Roost

Last Saturday, was a good day. We did a "revealing" of the sex of our baby, via cupcake ceremony...its a boy for those that don't know. Here is the blog:
www.magnoliapair.com

After that, my friend, John, and I cooked and served a 6 course Louisiana themed dinner to introduce a little venture we are working on, called Roost. The idea, is to bring great restaurant quality food and service in to the home. I was super pleased with how everything came out, and think it was a great first run for us.

Here was the menu...

1.) Gumbo w/chicken and sausage
2.) Mixed Greens Salad w/fresh strawberries, havarti cheese & Balsamic Glaze
3.) Crawfish Pie
4.) New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp w/French bread
5.) Grilled Snapper w/white wine sauce, dried chilies & rosemary
6.) Bread Pudding w/bourbon sauce

If you missed out on this one, no worries, you will get a chance. We hope to do several more of these dinners over the next few months. A great night of friends, music and food...doesn't get any better than that.

Best Poor-Boy Ever

Best Oyster Poor-Boy I've ever had! Go to Olde Tyme Grocery and do this. http://www.oldetymegrocery.com

Fresh Salmon Dinner

My good friend, Eric, and I decided to go simple for dinner a couple of nights ago. We picked up a pound of fresh sushi grade salmon, mixed up wasabi and soy, and started slicing up some fish. I roughly sliced up 3/4 of the fish and ate it plain, but for the other 1/4, I dipped it in teriyaki sauce, coated it with toasted sesame seeds and seared it briefly in a nonstick pan.

I sent this pic to a friend in Houston via text, who quickly replied "You ripped me off." (He regularly makes whole meals from raw fish alone) I'm not sure if I ripped Ryan off, or millions of Japanese people...thanks to both.

I could eat this again right now.

Chez Nous

Last weekend, we drove down to Houston to spend a weekend with friends. On Saturday night, we revisited an authentic French restaurant that we spent New Year's Eve at a year ago, Chez Nous.

Our last experience there was surprisingly good. Any time I am extremely excited about how a good a restaurant is the first time I go, there is this small, anxious feeling, deep inside me that says "You got lucky, and it probably won't impress you as much the next time." This is NOT one of those places.

The food was just as fantastic as the first time. I started with a fricassee of escargot, brussel sprouts and candied bacon...yep I said it...candied bacon. It was awesome. I asked the waitress how they made the bacon and she was more than happy to ask the chef for me. Apparently its a 6 hour process that involves slow cooking a large amount of bacon, collecting the fat, and then adding a few herbs and honey to it all. The rendered fat is added to the plate with some of the actual pieces of bacon and has almost the consistency of jam....but tastes like sweet bacon (I could use a spoon full of that right now actually).

The next course was beef tartar topped with creme fraiche and caviar. I had a bite of this on my first visit, and had to get an entire order this time around. It is by far the best beef tartar I've ever had. The consistency is perfect (which is important when eating raw meat) with just the right balance of citrus and salt. This is the one thing I will ALWAYS order when I go back time and time again.

For the 3rd and final course (because French food is rich) I had the steak with peppercorn and bearnaise. This was the only part of the meal I expected more on and it didn't deliver. Now don't get me wrong, the steak was great, but I ordered it rare and it was definitely mid-rare. Not something a restaurant of this quality usually gets wrong. I enjoyed my steak regardless.

Most of the table ordered dessert, but I just didn't push it after the pound and a half of butter I had consumed over the last 3 courses. Here is site if anyone is in the Houston area.http://cheznousfrenchrestaurant.com/

Cheers.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

A good friend of mine hosts a Tacky Christmas Party every year at his house with this past Saturday being the 3rd Annual, so I volunteered to cook something.

