It’s been a bit since I last did a blog entry.  The holidays are wonderfully busy here at the shop and I just haven’t had a moment to share our meals with you.  Not to worry though, we haven’t gone hungry!

Here is a brief recap of the last two weeks:

The Monday after Thanksgiving we were planning on doing a Chicken Congee (Rice Porridge) but it seemed to make more sense to use turkey, so Turkey Congee it was!  I used the recipe from Charles Phan’s new book Vietnamese Home Cooking  .  This is a great cook book and I highly recommend it as a Holiday gift to yourself!

Tuesday – We used the leftover turkey to make a Chinese Turkey Salad.  Have you ever used Soy Vay’s Toasted Sesame Dressing?  I think it makes the best Chinese Chicken/Turkey Salad.  I chopped up some cabbage,  carrots and celery and toasted some cashews, added a bit of cilantro and some scallions and voilà!

Wednesday – White Shrimp with homemade red sauce, spaghetti, garlic bread and salad.  Check out this super cool trick to making great garlic bread from the Drizzle & Dip blog!

Thursday – dinner at Plum with friends.  Really good.

Friday: Crab from the SirenSeaSA Box!  I made crab cakes with this recipe from Food & Wine Magazine – they were pretty good! They didn’t stick together very well, so next time, I will add more mayo as a binder.  Served them with a frisee salad dressed simply with a shallot and champagne vinegar vinaigrette.

Saturday – Made Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells with a Lemon Sage Brown Butter Sauce from the Proud Italian Blog.  They were tasty – I would use more spinach next time and I like to pull the crispy sage leaves out of the butter before adding lemon juice.  If you leave them in, the lemon juice makes them soggy.

Sunday – We cut down our Christmas Tree after a wonderful Dim Sum brunch at Koi Palace in Daly City.  Have you been there?  It’s awesome!  We go every year before we procure our Christmas Tree.  Dinner was Quail Ragu served over creamy polenta.  Aaron made a big batch of Quail Ragu a few weeks ago and froze it.  It was wonderfully warming and perfect to eat in front of our tree!

Monday – Turkey Tortilla Soup – We still had tons of shredded turkey left over from the Congee/Chinese Turkey Salad…so I thought we could use it up in a Tortilla Soup.  I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Tortilla Soup recipe from the Doña Tomás Cookbook.  It is worth getting the book just for this recipe, though all of the other recipes are great too!

Tuesday – Spaghetti and Meatballs! I used 1/2 ground pork, 1/2 ground beef, some bread crumbs soaked in milk, egg, parsley, garlic and onion.  I baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then transferred them to the pan with homemade red sauce.  Simmered it all together for 10 minutes or so and then pulled the meatballs out, tossed the pasta with the sauce put it in bowls and added the meatballs on top and yes, covered it with cheese (on top of spaghetti…..).

Wednesday – Family Dinner – Our friends cooked up a mean chili with cornbread.  Delish!

Thursday – Tortellini with Pumpkin Alfredo.  This was good.  Next time I would add a lot more pumpkin as it was hard to taste the pumpkin.  Served with a frisee and pomegranate salad.

Friday – We went out for a drink and a bite at addesso.  I am a huge fan of their duck liver pate in scatola (in a jar).   A jar of duck liver pate, crostini and a cocktail is heavenly.

Saturday – Holiday Party!  We brought ground beef and hot dogs to throw on the grill…It’s so California to be grilling at a Holiday party…

Sunday – Night #2 of Hannukah! Latkes, Brisket and Brussels Sprouts!  Light the lights, sing the songs, spin the dreidles all night long!  This is a classic brisket recipe that seems to work!

Don’t forget to call to place your holiday meat orders!  And, we will be closed this Thursday, the 20th to prepare Holiday orders.

Cheers!