carnitas and queso

It felt like a south-of-the-border evening.  Here we have shredded pork carnitas served alongside queso fundido with rajas (strips of green chile).  All those go well with warm fresh corn tortillas and some cool, refreshing cerveza.

sheep roast with red chile and an almond mocha mousse

Wow - sheep and mousse in one meal!  A hunter friend had gifted me with a sheep roast so I slow braised it in red chile sauce and then shredded it up to serve over rice.  For dessert I made an almond mocha mousse and topped it with chocolate wafers topped with an almond praline brittle.

spaghetti and salad

I seem to be using a lot of bacon lately!  These meatballs were made with some ground elk from a friend, then sauced alla'matriciana style (tomato sauce and bacon) over spaghetti.  The salad used spicy greens, like watercress, and was tossed with a bacon and cider dressing.

pancakes and bacon

A great way to start the day - especially on weekends.  These are "lighter-than-air" silver dollar pancakes made with sour cream.  We love to splurge on thick-cut smoky bacon.

spicy sausage and chard pasta

I have just now planted some chard in the home garden - love to use it in many different ways.  The pasta sauce here includes spicy Italian sausage and chard, topped with shavings of Parmesan.

salmon and peas

Even though our weather has turned cold again we keep hoping for spring.  Here I have some blackened salmon and a creme fraiche topping.  I also did some creamed peas and onions as the side dish.

asian soup; berries over ice cream

I had some leftover roasted turkey which turned into this satisfying hot Asian turkey noodle soup with various accompaniments.  For dessert I roasted some fresh berries to serve over vanilla gelato - I threw a berry truffle on top just for fun.

new mexican dinner

To make my carne adovada I marinate pork cubes for 24 hours in a chile caribe sauce, then roast it low and slow.  Here we have it with a flour tortilla, homemade refried beans, and home fried potatoes.  This also makes a great breakfast with the addition of an egg.

lamb chops and garlic

I pan seared some lamb chops (cut from a frenched rack of lamb) with a garlic sauce.  I had some leftover creamed spinach to go with them.  Get out a bottle of some fine red wine and enjoy the evening.

spaghetti bolognese

For us this is a bowl of comfort.  Just a homemade classic red meat sauce over good pasta, topped with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

seafood and spinach

I used a soaked cedar plank to steam clams and shrimp in the oven.  They were served with a green onion mayonnaise and also some creamed fresh spinach on the side.

roasted chicken, and pears

I could use the oven for two purposes:  roasting a chicken (with scallions and white wine) and also baking a maple-glazed pear for dessert.

pork carnitas

I made a batch of oven roasted (low and slow) pork carnitas, then shredded the meat to serve on warm corn tortillas with refried black beans and guacamole.

rack of lamb with red wine sauce

I like to get the 'frenched' racks of lamb that are easily available at Costco or Trader Joes - they are usually about 24 oz. and perfect to feed two of us.  Here I browned the lamb, then roasted it to medium-rare and let it sit about 10 minutes before carving.  The drippings are used to make a red wine-shallot pan sauce.  These are served over some garlic mashed potatoes.

spring holiday dinner

Here is what we enjoyed for Easter:  sweet and spicy glazed pork belly started the meal, then we enjoyed our main course of a roasted asparagus salad with smoked beef tenderloin, pasta with smoked salmon and peas (note the fresh chives from the garden), and garlic/Parmesan rolls.  For dessert we had mixed berries over angel food cake with a limoncello/mascarpone topping.  The mint was just starting to pop up in the yard so we had a tiny fresh garnish too.