Venison Guinness Stew

Yay for trying out venison. This version is adapted from someone else's recipe and consists of venison flank steak, onions, carrots, celery, cranberry preserves, bay leaves, crushed juniper berries, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper, and Guinness (of course).

The venison's texture was totally like beef, and it had an initial taste like beef, but again, the gaminess came out towards the end, in the aftertaste. Theoretically, the juniper berries should have taken that gamey taste out of both this and the rabbit, and perhaps they did work in that the meat might have been even stronger had I not used the berries. But no matter, it's passable... I cut the venison into small pieces to save for later.

I probably will not make this or the rabbit again (well for one, they weren't super cheap, and secondly, they weren't earth-shattering as far as things to rave about). I've never had venison other than this cooking attempt, although I have had rabbit before (at the self-described "Provençal and Tuscan cuisine with California style" restaurant called Zazou). The rabbit was okay although I remember it having more small bones than I cared for.

Of Herbs And Stewed Rabbit

Yes, images of Ithilien passed before me as I thought of the rabbit stew that Sam had made. I'm sure that stew tasted much better than mine, as Sam seemed more a cook than I (he hauled all his pots and pans around Middle-Earth as much as he could before being forced to abandon them somewhere, probably somewhere inside or near Mordor).

Anyway, I just had to get this rabbit or else risk the opposite of buyer's remorse. Sadly, it was pretty traumatizing to handle the meat. The main source of unease came from the fact that the rabbit was essentially still whole, i.e. I had to joint the thing (makes me wonder why I don't shudder at whole duck or whole chicken...).

Using as reference a combination of Darina Allen's West Cork Rabbit Casserole, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Rabbit Stew, and Theodora Fitzgibbon's Irish Rabbit Stew, I made this stew of primarily Guinness, onion, carrots, mushrooms, apples, shallots, crushed juniper berries, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper. It looked like a soup (I didn't add any thickening agents) and smelled like your usual meat stew. The rabbit itself looked like chicken, and the initial taste was like chicken, but I personally thought the gaminess came out towards the end, in the aftertaste. Surprisingly, Kevin was totally fine with the rabbit! He ate a good percentage of it, and I deboned the rest (which was annoying given all the small bones) to freeze and save for another day...

Sweet Potato Colcannon

This dish is a twist on the traditional Irish recipe, substituting Japanese sweet potatoes for the regular tubers. I referenced the recipe from Ballymaloe Cookery School (courtesy of Darina Allen). Except for the sweet potatoes, the rest of the ingredients are faithful to the original... kale, milk, green onions, butter, and salt & pepper. I was semi-confused as to the difference between champ and colcannon, but it turns out that colcannon is essentialy champ plus kale/cabbage. Given that tidbit, why make champ if you can get it with kale and call it colcannon? Anyhow, this was okay... I liked the concept more than the actual dish. Here is something I learned from Wikipedia: Colcannon in Irish is cál ceannann, meaning "white-headed cabbage". Yay...

Cupcake Vineyards

Lovely bubbly chardonnay... I'm a huge fan of whites as long as they are not too dry. I purchased this bottle of Cupcake Vineyards because I actually got them confused with Cakebread Cellars, which I wanted because it sounded cool.

Cakebread was fine... I actually went to Napa and did a wine tasting at their vineyard. It wasn't anything I needed to write home about. Cupcake Vineyards, on the other hand, deserves more accolade. I am not a wine connoisseur by any means, and that may be the very reason I like this bubbly "Blanc de Blancs" from France which is described as "a creamy sparkling wine... aromas of apples, pears and almonds with brioche notes on the palate. It's reminiscent of a toasted almond caramel cupcake." Their Pinot Noir rosé (not pictured) is even better... the label describes that one as filled with strawberries with rose petals, reminiscent of a strawberry cream-filled cupcake.

I love how these wines have this dreamy appeal to them... Truly it is as if savoring a delicate, dainty sweet cupcake without really being that sweet-- kind of like a refreshingly light dessert wine, for those who don't care for dry wines and generally prefer sweet whites and rosés without the excessive cloying sweetness that some dessert wines have. I would definitely recommend Cupcake Vineyards. At around $7-$13 per bottle, this is a fairly affordable wine that is delicious on the nose and palate. In fact, if I actually had a café, this would make it on my wine list.

