What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Robin Garr]

The Chinese isn't epic but it tastes a lot like the Chinese restaurant food of my childhood, so I kind of liked it for that the 2-3 times we tried it.

Okay, I get that! No further questions.

Actually, Ed Lee doesn't do Chinese anyway ... his place is more international, with some Asian/Pacific Rim stuff going on. He claims it's "Southern," but I think he's just infatuated with being south of NYC. Of course, he's Korean-American, too. But I digress. Around here, most of the Chinese places that do takeout are just cookie-cutter Chinese, and we've got enough quality regional Chinese handy to rule that out. But yeah, urban environment. We tried country living in the Catskills for a couple of years, but moved back to the city after we realized that we were driving in every weekend.

[Jenise]

I knew you'd ding me about him being Korean, which I actually knew. But YEAH, not much around here. And where it's really not exactly country, it's just far enough out to not warrant quality take-out and regionally this is an area that overall keeps pretty early hours. We were laughing about seeing a prostitute sashay through a restaurant in Bellingham at about 7:30 one night. We were like WHAT? Really? Not just a surprise for Bellingham but so early? Then we realized oh yeah, the johns all have to be in bed by 8:30.

Was a treat to be in Seattle last winter on a rainy Monday night and discover that the restaurant we chose to dine at had a 20-minute wait at 8:30 at night. Civilization!

[Jenise]

Okay, I seem to have turned a corner. I actually made a real dinner last night, and tonight I'm going to make dinner for Bill and Suzanne Spohn. Nothing that will require a lot of time on my feet, but a salad of nutty, strong greens with persimmon and pumpkin seeds, followed by vaudouvan and coconut crusted rack of lamb with a dill-mint-shallot rice.

Pasta with tuna, kalamatas, lemon zest, and capers last night. Made too much of it, so that's likely what we'll be having tonight as well.

[Jenise]

Dinner tonight: Chile verde (on rice). For 25.

Was more work to cut, trim and sear off 10 lbs of what looked like pretty well trimmed pork already--big slices of sirloin. Next time they get Hamburger Helper.

Next time they get Hamburger Helper.

Wouldn't that be "Piggy Perk-Up"?

[Jenise]

Ha! Fortunately, I just can't go there with Hamburger Helper--I wish sometimes my standards weren't so high!

Last night, I made coq au vin from an Epicurious recipe I wanted to try. It was very simple but results were just ok. There was too much rosemary flavor (even after I cut back on what was called for by half) and it just wasn't as interesting a James Peterson's version. I'll go back to his in the future.

Tonight we had leftovers along with a late season caprese made with some excellent Early Girl tomatoes that have shown up at the market.

[Jenise]

Last night, I made coq au vin from an Epicurious recipe I wanted to try. It was very simple but results were just ok. There was too much rosemary flavor (even after I cut back on what was called for by half) and it just wasn't as interesting a James Peterson's version. I'll go back to his in the future.

Tonight we had leftovers along with a late season caprese made with some excellent Early Girl tomatoes that have shown up at the market.

Speaking of Coq au Vin, while in the Jura we found a popular menu item called Coq au Jaune wherein the stronger, deliberately somewhat sherry-like white wine so popular there is used in place of a red. I opened a bottle of 03 white burg yesterday that was too sherried for sipping but would make a dandy substitute in a Coq au Jaune, so I saved the bottle. Will be on our menu in the next week.

Last night, I made coq au vin from an Epicurious recipe I wanted to try. It was very simple but results were just ok. There was too much rosemary flavor (even after I cut back on what was called for by half) and it just wasn't as interesting a James Peterson's version. I'll go back to his in the future.

Tonight we had leftovers along with a late season caprese made with some excellent Early Girl tomatoes that have shown up at the market.

Speaking of Coq au Vin, while in the Jura we found a popular menu item called Coq au Jaune wherein the stronger, deliberately somewhat sherry-like white wine so popular there is used in place of a red. I opened a bottle of 03 white burg yesterday that was too sherried for sipping but would make a dandy substitute in a Coq au Jaune, so I saved the bottle. Will be on our menu in the next week.

Sounds like a great idea, Jenise! I've made coq au vin blanc before but never with something like a sherried white. I'll have to look around the basement for something that might be an appropriate white.

50/50 tossup whether I will get this made before November 8th, or whether it will have to wait until Thanksgiving, but I saw this fascinating recipe for a colonial American "election cake" using sorghum, sourdough starter, dried fruit, and sherry. Hat tip to the BBC via Metafilter.

[Jenise]

A friend called. Another friend and chef has started a new business called Cauldron Bone Broths. Fats skimmed from the broths are packaged and sold separately. Samples of all have been obtained and we're going to have an experimental cookfest tonight.

Cook fest with new ingredients ....what keeps me up at night and fired for the day! Terrific fun. My current obsession is rye. Having fallen in love with the wonderful seeded breads of Copenhagen and having translated a Russian recipe for Borodinsky bread we've been turning out various breads. It has required multiple trips to the craft beer making supply stores for ingredients and learning about roasted grains. Wonderful chemistry ! If interested, check out Stanley Ginsberg's new book about rye breads.
Of course, Claus Meyers cookbook, The Nordic Kitchen has been an inspiration for compatible dishes. One thing leads to another...

