What's Cooking (Take Four)

On the menu for today is a pork tenderloin, marinated in balsamic vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, steak seasoning blend, and fresh rosemary and thyme from the herb garden. This will be oven-cooked. A coleslaw made with red and green cabbage, shredded carrots, and dressed with a mixture of seasoned rice vinegar, creamy horseradish, lemon juice, onion powder, celery salt, mustard powder, salt, and black pepper. The recipe calls for mayo, but I am using low-fat sour cream. Also, in place of sugar, I am using honey, I love the mixed coleslaw salads, as they keep well all week

I have a cookbook authored by Biba Caggiano, who owned Biba's Italian Restaurant in downtown Sacramento for many years.
My son served her restaurant's wine and spirit orders for many years, and we went there often. She signed her book and gave it to me for my birthday one year, long ago. One of my faves is being made today, Peperonata in Padella or Peppers, Onion, Tomatoes, and Balsamic Sauce. Served with spaghetti or any pasta.
Our weather is cooling down this coming week with temps into the 60s and mid-80s. Rain is expected Monday for three days. Can't wait!! I love the cooler mornings when I can open up the house.

Karen - we went to Biba's many times over the years and had a lot of memorable meals there. We also have all of her cookbooks and have never come across a bad recipe in them.

We bought a Breville oven a while back that has an air fryer setting, so last night I finally tried it out for fried fish. I used cod fillets and did the flour-egg-panko thing, having browned the panko first with some garlic and EVOO. Stuck them in the air fryer for about fifteen minutes and they came out very nicely. Tender and fully cooked on the inside, very crispy on the outside. Served them with fries that I made according to an NYTimes recipe in which you slice the potatoes in 1/4" strips, soak them in water, drain and dry, toss with olive oil, and then spread them out on a baking sheet pre-heated to ~500 degrees. Cook until done. They didn't look all that great, with irregular browning, but they tasted great and were pretty crispy. (I would have done them in the air fryer, too, but there wasn't room for them.)

[Jenise]

Mike, plain water or hot water on those air fries? I always pour a pan full of boiling water over my prepared potatoes and soak for an hour or so before oven-frying. Softening the exterior and making it more permeable does wonders.

My first BLT of the year.

Mike, I always got a kick seeing her husband sitting at the bar having a drink with the customers. He seemed to be a happy fellow and always spoke to us when we walked in. Is that restaurant still there. I think I heard that Biba had passed away. Am I wrong?

My first BLT of the year.

I made a BLT yesterday to celebrate the end of heirloom tomato season here.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

So my potential guests didn't stick around and a neighbor handed me six Dungeness crabs over the fence so that took care of dinner along with a cucumber and tomato salad. Today: chicken, for sure!

Speaking of tomatoes, I've had a few yellows and maybe 1 each of the reds but it's cooling down (only 64F outside right now) so fast I fear I will have a terrible crop. Good thing I like green tomatoes.

Mike, I always got a kick seeing her husband sitting at the bar having a drink with the customers. He seemed to be a happy fellow and always spoke to us when we walked in. Is that restaurant still there. I think I heard that Biba had passed away. Am I wrong?

Yes I remember seeing that Biba passed away. Betsy grew up in Sacramento and we went to Biba's when visiting her parents.

Thanks Karen for mentioning peperonata. Previous week's CSA had included a bunch of Round of Hungary peppers (very round, squat, thick walls, very sweet) and this week's had Escamillos (yellow/orange Italian). I had no plan but when I saw your post I checked our 2 Biba cookbooks. Both had pepronata recipes, though not yours with balsamic. But I made the basic one from Northern Italian Cooking (red wine vinegar) and it was excellent. And because I had book out Betsy made her tuna in tomato sauce for lunch. Win win.
The peperonata was served on Betsy's bread as an appetizer along with radish canapes (some with butter, rest with radish leaf pesto). Main was grilled racks of lamb, with the Bittman tomato paella mentioned in Ina Garten thread using some lovely heirlooms. So basically a FLDG dinner!
https://share.icloud.com/photos/018CTGq ... NakOK4bNgw

edited for clarity

... a neighbor handed me six Dungeness crabs over the fence ...

Now those are neighbors I'd like to have!!

Only thing I've ever gotten from my neighbors is annoying noise..

Dale, the meal you and Betsy prepared sounds delicious. I've never heard about or made radish leaf pesto. I will have to look into that and give it a try.

... a neighbor handed me six Dungeness crabs over the fence ...

Now those are neighbors I'd like to have!!

Only thing I've ever gotten from my neighbors is annoying noise..

Rahaan, noisy neighbors can be frustrating. Thank goodness I live in a place where that is controlled pretty well.. This is my first year in 46 years that I have not gone to the Farmers Market every Saturday. My neighbor across the street kept me supplied with cukes, all sorts of tomatoes, and too many zucchini. I loved it all, and I must admit I was happy not to get up so early on Saturdays.

[Jenise]

58F outside right now at 6 a.m. My tomato plants are doomed.

Jenise, your tomato plants should be ok, it is 59° here, and no worries. They will not have optimal growth at that temperature, when it gets below 50, then you can start to worry. You can also pick your green tomatoes and make green tomato salsa....Yummy

°

In New York City the temps have dropped to low 70's daytime, low 60's nighttime. If the humidity remains moderate, it's beautiful weather.

