What's cooking?

You are correct in your thinking Robin, I know what fingerlings are, but had never heard of potatoes in Cacciatore.

I was thinking that too, but then...

[Robin Garr]

You are correct in your thinking Robin, I know what fingerlings are, but had never heard of potatoes in Cacciatore.

I was thinking that too, but then...

No, it was kind of you to jump in, Cynthia. That was an obvious interpretation, and I should have thought of it too, rather than ASSuming I knew what they meant. Of course, the fact that I guessed right makes it look better.

We'll be having a Georgian pork stew for supper tonight along with some kind of starch (not sure which yet) and roasted brussels sprouts. I made the stew yesterday. It's flavored with fenugreek, coriander seed, cilantro, and summer savory and is served with a condiment that consists of red bell pepper, garlic, jalapenos, and more of the above spices. It tasted awfully good when I finished it last night, so I'm looking forward to a bowl of it tonight.

Hm, a plague of purists!

It is true that potatoes are not traditional. I added them because (a) I wanted to make it a little heftier, in case I did not have pasta handy, (b) as I could not use onions, and adding that much shallots won't do, I wanted to add something, and (c) boy, were they cute!

I followed the recipe in "Chef on Fire" making only a few mods: it calls for clarified butter but doesn't use it, and I needed a lot more tomato paste + flour to get the sauce as thick as I wanted it. ((Is that a sufficient posting or should I scribe the actual text?))

I have the book so I'll check it out....thanks. I also know what fingerlings are but never saw them added to the dish, but hey, that's where great recipe's come from!

Ah, one more thing... the recipe says to simmer for 25 minutes but I wanted to be sure the little taters were cooked (they're waxy and I don't want to leave the impression that they're under-done) so I simmered for an hour.

[Jenise]

I'm cooking for my dying friend tonight, in a roundabout way. Tonight's our regular wine tasting night, and when John realized that the end was near he asked if we would meet at his house and allow him to pour all the wines from a bunch of stuff he'd been saving to taste someday (he's in retail, gets a lot of samples). But over the last few days everything's gone to hell pretty quickly with lots of complications, and he's in hospital today. So to honor him we're having the tasting at my house tonight, and we're going to open all 28 bottles he gave us. I've prepared a huge pot of pork meatballs, a cauliflower and artichoke panzanella, a whole side of roasted salmon with a green olive persilade for a sauce, and a cheese plate. I also made another batch of cabbage rolls so that I have something to send over to John's wife later in the week to help feed the inevitable weekend visitors. The ground pork for the meatballs and the cabbage rolls all came from the trimmings from the eight rolled pork roasts I made for the Yacht Club dinner a few weeks ago. Thank god for my Kitchen Aid!

I'm cooking for my dying friend tonight, in a roundabout way.

It's all so unbearably sad, Jenise.

You remind me so much of a section I've seen quoted from "Eat, Pray, Love" (which I haven't read or seen the movie version of) where the author is talking about a family where the mother and daughter both have cancer. She basically says, "That's a family in need of Grace." Her sister replies, "No, that's a family in need of casseroles!"

Practical, heart-felt help is always appreciated.

NJ's riff on "Holiday Biscotti":

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biscotti 021.JPG

I could eat those!

[Robin Garr]

I could eat those!

Save some for me!

[Robin Garr]

Shall we stir-fry broccoli crisp and green, or cook it down to something more comforting? No question, on a cold winter night like this. Chopped broccoli and wheat noodles in a spicy Southeast Asian coconut-peanut sauce with garlic and ginger. 

Okaaaayyy, Robin. I'm inspired. Think I'll go make myself that pasta with tuna, capers and olive dish I've been craving. Yum!!

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Vegetarian Hot & Sour Soup

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Vegetarian Fried Rice

Robin, I could eat that!

[Jenise]

Shall we stir-fry broccoli crisp and green, or cook it down to something more comforting? No question, on a cold winter night like this. Chopped broccoli and wheat noodles in a spicy Southeast Asian coconut-peanut sauce with garlic and ginger. 

