What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Robin Garr]

Hi, everyone! It appears that our oversize "what's cooking, take three") thread may be contributing to the forum slowdowns because of its size, which has to be reindexed every time someone hits The Kitchen.

So let's start a new one! I'll unstick Take Three now. Let's leave it as an archive only and use this one for new posts, please.

No better.

Tonight I'm making a Thai curry with chicken and cauliflower. Probably a massaman curry.

-Paul W.

P.S. - I don't think the number of replies to the What's Cooking thread has anything to do with the performance problem. There are pspBB-powered forums I participate in at other websites that have topics with 500+ replies and it does not affect performance at all.

[Jenise]

Jeff, just now it acted pretty normal, but it was lousy earlier and probably hasn't made any difference. The techies are working on it.

In the meantime: had a bad week. Got food poisoning in a restaurant Tuesday night and yesterday we had a really lousy meal at our favorite Mex place. Dinner needed to be something light and clean, so I stuffed nappa cabbage leaves with a mixture of pork, rice, water chestnuts, cilantro and ginger and poached them in chicken broth with a few shiitake mushroom slices. I topped each serving with chili-bamboo and included a dollop of Lan Chi. We skipped a salad course and just had sliced apples after dinner. Major yum and just what we needed.

It also just made me login again.

I am stag tonight but too tired to do anything fancy. I sizzled a couple paper-thin slices of pancetta, crumbled them into some red sauce I had lying around, and served it over spaghetti with a bit of fresh thyme. Very satisfactory and easy. (Yes, I should go eat some vegetables later.)

[Jenise]

We had spaghetti too. I'd actually planned to re-purpose the remaining four Chinese cabbage rolls from the night before into a ramen dish, but on my way home from the dentist I stopped at a friend's to get some help with a tech item and they forced me to drink a Manhattan and stay for dinner.

Today for lunch: spicy cabbage roll ramen! Tonight might be sushi. A new sushi restaurant opened up yesterday not far from us, and this is quite exciting as we have nothing, NOTHING like that at this end of town.

Breakfast this morning was a half, thin slice of Kalamata Olive Sourdough bread toasted. It is topped with roasted red pepper, Gruyere cheese, tomato, and more thin cheese slices. I zapped it in the microwave to melt the cheese and drizzled it with Fig Mandarin Balsamic. This new balsamic is so thick it does not pour but drizzles out of the jar. I rather like that. Comforting breakfast while having a Pineapple Express passing through.

[Jenise]

Karen, your Mediterranean thinking is very refreshing.

I love those flavors and ingredients and used to consider myself a Mediterranean due to my love of tomatoes, olives, and bell peppers; but lately can't seem to get myself out of Asia. Just now, for lunch, I made a ramen. Cooked ramen noodles to which I added pea vines, topped them with slices of the four remaining Chinese cabbage rolls from Wednesday's dinner, and covered them with hot chicken broth. Absolutely loved it, but it doesn't have the health benefits of the Mediterranean foods you favor. Maybe I'm winter/Asian and summer/Club Med.

...I stopped at a friend's to get some help with a tech item and they forced me to drink a Manhattan and stay for dinner.

Gosh, what terrible, terrible people. You send them right over to me. No delay!

[Jenise]

Aren't they awful? With friends like that....

Yesterday I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted for dinner. (It's a lot harder to decide when wine isn't a focus to work with and inspire.) So I decided to open the freezer and cook the first thing I pulled out of a given shelf. Turned out to be a pork tenderloin. Okay, decided. But now what. I figured that by the time it defrosted I'd have an idea. I didn't. Well, I did, I wanted schnitzel, but was angling for something no-carb. And maybe involving pea vines, which are spinach-like in flavor and texture, and lemon which I'd simply had a hankering for. So I wandered around the pantry and when I saw a jar of capers--bingo! There it was! Pork piccata! I cut the tenderloin into eight slices and did a simple flour dredge, then augmented what was left in the pan with butter, vermouth, garlic, lemon juice and capers. Made a bed of wilted pea vines on each plate, topped it with the pork and poured the sauce over. Absolutely delicious. A glass of good vermentino was missing, but we were both pretty happy. No salad starter because of the pile of greens involved in the main course, and we shared a sliced honeycrisp apple after dinner.

Jenise, I love most types of cooking except for Asian because it makes such a mess on the stove. I recently came across a cookbook by Kelly Kwok, founder of Life Made Sweeter. She has adapted Asian recipes to a slow cooker. OH NO, you say...well, I am making Sweet and Sour Pork in the slow cooker right now. Not a recipe of hers but of a local chef. Pork Tenderloin is coated in paprika and then browned in the slow cooker. The chunks are then cooked in pineapple juice, onion, cider vinegar, and brown sugar, low sodium soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt. The unsweetened pineapple chunks are added later along with cornstarch and green onions. It will be served over Jasmine Rice, which I brown a bit, add onion, and seasoning, and cook in chicken stock. I am grilling fresh asparagus, tossing it with fresh garlic oil, lime juice, and a bit of Chinese Five Spice. Also, making a salad with red and green cabbage, green onions, oranges, pomegranate seeds, and an Asian-inspired dressing.

I did order the cookbook, it will be here tomorrow and I look forward to trying many of her recipes.
By the way, I just tasted the Sweet and Sour pork, and after only 30 minutes on low, it tastes amazing. May not be as pretty as a quick stir fry, but the taste and healthy dish are what I am after these days, not to mention easy clean up. My sweet hubby used to do all the dish clean up and now it is all up to me. I take many shortcuts now. I also LOVE my new slow cooker that sautés and browns all inside of its base.

