Parsley Root Quenelles

I have a couple of little picky eaters. The biggest challenge is finding a compromise between one decidely savory palate and one quasi-vegetarian sweet-tooth. Herein, the most successful compromise to date.

From gastronomic guesswork

Parsley root has a subtle sweetness and herbaciousness that livens up potatoes. I used 4 small yukon golds to 1 bunch of parsley root (maybe 2 to 1 in terms of volume), boiling them together with an attention to making the parsley root pieces half the size of the potato chunks to approximate even cooking. This was mashed, then mounted with plugra and seasoned with sea salt and white pepper. This is not a steakhouse side as the subtle sweetness would be lost next to heartier dishes, but this would be a great accompaniment to milder fish, pork, or poultry courses. I'm looking forward to other uses for this great, albeit subtle, ingredient.

Toast in Denver

Situated on the edge of old town Littleton, Toast is a cozy spot for brunch that's ... well, cute. The decor on this wall features toast shaped pieces of art, some original, others reinterpreting classic paintings like The Schoolmaster (Magritte) and The Birth of Venus (Botticelli). Some have described it as upscale which I think is overstating it. It has it's own voice that speaks breakfast comfort food with an accent of southwestern savory fare. On two visits we've sampled the breakfast and lunch items. The pace is a little slow and you can expect a 20-30 minute wait on weekend mornings. We planned ahead, got our names on the list and strolled around the quaint little old town area - a good place to kill time is the Savory Spice Shop.

The front room reminds me of the now defunct (and sorely missed) Denver location for the Walnut Cafe (formerly at Colfax and Logan). The back room is unexciting aside from the art on the wall, and the passage between the wings sort of stinks like you're downtown next to an alley. Despite this, the food is very good and the staff we've dealt with have been great. This is not cuisine, but this is food with attention to detail. The eggs benedict with crispy prosciutto was spot on with a near perfect hollandaise. The savory Sante Fe French Toast was delicious, employing some of the best Mexican / Southwestern chorizo I've ever had. The green chili is better than average, and the burgers have that crisp edge you only get from a well seasoned griddle. The pancakes are excellent, very light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness. The french toast is very good, with cinnamon and nutmeg notes in good balance. Give it a go, Toast is a good little local spot worth a short trip. Last note, park on Main street if you can and walk half a block, the larger parking lot is pretty ridiculous to navigate (single lane between houses to access, very limited room to turn around).

Arugula & Celeriac Salad in Pomegranate Pepper Vinaigrette with Steak Pimenton, Roasted Scallions, Macerated Celery and Fresh Bacon Bits

This is a carnivore's salad to be sure.

From gastronomic guesswork

The base is a 4 to 1 mix of fresh arugula leaves to celeriac julienne - starting with roughly 5 oz of arugula (like this) to 1 large celery root (note celeriac / celery root is not the same root that grows celery).

The celery was salt macerated (tossed with salt and left at room temperature to soften) for 2 hours. The scallions were separately grilled in a little olive oil. The bacon was roasted for 20 minutes at 350F, drained, cooled, and minced.

The steak was seasoned with smoked pimenton and maldon salt, then rested at room temperature for an hour before grilling to medium doneness. The vinaigrette was a suspension of 4 to 4 to 1 of olive oil, 50% reduced pomegranate juice, and red wine vinegar. To this we (meaning my wife the salad queen) added 1 teaspoon of dijon black mustard and a healthy dose of black pepper.

The flavor notes centered on pomegranate, smoke, and pepper, the latter coming of the arugula, celeriac, and black pepper.

Miserable Failures

A couple spectacular failures in the quest for culinary learning ...

Potatoe Pancakes with Seven Spice and Powdered Sugar

From gastronomic guesswork

Oh how awful this was, what the hell was I thinking? I guess the nori seaweed from the seven spice was, um, not something you might want in a typical American breakfast dish.

Falafel and Meatballs

From gastronomic guesswork

Did I have a head injury ... the only real basis for pairing here was round things, I think golfballs also qualify.

Anyway, thanks for reading, but please remember there's a lot of guesswork going on around here.

Tamale Kitchen in Denver

Where do I like to go to get my cheap tex-mex grub on? For 15 years it's been Tamale Kitchen. Pictured below are their Tamales with Green Chili and Queso Fresco (I added the last part).

From gastronomic guesswork

The original location is over on Morrison Road and Sheridan, and my bachelor days were filled with many a trip over their from Wash Park for breakfast, lunch or dinner (yah, it was worth the 40 minutes of driving when you're young and hungry). There's this guy at the counter who use to always tell me "Keep it level" in this guttural groan as I left. For at least a couple years I was thinking he meant "keep it cool", but really he was just telling me how to avoid dumping the smothered burritos all over my front seat. The green chili is great, not that hot but great on eggs among many other things. Tacos are passable, breakfast burritos made to order and very good, and the rest of the tex-mex is cheap and always good. Tamale Kitchen is now back on The List for takeout with me as we have one down south now.

Pasta in Turkey Broth with Celery, Thyme and Garbanzo

Cheap, quick, different and good. Saute two cloves of minced garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, incorporate 2 cups of turkey broth and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. Add the garbanzo beans and reduce by half, then add 1/2 cup of diced celery 2 minutes before removing from the heat. Ladel over cooked pasta and finish with freshly grated parmesan.

