I haven't really posted about it, but I have morphed from a beer kinda guy to a wine kinda guy. Don't get my wrong, a good whitbier or stout will still have me belly up to the bar, but for drinking around the fire or on the porch, wine is where it's at for me.
It is with great sadness that I find that my last bottle of Dornfelder rotwein is in my cellar. We bought a case of this from our favorite winery, Schmitt und Sonne near Bernkastel in the Mosel valley. Luckily, the Class Six has some Dornfelder that I am itching to try.
I plan on trying more American wines to see what I like from the homeland.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Some recipes from last week
I realized I hadn't posted in a while. I also figured that I need to start taking pictures of the stuff I cook. I haven't done that yet, but I will soon.
For the 4th, Sara invited Shawn and Jeannette over and invited Otto over. A crowded house for us. Traditionally, I suppose one should make burgers and dogs, but I really didn't feel like making that so I made marinated some pork blade steaks instead. It's a slightly fatty cut, but it grills up really nice. I also made some potato salad, corn on the cob and zaziki.
Potato salad
8 peeled, chunked and boiled potatoes
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 cup diced red onion
1/2 jar real mayonnaise (not miracle whip-blech)
dash vinegar
celery salt and pepper to taste
cooked bacon to crumble on top
Place all your taters, eggs and onion in a big bowl. Shake on some vinegar, celery salt and pepper. Mix everything around, making sure the spices are spread out. Start spooning out the mayo and mixing it in. Taste, add more spices if you want. Refrigerate. Crumble the bacon on top just prior to serving, otherwise it gets mushy.
Zaziki (Greek garlic, cucumber yogurt dip/spread)
8 oz plain yogurt or lite sour cream
1/2 large English cucumber
minced garlic to taste
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp white/rice/cider vinegar
Peel and chop your cucumber and place it in a bowl. Add in as much minced garlic as you like. Add in the olive oil and vinegar, mix. Mix in the yogurt or sour cream. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, overnight is better. Use it on burgers, fajitas, steak sandwiches, salads, as a dip.
German Style Marinated Pork Blade Steaks (Schwenkbraten)
2 lbs of pork blade steaks
1 red onion
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
Sea salt
Thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper and curry to taste
Slice the onions into strips and sprinkle with sea salt. Place the meat into a bowl and cover with the onions. Crush the onions into the meat, so the onion juice gets into the meat. Shake on your seasonings, except for the paprika. Stir the paprika into the olive oil, then pour the olive oil over the meat and onions. Cover the bowl tightly, or transfer everything to a gallon Ziploc bag. Let marinate over night. Bring to room temperature before grilling over an open flame. Serve on kaiser rolls, hard rolls, brotchen or baguettes. Top with German mustard, zaziki, ketchup, or curry sauce. Remoulade is good too.
For the 4th, Sara invited Shawn and Jeannette over and invited Otto over. A crowded house for us. Traditionally, I suppose one should make burgers and dogs, but I really didn't feel like making that so I made marinated some pork blade steaks instead. It's a slightly fatty cut, but it grills up really nice. I also made some potato salad, corn on the cob and zaziki.
Potato salad
8 peeled, chunked and boiled potatoes
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 cup diced red onion
1/2 jar real mayonnaise (not miracle whip-blech)
dash vinegar
celery salt and pepper to taste
cooked bacon to crumble on top
Place all your taters, eggs and onion in a big bowl. Shake on some vinegar, celery salt and pepper. Mix everything around, making sure the spices are spread out. Start spooning out the mayo and mixing it in. Taste, add more spices if you want. Refrigerate. Crumble the bacon on top just prior to serving, otherwise it gets mushy.
Zaziki (Greek garlic, cucumber yogurt dip/spread)
8 oz plain yogurt or lite sour cream
1/2 large English cucumber
minced garlic to taste
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp white/rice/cider vinegar
Peel and chop your cucumber and place it in a bowl. Add in as much minced garlic as you like. Add in the olive oil and vinegar, mix. Mix in the yogurt or sour cream. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, overnight is better. Use it on burgers, fajitas, steak sandwiches, salads, as a dip.
