What's Cooking (Take Two!)

I went to the gym after work and when I got home, I found my wife working on an English-themed supper in honor of Guy Fawkes Night. Since there really wasn't time for cooking, she went with two options - tomato and cheese on toast or mushrooms on toast. There were also canned baked beans to go with. I opted for a fusion version and put my sauteed mushrooms on a flour tortilla with some sharp cheddar that had been broiled for a few minutes. It made for a lovely mushroom quesadilla. For after, we had treacle toffee and Sticky Parkin Cake that some friends from England brought over for us.

No bonfire, unfortunately.

A couple of new things today.

First, I ran across recipes for a Vietnamese caramel sauce, and it seemed so simple (yet so unlike my usual cooking ingredients) that I had to try making it. Used it to top tilefish for me and the wife (and chicken for my son), with lime and cilantro and it was all lovely.

The other new thing was fresh turmeric at the farmers market. Bright orange, strong, fragrant, but also mellow as these fresh things go. (The fresh ginger is also similarly brilliant right now). Used that with garlic, jasmine rice and sauteed brussels sprouts for an accompaniment to the fish.

Always fun to have new flavors and ingredients!

The other new thing was fresh turmeric at the farmers market. Bright orange, strong, fragrant, but also mellow as these fresh things go. (The fresh ginger is also similarly brilliant right now).

What does turmeric taste like by itself? I don't think I've ever seen it alone.

Kept it pretty simple. Slightly less than medium rare rubbed flat iron steak with roasted butternut squash stuffed with apple. Also sauteed up some garlic, ginger bok choy. Finished it all off with some fresh baked apple pie.

The other new thing was fresh turmeric at the farmers market. Bright orange, strong, fragrant, but also mellow as these fresh things go. (The fresh ginger is also similarly brilliant right now).

What does turmeric taste like by itself? I don't think I've ever seen it alone.

Pretty much a fresher rounder version of the dried stuff. I could see the connection and draw the link.

I made my wife guess what it was and she didn't figure it out until I told her. But I'm not sure how hard she was trying or how much she was invested in my game! Most folks around here (I would like to think myself as well) would probably have figured it out.

Not exactly cooking, but did start a new batch of vanilla extract. this morning.

Fresh tumeric, ginger and sunchokes as the Madison Farmer's market this Saturday. Made a gratin of the chokes. Easy as they were quite large and quite clean not requiring peeling. Lovely when fresh. Will use the remaining ones raw with spinach as a salad.
Loaded up on abbage and beets from the FM for winter borscht.

Fresh turmeric is interesting -- it looks kind of like caterpillars!! And it stains everything.

I made Coq au Vin today -- to eat tomorrow. It's getting cold here.

For supper we had leftovers. A carrot, butternut squash, and leek soup with ras el hanout and saffron as the spices. Very tasty and we threw in a little leftover basmati rice to make it more filling. And fried bisteeya wontons that I made for a party Friday night.

I made Beijing meat sauce noodles last night. Stir-fried pork with black bean sauce is the next recipe on deck.

-Paul W.

...I made Coq au Vin today -- to eat tomorrow....

How do you warm it up for serving the next day?

Dave R., whom some of you will remember, was in Marin to visit his parents and he invited us over for last night's Packer game. We brought the makings for a persimmon salad (cinnamon persimmons, arugula, hazelnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette), a rack of baby back ribs, a partially completed quince tart, a '99 Cedarville Syrah, a '92 Zilliken Saarburger (etc.) Spatlese, and an '05 La Roquette CdP. Dave had a selection of Wisconsin cheese, summer sausage, gaucamole, a '98 VT, and a '94 Musar waiting for us. He dry-rubbed the ribs, roasted them for a couple of hours, and then finished them on the grill while my wife finished the tart and I completed the salad. It was all great fun and very tasty. And of course, Rodgers throwing for six TDs in one half made it all taste that much better.

...I made Coq au Vin today -- to eat tomorrow....

How do you warm it up for serving the next day?

Stews and braises are always better on Day Two. Because I wanted to merge the flavors a bit more (the mushrooms and pearl onions are added at the end) 1) I skimmed fat off the top and 2) I brought the whole pot to a simmer and served hot from the pot. Tomorrow I might just put servings into bowls and nuke them. Tonight we served over freshly cooked egg noodles. Tomorrow maybe potatoes.

[Jenise]

I made Beijing meat sauce noodles last night. Stir-fried pork with black bean sauce is the next recipe on deck.

-Paul W.

What makes "Beijing meat sauce", Paul?

[Jenise]

Last night's dinner: pork belly tacos with peach and red savina chile salsa and white cabbage slaw.

