are all good and worth a try. gutes Essen in German or biadh math is Gaelic. That covers my heritage.
Eric, daughter Marnies friend, received a Trager Scout Smoker for Christmas. This venison roast was the Maiden Voyage for the smoker. It was awesome! And with the venison, we had Steamed Cabbage in Apple Juice with Apples. Crab Puffs and Steamed Brocolli. What a great New Years Day treat. Super job, Eric, thank-you.
I came across this awesome way to cook a roast of beef. In this case, it was a 12 pound, 7 rib Standing Rib Roast. It was delicious! Start out at 500 degrees F and then turn the heat off for 2 hours and do not open the oven! That’s right. Leave the oven closed! Do not peek! Here is the recipe – CS Prime Rib. You will need Herb de Provence for this recipe and here is our recipe. You can adjust it to please yourself. Herb de Provence. Enjoy!
It never ceases to amaze me as to in the times of hardship and strife how all kinds of people – from all background, ethnicities and religions – come together to lend a helping hand and expect absolutely nothing in return! Such a great feeling.
And during this time of self and required quarantine due to the CoronaVirus, the generosity of people all comes to the surface. There are several churches, and other religious faiths, and businesses that have come to the aid of those in need. In particular the homeless and those who just need a meal and a smiling face. So we bind together and offer a helping hand and something to eat. And by the way, all of the food products and individual help are all donated! To these businesses, people and churches, Thank-You! Our part was at the 1st Presbyterian Church, 9th and State Streets, Boise. (Left-Click any of these photographs to see them enlarged!)
This sign was on a post in downtown Boise
Look at these meals. Usually fro 45 to 60 served on the 4th Thursday of each month at the 1st Presbyterian Church at 9th and State Streets in Boise. (The room and all facilities included, including the full kitchen!)
Filling the Dinner Bags
But before we moved to Dinner Bags, we had Baked Potatoes and all the trimmings. Look –
Baked Potato and Acme Bakeshop Dinner Roll
Baked Potato and Chicken with Acme Bakeshop Rolls and Salad
But then, we had to switch to the Dinner Sacks because of The Virus –
Hot Dog Rolls from Acme Bakeshop
Hot Dogs! Good ones! Not microwaved! Cooked the Old Fashion Way!
Packing the dinner sacks
Dinner Sacks in March
Dinner Sacks in April
and this is why we do it. Thank-You Joe Levitch for this photograph! It says it all. “Man Alone”
Over the past several weeks, we have made some really good meals. Potato Latkes for one (
Boise Foodie Guild 