D Dilemma.

D is for...

It's Day 5 of D weeks and I'm in a drought of ideas, particularly for D foods.

There just aren't that many.

- Duck (could get pricey eating duck everyday)

- Dates (I'll take as many as I can get but it's tough to make a meal out of them, though expect to see some wrapped in bacon),

- Dips (does that even count as a food?)

- Doughnuts (that'll be a good day, maybe D-shaped ones)

- Dogs, hot (it's a stretch, I know)

- Dill (I don't know if I can handle putting dill on everything, but I'll dare to try)

- Deer (I don't know where to get deer meat)

- Dolphin (probably too smart to be caught and killed but don't they deserve it)

- Dairy? (I do like cheese. It also has a lot of Vitamin D. Double-dose of D!)

I could just eat dinner and dessert for a day, except I'm not much for breakfasts (or at least not waking up early to eat them) and lunch is basically a filler meal anyway so I kind of already do that. I guess I'll just stick to drinking. That's a D I can do.

Here's a list of foods high in Vitamin D that I'm considering dining on. It includes a lot of fish and seafood (not C-foods) and some dumb entries like #18, of course soy milk with added Vitamin D has a lot of Vitamin D in it. They put it in there deliberately. Do you know what else contains a lot of Vitamin D? Vitamin D supplement pills! I wonder why.

B Dinner

B is for Burgers!

A little behind, but the other night, Saturday I believe, I made Baby Bacon, Bleu Cheese Buffalo Burgers on Brioche Buns and they were unbelievable. To accompany these B burgers I also made Boston Baked Beans and, of course, for the beverage - beer. (I didn't make the beer.)
Burgers: A+
They were pretty big for babies and really filling. Buffalo meat is like beef but sweet, it only takes a little seasoning and a little cooking as it's best medium rare, like most red meats. The Bacon was standard thick strip bacon crisped before hand. I used sliced bleu cheese is kind of bizarre considering the crumbly nature of bleu cheese but it held its shape alright and melted well. Home-made brioche buns, or even store bought, are probably the most dangerous thing to keep in the house because they are addicting and consist of about a pound of butter. They were soft, spongy, with a slight crisp on top and held the burgers together surprisingly well.

Beans: B
This was my first go at 'authentic' Boston Baked Beans. Nothing was canned but I did use a lot of bottles - ketchup, bbq sauce, mustard, worchestershire and a few others a blinding grabbed. Baked Beans take hours upon hours (about 4) to bake to the perfect consistency, but in the end it was worth it.

Beer: A-

St. Bernardus Belgian Ale.
I had never tried this beer before but it seemed appropriate with it being named after a B saint and also a Belgian Ale. It was really smooth and soft with a nice caramelly flavor and color. It was a bit sweet at first but became really enjoyable. I'd imBibe it again.

And yet A-nother A Dinner - Autumn Apple Stew

A is for Apple.

Apples, apples, apples, that's the first food that comes to mind when people think of a food that starts with A. I blame those alphabet signs and cards from kindergarten. The A is forever associated with Apples in people's minds. It was in my mind when I made Autumn Apple Pork Stew (I know it's not autumn but I need whatever As I can get.). I also made Astypalaian Yellow Biscuits which are from the Astypalaia island of Greece. The two made for an interesting pairing. American and Greek, not too international. I'm not Greek, I just happen to be preparing a lot of Greek food during these A weeks. I guess they like the letter A associated with their food over there.
Autumn Apple Pork Stew: A-
I'll start with a confession, I made this stew in a crockpot, not exactly gourmet or culinaristically advanced, I know, but convenient. The stew contained actual apples (Granny Smith), apple juice and apple cider vinegar, in addition to other 'stewy' ingredients, like vegetables, and then pork. Similar to the mishap during the asparagus soup pureeing process, the stewing stew overflowed a bit and spilled some liquid onto the counter. I may have overfilled the crockpot a tad, but that can't be the reason why. My brother who not only cleaned up the mess but spun the mishap as well, said that spills ensure success. And he was right. The stew ended up tasting pretty good, although somewhat sweet due to all of the appley ingredients. I could have gone for some more saltiness and earthiness, but that didn't stop me from eating it. If I make it again, I'll add some ale in addition to the apple sauce, probably instead of the water.
Astypalaian Biscuits: A?
I had never made these before. I came across the recipe on epicurious looking for recipes and dishes that start with the letter A. They sounded interesting so I thought I'd try them. I can't think of anything similar to them so they're tough to explain. And I didn't quite follow the recipe perfectly. I did splurge and by some saffron though, but only because it was half price. Almost $9 for 1 oz. The culinarians crack. I formed the 'biscuits' (they are nothing like your standard bicuits, except ever so slightly in texture) into rings, or 'crowns as the recipe calls them, and baked them, but I opted to not bake them the second time around, because they tasted good the first way, and they were fully baked. I was concerned the second baking would try them out, but I'm going to give it a try with a few just to check. There's allspice in them and you can taste it. They're spicy and kind of sweet, fluffy and a little flaky. They are certainly like nothing I've made or tasted before, but I think I like them.

