Gedempte Fleisch

Gedempte fleisch (sort of a pot roasted brisket) for dinner tonight. Ditalini with roasted asparagus as a side dish.

Dinner Party

We had friends over tonight, so we put together a dinner party. The appetizer was a bruschetta with Hilah Cooking tapenade, grilled halloumi, and basil.

Our next course was a chilled cucumber soup, using an Ina Garten ("The Barefoot Contessa") recipe.

Here's the tablescape for the soup course.

Our starch was a Hilah Cooking recipe of rice pilaf.

Our vegetable dish was roasted asparagus dressed with raspberry vinegar.

The entrée was roast salmon, using a Marc Bittman recipe.

Our friends brought wines to drink and an excellent fruit tart from Wegmans for dessert.

What an excellent evening!

Grilled Dinner

I made chicken tonight from a recipe in Marc Bittman's iPad app, "How to Cook Everything."

A pound and a half of boneless skinless chicken breasts were marinated in 2 tablespoons of good temari soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of roasted sesame oil, and 4 slivered garlic cloves. Then, I grilled them over a hot charcoal fire in a covered Weber kettle for 5 minutes on one side and 7 minutes on the other side. They turned out mahogany, juicy, and delicious.

The asparagus was my recipe. It was washed, trimmed, and tossed in a little olive oil, then sprinkled with a pinch of kosher salt. I put it into a perforated grill pan and dropped loosely tented foil on top. It was put on the grill, too, unattended until the chicken was done.

Finally, I opened a can of small potatoes, dried them off, and tossed them in a little olive oil and paprika. They were put into a heavy-duty aluminum foil packet, closed up in a "drugstore wrap." I put the packet right on the coals, and turned it when I turned the chicken.

All garnished with flat parsley from our herb garden.

A very successful meal that I'll make again.

Wife's Book Club

Once every year, my wife's book club invites their husbands to come to a meeting. Tonight is the 2011 meeting. We discuss a "guy book" and tonight's is "1776." 

One of the guys is making venison stew from a deer he shot. Another is making beef bourguignon. I roasted asparagus and sprinkled it with pomegranate molasses and chopped parsley. Impressed?