What's Cooking (Take Four)

I had never cooked pork chops in the slow cooker before, so I was dubious about it. It turned out delicious. The resulting gravy was outstanding, and the pork chops were tender and juicy. I kept a close eye on the mix, and once I knew the chops were cooked, I made sure the carrots were how I like them and turned the slow cooker off. I reheated it later for dinner. Very happy with the results. The mix of mushrooms with the pork was also a new one for me. The mushrooms were not white but a browner color. Years ago, folks used to cook many dishes with Campbell's soups. It fell out of style, but I have to say, the meals I used to make using them were always great, and my family loved them. I always have beef consommé in my pantry and a couple of the creamed ones. This one did not disappoint.

I've spent the extended weekend at friends' house. They like to cook -- well, really, I think they like to plate -- and of course I pitched in.

The third plate consisted of seared endive with fresh oregano, slices of seared duck breast sitting on a sauce made from the fond, shallots and port, and decorated with slices of candied kumquat. Served with a young, good Chinon.

The fourth plate consisted of lamb shoulder, marinated in garlic / rosemary / orange juice for a couple hours, then tied and roasted all the way (200*F internal!), served with very fine mashed potatoes, chunks of roasted maitake, pan sauce (reduction + beurre manie), and spatters of a thick sweet birch syrup. For this plate, a Savoie wine of a syrah relative (etraire de la dhuy).

Working in the kitchen is good fun... when it's not your livelihood, I suppose.

[Jenise]

Jeff, those sound like excellent 'plates'! What happened to 1 and 2?

Karen, I occasionally use Campbell's too. The cream of chicken is integral to my creamed spinach and chicken enchilada pie. Glad you discovered the joys of long-cooked pork chops! Been a favorite of mine for years.

Today I'm going to a rose tasting. The host is serving roast salmon and I'm taking two 'pies': a fresh tomato and shallot tarte tatin.

Thanks, Jenise. Good to know some of the oldies are still goodies.

I came home from two days in Monterey, ogling some of the rarest and most expensive cars on the planet to find my wife finishing up a salad made from kale, farro, fried halloumi, and a lemon miso dressing. I'm not a big fan of raw kale, but there was enough other stuff in this one to make it work well.

Jeff, those sound like excellent 'plates'! What happened to 1 and 2?

I didn't work on those.

First plate was a 'mob' plate (=> one plate for everybody): a block of dried cherry, whiskey, cardamom, and red deer meat pate surrounded by the usual stuff for pate: cornichons, little pickled onions, etc. Also a chunk of raw-milk camembert, and a little dish of smoked paprika to sprinkle on. Served with a Nova Scotia cremant.

Second plate was a corn risotto: fresh corn from the market, fresh stock made from the cobs + white onions, proper rice, parm, chiffonade basil, and sweet little cherry tomatoes from the market. Served with a Luxembourg pinot gris.

Then the duck and the lamb.

Fifth, a mixed green salad with French radishes and house vinaigrette.

Sixth, a cheese plate: La Bête-À-Séguin, Comte, Abbondance, and a mango-ginger white stilton. (These were hand-carried back from France by one of the guests.)

Finally, Biscoff-inspired cookies. (Gift of another guest.) Served with Tokaji 5 puttonyos.

Jeff, all those "plates" sound great -even if first is close to a charcuterie board
I'm assuming the mango-ginger Stilton was not carried from France.

Jeff, all those "plates" sound great -even if first is close to a charcuterie board

Yes, I was chortling about that to myself the whole time we were shopping for it.

I'm assuming the mango-ginger Stilton was not carried from France.

Um, right.

I'm planning to make chicken tagine, which I haven't had in a long while. But with a bit of a difference--instead of using salt-preserved lemons I'll be using salt-preserved kaffir limes.

-Paul W.

OK, I have to ask, how was the Nova Scotia Cremant, Jeff?

We decided to make a chicken salad tonight, and used a recipe that involved shredded chicken, shredded cabbage, sliced red peppers, scallions, and celery. The dressing was peanut butter with garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, chili garlic sauce, lime juice, and sriracha. We started late and didn't want to take the time to roast or poach the chicken, so we went with a rotisserie bird. Everything came out well with the exception of the chicken. It was flavorful but it was not firm, to the point of almost (but not quite) qualifying as mushy. It seemed fine while I was getting it off the bones and shredded, but the texture went south once it cooled. I'm wondering if they brine the hell out of these birds so that they can over-roast them and still get some sort of flavor. In any case, we won't be doing that again with rotisserie chicken from this particular store, anyway. I'll also throw in a couple of jalapenos if we make it again - I think they'd have made for a good addition. We had some excellent local corn on the cob as a side.

