Follow me on Instagram

Hello fellow foodie, this was my old food blog, but since it's too high-maintenance I've switched to microblogging instead!  Come find me on Instagram if you'd like to check out all my food pr0n:

• https://instagram.com/chezmurillo/

New Year 2011

It seems to be turning into a tradition for us to throw another New Year's Eve party this year. The party was a little smaller than last year since a lot of folks are sick or out of town, but we still had a great time (and with lot of champagne and good eats, how could we not)?

Here's some of the stuff we served that night...


Puff pastry twists


Foie gras with date puree and pomegranate on brioche


Smoked salmon with crème fraîche and chives on toast


Stuffed cucumbers


Smoked duck breast and salami


Lumpia and sweet chili sauce


Veggies and hummus


Bread basket: cranberry-walnut, baguette, toast points, and pita


Cheese!


Chocolate fountain and fixings

Tea and Twilight

I was planning on going to a tea house with my sisters and some friends, but alas, we weren't able to find any places that were open in December (I guess tea houses are just really popular during the holidays?).

So, Leah and I decided to host our own tea party at my house. And since we were going to be all girls, we figured, why not also watch a girly movie? The new Twilight movie, Eclipse, just came out and we figured, why not? Of course, watching the movie sober is not fun (almost painful) so we also had a bunch of champagne to drink with tea as well as the truffle popcorn we had during the movie.


From bottom left: currant scone, cucumber sandwich,
curry chicken sandwich, smoked salmon sandwich

To start I made some currant scones, which we served with some Double Devon cream, lemon curd, and raspberry jam. For the tea sandwiches, Leah made a chicken curry sandwich (on wheat bread), and cucumber sandwiches (on white bread). I made a smoked salmon sandwich with creme fraiche on pumpernickel bread. Though not quite traditional, I think the curry sandwich was my favorite, it just had a lot more flavor and kick to it, and went perfectly with the champagne.



For our sweets, my sis tried making petit-fours for the first time. It was a bit sweet (as most all petit fours that I've ever tried) but still pretty good. I went to a recipe that I've made a couple times before, but never fails to impress: chocolate macarons (not "macaroons"!). Both looked really lovely on the table and enjoyed by all the ladies.

I had a few teas, including a lemon-herb tea and champagne raspberry tea (from Lisa's Tea Treasures), but Carrie gave me a couple more (love the "Napa Blanc" tea...really did remind me of wine!). Janie also brought a few teas from Starbucks (my fave was the Berryblossom White).

Good times!

It's crab season!

Crab season just started, and they had it on sale at the Asian supermarket near our house for $2.99 a pound. Crab is probably one of Uly's favorite foods, but I'm not the biggest fan, unless it's disguised in some manner to make it not too "crabby". We wound up getting 2 ginormous crabs and had them for both dinner and breakfast the next day!

One of the crab dishes I do like to eat is crab cakes, so we decided to make some from our usual recipe from Cook's Illustrated. For our other dish, we decided to go Asian and recreate the crab with cellophane noodles we've enjoyed at The Slanted Door. We were going to wing it and see if we can reproduce it, but they actually had the official recipe posted online! It tasted just like it did at the restaurant.

The next day at breakfast, since we still had some crab cakes left over, we decided to make a dish we've had at restaurants before for brunch: crab cakes eggs benedict. It's pretty much the same as regular eggs benedict, but instead of the ham you use a crab cake! It was our first time poaching eggs and it was a bit overcooked for my taste, but it was still pretty yummy!

Roast Cornish Hen with Herb-Bread Stuffing

We felt like drinking some Pinot, and were thinking about roasting a chicken, but then we wanted to try something a little bit different. I found a nice recipe for roast cornish hens from my other Jean-Georges cookbook (thanks Carrie!). The cornish hen was the perfect size for the two of us (no leftovers!), and the bread stuffing that came with it was absolutely perfect.

For our sides, we sauteed some brussels sprouts, and I made a mushroom risotto using regular button mushrooms and dried porcini. Our wine for the evening was a ZD Founder's Reserve Pinot Noir 2007, which we bought on our trip to Napa the previous year.

