This is the time of year when pool-playing and dinner parties occupies some of us who live in the Great White North--no, not Canada, MAINE!
Well, I get to cook for three of us--one of which is a well-known stick in the mud, that is, he will only eat American/English stuff and classic at that. I have been promising TheBoyz™ a steak dinner all summer. Now, it's going to happen. I'll talk about it over the fold but first...
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it to topcomments at gmail by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
NOTE: Bowing to that newfangled DK4 stuff :-), you also may send nominations to the Top Comments group email. If you don't see a nomination you made to there in the diary, please pipe up - it means we're still trying to remember not to forget to check!
Hop over the fold for Top Comments and the menu for Saturday.
Steak and potatoes. I love them, but it's the only thing some Mainers will eat. I had to start thinking about how I could dress it up. So I did a little research and here's what I came up with:
Maine Shrimp Cocktail
Our tiny Maine shrimp, that are coming into season and are pink before they are cooked can be had head on or head off. Here's how to cook them for a classic American-style Shrimp Cocktail:
One pound Maine Shrimp
Lobster stock
One strong onion, skin on, two carrots, two stalks of celery, two cloves of garlic, skins on, half a bottle of dry white wine, a quarter teaspoon of celery seed and caraway seed each, a half teaspoon of black pepper corns, crushed in a mortar and pestle, and a tablespoon of salt or a handful of rockweed, our native seaweed.
Boil everything but the shrimp with several quarts of water for about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and boil about another five minutes. If you want to reserve the stock (you do) do so by draining the pot over a colander into another pot. Allow shrimp to cool and then remove the shell. (This is a tedious process: it's worth it).
Take a bottle of Chili Sauce to which several tablespoons of horseradish has been added along with some chopped capers (about a tablespoon) and mix with the cooked shrimp. Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce. A totally non-offensive first course.
Here's a Top Comment from user Greg Diamond to cleanse our palate, maybe:
We've been talking a fair bit this week about sexual harassment. From noweasels's diary on the topic, here is a comment from Friendly Neighbor that everyone should read.
The Potatoes
Maine produces some of the best potatoes in the country. Everyone thinks "Idaho!" but they would be wrong. Maine potatoes are the very, very best.
What I wanted to do with the steak was baked potatoes, with choices of garnishes which involved whitefish roe, chopped onions, chopped chives, sour cream and butter. But then I realized that there wouldn't be time for that. So, we'll have mashed Maine potatoes with mushroom gravy. The mashed potatoes can be made a day ahead and heated up while you eat the Maine Shrimp Cocktail and before you broil the steaks:
Mashed Maine Potatoes
I thought we here in New England knew everything about potatoes, but it took my expatriation to Austria to learn how to make great mashed potatoes. Here's how it's done, and you won't be disappointed.
For four, take a couple of pounds of locally-grown potatoes, washed and scrubbed and in their jackets, and boil them in UNSALTED water until done. Generally speaking, this will take about three quarters of an hour. After the water gets hot, add two peeled red-top turnips.
When the potatoes and turnips are done, drain them and let them cool to the point that you can remove the skins, which you'll discard.
Then, put the potatoes and small turnips through a ricer into a big bowl. Add a stick of soft butter, salt and pepper to taste, a large clove of finely mashed and chopped garlic and about a quarter of cup of heavy cream.
Mash it all together but be careful not to make wallpaper paste out of it.
Serve with
Mushroom Gravy or with a Top Comment from Kossack Angie in WAstate:
This comment thread -
starting with mrsgoo: http://www.dailykos.com/...
and ending with Clarknt67: http://www.dailykos.com/...
in Clarknt67's diary: http://www.dailykos.com/...
For the Truthiest pun I've read in ages!
One cup good beef or veal stock
One strong yellow onion, diced, caramelized in butter and olive oil.
About one half cup of diced mushrooms including common Button mushrooms and Chanterelles, added towards the end of cooking the onion. NEVER WASH MUSHROOMS!
Beurre manie (equal parts butter and flour).
1/4 cup heavy cream.
Dry Sherry, to taste, or Marsala.
Salt and pepper.
After the onions and mushrooms are done, add the stock, and whisk in the beurre manie. Allow to thicken a bit. Add sherry or Marsala. Season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg if you can't get chanterelles but if you can, leave it out. They're peppery.
Serve over the mashed Maine potatoes.