German Style Marinated Pork Blade Steaks (Schwenkbraten)
2 lbs of pork blade steaks
1 red onion
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
Sea salt
Thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper and curry to taste
Slice the onions into strips and sprinkle with sea salt. Place the meat into a bowl and cover with the onions. Crush the onions into the meat, so the onion juice gets into the meat. Shake on your seasonings, except for the paprika. Stir the paprika into the olive oil, then pour the olive oil over the meat and onions. Cover the bowl tightly, or transfer everything to a gallon Ziploc bag. Let marinate over night. Bring to room temperature before grilling over an open flame. Serve on kaiser rolls, hard rolls, brotchen or baguettes. Top with German mustard, zaziki, ketchup, or curry sauce. Remoulade is good too.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Braised Lamb Shanks in Wine Sauce
Sara really likes lamb, especially when braised on cooked in the crockpot. I picked up some lamb shanks from the commissary when they were on sale and have kept them in the deep freezer until now. I adapted this recipe from one I googled.
Braised Lamb Shanks
4 lamb shanks
8 cloves garlic, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 can beef stock
1 cup red wine
season salt
pepper
olive oil
Cut slits into the lamb shanks and insert garlic slices into the slits. Salt and pepper the shanks to taste and brown them in a frying pan with the olive oil. Transfer the shanks to your crockpot. Pour a little beef stock into the pan and loosen up the crunchy brown stuff, pour that into the crockpot. Surround the shanks with chopped onion and mushroom slices. Pour the remaining beef stock into the crockpot. Pour the wine over the shanks and into the pot. Use a wine you would drink, not cooking wine (cooking wine is the devil). Cook on low for about 7 hours or until the meat is fork tender.
You can serve this over noodles with a salad or with steak fries and sauteed zuccinni. Cucumber and tomato salad is also a nice accompanyment.
Cucumber and tomato salad
1 peeled and sliced cucumber
1 cup sliced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup (or so) Rice vinegar
2 tbs Equal
garlic salt to taste
Mix everything up in a bowl, chill in fridge for at least 45 minutes.
Even Rowen like this!
I served Dornfelder red wine with the meal. (Not for Rowen, she's 3 1/2) I really like Dornfelder, it's a sweet. low tannin red.
Braised Lamb Shanks
4 lamb shanks
8 cloves garlic, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 can beef stock
1 cup red wine
season salt
pepper
olive oil
Cut slits into the lamb shanks and insert garlic slices into the slits. Salt and pepper the shanks to taste and brown them in a frying pan with the olive oil. Transfer the shanks to your crockpot. Pour a little beef stock into the pan and loosen up the crunchy brown stuff, pour that into the crockpot. Surround the shanks with chopped onion and mushroom slices. Pour the remaining beef stock into the crockpot. Pour the wine over the shanks and into the pot. Use a wine you would drink, not cooking wine (cooking wine is the devil). Cook on low for about 7 hours or until the meat is fork tender.
You can serve this over noodles with a salad or with steak fries and sauteed zuccinni. Cucumber and tomato salad is also a nice accompanyment.
Cucumber and tomato salad
1 peeled and sliced cucumber
1 cup sliced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup (or so) Rice vinegar
2 tbs Equal
garlic salt to taste
Mix everything up in a bowl, chill in fridge for at least 45 minutes.
Even Rowen like this!
I served Dornfelder red wine with the meal. (Not for Rowen, she's 3 1/2) I really like Dornfelder, it's a sweet. low tannin red.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Messy Giussepes
My daughter, Rowen, is not fond of spicy food, even mildly spicy stuff like sloppy joes. I can up with the recipe by replacing the normal barbecue spices in sloppy joes with milder ones.
Messy Giuseppe's
1 lb ground lean ground beef (turkey or chicken is fine too)
1 shallot, finely diced
2 tbl Saigon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
4 tbl brown sugar
4 tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 tbl cider vinegar
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
1 cup ketchup or honey barbecue sauce
1 cup water or apple juice
Handful of raisins or dried currants
salt to taste
Mix the ground meat, raisins and spices in a bowl. Mix your wet ingredients in a large measuring cup. Saute the diced shallot in a skillet with some butter until soft, add in your meat. Cook until brown. Drain off excess fat, if you want. Carefully pour in your wet ingredients. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve on open faced on an English muffin, topped with Munster or mozzarella cheese.
