Cookaholics Bulletin Board

All,

We've been baking for the holidays like mad things (goal is to have everything shipped out by Wednesday), so dinners have been kinda sparse. Well, sparse in a California sense.

Like, last night was pan-seared Alaska salmon (thawed) with shallot-blackberry compote* and whole roasted sweet potatoes. Kris pointed out that this is the San Francisco version of "meat and potatoes".

I'll blog Christmas, which will be Russian. But until then, cooking will be aimed at fast and low-cleanup.

(* = didn't work so well. Mexican blackberries; had hardly any flavor, and the sauce needed it. Will try again with good quality frozen blackberries.)

Russian sounds wonderful. Around here, people seem to eat with their families on Christmas Eve and then run around visiting in Christmas Day. There is some kind of tacit agreement on who will hang out at home, manning the wassail and who will be braving the snowy streets. I think doing a zakuski table would be terrific fun if one happens to be a visitee.

Russian? You now have my full attention...

Fajita's tonight. Roasted thighs with roasted parsnips, turnips & carrots for lunch tomorrow. Bought some frozen sardines tonight - each about a quarter lb. First time I have seen them around here. Will probably try them tomorrow night for dinner.

Off topic, but this BB is beginning to remind me of the old days when we had actual conversations on the OBB.

Cooked with my 9 year old niece. We made beef lo mein with leftover rib roast. It was great. Elissa did some chopping and some stirring, she hasn't done much cooking before. This weekend is chili with the nephew (sorry Frank, it will be NY style, with the forbidden legumes) and chocolate souffles because Elissa really really wants to make one.

Tonight I had leftover spagetti, hubby had leftover pizza. With a green salad and a bowl of fresh pineapple chunks (we had them for $2.50 each here this week).

Tomorrow I am making that Chantrelle and Chicken braise that I found on Foodgawker.

ps. Kathy, what are you doing with the sardines? I can remember having them fried somewhere in the Med, they were amazing and I have not had anything like it since.

Kathy,

Those are big sardines! Are you sure they aren't mackerel?

Mind you, sardines don't freeze well. You're going to need to cook those some way they'll be heavily seasoned. Let me know if you need suggestions.

Last night was CI's beef teriyaki stir-fry with green beans. It was yummy. Can you believe it's the first time I've ever made stir-fry? Ridiculous, I know.

Wikipedia suggests that the sardines might more accurately be called pilchards due to their size. I've read as well that sardines don't freeze well, so this may be a limited trial. But for $4 for 2 pounds of them - can't really go all that wrong.

Last night was a trial run of sous vide proteins for Christmas...beef (last night was a hanger steak, but Christmas is going to be prime rib), lobster and shrimp. They all came out really, really well.

Amy