Here's the recipe for the cornish hens...

Roast Cornish Hen with Herb-Bread Stuffing
from Jean-Georges: Cooking At Home with a Four-Star Chef by Jean Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman

2 ounces good crustless bread (about 4 slices)
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound chicken livers, diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large shallot, minced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
2 tablespoons minced parsley leaves
2 Cornish hens, about 1 pound each, rinsed and dried
1 tablespoon buter
2 thyme sprigs
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled and lightly crushed

1) Preheat the oven to 500F. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch cubes. Place 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet and turn the heat to high. A minute later, add the bread. Toss it until it is golden brown, about 5 minutes, and place it in a bowl.
2) Wipe out the skillet. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and turn the heat to high. Sprinkle the livers liberally with salt and pepper, then toss in the pan. Immediately add the minced garlic, shallot, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally until the liver loses its rawness. Add to the bread and toss with the parsley and lots of salt and pepper. (You may prepare the stuffing in advance; refrigerate, in a covered container, for up to 2 days.)
3) When the stuffing is cool enough to handle, stuff the hens. Truss the birds if you like or simply close their rear vents with skewers to keep the stuffing from falling out. Season them all over with salt and pepper.
4) Place a Dutch oven or oven proof casserole over high heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, along with the butter. Immediately add the thyme sprigs, garlic cloves, and any scraps from the birds, such as necks or wing tips. Add the birds and brown lightly on both sides of the breast, then turn the birds onto their backs and place the pan in the oven.
5) Spoon the pan juices over the birds every 5 or 10 minutes. h they are done - after about 30 minutes of roasting (there should no traces of pink) -- put them on a platter. Remove the thyme sprigs, garlic, and greace from the pan. Place the pan over high heat and add 1/3 cup water; cook for a minute, scraping up all of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. When they are incorporated, pour the jus over the birds. Carve and serve.

Halibut Provençal

Felt like eating something light, so Uly and I decided to have some fish for dinner. We bought some fresh halibut from the Union City farmers market, and used one of the recipes from one of our favorite cookbooks, Jean-Georges' Simple to Spectacular. We just love how the recipes can be so simple, yet still "fancy" and very very tasty.

We picked a recipe that was one level up from the simplest, Provençal Halibut. The fresh, in-season grape tomatoes were the perfect complement to the fish, and the whole dish was very light and refreshing. For sides, we had some whole-wheat couscous and braised asparagus, which went very well with the fish. For our wine, we had a nice Chardonnay (free leftovers from Shirley's wedding!:) ).

Provençal Halibut
from Simple to Spectacular: How to Take One Basic Recipe to Four Levels of Sophistication (Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced shallots
Four 6-8 ounce bone-in halibut or other steaks, or 2 larger steaks, each at least 1 inch thick
Salt and cayenne pepper
1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons capers
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1/3 cup minced parsley

1) Preheat the oven to 500F. Smear the butter in a shallow baking pan that will hold the fish without crowding. Sprinkle the shallots over the butter.
2) Season the fish on both sides with salt and cayenne; lay it in the pan. Scatter the tomatoes and capers around and over the fish, then pour the wine around all.
3) Bring to a boil on top of the stove, then transfer to the oven and cook for 5 minutes, basting once with the liquid. Turn the fish and cook until it is done, about 10 minutes total; the fish should be firm and just about opaque all the way through. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Makes 4 servings
Time: 25 minutes

Uly's Birthday BBQ

For Uly's birthday, he wanted something low-key (must be 'cause he's getting old!). We just invited our families over for a barbeque.

We made Uly's famous sliders...half chuck/half sirloin that we just ground that day, on a brioche bun. I was craving some truffle flavor, so to compliment the burgers, we made some truffle shoestring fries, truffle aioli, and truffle ketchup! In my opinion, you can never have too much truffle...

