What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

Karen, I laughed at your dried fruit. Good choice, better than canned. But I can relate. So many things I pick up and go: I bought this why?

Yesterday while out doing errands I decided, as per Jeff's thread on cooking for one, that I definitely wanted to make Coq au Vin vs. roasted chicken. I got hom about 5:00 and grabbed a bottle that's been sitting upright in my wine cellar for about four years that I'd planned for Coq au Vin all along. It was a very light Italian cab franc. I grabbed another bottle of something to put into the garage fridge on my way into the kitchen--and dropped the cab franc onto the cement garage floor on the way. BIG MESS. I had to back the car out, get a broom, pick up the glass, sweep the wine toward the driveway, get a bucket of water, do same, and then again.

Close to an hour later, I stuffed some lemon slices and rosemary under the bird's skin and threw it in the oven. Just one of those days!

Oh gosh, Jenise, that is too bad. I am certain it was a good bottle of wine. It reminded me of a few days just before Christmas many years ago, when I was loading up presents in the motor home. We were going to Sacramento to be with our boys. I was in a hurry, and on the last gift, which was heavy, I moved up a step on the entry to the RV. I neglected to slow down and took a step back, thinking I was still on the correct step, and ended up in midair, falling backwards towards the concrete. I broke my right wrist! Had to go to the doctor, then get X-rays, then get a cast. The doctor told me I could not go on the trip. The wrist needed surgery, but they could not do it until after Christmas. I remember hearing my mom's voice that day telling me, as a kid, "Karen, slow down, nothing is that important...you are going to get hurt!" Since the wrist episode, I have learned to concentrate on what I am doing and to slow down. Most times!

[Jenise]

I just spent an hour picking the three whole, cooked Dungeness crabs my neighbor gifted me. I ate all the claws--my favorite part--and all the rest went into a spaghetti salad with lots of smooshed marinated artichoke hearts and frozen peas.

I made the chicken tagine with preserved kaffir limes last night. The kaffir lime flavor really shines through.

I picked up some velociraptor chiles today. Never heard of them before. They are closely related to the habanero and rated at 150,000-200,000 Scoville units. I plan to toss a few of them into my next batch of stir-fried minced pork and hot chiles. The rest will end up in my next batch of Inner Beauty hot sauce.

-Paul W.

I went to a local Catholic church this morning where they sell quesadillas and drinks. The food is made by women who attend the church (including our cleaning lady) and proceeds benefit it, of course. For $14, I got a chicken quesadilla, a pork mole one, and a big glass of jamaica. The quesadillas weighed in at about a pound each (and I didn't get beans with them), so the pork one was lunch and the chicken one will be supper. The pork was fantastic, with a rich and spicy dark sauce and a tortilla that was made onsite about three minutes before it was filled.

Great bargain, Mike. Sounds delish!

[Jenise]

Last night's three course widow's dinner: a salad of shaved lemon cucumbers and onions followed by a plate of roasted zucchini spears and, lastly, a handful of walnuts.

Tonight I'm dining with my book club. The book is about a family in coastal Maine circa 1939-1959, and lobster features heavily. I'm expecting Dungeness crab to fill in for it's spiny cousin as tonight's main course.

I had zucchini last night as well. In the interests of cleaning out the vegetable drawer, I cut up a zuke and sliced up a leek, both of which had been in that drawer for some time. I just did a quick saute in EVOO with some thyme. This is a standby and my favorite way to eat it.

I also had some white chanterelles to go along with it. The mushroom dealer came through with those and since I've not seen them before, I figured I'd just saute them up and eat them. They were interesting as they didn't put out anywhere near as much liquid as the golden chanterelles or other mushrooms. I added a little dry Marsala and put them next to the zukes. They were good on their own and all mixed up with the zukes.

For lunch today, I did a quesadilla with regular chanterelles and gruyere.

[Jenise]

Wow, white chanterelles. They're pretty rare. They don't grow up here, I wonder why not--the spores just never made it that far north? Sounds like a great meal.

Tonight my brother, his partner and I are going out for Italian. I'll be taking wine--I THINK--but between the two of them and their constant ailments (John cannot have wine and Chris has been trying to cut back--would probably prefer a martini to wine if he's going to drink at all. Man, no fun!

Last night, I made a couple of small pans of baked ziti to take over to my daughter's place because (drum roll, please) I have graduated to Grandpa status! My older daughter had a baby boy the morning of the 22nd and after an unplanned c-section, she, husband, and baby are home and doing well.

I took the recipe from Bon Appetit via Epicurious, but I've already changed it up a bit. The sauce is one of those where you squish whole canned tomatoes into the pan, cook them a while with onion, garlic, and herbs, and then puree it all. I wanted to add sausage, though, so I browned that with the onions and then added the tomatoes which means no puree stuff which means I just had to cook it long enough for the tomatoes to break down and add wine to keep the consistency right, etc. Which is all for the better! I'll run it over later today.

Congratulations, Mikef (grandpa), you will love it. Our eldest son is grandpa to an adorable little girl who just turned three this past weekend. They are true buddies; he has already bought her a Mercedes car that has a motor, but she still pedals it. That little one will want for nothing as long as our son is around. She has a stick horse that has a head with the markings of a pinto horse. It makes noises like clomping hooves and whinnying. Kids today have amazing toys. However, this little one loves books and has a library of 100 books already. She can have a room full of toys and if there is a book, she will go to that first. Her mom is a teacher, and her dad (my grandson) is a manager at Wildhawk, plus a pro golf teacher for children. Grandma (my DIL) just retired as CEO of Project RIDE in Elk Grove, so she comes by the love of books naturally. A good thing! You will have a grand time with that little one!

