What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

Oh, nice. Essentially it's a Potato Savoyard, without the the gruyere layer (which disappears during the bake).

Oh, nice. Essentially it's a Potato Savoyard, without the the gruyere layer (which disappears during the bake).

A potato Savoyard does not have onions, and is cooked for a lot shorter time. Calders' recipe cooks for two to three hours and has no cheese. By the way, I ordered two jars of the peppers from Amazon...they must be coming from another country because the delivery time is very long. I ordered two jars and was not allowed to order more than that. Weird

[Jenise]

Well, the potatoes need to cook until they're done. 'Done' is achieved by time x heat. The Laura Calder recipe needs 2-3 hours because it calls for a low temperature of just 300. Increase the temperature, and you can reduce the cooking time. It can be made equal, they're both gratins with broth only for moisture and no cream vs. a classic potato gratin.

[Jenise]

Karen, hopefully the two jars were the same kind--not the hot, or the sweet brine version. The original, which I sent you, has a gold lid. You can also order them direct Mama Lil's: shipping's $10 but that's less than sending one jar via the USPS!

https://mamalils.com/products/mama-lils-mildly-spicy-peppers-in-oil-original-12oz?variant=43295510364325

[Jenise]

Not cooking at home tonight. Bellingham's most-celebrity of celebrity chefs currently not cooking professionally has invited me over for dinner--woo hoo! Hopefully it's not because he wants to introduce me to his dad.

Karen, hopefully the two jars were the same kind--not the hot, or the sweet brine version. The original, which I sent you, has a gold lid. You can also order them direct Mama Lil's: shipping's $10 but that's less than sending one jar via the USPS!

https://mamalils.com/products/mama-lils-mildly-spicy-peppers-in-oil-original-12oz?variant=43295510364325

Yep, that is exactly what I ordered. Thanks for checking.

I have some leftover ham, so I'm going to make ham salad sandwiches.

And I fed my sourdough starters, which decided to leak onto my countertop. No problem. Proves they're alive and raring to go.

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/cr ... lue-cheese

Making this today for lunch, one of my favorite salads. I am adding large shrimp.

[Jenise]

I'll bet that's delicious. Slicing the lettuce flat--interesting method. But it makes a case for wedges--less waste.

Yesterday I had a bowl of black eyed peas for lunch--I'd made a soup on Sunday. Then for dinner I made a bowl of brussels sprouts. l had purchased them in a bag at Costco which I regretted, because the taste of citric acid preservative was unavoidable even though I'd soaked them in salt water and rinsed them before cooking (microwave--five minutes ON and five minutes rest for best result, bright color but tender). I ate them anyway. But later, OMG, the combined effect of beans and tiny cabbages--well, let's just say it's good that I live alone.

That salad I posted is excellent...dressing is awesome. I let the Maytag blue cheese come to room temp as I want the chunks. Used very little mayo, low fat sour cream instead. It is fun with the pretty veggies on the lettuce flats. I used to make it a lot, as Gene loved it. Had forgotten about it until I was looking through one of Ina's books.

Tonight I'll be making Fuchsia Dunlop's taibai ji (Tai Bai chicken) again. This time I won't be snipping the dried chiles in half as she directs. I did that the last time, the dried chile pieces were too small to remove easily from the dish, and because of that it came out really incendiary. It'll be a lot easier to remove them if they're left whole.

-Paul W.

Tonight I'll be making Fuchsia Dunlop's taibai ji (Tai Bai chicken) again. This time I won't be snipping the dried chiles in half as she directs. I did that the last time, the dried chile pieces were too small to remove easily from the dish, and because of that it came out really incendiary. It'll be a lot easier to remove them if they're left whole.-Paul W.

Sounds great. What variety of dried chiles do you use?