What's Cooking (Take Two!)

Tsa chiang mein (Beijing meat sauce noodles) last night.

-Paul W.

Sichuan stir-fried diced chicken, cashews, celery, and scallions, seasoned with chile-garlic paste and ginger, finished with a soy and black vinegar sauce.

-Paul W.

Tonight we ate at Jake's Seafood & Grill in West Ossipee. I had bake sea scallops with fries and cold slaw; and washed all down with Woodstock Inn Brewery Pigs Ear Brown Ale. Pineapple upside down cake a 'la mode for dessert.

Smoked a side of salmon yesterday then prepared a pound of crab cake which I elongated and piled on top of the salmon....delicious.

I'm working on a Posole Rojo. I was going to use pork but I settled on a vegetarian version with black beans, chiles poblanos, and the dried hominy from "los chileros" which I learned about on this board. It needs to simmer for a few hours but I think it looks like it's going to be good stuff. Obviously this is a tie-in to Cinco de Mayo and we'll be sharing it with some friends along with Margaritas and other Mexican stuff.

[Jenise]

Smoked a side of salmon yesterday then prepared a pound of crab cake which I elongated and piled on top of the salmon....delicious.

Yum. And you have the best crab in the world over there. Don't get me wrong, I love our Dungeness, but the blue crab on your coast is the best of all IMO!

[Jenise]

Yesterday I cooked for our Yacht Club's opening day picnic, then came home and had two hours to produce three items to take to Supper Club's Morroccan meal. My god, what a feast. Today some friends are coming around for a lazy Sunday afternoon (it's going to be 80 here today, surely a record) of grilled chicken (maple/mustard/herb marinade) and various salads following an opening platter of Ohio nachos.

I have chicken marinating as per Roasted Chicken with Jerusalem Artichoke and Lemon in the Jerusalem cookbook. I'm subbing potatoes for the Jerusalem artichokes as those were nowhere to be found yesterday. We'll have that with Majedra (a rice/lentil dish from the same book), roasted asparagus, some sort of bruschetta with mashed favas and butter (provided by some friends) and homemade strawberry shortcake.

Yeah, I completely forgot about Cinco de Mayo.

It is a beautiful, warm day in Seattle. Going to prepare a mixed grill. Will include Jenise's Merguez sausages as part of that delight!

[Robin Garr]

Roasted cauliflower, sweet onions and green peppers.

NJ's "slightly out of focus" sourdough boule.

Sourdough Boule.JPG

Lamb and olive stew, with carrots, parsnips, red peppers, garlic, rosemary, and bay. Maybe the last stew of the season... getting to be grill time!

[Jenise]

We're having another couple over, wherein on of that pair starts chemo tomorrow for whom the assertive southwestern flavors she loves will soon be unpalatable. So I'm grilling a garlic-coated tri-tip and serving that with a guacamole-flavored compound butter, roasted vegetable salsa, cumin-rice, and grilled gray squash. They're bringing a salad.

Beautiful bone-in pork chops with a smoky, maple rub, and grilled. A butternut squash risotto, and a baby spinach salad with red onion, feta,and apple.

Tonight we had chicken breasts grilled over charcoal and apple chips, pilaf cooked with chicken stock, and salad with creamy goat cheese dressing. We washed it down with a bottle of Knapp Pasta White (aka oak free Seyval Blanc).

A friend gave us a case of a tomato "Salsa Genovese" that his family makes. We had an opened jar in the fridge that I wanted to use, so I made the fish cakes with tomato sauce from Jerusalem. These came out very nicely and the Salsa Genovese worked beautifully with them (and made for much less weekday work for me!). To go with, I made pita bread that was grilled and brushed with olive oil, lemon, and za'atar. The pitas were thick, with a thin outer crust and soft interior. I liked them but don't know how close I got to a good Middle Eastern pita since I've never had one of those. (My Israeli neighbors have talked about how different the pita bread is over there from what is generally sold here.) Either way, it was a good meal.

