Some Meals We Have Enjoyed

07 Friday Jan 2022

Posted by Bob and Robin in Captain's Shack, Classic Cuisines, Classic Herb Blends, Cooking Styles, Dessert, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Dinner With Family, Egg Noodles, Ethnic Foods, Food - Make Your Own Meals, Food Photos, German Recipes, Herbs, Herbs and Spices, Housemade Soup, Idaho Beef, Main Dish, Morels, Mushrooms, Pasta, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipe - Soup, Recipe By: Captain's Shack, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes, Recipes - Bavarian, Recipes - Dessert, Recipes - Dinner, Recipes - Sauces, Sauces, Spices, What's For Dinner?

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beef, prime rib, soup

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.

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

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.

The last dish is a very German entrée. It is a Spinach Spaetzle with Speck, a German bacon. You can find the recipe here – http://www.rockinrs.com/Spinach-Spaetzle.pdf. Enjoy!

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.

But wait! That’s not all! What about dessert? How about some Pecan Shortbread Cookies? http://www.rockinrs.com/CS-Pecan-Shortbread-Cookies.pdf

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 is Crumb 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.

Awesome Mother’s Day Weekend in the Kitchen

08 Sunday May 2016

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bacon, Baking, Blue Crab, Boise Farmers Market, Boise Food Adventures, Breakfast At The Captains Shack, Breakfast With Robin, Buy Idaho, Captain's Shack, Cast Iron, Chicken, Comfort Food, Cooking Styles, Crab Cakes, Creamed Spinach, Dessert, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Dinner For Robin, Dinner With Family, Food Photos, French Foods, Green Salad, Herbs and Spices, Housemade Sauces, Housemade Tartar Sauce, Idaho Eggs, Idaho Greens, Idaho Vegetables, Idaho Wine, Indian Creek Winery, Local Markets, Morels, Mother's Day, Mushrooms, Party Time, Peaceful Belly Farms, Photos By: Bob Young, Pinot Noir, Popovers, Recipe: Bob and Robin Young, Recipes - Breakfast, Recipes - Dinner, Recipes - French, Recipes - Seafood, Salad, Special Events, Spring Vegies, What's For Dinner?

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coq au vin, crab cakes, Pinot Noir, popover

Just a super fun and good weekend celebrating Mother’s Day with Robin. Exciting coming up with meals that were different and surprisingly good. Fun to make. Easy to make, although some were rather involved. Great to have Marnie over for Sunday dinner. Even Ray, her Golden Lab, had a good time with Buddy.
Some of the photos that follow of the dishes I prepared, have the recipe hotlinked in the article. Please feel free to use the recipe if you would like. The Coq au Vin – Chicken in Wine – is not difficult to do, but it does take some time. The Popovers are quick and easy. The Crab Cakes are different. We had these for both dinner a breakfast! the remoulade is a pretty basic sauce and can vary widely. “… Rémoulade (English pronunciation: /reɪməˈlɑːd/; French: [ʁemulad]) is a condiment invented in France that is usually aioli- or mayonnaise-based. Although similar to tartar sauce, it is often more yellowish (or reddish in Louisiana), sometimes flavored with curry, and sometimes contains chopped pickles or piccalilli. It can also contain horseradish, paprika, anchovies, capers and a host of other items. While its original purpose was possibly for serving with meats, it is now more often used as an accompaniment to seafood dishes, especially pan-fried breaded fish fillets (primarily sole and plaice) and seafood cakes (such as crab or salmon cakes).” Ours is mayo, chilli sauce, ketchup and green tomato relish. And a touch of horseradish.

Crab Cakes on Biscuits with Strawberry Fan and Rumalade

Crab Cakes on Biscuits
with
Strawberry Fan and Remoulade

Here is the recipe for the Old Bay Crab Cakes. They are differently good.

Strawberry Pie

After the Crab Cakes, we just had to have this Strawberry Pie Recipe. I’m not a baker, but this is wonderful!

Crab Cakes and Eggs

This was an awesome breakfast! Nothing better than seafood for breakfast.

Popovers

Fresh from the oven. Great with butter and jam, too!

Popovers
with
Creamed Spinach Filling

Another suprisingly easy recipe. Popover with Creamed Spinach Recipe

Coq au Vin – Chicken in Wine – getting happy!

Coq au Vin Popover with Creamed Spinach Fresh Green Salad

Coq au Vin
Popover with Creamed Spinach Filling
Fresh Green Salad

One awesome and fun to make dinner. Here is the recipe for Coq au Vin, Chicken in Wine. Enjoy this one. It is a superb French classic!

Add to this dinner a very good

2008 Indian Creek Pinot Noir

and we had a fantastic experience. Plus the Coq au Vin had some in it too!

