A Special Dinner for my Wife

Last week I surprised my wife with a candle lit dinner because of a special occasion. What is that special occasion you may ask? Well, she quit smoking two years ago and has not had one cigarette since! I am so proud her. So I though a nice high class dinner was in order for such a big achievement. 

The dinner started off with a simple yet delicious salad. Nothing too fancy, just regular lettuce with fresh tomatoes, basil, romano cheese and a home made herb infused olive oil and good balsamic sprinkled on top.

The pasta was fresh, hand made and cut. I rolled it out really thin using our pasta machine. The filling was a carbonara inspired filling of mostly egg with other ingredients. The egg was gently cooked in a double boiler so they cooked but didn't curdle. The mixture was then refrigerated for an hour to cool and set. That was then pipped onto the pasta squares as the filling. The sauce was really simple: very finely diced zucchini and guancianale saute'd and finished with a little chicken stock. It turned out pretty well, although I am going to have to perfect it (the filling was a little runny and didn't set quite right in the fridge, but the flavor was there). Everything really worked well together.

I also made a sirloin filet. I seasoned with salt and pepper and seared it in a hot cast iron pan. I then finished cooking it in the oven at 350 degrees until medium-medium rare. The topping was a pesto sauce I made in the mini prep of basil, romano cheese, 3-4 cloves garlic, salt and pepper, walnuts, pine nuts, red pepper flakes, and olive oil. The steak turned out great, with a flavorful crust and tender interior. The pesto went really well with the steak. 

We had a nice bottle of Pinot Noir to go with the meal.

The highlight of the meal was not the food itself. It was the look on Mel's face when she saw it and the card I got for her. It was a special night, for a special woman, and a special achievement. 

The good, the bad, Rose's

Tonight Mel and I decided to go out to eat. Originally we wanted to go to Twisted Rooster again, but when we got there it was absolutely packed and there was a huge wait for a table. So we decided to try a new restaurant, Rose's, located on the bank of Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids. They make Mediterranean style food. Here are what our plates looked like.

Mel ordered the spicy Italian sausage and Gorgonzola pizza and I ordered the angle hair pasta. I'll start with the positives- the pizza. Mel's pizza was pretty good and pretty reasonably priced at $14.25 for a 12" pizza. It is a thin crust pizza and they did a pretty good job with the crust. I had some minor issues with the crust though. While the outside edges were nicely cooked and had great flavor and texture, the middle wasn't as nicely done. Don't get me wrong it was done, as in it was not raw dough. However it didn't have the same crispiness as he edges had. When I think back of the best pizzas I have ever had, the crust was evenly done all over. Minor gripe aside, the toppings were very good. The sausage had nice flavor and was not too spicy, and was seasoned well. The Gorgonzola added a nice woodsy flavor to the pizza. Also on top were onions and some garlic, as well as mozzarella cheese. All the flavors worked well together and really formed a good pizza. 

My dish was angel hair pasta with tomatoes, chicken, roasted garlic, basil, green beans, bacon, and a garlic butter "broth." I will get straight to the point: this was one of the most disappointing meals I have had in a long time. First off the I would expect a restaurant that makes Mediterranean food to be able to cook pasta right. My pasta was incredibly overcooked. I like it al dente, so there is still a little bit of firmness to the pasta. This was cooked to mush basically. Next, the pasta was just piled in the middle with all the other "bits" around the outside. The problem was the chicken was cut into little pieces that were hard to integrate with the dish. It would have been better if the chicken was tossed with the pasta, or if a larger piece of chicken was on top or the side. The same could be said of everything else. Also, individually everything tasted fine. The beans were fresh, the garlic was sweet, and the tomatoes were tasty. But together it just didn't all go together well. To top it off, the broth was watery and just kind of sat in the bottom of the plate and didn't add a lot of flavor to anything else. Mel agreed that it was just OK, nothing special. In fact we new we could make a vastly superior dish. But what really made me mad regarding the dish was that it was $16.50. For $16.50 I expect my pasta to be cooked right and the flavors to go together coherently. Instead I received a dish that wouldn't be out of place at a national chain restaurant sold for $8 or  $9. Even that may be pushing it. 

The service was decent. Our server was friendly and was knowledgeable of the menu. The food came out fast, but was hit and miss. I have a hard time giving this restaurant my full backing. The pizza was pretty good; one of the better ones I have had in the city. But the pasta was not good at all, and was very disappointing. I would say if you haven't been and want to try it to go for the pizzas. Otherwise proceed with caution. 

New Years Dinner

Having written about our New Year Eve dinner, it is time for our New Year dinner.

Since Mel is Italian we had an Italian meal with lentils for good luck on New Year Eve. My family is from the south so for our New Year dinner we had southern food. 

I'll start with the black eyed peas. In the south you eat black eyed peas for good luck on New Year Day. I soaked the black eyed peas for a while in some water. I strained and rinsed them before putting them back in the pot and covering with chicken broth. Normally I would throw some bacon in there for some extra flavoring. However I found some smoked pig jowl in the store and decided to use that instead. I am glad I did as it added even more flavor to the peas than bacon. I cooked this for about 2 hours until the peas were cooked through and a nice thick sauce had developed. They came out with a nice smoky pork flavor imparted in them.