While I never like to avoid a challenge in cooking a dish I really want to cook, I kind of went beyond my normal behavior last week. I really wanted to make Bucatini all'Amatriciana right after the earthquake (and I remember Robin's effort which included neither bucatini nor guanciale!). But especially in that time frame I couldn't find guanciale ANYWHERE for obvious reasons. Eventually I bought some online but it was in one big hard chunk -- actually I got 2 hard chunks and gave one to my tenants with some perciatelli (very similar to bucatini) and they tried it out and gave me some. They had not been able to slice the guanciale thin and there were nasty hard chunks in their sauce. I remade the sauce by mincing up the hard chunks. But after thinking for a while I actually ordered a deli-style slicer from Amazon, and cut my chunk into beautiful thin slices. And I made the Amatriciana on Friday. The thin slices melt into the sauce and are very savory and pleasant to eat. The recipe by Mario Batali called for a special tomato sauce (which I made Thursday) involving lots of fresh thyme (which we have in the back yard). Long story short it was super delicious and well worth the effort. We shared it with our friend Karl before we went to NJPAC to hear Renee Fleming, and I opened a very nice Valpolicella Ripasso.

FWIW the first course was a beautiful Israeli salad from Ottolenghi's "Jerusalem" cookbook -- the one that includes a side dish of chickpeas (which I didn't make). The crunchy lemony salad just always makes me really happy, the flavors are so bright! Karl said it was the best Israeli salad he had ever tasted.

By the way I showed the slicer (circular blade etc.) to my tenants who remembered the Seinfeld episode.

So did I so I know what to do if the heels on Louise's shoes are a little too high..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slicer

[Jenise]

Cook fest with new ingredients ....what keeps me up at night and fired for the day! Terrific fun. My current obsession is rye. Having fallen in love with the wonderful seeded breads of Copenhagen and having translated a Russian recipe for Borodinsky bread we've been turning out various breads. It has required multiple trips to the craft beer making supply stores for ingredients and learning about roasted grains. Wonderful chemistry ! If interested, check out Stanley Ginsberg's new book about rye breads.

Of course, Claus Meyers cookbook, The Nordic Kitchen has been an inspiration for compatible dishes. One thing leads to another...

Unfortunately Game 7 of the World Series totally captivated both my husband and cookfest accomplice, even though he'd said at the outset that the didn't care at all about baseball. And he brought his kid who had to be helped with homework. Wasn't exactly the culinary event I'd hoped for, though we had fun.

But you--rye! How fun and delicious. I too love those seeded breads. How cool that you're getting into it and working with different grains. That's an area I haven't delved into very deeply, mostly because I have spent most of my life trying to limit carbs. You're such a great all-around cook, you do everything!

[Jenise]

Frank, I love your dedication. I do Amatriciana with pancetta or even bacon. Guanciale is rarely available where I live, and the various guanciales I've had/bought over the years have differed so much in taste and texture that I can't say, with confidence, that it would be worth the effort to source. I wonder if Mario's dad Armandino makes and sells any in his shop in Seattle. I should check!

Wow, Frank! You really stop an nothing when you want to make a proper dish!

Crappy football day today, but I had started a beef bone broth early in the day and ended up consoling myself by putting that into a beef and mushroom risotto. Went very nicely with an '04 Terre Rouge High Slopes syrah.

Great work, Frank!

Here, we had another "last cookout of the year": tuna, lamb chops, hot dogs and hamburgers.

While that was going on outside, I made a batch of eggnog for the Christmas holidays. Never too early!

And, while that was going on in the mixing bowl, it was the tartiflette hour in the oven:

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[Jenise]

Jeff, the base under that brie (or camembert). Potatoes and ham?

Jeff, the base under that brie (or camembert). Potatoes and ham?

"I'll take 'Stinky French Cheeses' for $200, Alex."

It's reblochon. Or, rather, what passes for reblochon in this lait cru-free country of ours.

Yes, potatoes and ham (could be any pork you like), accented with leeks, Savoie wine, and a little creme fraiche.

And it's all yum.

D**** you Jeff, that cheese dish looks soooooooo good. I had not heard of that prep before, my cardiologist will not be pleased or told!
The ereblochon will not be available in my area but having just yesterday sampled my first (on years)homemade Camembert I can see myself using it in this manner, lends itself to sooomany yummy naughtinessesssss. Off to get some real milk for the next batch of cheese!

D**** you Jeff, that cheese dish looks soooooooo good. I had not heard of that prep before, my cardiologist will not be pleased or told!

I started with 2# of potatoes but if the cardiologist is eating, too, I could peel a few extra.

[Jenise]

Reblochon! I wouldn't have recognized it in the round--the reblochon we get here is square. And delicious, richer than either of those I mentioned and I can see it in your dish. Then you just spread it on crusty bread, I guess?