Another Good Römertopf Chicken

22 Friday May 2015

Posted by Bob and Robin in Alley Gardens, Arugula, Boise Farmers Market, Capers, Captain's Shack, Carrots, Chicken, Classic Cuisines, Dill, Dinner At The Captains Shack, Dinner For Robin, Garlic, Green Salad, Healthy Eating, Heirloom Carrots, Herbs, Herbs and Spices, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Locavore, Morels, Onion, Party Time, Peaceful Belly Farms, Photos By: Bob Young, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris, Potatoes, Römertopf, Römertopf Cooking, Recipe by: Robin and Bob Young, Recipes, Rice Family Farms, Roasted Vegetables, Salad, Salt, Things To Do, Traditional Food, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?

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Römertopf, Römertopf cooking

Yes indeed, another good Römertopf Roasted Chicken. Love using this style of cooking – Römertopf or Tagine; slow, steamed in it’s own liquid. I like to place chopped carrots, onion and potato on the bottom of the Römertopf to keep the chicken off of the bottom of the cooking pot and keep it from burning. Make a gravy from the liquid and use the roasted vegetables as a side. I cooked this one covered at 375 degrees F for about 1 1/2 hours, plus 1/2 hour uncovered at 400 degrees F.
And we do like to keep the ingredients as local as possible: Potatoes from Rupert, Onions from Nyssa, Carrots from Boise, Herbs from our herb garden. Look at what we did and enjoy. We did! Serve with a good Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio. Left Click the photos to see them enlarged.

One of our herb gardens. All four are about this size. The front space between the sidewalk and the street is chock full of herbs – No Grass or otherwise known as a No Mow Lawn.

The 6# chicken is resting after cooking. Stuffed with garlic - a whole bulb cut in half - onion quartered, thyme, rosemary, sage, sea salt and Tellicherry pepper.

The 6# Römertopf Chicken is resting after cooking. Stuffed with garlic – a whole bulb cut in half – onion quartered, thyme, rosemary, sage, Morel mushrooms, sea salt and Tellicherry pepper. The skin is rubbed with unsalted butter, sea salt and Tellicherry pepper. Thyme and sage leaves are scattered on the skin.

Römertopf Chicken Roasted Potatoes, Onion and Carrot Drippings Gravy Green Arugula and Black Leaf Lettuce with capers, radish sticks Olive Oil, Lime Zest and Juice and Honey Dressing

Romertopf Chicken
Roasted Potatoes, Onion and Carrot
Drippings Gravy
Green Arugula and Red Leaf Lettuce Salad
with
capers and radish sticks
Olive Oil, Lime Zest, Lime Juice and Honey Dressing

Breakfast – Fresh Morel Mushroom Omelet

17 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Bob and Robin in Acme Bake Shop, Acme Bake Shop Sourdough, Bacon, Blueberries, Boise Farmers Market, Breakfast, Breakfast At The Captains Shack, Breakfast With Robin, Captain's Shack, Eggs, Fruit, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Locavore, Meadowlark Farms, Morels, Omelet, Photos By: Bob Young, Sourdough Bread, Strawberries, Whats For Breakfast?

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garlic, garlic infused olive oil, morel mushrooms, morel omelet, omelet, wild mushrooms

Yup! ‘Tis the season and it looks like it is going to be a good one! East facing slope in a burn out area. These wild mushrooms are so delicious. Woody and earthy. Great just sauteed in garlic, in salads, in stuffing or sauteed in butter and garlic infused olive oil and made into an omelet. Pictured here are some fresh picked morels – from the Boise Farmers Market yesterday – getting ready to be “omeletized”. The eggs are from Meadowlark Farms in Nampa and the toast is from Acme Bake Shop and their sourdough. Bacon is from Twin Falls, Idaho. Cheers!

Fresh Morel Mushroom Omelet
Strawberry and Blueberry Fruit Mix
Toasted Acme Bake Shop Sourdough
Twin Falls Bacon

Australian Wines At “The Buzz”

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Acme Bakery, Captain's Shack, Dinner With Friends, Morels, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Special Dinners, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners

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cucumber soup, layer cake shiraz, morel mushrooms, pillar box, vanilla slice

Another great wine dinner at the Buzz in Boise on June 11. Cristi and Paul do such a great job in paring the wines and the food. And Cristi tries really hard to prepare appropriate foods for the dinner theme. Great job!! This month the wines were from Australia and there were some really good ones and food of a different nature. Cristi will probably post some of the recipes on the Buzz blog. Please write down and reserve Saturday, June 15, 6:00pm – 8:00pm for the Buzz. It’s their Concert Jam Night which is awesome. If you play an instrument, bring it and join in with these super artists! They just love it when you join in. Enjoy these photos of the night. Cheers!

Morel Mushrooms in Dry Sherry and Leek Fondue
with
Acme Bakery Ciabatta

Robin and I always enjoy making these. This was a surprise appetizer that we took to the dinner. (Morel Recipe Here).

