For those who haven’t seen the post, Christey sprained her right foot over the weekend.. So, she’s not climbing ladders, shooting over my shoulder, or dancing and weaving around getting shots. I think these turned out great, but they’re more planned than our usual impromptu cooking candid documentation. Photojournalism will resume in roughly 3-6 weeks.

Last Thanksgiving, our family and friends had an epic meal with close to 20 adults, and over 10 kids. I was responsible for the sweet potato dish. Now, I actually do kinda like the marshmallow and oven-browned sweet potato thing (though I almost think you could put marshmallows on foie gras and it would be good…). But, I was looking for something different, so I brought my mandoline (that wonderful, yet blood-sucking, infernal tool), and sliced up a dozen sweet potatoes paper-thin, deep fried them, and sprinkled them with feta. The feta on the sweet potato chips almost looked like marshmallows, which is kinda what I was going for. They turned out pretty good, but Thanksgiving in Florida was rainy and 78 degrees, so the crispiness definitely fell off as the dinner progressed.

The other day, Jonathan, from the wonderful food blog We Are Never Full commented on my roasted chicken with feta green beans, and that reminded me that I haven’t made sweet potato chips with feta in a long while. So, I did, with some grilled lamb loin chops.

boil and bubble

The March issue of Gourmet had a little recipe for steak béarnaise, with fried matchstick potatoes. It was kinda tucked in the middle, among all the other interesting French rustic meals hither and yon. How classic can you get? Meat and béarnaise, with fried potatoes. Steak frites with a twist.

Since March, I’ve probably made this recipe four times. I’ve made it more than any other idea from that magazine since I got my subscription this year.

Of course, I’ve personalized it a bit.

Mmmmm steak

I wanted to cook some lamb loin chops tonight, and had some crab left over from the other day, so decided to do a crab dip appetizer for the lamb.

Oddly, there was no stove used in this meal. The lamb was marinated and done on the grill, and the crab was already cooked.

More pictures and food

It’s been warm lately. Unseasonably so. From Christmas Eve to now, it’s been pretty much low-80s in the day (mid-to-high 20s C). That’ll end tonight when it’ll dip near freezing, and tomorrow night when there’s a hard freeze warning for Central Florida. Since we’re right next to the ocean, I doubt we’ll see freezing, probably a couple degrees above (a couple degrees above in C).

But, for now, it’s warm, and yesterday evening was pretty balmy. So, for New Years Eve dinner, I cooked Christey and myself some NY strip steaks on the grill.

New York strip steak over mustard cream sauce, garnished with feta and caramelized shallot, with a sauteed mushroom side.

Pictures and Recipe Here