[Jenise]

I came home from two days in Monterey, ogling some of the rarest and most expensive cars on the planet to find my wife finishing up a salad made from kale, farro, fried halloumi, and a lemon miso dressing. I'm not a big fan of raw kale, but there was enough other stuff in this one to make it work well.

I love raw kale, but 'raw' is best IMO after some manipulation--making well in advance with things like lemon juice and olive oil which soak in and break down the fibers a bit. I make one with those ingredients plus wild rice--that's the baseline to which I might add diced cooked potatoes or shredded chicken and chopped walnuts. The inclusion of fried halloumi in your wife's version is intriguing.

[Jenise]

Jeff, those sound like excellent 'plates'! What happened to 1 and 2?

I didn't work on those.

First plate was a 'mob' plate (=> one plate for everybody): a block of dried cherry, whiskey, cardamom, and red deer meat pate surrounded by the usual stuff for pate: cornichons, little pickled onions, etc. Also a chunk of raw-milk camembert, and a little dish of smoked paprika to sprinkle on. Served with a Nova Scotia cremant.

Second plate was a corn risotto: fresh corn from the market, fresh stock made from the cobs + white onions, proper rice, parm, chiffonade basil, and sweet little cherry tomatoes from the market. Served with a Luxembourg pinot gris.

Then the duck and the lamb.

Fifth, a mixed green salad with French radishes and house vinaigrette.

Sixth, a cheese plate: La Bête-À-Séguin, Comte, Abbondance, and a mango-ginger white stilton. (These were hand-carried back from France by one of the guests.)

Finally, Biscoff-inspired cookies. (Gift of another guest.) Served with Tokaji 5 puttonyos.

What a feast! Sounds amazing. And: Luxembourg pinot gris? I've never seen a Luxembourg wine; interesting?

[Jenise]

Last night, awash in perfectly fresh and sweet summer tomatoes, I made a Mexican tomato paella. That is, I used Mark Bittman's NYT recipe (https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/101 ... h-tomatoes) as a framework for liquid/rice/tomato proportions, but swapped out Gebhardts Chile Powder for Pimenton and added Mexican oregano, cumin, 3/4 lb of browned ground beef and a chopped fresh red jalapeno. Also, based on prior experience with this recipe I changed the oven cooking procedure, baking the paella for ten minutes before artfully arranging the tomatoes on top in a spiral pattern, then baking it an additional eight minutes before turning the broiler on to blister the top. If you don't do this, the tomatoes just float every which way and frankly overcook.

I love raw kale, but 'raw' is best IMO after some manipulation--making well in advance with things like lemon juice and olive oil which soak in and break down the fibers a bit.

Agreed. And I think it also very much depends on the kale. When the kale is very young and tender it is much easier to eat raw and often shows up in the salad mixes at the farmers market. But when it grows to 'normal' size and is sold as standard cooking kale, I don't usually consider using it raw.

Raw kale... Yes, manipulation is the word. I don't often buy kale but I am a believer in massaging it before use.

Nova Scotia cremant... Well, you won't mistake it for champagne! But, it was fruity and crisp and clean, so think cava. Good at the price point (and for being a local booster).

Luxembourg wines... This dinner was with my globe-trotting friend. He was a guest speaker in Luxembourg a few months ago. When his hosts discovered his wine interests, they assigned somebody to get him a few bottles. Then, they decided that they didn't trust the person they assigned and bought some more for him. So, he came home with 7 bottles of Luxembourg wine, riesling and pinot gris.

And not just any riesling. He was given the bottling with a picture of Riesling Queen Lara on the front label. https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=1920x400:format=jpg/path/s41891dd1f66c7b91/image/i1e7bdd93b9e4ceca/version/1724309104/image.jpg

Both the riesling and the pinot gris were good. Typique. Clean, crisp enough. I can understand why the Luxembougeois drink it all themselves.

Thanks! We'll be passing through Nova Scotia later this year, so I'll know not to immediately dismiss any local bubbly we happen across.

And now I really want to get to Luxembourg to see how they determine who gets to be Riesling Queen.

Thanks! We'll be passing through Nova Scotia later this year, so I'll know not to immediately dismiss any local bubbly we happen across.

