August 2010

After a day of travel, errand running and a full house cleaning all I wanted was to have a home cooked meal and an evening of relaxing. We picked up our fruit, veggies, and yogurt for the week but we didn’t have a ton of dinner items in the fridge. I started rummaging in the freezer and pantry and came up with Tomato and Edamame Curried Pasta.

 

Ingredients

1lb Tri-Color Rotini

1 28oz can Whole Tomatoes

1 package frozen, de-shelled edamame

1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Thai Red Curry Sauce

2 large handfuls of Baby Arugula

Pinch Red Pepper Flakes

Salt/Pepper

Parmesan

 

Directions

 

Cook pasta according to directions.

 

Preheat large skillet and add drained tomatoes and mash with a fork, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add edamame, red pepper flakes, and curry sauce and cook until thoroughly heated, another 2-3 minutes. Add drained pasta to vegetables and sauce.

 

Place arugula in bowl and top with pasta, vegetables and sauce. Grate just a tiny bit of parmesan on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We served this was a side of roasted mini potatoes, a good Monday evening after a weekend of travel kind of dinner.

 

 

Tomorrow it is back to the grind, but it is only a 4 day week. It is hard to believe it is the end of summer a week from today. Sigh. This summer went insanely fast!

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Tonight is our last evening in Chicago and we are staying with Chris and Ivy. We had brunch at the Publican earlier and had decided on cooking dinner at their house tonight. On the way back from brunch we stopped to pick up Chris and Ivy’s CSA box and it was stock full of kale, fresh heirloom tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, parsley, and an eggplant. Ivy had the idea of cooking us dishes from her native Korea and we were definitely on board! Between the CSA veggies and Ivy’s recipes we had a plan for dinner.

 

We started with a French, American and Spanish inspired cheese plate with a blue cheese, morbier and a Spanish style mozzarella, Chris had some fresh Mission Figs from California, we had a few back to nature crackers, a pineapple pepper chutney and kale chips topped with sea salt and pasta seasoning.

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

While enjoying the cheese and figs we tasted an Apple Wine from Michigan and a sparkling rose that may have my favorite name ever: You Are So Bubbly

 

 

 

 

 

While enjoying our cheese, crackers and figs Ivy was quickly marinating the sirloin for her version of Bul Go Gi, a Korean beef dish that has a hint of sweetness. She also made a lovely miso soup from scratch with kelp, tofu, miso paste and a broth made with anchovies. It was the best miso I have ever had and you could tell it was homemade with great  flavor.

 

 

 

 

Bul Go Gi

 

Ingredients

1 lb Sirlion

2 Cloves Garlic

Onion, finely chopped

2 inch piece of Ginger

A few squirts of honey

Apple, Asian Pear or Kiwi, chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

2-3 tbsp Japanese or Korean Sake

2 Scallions finely chopped

Salt/Pepper

 

 

Directions

 

Make a puree of garlic, 1/2 the onion, ginger, honey, apple, soy sauce, sesame, sake and salt/pepper. Add to sirlion and let marinate at least 2-3 hours. The sugars from the fruit will help sweeten and tenderize the meat.

 

Heat a skillet with a bit of canola or vegetable oil and add the onion and cook until softened 2-3 minutes, add the marinated beef and cook through. Top with scallions. Serve with rice and kimchi.

 

 

 

 

 

The sweetness of the fruit comes through and the meat becomes so tender and juicy. I have never had Korean food before and tonight’s dinner was a big treat! I love trying founds from new cultures, especially when someone is taking the time to make them from scratch and share them with you. Our full menu for dinner was starters of cheese, crackers and fruit, my mushroom ceviche, Ivy’s miso soup, Bul Go Bi and rice with kimchi. A fun afternoon spent catching up, cooking and conversing over wine.

 

 

 

 

 


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I love having good friends that enjoy wine and cooking as much as we do. It is such a great time to spend the day in the kitchen where we are all enjoying the experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to a quiet morning before heading to the airport, a day without work! Tomorrow is a much needed day off after the past stressful few weeks.

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Every time we are in Chicago we find a new spot of have Sunday Brunch. There is just something about all the neighborhoods in Chicago that make brunch so enjoyable. Today’s choice for brunch was Publican, a restaurant devoted to the pig.

 

We met our friends Chris and Ivy at noon and it was a good thing we had reservations because every table in the restaurant was full. Mike started with a mimosa made with orange juice and beer. A unique combination, not my favorite drink but he enjoyed it. I ordered the official beverage of brunch; a bloody mary with a beer chaser. Delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After perusing the menu we all decided on our dishes and were eagerly awaiting our food. Chris and Ivy ordered the frites with a fried egg over the top and we got a side of their housemade bacon. Both were amazing and probably my favorite part of the meal. Being the pig and bacon lover that I am I really liked the custom napkins. I think I need some for our house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ivy ordered the shrimp and chorizo with polenta

 

   

 

 

Sarc and I both got the pastrami short ribs with heirloom tomato salad, an overeasy egg and toast. The fresh tomatoes were definitely the star of this dish.

 

 

 

 

Mike had the pork cheek sandwich that also had egg, heirloom tomato with a basil aioli.

 

 

 

 

This was one of the better brunches we have had in quite some time!

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