Great idea, Robin; that looks AMAZING. And put me down for liking broccoli in all it's forms: raw, slightly cooked and beyond. In the 'beyond' state, it takes on a well-developed sweetness worth exploring.

[Jenise]

veg hot and sour.jpg

Vegetarian Hot & Sour Soup

veg fried rice.jpg

Vegetarian Fried Rice

I'd never miss the meat eating food like that!

[Jenise]

It's been an unusual week, I haven't cooked dinner one night this past week for just Bob and I, so I'm really looking forward to tonight when, it turns out, we'll be home after all. Early in the week it did not seem it would be so and I had to cancel a dinner party 24 hours after inviting a bunch of people--it wasn't clear until this morning that we'd be free. So I'm going to open one of those proscuittos and do a whole menu with it--it's time. I can stand waiting no longer. One of the ideas I had while driving home from Vancouver yesterday, pondering how to incorporate proscuitto into a terrine, was to do a riff on the Burgundian ham and parsley terrine, wherein the hunks of cooked ham are instead chunks of snow-white cooked-and-peeled red potatoes suspended in a wine flavored gelatine thick with proscuitto both ground and cut into ribbons plus the neccessary herbs. Slices of that would be served on a chiffonade of green leaf lettuce and a shallot dressing poured over all. Another course will be a lasagna, another idea I've had rolling around in my head wherein chicken replaces the red meat. This is the kind of cooking I love doing the most, right out of my imagination.

Oh, and Bob asked for an apple pie. Thinking about how to make that Italian, another wild idea I'm considering is putting all those flavors into a parfait in which layers of sauteed apples, crumbled polenta (maybe with rosemary) shortbread, and vanilla ice cream get topped with a drizzle of 100 year old balsamic vinegar.

[Robin Garr]

Last night's dinner: Winter soup made from a pureed blend of celeriac, turnip, potato, carrot and a little cabbage, garnished with crumbled blue cheese. 

[Robin Garr]

Tonight: Sichuan-style stir-fry of green beans, tofu and onions. 

I was off today (sometimes it's nice working for a bank) and cooked supper for Gail, who had to work: sauteed two chicken breasts until almost done, then sauteed minced garlic and diced yellow bell pepper, added 8 oz sliced crimini mushrooms and a bunch of fresh spinach leaves; added back the chicken, 1/2 cup chicken stock, and 1/2 cup Chardonnay (my homemade). Let simmeruntil veggies were cooked through, and served with short-grain brown rice (cooked in stock). Gail was impressed.

Visited a friend in Minneapolis to celebrate his birthday. On the day itself he invited a bunch of folks over and everyone cooked up a storm: egg ravioli, pear & kumquat salad, b'stilla, beef tenderloin with sauce Bernaise, a cheese board, and a chocolate bundt cake with macerated raspberries.

And 14 bottles of wine, including three dessert wines... all red!

Photos in this set (start at #31): http://public.fotki.com/jeffg165/friends/bruces-49th-birthday/page2.html

Quite a spread Jeff!

Had been vacationing in Singapore the last few weeks. Got home a couple of days ago, and after unpacking and such, finally got back into the habit of cooking for myself again.
Made a couple of Middle Eastern dishes - za'atar bread topped with crumbled goat cheese, and roast chicken thighs stuffed with a variety of herbs and spices. Also roasted a few baby potatoes in d'Artagnan duck fat on the side.

Looks like a lot of great food, Jeff! I can only imagine what the 50th will be like.

Last night, we had a few friends and their kids over for a birthday dinner as well. The birthday girl likes beef bourguignon, so I made a batch of that along with some mashed potatoes and a ginger beet salad. Two of the attendees are vegetarians, so there was also a casserole made with rice, broccolini, shrooms, and gruyere. Dessert was ice cream with spiced caramel sauce and Mexican chocolate cookies.

Had an itch for Indian food and had some goat in the freezer so...Goat Rogan Josh; Indian potatoes with cauliflower; cilantro raiita. A dense almond cake with apricot glaze and honey mascarpone cream for dessert that was leftover from the Russian party the night before.