Palak paneer (sauteed cubes of paneer with garlic, some red bell pepper, spiced with smoked paprika, curry powder and then heated with a puree of spinach) with parathas.
-Shaji

My mother and I took a tamale making class together last month at El Centro de la Raza. Our plan was to make tamales for Cinco de Mayo, but she took ill that weekend. So, today is the day. I have filling prepared for chicken chili verde tamales, tamales carnitas (pork) in mole and beef tamales. We estimate making between 2-3 dozen of each variety, so we will be at it most of the day. Wish us luck!!

Good luck Jo Ann and tell your Mom I said "Hi".

Jo Ann-
Buena suerte.

After the discussion about buying a ham for an upcoming 50th anniversary 2- day party we are having at our home, I bought a Hickory smoked ham from a Berkshire pig upon a recommendation from someone on here. Everyone told me I was being silly to even think of cooking all the food myself, with all the company, grandkids, etc. and many offered to bring food. I did not want that, so I hired a caterer. It took a big concern off my shoulders.
Tonight I am heating the 13 lb. ham. A glaze of orange marmalade, honey, whole grain mustard, ginger and ground cloves is ready to go, and it is delicious. One side will be the recent Greek, green beans cooked in layers with garlic, beans, tomatoes. I am using plum tomatoes called Tesoro, that have proven to be very tasty after cooking. Hasselback potatoes, with evoo, butter, fresh rosemary and garlic are also on the menu for tonights dinner.

We'll have one more dinner with the leftovers, then cutting the ham into thick breakfast slices and sandwich slices, plus a bag of cubed ham for a few omelets. Since I am not a fan of ham, I am very anxious to try this from this specific pig, as I have heard a lot about them. Either way, Gene will be thrilled to have some good breakfast slices available in the freezer. His very favorite along with fried eggs.

After the discussion about buying a ham for an upcoming 50th anniversary 2- day party we are having at our home, I bought a Hickory smoked ham from a Berkshire pig upon a recommendation from someone on here. Everyone told me I was being silly to even think of cooking all the food myself, with all the company, grandkids, etc. and many offered to bring food. I did not want that, so I hired a caterer. It took a big concern off my shoulders.
Tonight I am heating the 13 lb. ham. A glaze of orange marmalade, honey, whole grain mustard, ginger and ground cloves is ready to go, and it is delicious. One side will be the recent Green green beans cooked in layers with garlic, beans, tomatoes. I am using plum tomatoes called Tesoro, that have proven to be very tasty after cooking. Hasselback potatoes, with evoo, butter, fresh rosemary and garlic are also on the menu for tonights dinner.

We'll one more dinner with the leftovers, then cutting the ham into thick breakfast slices and sandwich slices, plus a bag of cubed ham for a few omelets. Since I am not a fan of ham, I am very anxious to try this from this specific pig, as I have heard a lot about them. Either way, Gene will be thrilled to have some good breakfast slices available in the freezer. His very favorite along with fried eggs.

You go, girl! Sounds like my kind of meal (and leftovers).

My mother and I took a tamale making class together last month at El Centro de la Raza. Our plan was to make tamales for Cinco de Mayo, but she took ill that weekend. So, today is the day. I have filling prepared for chicken chili verde tamales, tamales carnitas (pork) in mole and beef tamales. We estimate making between 2-3 dozen of each variety, so we will be at it most of the day. Wish us luck!!

We did it! My mother loves tamales. Her favorite of the ones we made is the beef. Now she has a freezer full of them. I have never eaten a restaurant tamale that I like. But I do appreciate homemade tamales that I can occasionally find on the side of the road in Mexican immigrant neighborhood (most West Seattle and South Park). Ours taste like these. For me the stand out best of the lot are the chicken chile verde tamales. I ate 3 right out of the steamer. Yum!

Mom.jpg

Chicken Chili Verde.jpg

Chicken Tamales.jpg

Beautiful, Jo Ann! Sounds like a fun day with your mom.