Several of our conference group wandered a few blocks to enjoy a wonderful seafood dinner at Matt the Thresher. The atmosphere has a bit of early 20th century flair; the service was wonderfully gracious and enjoyable.
The meal started with delicious Irish bread. This style of bread is very moist but with a texture closer to cornbread. The flavor was very wheaty and earthy.
My sole was outstanding. It gave a seafood flavor that reminded me, for some reason, of excellent clams. It was pan fried, then finished in the oven. The vegetables underneath---asparagus, etc.---were excellent.
I also enjoyed a side of lightly creamed spinach.
We had to try dessert, of course. This is my chocolate and blue cheese fondant. I'm not sure where the fondant came in but the blue cheese played very nicely with the ice cream and made a good contrast to the chocolate.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...





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