On Saturday afternoon, I poured myself a glass of Belvenie 12 yr Double Wood and began putting together a couple of stuffed pork tenderloins. I start by filleting out my tenderloins, so that they lie flat like a sheet of paper...a very thick, delicious paper made out of pig. Next, I made a dry rub from anything and everything in my seasoning cabinet that sounded good....dried thyme, cumin powder, onion powder, garlic powder, some greek all purpose seasoning, fresh black pepper, dried oregano, paprika, and probably another couple of thing I'm forgetting. I thoroughly rubbed both sides of my pork with it and then generously salted it with sea salt.

Next, I sauteed 2 large red onions in some olive oil, over medium heat, while they broke down and got all deliciously sweet. Chopped up some sweet and hot pickled jalapenos and cut up a package of cream cheese. I then took those 3 ingredients and filled the filleted pork with it.

Once filled, I rolled the tenderloins back up, and tied them closed with butcher string. I heated up some olive oil in a pot and threw in some fresh garlic cloves, so the oil would grab some of the flavor. Once the oil was smoking hot, I put in the tenderloins just long enough to sear them really well all the way around.

After the tenderloins had a good brown crust of a sear, I placed them on a cookie sheet and gave them a very light sprinkle of brown sugar, and placed in the oven for 45 mins at 350.

They came out pretty close to perfect. I let them rest covered for close to 45 minutes before slicing them up. I was pleased with how the pork turned out, as well were at least a couple of other party goers who I saw go back for 3rds.

Thank you much.

2 John's

Last week, Brit and I went to 2 John's for our anniversary dinner. We had never been before, but have heard a lot of good things.

I started with a glass of Macallan 18 and a couple of appetizers to split: Shrimp and Grits with Tasso and crab cakes. Both were very good, but the shrimp and grits win. Now I'm a little partial to them to begin with, but the big gulf shrimp had been grilled over an open flame so there were lots of smokiness. The grits had cheese and tasso ham mixed in, and then had some type of cream/butter mixture poured over the top of it all. Super rich...and delicious.

Next I had the shrimp bisque. It was good, and not overly rich. A lot of the time, restaurants add a ton of heavy cream or half and half to give the bisque the right texture and enhance flavor (everything tastes better given enough cream), but they didn't over do this one.

For the main course, Britney had a peppercorn crusted filet, with a cognac, peppercorn beurre blanc. Now I'm not typically a fan of sauce on my steak, but this was amazing. I would have a hard time not ordering it the next time I go in.

I had the special, roasted pork tenderloin, stuffed with cream cheese and boudin. Ridiculous! When it first came out, it was already sliced and presented on my plate. It had been cooked mid-rare which was a surprise to me, because momma always said to cook pork to medium for risk of parasites. But...I took one bite and realized there was no way I could send it back to the kitchen. It was great. Again, a lot of smoky flavor coming from the grill, and the meat was so tender. Chef knew what he was doing.

I was stuffed and slightly ill feeling from all the rich food, but Brit ordered a bread pudding. I had only one bite, but it may have been the best I've ever had in my life. It was covered with a Jack Daniel's sauce, and had plenty of pecans and walnuts on top. Perfect consistency (not too mushy, not too dry).

We will definitely be going again soon.

Cheap Whiskey

Last week I went out and bought a bottle of Dalmore 12 at the recommendation of Uncrate.com. I'm a big fan of Macallan, and the Dalmore is very comparable. A little sweeter on the front end, and if you find "peetiness" unattractive, then you'll enjoy this one.

Last night while picking up a Christmas tree, I decided that my whiskey habit was going to get expensive, if all I ever drank was single malt when I was relaxing at the house or while cooking. So on the way home, I stopped and picked up a $20 bottle of Cutty Sark. I've never had Cutty Sark before, but I always liked the dark green bottle and the old school yellow label, with a picture of the clipper ship that the whiskey is named after.

I like it. Its very pale in color, which made me assume the taste would suck, but I like it. I had a couple of glasses while cooking some asian themed string beans and hamburger steaks with onions and bell peppers. Pretty enjoyable evening of some low carb food and cheap whiskey.