What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Oh, feeling put upon so make a nice dinner just for me:
- a vegetable plate composed of Dutch tomatoes (the ones sold on the vine) decorated with salt and Grains of Paradise, big chunks of shiitake mushroom sauteed in olive oil and just a sprinkle of bouquet garni herbs, and a ripe avocado sliced and festooned with shavings of white truffle.
- fresh ricotta-stuffed tortelloni, boiled for just three minutes, tossed with butter and creme fraiche and more white truffle
- a bottle of Lungarotti 1974 Rubesco Riserva "Vigna Monticchio", showing a bit old but still flashes of a suave fruity red

Comfort food with a distinctive wine. Nice job. We've all been there. (Even if not with the exact food wine that you had!)

Indeed. love comfort food like this.

I did a batch of fried wontons (Joyce Chen's recipe) for the New Hampshire Astronomical Society's pot luck Christmas supper. Apparently the were well-received since I didn't take any back home with me.

I'll be doing zhajiangmian (Beijing meat sauce noodles) Monday night to use up the ground pork that didn't go into the wontons.

-Paul W.

Indeed. love comfort food like this.

Not picking on you, Bob, but I am curious... what is discomfort food?

Not picking on you, Bob, but I am curious... what is discomfort food?

The egg rolls at a very ghastly Chinese/Polynesian restaurant in my area. It did make good mai tais, and I made the mistake of ordering egg rolls while playing Ms. Pac Man in the restuarant's bar. The most I can say about them is that they weren't actually poisonous. But it is the only time I've ever gotten severe heartburn from Chinese egg rolls.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Cold platter tonight: celery, carrots, sweet/tiny/crunchy sugar plum tomatoes, blue cheese dip, some sliced salami from Bosa's, toasted Swiss baguette.

toasted Swiss baguette.

What is a Swiss baguette?

[Jenise]

It's a hand-formed baguette produced by a Canadian bakery in Abbotsford that's baked twice to get a miraculously hard top crust and a slightly blackened bottom. Best loaf of bread I've had in ages. Brought one home and immediately redesigned dinner to make the bread not just an accompaniament but the centerpiece of the meal.

It comes from a bakery across the border. It's a hand-formed baguette produced by a Canadian bakery in Abbotsford that's baked twice to get a miraculously hard top crust and a slightly blackened bottom. Best loaf of bread I've had in ages. Brought one home and immediately redesigned dinner to make the bread not just an accompaniament but the centerpiece of the meal.

Sounds good. Any idea why it's called 'Swiss' baguette. Is the double-baking a common Swiss technique? (The internet doesn't yield any immediate answers on that front)

[Jenise]

The two times I was there, breakfasts in Zurich usually included exceptionally hard-crusted rolls along with the cheeses, butter and jams. They actually called them something like "hard rolls". I related this loaf to that experience, but I might be putting two and two together and getting five.

[Jenise]

Rahsaan, here's a link to the Bakery which has a (bad) picture of the loaf we're discussing.

http://www.gesundheitbakery.ca/Home_Page.php

The two times I was there, breakfasts in Zurich usually included exceptionally hard-crusted rolls along with the cheeses, butter and jams. They actually called them something like "hard rolls". I related this loaf to that experience, but I might be putting two and two together and getting five.

Interesting. Who knows. It can be interesting to trace different influences and naming practices for dishes, which can be more or less logical. Either way, bravo for having a good baker.

[Jenise]

Rahsaan, I just spoke to the baker, Andy. Several facts: his father started the Bakery, though he now runs it. And some years back, his dad married a Swiss lady who told him about the double-baked bread she remembered from home and begged him to create such a loaf for her. And here we are. Btw, no sugar, no oil, no preservatives in any of there breads--as it should be.

Rahsaan, I just spoke to the baker, Andy. Several facts: his father started the Bakery, though he now runs it. And some years back, his dad married a Swiss lady who told him about the double-baked bread she remembered from home and begged him to create such a loaf for her. And here we are. Btw, no sugar, no oil, no preservatives in any of there breads--as it should be.

Nice!

So here’s go again with the neeed to use up stuff
.
Heading off tomorrow for six days, and had assessed the fresh food situation and made plans.
Then ended up having to do a 300 km round trip to sort out mums hearing aids.
So the lunch didn’t happen so we are face with a side of spaghetti bol. A grilled salad of radicchio pumpkin spring onions tomatoes and cos. And a pretend pizza with tortilla base and the cheese and olives in the fridge. Might crack out some anchovies for a treat.

[Jenise]

That's about where I am, Barb. Cooking for the big Xmas dinner tomorrow night (for 80), so no life of my own. Last night, dinner (when we could finally sit down) was olives, cheese and crackers. Today will be no better.

Leftovers, as a meal, kinda depends on what you start with. I had a cup or so of leftover baeckoffe from an Alsatian restaurant; it was the basis for a sloppy-joe like dinner a couple nights ago... saute some chopped aromatics, then ground beef, then add a cup of leftover baeckoffe, stir and serve. :^)

Last night was the first cooking for Xmas dinner: Roasted Cinnamon Ice Cream, as posted here many moons ago by Mike F.

Dinner last night was Shanghai-style hung shao gai (red-cooked chicken). I threw in half a star anise. I store peeled fresh ginger in a mason jar filled with 100-proof vodka. It keeps very well that way. I tried the same thing with fresh galangal and it didn't work--the galangal got all tough and woody. I now store galangal by freezing it. That left me with a jarful of vodka infused with galangal. Rather than throw it out I put a couple of tablespoons into the hung shao gai. I like the additional flavor dimensions.

-Paul W.

Circumstance meant we spent Christmas at home, just we two, and that is fine. As this was unexpected it was check the freezer and a quick shop on Christmas Eve.
Had smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches for lunch and for dinner grilled lobster tails with a champagne vanilla sauce, drinking the same bubbly of course. Oh and a grilled Caesar salad and sauté potatoes.

[Robin Garr]

Sounds like a fine Christmas, Barb. I'm glad you had a good one!

Julia Child's coq au vin for Christmas, accompanied by 1996 Bouchard Pere et Fils La Romanee and a very nice epoisses from Whole Foods.

-Paul W.

...for dinner grilled lobster tails with a champagne vanilla sauce

Oh, outstanding that someone still servers lobster with vanilla!

We had a UK family (she Scottish, he Welsh, the children grown-up) to supper so I did it up: Roast Goose (with a citrus and Five-Spice rub) and gravy, our house stuffing (craisins, pecans, Grand Marnier), cranberry sauce (made with red wine, Cointreau, and more pecans), a green salad with Green Goddess dressing, and a half dozen desserts: two ice creams, pumpkin pie (to remind that they are in America!) with Cream Chantilly, a proper English pudding (made by a different UK-based friend's mom), and a commercial chocolate orange (served in a quaiche, for good measure).

I'm exhausted.

The guests pulled their weight, however... they brought the starter:

2018-12-26 08.48.50sm.jpg

...for dinner grilled lobster tails with a champagne vanilla sauce

Oh, outstanding that someone still servers lobster with vanilla!

I’d never come across it before, although now i think of it Rick Steins Aussie restaurant does a shellfish platter with vanilla in the dressing. I
The lobster was good!
Hope you and pumpkin had a nice festive season, all the best for the new year.