Using the left over gigantic chicken breast from the night before, I made some chicken strips. I dusted them with flour, dunked in some egg, then covered in bread crumbs. We had panko bread crumbs on had but any would do. I then pan fried them to golden brown and sprinkled with salt right after frying. Mel made a little dipping sauce of mustard and a little mayonnaise for the chicken that went really well with it.

She also made the salad. It had lettuce, dried cranberries, walnuts, and feta cheese. The real star was the vinaigrette. For Christmas my mom got me a bottle of good balsamic vinegar and a bottle of good black cherry balsamic vinegar. She used the black cherry balsamic with extra virgin olive oil to make a killer dressing that went really well with the salad. 

To round it all off we had some buttered buttermilk biscuits.

Happy New Year everyone. Thanks for reading my blog.  

New Years Eve Dinner For Good Luck

Thought I would share what I made for dinner tonight for Mel and I.

Let's start with the chicken. I had a giant chicken breast so I cut the breast in half so it was half as thick. I then seasoned with salt and pepper and lightly floured it. I saute'd the chicken in a little bit of olive oil until the  chicken was golden brown and crispy. I made a sauce to go on top of butter, lemon, capers, and garlic. 

In the top right corner were some lentils I made for Mel because eating lentils on New Years Eve is an Italian tradition to bring good luck in the new year. I cooked the lentils in water with onion, carrot, and celery, with a bay leaf thrown in as well. After 20-25 minutes I removed the bay leaf and strained the lentils. I then added them to a large skillet and added a little chicken broth as well as some salt and pepper. I also added fresh chopped spinach and wilted it in the lentils. Once the chicken broth was absorbed I removed it from the heat to serve. 

In the other top corner is a simple pasta dish I came up with. I made the pasta dough and cut the dough into the thin strands. The dough was just a simple pasta dough of flour, eggs, salt, and olive oil. I cooked the pasta for only a minute or two in salted boiling water. In the skillet I cooked the chicken in I added onion and cooked it until translucent. I then added garlic, Roma tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and green onion. I then took the pasta out of the water and added it to the hot pan to finish cooking and tossed everything together. 

I thought all of the dishes had nice balance to them. The sauce added a nice brightness to the chicken that countered the browned exterior very nicely. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the sweetness of the sun dried tomatoes worked well with the acidity of the fresh tomatoes. And the lentils were creamy and earthy and the aromatics played really well with them. 

Braised Beef and Pulled Pork

So Mel and I met some friends down at HopCat last Friday. (Sorry there are no pictures. I left my phone in the car on accident.) It was a fun time, as most visits to HopCat are. The beer menu was especially good. There were a lot of varieties on tap (there always are), from lighter wheat beers, to strong stouts brewed with coffee and chocolate, to fruity lambics and ciders. 

For the meal I ordered the Porter Braised Beef sandwich. The beef was fall apart tender and juicy, with a nice flavor imparted from the porter braising liquid. There was a nice black pepper blue-cheese mayo that played nicely with the beef without being too "blue." Finishing it off was a crunchy onion "haystack" of thinly sliced and fried onions. The vessel for all this goodness was a toasted brioche bun. 

Mel had the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich. The pork is nicely pulled, there weren't any big chunks hiding. The BBQ sauce adds a little bit of heat with a nice vinegary taste that is subtle. This is topped with Swiss cheese that melts all over the top and also served on a toasted brioche bun. It is also served with a side of coleslaw that is good as a side or on the sandwich. 

Of course both meals were served with a side of crack fries and a pickle.

Once again HopCat delivers.

The Twisted Rooster

After a wonderful time at Frederick Meijer Gardens, looking at all the Christmas trees, watching plants eat insects, and strolling through the sculpture park, Mel and I went and had dinner at Twisted Rooster. I was pretty excited to go because I had been wanting to try it out for a while now. I had heard good things about it, and it was featured in Grand Rapids Magazine 2012 Taste This! dining guide. However I do have to admit I was a little skeptical. I had thoughts that maybe this would be just another run of the mill TGI Friday's or Applebee's restaurants. Needless to say these thoughts were completely unwarranted.

First things first, I applaud Twisted Rooster for their dedication to use high-quality, locally sourced ingredients from places like Byron Meats, Founders, and Otto Farms, as well as a drink menu that featured heavily from local breweries and distilleries.

