Braised White Beans and Spicy Sausage

I came up with the idea for this last week when I made some white beans with red peppers as a side dish.  It was pretty good but I thought some Mexican chorizo mixed in would make it even better (probably still a good idea to try).  As you can see I went with Italian sausage instead and added some sauce.  I wanted bigger pieces to go with the beans and also didn’t think chorizo would braise very well.  We’re going out to dinner tomorrow night (somebody’s birthday tomorrow, not mine!) so made something easy and not too heavy for tonight.  And come on, who doesn’t like a fancy “pork and beans” dinner?Continue reading “Braised White Beans and Spicy Sausage”

Red Pepper and Artichoke Pizza

As you may have read, we were away last weekend so the fridge was a little bare when we returned Monday.  Normally I do the shopping on Mondays but this week has been crazy with real estate work (I can hear some faint cries of  “about time you did some work”).  I’ve got a couple deals scheduled to close at the end of the month and some other business development so I’ve been hopping around making sure everything is in order.  Needless to say the groceries had to wait a bit. Continue reading “Red Pepper and Artichoke Pizza”

Weekend in DC!

Last weekend we journeyed back to our former city for a visit.  Saw lots of friends and had the opportunity to eat and drink at some of our old favorites.  Sadly, we didn’t get to all of the ones we wanted to, we just ran out of energy by Sunday night!Continue reading “Weekend in DC!”

Top Chef Episode 10 – Restaurant Wars!

Yay!  Restaurant Wars!  This is always my favorite episode on each Top Chef season.  It’s the halfway point.  Everyone who makes it past this show is in the top half and we’re getting down to the nitty gritty.  Restaurant Wars is also a very risky episode.  Many a chef who’s taken the reins to run the kitchen has been sent home when their team comes up short, usually because they didn’t take charge, or were working the front of the house.  Also, someone usually ends up staying who should go home but they end up on the winning team and can’t be voted out.  So historically, there’s usually some good drama on this particular episode.  No quickfire, just Restaurant Wars!Continue reading “Top Chef Episode 10 – Restaurant Wars!”

Eater 38 – Sun Wah Bar-B-Que

Last Friday we were sitting at home trying to figure out what to do for dinner and my phone rang.  It was Erik (of last Sunday dinner’s Erik and Jen) and he was wondering the same thing.  He mentioned they had reserved a duck at Sun Wah and could up the reservation from 2 people to 4 if we were interested.  I said I’d check with Cheryl and get back to him shortly.  The conversation then went as follows: Me: “How about duck at Sun Wah tonight instead of Thai?” (pressing dial button) Cheryl: “Yes” (phone rings) Me: “We’re in.”  That should tell you how highly the GastroGnome household rates Sun Wah’s crispy duck.Continue reading “Eater 38 – Sun Wah Bar-B-Que”

What’s for Sunday Dinner – Butternut Squash Ravioli

Or I should say, what was for Sunday dinner!  I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted a Sunday dinner.  December sure was busy!  Since it’d been so long I wanted to do something special as well as use some of my Christmas gifts and decided to play with the ravioli press Cheryl gave me.  Also got to use the ricer.  As you can see they worked pretty well.  Continue reading “What’s for Sunday Dinner – Butternut Squash Ravioli”

Weeknight Dinner – Shepherds Pie

I think I previously mentioned our fridge was broken and we had to get a new one, which was delivered on Tuesday.  While it sucked to have everything in the freezer thaw out completely it did provide an opportunity to clean out the fridge of all those unused items which find their way to the back.  Some nasty stuff in there too.  However, when you clean it out you eventually have to re-stock it.  While at the grocery store this week doing just that I saw they had some ground lamb and immediately thought this week we’re having Shepherds Pie.Continue reading “Weeknight Dinner – Shepherds Pie”

Top Chef Episode 9 – And They’re Back

Sigh.  Why, Top Chef producers?  Why did you go back to a group challenge after abandoning it last episode?  So disappointed.  The quickfire was interesting enough but another all night long team elimination challenge just added to my annoyance with this season.  It’s like they’re just relying on clichés and stereotypes for the big challenges.  “We’re in Texas so we have to do Mexican/chili/BBQ/rattlesnake.”  It’s just not a good combination, the chefs get these oddball challenges where they feel they have to stay close to authentic but the judges are looking for more creativity.  This season seems more and more to be about mixed signals.  The chef who can un-cross the streams should coast to the win.  My guess on which one is below.Continue reading “Top Chef Episode 9 – And They’re Back”

Split Pea Soup (you did save that ham bone from Christmas, right?)

So our fridge has been on the fritz (new one coming tomorrow) and we don’t have much in there at the moment.  Luckily for us the remains of our Christmas ham were waiting when we got back yesterday.  We happily finished them off knowing there was one more dish coming from the celebratory ham…split pea soup.  One of Cheryl’s fav-o-rite soups.  She likes ham a lot, but sometimes I think she just wants me to make a ham so she gets the split pea soup.  Both are very high on her fav’s list.Continue reading “Split Pea Soup (you did save that ham bone from Christmas, right?)”

We Went Medieval on the Fondue

Saturday was rainy and overcast which meant it was good day to hop on a train.  I continue to be impressed with the transit system there.  Lots of trains and trams, and of course, they run on time.  Anyway, it was rainy so we decided to go to Stein am Rhein, a picturesque little river village about an hour from Zurich famous for its preserved medieval city center.  Continue reading “We Went Medieval on the Fondue”