What's Cooking (Take Two!)

Dinner last night was Thai stir-fried chicken with lemon grass (gai sai takrai). Tonight we will have kung pao chicken.

-Paul W.

Last night, I threw together a quick pasta dish. The sauce started with sauteed onions, Italian sausage, and a few chicken livers that I snuck in when the wife and daughter weren't looking. Then I threw in a jar of Tomato Magic, an unspiced tomato sauce that's made for this sort of thing. A bunch of dried thyme, oregano, and rosemary also went in. That simmered for 45 minutes or so, with some red wine added whenever it thickened too much. Served it over bucatini. For a quick and dirty procedure, it tasted pretty good.

[Robin Garr]

I hope everyone is remembering to eat.

Between a busy season with another hat on, plus a virulent flu (the one that this year's flu shot missed) that raged through our two-person family last week, we haven't been doing much serious eating around here.

We've bounced back, though, and celebrated last night with a very fine finocchio and onion risotto. I tried to get a picture and it threw up its hands and yelled, "Paparazzi! Noooo peeeeectures!" But trust me, it was good.

Beijing meat sauce noodles will be tonight's dinner.

-Paul W.

I hope everyone is remembering to eat.

Between a busy season with another hat on, plus a virulent flu (the one that this year's flu shot missed) that raged through our two-person family last week, we haven't been doing much serious eating around here.

We've bounced back, though, and celebrated last night with a very fine finocchio and onion risotto. I tried to get a picture and it threw up its hands and yelled, "Paparazzi! Noooo peeeeectures!" But trust me, it was good.

Glad to hear that recovery has sprung upon you two.

I've been eating, but not anything worth telling others about.

Your risotto reminds me that I have a bag of bomba rice waiting for a paella moment....

It hasn't been soup weather around here, with highs getting close to 80 during the day, but I wanted soup anyway. I made a potato-chorizo-chard soup with plenty of smoked paprika.Tasted good even on a day like this.

Did anyone do a stereotypic St. P's day feast? Married to a ginger, I had no choice.

This year a co-worker prevailed upon me to try what I would normally consider treif: corned beef cooked in ginger ale. I actually purchased two point-cut briskets to hedge my bets, cooking the second one the way I normally do: steamed over beer.

The other I did as my friend suggested: in a slow cooker, on a bed of onions, covered with ginger ale with carrots added during the last hour (she also advised adding cabbage then, but I'll eat shards of glass before I eat boiled cabbage). So I dragged out my wife's old slow cooker (I didn't even know we had one - this was my first time using one!) and assembled it before leaving for work. 12 hours later when I got home I dragged it out.

The verdict? A tie. One vote for ginger, one for steamed.

My wife liked the sweet, but not overly sweet or cloying, note that the soda gave to the meat. What really did it for her, though, was the texture. It was like pulled pork; it had enough structure that it didn't crumble on the plate, but it did pull apart with just a fork.

I myself liked it well enough, but preferred my tried-and-true-to-the-sadly-departed 2nd Avenue Deli steamed version. Full immersion in liquid desiccates meat much more than steaming over it does, and I like the resulting soft but sliceable texture. Plus it's juicer - a 12 hour simmer melted away all inner marbling in the crock pot beef.

It was really just a matter of taste. They both came out well.

Of course, mashed potatoes and soda bread. Or there would have been a mutiny. And loss of marital consort.

Oh, and I did make cabbage. But slow braised with apples, onion, spices, etc. Blows the stink off, y'know? Boiled....blech!

You?

[Robin Garr]

Broccoli stir-fry with tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger and organic tofu.

s-broc-stir-fry.jpg

Tom, never tried ginger ale, though have done regular (non-corned) brisket with coca-cola before (a Southern Jewish tradition apparently, though we learned it from Betsy's SoCal grandma). We did do a traditional corned beef boiled dinner this year, a little early.

Last night I did this recipe:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017 ... st-chicken

I didn't do the brine that way, closer to the original version in linked article. We had the remnants of a large hunk of Bulgarian feta in some brine that was beginning to get ...um.. extra umami shall we say. Used that (with the remaining older feta) for the overnight brine, and used fresh Greek feta for the sauce/salad. Really liked results. Betsy said presentation reminded her of the Zuni Cafe roast chicken with bread salad, and I think I'll do again (next time the feta/brine are getting ripe) with that in mind, and incorporate the bread salad.

[Jenise]

Last night, I threw together a quick pasta dish. The sauce started with sauteed onions, Italian sausage, and a few chicken livers that I snuck in when the wife and daughter weren't looking. Then I threw in a jar of Tomato Magic, an unspiced tomato sauce that's made for this sort of thing. A bunch of dried thyme, oregano, and rosemary also went in. That simmered for 45 minutes or so, with some red wine added whenever it thickened too much. Served it over bucatini. For a quick and dirty procedure, it tasted pretty good.

And they didn't notice the livers? Did they dissolve?

[Jenise]

Tonight I'm having "old fashioned meat loaf, mashed potatoes and comforting gravy". Im actually kind of excited about it. As a kid I went on house calls some weekends with my friend and her father the doctor, and if we stopped at the new town hospital he'd stash us in the cafeteria where we'd joyously eat these gloriously stiff mounds of mashed potatoes that looked like they'd been shaped in someone's bra topped with a sunny yellow gravy that was probably just bouillon, yellow dye and a bit of flour. Wouldn't eat gravy at home, but I loved this concoction. The rest of our meal was cherry pie. Kid tastes!