Recipes: stew. biscuits.

A-nother A Dinner - Asparagus Avgolemono

A is for Avgolemono

Last night's dinner was A-themed but really nothing to announce over the webs: Arby's and Ales (yes, sometimes I eat fast food too, just like you, so don't be an ass about it.). Tonight, I decided to actually make something again. Adhering to the theme, I made Asparagus Avgolemono with Dill and Asiago Crostini. Greek with a little Italian on the side. That's what I call international cuisine. Before you go assuming I've completely lost it and have started to make up words in order to have a-named menu items, avgolemono is a real thing, even wikipedia says so, which is the most reliable source I could think of to prove that I didn't invent this word or dish. Maybe you can think of another. Avgolemono is a soup consisting of egg, lemon juice, broth and other ingredients for flavor, in this case asparagus (also leeks, onion, and celery). Avgolemono can be served hot or cold, but cold soups are, mostly, disgusting and can become an odd consistency so I served mine hot. Also, because my brother is scared of cold soup. And, just to clear things up, Asiago is a real cheese too, from a real place of the same name. Proof.

Soup: A.

All in all it was a success. The soup (see fig. a, at right) blended to a nice, smooth consistency, although a bit thin at first, but upon further heating it was superb and thickened. There was a bit of a mishap during the blending process. While attempting to lock the pitcher onto the base I inadvertently unscrewed the bottom of the pitcher and lost a little liquid, but caught in time, and with the aid of my sous chef, salvaged dinner. The eggs didn't curdle and the result was a lovely light asparagus green soup, that tasted good as well. Note: Soup warrants A grade only when hot.
Crostini: A.
Toasty and tasty. The asiago cheese was a surprisingly complimentary taste to the soup. Simple but a nice side. Details you can't see: I brushed the breads with garlic olive oil before topping them with grated asiago.

This time I even made a dessert, of sorts, and after dinner snack, if you will. It's more of a breakfast bread, but it's not for the B weeks. It has A ingredients. I made mini Apricot Almond Loaves. Epicurious calls it 'gift bread.' I don't really know what that means, but it makes them sound fruit cakey and despite the presence of dried fruit (apricots), they really aren't like fruit cake, and by that I mean terrible. I do know I won't be giving them to anyone except myself.
Bread: A.
The bread has great flavor and a nice moist consistency. I Containing perfectly small diced dried apricots (compliments of my sous chef brother aggressively wielding an ulu knife [from Alaska!]) and slivered almonds, the bread has sweet and salty components, in addition to soft and crunchy elements for a taste that earns the A. The secret ingredient is Almond extract. Oh, and I omitted the icing, because it's bread, not a cupcake.


More to come on Ales and other A drinks I have been consuming these past two weeks in an upcoming post brought to you by the letter A.

Recipes: soup. bread.

A Dinner - Artichoke, Asparagus Pasta

A is for appetite.

No A1 steak sauce yet, so I went with pAstA for the first A meal, although doesn't start with A it does contain two As. You may be thinking, 'that's a bit of a stretch', and it would be but don't worry, it gets better. For dinner I made Apple, Almond Arugula Salad with an Apricot Vinaigrette and Artichoke heart, Asparagus, Pasta with chicken in a light cream sauce and a little grated parmesan and some artisan ciabatta bread on the side, for an A total of 26, or 6 for the sticklers who just count the words that start with A. Since I'm relying on letters for everything else, it's only fair to grade my food. And, before you ask, no the theme of the fortnight has nothing to do with the grades the dishes earned. They deserved them, I Assure you.

Apple, Almond Arugula Salad with an Apricot Vinaigrette

Salad: A

The salad (see fig. a, at right) got an A from all consumers.The vinaigrette was sweet due to the apricot preserves but not too sweet. Almond slivers added a nice crunch and the Granny Smith

applies slices (cut by my sous chef brother) provided the crisp. Texture and variety of flavors are of utmost importance when it comes to salads. Oh, there is also Wensleydale cheese with cranberries crumbled on the salad that I didn't mention before because of the lack of aes in the name, but it added a lot to the salad. Salads in pictures may appear larger (or smaller) than they actually were. It was also taken upside down, but looks weird flipped.

Artichoke heart, Asparagus, Pasta with chicken

Pasta: A

The pasta (see fig. aa at right) contained artichoke hearts and asparagus as the two main A ingredients. The culinary school graduate part of me is urging me to note that the artichoke hearts were from a can, not fresh, but the poor indebted, student loan holder part of me is demanding I remind readers that artichokes are expensive! The asparagus was fresh though, no jars or cans there, not touched by Aluminum At All, that's the AAA promise. If you're wondering why the noodles appear a bit browner than usual, that's because I used whole wheat penne. For an additional A, this recipe was adapted from a recipe used at Alice Water's restaurant Chez Panisse. That's three more As!, or just one...

Here's the recipe it was based on.

Tonight's meal was brought to me (and my brother) by the letter A, and bought by me (and not my brother) at our local Trader Joe's from a cashier whose name may or may not have been Amy (it wasn't). Thanks Joe! ...and Amy!