And then there's The Steaks but first:
Top Mojo!
1) We don't have a health CARE system by triv33 — 242
2) Pretty soon by MadRuth — 172
3) I have no problem defending Democratic Party by inclusiveheart — 146
4) triv, I've been to these clinics by nyceve — 144
5) Son of a bitch. by agnostic — 132
6) This is just the beginning. by GenXangster — 121
7) Wonderful, effective and peaceful way to by Morgan Sandlin — 119
8) We need that and so much more... by triv33 — 116
9) He's stopped in his own district by josephk — 112
10) I have been so thinking about this election by nancat357 — 111
11) shocked, SHOCKED by kamarvt — 80
12) It's so hard by Richard Lyon — 78
13) Geithner isn't a Democrat. by inclusiveheart — 74
14) They've done a few good things, but . . . by Jbearlaw — 69
15) Don't often make it to the pootie diary these days by mayim — 69
16) Geithner is no Democrat, but by dkmich — 66
17) okay, Dr Oz is controversial to some and by triv33 — 66
18) In which case are we prepared to provide aid? by G2geek — 63
19) You can hear the difference in Cantor's voice by livjack — 63
20) In your opinion by otto — 63
21) I'm not concerned with Obama's re-election by blueoasis — 61
22) I love this by JustJennifer — 60
23) If Cantor doesn't like redistribution by drofx — 60
24) Thank you Geithner by Muggsy — 59
25) "Free" clinics should be the norm by SneakySnu — 59
26) %$((%$$#@_(&&$!!! RAT BASTIDS. by mrsgoo — 59
27) The point is, though, that one person sharing one by gustynpip — 58
28) It's tough being a brownshirt asshole by Richard Cranium — 58
29) happee birfdai penn by Debbie in ME — 56
30) Stoller has a piece on this by david mizner — 56
31) OWS happened under the Demcoratic Party watch by paradox — 56
32) Well, the people who work for think tanks *ARE by Robobagpiper — 56
The Delmonico Steak is an inexpensive cut which has great tenderness, fat, flavor and mocks a rib-eye with a quarter of its expense. Served rare, as all steaks should be, it creates a kind of flavor explosion on your plate. Here's how I'll be preparing mine:
Buy your steaks a day ahead, pat them dry and wrap them in paper towels and put them in the fridge overnight.
Before you grill or broil them, rub them well in salt, pepper, Worcestershire Sauce and chopped garlic on both sides.
Subject them to the broiler or grill at high heat for just a few minutes a side. Just to the point that they have stopped "moo-ing". Allow them to rest for a couple of minutes before serving them with the potatoes.
The Vegetable
Oh, wait. A submission from our dear Ed Tracey:
From Ed Tracey:
In the front-page story by Hunter about the indictment in California of the
Glenn Beck-touted company Goldline
- who were charged today
with a 19-count criminal indictment - Inventor explains succinctly the
difference between a reputable gold dealer and the fraudulent
variety of companies
like Goldline.
Growing up, with a dinner like this we would have eaten peas out of the garden, or canned ones in the winter. I love peas. I don't think my guests like them much, either, and I don't think they like asparagus, which is the other thing we would have eaten especially since modern asparagus pretty much fueled my family--my great-grandfather invented it. But I digress.
I would go with beets, since they are really my favorite, but here's a recipe for carrots:
Glazed Carrots
Carrots are kind of in season. Don't bother with the ones in the bag. Get them at your farmer's market, heirloom ones if you can. Wash them, scrub them, but don't peel them: their nutrition is in the skin. After that, do this:
Cut the carrots on the bias and saute in butter on low heat until just done.
Add salt and pepper to taste, a little nutmeg and a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar. Mix well.
Carrots should be just barely cooked.
Dessert?
It's apple season here. I'm not going to say, because I haven't decided, but to keep our appetite whetted, here's another Top Comment--one the diarist nominated, not totally sure about it, but here it is, from Kossack NamelessGenXer who has some serious things to say and I am, I will say, not surprised it comes from a fellow Gen X'er, but to quote:
kicking ass and naming names (79+ / 0-)
the Prez needs to hammer these traitorous assholes by name -- Boehner, McConnell, Cantor -- every single day for the next 370 days.
I hope I haven't screwed the proverbial pooch here, I was going for a more inventive way of putting up our great diary series.
Got top comments? Put them in the thread but better, put them in at teh gee-male!