What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

Karen, it's just fun to do things differently. Knives and forks while seated in a conventional chair are overrated. I've served Arab food with no utensils and all kinds of things just to take the rote out of dinner. And on the floor with your sweetheart, it can be pretty romantic!

Back to BLTs, which we had been talking about, I finally got around to one yesterday. Unfortunately the so-called bacon I bought in Canada was neither cured nor smoked, instead it had been brined with fake smoke flavor. As such it doesn't brown, let alone get crisp--it just dessicates. I diced the rest and put it in the freezer for a future pot of beans and am do for another go at this soon--with real bacon.

I like Coleman's naturally cured apple smoked bacon. browns beautifully, tastes great.

Karen, it's just fun to do things differently. Knives and forks while seated in a conventional chair are overrated.

Not really, if you have children, it keeps them up on their manners, plus it was our family's time to learn what is going on in each other's world. Our grown kids still sit down with their grown children and grandkids for family meals together at the table to talk and learn.

[Jenise]

Karen, it's just fun to do things differently. Knives and forks while seated in a conventional chair are overrated.

Not really, if you have children, it keeps them up on their manners, plus it was our family's time to learn what is going on in each other's world. Our grown kids still sit down with their grown children and grandkids for family meals together at the table to talk and learn.

I don't disagree, that's a wholesome approach but I wasn't talking about children. My topic was an adult meal and that's all I was addressing.

Jenise, of course, I knew that. I was simply wanting to say that the family sit down dinners are an important part of life. Too many people ignore that now. So many parents are not parenting these days. I need to stick up for the old-fashioned ways sometimes.

[Jenise]

On my own today, and no dinner plans. Just got a pack of chicken thighs out to thaw. No idea what yet but I'm cleaning my indoor grill and might have to get it dirty again. (It's a bitch to clean the iron grates, and that new Dawn spray product really works!)

It sure is hard getting on here, error message again. Today's menu is pretty simple: two large chicken breast halves, marinated in buttermilk and a little red wine vinegar. Then seasoned and will be roasted today, along with some multi colored carrots. A dish of cabbage, onion, oxheart sliced tomatoes, seasoned and topped with cheese will go into the oven. My favorite tomato bread salad will finish off the meal.

Recipe for the beef dish Jenise?

Have been meaning to make galettes bretonnes[i] – traditional buckwheat galettes (commonly referred to as savory crepes). The recipe from [i]Je sais cuisiner is 3:1 buckwheat to white flour, which seemed a bit steep. I eventually went with the version from Serious Eats, which is 3:2. It's interesting that both recipes call for no fat (except the egg yolk) in the batter, but generous butter on the pan. I don't have the correct pan, just a 12" cast iron (my 14" would theoretically be better but doesn't see enough use to be fully seasoned, and also doesn't do well on my electric burners), so it was a little tricky to get the corners folded up correctly. I wasn't able to get Jambon de Paris, so I substituted jamón iberico rather than use generic city ham. The result was extremely tasty. A local cidery that is making a "methode champenoise" cider as Norman cider was unavailable. Not bad with the galettes but too much volatile acidity, not enough sparkle, and certainly not worth US$30!

IMG_3236.jpg

Yesterday, I made a favorite, Gazpacho soup. I love this cold soup. Clamato juice, tomato juice, red wine vinegar, fresh lime juice, a sprinkle of Tabasco Sauce, heirloom small tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion, red and gold bell peppers, garlic, fresh dill, cilantro, and large cooked shrimp, cut up into small pieces. Put in the fridge for a day to let the flavors develop. This will be a great summer lunch for me this week. I was given tomatoes and a very large cuke from a neighbor. I simply peeled it, removed all the seeds, and cut up the remaining solid. Great way to use those overgrown cukes.

Last night I made Thai beef larb using a soy-sauce-marinated and grilled flank steak. Delicious, and much tastier than using hamburger.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Recipe for the beef dish Jenise?

There is no recipe. I was just creating out of things on hand that I knew would go well together. Layers: half a head of chopped cabbage, a layer of sliced onion, a layer of thinly sliced beef, a layer of tomatoes baked under foil for an hour and a half then seasoned with a bit of sriracha and a spoonful of capers, and baked for another half hour uncovered.

That sounds delicious, Jenise. I, too, have been experimenting with layers of veggies and some meat, mainly to use up the amount of tomatoes I am gifted. Very fun, and I must brag and say there has not been a dud among them. I just picked up cauliflower, cabbage, and zucchini for an upcoming dish for next week. Have not settled on all the details yet. I have tried to use capers in some recipes as they are often called for, but I do not like them. I looked up a substitute and learned that one can use green olives in place of. I have not tried that.

[Jenise]

The French dish 'miroton' that I was referencing with my decisions on that dish generally uses anchovies to season tomatoes, leftover beef and onions. When I tasted my dish at the 90 minute mark, it needed something and the brine of the capers brought it in a very subtle way. They're small and they disappear into a dish--olives wouldn't. Not that they wouldn't be good in their own right, of course. But they'd be a featured item, where capers and anchovies aren't (they just dissolve).

[Jenise]

Hottest day of the year here so far. 80F and A/C required. I know, doesn't sound like much compared to what many of you are putting up with, but I'm not acclimated to this! Still, Larry's spag sauce set off cravings that I haven't been able to dampen, and the twin discoveries of some almost-too-old ground beef in the freezer and bag of fresh local trumpet mushrooms that were seriously shrivelling away caused me to make a pot of Spag Bol (what they call it in Australia) while recovering from last night's Book Club dinner.

Btw, that dinner went SO well! One of the last minute changes I made was to nix the wine/mustard sauce on the fish (I was concerned that it woul be too raw for non-drinkers) and instead thin out a big spoonful of dijon mustard with maple syrup. That drizzled sparingly over the salmon and accompanied by fresh dilll? It was killer, really was. I will absolutely do that again. Between that condiment and the fact that it was slow roasted (a 3.5 lb filet, 35 min at 200F) resulted in an incredibly tender result and without all the ugly albumin leaks. If you're not into slow/low-roasting yet, you need to be.