Since we are on the topic of wines, here are some other wines I've tried that I would vouch for that would also appear on CaféConnie's wine list:

Reggiano Lambrusco Rosso Dolce - Soft Red Wine (Italy)
Incanto Rosé Vino Frizzante - Sparkling Rosé (Italy)
Cornet & Cie Banyuls Rimage - Red Dessert Wine (France)
Jackson-Triggs - Vidal Icewine (Canada)
Vino Dei Fratelli Moscato D'Asti (Italy)
Novella Rayons de Soleil - Muscat Canelli (Paso Robles, CA)
Mönchhof Robert Eymael - Riesling (Germany)
WeinKeller Schick Eiswein Kerner Pfalz - Icewine (Germany)
Villa Palatina T.B.A Ortega Pfalz (Germany)
Campbells Rutherglen Muscat (Australia)
EOS Tears of Dew Moscato Late Harvest (Paso Robles, CA)
Innocent Bystander Moscato (Australia)

As for beers, here are my picks thus far:

Magners Irish Cider (Ireland)
Lindemans Framboise Lambic (Belgium)
Smithwick's Irish Ale (Ireland)
Maredsous Brune (Belgium)
Eel River Acai Berry Wheat (Scotia, CA)
Samuel Smith Pure Brewed Lager (England)
Celebrator Doppelbock (Germany)
Traquair House Ale (Scotland)
Delirium Tremens (Belgium)
O 'Hara's Irish Red (Ireland)
Hen's Tooth (England)
Guinness Foreign Extra (Ireland)
Guinness Draught (Ireland)

Okay enough with the alcohol...

Ancient Grain Elbows & White Cheddar Topped With Chervil

Yay for this macaroni that's made of amaranth, quinoa, kamut, spelt, and durum. I love ancient grains! The fiber and protein stats for these types of whole grain carbs are amazing, compared to their white refined cousins.

So I actually made this mac n' cheese by dumping the macaroni, cheese powder, and an entire package of shredded cabbage with carrots into guess what? Yep, the rice cooker! I eyeballed the amount of water to add (which yes, does result in disaster at times but for the most part works). When it was done, all I had to do was mix it up, top it with some herbs for aesthetic purposes (in this case, chervil), and yay! The chervil itself was very delicate in flavor so if you're looking for something bold and daring, look elsewhere.

Chewy Egg Nog Cookies With Raw Skim Milk

Another impulse purchase from TJs... I saw these cookies at TJs and had to get them, considering lately I've fallen into infatuation with pumpkin-related and holiday spice-related baked goods. There is pretty much zero nutritional value in these things except for a small amount of vitamin A... The skim milk, on the other hand, is teeming with good things! Sadly, Whole Foods doesn't carry this anymore, but one can still find this at Sprouts. It runs at around $3-4 per half gallon, for the skim variety, and more for the whole milk and the heavy cream. This unprocessed milk has enzymes and a bunch of other stuff that processed milk lacks. Read more about it here. I like the idea of eating raw foods, but haven't really committed to consistent organic and local support, let alone going raw...

Nut-Crusted Parisien Ribeye with Taro & Pumpkin Butter

This dish here and the previous one are just about the max as far as effort spent trying to be artsy and creative with food (at least so far)!

I bought a few pieces of ribeye, and basically, as the title says, rolled it in this mixture consisting of demerara sugar, chopped raw brazil nuts, and this spice blend called Parisien Bonnes Herbes, which is made up of chives, dill weed, French basil, French tarragon, chervil and white pepper. So again, I threw these ribeyes into the toaster oven, lined with diced taro, and kept the oven going for who knows how long at about 350 degrees.

