gastronomic guesswork

Roasted Lamb Loin with Harissa, Toasted Israeli Cous Cous with Preserved Lemon & Grilled Spring Onion

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:00:00 PDT

Got the courage up to cook with preserved lemon after a few positive experiences. After consulting the Flavor Bible, I found this was a flavor that didn't have a lot of descriptive data to leverage. There was a good testimonial in FB that kept me brave in spite of some internet postings suggesting the flavor of "bleach" as a component / aroma. What I did know from sampling this in the past was

Colt & Gray - Best New Restaurant in Denver

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Mon, 10 May 2010 05:00:00 PDT

Celebrated my birthday not too long ago and decided to crash the happy hour scene on a bitterly cold Friday night at Colt & Gray. Here's what we sampled ...- Crispy Pig Trotter with brown mustard aioli- Housemade Duck prosciutto, HM pate, local goatsmilk blue cheese- Mussels with green curry- Bone Marrow- Truffled Chestnut soup- House Made Ravioli with fresh ricotta, guanciale, Hazel Dell wild

Toad in the Hold Redux - Scrambled Eggs with Guanciale, Neufchâtel & Chives

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 09 May 2010 13:05:00 PDT

A dressed up version of a toad in the hole.From gastronomic guessworkaddthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Restaurant Home

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sat, 08 May 2010 19:34:23 PDT

Now that we're obviously regulars at Restaurant Home, I thought it was time to give the team there some props. When I think of Home, the feelings are elation, joy, and an unquenchable desire to return - like returning home after a long journey when you long for the unctuous flavor of what you know makes you happy, whole, and centered. The menu is a dichotomy of Old School comfort food and New

Halibut Cheeks in Chardonnay, Summer Savory, & Lampong Peppercorn Sauce, with Wilted Dandelion Greens & Hashbrowns

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:33:16 PDT

Peak of the season for Halibut means that if you live in such a land-locked place as Denver, you still have a chance to come across some cheeks. This is such a great ingredient, you just need to coax it a little to make something memorable.The flavor pairing herein was to leverage a great white wine my wife and I came across at a recent charity benefit - 2006 Summerhouse Chardonnay from

Grassfed Beef Short Ribs braised in porcini, szechuan peppercorns, & rosemary

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:14:07 PST

Playing with the incomparable szechuan peppercorn here, worked very nicely with rosemary and porcini adding a citrus and slightly sharp bite to the Italian flavors here.From 2009-12-29addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Tenderloin Head Roast Sous Vide with Truffled Home Fries

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:09:23 PST

Pulled out the new infrared thermometer to sous vide the head roast in garlic, French thyme, rosemary, and shallots. Cooked for 2 hours at 150F, finished under the broiler for 10 minutes after resting the meat to just above room temp. The home fries were dry roasted yukon gold slices, flipped after 15 minutes at 450F, then finished for 10 more minutes. The finishing salt was a hand harvested

Christmas Menu 2009

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:03:35 PST

* Beef Tenderloin sous vide in marjoram, garlic, white onion and manzanillo olive oil* Potatoes Anna* Roasted Asparagus with Black Truffle Oil* Ridge Lytton Springs single vineyard Zinfandel 2006 addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Turkey Legs on Christmas Eve

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:59:29 PST

From 2009-12-24addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Raw Cheddar and Cayenne Mac & Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:57:41 PST

Just a simple reinterpretation on mac and cheese. The cheddar was raw milk sharp cheddar from Organic Valley, melted in a Longmont Dairy milk base with a splash of sherry vinegar, 1/2 a cup of fresh organic tomatoes, a teaspoon of cayenne chile powder, and sea salt.From 2009-11-29addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Roasted Leeks in Smashed Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:50:16 PST

Killer flavor combo - totally overshadowing the rather good braised short ribs in red wine and demi glace. The choppted leeks were quarted, sliced to 1/4" and roasted at 450F in a little salt and olive oil. These were incorporated into mashed potatoes with a touch of half and half, sea salt, and white pepper. Roasted leeks rule! Epic steakhouse dish waiting to happen here...From 2009-11-15<!-

Spinach, Balsamico & Pancetta

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:42:20 PST

Steamed the spinach, crisped the pancetta, reduced some balsamic vinegar by 1/2 with the pancetta drippings, 3 twists of black pepper and a dash of salt.From 2009-11-15addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Hot Sauce Braised Pork Butt with Kalamata Tapenade

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:27:53 PST

Making the most of good food, served the second time, is a goal of mine. Leftovers is the wrong word here, proximal reinterpretations might be a better one. Had the most amazing hot sauce at our friends wedding in the fall. Quizzed the catering chef and found out that this was a butter mounted Louisiana hot sauce of his own design. I asked for the leftover and they gave me a quart of the

What a long strange trip it has been ...

