"Bluto: Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Otter: Germans? 

Boon: Forget it, he's rolling." - Animal House

Anyway, I am rolling. A couple more good recipes to report on today as I sit with a cup of coffee listening to The Be Good Tanyas.

First up is a modification of an epicurious.com recipe for veal chops with white beans and spinach. First, rub your veal chops with a mashed up clove of garlic and then salt and pepper them and cook them in a skillet over moderately high heat for about 4 minutes per side. They should be about medium rare at that point. Nice and pink on the inside.

The next step is the beans and spinach. Add a little olive oil to the skillet and saute up some  garlic. Add your white beans and spinach along with 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar

 (apple cider vinegar would also be nice in this, I think). Then, add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock that has 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch whisked into it. Stir this around in the pan with the beans and spinach as a way of deglazing and picking up the goodness that is left over from searing the veal chops. The sauce should come together pretty nicely. A minute or so before you think it's ready, add a teaspoon or so of chopped, fresh rosemary. Salt and Pepper to taste and drizzle a little of the sauce over the veal chops. The vinegar and rosemary are what really make this dish. They add a brightness that is really unexpected.

The original recipe for veal chops with radicchio is here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Veal-Chop-with-Radicchio-White-Beans-and-Rosemary-109029

The next recipe is my take on pot au feau. I was poking around the freezer a

nd noticed that we had some scraps of italian sausage and turkey breast, so I decided to experiment and this is what I came up with. I sliced up some garlic and about 1/4 pound of turkey breast and sauteed them up in a cast iron dutch oven. To this, I added about 3/4 of a chopped up sweet potato and 1/4 cup of white wine to deglaze. Then, I added chicken broth to cover, the green end of a leek, a bay leaf, and some dried thyme and parsley and put the lid on the pot to let it simmer until the potatoes were cooked through and tender.

In the meantime, I fried up the italian sausage and sliced it up and then quickly sauteed some

 sliced up brussel sprouts in the fat rendered from the sausage. This, a 4 oz. salmon filet that I

 had sliced up, and half of a can of red kidney beans went into the pot about 10 minutes before serving. At that point, I also pulled out the leek tops and the bay leaf. Ladel the soup into serving bowls and top with a little grated parm.

I had a nice 2006 Las Locas Granache-Syrah from Spain along with this dish. This was a surprisingly versatile dish. The flavors were bold enough to hold up, but I think a dry white or a dry rose would have worked equally well. 

"Spring is Here, Spring is Here / Life is Skittle, Life is Beer..."*

Well, a couple of interesting dinners to post today. Things have been pretty busy with school, Model UN, and a trip to St. Simon's Island for Spring Break, so I've not had a chance to get these posted. Anyway, these are a couple of nice Springtime dishes that should go over well with my reader(ship).

First, from Food & Wine magazine is a penne pasta dish with asparagus and fresh peas. We had a surprising warm snap in the middle

 of March that prompted me to look for something light and green to make for dinner and this happened to be in the most recent issue of the F&W magazine. As the recipe suggests, I really do recommend fresh peas and they really only need to go into the dish at the very end so that the residual heat from the pasta cooks them just slightly. I was satisfied with the recommendation of a Sauvignon Blanc to go along with this. For sure, you wouldn't want an oaky Chardonna

y, but a Pinot Grigio or a Viognier might be an interesting alternative choice. Here's the recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/penne-with-asparagus-sage-and-peas

The other recipe is a White Turkey Chili that I found on the Epicurious.com website. 

White Chili is one of those things that, at least for me, I remember exactly where I had it for the first time. It was at the Pufferbelly Restaurant in Berea, OH and we were there for a Father's Day

 or Easter brunch, if my memories serves. Anyway, white chilis are such a change of pace from the usual tomato based chili recipes and this one was fantastic. I ground up my cumin seeds fresh in a mortar and pestle and I think that added a really nice brightness to the flavor. I le

ft the jalapeno out because the Lovely Mina isn't a fan of really spicy food, but then added it in to my chili at the table. I really recommend this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/White-Turkey-Chili-4560

It was chili, so a cold, crisp beer was the obvious drink of choice. If I was going to have a wine with it, I think I would have chosen something red to deal with the cumin.

* Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, by Tom Lehrer