I took them out a bit too late, so the ribeye was pretty much well done, but oh well. At least I didn't blow an expensive filet or something from Omaha steaks, and anyway all that flavoring really made up for this not being medium. The taro was an interesting addition and something I would do again. Some of the taro pieces were crispy whereas others were moist (those that were in closer contact with the meat), but I liked that juxtaposition of textures and even taste (the moist ones were more meaty and herby whereas the crisp ones were more purely taro in flavor). And you know what else? TJ's pumpkin butter is absolutely fabulous! It's a bit on the sweet side (more grams of sugar and more calories than an equivalent serving size from the Williams Sonoma variety) but still a crowd pleaser nonetheless. That, along with the oil from the nuts, and the sweet demerara sugar, probably did enough to keep this from being a dry dish. I topped the pumpkin butter with some of the remaining chopped Brazil nuts. I think the only downsides were that the taro looked kind of like chicken breast (probably should have mashed it instead), and the red from some cranberry sauce would have made this prettier rather than the tannish color of the pumpkin butter.

Yay! I would totally vouch for that Parisien spice blend and would definitely serve this to... well not everyone but maybe some of the more adventurous eaters. Admittedly, I don't take total credit for this creation, as it was inspired by a similar dish I saw on TV once, but I believe that had some other type of starch on the bottom (possibly potatoes?), and had seared lamb instead of ribeye. I don't think the lamb was encrusted with anything besides pepper, but she did have the spinach and the pumpkin butter in this tiered fashion

Turkey Over Polenta with Toasted Pinenuts, Wilted Spinach, and Cranberry Sauce

I had these whole mustard seeds and whole coriander seeds that I didn't know how to use (and apparently too lazy to just google how), so I bought a pepper mill and spent forever grinding the two spices in advance so they would be ready to use when spontaneity calls. The only reason I had those whole spices in the first place was because they came with my spice rack.

Anyway since I spent so long grinding these things, I decided to incorporate at least one of these spices into this dish. So I got some lean ground turkey, seasoned it with cinnamon and some of that ground mustard seed, along with a bunch of toasted pignolias (i.e. pinenuts), and formed them into little balls which I sprinkled with freshly cracked peppercorns and placed on top of sliced polenta. Into the toaster oven this thing went, about 350 degrees or so, for I don't remember how long. Out they came, and I placed these alongside some wilted spinach and cranberry sauce, and there you have it!

I loved the pinenuts in the little meatballs, and the broth that came from the turkey imparted a delicious savory flavor and moistness to the polenta. The cranberry sauce was not really necessary but I guess it added color, as did the spinach... I couldn't make out the mustard seed at all, but it didn't seem like a strong spice anyway, compared to the coriander seed. The cinnamon was really random but I felt like it worked out very well.

This is totally something I don't intend to make regularly as it took more effort than usual. But then again, did it take any more effort than roux? No. So maybe I will make the likes of this again if I get motivated enough...

Dubliner with Irish Stout

Kerrygold's Dubliner with Irish Stout is one of my favorite cheeses, along with the original Dubliner, and Cahill's porter cheese. I'm used to the cheese coming in wedges cut from a larger round of cheese, so when I saw this mini cheese wheel, I absolutely had to get it! How cute they are, side by side! I'll probably be enjoying this straight or alongside a pint o' Guinness (speaking of which, I tried the Foreign Extra variety of Guinness and found it really good... though stronger and apparently more hoppy than the usual Guinness Draught)...

Chardonnay Apple Sausage Gumbo

Summer squash, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, and bell peppers, along with apple sausage and homemade roux... Into my rice cooker they went, and out came a variety of gumbo much different from the dark one from Lucille's and missing the chicken and shrimp and celery/onions, but still enjoyable nonetheless. I figured since I'm the only one eating gumbo around here, and I'm not a huge fan of all that meat, to just forego most of the other proteins and just have one kind, which in this case was the sausage. Actually, all the veggies (with the exception of the bell peppers) wouldn't normally be in gumbo but I had them sitting around for some other dish that I didn't end up making, so I just threw them in. The dish was pretty watery at first probably mostly due to the tomatoes, but it thickened wonderfully after mixing it for a little bit, compliments of the roux. I wouldn't market this as gumbo but as far as I'm concerned, it's still satisfying in that it still provides that bitter, smoky bite.

