Black Friday in a Cup: Remembering Pomegranate Shallot Vinaigrette with Mirin (and Forgetting the Fails!)
November 27th, 2009 § 2 Comments
Ah, to think that right this moment enterprising shoppers are storming the stores – or have been since some ungodly hour, with the Thanksgiving feast not yet digested – while I sit ensconced at the computer drinking my Black Friday in a coffee cup. Priorities, I tell you!
It was a great Thanksgiving. The best one I can remember in a long, long time. The food wasn’t even the best it’s ever been. My cousin Stacie hit the ball out of the park, but Mom and I? We turned out some big fat goose eggs this time around the ole Thanksgiving block. But the company was in great spirits. We drank, we ate, we talked… drank some more… ate some dessert… Some went to Blockbuster just for the fun ritual of it (even though these days, movies come on-demand on the couch.)
The movie-renters put on their jammies to watch Angels & Demons. The talkers were in the dining room, deep in conversation mode, floating in and out of the screening room. As the fickle trickled out, so did the crashers slowly make their way in front of the wide screen, piling on couches, watching the mystery unfold, bellies as full as the nest.
Cleaning Paradise Farm's certified organic oyster mushrooms with a damp paper towel
Red onions and shallots... sauteed with some olive oil, salt and pepper...
And some diced shallots for the winning vinaigrette!
I prefer these jewels to the real thing.
I like to build my vinaigrettes in plastic containers for easy shaking. This one was roughly 3 tablespoons minced shallots, 1/2 pomegranate seeded (some seeds smashed once in the container,) juice of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons mirin, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup canola, salt and pepper to taste.
The vinaigrette (even better the morning after.)
Boiled old fingerlings would unfortunately get too much old saffron and be mixed with the beautiful, fresh mushrooms. Fail!
Humbolt Fog and Quince. Win win.
At least the bed of arugula, romaine, blanched green beans, and pomegranate vinaigrette was killer.
Cousin Stacie's roasted sprouts. Win, of course.
Stacie also cooked the bird, and did so magnificently.
Acorn stuffed with butternut from Food & Wine magazine. Eh.
Next year we're making desserts. This apricot tart was from Le Royal in South Miami. Pretty good. But not homemade good.
Good deal. $8 at Wolfe's Wines.
sss
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Today I have so much to be thankful for… almost as much as Courage, the pardoned turkey! So please cook and eat well, everyone, and check back here tomorrow for our carnage in all its savory and sweet glory!
Courage looks a bit on edge, no? Saul Loeb/Getty
Gone Ribbin’ in Homestead: Photos from Sunday’s Pig Out with Fellow Food Blogger Friends at Ribfest
November 12th, 2009 § 3 Comments
This past Sunday, I joined foodie friends Steve, Paula, and David on a tiny trek to Homestead for a taste of America — and what could be more U, S of A than barbecued pig, funnel cake and roasted corn vendors, and cowboy and tchotchke stalls of all kinds?
Now mind you, I know it sounds like fun and games, but the annual event brings serious competition between the “Ribbers,” with a horde of trophies at stake to add to their overflowing and quite colorful collections. Also, it’s even a more imposing challenge for attendees, who must attempt – as any respectable rib eater would – to sample as much diverse ‘cue as possible in mere hours. All I will say is thank god my seasoned company (I was the only newbie to Ribfest) had a plan of attack! Divide and conquer (always a good idea in most situations) by splitting up and bringing back our spoils to a picnic table to share and compare. Brilliant.
Skin & Bones flying high! My fave!
Most of the meat players brought their A game; everything we sampled had a unique, appetizing taste, with only a few faltering because of dryness, which was easily remedied with plastic cups of frothy Fosters (Miller Lite was the event sponsor.)
Pig In Pig Out, Aussome Aussie, Smoke & Spice, Porky N Beans, Blazin Broncos, Big Boned BBQ, Willingham’s World Champion BBQ, Skin & Bones, Huckleberry Hillbilly, Johnson’s BBQ, Fat Fred’s, and Boss Hog comprised the line up. My favorite was Skin & Bones, followed by a close second showing by Porky N Beans. Both had great meat to bone ratio and were cut-with-a-fork tender.
The sauce on the proverbial rib was the Wings Over Homestead Airshow, the side show of this meat circus which made the $15 entrance fee and a la carte pricing inside very much worth the traffic and parking fiasco. And what would an event like Ribfest be without that?
Here’s the afternoon in pictures. I will definitely be back next year — and bringing my brother the carnivore!
Thanks, Youth Fair, for the box office!
Pig In Pig Out's "Ribsicles" won best pork at Ribfest 2008.
Skin & Bones' sauces were great, especially the yellow and the sweet hot, but its ribs' flavor (from a dry rub) was best savored sans sauce!
The Skin & Bones menu board. I went with the half rack and a Tennesee Taco (ended up being unnecessary, but curiousity killed the cat!)
Skin & Bones. Nuff Said.
Paula scored with her pick, Porky N Beans.
Porky N Beans. Killer at all angles.
Aussome Aussie (above) was my third favorite tied with Blazin Broncos.
It was a nice day -- very dry and windy, sometimes creating food, napkin, and beer control complications!
Case and point.
Blazin Broncos.
Nicely done by Chuck Wicks. Cute, too!
And the entertainment doesn't end... Classic cars were on display, including this slick Pontiac Bonneville!
Would rather not have seen this littering of entry bracelet sticker covers upon exiting. Hopefully the Parks people will crack down on even organizers for next year.