Either tonight or Friday night I'll be making Thai turmeric chicken soup (gai tom khamin). The turmeric here is fresh turmeric, not the typical dried, powdered kind. Fresh turmeric is a rhizome and looks like a smaller version of fresh ginger, except for the vivid orange color of the flesh.

This weekend I'll be using the velociraptor chiles to make Inner Beauty hot sauce. Also I'll be making South Carolina-style mustard-based barbecue sauce.

-Paul W.

Thanks, Karen - as most everyone says, grandkids are the best because you can play with them, spoil them, etc., and then give them back at the end of the day!

[Jenise]

Thanks, Karen - as most everyone says, grandkids are the best because you can play with them, spoil them, etc., and then give them back at the end of the day!

I have never missed raising children of my own, but I greatly miss not having been able to be the kind of grandma my own dearly missed Ruthie was to me.

But back to food! Last night I had a friend over for dinner. I had two thick pork chops which got seasoned, pan-seared and then set aside. When we sat down to eat a sliced tomato and blue cheese salad later, the pork went in the oven for 20 minutes. Then while they rested I stir fried nappa cabbage with slices of cooked yukon gold, caraway seeds and a few drops of white vinegar, and separately made a pan sauce of dijon, cream and dry white vermouth. For service, I nested four slices of pork tiled over the cabbage mixture and then a drizzle of sauce and a dusting of coarse black pepper. It tasted as good as it looked.

Cathleen--a former horse breeder and industrial landscape architect in France and Germany (IOW, a pretty sophisticated person)-- swooned over my creation and bemoaned the fact that there are no restaurants around here to go to for sophisticated food like this, German-by-way-of-France as she accurately assessed it. Pork is so rarely offered in restaurants, and when it is? It's buried in some kind of sweet sauce. Such a shame.

Quite true: very rare to find a pork dish on a restaurant menu.

I'm currently eating from a roast pork loin that I made on Sunday. It was split open like a hot-dog bun, heaped with sage, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, olive oil, s+p, and craisins, then rolled/tied/roasted. Heavenly perfume with every slice. Good hot or cold, good by itself or with any number of dressings (mustard, tapenade, adobo...).

[Jenise]

Your pork roast sounds delish, Jeff.

It does, as does your pork dish, Jenise. Pork shows up in nicer restaurants around here, almost always as a very large chop, grilled, with some sort of sauce. They're usually very good and usually from one or two specific local producers who really know what they're doing. One of these restaurants has a photo of John Bledsoe, one of those producers, walking through the restaurant with a pig slung over his shoulder. (The restaurant wasn't open at the time!)

I went to pick up scallops today at our local fish market and had my choice between medium and large. Not sure if that referred to the size of the scallops or the hole in the bank account. The medium ones were $35/lb and the large were $10. I think the medium are in the 15-20 range while the large were 8-10. Since it's just me cooking for me, I went medium. They'll get sauteed and put on top of risotto with zucchini.

We ate a truly humongous Philly cheesesteak. Now I can hardly move. Wake me up in the Spring thaw.

Yesterday, I made a concoction of caramelized onions and fresh garlic, Honeycrisp Apple Cider, Apple Cider Vinegar, low-fat sour cream, honey, poultry seasoning, three-color peppercorns, freshly ground, and sea salt. I put this on the bottom of a baking dish, then placed organic chicken thighs, legs, and wings on top, poured the rest of the sauce over, then topped the chicken with shredded
Parmigiano Reggiano. I tossed in multi colored cherry tomatoes that were just starting to wrinkle. The dish will be oven-cooked until the chicken browns nicely. The veggies are a mix of asparagus and Brussels sprouts mixed with EVOO, garlic, lemon juice, and a balsamic glaze. A Tomato Paella is also on the menu. I love this dish, as it has tomato wedges cooked on top, and there is onion, garlic, tomato paste, saffron, Spanish pimenton in Bomba Rice, mixed parsley and basil on top for garnish,

[Jenise]

I went to pick up scallops today at our local fish market and had my choice between medium and large. Not sure if that referred to the size of the scallops or the hole in the bank account. The medium ones were $35/lb and the large were $10. I think the medium are in the 15-20 range while the large were 8-10. Since it's just me cooking for me, I went medium. They'll get sauteed and put on top of risotto with zucchini.

Surely you didn't mean $10, unless it was $10 each?

[Jenise]

We ate a truly humongous Philly cheesesteak. Now I can hardly move. Wake me up in the Spring thaw.

I can bearly stand to hear about it. :0

[Jenise]

Yesterday, I made a concoction of caramelized onions and fresh garlic, Honeycrisp Apple Cider, Apple Cider Vinegar, low-fat sour cream, honey, poultry seasoning, three-color peppercorns...

With all that acidity, the low fat sour cream didn't curdle?

Yesterday, I made a concoction of caramelized onions and fresh garlic, Honeycrisp Apple Cider, Apple Cider Vinegar, low-fat sour cream, honey, poultry seasoning, three-color peppercorns...

With all that acidity, the low fat sour cream didn't curdle?

Is low-fat sour cream actually a dairy product?

I went to pick up scallops today at our local fish market and had my choice between medium and large. Not sure if that referred to the size of the scallops or the hole in the bank account. The medium ones were $35/lb and the large were $10. I think the medium are in the 15-20 range while the large were 8-10. Since it's just me cooking for me, I went medium. They'll get sauteed and put on top of risotto with zucchini.

Surely you didn't mean $10, unless it was $10 each?

Sheesh! I gotta proofread better. They were $50/lb.