Quiche with Marmite Dgwood Dogs Zuchinni Bites 2008 Box Head White 12.5% alc. not a bad wine and went fairly well with this appetizer. A little light. [17] $15.00

Quiche with Marmite
Dogwood Dogs
Zuchinni Bites
2008 Box Head White
12.5% alc. not a bad wine and went fairly well with this appetizer. A little light. [17] $15.00

Chilled Cucumber Soup 2011 Morse Code Chardonnay 12.0% alc. really a super wine with this soup. great body, taste and finish. [19] $13.00

Chilled Cucumber Soup
(I liked this soup!)
2011 Morse Code Chardonnay
12.0% alc. really a super wine with this soup. great body, taste and finish. [19] $13.00

Roasted Beet and Mango Salad
2010 Pillar Box Red
14.5% alc. great taste and finish. a little light on the nose. [18] $15.00

Meat Pies with Ginger Beans
2011 Mollydooker Cabernet Sauvignon
15.0% alc. a super good wine. great body, taste and finish. light on the aroma. [19] $27.00

Pavlola and Vanilla Slice 2011 Layer Cake Shiraz 14.5% alc. a little heavy for this dessert, but a very good wine, nonetheless. [18] $18.00

Pavlova and Vanilla Slice
2011 Layer Cake Shiraz
14.5% alc. a little heavy for this dessert, but a very good wine, nonetheless. [18] $18.00

And it really was a good dinner. If you missed it, maybe we will see you next month or at the Concert Jam on June 15 or the Buzz Quarterly Dinner on Sunday June 23 (Reservations required for this dinner. See the sidebar.) Cheers!!!

Not Your Standard Memorial Day Dinner

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Acme Bakery, Bread, Captain's Shack, Food, Lamb, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Main Dish, Morels, Mushrooms, Party Time, Petit Verdot, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipes, Salads, Special Dinners, Spinach, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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hard cooked eggs, morel mushrooms, Potato Salad, white wine vinegar, yukon gold potatoes

Oh my. Who could ask for more? So much fun to put together and prepare. Enjoy! We did. Here is the recipe for the Potato Salad. Left-Click these photos to see enlarged and please VOTE above.

Spring Bounty Potato Salad

Source: Sunset Magazine, May 2013

Ingredients:
2 pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup shelled fresh peas
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 cup mayonnaise $
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 spring onions* or green onions, thinly sliced
5 hard-cooked large eggs*, peeled and roughly chopped
About 3 tbsp. chopped tarragon

Preparation:
1. Bring 1 in. water to a boil in a large saucepan. Set potatoes in a steamer basket and steam in pan, covered, until tender, about 20 minutes. Cool in ice water, then pat dry. Cut potatoes into chunks and put in a large bowl.
2. Meanwhile, bring some water to a boil in a saucepan. Add peas; cook until tender, 3 minutes. Drain and transfer to ice water, then drain again.
3. Whisk together vinegar, mayonnaise, and salt in a small bowl to combine. Add onions, peas, and half the dressing to potatoes and gently stir to coat. Add eggs and 3 tbsp. tarragon and gently stir to coat.
4. Spread remaining dressing on bottom of a wide bowl, add salad, and sprinkle with more tarragon if you like.

Note: Look for spring onions (regular onions picked young) at farmers’ markets in spring and at Latino markets year-round. They have a fatter bulb than green onions–which have less crunch but make a good substitute. For perfect hard-cooked eggs, cover them in cold water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand 12 minutes. Plunge cooked eggs into ice water, crack all over, and let sit in the water for a few minutes before peeling.

Morel Mushrooms in Dry Sherry and Leek Fondue For Dinner Tonight!

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Captain's Shack, Classic Sauces, Food, Food Prep, Local Farmers Markets, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Main Dish, Morels, Mushrooms, Photos By: Bob Young, Recipes, Special Dinners, What's For Dinner?

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dinner, food, morel mushrooms, tbs dijon mustard

Wow! Poached Morel Mushrooms. Awesome dinner and then add some of the super Acme Bakery Baguette and some sherry, and ………………………………..
Here is the recipe. Enjoy! The mushrooms were fresh from the Boise Farmers Market. Left-Click the photo, grab a fork and enjoy.

Morel Mushrooms in Dry Sherry and Leek Fondue

Adapted from Chef Jon Mortimer, Boise, Idaho

Ingredients:
3 c Morel Mushrooms
1 c dry Sherry (1/2 Amontillado and 1/2 Dry Fino)
1 c Heavy Cream
3 T Dijon mustard
½ c sliced Leek (white part only, rinsed well)
1 T Canola Oil
½ t ground Black Pepper
Kosher salt to taste

Directions:
Carefully pick through the mushrooms, inspect them, brush any sand or grit off with a soft brush, remove any long stems with a pairing knife. In a thick bottomed non-reactive saucepan heat the oil and blanch the leeks, stirring frequently and cooking till soft (about 2 minutes).

Strain off any excess oil and return the leeks to the pan and the pan back to the heat. Add the sherry and allow to come to a boil. Reduce the heat and whisk in the cream and Dijon mustard.

Allow to reduce by ½ at a simmer. Add the morels and poach them in the liquid for 2 minutes or just until they begin to soften. Spoon the mushrooms and the sauce into bowls. Serve with crusty bread, like Acme Bakery Baguette (pictured below), Boise, Idaho.