Eating Portsmouth – Saturday Dinner

When I started planning our little getaway a couple weeks back I turned to OpenTable in search of a restaurant for Saturday night. While spontaneous is nice we often get in a rut of what do you want, no what do you want and neither of us ends up satisfied. By finding a place in advance and making a reservation I knew we had one decision made so we could go about our Saturday adventures. I looked for a place with a mix of offerings and cuisines. To make a long story short we ended up dining at Black Trumpet Bistro.

Eating Portsmouth – Saturday Lunch

After breakfast we headed to Smuttynose Brewery. for a tour.  Then we headed north to York, ME to visit Stonewall Kitchen. We had lunch in their cafe. So maybe this entry should be titled Eating York.

Eating Portsmouth – Saturday morning

We headed out around 9 a.m. in search of adventure, well coffee with a side of adventure. Ted found a highly recommended spot on Yelp named Popovers on the Square so we headed for Congress Street to check it out.

Eating Portsmouth – Friday Dinner

“A mini-break is true love.” – Bridget Jones

I whisked my husband, Ted, away for a long weekend in Portsmouth (NH) this past weekend. In the next few posts I’ll share some of the places we ate, what impressed me, and what didn’t.

After arriving in Portsmouth we settled into our hotel room and played our favorite game, “no, what do you want for dinner?” After consulting the oracles of OpenTable, Google and Yelp we ended up at 106 Kitchen & Bar.

Saturday night – 03/17/2012

When I came up with this menu the high for today was suppose to be 62°F. I think it might have reached 51 at most. Still, it was nice to use the grill again.

Menu
Grilled Lemon and Black Pepper Chicken
Central New York Salt Potatoes
Roasted Carrots
Braised Cabbage
Irish Soda Bread

Magic Bars (aka 6 layer bars)

Saturday night – 03/10/2012

I spent the day burning brush at my Mom’s house so Ted undertook the cooking duties again this week.

Menu
Baked Ham
Homemade Baked Beans
Rice, Orzo and Quinoa Salad
Homemade Brown Bread

Braised Short Ribs: pressure cooker style

Braised short ribs have become quite the rage with them appearing on restaurant menus and cooking shows a plenty. They can serve as a taco or steamed bun filling at some trending uber-chef place or sit atop a steaming pile of polenta at someplace less trendy.

Trendy doesn’t necessarily mean fast though. Many short rib recipes call for a low and slow approach; several hours in a 300°F oven then a rest overnight followed by of skimming and reheating. Which is great if you have the time.

I pulled some short ribs from the freezer Friday night because I knew I would have time today to cook them. Then time got away from me and I wanted a faster method. Enter the pressure cooker. Boon to time starved cooks around the world.

Here is the result, served over some reheated macaroni & cheese that my husband made last night.

Braised Short Ribs over mac & cheese

Saturday night – 03/03/2012

I had to work for much of Saturday so my husband Ted took over the cooking duties. He came up with a menu that allowed him to do much of the work ahead of time, allowing for a fairly stress free day for him.

Menu
Chicken and Sausage Bake
Macaroni & cheese (from the Joy of Cooking)
Roasted butternut squash with browned butter
Sauteed Swiss chard with garlic and lemon
Sourdough raisin bread from Nashoba Brook Bakery

Meringue with Pear, Chocolate Sauce & Whipped Cream