March 2007 Archives

Happy Friday, everyone! Kathleen has sent along a good 'un to get us laughing into the weekend.

By the by, if you haven't checked out the Desert Island Foods®.com site lately, it hasn't changed much, but everything still is really good!!! (End shameless plug, sorry.)

Have a great weekend. Email me pictures and recipes, if you've got something to share!

Nothing fancy here, but it was darned good.

This is an all-natural pork tenderloin I picked up at Sprouts Market the other day. I've been shopping there a lot recently. They have a nice blend of healthy stuff at a reasonable price point, which I find very pragmatic, indeed.

I oiled it lightly with our Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, then rubbed it with Survival Spice™.

While I preheated my oven to bake at 350º (convection), I got a cast iron skillet hot and seared the tenderloin, making sure I browned it all the way 'round. Once that was done, I popped it into the oven until it felt like it was starting to firm up, but not all the way there. Sadly (pathetically), a lot of people won't eat pork until it's the consistency of a baseball bat, and it's a shame. This was still just a tiny bit pink in the widest part of the piece, and was outrageously juicy.

I let it rest while I took some pictures, and sliced it to put on a green salad.

Fortunately, there are leftovers. Is it too early at 7AM to eat dinner?

I've added some of the great pictures that John sent along with his Salmon Lasagna recipe last week. He really did a great job documenting this terrific dish, thanks again!!!

Anybody else cook anything this weekend?

Apologies again for not getting a Friday Funny posted yesterday, but hopefully this one from Janella is worth the wait!

Enjoy your weekend, and cook something good, willya?

For some bizarre reason, most likely a DNS issue, I wasn't able to get to either the public site to comment, or the back end of the site to post yesterday, sorry!

Thanks for your patience, and to those who emailed. The usual nonsense will continue shortly...

UPDATED: PIctures added below the fold.

I'm going to add to this, because John did a great job of sending lots of pics, but this should get you drooling...

I used nice Wild caught Alaskan salmon (2 big Tail sections), I seared one side , cooled set aside. Take 2 lbs of whole milk ricotta cheese (mine was from chelino's of joliet,il. - the best) and added pureed garlic , chopped fresh basil and grated a pile of Reggie Parm , did the elmixto w/ 3 eggs and set aside. I blanched 1 lb of spinach , shocked and chopped , set aside. Cook off the lasagna Noodles less than al dente , tossed in gods own olive oil (you know which one) set aside. Then I browned a bag of Panko crumbs in a saute pan with mucho butter & the big T olive oil. I then made a bechamel sauce and added Parm chz at the end w/ more pureed garlic

Assembly : Oil the casserole dish in thats right you guessed it " the big T" olive oil. (TPC note: That would be our Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgine di Oliva) Lay down a layer of the pasta , then a layer of the ricotta mixture , then a layer of Salmon , and dot the whole pan with the spinach , toss around a bit o' butter and layered with the bechamel sauce .................. then repeat ................ add your 3rd layer of pasta and pour more bechamel sauce and pour and smooth the Panko crumb mixture all over the top. Then you guessed it ................. drizzle the Panko's w/ more olive oil and pop into the oven at 325 degrees for 45 minutes covered .................... then cook for 30 minutes at 350 uncovered (check after 20 min.) ..........................rest for 15 minutes after pulling out of the oven ...................................... use the reserve bechamel sauce to drizzle upon serving

I have to make this. Soon.

Paul sent some pictures of his St. Patty's Day corned beef that he rubbed with Survival Spice™, which I've never tried, I'm ashamed to say!

He also made some amazing looking jalapeño cheese corn bread. I wonder if he used any of the Novello version of the Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgine di Oliva I see there?

Okay, Chile, give it up. How about a few recipes?

And happy birthday to my buddy Bob, who is very unlikely to remain sober....

Happy Friday, everyone!! Busy day here at Desert Island Foods®.com, but I had to close out the week with a knee slapper from Janella, thanks!

Have a great weekend. Cook something good and email me to share a picture and a story!

