Christmas Day - Beef Bourginoine

Monday, December 25, 2017

Dale decided he wanted to make Julia Child's beef bourginoine recipe for Christmas dinner. I helped and was more involved in the production I think since the first time we made it years ago.

To start, my job was to slice the onion.

Dale got the meat dried off with paper towels.

I also took care of getting the carrots sliced. The recipe calls for one carrot. We had baby carrots so I used about 7 of them and sliced them into quarter rounds.

Dale got the stove set up.

I cut six (they're doubled up in the photo) good sized slices of bacon into thirds.

Dale had the brilliant idea of each of us frying the  bacon off at the same time. I used the skillet and he used the casserole. 

Then we did the same thing with the meat, searing it on all sides. I'm surprised one of us hadn't thought of this before since it made it go twice as fast.

We then fried the vegetables and then added the bacon and the beef and put it in the oven for about 4 minutes, took it out and tossed it, and then put it back in for 4 more minutes.

When it came back out we added garlic,

thyme,

the wine,

chicken stock,

and about a tablespoon+ of tomato paste,

brought it to a simmer and then put it in the oven for about 2 and a 1/2 hours.

As it got closer to the time to take it out, Dale fried off the mushrooms.

When it came out of the oven,

we drained off the broth,

put what was left back in the casserole,

and added the fried off mushrooms to the casserole.

Dale needed to boil down the approximately 3 and a 1/2 cups of broth we had down to 2 and a 1/2 cups. He said it probably started out as 5 and a 1/2 cups when we put  the whole casserole in the oven and reduced to  the 3 and a 1/2 we had when we took it out.

After the broth was reduced, Dale skimmed off the fat although there wasn't much since the beef was pretty lean to begin with. We added the broth back to the casserole and waited for it to rest a bit. The smell was insanely divine.

Mom came over for Christmas dinner. She got here at 3:00 p.m. and we watched The Bishop's Wife serving appetizers of smoked gouda, pears, and crackers. 

We ate around 5 p.m. with the beef over egg noodles. Dale made brussels sprouts in the oven. Pumpkin pie for dessert.

Sunday Dinner

Sunday, October 15, 2017

From Dale's blog:

"Anyhoo. Joe and I listened to Bruce Springsteen for at least an hour tonight. Such a great artist."

"Athena was impatiently waiting for me to begin dinner tonight. It's her favorite time of the day because food sometimes falls on the floor and being the helper she is, always cleans it up! Delicious dinner btw. Baked Coho salmon, baked broccoli, Texas toast and a glass of wine, followed by cherry pie and whipped cream."

No, Athena did not get any cherry pie. Or anything else for that matter. Well, maybe a piece of broccoli.

I didn't do much to help make dinner aside from buttering the bread before it went in the oven.

Quiche

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Great rainy, cool, fall evening to make a quiche.  Perfect for the first day of October. The store was out of shredded Swiss cheese so Dale bought a brick which we shredded ourselves. It was fun to do it manually however it took awhile to find the cheese grater which we just don't use much any more. 

Before

After

Paul & Alice

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Dale and I joined our friend Warren's family for dinner at Jax Cafe to help his parents celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. Warren reserved the University Room  and covered appetizers and dessert for everyone. It was so good to help his parents, Paul & Alice, celebrate. We felt honored to be included. 

Red Stag with Mom

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Dale, Mom, and I all have birthdays that fall within 6 weeks of each other. This year we consolidated the celebrations into one and headed to the Red Stag Supper Club for brunch. Dale and I both had the vegetable breakfast hash (although I had them add corned beef to mine) and Mom had the eggs benedict. Mom had never been before and she loved it. Also, I had an Old Fashioned. Surprise. 

Jax Cafe With Friends

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Cindi made reservations at Jax Cafe for tonight and invited me and Dale, Wyn and James K., and, of course, Maggie. Dale and I arrived first. I ordered a martini at the bar while we waited. Wyn and James were next to arrive. When Wyn saw me she said, "Joe you are my spirit animal!" I asked her why but honestly I was so stunned to find out I'm someone's spirit animal that now I can't even remember what she said although I believe it had something to do with my affinity for gin martinis. She ordered one for herself while James ordered a beer.

We were seated when Cindi and Maggie arrived. Cindi ordered a gin martini as well. It really is amazing how much influence I have. 

Wyn was so excited to be at Jax. She told me she's known about it for 20 years and has always wanted to go. The experience eluded her until now. She wasn't sure what to order so I heartily endorsed the steak because, well, it is Jax after all. We each got the slow roasted prime rib which was 14 ounces of heaven on a plate. We both loved it. 

Our server was named Sandy which was auspicious as I've been texting Cindi pictures of pink squirrels all week to get her psyched for dessert and one of the pictures I sent was of Sandy Squirrel from the Sponge Bob television show. It HAD to be a sign that our waitress ended up being named Sandy. She took really good care of us providing awesome service the entire evening. 

Wyn, Cindi, and I each ordered a pink squirrel for dessert. 

Cindi even had matchbooks made for the event.

Anniversary at Red Stag

Recently Dale and I celebrated our anniversary at The Red Stag Supper Club. 

The service there is always friendly and our server, Claudia, was no exception to the rule. I started with an Old Fashioned cocktail. The Red Stag's default way of preparing it is the Wisconsin way with brandy as opposed to bourbon. Having spent as much time as I have in Wisconsin during the last however many summers I'm partial  to mine with brandy. 

We're both fans of the Red Stag's relish tray so when dining there we usually start with that. It includes vegetables pickled in house which can vary from visit to visit. This time it featured pickled carrots, green beans, olives, and what looked to be a lighter version of beets. The vegetables were crunchy, tangy, and delicious.

For dinner, Dale ordered one of the specials, a risotto with shrimp which looked delicious. I went with the roasted half chicken which came with a swiss chard souffle, ratatouille, and chicken jus. It was perfectly done. 

Dessert was their awesome carrot cake. Dale doesn't usually go for sweet but carrot cake is something he can't resist, especially The Red Stag's.

The decor of the Red Stag is charming and not (as many supper clubs are) overly kitschy. I've heard that many of the materials used for the restaurant were salvaged by hand including the bar top which is made of marble, tabletops made from doors, and upholstery for the booths made of recycled cassette tapes.* The atmosphere always adds to the experience.

I believe the Red Stag Supper Club will be celebrating it's 10 year anniversary of opening this coming November.  We may have to stop in to help them celebrate.

*See page 243 of Dave Hoekstra's awesome The  Supper Club Book: A Celebration of a Midwest Tradition.

Dining Alone

Dale's back up on the Island again for the summer. I ordered from our local Chinese take-out place a couple days ago and got the sweet and sour shrimp, one of my favorites. I always order a bit more than I need so I have some leftovers, which I ate tonight.