What's cooking?

Egyptian-style Ful Medames made with braised limas in place of the usual fava beans. The substitution works. Great with quartered Greek pitas.

I can see it now... we'll make a movie about Egyptian foodies who want to raise some money so they pose for a calendar in nothing but a toque... and we'll call it...
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Do I really have to say it?

Chicken Piccata for tonight. A side of Spicy Cauliflower; florets are dipped in a mix of water, garlic powder, and browned flour , then baked at 450° for 20 minutes. A mixture of butter and Franks Hot Sauce is poured over the top and baked a few more minutes. Fun Weight Watchers recipe from a long time ago.

[Robin Garr]

Do I really have to say it?

Newp!

It can only go downhill from there, Jeff: Alternative transliterations from the Arabic are "Fool" and "Foul." I am not making this up.

[Jenise]

We were protein happy earlier in the day, and Bob ate pie crust cookies for lunch, so dinner's going to be a cold platter of leftover meatloaf and raw veggies.

Spent the afternoon making a terrine for Saturday night's Supper Club. The theme is Southern Food, and I volunteered to do another version of the ham and mustard green terrine that I created a few months ago as well as some okra fritters. Only, it turns out, there is no fresh okra to be had nor are there any mustard greens around! There isn't even a close-to reasonable substitute for the okra, so that's just out and I'm going to do a cold peanut soup instead that will be served, like a chaser, on the same plate with the terrine slices which will be set on soft lettuces tossed with Hugh Acheson's to-die-for browned butter vinaigrette. But the mustard greens were easy to replace with blanched, chopped collard greens, and I not only simmered the ham with Jack Daniels (plus garlic, ginger and fresh bay leaf), I finished the gelatine broth (post cooking, so it did not cook out!) with some Jefferson's Very Small Batch bourbon. And OMG, is it GOOD.

[Robin Garr]

Japanese soba noodles with stir-fried french-cut green beans and toasted pine nuts in a hoisin-lime sauce.

We fixed the ham, bean, and veggie soup from the last page of the current Penseys' Catalog with a couple of minor variations. Excellent with warmed croissants. Snow on the ground brings out the soup in us.

Penzey's has some excellent recipes, that is for sure. I have tried and kept many of them. Most of the time I use fresh herbs, but the dried spices. It is all good.

A side with dinner tonight is my harvest this morning of baby Pak Choi and Tatsoi. Both have survived many mornings in the high 20's. Pak Choi is in a large pot but Tatsoi is in with the lettuce. A quick sauté in a little fresh garlic in coconut oil is all they need.

Karen,

How beautiful and deliciously prepared ! Wish I could keep my Asian greens so long

Karen,

How beautiful and deliciously prepared ! Wish I could keep my Asian greens so long

This is my first gardening year with the Pak Choi, so I put it into a huge pot in the garden area. It was not fazed by the 26+ temps at all in the mornings.

The Tatsoi has hung in there, as well, surrounded by lettuce that I did not think would make it either. Both of these are struggling now and that is why I harvested most of it. Temps are in the 60's in the afternoons and even into the 70's.

Venison Chili with jalapeno corn bread for the Ravens/Pats game today.

Jenise's post about her rotating turkey caught my attention last week. Going through Patricia Well's At Home in Provence I came across her recipe for Butter-Roasted Herbed Chicken. She stated that her greatest training came when she was taught the "rotation" method by Chef Joel Robuchon. I made it yesterday and it was excellent. Her ingredients called for lots of fresh herbs; chervil. Tarragon, chives and parsley. Since all I have of that list this winter is fresh parsley and not enough chives, I used fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme for the compound butter, she called for.

Butter-Roasted Herbed Chicken

Equipment: One oval baking dish, just slightly larger than the chicken, fitted with a roasting rack (None of my roasting racks fit my oval dish, so I made my own rack my putting fresh carrots and shallots in the dish, and placed the chicken on top. The carrots and shallots were caramelized beautifully.

1 organic lemon
1 free-range roasting chicken (about 5 pounds)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 bunch fresh thyme
5 tablespoons finely minced fresh herbs, a mix of chervil, tarragon, chives and parsley
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 425°
1. Soften lemon by rolling it back and forth along a flat surface, pierce with two pronged fork about 20 times. Season chicken cavity with salt and pepper. Place lemon, thyme into cavity and truss.
2. Combine herbs, butter, salt and pepper to taste, and combine well
3. Entering from the neck end of the chicken, push your fingers beneath the skin all over the breast to release skin from chicken taking care not to break the skin. Spread half the butter mixture all over the breast under the skin. I used latex gloves to do this. Press on the skin to even out the butter mixture and put the skin back into place.
4 . Rub the remaining butter mixture all over the skin of the chicken, making sure to get under the wings.
5. Place the chicken on its side on the roasting rack. Place in oven and roast for 20 minutes. Turn the chicken to the other side and roast for 20 minutes more. Turn the chicken breast side up and roast for 20 more minutes.
6. Lower the heat to 375°. Turn the chicken breast side down at an angle with the tail up. (I used another carrot to raise the tail end higher) Roast until the juices run clear when you pierce the thigh with a skewer about 20 minutes more.
7. Turn off oven, remove chicken from oven to a platter, cover with foil and return back to oven, and leave the door open. Let rest at least 10 minutes. The resulting juices were very good. She suggested making a sauce, but I did not fuss with that as we used the au jus as it was.
Recipe had more fussing which I did not do, such as including the giblets in with the lemon. I also threw what every stems of thyme, rosemary, and sage I had left over onto the veggies on the bottom.

[Jenise]

Venison Chili with jalapeno corn bread for the Ravens/Pats game today.