Oyakodon

Well I used the last of my oyakodon sauce... will have to get more next chance I have. This particular incarnation of oyakodon was slightly different than previous ones in that I actually took the time to cut carrots, zucchini, and summer squash to throw into the mix along with small pieces of broccoli and the usual onions. Also, I used chicken tenders instead of dark meat. Yay for not having to trim chicken fat as I normally would have had I used boneless skinless thighs, but the tenders had this weird tendon-like thing which was annoying to remove. Again, this is not very pretty but it probably will never be until I decide to bite the bullet and take more time with the eggs.

My hair has become pretty unhealthy the last couple of years for some reason, so I looked up whether diet could improve hair health (Top 10 Foods for Healthy Hair) and will try to incorporate more of this stuff into my meals. So one combination that's doable is something like this oyakodon, which combines poultry, eggs, carrots, and whole grains. Another combination I have in mind is fish with legumes and spinach. Then I've got the yogurt with nuts, and cereal with milk... Maybe I should eat more fruit again...

Incanto Agave Beef with Herbes de Provence

This pulled beef looks rather ordinary but it was slow cooked for 10 hours in Incanto Rose, sprinkled generously with herbes de Provence (which in this particular blend included marjoram, savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, fennel, sage, and lavender), and drizzled with organic raw blue agave. So you could call this fusion cuisine, since the rose is Italian, the spices are French, and the agave is Mexican. I actually also had onions and purple sweet potatoes in the mix, which are not shown in the photo. Anyway the beef itself was nicely flavored but I guess this cut is relatively lean, so in spite of being simmered in all that liquid, it didn't turn out as moist as I would have liked. I wouldn't call it dry though, as it was still tender. It was so tender that I could pull apart the beef effortlessly with a fork. Maybe the smaller chunks of stew beef are more conducive to moistness due to increased surface area for the liquids to seep in?

Beef Mushroom Risotto

The rice cooker greatly simplifies cooking at times. I threw in one package of TJ's frozen mushroom risotto, some frozen spinach, and some frozen leftover beef chunks into the rice cooker, and half an hour later, dinner is served! May not be too pretty, but I thought this actually tasted really good (Kevin agrees).

Unadon

This is essentially a Japanese donburi (rice bowl) dish made with unagi kabayaki which is grilled eel coated with sweet sauce. This is actually incredibly easy assuming you have the eel already made for you. One can pick up an entire fillet of this eel for anywhere from $2.50 when it's on sale to about $4 or $5 when it's not. I got mine at Market World (Korean) but other Asian markets probably carry these. You simply defrost, throw in the toaster oven, and there you have it! It pains me when I see these things being offered at Japanese restaurants for the likes of $15 for about half or 2/3 the amount. Here I have this served over a blend of long white Jasmine and French Akai rice and simple steamed broccoli.

Maple Almond Butter Cornbread

So I used the cornbread mix from Bob's Red Mill and "followed the directions" except for omitting the eggs and oil and adding a bunch of maple almond butter (from Justin's Nut Butter). I used the slow cooker for this one. After a few hours, I got a good rise out of this. Disappointingly, the cornbread didn't hold together as much as I would have liked, although I can't be surprised because obviously I omitted the eggs. It was still very fluffy though! Oh well. The result was still distinctively cornbread in flavor, although I could definitely make out the almond butter both in taste (nutty) and appearance (small brown flecks).

Brandied Chocolate & Pumpkin Butter Kabocha Cake

So this looks incredibly moist doesn't it? That's because I steamed this via the rice cooker! The ingredients? Whole grain kamut and oat flours (yay for finishing these finally), vital wheat gluten, mashed cooked kabocha squash, pecan pumpkin butter, and melted brandy chocolate. This held together pretty well and was dense and substantial yet soft at the same time. The flavor? Hmmm... I guess it came across as some sort of spiced pumpkin/date loaf that was interestingly not too sweet. I had some of the kabocha, melted chocolate, and the pecan pumpkin butter (click me) each by itself before mixing it in. I would guess that the squash contributed mainly to the texture as well as toning down the sweetness level, while the pumpkin butter contributed most of the final flavor and also added spice/moistness/sweetness, and the liquored chocolate threw in a sort of bite/kick to the whole thing. Very interesting... but I probably wouldn't dare serve this to the average guest.