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We have a big bag of beautiful Meyer lemons, so I thought I'd cook up a lemon risotto tonight. Once I decided on that, I went to the fish market to see if they had some shrimp I could put in. The only ones they had were pretty big, so I'm going to saute them up with some garlic and lemon and serve them on top of the risotto. The shrimp shells are simmering now to provide broth.

Tonight we grilled, yes grilled fillet steak in bacon rasher, over charcoal and mesquite chips; baked sweet potatoes, and the last of our recent batch of eggplant salad (it contained the last of our red peppers from the garden as well as our own tomatoes and parsley). This was our first grilling on a snow covered deck and may be the last this year.

Have been cooking al forno. Not just for focaccia and pizza, the wood fired oven turns out to be great for roasting a lake tout on a bed of celery and onions and searing potatoes beside the fish. Tonight harissa marinated flank steak in the forno with onions, red peppers and Brussels sprouts served on a bed of polenta. We have yet to turn on the furnace because the forno heats the house so well at these temps.
So sorry it has taken me this long to branch out to cooking foods other than focaccia and pizza. It works out very well ! There is a learning curve of knowing where to place the first fire, when to bank and where to place the item to be cooked.
Focaccia has been the easiest. Made a Gabriele Bonci dough for kale, bacon, Gryuere pizza tomorrow. Will split the cooked dough, load with the greens and cheese and pop back in till melted. A nice starter for the Packer party tomorrow. NO BUD LIGHT !!!!

[Jenise]

Sounds great, Carl. Our 'last day' will be here any day now, too.

Tonight? Broiled lobster tail on beet fettucine with tarragon-butter sauce.

Mini-quiches with sausage and mushrooms. Tough to get a creamy texture but not bad.

Made my first pecan pie with pecans from the farmers market. We elected to buy them in the shell because my (4-year old) son was so excited about the prospect of using a nutcracker. He was then happy and excited to diligently spend 2 hours working to give me 2 cups worth of shelled pecans. (While I left to play tennis, nice arrangement huh! I'm sure it won't last forever)

The pie itself was great, how could it not be with great pecans, great eggs, great vanilla. I used a Mark Bittman recipe from 'How to Cook Everything' and used 1/3 of the sugar (he called for 1.5 cups) and it was still plenty sweet.

Nice times.

Last night, I made a couple of savory tarts. One was with leeks, one with Belgian endive, both with gruyere, bacon, and eggs and cream. They took a bit of fiddling as I had bought puff pastry rather than pie crusts and I didn't want soggy pastry. They came out quite nicely, though.

Tonight, it will be ribs, slow-cooked in the oven and finished on the grill. We'll have grilled portobellos for the non-meat eaters in the group (stuffed with something-or-other I haven't decided on yet), collards, and a starch of some type.

Made my first pecan pie with pecans from the farmers market. We elected to buy them in the shell because my (4-year old) son was so excited about the prospect of using a nutcracker. He was then happy and excited to diligently spend 2 hours working to give me 2 cups worth of shelled pecans. (While I left to play tennis, nice arrangement huh! I'm sure it won't last forever)

The pie itself was great, how could it not be with great pecans, great eggs, great vanilla. I used a Mark Bittman recipe from 'How to Cook Everything' and used 1/3 of the sugar (he called for 1.5 cups) and it was still plenty sweet.

Nice times.

Sounds great! With no nut shellers left at home, we have turned to Good Earth Peanut Company in Skippers, VA. They don't have untampered shelled pecans on website, but can provide plain ole shelled ones if you call or email. Upon receipt we freeze until needed. Works fine!

Tonight I'm cooking a variation of Thai chicken satay. Instead of boneless chicken breasts cut into strips, I've pounded some boneless, skinless chicken thighs flat (Indian passindae style). I put them in the satay marinade last night, and tonight they go on the grill. Very likely this will be the last time the grill is used until spring.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Tonight I'm have 14 guests to dinner, and other people are actually bringing stuff! This is the demo meal for the wine club Southern style Xmas dinner we're co-producing in December. The appetizers will be a smoked brisket crostini and two others both created by me but turned over to another for production, a "pimmenna cheese" stuffed slice of raw zucchini topped with bacon lardon and pickled green tomatoes, and a "Duck Dynasty" canapé that's a play on an Italian crostini of tuna on white beans, with of crisped wonton skin topped with baby lima's (white, from dry), duck rillettes and a spicy peach salsa.

The first sit-down course will be a pea terrine on mache leaves topped with shrimp tossed in a browned butter vinaigrette, my dish. Second course will be a sweet potato soup with Andouille sausage. And the third will be roast pork, chanterelle and leek bread pudding, apple-champagne gravy and haricot verts lightly cooked in ham broth, garnished with crispy shallots and okra sand--again, my dish.