dinner bell

I should start where I started: the pre-dinner, sip-while-cooking drink:

(Yes, I’m a lush.)  A whiskey sour: put lots of ice into a shaker, then add 2 oz whiskey (any kind, I used Jack Daniel’s), the juice of half a lemon, and a teaspoon or so of powdered sugar (or 1/2 oz. or so of simple syrup if you’ve got some hanging around).  Shake for all you’re worth.  Strain into a martini glass, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.   Make sure you get all your knife work out of the way early if you’re going to drink this on an empty stomach.

Dinner!

Onion/cheddar/bacon/mushroom friche (quitatta?) and some spiced roasted potatoes.  And a salad, so I can pretend I’m paying attention to my health.

The potatoes are easy: chop up a few potatoes. toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and your spice(s) of choice — I used chipotle powder.  Roast at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, tossing every once in a while and doing your best to get nice crusty brownness on all sides.

The friche/quitatta (really, I’m making this up as I go along — I figure I should be allowed to make up the name too):  fry up some bacon (I used four slices, chopped) in a medium oven-safe pan.  When it’s done, drain it on paper towels, pour off most of the fat, then add some sliced onion and mushrooms to the pan and cook until they’re nice and brown.  Meanwhile, whisk together three or four eggs, some milk (I used what was left in my carton, about 1/3 cup), a big spoonful of sour cream, the bacon, some grated cheddar, and salt and pepper.  When the onions and mushrooms are ready, take them off the heat for a minute or two, then pour in the egg mixture and stir it up gently.  If you’re smarter than I am, you’ll have saved a bit of cheese to sprinkle on top.   Throw it into the oven with the potatoes until it doesn’t wiggle when you shake it, about 20 minutes.

Salad: you’re on your own.  Seriously, you can do it.

what’s for dinner?

This is what:

Salmon fishcakes, glazed carrots, and a green salad, plus a negroni.

Fishcakes are stupid easy, and I make mine with canned salmon, which makes them stupid easier.  Steam or boil a good-sized peeled potato (cut into chunks), then mash it with some pepper.  Add a big can of salmon, drained, (skin and/or bones removed if they gross you out), and mash it in with the potatoes.  Taste for salt; canned salmon is pretty sodium-heavy so you probably won’t need to add any.  Get your hands in there and form them into little cakes, as big or small as you want.  Dredge them in flour, then fry them up in a bit of oil over med-high heat.  If you’re feeling extra-greedy, serve them with tartar sauce.  Or you can be virtuous and go with a nice big wedge of lemon.

While that was all happening, I made the carrots.  Slice a couple of carrots on the diagonal, and put them in a little pot with a good splash of water, a smaller splash of maple syrup, some salt and pepper, and a tiny dribble of vinegar.   Cook over high heat with the lid on for a few minutes, then take the lid off and let the liquid boil off until the carrots are glazed and tender.  If the water boils off before the carrots are cooked, add another tiny splash of water, cover them again for a minute, then remove the lid and boil off the extra liquid again.

The salad is just some red leaf lettuce tossed with blood orange olive oil, some rice vinegar, and some coarse salt and pepper.  No recipe required.  You’re welcome.

And the crowning touch, my drink of choice lately: the Negroni.  In an old-fashioned glass, pour a scant ounce (or a generous ounce if you’re feeling a bit lushier than I was tonight) each of sweet red vermouth, campari, and gin over a nice pile of ice.  Finish with a twist of orange.  Fancy bartenders twist the twist over the glass and set the orange oils alight to caramelize them.  I have no idea how they do this with only two hands, and I didn’t feel like setting my kitchen on fire tonight, so I went with the straight-up twist.  Lame, I know.  Maybe next time.