What's Cooking (Take Two!)

Nice match tonight of a delicious copper river salmon (is it really still the season!)...

Apparently it is. The local Costco had a sudden influx of Copper river salmon, which is what we had on the grill last night.

[Jenise]

Cacio e pepe: coarsely ground black pepper browned in butter, emulsified with a little pasta water and tossed with spaghetti, Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses. It's based on the recent New York Times recipe linked below, but I wanted to try the original Italian recipe without The Times' healthy but less authentic addition of peas and fava beans, so we held the veggies to serve on the side. Good decision. The dish alone is amazing.
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1014828/ ... Favas.html

An episode of Anthony Bourdain caused me to finally make this, too, not too long ago. As you said, great choice! You won't be sorry if you add a little white truffle oil, either.

[Jenise]

Made microwave potato chips today. We devoured them.

Jason

Tried some earlier this week--no luck? Cooked them one minute at a time, and eventually for four minutes total. Still, no crisp.

[Jenise]

Robin, that is what our 11 year old granddaughter orders from restaurants, pasta with butter and Parmesan. She just bats her big brown eyes and they happily bring it to her. She is a vegetarian....announced one year ago that she would not eat anything with a face, and she has stuck to it, much to the dismay of this meat eating family, but we respect her wishes! It sounds delish, but like you I would also do the beans and peas on the side.I have some bucatini to use up, this is where it is going to go. Were the veggies from Mary's garden?

Cacio de Pepe is a classic, and all about the pepper and pecorino. Without either, it's a different dish. A very very good dish, mind you, but not cacio de pepe. Reading this just convinced me it's what we're having for lunch, too.

Good for your granddaughter, btw! Interesting challenge, I'm sure, for her parents, but it's cool for an 11 year old to have high convictions and decide to live by them. Glad everyone's there to help.

Made microwave potato chips today. We devoured them.

Jason

Tried some earlier this week--no luck? Cooked them one minute at a time, and eventually for four minutes total. Still, no crisp.

My wife like um chewy anyway. Hard to keep her from eating the raw ones while I am prepping. Anyway, I brushed them with a little EEVO, then hit with a bit of S&P. It takes a good 6-7 minutes to get them crisp. You'll see they start to brown. Here is a screen shot of an instagram video.

All in all it is not something I would do often since you really don't get that many chips. But they were really good and presumably healthy.

[Jenise]

Jason, I just gave up too early, then? Figures. I was at the point of thinking I was making mashed potatoes, not chips, so quit.

Here is a brief video version.http://instagram.com/p/bFkrKvS2lp/

Lovely pizza last night: tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, oyster mushrooms, parmesan, taleggio and basil. It all really sang well together and despite the humidity the crust came out well with lots of crisp and snap. It was also time to revert to my German riesling/pizza match, and it was delicious with 2005 Vollenweider WG Auslese. Might have been a better/easier match with spatlese or kabinett but with cold glasses and happy faces, we weren't complaining. Plus the wine is really delicious on its own.

Last night was grilled tri-tip, paired nicely with a Parducci Reserve Pinor Noir.

Got up this morning and put a beef brisket on the weber at 7:00am. If all goes well it should be read for carving about 6:00pm, along with grilled chicken, boiled corn, potato salad, coleslaw and bourbon baked beans which are baking in a 250 degree oven and should be ready about the same time.

In the beginning.

[Jenise]

Jason, looks like a stew?

It's wicked hot up here today. I'm making a cold Chinese drunken chicken to take out on a sailing party later (about 10 boats will pile out into the bay, raft up, and we'll have a floating pot luck dinner and cocktail party), and have made grilled lobster and tomato cocktails for lunch. Gonna be a good day.

Jason, looks like a stew?

It's wicked hot up here today. I'm making a cold Chinese drunken chicken to take out on a sailing party later (about 10 boats will pile out into the bay, raft up, and we'll have a floating pot luck dinner and cocktail party), and have made grilled lobster and tomato cocktails for lunch. Gonna be a good day.

It is carnitas. I do some different things since I can have world class carnitas at any number of places around here.

We are slightly cooler here today but still 92 currently. Didn't really want to cook but I had a special request. Your dinner and day sound fantastic.

J

Time to shred.

Alright Jason, I will be right over with some cold beer! That carne asada looks delicious!

