beef stew plus rugelach

He made a mouth-watering, rich beef stew for our dinner on Sunday -- the broth was red wine plus whatever juices came out of all the ingredients, plus some seasoning. Tender beef, carrots with a bit of bite in the very middle, softly boiled potatoes, lots of onions and garlic. A sprinkling of parsley plus a big spoonful of sour cream, the stuff of winter dreams:

Close enough to get a whiff of the depth of flavor.

And I made some raspberry rugelach -- the lazy girl's kind, the rolled-up and sliced version. Raspberry jam, finely chopped walnuts, and cinnamon on the inside. Rolled up, washed with egg white and rolled in cinnamon, sugar, and very finely chopped walnuts, gooey crunchy deliciousness:

The dough is so tender, with all that butter and cream cheese

Good raspberry jam spread nearly to the edge

Et voila! They freeze really well too, which is our effort
not to eat them all in one sitting.

Maybe I'll just go get one out of the freezer right now.....

Happy new year, y'all. Eat some blackeyed peas today for good luck.

Rosh Hashanah

It was my 3rd Rosh Hashanah, and our goal this year was to be a little traditional, here and there. Brisket. Rugelach. OK, that's the extent of our tradition, and even those two things were bent a little. He made the brisket with a really wonderful barbecue-based sauce chunky with onion. Some eggy noodles and a green salad, and we were happy.

M chopping onions (so cute in this photo,
I put it in the sidebar too!),

while he seared the gorgeous brisket.

Sauteeing the onions until they're buttery and have just the right bite.

Hours later, slice the brisket until

it's all done. Warm it in the sauce (how-to not shown here, sorry!).

The brisket, slathered in oniony rich sauce.

Egg noodles swirling around in extra sauce.

And I made the rugelach -- since I'd never done it before, and since I felt kind of lazy, how could I not fall for this "lazy rugelach" on alpineberry. The recipe is great, so make it yourself! Toasted walnuts and bits of semi-sweet chocolate, along with sugars and cinnamon in the middle. We ate ours too quickly to take a picture, so I'll put hers here:


I didn't know anything about making rugelach so I read a lot of recipes -- all have a dough of flour, cream cheese, and butter (different proportions, but those are the standard main ingredients). You can put anything you like in these little cookies. M and A have eaten rugelach before and said this version is so much better than the traditional shape; maybe it's the specifics of this recipe, or maybe it's something about this particular shape, but this is a new favorite. SO good.

Happy new year!

Catching up

I've gotten behind and have a few meals to post! It's hard, when he cooks so many good meals.

Korean hotpot -- these are extremely heavy stone pots with lids. You heat them up like mad, in a 500 degree oven, then layer in white rice, followed by whatever you wish. Cover with the very heavy lids and bake for a bit. He made some great pork in Korean barbecue sauce, and added bamboo and water chestnuts and celery, and there was ginger mixed in, too. Amazingly good. The rice gets crunchy around the bottom and sides.


For New Year's Eve, we had standing rib roast, baked potatoes, and fried okra. The roast was amazingly delicious. Vegetarians, look away:

And finally, my plate:

Finally, no self-respecting Texan would let New Year's Day pass without eating blackeyed peas for luck. More peas = more good luck. You can either have a big pot of peas, or you can make something quite luscious called Texas Caviar. Lime, cilantro, jalapeno, tomatoes, celery, onion, and blackeyed peas, served cold with tortilla chips. You really should click all these photos to see them enlarged and close-up. Your mouth will water.

Manna

Nearly every night, the dinner that M makes for us is incredible. At worst, it's just fantastic. But some nights, for whatever reason, our dinner tastes like the kind of food people in heaven must eat. Tonight was just one of those nights. The menu: filets mignon in a red wine reduction with onion and mushrooms; salad; and my favorite bread. OH MY GOD.

So, starting with the onions and mushroom, sauteed in butter.
The next step -- red wine.

The platter of steaks, cooked to perfection -- rare.
Topped with those deep red wine-y mushrooms.

Even the salad was absolutely perfect.

My plate, with a piece of my favorite bread and
that luscious steak

See -- so tender and soft, it really did
melt in my mouth

And so juicily red and rare.

You just can't imagine how delicious this meal was. Perfect, in every way; even he had to admit it.

Cabbage soup with pumpernickel

This wonderful wintry pot of cabbage soup, with brisket and soup bones in the stock (and for the sweet and sour, brown sugar and cider vinegar). Here's where we start:

And then it simmers all afternoon

And when we're good and hungry from all the delicious smell,
we serve it in our big white bowls

with a fresh loaf of pumpernickel, slices spread with butter

Peasant food deluxe -- I'll be a peasant any day, for food like this. And then carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. Oh my god, my pants are getting too tight.

Cheeseburgers

Sometimes there's just nothing like a cheeseburger, you know? Juicy, drippy, really luscious. He toasts the rye bread in butter, in the skillet -- I'd never had a burger on rye before, but now it's my favorite. Sharp cheddar melted on top, really really delicious:

Here's my burger, nothing but lots of mustard, some sliced onions, and lettuce:

And here's his burger, obviously he goes for the whole nine yards including
onion, pickle relish, ketchup, and a pepperoncini on top for fun.

steak and brussel sprouts

SUCH a delicious dinner tonight: shell steaks smothered in a velvety mustard cream sauce with onions and capers, accompanied by buttered brussel sprouts, with my favorite bread, just because I asked so nicely.

Start with a great steak

Saute onions in lots of butter

And saute the brussel sprouts in butter and garlic

Then make the sauce, with mustard and cream and onions
and madeira and capers

et voila! The finished plate

tostadas

Of course he didn't buy crispy tortilla shells, he fried his own. Thick and crunchy, better than anything you could ever buy.


And I made Scharffenberger brownies for dessert, served with vanilla bean ice cream:


I'm way behind -- I've missed a couple of dinners, salmon and pork loin....

Dinner at home, finally

We've been out of town and haven't eaten at home for awhile. Tonight's dinner tasted so wonderful, partly because it's good to be eating his cooking again, and partly because it was just so delicious:

grilled hanger steaks, crunchy bread

salad with homemade (and very chunky) blue cheese dressing

skirt steak and salad: vegetarians, look away

There are some meals we tend to have each week because we really enjoy them. Skirt steak, salad, and crusty bread with garlic olive oil is a frequent repeater dinner because I just really love it. Plus, it's quick and easy.