What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Leftover Beijing meat sauce noodles tonight. Tomorrow's dinner will be Cajun chicken and tasso jambalaya. If I feel ambitious I'll whip up a batch of Creole sauce, too.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Peter, doesnt matter what your friend wrote, doesnt make her an expert. Cacciatore has as many faces as meatloaf.

Jenise, of course there are many ways to make cacciatore. I have several recipes in cook books.

When I made my friends recipe I always used fresh - not tinned - and it was a faff but lovely.

Oh I get that, I would always prefer fresh tomatoes, especially if I were making a chunky, rustic sauce. But 2 tblsp of tomato paste as called for in Jeff's description is going to add concentrated tomato flavor but a smoother, more refined result. Again, always up to the cook, and it's all good.

[Jenise]

Had the best dinner last night!

A friend gave us a pound and a half of fresh local spot prawns he caught the day before, that's sans heads, about 30 shrimp. I had some artichokes on hand so cooked those and made a single dip that was a blend of mayo, lemon juice, a local hot sauce and dill that worked for both foods. Fantastic food for eating by hand out on the patio in brilliant sunshine with a heron on the roof squawking at us and a nice bottle of aligote to go with it all. After the main meal, a bowl of fresh California cherries. Life is good.


Tonight we're having another couple over for a socially distanced southern dinner. They're Canadian but lived in Nashville for 20 years while Dr. Chuck taught at Vanderbilt, and I've been saving two Tennessee wines for them. We also bought Tennessee Whiskey and a whiskey based coffee liqueur at a fine distillery there. Chuck loves making cocktails so here's how the menu is going to go:

Chuck's Manhattan contest
Spicy pimento cheese on sourdough toast points

A Tennessee chardonnay
Small romaine wedges (wedge salads are all the rage in Nashville right now) with rhubarb vinaigrette and pecans
Johnny cakes

A Tennessee red blend bourbon-barrel aged
Nashville style shrimp and grits

Vanilla ice cream under a pour of Tennessee Coffee Liqueur

As usual, the meal will be served outdoors and our guests are bringing their own plates, cutlery and glassware.

Johnny cakes!

[Jenise]

Johnny cakes!

If I run out of time they'll be the first thing to go.

[Jenise]

Bought some fresh morel mushrooms the other day and will combine them with asparagus in a risotto. It's a combination I experienced years ago at Lucques restaurant in Los Angeles and the two are forever linked in my mind.

This week I found a recipe for turkey pot pie that was outstanding. I used some leftover chipotle-marinated turkey and a number of veges (no potatoes, didn't have any). That said, I'm out of practice making pie dough. It was the worst I've ever made and difficult to handle, but it worked after it was baked.

I also made kung pao shrimp and used some straw mushrooms. I think straw mushrooms are the neatest; they even look like a mushroom should.

Edie got two days' worth of fried rice, also using some straw mushrooms. People love my fried rice and I get many positive comments. <whisper> the secret is some oyster sauce. <shhh>

I've been tweaking a sourdough bread recipe and seeing if I can discern different tastes with different starters. Unequivocally, so far, I can tell my San Francisco, from my 1847 and my Mormon. It's a good way to refresh and feed my starters, too. Today, we're eating a wonderful Mormon sourdough bread (sour, but less so than my SF).

Edie eats only a snack for lunch. I scored some beautiful radishes the other day, so I made a French open-face sandwich: piece of sourdough bread, butter, sliced radishes on top. It's quite good.

I finally got tried of never having fresh ginger when I need it, or if I do have some, it's dried and withered, so I grated some and froze one teaspoon amounts and placed it in a freezer bag.

I may bbq some spareribs today.

[Jenise]

This week I found a recipe for turkey pot pie that was outstanding. I used some leftover chipotle-marinated turkey and a number of veges (no potatoes, didn't have any). That said, I'm out of practice making pie dough. It was the worst I've ever made and difficult to handle, but it worked after it was baked.

I also made kung pao shrimp and used some straw mushrooms. I think straw mushrooms are the neatest; they even look like a mushroom should.

Edie got two days' worth of fried rice, also using some straw mushrooms. People love my fried rice and I get many positive comments. <whisper> the secret is some oyster sauce. <shhh>

I've been tweaking a sourdough bread recipe and seeing if I can discern different tastes with different starters. Unequivocally, so far, I can tell my San Francisco, from my 1847 and my Mormon. It's a good way to refresh and feed my starters, too. Today, we're eating a wonderful Mormon sourdough bread (sour, but less so than my SF).

Edie eats only a snack for lunch. I scored some beautiful radishes the other day, so I made a French open-face sandwich: piece of sourdough bread, butter, sliced radishes on top. It's quite good.

I finally got tried of never having fresh ginger when I need it, or if I do have some, it's dried and withered, so I grated some and froze one teaspoon amounts and placed it in a freezer bag.

I may bbq some spareribs today.

I use oyster sauce in my fried rice, too. Apparently Chinese families often divide on do-you-or-don't-you lines about that.

Re the ginger, wonder if it would form a cake that you can break off bits of rather than having a whole tsp at a time, similar to freezing tomato paste in a zip lock.

Spare ribs are always good!

Can I have some SF starter????