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:20:10 PST

Too much, too fast this autumn. Anyway, I have been cooking and I hope you're all still hungry out there. Happy 2010, forthcoming are some recent experiments, food adventures from the Foodbuzz 2009 Festival, and the occasional indulgence in noteworthy wines and craft beers - with a set of new drum sieves, a commercial grade infrared thermometer, several amazing finishing salts, and a new can

Hatch Chile Corn Chowder

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:12:30 PST

Just a little corn chowder, this time with 5 of 10 spicy hatch chiles. The sausage is a sweet Italian fennel sausage.From 2009-10-19addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Wet Roasted Tri-Tip, Gingered Tamari Carrots, Farro Pasta with Manzanillo Olive Oil

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:12:42 PST

Playing with technique here, the idea was to "wet roast" a tri-tip over a bath of onions and thyme at 450F. The tri-tip was coated in kosher salt and black pepper, roasted at 450F for about 20 minutes, and rested after reaching an internal temp of 145F. Then the bath was drained and the onion and thyme got a dash of olive oil and continued to roast until slightly caramelized. The tri-tip was

Recipe Contest on Marxfood.com

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:31:21 PDT

Hey all, please check out the contest on Marxfoods. Would appreciate your vote for the Aji Limo Rojo Chile & Cola Sous Vide Carnitas from Gastronomic Guesswork. Thanks! And also, please check out Marxfoods.com for great foodie finds!addthis_pub = 'kindageeky';

Chile Tasting from Marx Foods

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:02:21 PDT

If you are a serious foodie, you simply must bookmark Marx Foods - the vast array of great ingredients to be had is mind boggling. Recently, Justin Marx provide me with the opportunity to sample what seemed like a bushel of varied chiles, many of which I had never even heard of before - a feat really given my propensity for cooking with diverse types of chiles. While excited by the prospect of

Cola, Coriander & Lampong Sous Vide Carnitas with Aji Limo Rojo

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:16:32 PDT

What this dish lacks in finesse of presentation it makes up for in flavor. Wow - is this one ever an instant personal classic. The concept was to use sous vide as a technique for carefully controlling the slow cooking required of carnitas while imparting deep seasoned taste. The sous vide medium was 4 cans of 365 cola (cane sugar not HFCS), 2 tablespoons coriander seeds (toasted & put through

Slow Grilled Ribeye with Scallions, Great Divide Hoss Rye Lager

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 09:53:30 PDT

Perfection is the enemy of done, and while I can be very particular about food and cooking techniques, sometimes a little minimalism is in order. After a very hectic week, steak, opening night hockey, and a great beer provided a bit of venial indulgence.The ribeye was topped with organic butter, sea salt, and mortared tellicherry peppercorns, then grilled at 400F for 15 minutes. The steak was

140F Manzanillo Sous Vide Halibut with Salsa Verde

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:00:00 PDT

Sous Vide is a great technique to employ with proteins when you're serving guests, as it allows you to attain consistent results and is forgiving when you're juggling to get the side dishes out and carry on a conversation.For this preparation, I obtained 1/2 lb of bulk organic manzanillo olive oil from whole foods and 1 lemon. Using vacuum bags, I added 2 thawed Alaskan halibut portions with

Sam Adams Utopias 2009

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:27:35 PDT

The Bugatti Veyron of beer, totally impractical, hyper-indulgent, made my legs tingle, surreal, a fifteen flavor doppleganger of brewery convention that demands your undivided attention, more depth and nuance than anything else brewed, as interesting as the most eminent wines and spirits, verging on the absurd, but sheer joy to the beer aficionado. Sure you can say it's overdone, but what the

Duo Restuarant in Denver

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:20:35 PDT

A couple months ago, a couple fellow food bloggers and I met up at Duo to just geek out about food. Walking in I instantly thought the place had an uptown urban vibe, and was serious about substance as I saw them pouring Oskar Blue's Pale Ale at the bar. After enjoying a cocktail and yammering about food geekery, we set about on some serious culinary gustation. Starting with some spring

Park Burger in Denver

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:03:51 PDT

So my wife came home from a night out with some gal pals just raving about this place. We recently made our way back there with kiddos in tow and I must say I'm impressed. I had the Frenchy Park Burger with ham and brie, my wife the Park Burger with sauteed onions and swiss, and everyone shared "the works" fries with cheese, bacon, scallions and some sour cream. The kiddos split a Mini Park

Pasta Genevieve

noreply@blogger.com (kindageeky) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:02:52 PDT

In case you missed it, here is the repost of the first daughter-inspired pasta dish. I've made this only for family and close friends, and consider it not only a personal classic, but a dish worthy of bearing her name. It is earthy, but delicate and fragrant with luscious textures. The original recipe fed 12, so you'll have to scale it down for smaller groups, but don't skimp on the wine,