Last night, I threw together a quick pasta dish. The sauce started with sauteed onions, Italian sausage, and a few chicken livers that I snuck in when the wife and daughter weren't looking. Then I threw in a jar of Tomato Magic, an unspiced tomato sauce that's made for this sort of thing. A bunch of dried thyme, oregano, and rosemary also went in. That simmered for 45 minutes or so, with some red wine added whenever it thickened too much. Served it over bucatini. For a quick and dirty procedure, it tasted pretty good.

And they didn't notice the livers? Did they dissolve?

They did! It was a great way to bulk up the flavor surreptitiously.

Made my first souffle tonight. With cheese.

As you probably know, not particularly difficult but very delicious (of course the eggs were the ridiculously delicious farmers market eggs we always eat).

But it was fun and a change of pace from our usual egg meals (scrambled, omelet) so I will do it again. And my 4 year old son loved it, which is always good. (But then he pretty much eats anything with eggs and cheese and no vegetables)

[Robin Garr]

Conchiglie with a garlicky spinach-ricotta sauce dusted with Grana Padano. Very nice with Dei 2013 Rosso di Montepulciano.

s-Spinach-ricotta-conchiglie.jpg

Made my first souffle tonight.

Congrats!

It's been ages since I cooked supper, and I FINALLY managed to do so tonight. I got back from the gym to find that my wife was at her monthly three hour hair appointment. It was late enough that my daughter and I needed to eat, so we couldn't wait for her and we needed something quick. I remembered that I'd picked up some fresh garlic and a fennel bulb at the farmers' market last Sunday, so I made a quick run to the market and picked up a couple of pounds of mussels. The chopped fennel went into the pot first, with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. A few minutes later, a whole bunch (over three big handfuls) of chopped fresh garlic went in. After another five minutes or so, I threw in some white wine and let that cook for a few. After that, I threw in the mussels, covered the pot, and let it go for about ten minutes. Served them with some (very) crusty bread and more of the white wine (a Three Winery Albarino that was just great for this). The daughter was happy, I was happy, and I guess we'll find out about my wife. She's still not home, so we'll see how the mussels do after a little reheating....

Last night, it was chipotle burgers on the grill (canned chipotle, adobo, and minced onions mixed into the ground beef). Grilled asparagus to accompany. The burgers were quite good.

[Jenise]

Tonight, still at the Temporary HQ of Chez J south, room 3221, I've ordered two small side salads and a hamburger patty that I'll eat as a dinner salad with the EVOO and red wine vinegar vinaigrette I whipped up with stuff from the cafeteria.

Last night, though, sushi feast brought in by friends, with a bottle of dr. Phil and Waterford crystal to celebrate bobs birthday. I gave him a gift of tickets to a Seattle show I bought on line written on a pair otongue depressors and 'wrapped' in a blue plastic barf bag tied with a big bow I made out of gauze.

Tonight, still at the Temporary HQ of Chez J south, room 3221, I've ordered two small side salads and a hamburger patty that I'll eat as a dinner salad with the EVOO and red wine vinegar vinaigrette I whipped up with stuff from the cafeteria.

Last night, though, sushi feast brought in by friends, with a bottle of dr. Phil and Waterford crystal to celebrate bobs birthday. I gave him a gift of tickets to a Seattle show I bought on line written on a pair otongue depressors and 'wrapped' in a blue plastic barf bag tied with a big bow I made out of gauze.

BWAHAHAAA! That's GREAT! All of it

I had Chinese stir-fried ground pork with hot peppers last night. Enough snow has melted that tonight I can bring out the gas grill and do some sausages.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, tell me about the Beijing meat sauce.

Jenise,

I'll post the recipe.

-Paul W.

For years now, we've spent Easter Sunday at the home of a friend who has a pretty big party. There are always lots of her relatives, plenty of grilled meat, and my wife usually makes dessert to bring. This year, it was moved to Saturday (in order to give us all more time to recover before going to work) and we were asked to bring a savory appetizer. Accordingly, I made gougeres with some very long-aged Wisconsin cheddar. They came out perfectly and were a hit with the crowd.

Tonight, Sunday, have friends joining us for dinner, roast as usual, nothing exotic

appetiser:
Fresne Ducret
Brut Origine NV
Champagne
.- this is from a small family winery we visited with our wine club in September 2013

Main course
Roast Aberdeen Angus beef
Yorkshire Pudding, gravy
with
roast potatoes, parsnips & sweet potato
steamed brussel sprouts, cauliflower & green beans
selection of mustards, English and French

wine:
Chateau Giscours
2001
Margaux
- I tasted and bought this at the chateau when we visited 11 days ago on a Viking river cruise

Dessert
Rhubarb Crumble
with custard
Just pulled the rhubarb, our first crop this year

wine:
Chateau de Myrat
2005
Sauternes
We also visited Sauternes on our cruise but not this chateau and I didn't have space to bring back any sweeties. Our friends are bringing this as its on offer at Costco and we all want to taste it to see if we should buy more.