It's pathetic how little time I've had to cook lately, but I had some mushroom demi at a local restaurant recently that tasted like it had been made from a commercial base, and I nearly sent it back because it tasted burned and overly salty. I knew I could do much better at home.

I threw this together, using some of the demi-glace I made last fall. It's a nice bit of all natural sirloin marinated in mustard, worcestershire sauce and black pepper that I cooked in a cast iron skillet in butter and a good glug of TIbvrtini Olio di Extra Virgene, which normally I don't cook with, but what the hey. Not too high of a heat to keep the sirloin nice and tender, then removed the steak to rest.

I tossed in some sliced crimini mushrooms, another pat of butter, some thyme and some parsley, then after the mushrooms had softened, added 3 or 4 ice cubes of the demi. I cranked up the heat to reduce the sauce, and plated it up.

Wow, what a treat. Note to self: stay home and cook more.

I got an email from John in Chicago today, raving about a cookbook he's been checking out:

I've been testing out a new baking cook book called "Baking, from my home to yours" by, Dorie Greenspan (she was Julia Childs asst on the show "baking w/ julia" which was a nuts on (te he) baking tv show, the best really!!! ) I've taken a novel approach to her recipes, I'm doing them exactly as stated , which is a real friggin trick for me.

Every recipe I've tried has been a home run, which is a first for me (maybe its cuz I'm not screwin w/ em)!!! I know you're not big on cookbooks but this one rules the baking thing, and she really made
them simple for even novices
..........................................jb

Good enough for me! I was a huge Julia Child fan, and I'm looking forward to checking it out. John noted that I'm not a big cookbook fan, which is partially true, but baking is science, and having good recipes to use as a starting point is just good sense.

I posted an Amazon link at the top of the post, if you're interested. If you buy it through that link, you'll enrich my family fortune by nearly a dollar. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

Happy Friday, everyone! Forgive the alliteration in the title, and the infrequent posting this week. There's nothing funny about this London Broil steak, but it was really good.

If you recall, I stumbled on a marinade of Tibvrtini Extra Virgine di Oliva, organic Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Blanco, and some Survival Spice™ that I thought would work with this flank steak, and it did. I rubbed the steak with Survival Spice®, and put in a one gallon baggie, and made a mix of 2 parts or so Tibvrtini olive oil, and one part white wine vinegar, and poured it in to the bag.

I let it marinade for about two days, than pulled it out of the marinade. I'll rub it with more Survival Spice® before I cook it next time, because what the beef didn't absorb basically got washed away, but hey, it was a first attempt! I let it come to room temperature while I got the fire going, then grilled it over a medium hot pecan fire. I let it rest a few minutes, then sliced it across the grain, to cut as much connective fiber as possible.

This is really good stuff, and really simple- no chopping onion or garlic or measuring stuff, just rub it and give it enough marinade it to get it wet, then turn it twice a day or so.

Have a great weekend! Cook something good, willya? Email me a picture of something you feel like sharing.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your patronage of Desert Island Foods®.com.

(Photo: John, of his Traditional Madeleines)

Monday again. I haven't gotten my London Broil steak grilled off yet, but it's marinating and it'll make it to the grill tonight.

In other news- Wow, John's going for it, he even went out and bought the special scallop pans to bake his madeleines in:

dusted and un-dusted ............................................4 + coffee = $5 ( uh its snowing a bit here ) ps don't tell me aboot yer pool

I'm not saying a word... I am headed off to a Cactus League game today, and the weather's in the low 70s, but I didn't mention the pool.

Oops.

("Uh, I don't see any Survival Spice™ in your shopping cart today. Are you nuts?")

Oh boy, it's Friday. I hope you've got a bunch of good stuff ready to cook this weekend, I'm going to try the marinade I used with the steak kebobs on a flank steak, myself. I have high hopes, I must say...

I don't know if I want to try the diet that Janella sent in this week for us all to laugh at, but I need to drop a few pounds, I'll admit.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I appreciate your reading, and for your support of Desert Island Foods®.com! Email me a picture or two of something you cook up, if you have a mind to.