We drank this one:

NS Cremant sm.jpg

And now I really want to get to Luxembourg to see how they determine who gets to be Riesling Queen.

A few years of being a Riesling Princess, of course.

[Jenise]

Today is lunch at Bill's, theme: ribs and rose. My take is going to be Chinese-Asian. The ribs were rubbed yesterday with a five-spice and chipotle powder dry rub and are in the oven now for a 2.5 hour bake at 300F. They'll get a plum-and-oyster sauce glaze at Bill's before getting popped under the broiler for a glistening, crispy finish. For a side dish I'm making a version of the dumpling and tomato salad which has become a staple in my kitchen since Dale called our attention to it, though I haven't looked at the recipe since the first time. Rather, I simply build on the concept of dumplings+tomato+chili crisp with whatever else I have on hand. Today I'll add blanched pea tips and sliced water chestnuts. I don't make the dumplings but have finally found the best ones for this salad--they're small, sturdy and Korean and have a strong chive taste.

Those ribs sound wonderful, Jenise.

Tonight I'll be making Thai pad prik bai krapow (stir-fried chiles with holy basil leaves), but not my usual recipe. I usually make a version with minced chicken served at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok and published by Madhur Jaffrey. This is an elegant and refined version but very tasty indeed. The version I'm making tonight is more rustic--lots more chiles and garlic and soy sauce added. And I'll be using minced pork instead of minced chicken. I also can't get fresh holy basil so I'll be using Thai basil leaves (bai horapa) and some dried holy basil to give it that special holy basil flavor.

-Paul W.

Neither of us were really up for cooking anything last night, so we went with our familiar standby: Kraft macaroni and cheese. We usually add Italian sausage and peas, but yesterday we took it up an extra notch. I roasted some Hatch chilies a couple of days ago, so these were cut up and thrown into the mix. I think we may have arrived at the ultimate expression of the Great Blue Box.

[Jenise]

Neither of us were really up for cooking anything last night, so we went with our familiar standby: Kraft macaroni and cheese. We usually add Italian sausage and peas, but yesterday we took it up an extra notch. I roasted some Hatch chilies a couple of days ago, so these were cut up and thrown into the mix. I think we may have arrived at the ultimate expression of the Great Blue Box.

That would be good! I love anything with fresh roasted chiles. But my favorite thing to do with the blue box? It's not something that was in our life until Covid required purchasing some stand-by provisions and Bob's illness required changes. Covid parallelled Bob's illness exactly--March 2020 to 2025, and at a certain point he lost the ability to use a knife and fork. Anything he could eat with a spoon was best. And I came up with a healthy dish we both frankly loved and which reduced carb guilt by 50%. While the mac was cooking, I'd separately chop an entire bunch of broccolini, cook it in boiling water, about 3 minutes, then drain. When the macaroni was done I'd heavily season it with black pepper, mix and serve. One box+one bunch are perfect proportions for two main-course servings.

I've thrown broccoli in, too, in the past. It does work well.

The rustic version of Thai stir-fried meat with chiles and holy basil turned out very well. It and my usual elegant hotel version both have their charms. The rustic version has more ingredients and thus the prep takes longer. Though as I think about it that wouldn't be the case if I did the full hotel version, which involves deep-frying half of the basil leaves for use as a garnish on the finished dish. I always leave that step out.

-Paul W.

As usual, some great and creative recipes above that all sound fabulous.
It is a wonderful morning here in the valley, down into the low 60's when I got up. Opened up nine doors and windows to let that cool air in. Delightful!
Yesterday, I marinated a flank steak in veg oil, soy sauce, fresh lemon juice, Worcestershire, Dijon, fresh garlic, and black pepper. It will be grilled this evening. A side dish to be roasted: red, white, and purple two-bite potatoes, cut in half; red onion; mushrooms; and mini multicolored peppers, seasoned with Moma Lil's pepper oil, dried oregano, salt, and Mignonette Pepper. Also, a healthy coleslaw using green and red cabbage, green onions, and dressed with plain Greek yogurt, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, garlic salt, and pepper.
Ah, the joys of living alone (NOT). I was going to put mandarin oranges in the coleslaw, but the cans looked like they were ready to explode! Tossed them out and went looking in my supply of dried fruits. I ended up adding dried orange-flavored cranberries and dried blueberries to the coleslaw. Some research told me this is a nice pairing for the coleslaw. I have no clue what I used them for in the past!!