Sole Meuniere

I found myself craving a some fish, so we decided to revisit Sole Meuniere, which we really liked the last time we made it. We bought some sole from the Asian supermarket and used the same recipe as last time. This dish really is so simple we should really make it more often! We had some sauteed swiss chard on the side, which was a nice light complement to the main course

Went Spanish with the appetizers since we wanted to use up some Pimientos de Padron we had, and also had some of the Jamon Iberico we brought back from Spain. For dessert, we had Picandou, a french soft goat cheese.


We drank 2 different white wines with this dish. With the appetizers and the fish, we had some Ledson Sauvignon Blanc that we had bought from the winery from our last trip to Sonoma. With the cheese, we had a half bottle of Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc.

Squid Ink Pasta

When we were at the Ferry building the day before, we saw some squid ink pasta for sale. Curious, we decided to give it a try. I found a recipe for Squid Ink Pasta with Parsnips and Pancetta so we decided to try it out. The only modifications we made are using regular bacon instead of pancetta (too lazy to go to TJ's to get some), and added some fresh squid.

We drank it with a bottle of Bartolo Fiano 2007 that I got from one of our SCMWA passport days. It was nice and light, complementing the pasta

Tapas!

Since we came back from Spain, we've been wanting to host another tapas night. We invited over my sisters, Leah and Kay, and my cousin Sara and their significant others to share some of the bounty we brought back from our trip.

We started off with some cold tapas. Some olives, pan con tomate, and assorted meats we brought back from Spain: Jamon Iberico, Chorizo, and Morcilla (Spanish blood sausage). Surprisingly the blood sausage was actually the biggest hit out of all the meats! We then had some "soup and salad", heirloom tomato gazpacho shooters and a salad made out of diced granny smith apples, Murcia ("Drunken Goat") cheese, walnuts, and olive oil.

For our hot tapas, we had some Pimientos de Padrón (probably my favorite of all tapas), Chorizo in red wine, Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp in garlic), and green beans with pine nuts. Finally, we had the paella, which had chicken, shrimp, chorizo, peas, red peppers, and clams. It was pretty good but I find I still prefer mussels to clams.


We drank a whole bunch of Spanish wines, but alas I don't remember which ones. All in all, a fun party and a successful meal. Good times!

Cheese Night

We still had some leftover Brillat-Savarin and Rogue River Blue from our Champagne night, so just decided to have some wine and cheese the following week. Along with those two cheeses, I got some L'Edel de Cleron and aged gouda from Milk Pail and we were set!

Since this was also our dinner, Uly didn't want to go without meat. We had some Chorizo Iberico and Jamon Iberico that we had brought back with us from Spain, as well as some pate. For wine, we drank a Mayo Vineyards Cabernet 2006.

Champagne Night

Uly and I wanted to have a special meal, since I was going to India the next day and will be gone for a week. It was a nice warm day, and it had been a while since we had champagne night so we figured it was time to have another one!

We knew we definitely wanted caviar, and this time we decided to splurge on the good stuff: real Osetra caviar. Good thing BevMo carries the stuff. A couple years ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference, but now I could definitely notice the higher quality. We decided to make the Jean-Georges style eggs with caviar again, which with the Osetra definitely tasted like what we had at the restaurant (though still not quite as pretty). We also had some of the caviar by itself, with some blinis and creme fraiche. Later on, we even tried the caviar with some vodka we had lying around...it did go pretty well, but I still prefer champagne!

We also had some oysters that we bought from the farmer's market, which I served with a mignonette sauce from Epicurious. I prefer my oysters raw, but unless I'm in a really good restaurant or I buy them at the farm, you can never be too sure so I broiled them for a bit as the recipe recommended. Still pretty damn good. Also made some gougeres, which always go great with champagne. For these I use the recipe from Alain Ducasse. Finally, we cannot have champagne night without some foie gras, good thing we still had some vacuum-packs left in the freezer. We just seared these quickly and had them over brioche.

Of course, the meal won't be complete without some cheese. I got some Brillat-Savarin with truffle paste at Whole Foods, probably my favorite cheese of all time. Since we had the brioche anyway, we also decided to make an hors d'oeuvre that we had at the Mayo Reserve Room winery. It's very simple, but tasty...Rogue river blue, sonoma honey, and truffles. Yum!