Seafood Pasta

Okay so we're back to my home-cooked dishes which may not be too pretty... Here I threw in frozen spinach, frozen lobster ravioli, and frozen Italian veggies mix into the rice cooker, and then tossed the result with white clam sauce. Yay for a quick meal, except I was so tired from the jet lag and the travel in general that I forgot to refrigerate the leftovers. So it sat out all night and I pretty much had to toss them the next morning. Wah.

Iced Açaí Tea Muddled With Mixed Berries

So I was ridiculously thirsty after our flight back from HK and made myself iced acai tea (herbal) and threw in frozen berries. The lighting is pretty terrible here but oh well. You get the idea.

Red Bean and Cheese Loaf

I picked up this loaf at Kevin's aunt's favorite bakery. It was this really heavy loaf, and one can see why after having sliced it. I'm not sure what kind of cheese this is... perhaps some sort of cheddar. Either way, this bread was creative and tasty (and filling!).

Hong Kong Seafood

Yay for seafood... counter-clockwise from top are lobster noodles, a conch-like thing, and abalone on a half shell. The lobster noodles were cheesy and really good but there is no visible lobster meat here since I am generally too lazy to work for things like crab, lobster, and shrimp. The conch-like thing was supposed to be spicy but was not that spicy in my opinion. They had these holes knocked through each shell, and you're supposed to unfurl the flesh from that opening. I felt like I might have been one tier above eating snails... Not sure if I'll be able to convince myself to ever eat escargot. The abalone was good... seasoned with some sort of citrus peel and onion/ginger.One thing that really impressed me about the seafood in general is that things like squid and abalone were surprisingly tender and easy to bite into, as opposed to the chewy rubber you may experience elsewhere. I'm not usually a fan of abalone, not because it doesn't taste good but because I don't understand why Asian parents love them so much (i.e. a Chinese banquet isn't a banquet without the abalone, or other notions like that). I think they taste fine but are somewhat overrated, but these were definitely worth eating. So now after having eaten these, the brownish thin and chewy slices back in the states are almost inexcusable. Oh well.

Pumpkin Coconut Milk Soup

Hubby's aunt in HK made this during one of the dinners which we actually had at her place. It was a swell house party, with lots of wine, good food, and Cantonese banter that really amused me though I understood only about 1% of it. I was already really full when my aunt brought these out but they were so impressively delicious that I ended up downing two of these bowls! She said she just cut up some pumpkin, added coconut milk and sugar, and brought it to a boil once. I'll have to try it one of these days...

Hong Kong Dim Sum Part 3

Here is another photo of some noteworthy dim sum. The one in the back was this flaky yet chewy thing filled with peanuts and some other stuff, and the one in the front was this soft sticky thing filled with some custard-like stuff. Haha my descriptions are terrible and don't do justice to these puppies. They were delicious and far more interesting to me than the usual dim sum I see in the states.

Hong Kong Dim Sum Part 2

This was probably my absolute favorite dim sum ever. They arrived nicely presented on a small plate lined with a doily, and they look like those flaky Taiwanese mooncakes (not the brown ones that are squareish that are pressed into shape with a mold), but upon biting into it, all these juices spill out as if eating a shao lun bao (sp?). I loved these! They were dainty and cute yet deliciously filling... innocent on the outside but daring and bold on the inside.

Hong Kong Dim Sum

So the next few posts will actually be selected photos of food from Hong Kong (not cooked by me). This here is an assortment of some dim sum, which I was very impressed by. My favorites from this photo would probably be the white bun on the far left with the random yellow strands on top with some desserty rice in the middle, as well as the dumpling-type thing bursting with variety veggies and meat on the lower left. The lower right was a delicious spicy dumpling (fire dumpling?) which I think is supposed to be more Shanghai/Beijing style than Cantonese. The best fire dumplings I've tried were actually from this random Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas... haha! Okay anyway, I'm not a huge fan of shu mai or har gow or chan fun (or however you Anglicize the spelling for those rice noodles with stuff folded in them), but this chan fun on the upper right looked pretty good though (and was good). It annoys me when restaurants skimp on fillings for these. The fried triangle thing was also good but I think I like crab rangoon better, even though that may be comparing apples to oranges.