Messy Giuseppe's
1 lb ground lean ground beef (turkey or chicken is fine too)
1 shallot, finely diced
2 tbl Saigon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
4 tbl brown sugar
4 tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 tbl cider vinegar
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
1 cup ketchup or honey barbecue sauce
1 cup water or apple juice
Handful of raisins or dried currants
salt to taste
Mix the ground meat, raisins and spices in a bowl. Mix your wet ingredients in a large measuring cup. Saute the diced shallot in a skillet with some butter until soft, add in your meat. Cook until brown. Drain off excess fat, if you want. Carefully pour in your wet ingredients. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve on open faced on an English muffin, topped with Munster or mozzarella cheese.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A Soggy, Sloggy Weekend
About 2 months ago Sara planned a trip to the Scarborough Renaissance Faire in Waxahatchie. According to the website, it's one of the biggest in the Southwest. She made hotel reservations, I got the tickets from the base travel agencey. We decide not to go in garb, mainly because I was worried about the heat, this is Texas after all.
Worried about the heat? Silly man, you should have worried about the rain! It rained and rained, turning the faire into a big soggy mess. Mud on everything. Muddy fairies, muddy queens, muddy musketeers and highlanders. Mud may be "period"but man is it a buzzkill. I still had a good time. The site is cool as hell, lots of little fanciful renaissance-ish stores and buildings. Funny acts and great music. Awesome food, too. I had some of the best tiramisu there. There is a bakery just as you get thru the main gates that is hella good as well.
If money were no object, I could have easily dropped in excess of 1500 bucks on clothes and weapons.
Rowen had a good time, despite the rain and being a little sick. There was a petting zoo, elephant and camel rides. Princesses, fairies, battling girls (what she calls women in armour), jousting juggling. Fun stuff for the monkey.
Then, even with the rain, belly dancers, bodices, corsets and thigh high boots. What more can a geek boy want?
Worried about the heat? Silly man, you should have worried about the rain! It rained and rained, turning the faire into a big soggy mess. Mud on everything. Muddy fairies, muddy queens, muddy musketeers and highlanders. Mud may be "period"but man is it a buzzkill. I still had a good time. The site is cool as hell, lots of little fanciful renaissance-ish stores and buildings. Funny acts and great music. Awesome food, too. I had some of the best tiramisu there. There is a bakery just as you get thru the main gates that is hella good as well.
If money were no object, I could have easily dropped in excess of 1500 bucks on clothes and weapons.
Rowen had a good time, despite the rain and being a little sick. There was a petting zoo, elephant and camel rides. Princesses, fairies, battling girls (what she calls women in armour), jousting juggling. Fun stuff for the monkey.
Then, even with the rain, belly dancers, bodices, corsets and thigh high boots. What more can a geek boy want?
Monday, May 21, 2007
Color me embarassed
This weekend I went to a SCA event hosted by my local shire. I had a great time. I got my butt whupped in the tournament, but I had some great pick up fights afterwards. I was also awarded "best death" by the ladies of the Amazon household. Even in death can a true warrior be victorious ;-) Some really good instruction on glaive and great sword by people who had a great grasp on the dynamics of the weapon form.
Here I had been ranting about the shire, like i said, color me embarrassed. Abilene still sucks, though.
No recipes this weekend, since i was camping out.
Here I had been ranting about the shire, like i said, color me embarrassed. Abilene still sucks, though.
No recipes this weekend, since i was camping out.
Monday, May 14, 2007
I HATE MY HELMET
There is just no way around it, I hate my bascinet. I cannot get the dang thing to fit right, even after a year. My old beat up homemade helmet fits sooooo much better. Patrick is just SOL if he shows up to the event this weekend, I'm wearing old faithful for the tournement.
When Otto gets back from Califronia, I need to see if his simple round top helm fits my noggin. If so, I'll be hitting up Ashkraft baker for one. Sara is so going to make fun of me. 3 helms in 3 years.
When Otto gets back from Califronia, I need to see if his simple round top helm fits my noggin. If so, I'll be hitting up Ashkraft baker for one. Sara is so going to make fun of me. 3 helms in 3 years.
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