food | The life of Rylee

Venison Chops

Dinner last night was one of my favorites. Venison Chops served with a wine reduction sauce. This Sauk County venison was hunted by my Dad last year and given to me for Christmas. Great gift! We marinated the chops in rosemary, garlic and ginger and pan sear medium rare. The mashed red potatoes stand nicely to the rich sauce. The garden is still producing very tender Swiss Chard. I’m hoping it will keep growing until...

Posted on Nov 8, 2011 in food | 0 comments

Beef Stew is what’s good for you…

Threw a batch of beef stew together tonight in 25 minutes (minus the 2.5 hours of stewing time….) It is absolute beefy and delicious goodness! Of course, I made enough to feed an army, but it should freeze well. Veggies: All veggies coarsely chopped:2 cups of onions1 cup of carrots1 cup red potatoes1 cup celery1 tablespoon minced garlic1 tsp. fresh thymeSalt/Pepper1/2 cup red wine Meat:1lb. stew meat1 beef soup bone1/2 cup flour (put in plastic bag, add salt and pepper to season)Cut meat into 1 inch pieces. Add to bag and shake. set aside. 4 cups of liquid (broth, beer, water, etc) Extras (if desired…or add your own):1.5 tbs beef bouillon if using water, like I did.1/2 cup tomato juice (or one can of diced...

Posted on Nov 2, 2011 in food | 0 comments

Bone-In Chicken Breast with Fig jam marinade

Tonight’s dinner was a beautiful chicken breast with a fig marinade served with toasted Israeli couscous with porcini mushrooms and sauteed spinach. I recently bought some Quince and Apple’s Fig and Black Tea Jam at a local farmer’s market. I love fresh figs but in Wisconsin, they are available for about two days. So I go to the experts to get the flavor and joy of a fleeting summer. The master of the grill, Todd, cooked these bone-in chicken breasts to perfection. I, of course, made the marinade. Here’s the recipe: Marinade: Half (little more) jar of fig jam 1/3 cup water 1tbs olive oil 1-3 cloves of minced garlic Salt and Pepper to season Red pepper flakes to taste. Directions: In a small bowl,...

Posted on Oct 5, 2011 in food | 0 comments

Steak dinners are never bad

Sorry about the poor photo quality….But had a great steak (one ribeye, shared, $10), shrimp (4 prawn at $5) mushrooms and baked potato with fresh garden chive for dinner last night. Felt we deserved it after sanding/staining wood all afternoon and Todd helping Elliot at the farm. Plus not eating beef but once or twice per month. Paired the dinner with a really nice Napa wine from our local grocery store, Pierce’s. The wine was a beautiful, full nose/mouth taste of Napa. Highly...

Posted on Sep 26, 2011 in food | 0 comments

Pickles make the world go ’round

One jar of sweet pickles is what came from our garden this year. Alright, I confess, we do have two other jars of dilled pickles, packed by Todd. But these babies are mine…. My favorite pickles are the kind you get at multi-generational potluck dinners. Those butter pickles, sweet and full of warm summer memories. This is what I’ve attempted to created. Recipe: 10 smallish pickle cucumbers from your garden – sliced, water, sugar, cider vinegar, dill, a little more sugar, pepper corns and a few red pepper flakes to spice ’em up a bit. I’m sure there’s some salt in there as well – a good pinch – and then marinated in the refrigerator for a while. They...

Posted on Sep 20, 2011 in food, gardening | 0 comments

Dang close to Kobe beef

Stopped by our favorite little grocery store on Saturday – Jennifer Street Market. For a small space, they have everything you need; good produce, a great meat counter, Amish hand-rolled butter (the best!), wines and a great bakery. We saw that they had Kobe beef – or an American approximation that we had to try. We bought one bistro steak (the top part of the sirloin) for about $6 (7 oz) The meat is well marbled and cooked nicely. The taste was very good, texture was almost melt in your mouth and the flavor was as one would expect from a great piece of meat. We’d definitely buy this again. Finished the plate off with a couple of nice prawns marinated in garlic, pearly couscous and some delish...

Posted on Apr 18, 2011 in food | 0 comments