...I love most types of cooking except for Asian because it makes such a mess on the stove...

??? Not sure I follow this logic. Perhaps there was one specific recipe that you had in mind? But not sure I would say cooking across the continent of Asia is any messier than any other continent...

I'm speaking about the hot oil and the speed at which many Asian dishes are made. I always seemed to have a lot of fine oil splatter. Plus, not sure I like the very hot and fast way the cooking is done. I've never liked last-minute cooking and most of my prep is done in the morning and nothing fussy left to do just before eating. All this is a result of aging, so at 83 years old, I do pretty well at eating healthy and getting my cooking done while I am still energetic.

To be more clear, I should have stated that most of my Asian cooking was stir-fry, the veggies, meats, fried rice etc.

...I should have stated that most of my Asian cooking was stir-fry..

Yes, I suppose wok stir-fry is its own beast in terms of prep/kitchen effort. But I wouldn't say that's any more the case than sauteeing in Western food. And, stir-fry is just one small technique/slice of 'Asian' food, the way sautee is just one technique/slice of Western food.

Either way, we both know the points we're trying to make! And, as long as we're cooking what works for us...

[Jenise]

...I should have stated that most of my Asian cooking was stir-fry..

Yes, I suppose wok stir-fry is its own beast in terms of prep/kitchen effort. But I wouldn't say that's any more the case than sauteeing in Western food. And, stir-fry is just one small technique/slice of 'Asian' food, the way sautee is just one technique/slice of Western food.

Well said, and a wok is a great containment vessel. The high sides keep most of the splatter in the pan and it's just one of many methods. The Italian piccata I made last night made a much bigger mess than the ramen I made for lunch or the stir fry I made the night before.

Perhaps, Karen, the real key is what you said about disliking last-minute preparations vs. that which you can do in a slow cooker or the oven. Which is totally fair.

I make a lot of Asian because I really love the flavors and 2) I love Asian vegetables. Shopping for produce at Asian markets doubles the variety of what's possible from American markets.

Both the pork piccata and the slow-cook sweet 'n' sour sound great to me!

I like both the slow-cook and a la minute styles but, if I'm cooking for more than two or three, I'd rather slow-cook.

Here is a link to the recipe. It comes from a local shop called Enjoy the Store.
https://enjoymagazine.com/2023/12/savory-delight/

For me, the recipe was spot on with ingredients and instructions, very easy and tasty. Enjoy the Store is a lovely place that carries locally (or nearby) products of food, crafts, jewelry, and pottery, and I think they have a wine bar here, If not in Redding their store in Anderson has one. Their magazine is great in that it features local folks, their art, stories, and places to visit in the North State.

Breakfast this morning is sliced banana, Honey Crisp Apple, raspberries, and Satsuma Mandarin sections drizzled with Bordeaux, Cherry Walnut Balsamic, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Oh my!

I was going to make waffles this morning, but I don't know what Edie did with the waffle iron. After searching the house a couple of times, I made johnnycakes, instead. I hope someday to find my waffle iron (and a lot of other stuff).

I was puzzled by the comment about Asian cooking being messy. I haven't found it any more or less so than the various European-based cuisines. When I started out cooking Chinese I had a problem with the mise en place that quick stir-fries require--I invariably ended up with just about every cup and bowl in the kitchen having to be cleaned. Then I took a Chinese cooking class and learned the secret--measure the capacity of the scoop and ladle you use when stir-frying, and use them as your measuring device. It can cut down tremendously on the number of small cups and bowls you need. If you ever watch a professional Chinese chef doing a stir-fry in a restaurant, they measure almost everything using the scoop and ladle.

-Paul W.

Here is a link to the recipe. It comes from a local shop called Enjoy the Store.
https://enjoymagazine.com/2023/12/savory-delight/

For me, the recipe was spot on with ingredients and instructions, very easy and tasty. Enjoy the Store is a lovely place that carries locally (or nearby) products of food, crafts, jewelry, and pottery, and I think they have a wine bar here, If not in Redding their store in Anderson has one. Their magazine is great in that it features local folks, their art, stories, and places to visit in the North State.

That looks excellent. Thank you!

One question: I don't own a slow-cooker or even a vintage crock pot. So, if I simply put it all in a pot and turn the heat down low, do you think it can be ready sooner than 6 hours?

we got a belated Christmas gift of John Ash's Hog Island seafood book. First thing we tried was excellent- seafood larb (!!!). Sauteed some haddock, tore it up, tossed with lime juice, fish sauce, chili powder (we didn't have Thai so used gochugaru) mint, cilantro, etc then served on lettuce with peanuts, cucumbers, more mint, etc. I love larb but am used to pork or duck.

"
One question: I don't own a slow cooker or even a vintage crock pot. So, if I simply put it all in a pot and turn the heat down low, do you think it can be ready sooner than 6 hours?"
Jeff, I think it would, just check the pork and when it gets tender it should be fine. I was amazed that my bell peppers still had a little crunch, which I liked. You might also want to Google Sweet and Sour Pork in the oven recipes. it might be more convenient for you than having to watch the stovetop.
You should be able to find a slow cooker in a thrift shop, but I do love mine as it does all the cooking in the base. An earlier model, I still use for dried beans does the browning step in the insert on the stove. I love them both and slow cooker cooking is trending right now as people discover how to use them. Don't skip the browning step, the paprika helps to give it a good color.

Thai stir-fried chicken with bird's eye chiles and holy basil (pad prik gai bai krapow) tonight. I'll be cheating a bit by using ordinary Thai basil (bai horapa) with a few pinches of dried holy basil. Fresh holy basil is almost impossible to find.

-Paul W.