[Jenise]

The tomatoes aren't going to freeze yet, but they're going to develop very slowly, if at all. I've hardly picked/eaten any from my own vines. The good news is that I actually like green tomatoes. I did a tomato carpaccio of sorts a few weeks ago with layers of thinly sliced tomatoes in which I used some green tomatoes that got accidentally knocked off the main plant, and they were as sweet as they were crispy--a great addition. Speaking of green tomatoes, that was true of me as a kid, too. I'd be shopping with my grandmother and beg her to buy the greener ones, which she would not do claiming that green tomatoes gave you a stomach ache. Not true, Grammy!

Jeff, yes the weather can be lovely this time of year. Unfortunately fire smoke is quite a problem now and it's not as enjoyable as it would otherwise be.

We had an incredibly violent thunderstorm this past Saturday. The only times I've ever seen rain falling that hard was in hurricanes. After a lot of oppressive heat and humidity in July and early August it's now cool and pleasant (modulo that thunderstorm).

-Paul W.

Jenise - I used room temp water to soak the fries. Thanks for the tip - I'll see what hot water does next time I make them.

We have a friend who frequents thrift stores and, since he knows my wife collects cookbooks, will often bring her three or four of his latest $0.25 finds. These are usually as much jokes as they are serious cookbooks. For instance, one notable find was "The Mitt Romney Cookbook" or something like that. A few days ago, he brought her a World War II era spiral bound cookbook called The Mira Vista Cookbook, produced by the "popular hostesses" of the First Presbyterian Church (with no further information regarding which First Presbyterian Church). One of the recipes we found in there was for meatballs made with pork, beef, onion, and rice which are baked with tomato soup and a little water. They're called "Yummy Balls". With a name like that, we couldn't resist making them for the guy who gave us the cookbook, so we had him and his wife over for supper last night. Serve a dish called Yummy Balls, and the jokes just write themselves - we had a very fun supper. We added chicken thighs marinated in yogurt and South Asian spices and roasted with potatoes and onions, an heirloom tomato salad, roasted carrots, and almond cakes with Greek yogurt and raspberry coulis to round it all out Surprisingly, the Yummy Balls were really pretty yummy, in a Midwestern potluck sort of way. I'd make them again. .

[Jenise]

The hotter water penetrates further and par cooks the potato for a crispier exterior and creamier interior, or so I've found.

How fun on the cookbooks and Yummy Balls. I love meatballs and would likely be tempted--those flavors would be similar to 50's Swiss Steak (tomato/onion/beef--a simple combination but one of my favorites), but with a different texture.

Wow - i haven't thought of Swiss Steak in a very long time! This was a bit like that, although the meat balls were more tender and juicy than the steak in Swiss Steak usually was.

Tonight, we had Beef Stroganoff from the "Please To The Table" cookbook. We had it with buttered egg noodles and a salad made with fresh figs, crispy proscuitto, bleu cheese, basil, and a vinaigrette made with some of the figs.

Wow, my mom used to make Swiss Steak all the time. I have not heard of it for years. I loved it!

[Jenise]

Wow - i haven't thought of Swiss Steak in a very long time! This was a bit like that, although the meat balls were more tender and juicy than the steak in Swiss Steak usually was.

Tonight, we had Beef Stroganoff from the "Please To The Table" cookbook. We had it with buttered egg noodles and a salad made with fresh figs, crispy proscuitto, bleu cheese, basil, and a vinaigrette made with some of the figs.

You're right about Swiss Steak. Our mothers generally used round steak--heavily pounded or not the toughness was unavoidable with that cut. I despised it! But I love it now, and make it with chuck eye steaks for tenderness. Meatballs would be as good or better.

Your beef stroganoff and salad sounds like what I wished I'd had for dinner. I just had some cold chicken and a raw tomato, eaten out of hand like an apple. I have no desire to cook for myself.

Jenise - I used room temp water to soak the fries. Thanks for the tip - I'll see what hot water does next time I make them.

We have a friend who frequents thrift stores and, since he knows my wife collects cookbooks, will often bring her three or four of his latest $0.25 finds. These are usually as much jokes as they are serious cookbooks. For instance, one notable find was "The Mitt Romney Cookbook" or something like that. A few days ago, he brought her a World War II era spiral bound cookbook called The Mira Vista Cookbook, produced by the "popular hostesses" of the First Presbyterian Church (with no further information regarding which First Presbyterian Church). One of the recipes we found in there was for meatballs made with pork, beef, onion, and rice which are baked with tomato soup and a little water. They're called "Yummy Balls". With a name like that, we couldn't resist making them for the guy who gave us the cookbook, so we had him and his wife over for supper last night. Serve a dish called Yummy Balls, and the jokes just write themselves - we had a very fun supper. We added chicken thighs marinated in yogurt and South Asian spices and roasted with potatoes and onions, an heirloom tomato salad, roasted carrots, and almond cakes with Greek yogurt and raspberry coulis to round it all out Surprisingly, the Yummy Balls were really pretty yummy, in a Midwestern potluck sort of way. I'd make them again. .

In all seriousness, that sounds identical to the recipe for "yummy balls" that my wife's family makes. I love them. Though we often double the sauce ingredients because otherwise there's too little. A classic!

After a few years of mostly eating takeout/frozen food (I know, I know, not good for you) we are planning meals. I made sherry vinegar chicken, which turned out well considering it's supposed to use a whole chicken and all I had was chicken breast of unkown age from the deep freeze. Served with steamed broccoli and extra-long basmati rice.

I made a BLT yesterday to celebrate the end of heirloom tomato season here.

I spoke too soon in re heirloom tomato season. Our local upscale farm market (Lull Farm) is still offering over 30 varieties of heirloom tomato. Glorious!

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

So all this talk of yummy balls has piqued my need to experience the flavor of tomato/beef/onion again. I just pulled something out the freezer that looks like a thick steak. No idea what kind, but I know what's going to happen to it!