Jenise: Sure, you could make a cake of ginger and break off pieces. Even frozen, it's quite crumbly and thaws rapidly. I used 1 tsp dots just so I knew the quantity--probably for no good reason.

Sure, on the SF starter. Send me PM or email with address. Do you need instructions? You can google various methods, if you want.

I'll dry some for you, which will take a few days.

I store peeled fresh ginger in the fridge in a jarful of high-proof vodka. The texture goes a little mushy, but the flavor is the same as fresh. Unfortunately this doesn't work with galangal. Fresh galangal goes all tough and woody over time and it does the same thing stored in vodka. But it freezes pretty well.

-Paul W.

P.S. - the ginger-flavored vodka tastes pretty good, too

I'm used to visiting the supermarket frequently to buy meat, not buying it in quantity and freezing it. I have to relearn the knack of repackaging it in single-use quantities. Last night's jambalaya only used 1/3 of the two pounds of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, so tonight the rest will go into a Thai curry and tom kha gai.

-Paul W.

I store peeled fresh ginger in the fridge in a jarful of high-proof vodka. The texture goes a little mushy, but the flavor is the same as fresh. Unfortunately this doesn't work with galangal. Fresh galangal goes all tough and woody over time and it does the same thing stored in vodka. But it freezes pretty well.

-Paul W.

P.S. - the ginger-flavored vodka tastes pretty good, too

I've done that before, but this time I decided to freeze the ginger already grated so I could skip that step while cooking. I used my suribachi grater for the ginger. Worked well. Next time I buy galangal, I'll do the same thing.

It's too bad today's ginger ale doesn't taste much of ginger. Yes, I know there are some specialty ginger ales, but I don't think they taste as potent either as some decades ago.

[Jenise]

Larry, thanks!

Today we're meeting five other couples at the WA/BC border for dinner. I'm barbecuing chicken for the group and everyone's bringing their own sides--safest way to share without over-sharing in these troubled times.

It's too bad today's ginger ale doesn't taste much of ginger. Yes, I know there are some specialty ginger ales, but I don't think they taste as potent either as some decades ago.

These are the people for you: https://www.blenheimgingerale.com/

No joke soda. 1903 recipe, when the ginger was added to cover up the sulfurous taste of the oh-so-healthful mineral water you were actually buying.

I'm used to visiting the supermarket frequently to buy meat, not buying it in quantity and freezing it. I have to relearn the knack of repackaging it in single-use quantities.

The way I look at it: I'm wrapping up packages to take out later, not to put in now. (I can just heave the whole thing in now and it will freeze soon enough.)

[quote="Jeff Grossman"[/quote]
These are the people for you: https://www.blenheimgingerale.com/

No joke soda. 1903 recipe, when the ginger was added to cover up the sulfurous taste of the oh-so-healthful mineral water you were actually buying. [/quote]

I'd love to try it, but no place to buy it in NM, and at $60/6-pack, a bit rich for me.

Woof, it didn't used to be that expensive.

Some other friends recommend Bundaberg. That is commonly available.

Woof, it didn't used to be that expensive.

Well, half of that is shipping, but still makes it expensive.

The Bundaberg site says there are a number of grocery stores here that sell it. We'll see next time I'm shopping.

Peter, doesnt matter what your friend wrote, doesnt make her an expert. Cacciatore has as many faces as meatloaf.

Jenise, of course there are many ways to make cacciatore. I have several recipes in cook books.

When I made my friends recipe I always used fresh - not tinned - and it was a faff but lovely.

Oh I get that, I would always prefer fresh tomatoes, especially if I were making a chunky, rustic sauce. But 2 tblsp of tomato paste as called for in Jeff's description is going to add concentrated tomato flavor but a smoother, more refined result. Again, always up to the cook, and it's all good.

Thinking on this, I'm considering that you took my reference to fresh tomatoes as a criticism of Jeff's concentrate. It wasn't.

Problem is text doesn't give subtlety. I was adding a memory to the conversation and after the insistence on 'must use fresh tomato' was a sigh..

It was the first time I had to peel tomatoes, and despite all the cookery books saying that you only had to show a tomato hot water and it would shrug off its skin, they jolly well didn't, hand getting the skins off too ages which may be why after some years of declining appearance of the recipe I stopped making it altogether. After two moves I no longer have that original recipe but I still remember the must (sigh)

It was the first time I had to peel tomatoes, and despite all the cookery books saying that you only had to show a tomato hot water and it would shrug off its skin, they jolly well didn't...

No, they don't! I have totally given up doing this step when it appears in a recipe - it goes in with the skin on, unless I feel like peeling with a knife (which occurs just this side of never).

[Jenise]

Pete, like most things it comes down to technique. Tomato skins DO come off easily as long a you cut a little X at the bud end and leave them in the water for at least 60 seconds.

Pete, like most things it comes down to technique. Tomato skins DO come off easily as long a you cut a little X at the bud end and leave them in the water for at least 60 seconds.

I agree with Jenise, but I drop them into boiling water. Takes less than 60 seconds in my experience. Skin almost falls off (use a paring knife, though, to grab the edge of the skin).

I expect you shops aren't supplied with half-ripe hydroponic tomatoes form Dutch greenhouses...

[Jenise]

Peter, they are, year round. Except at Farmers Markets, no tomatoes are picked and sold ripe.