From gastronomic guesswork

Most Annoying Cooking Show, Ever

So I'm clacking away at the computer this morning, and Food Network happens to be on in the background. My wife turned it on to watch Anne Burrel's show, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef wherein she revealed the intricate secrets of a ham and cheese sandwich. We both remarked how dumbed down this show was becoming, like somehow Anne's talent was getting chewed up by the formulaic food marketing machine - I thought to myself, I think a line has been crossed. Besides Iron Chef America (which itself is suffering from a glut of Flay and Cora), I don't watch anything on the food network, so I wonder is Food Network suffering from its own success as it tries to trade quality for viewers, ever obsessed with another tenth from the Nielsen family?

Anyway, the most annoying cooking show was yet to come... I kept clacking away through The Neallys without paying much attention, then I was startled by the macaw-like squawking of Paula Dean ... I tried to ignore it and kept clacking, then the squawking literally doubled and I was forced to watch Paula and a Paula impersonator imitate each other is some staged self-congratulatory homage to THE PAULA ... they cooked burgers in puff pastry and poured extra grease on 'em for good measure ... somehow I endured the culinary magic and symphonic animal sounds long enough for this post, then my wife did the right thing and shut the television off.

Black Garlic Sliders with Habanero, Brie and Cornichons

Some weird part of my brain thought this strange set of flavors and textures might just work. Remember now that I'm the savory nutbar that, when compelled to enter a dessert competition, came up with Grilled Banana Scallops with Maytag Blue Cheese and Guava Gelee. You have been warned...

From gastronomic guesswork

The idea for the full sensory experience here was to play with sweet + earthy + hot + acid in a fun food form factor (the flavors respectively, black garlic + beef + habanero toned down + cornichon). As crazy as brie and habanero sound, the fat of the brie contained the heat while letting the great flavor of this dastardly little chile come through; the flavor of brie is completely lost but you won't miss it. Somehow everything worked so well I'm calling this an instant personal classic, and I can't wait to make these for some adventurous foodie guests.

The burger meat was fresh ground from a rump roast, then 1 lb was mixed with a mince of 3 cloves of black garlic, 1 clove of fresh garlic, a little kosher salt, and two turns of fresh ground white pepper. These were pan grilled, plated on toasted sour dough rolls, topped with a round from a brie log (the cheap stuff), a thinly shaved cut of habanero pepper (1/16" - 1/8" thick), and some slices of cornichons for a little acid. One good part of the flavor profile that I think I stumbled on here was the black garlic with the cornichon, as I think the fermented nature of black garlic evokes some of the flavor sensations of smoked meats, a classic pairing with cornichons. For the less adventurous, the black garlic + ground beef flavor was addictive on its own.

Red Miso Glazed Tenderloin with Wasabi, Blistered Potatoes with Tarragon, and Caramelized Sweet Onion

More fun with red miso.

From gastronomic guesswork

Broiling is the technique here. The tenderloins were thinly coated in a glaze of red miso thinned with a little water and tamari, after being brought to room temperature, then broiled for 5-6 minutes a side and finally plated with a streak of real wasabi. The yukon gold potatoes were cut into 1/8" thick slices on a mandoline, poached in olive oil over medium low flame for 10 minutes, drained and broiled for 8 minutes adding the tarragon leaves for the last 2 minutes, then finished with Alai red sea salt. The sweet onion were peeled and cut into 1/2" planks, salted, and sauteed on medium high heat for 12 minutes turning once. The flavor pairing of the tarragon and beef is very complementary. The earthy red miso and contrast of the floral fruit of real wasabi was an excellent flavor pairing.

Avery's The Beast

So after being floored by the depth and quality of Avery's Samael's, and indulging a few craft beer fanatics as they raved about The Beast, I think my expectations might have been a little too high.

From gastronomic guesswork

The 2008 Beast Gran Cru Ale is complex, and a very good beer. However, I found the persevering taste of blackstrap molasses a little overbearing. Maybe this will improve with age, but right now the palate of the beast is a bit out of balance, more precisely an overdone assemblage of an otherwise interesting beermaker's folly. Let this one rest a year or three. Rating:88-90+

There's a Monster in my Sink

Our disposer finally died, and I'm amazed it held in there this long knowing how we abuse it. We cook

roughly 19 meals a week, and it inevitably gets to chew through most of the scraps. After the recent challenge of enduring 10 days without a functioning dish washer, I quickly realized the pain of that experience was soon to be eclipsed if I didn't act decisively. Faced with cheap disposer options mostly ranging from crummy to inadequate, I did a little research and soon found the perfect new little monster for our sink.

InSinkErator's Evolution Excel model is worth every penny, for roughly $100 more than the retail price of mediocre disposal that will inevitably jam and people outside can hear, I hold no buyer's remorse from procuring this quiet and vicious little beast.

I've put it through it's paces a bit so far, and then threw a lemon down it to keep it smelling

pretty - eviscerated in about 2 seconds. On another front, after almost too much research we replaced the dishwasher with a Bosche. It's true the plastics may be a little wet since there's not a dedicated heating element, but this Bosche gets plenty hot to dry and sanitize everything.

It is whisper quiet and cleans far better than the last two GE models we owned, plus Good Housekeeping's seal approval doubles the warranty.
Bosche also dominates the dishwasher category from Good Housekeeping's renowned product testers.

The Cheeky Monk

What's a great way to top off a night eating out in downtown Denver? Why a flight of Belgian beers at the Cheeky Monk. An impressive selection of Belgians on tap and in bottle, with two distinct flights that excite the taste buds and warm the spirit. We visited with close friends after our umpteenth trip to Bones ... Darn you Bonano for your hypnotic noodle broths! Thanks to Henchman Chris for pointing us to the Cheeky Monk, a really low key and unique haunt that I'm trilled to see open in Denver.