Dinner here is salmon in yellow curry with some Kerala red matta rice! Drinking 2012 Navarro Edelzwicker.
-Shaji

[Jenise]

Jason, looks like a stew?

It's wicked hot up here today. I'm making a cold Chinese drunken chicken to take out on a sailing party later (about 10 boats will pile out into the bay, raft up, and we'll have a floating pot luck dinner and cocktail party), and have made grilled lobster and tomato cocktails for lunch. Gonna be a good day.

It is carnitas. I do some different things since I can have world class carnitas at any number of places around here.

We are slightly cooler here today but still 92 currently. Didn't really want to cook but I had a special request. Your dinner and day sound fantastic.

J

Ah, carnitas! My favorite Mex food of all. And yes, you do have great resources down there; I sure miss that since moving to the Pac NW. Mexican food is popular here but it's the blandest, most insipid Mexican food you've ever seen. Living in a neighborhood with it's own private marina provides some compensation, however!

[Jenise]

Time to shred.

Oh god. I'm drooling. Do you deep fry, oven roast or both?

Time to shred.

Oh god. I'm drooling. Do you deep fry, oven roast or both?

Seared and then oven braised @ about 300 in the Virgil's Root Beer from the pic above. Then I strain the liquid, separate out some of the lard, reduce and pour a bit over the the shredded meat. In this instance it sat over night. Then spread meat on a cookie sheet, smear some of the lard back on top and throw in a hot oven or broiler to crisp up.

Jason, I just gave up too early, then? Figures. I was at the point of thinking I was making mashed potatoes, not chips, so quit.

I'm confused. I cut the potato on the thinnest setting of my mandolin, give each side a quick brush of oil, lay them on a plate, nuke 1 min, flip over each chip, nuke 1 min, done. Gotta be careful towards the end because they can burn. Maybe it's a potato type problem?

Jason, I just gave up too early, then? Figures. I was at the point of thinking I was making mashed potatoes, not chips, so quit.

I'm confused. I cut the potato on the thinnest setting of my mandolin, give each side a quick brush of oil, lay them on a plate, nuke 1 min, flip over each chip, nuke 1 min, done. Gotta be careful towards the end because they can burn. Maybe it's a potato type problem?

Hmmm... is your micro turbo charged ... That may be a case of the slice setting. Mine were certainly not at the thinest setting. They would be way thicker than something store bought.

I'll try next time on a a thinner setting and report back.

BTW I used organic russets.

Jason

[Jenise]

Jason, I just gave up too early, then? Figures. I was at the point of thinking I was making mashed potatoes, not chips, so quit.

I'm confused. I cut the potato on the thinnest setting of my mandolin, give each side a quick brush of oil, lay them on a plate, nuke 1 min, flip over each chip, nuke 1 min, done. Gotta be careful towards the end because they can burn. Maybe it's a potato type problem?

Not sure. I cut very thin with a mandoline, brushed with OO, nuked 1 min, turned, nuked another minute, and I wasn't even close to brown. Added two more minutes and still not close to browning. More a steamed potato. Used russets.

Not sure. I cut very thin with a mandoline, brushed with OO, nuked 1 min, turned, nuked another minute, and I wasn't even close to brown. Added two more minutes and still not close to browning. More a steamed potato. Used russets.

Hm. I'll have to hunt around whether I made any other notes about the technique.

ETA:

OK, I found the original site that gave me the idea:
http://spiceandmore.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/microwave-potato-crisps/

ETA 2:
Note the comment posted by Fig And Lime Cordial!!

Dinner tonight is grilled merguez sausage, made using Jenise's recipe except I used fresh harissa instead of Lan Chi. I was making a couple of batches of green and red Thai curry paste, so I also made some harissa while I was at it.

-Paul W.

Tonight is wild caught sockeye salmon filet's made with butter, green onion, garlic, bread crumbs, egg, a little cream, fresh basil. salt, white pepper. I usually make a shallot, white wine, fresh basil tomato paste sauce, however our temps are climbing to 115° today and I am not up to standing in front of the stove later today with two burners going. A side of Magda variety zucchini and flat Italian green beans, sautéed quickly in evoo, fresh herbs and drizzled with lemon juice. Baby romaine lettuce with heirloom tomatoes and Armenian cukes, red onion, with champagne vinaigrette.
Took a walk to the garden today and saw two big Italian peppers ready for picking. They are just starting to turn red, but I could not wait. I'm sautéing them along with the other veggies.