What's Cooking (Take Three!)

I need to cook the other half of the thawed flank steak that went into the Sichuan dry-fried beef, so dinner tonight will be stir-fried beef with bell peppers.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

On the stove right now, a pot roast simmers. Have 3 plans for it: classic pot roast, a miroton, and shredded beef/potato and jalapeno tacos. Most likely, the miroton happens tonight.

Also, just made a jar of salad dressing named for a great Aunt, Thelma. I know I've told this story before but just in case someone new hasn't heard it, it's a dressing I grew up with. The original called for (don't faint) a can of tomato soup, lots of brown sugar, lots of baseball mustard, a can of Wesson oil, 2 or 3 cloves of fresh garlic and half a can of vinegar. It was much too sweet for me, but it was a favorite for the rest of the family.

Years later, I dined occasionally at a Japanese restaurant who served a complimentary salad that was topped with something similar, but a lot less sweet, and it was gingery and most likely made with peanut oil. I loved theirs. Then just a few years ago, at a restaurant in Kansas City, I ordered a frisee salad with a "Habanero Dorothy Lynch dressing".

That's when I learned that Aunt Thelma's dressing was born in the midwest and attributed to a woman named Dorothy Lynch. You can buy Dorothy Lynch dressing pre-made at regional grocers. I also learned that a toned-down version of my childhood this dressing was exceptional on bitter greens. So I came home and made a revised version of Aunt Thelma's. White sugar, not brown and a lot less of it, light olive oil, and Dijon mustard in place of baseball did the trick. I also added some powdered ginger, and the result was similar to Aunt Thelma's but more sophisticated, more adult, like the Japanese restaurant's. We love it. And now that a great variety of chicory (radicchio) is available to me, it's time for that dressing. I love it garnished with lightly roasted peanuts.

Sounds like Catalina, or some variant on "French" dressing.

[Jenise]

Similar: tomatoey, thick, sweetish, tangy. I also remember a Kraft concoction that was similar called Russian. It was more toward red than the Catalina's orange, and spicier. But the homemade version is so much better (of course).

I'll be making Thai green curry.

-Paul W.

Sigh. It's going to take an enormous amount of seasoning and add'l broth/tomato/other fluids to make this soup again. Or even, the least bit interesting.

Post-Porridge Report:

I took half the sludge and added a pound of squid (fried in a pan) and two dozen mussels (steamed in wine) and some add'l seasoning. Meh.

The other half the sludge I added a pound of lean beef, some nardello peppers, a can of tomato sauce, and lots of fresh herbs -- Sloppy Orzo. That worked really well.

[Jenise]

Last night, with the rest of the pot roast braised a few days ago, I made tacos with a beef/potato/jalapeno filling liberally seasoned with cumin seed. Absolutely fantastic!

Sigh. It's going to take an enormous amount of seasoning and add'l broth/tomato/other fluids to make this soup again. Or even, the least bit interesting.

My mother did something similar once when making Chinese egg drop soup. She measured out the cornstarch thickener in tablespoons instead of teaspoons and got something resembling library paste rather than soup. This was easy to rescue by tripling all the other ingredients, but we ended up with over a gallon of soup.

-Paul W.

Tonight was the last charcoal grill of the season: the usual vegetable mix in the perforated pan, halibut, Angus ribeye, squab.

And on Sunday, while jeebing on Zoom, I made a frangipani tart:

frangipani tart 800.jpg

[Jenise]

Wow, and what a great photo. That's magazine cover-worthy.

Thank you!

Ate the last of the grilled food tonight: Angus ribeyes. They came off the grill blackened but very rare. Mine in a pan for 4 minutes on one side, 2 minutes on the other, gorgeous. (Pumpkin takes his 8 minutes on each side.)

After dinner I made the New Year's eggnog:

eggnog sm.jpg

[Jenise]

Last night we had dinner at the home of another couple in our small pod. She's a modest cook, but last night's dinner was the best thing she's ever made and I was in a state of rapture over it: namely, the best beef rouladen and red cabbage I've ever had. My serving (with mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts too) looked huge but I ate every bite. Her cabbage was pan-wilted until nearly black, and only then seasoned with vinegar (so the color didn't change) and brown sugar. Very basic but perfect, and texture (not overly cooked) very much to my liking. The roulades were made from prime beef round she found at Costco and filled with baseball mustard, pickles, onions and two strips of bacon each. The result tasted like the pastrami sandwiches of my Los Angeles childhood thanks to mustard+pickles+black pepper, and she cooked them perfectly. I didn't know she had food like this in her repertoire. I'm still swooning this morning.

The roulades were made from prime beef round she found at Costco and filled with baseball mustard, pickles, onions and two strips of bacon each. The result tasted like the pastrami sandwiches of my Los Angeles childhood thanks to mustard+pickles+black pepper, and she cooked them perfectly. I didn't know she had food like this in her repertoire.

Sounds good. Reminds me of the cooking style of a (northern) German fellow I once shared a house with. There wasn't a meal that couldn't be improved by adding pickles and mustard to it.

[Jenise]

Rita learned everything she knows about that from Chuck's mother and grandmother. She's a farmgirl from Alberta, and he was 2 when his family fled East Germany and ended up in Vancouver which they chose because they knew someone else who'd settled in Seattle which they thought would make them neighbors. Yes and no on that, especially 70ish years ago.) So her training in German cooking is hands-on old-school. Anyway, like I said, best I've ever had.

Tonight I'm cooking Chilean sea bass. Will pan-sear in duck-fat. Might mix up a blackened style seasoning. Will served on achiote-seasoned rice with wilted spinach on the side.

I was fascinated by the story of sharlotkas and had a lot of apples, so I baked one. Few ingredients, and eggs are the leavening agent. Quite tasty.

Can someone tell me how to get rid of the filename?

Sharlotka Cut-72.jpg

I'm making Thai stir-fried chicken with chiles and holy basil tonight.

-Paul W.

Black pepper beef with cabbage stir fry and brown rice.

Nice end of the week meal tonight with baked flounder, baked sweet potato latkes, pecan arugula pesto, and what was probably the last red, orange and yellow pepper saute of the season, with herbs. Beverage was an NC cardamom stout, which went nicely.

[Jenise]

Last night we went Asian-ish, meaning the prep ideas all came out of my head and nothing about it claims to be authentic or even particular to a single Asian country, but everything went well together: b/s chicken thighs marinated all day kind of bulgogi style and flame-grilled; fried rice containing bean sprouts, corn, scrambled egg and lots of green onion; wok-fried sugar snap peas with gin; and a salad of arugula and sugarloaf chicory with fuyu persimmons.

It never occurred to me to use gin in cooking. I'll have to try out that sugar snap pea stir-fry.

-Paul W.

Sourdough bred baked en cloche using my red grape sourdough starter. A bit of rye and whole wheat and fennel seeds, chia seeds, and milled flax seeds.

[Jenise]

It never occurred to me to use gin in cooking. I'll have to try out that sugar snap pea stir-fry.

-Paul W.

We LOVE them! Originally used sake, but I don't keep that around and I've found that gin is maybe even better. Heat up the wok, add a bit of oil, throw in the peas, toss toss toss, add an ounce or so of gin, salt liberally, and serve when the gin's gone. Just what you'd think, in other words. Also great with fresh mint once they're out of the wok.