 We started off with Founder's Pale Ale cheese dip. The dip was made with Founder's Pale Ale, Michigan Cheddar cheese, bacon, and chives. It was different from many beer cheese dips I have had in that a sharp cheddar was used. It seems that many places use milder white cheeses for their dip. The bacon added a nice smokiness to the cheese and the pale ale really shined through offering a noticeable yet subtle bitterness that highlighted the other ingredients. The chips were good as well. I don't know for sure if they were fried in house, but they sure tasted fresh to me. This was a really good start to the meal

My main course was Hawaiian Wahoo tacos with a little baby greens salad. In case you are unfamiliar with wahoo, other than being a term for excitement it is also a fish caught in tropical or subtropical waters. First I'll start with the greens and then the tacos. The greens were a standard mix of field greens with arugula, red lettuce, baby spinach, etc. It was dressed in a very nice vinaigrette. It tasted like red wine vinegar was the base and cherry was also used for some sweetness. The first thing I noticed after taking a bite was the acid up front from the vinegar. It was nice and not offensive at all. Following this was a sweetness from the cherry that slowly crept up on the pallet. This nicely offset the natural bitterness often associated with field greens.

Now to the taco. It was a special they were having. This, perhaps, featured the best cooked fish I have had in Michigan to date. The wahoo was perfectly grilled so that it remained moist and did not dry out. Also, and this is very important, there was not a hint of fishy smell from the fish. Almost every time I can think of when I have had fish in Michigan, there has been a little bit of a "fishy" smell. Not like it had gone bad or anything. Just that it was not at the absolute freshness it could be. Also the texture was that of fresh caught fish, not frozen fish. So it was either brought in very fresh, or it was the most immaculately frozen fish ever. Also on the taco was a habanero cheese that added a little bit of heat in the after taste,  a cilantro sour cream, romaine lettuce for crunch, and a twisted salsa that appeared to have small dices of cantaloupe, pineapple, cucumber, and either melon or pear. I think it was melon. Everything put together added to a wonderfully flavorful, yet very light tasting dish. The salsa added a freshness and balanced the heaviness of the cheese, while the sour cream worked well with the lettuce and fish. Overall a wonderfully conceived and executed dish.

 Mel had the Twisted Rooster sandwich. It consisted of a (real) chicken tenders in a Founders Pale Ale batter and fried to perfection, jalapeno cheese, pepper jack cheese, and pico de gallo. On the side were their salt and pepper fries. First off, the chicken was fried perfectly and the chicken remained moist in the middle. Too often the chicken comes out dry as the outer part of the chicken cooks too fast while the center isn't done yet. The batter was well seasoned and once again the subtle flavors of the Pale Ale came through. The cheese added hint of heat and chili flavor that complimented the chicken and pico. The pico added some acidity and freshness to balance the heaviness of the fried chicken and cheese. The "bun" was a fried flatbread that honestly was the perfect choice as a vessel. I think a regular bun would have smothered and masked the flavors of the sandwich. The fries were good but nothing to brag about. Better can be found else where. However this is one of the best chicken sandwiches I have ever had and easily the best I have had in GR.

 We finished with a dessert of their bread pudding that they were having as another special. This was a great little dessert. The cinnamon whipped cream on top was, in my opinion, the best part and I could have eaten just that!. The bread pudding part was very good as well with a nice use of sweet spices. The texture of the bread was nice in that it held together and didn't turn to mush. A fitting end to the meal.

Overall I was very surprised with the Twisted Rooster. Like I said earlier, I thought it may be just like Applebee's, but I was dead wrong. Not even close. The service was pretty good too. Our waiter went missing for a little bit when it started getting busy at the end of our meal, but he was very courteous and definitely knew what was on tap and what was on the menu. The ambiance was casual with many tv's with sports playing on them. The prices were fantastic as well. 

All of Twisted Rooster was very, very good. In fact, I highly recommend it, even over a place like San Chez.   Definitely goes down as one of my Best of GR restaurants.

Chicken and rice fusion

Thought I would share this.

The other day Mel and I were looking to do a quick dinner. We had the idea of a soup. It was cold, rainy, and she felt like a cold was coming on. Chicken noodle was an obvious first choice, as we had both chicken and noodles, as well as chicken broth and a few other veggies. Mel wasn't too fond of the idea of chicken noodle soup. She wanted something more substantial. So I told her I would come up with something. Here is what I came up with (sorry I didn't think to take pictures).

I cut up onion, celery, and carrot (known by the French word mirepoix [meer-PWAH]). I also cut up 3 cloves of garlic. I seasoned them with salt and pepper and softened up the veggies in a large pot to help bring out the natural sweetness. After about 4 minutes (when the onions started turning translucent) I added the chicken. I used the thigh. I generally like using the thigh because I think it tastes better than the breast, and it tends to keep its texture and not dry out like breasts can. I turned the heat up a little bit and cooked the chicken until almost cooked though. I then added the chicken broth brought it to a simmer. I use low sodium broth, it helps me better control how salty the dish is. I added some basil, bay leaf, and a little oregano like I would to a "classic" chicken noodle soup. However I started to add some twists. I add a good quality soy sauce to add some salt to the soup. Then I added some tumeric for a nice yellow color and some spicy Madras curry powder. It added a nice, deep, complex flavor to the soup without adding too much heat. I added 4-6 oz of heavy cream to add a little bit of thickness to the soup. I finally finished it off with rice instead of noodles. So I started off with a classic chicken noodle soup and ended up with a tasty fusion of classic chicken noodle soup and a coconut milk-curry rice soup. I think I will be making this again.