Goth Night

This was a seriously great dinner!

Although it was challenging to come to any conclusions as to what "goth food" actually was, i think we all did an excellent job with our interpretations. The soundtrack and discussions played well on the menu.

let's see...

looks like the beet bruschetta on top left next to the salad of evil, Jay's tainted taters on the lower left, short rib on the right, rare flank steak and artichoke heart skewers in the middle and the crusty rosemary loaf holding it all together on the bottom.

did anyone get a shot of the devil cake with bloody goo?

here is a nice pic of mine and Sarah's visually stunning "hearts and flesh skewers"
(marinated rare grilled flank steak and artichoke hearts with a vinaigrette drizzling of despair)


Ingredients:

1/2 C worcestershire sauce
1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C red wine vinegar (I just used red wine)
1/2 C lemon juice
2 T dijon mustard
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T black pepper
3/4 t salt
1/2 oil (I used canola)
4 lbs of flatiron steaks (pork tenderloin is also good)
2 cans artichoke hearts
skewers

Whisk the marinade/vinaigrette ingredients together. Reserve about 1/2 C for drizzling later. Put meat in a zipper bag or large baking dish and pour the rest of the marinade over. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

Heat a grill/grill pan to high. Remove meat from marinade and blot dry. Discard "spent" marinade or boil the bejeezus out of it it you want to use it as extra sauce. Cook the meat as you like it - we seared the flatirons for about 4 minutes on either side for rare. Let the meat rest for about 15 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain at a 45-degree angle. Wrap each artichoke heart with a slice of meat and skewer. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Assemble skewers in a visually appealing fashion and drizzle with reserved marinade. Ta-dah!


most of my shots didn't turn out too well but i did get a decent picture of chavis' crusty loaf!


HOLLA!


"No Knead" Bread

This bread could not be simpler to make. This recipe was first published in the New York Times and has since been featured in blogs galore. The recipe is so simple and was such a success that I really think it's ideal for someone who has been wanting to try their hand at homemade bread, but is weary. The only thing you really need is a cast-iron pot with a lid. I found my Le Creuset 5.5 qt dutch oven to be ideal.

Ingredients:
3 c. bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1.5 c. warm water

Procedure:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl with a wooden spoon until just combined (it will look like a mess, but that's fine).
2. Cover and let rest for 12-20 hours.
3. After the long rest, the dough should look bubbly and slimy. Dump it out onto a well floured surface and with wet hands stretch chunks of the bottom of the dough to the top to form a ball that has a seam on the top.
4. Place the ball of dough, seam side down, back into a WELL FLOURED bowl and cover with a towel. Let that rest for another 2 hours.
5. 1.5 hrs. into the rest time, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place your covered pot in the oven as well.
6. Once the 2 hours has passed, plop the dough into the heated pot, cover and bake for 30 min.
7. After 30 min. remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 min.
8. Remove from pot and cool on a cooling rack.
   

*This recipe yields one 1.5 lb loaf. Like I said this recipe is really simple, so I went ahead and made two loaves at once. I cooked them at the same time, but in two separate pots. I added fresh rosemary to one of the loaves and I highly recommend trying that and experimenting with other herbs.
-Chavis



OK, this took me a while to post. Sorry! I wasn't sure what to make, but I wanted to make sure that there was some sort of vegetable involved, so I decided to make a salad. I know, I know, not very dark, but I did find a recipe for a Pear & Cabrales Salad with Fig & Port Dressing from Fine Cooking. It called for endive and I wasn't really in the mood, so I used romaine hearts instead (much more goth, in my opinion). They maintained the hearty (no pun intended) crunchy feel without the bitterness. Also, I couldn't find the specific, Spanish, sheep and cow's milk blue cheese, so I used Gorgonzola. How can you go wrong with Gorgonzola, right?

The salad was:
Hearts of Romain (about 3)
2 pears, sliced about 1/8 inch
a simple vinegarette (1 part vinegar, 2 parts oil, about one tablespoon of prepared dijon mustard, 3 green onions sliced thin, salt, pepper)

Then all of that was tossed together and topped with a slice of Gorgonzola.

Now, the figs. I have never used figs or port, let alone figs IN port, but it looked bloody and decadent, so I gave it a shot. I warmed up one cup of port and soaked 6 dried chopped Black (so goth) Mission figs in it for two hours. The recipe called for pureeing the mix and then straining it and discarding the solids. These were the solids



So that all went well, but the recipe also called for thinning the fig port business with some water, which I did. Mistake. I think that it was the right consistency as it was. I wanted it to drizzle like a thick sauce, but after I thinned it, it was watery and dissipated when it hit the dressed greens. Other than that, it tasted great. There just wasn't a strong fig port taste. It just all melded together.

-Kitty