Lushes that we are, we had not just one but two(!) bottles of champagne that day. The first one was Guy Larmandier Brut NV, a champagne that we had at a New York restaurant that I absolutely loved. For our second bottle, we stuck with the French and had some Taittinger Brut that we had on hand.

We definitely went all out on this one, but it was oh-so worth it! Can't wait until our next champagne night!

Wine & Cheese

.
We had quite a busy weekend in the city so we just wanted a simple meal that we didn't have to cook. We just went to Whole Foods and got some cheese and a baguette. We still had some blue cheese left over, so just got a triple-cream and a hard cheese. We also got a chance to open the chorizo iberico de bellota that we brought back from Spain...man, that was probably the best chorizo I've ever had...good thing we only ate half!

For our wine, drank the 2003 Casanova Di Neri Pietradonice "Super Tuscan" that's been sitting in our cellar for quite some time. It was nice and full-bodied, yet not too tannic. Nothing like some good wine and good cheese to wind down on a Sunday night!

Pork Chops

We still had some veggies left over from the farmers market the previous day, but what meat to make? We settled on pork chops since they were easy and we haven't cooked pork in a while. We loosely followed this recipe from Epicurious but we were missing some of the ingredients and skipped the brining part. It still turned out pretty well though, and was really tasty.

For our vegetable, we had the yellow/purple beans we got at the farmers market, unfortunately the purple color faded and we got yellow/green instead. Maybe it was just dyed? It was still good though. For our starch, we had some baby potatoes that were lightly pan-fried. For the wine, we opened a Hagafen Merlot that we got in Napa last summer...it was nice and mellow and went perfectly with the pork. All in all, it was a pretty simple meal, but hearty and made for a great Sunday dinner.


Pork Chops with Apples


Green and yellow beans


Sauteed baby potatoes


The final plate

Farmers' Market Seafood

Since it's been warm lately, Uly and I felt like it might be nice to have some white wine and seafood for dinner. It's been a few months since we've been to the Union City Farmers' Market...last time we were there, it was winter and there wasn't much going on, so we were pleased to see it bustling and full of activity yesterday morning. We wound up getting some oysters and wahoo (ono), a fish frequently found in Hawaii.

For the oysters, we just followed this recipe from epicurious. The oysters seemed fresh, but we didn't want to take any chances eating it raw, so a quick broil did the trick...the accompanying champagne vinegar mignonette went perfectly. Would have been nice to have some bubbly, but didn't seem worth it to open a whole bottle when we only had 3 oysters each.

The wahoo, we did a simple marinade of soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic that I saw on Chowhound. It was supposed to also have ginger for even more Asian flavor, but alas I forgot to pick some up at the grocery store. It still turned out really well, though. We wanted some sort of fruity salsa to go with the grilled fish, considered mango but then ultimately decided to go with pineapple to give it more of the Hawaiian flavor. The salsa was just a mix of pineapple (we just used canned), onions, cilantro, jalapeno, and lemon. For sides, we sauteed some snow peas with shallot, and cooked some jasmine rice, flavoring it with a bit of scallions, cilantro, and lemon. The fish didn't look that big when we bought it, but it was huge (probably more than a pound) and we didn't even get to finish it.

For our wine, we opened a bottle of Mayo Chardonnay that had been sitting in our fridge for some time. It was actually a free bottle, since it had no label (not sure how a winery runs out of labels, but hey, it worked out for us!). It might have been a bit too full-bodied for the delicately flavored fish, but it held up well to the salsa, which had a bit of a kick from the jalapeno.

It was a pretty light meal, but very satisfying especially in the hot weather. Definitely looking forward to more warm summer nights!


Oysters with champagne vinegar mignonette


Grilled Wahoo (Ono) with sesame oil and soy marinade


Pineapple salsa, sauteed snow peas, and cilantro-scallion jasmine rice