That looks awesome, Drew. On the brothy side--just the way I like it! p.s. I'm rooting for your team.

[Jenise]

Jenise's post about her rotating turkey caught my attention last week. Going through Patricia Well's At Home in Provence I came across her recipe for Butter-Roasted Herbed Chicken. She stated that her greatest training came when she was taught the "rotation" method by Chef Joel Robuchon.

Obviously, I approve!!!

Clever use of the vegetables. I've also made racks out of unusual things, like chopsticks. However, I want to mention that someone, somewhere makes a small oval metal rack because I have one. And it's one of the most used and beloved tools in my kitchen. Fits in any oval roasting dish but also works just fine in any small rectangle, like a quarter sheet pan or the small roasting pan I use all the time.


Dinner here tonight is going to be Scandinavian. I'm making a meal for friends in which the wife and family cook is laid up due to a serious leg injury, and she's of Norwegian heritage so I thought I'd do something along that line and Bob and I will have the same meal here at home. It will be a salad of white asparagus tossed in a dill vinaigrette and topped with chopped lox and green onions, followed by nutmeggy meatballs in a mushroom-shallot sauce served over rice.

Clever use of the vegetables. I've also made racks out of unusual things, like chopsticks. However, I want to mention that someone, somewhere makes a small oval metal rack because I have one. And it's one of the most used and beloved tools in my kitchen. Fits in any oval roasting dish but also works just fine in any small rectangle, like a quarter sheet pan or the small roasting pan I use all the time.

Yea, I wish I could find one...smallest I've seen is 6 X 9. For my favorite dish which I roast my chickens in I need no larger than 5 x 8. Carrots and shallots work well, and we get a few extra veggies into our bellies.

Flying solo this weekend, so thought I'd play with some old culinary school classics:

Duck egg omelet with sherry vinegar and sparkling wine glazed crimini mushrooms and shallots; baby greens salad tossed with toasted walnuts, dried apricots, and heirloom beets (from my fall garden harvest) in a walnut oil and apple cider vinaigrette.

Delightfully paired with the 2011 Bergstrom Old Stones Pinot Noir - this made for a lovely and leisurely late-afternoon lunch.

Using leftover roast chicken tonight, I made a pot of soup with carrots, onions, garlic, celery, roasted tomatoes, seme di melone, chicken stock, hatch chili peppers, red jalapeño, paprika, cumin, cayenne, Mexican Oregano. For fun, I also made Pizzadillas. Flour torts, topped with my home made tomato sauce from a batch of Roma toms that turned out rich like a pizza sauce. I added black olives, turkey pepperoni, and mozz cheese, and this will be cooked like a regular quesadilla. This cold weather is making both of us hungrier than normal.

Looked over a couple of recipes and came up with something of a hybrid. It was penne with roasted cauliflower, anchovies, garlic, bread crumbs sauteed with Dijon mustard, parsley, and plenty of pecorino and parmigiano. Turned out rich and flavorful enough to satisfy the carnivores in the household (who would normally not consider anchovies to be meat).

[Jenise]

Flying solo this weekend, so thought I'd play with some old culinary school classics:

Duck egg omelet with sherry vinegar and sparkling wine glazed crimini mushrooms and shallots; baby greens salad tossed with toasted walnuts, dried apricots, and heirloom beets (from my fall garden harvest) in a walnut oil and apple cider vinaigrette.

Delightfully paired with the 2011 Bergstrom Old Stones Pinot Noir - this made for a lovely and leisurely late-afternoon lunch.

Sounds terrific. Is the mother of the egg a member of your household?

Flying solo this weekend, so thought I'd play with some old culinary school classics:

Duck egg omelet with sherry vinegar and sparkling wine glazed crimini mushrooms and shallots; baby greens salad tossed with toasted walnuts, dried apricots, and heirloom beets (from my fall garden harvest) in a walnut oil and apple cider vinaigrette.

Delightfully paired with the 2011 Bergstrom Old Stones Pinot Noir - this made for a lovely and leisurely late-afternoon lunch.

Sounds terrific. Is the mother of the egg a member of your household?

I wish!! Alas, I have been denied (by my significant other) chickens and ducks, although I won't stop trying! One would think that 3 beagles, 2 cats, composting worms in the basement and a beehive in the backyard would be sufficient, but I say, "Never!"

We belong to a local food co-op that has a decent supply of specialty items like duck eggs, so once in awhile I like to splurge!

[Jenise]

If I could have outdoor farm animals in my neighborhood, I'd have chickens for eggs too. Of course, I'd have to fear that I'd become too attached and it would affect my relationship with my favorite meat, but I'd love to have a reliable supply of unpasteurized farm eggs. I occasionally find a source somewhere in the county, but it's always out of the way and I must emphasize the word 'reliable', which almost anything "out in the county" is not. I think they all have meth labs on the side.

Nice critter family you have!

Last night's dinner was pork lo mein.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

We went vegetarian last night: a simple finger-food starter course of bell pepper slices tossed with red wine vinegar and salt followed by large rigatoni in a home-made marinara sauce with thick egg-dipped, pan-fried zucchini slices to provide a crisp, fresh element and cut back on the carbs. Nummy.

Tonight are a couple of old faves I made when the kiddos were home. Skinless, boneless chicken breasts browned then put into a dish with Thousand Island dressing on the top of the chicken, then pile with sauerkraut and a bit more dressing and baked. At the end, a slice of Swiss Cheese on top and back into the oven to melt. My dad loved a dish made with chunks of potato, tossed with olive oil and Lipton's Onion Soup Mix that is roasted until nice and crispy....so we are having that. Plus, cauliflower, and broccoli steamed then tossed with my goat cheese, sun-dried tomato compound butter.