What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

Steaming away on the stove right now: tamales rajas from a local Mexican market. Will serve over buttered corn for lunch.

Yummy lunch Jenise, I can smell it now!

Considering meat loaf sandwiches from my world-famous meat loaf I made Sunday.

I'll be making Thai red curry, probably with eggplant.

-Paul W.

I did a little fun cooking last night: I had roasted a whole chicken on Sunday. Took off one half of the breast but all of the skin. Made a pseudo forcemeat from chopped-up trimmings off the skeleton (+mayo, mustard, sage, s+p, and bread crumbs), butterflied the breast, spooned on the forcemeat, rolled it back up, then wrapped the whole bundle in the skin, tied it up and pan roasted it for a while to get it hot again. Made a little gravy from drippings I kept from Sunday. A good ad hoc roulade!

Still eating leftover meatloaf and loving every minute. But I did bake three loaves of bread and one Russian sharlotka.

We have had a lot of rice lately, so I decided to accompany some bulgogi with sweet potato instead. Told Betsy I'd top with miso butter to kind of make it a bit Korean-y. I made the butter and put on dining table, went out to grill the bulgogi. Came back in to find that Betsy had come in kitchen, seen butter and miso still out, and made a batch not realizing I already had. So lots of miso butter in the house. Discovered this morning miso butter is an attractive medium for fried eggs.

It ended up being panang curry rather than red curry, with Chinese eggplant and potato.

-Paul W.

Today, I am making a roasted chicken with clementines and arak. I mix Arak, EVOO, fresh orange juice, lemon juice, grain mustard, and light brown sugar. Then, the chicken pieces, sliced fennel bulb, sliced clementines, thyme, fennel seed, and potatoes are mixed with the first ingredients and left to marinate. Later a nice roast in the oven. A salad with chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, radish, red onion, red bell pepper, cilantro, and fresh parsley. The dressing is olive oil, zest, and juice of one lemon, sherry vinegar, garlic,
allspice, greek yogurt, salt and pepper.

I have a slightly eccentric assortment of odds and ends around the house... some whole wheat pita breads, slivered almonds, half a bag of craisins, half a lemon, and a burgeoning spices shelf so I'm eyeing the ras el hanout and fenugreek that I basically never use... and I decided to turn this all into a bstilla (bsteeya, pastilla, whatever). Instead of phyllo, I'll split the pitas and get 6 rounds; that gives me five middles which is the right number: almonds - chicken - almonds - chicken - almonds. Sub the craisins for dates or honey (craisins are heavily sweetened). The spices are fading but I ran the fenugreek through a spice grinder and that helped a bit. The question on my mind is whether it will all hold together as there is nothing on the sides; it's not going to be a parcel, just a stack.

I have a plethora of spices, and various other blends, plus all the free small containers Penzey always sends me with each order. I, too, was looking through them yesterday and wondering what to do with it all and came across a can of candied ginger pieces. They tasted great, and I wondered why I had them. Many suggestions on the can for use in baking and even salads, however, I do not bake anything anymore. Does anyone use these in any other application besides baking? I'm wondering how they would go with meat or veggies.

I mainly cook Chinese, Indian, and Thai and because of that I've accumulated a lot of different spices. Some of the more obscure Indian spices tend to be a problem because you can only get them in Indian groceries and they're only sold in (what are for me) huge quantities per package.

Googling "candied ginger in meat recipes" turned up a bunch of dishes, mostly beef.

-Paul W.

...came across a can of candied ginger pieces. They tasted great, and I wondered why I had them. Many suggestions on the can for use in baking and even salads, however, I do not bake anything anymore. Does anyone use these in any other application besides baking? I'm wondering how they would go with meat or veggies.

Indeed, baking is the obvious use. I eat candied ginger as candy. Admittedly, it's strong and a little goes a long way but that's OK.

If not baking, um, er, you can soak it to make it soft, therefore suitable for stir-fry. I have also read that it is useful for making tea or even making ginger ale. (But baking really is the thing.. gingerbread and ginger snaps, scones, pumpkin waffles....)

The question on my mind is whether it will all hold together as there is nothing on the sides; it's not going to be a parcel, just a stack.

So, this is really tasty and quite unruly. It did release from the pot pretty well but there is just so much heavy chicken stew compared to just a few flimsy pita breads.... Fortunately, bowl and spoon are good where knife and fork leave off!

I also like candied ginger as an occasional piece of candy. I also use it for nausea.

Well, I could have eaten the whole can, but I had to restrain myself. I'm still wondering what I used them for. I think this Ree Drummonds recipe would work with some candied ginger.
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-co ... snow-peas/

Fishmonger had black cod Saturday so I marinated in miso/sake/mirin/sugar for 2 days (Nobu style, though he didn't actually invent) and had last night. Delicious. It's rare to find black cod and so I do the same thing every time, I should branch out, but since I love this.....

Something simple for tonight: spaghetti with Rao's Arrabbiata sauce, Italian basil sausage, and bell peppers. Later this week will be hongshao ji (Shanghai red-cooked chicken).

-Paul W.

Something simple for tonight: spaghetti with Rao's Arrabbiata sauce, Italian basil sausage, and bell peppers. Later this week will be hongshao ji (Shanghai red-cooked chicken).-Paul W.

Sounds good. I like Rao's spaghetti sauces, but I'm not impressed with their pizzas.

Speaking of Marinara Sauce, has anyone here tried Silver Palate's low sodium Marinara? A recommendation by Dr. Oz a couple years ago after his staff did some research and taste testing. I think it is very good and always have a jar in my pantry.

[Jenise]

Speaking of candied ginger and Silver Palate, one of the most Disastrous Dinners At Other People's Houses in my lifetime involved both. I don't recall the recipe name, but it could have been called Pork With Three Gingers (candied plus most likely fresh and powdered). Rather gimicky, and a friend who was an earnest but unskilled cook did this for a dinner party. It called for pork loin, but what my friend didn't know was that the 'pork loin roast' she bought was that market's unconventional approach to same: two pork loins from the fat end married back to back in one of those stretchy net things to create one large roast. So twice as much meat and twice as thick requiring twice the cooking time called for. And not at all a shape conducive to marination. I remember the candied ginger just rolling off. I only got involved when the hostess, already running WAY behind sent up an SOS--dinner didn't get served until like 10:00 that night.

What I had for dinner last night: half a peanut butter sandwich, then an hour later I nuked a Chinese rice-meat wrapped in taro leaves thingie I had in the freezer. The struggle to feed myself begins.

Today, I have baby back pork ribs seasoned with grated fresh ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. These will be cooked in a sauce that includes Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and Calabrian crushed chile peppers. They will be oven-cooked on a sheet pan, covered tightly with foil wrap at 350° for 2 1/2 hours, then uncovered until browned. A side dish of Mexican Rice has Basmati Rice, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, chopped chile peppers, chicken stock, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, and fresh cilantro. I have a zucchini, mini peppers, green onions, and cauliflower I need to use and will give those a quick fry until browned.

[Jenise]

I cooked a beet.

Yes, really. A giant large grapefruit sized chiogga beet I found at Whole Foods on my first trip out buying groceries just for me. I peeled and diced it, and it's marinating with horseradish, oil, vinegar and salt. I'll have a serving for dinner with chevre cheese and some dolmas I bought out of whatever you call the ready-made food buffet that all WF's have.

As cooking goes, it's not a big deal. But: baby steps.

Pan fried halibut with lemon-butter-caper sauce, steamed rice, and roasted broccoli. All cooked in the ADU, as the kitchen in our house has been out of commission since the remodel started a year ago.