What's Cooking (Take Four)

I dump the strawberry stuff into the basil stuff right before churning. It would be good served separately, though, and the strawberry does cover a bit of the Thai basil flavor. It's worth making without the fruit.

Lunch today arugula, red leaf lettuce, wild caught smoked salmon, Kumato tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, with a Basil Pesto Aioli, splash of red wine vinegar, pink salt, 4 color gr.Peppercorns. It was great.

Jeff - see the note in the "What I Learned" thread for some more info on that ice cream.

[Jenise]

Yesterday my brother and I shopped at Vancouver's amazing Granville Island Public Market. I purchased an Arctic Char that I planned to share with him, but unbenownst to me he didn't realize that and went back for some Pickerell from Winnipeg. Then we went out for lunch--Burmese, outstanding food--and overate so by the time we got back to our respective homes neither of us was had interest in dinner. So tonight we're getting together again and cooking both of the fishes. The Pickerell (a freshwater perch-like fish) will get dipped in a seasoned bread crumb and fried, and the Char will be poached in butter and finished with a bearnaise. The accompaniaments will be a shallot rice and chayote squash, following a green salad with a basil vinaigrette which will follow an appetizer of crostini with boursin cheese and an eggplant tapenade.

We've been in Vancouver several times over the last few years and have always made it a point to stop at that market. It's really amazing! Unfortunately, we've never been in a position to buy something there and cook it - I wish we could have done what you're doing!

Nice prep on the char. It's one of my favorite fishes.

My eldest son is coming for a visit on Sunday, and I am making him a Taco soup, a recipe given to me by a nurse at the hospital I visited with my pet therapy dog years ago. It is loaded with veggies, chicken stock, lots of rotisserie chicken, and tortilla strips to garnish. Served with cheddar, jalapeño sourdough,
Well, my soup ended up being a veggie, bean, chicken soup: onions, garlic, carrots, celery, Orzo, chicken, fresh corn, fire-roasted tomatoes,
chicken stock, chicken, Good Mother Stallard Beans, diced green chilies, a jalapeño. I bought a bunch of cilantro, had it in a little water on the counter, and this morning it was dead... I only had it overnight??? I'll put out avocado in case my son wants to add it to the soup,

[Jenise]

Nice prep on the char. It's one of my favorite fishes.

I know you do it often. It's not a fish I've ever seen on our side of the Lower 48, and yet they always have it on the other side of the border. Frustrating! I'm always envious when you mention it.

The menu for today's cooking is easy, as I picked up a Costco rotisserie chicken for the soup I made and have all the dark meat and half the breast left. I am trying a new way to cook potatoes for a potato salad... After cooking, one puts vinegar on the potatoes and lets them sit before continuing with the recipe. I never peel my potatoes for a salad, and my favorite is a creamed horseradish, sour cream mix with tarragon, salt, and pepper. I will also make a roasted asparagus and tomato salad with basil and Parmesan. A Sherry vinaigrette with garlic, sumac, s & p. A pretty dish served on a plate.

[Jenise]

The menu for today's cooking is easy, as I picked up a Costco rotisserie chicken for the soup I made and have all the dark meat and half the breast left. I am trying a new way to cook potatoes for a potato salad... After cooking, one puts vinegar on the potatoes and lets them sit before continuing with the recipe. I never peel my potatoes for a salad, and my favorite is a creamed horseradish, sour cream mix with tarragon, salt, and pepper. I will also make a roasted asparagus and tomato salad with basil and Parmesan. A Sherry vinaigrette with garlic, sumac, s & p. A pretty dish served on a plate.

You'll like the result with your potato salad. I do same, and also add chopped onions while the potatoes are warm.

I love horseradish in potato salad and have been known to add it to purchased deli potato salad, just to give it a little something different.

The ONLY horseradish I will buy is Tule Lake Creamed Horseradish. For me, it is the best on the market. I love it. I added green onions to my potato salad. It is yummy. I could not find it one time and tried a bunch of othrs.
Could not believe the difference.

[Jenise]

Does anyone else love horseradish in mashed potatoes? I do, especially as a side for prime rib. Which I have been VERY hungry for of late. I also love it with beets, whether they're sauteed in butter or as part of a vinaigrette for cold beet salad. However I use it in very little else.

Went out for sushi last night. Haven't cooked at home in a week. Feels like forever.

OMG Jenise, I am going to try this in my cauliflower/potato mash. Sounds delish.

A couple of days ago, I went spelunking into the depths of the FLDG archives and I came across a recipe that I posted around twenty years ago. It's from the now-disgraced chef Mario Batalli's cookbook Molto Mario, and it's for Pollo al Vin Cotto. It involves making vin cotto by adding honey and spices to red wine and then cooking it down. You then saute chicken pieces, add onion, carrots, olives, almonds, capers, and pine nuts, then add the vin cotto and reduce, then add red wine vinegar with sugar and cook that down to a glaze. It was really good, so I ended up making it tonight, for the first time in twenty year and it was just as good as it was back then. I served it with wild mushroom risotto, which included chantarelles and matsutakes and which was just ok. I would not do that again with the matsutakes as their flavor just isn't strong enough for that prep. They deserve something simpler, I think. My wife made a Thai spiced sweet potato soup and a friend brought a fennel-blood orange salad. Another friend brought a nice bottle of St Estephe, so it was a darn good meal, overall!

Original post, with recipe: http://forums.wineloverspage.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=501&p=6109&hilit=cotto#p3454

Certainly sounds good!

[Jenise]

Fun reading the comments on your original post, Mike. I love Bob Ross saying: "There's a low liklihood of having wine to make Vin Cotto and wanting to make chicken at the same time in our house."

That said, it reminds me of something I had in an Italian restaurant in the years since: Sicilian, and with lamb meatballs on pasta. Surprising, and delightful!

Yeah, good comment by Bob!

As disgraced-chef Batalli says, it's a good use for a bottle of suspect wine given to you by your enologically challenged friends.

[Jenise]

Last night I skipped protein again and made a plate of lemony roasted Greek potatoes with cucumber salad. The leftovers made a fine breakfast for the crows this morning along with stale crackers and the core of my Lucy Glo apple.

Yesterday, I cooked baby back ribs that had been sitting in Honeycrisp apple cider, sherry wine vinegar that I love, and soy sauce.
I also made a veggie casserole: layers of shredded cabbage, heirloom and Kumato tomatoes, Parmesiano Reggiano, and a layer of Brussels Sprouts sliced and put on top, and another layer of the parm. A side dish of cauliflower and potato mash with creamed horseradish, low-fat sour cream, and green onions, seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and white pepper.

Jenise, why did you give leftovers to the crows? Did you not like what you made? Just curious...