What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Larry, your cousin's hilarious. Does he have diabetes and/or other gastric diseases. He's a sitting duck for ulcerative colitis. Hard to imagine he doesn't (not that he'd tell you).

I finally made the tomato paella last night. It came out wonderful. The pimenton and saffron really complemented the wonderful tomato flavor from the Brandywines. I cooked it stove-top rather than in the oven. It developed a nice, crunchy crust on the bottom, which I'm told is considered in Spain to be the best part of paella. Some observations:

o Using short-grained rice is important. The bomba cooked up perfectly. I've seen Calrose as a suggested substitute.

o If you can't get decent tomatoes, don't bother making this dish.

o I think tomato paella is the original dish that has been adapted in the US to become "Spanish rice".

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Isn't that a great dish? I cooked mine in the oven just to find out why I would or wouldn't want to do it that way again, fie on the instructions, and concluded that it's not superior to stovetop. The oven route is an easy/handy shortcut if it's not in one's nature to fuss over something, but I'm a fusser and like you covet that bottom crust. I agree re good tomatoes, but as a tomatoholic I can attest to suggesting that a winter paella will be better than none at all. At Nancy Silverton's L.A. restaurant Mozza, she makes a "winter caprese" using lightly dehydrated roma tomatoes tossed with oil and garlic and roasted in the oven until slightly shrivelled. Between heat and dessication, they're incredibly sweet and delicious. Those would make a fabulous tomato paella when the summer tomatoes are gone. (The addition of tomato juice and tomato powder could be further enhancements.)

BTW, the wine I used was Marques de Carcares verdejo, which comes from the Rueda region in Spain.

-Paul W.

Tonight is a nice ribeye steak, was to be grilled, but we literally have ash raining on us right now. Smoke is down at roof level. Steak is marinated in soy, a tad apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and a bit of Worchestershire. I will be sauteéing huge white mushrooms in butter, a little olive oil, and fresh tarragon. Sliced steak and mushrooms will be served over a salad of mixed greens, artichoke hearts, thinly sliced radish, green onions, cucumber with a leftover vinaigrette of EVOO, cabernet red wine, mustard, Turkish Oregano, and garlic. Crusty sourdough. too.

Made a chicken soup for tonight, using the leftover lemon marinated roasted chicken from the weekend. Added the sauce from the bottom of the pan, carrots, zucchini, onions, lots of garlic, some small cauliflower florets, French Thyme, and Rosemary, celery plus leaves, and a few red pepper flakes, homemade chicken stock from the freezer It turned out delicious, and comforting. I was going to add noodles, but they do not freeze well and I wanted this for stocking the freezer for some winter soups. I will be adding a couple of handfuls of baby spinach when I reheat tonight. A good way to clean out the veggie crisper. Serving with a Jalepeño, Cheddar Bread.

[Jenise]

Karen, comforting sounds good. No plans at the moment. We lost our best baby (Maestro) yesterday and I have no appetite. I need a heart to cook with and I don't have one at present.

Maestro must be a kitty? So sorry, hard to lose a family member, and yes, I consider pets part of the family. They certainly are at our house and over the years I have seen you post about your kitties.
I get the "heart to cook" and it really does make the food taste better. Right now, we are surrounded by fires, smoke, ash, and a very sick yard with trees thrown into Fall mode, plants struggling from the lack of sun, smoke, and ash. We are just thankful we have a home and it is safe at this time. Trying to get meals on the table for the two of us, that are healthy, yet easy and not too much time involved. Crazy world, right now.

Karen, where exactly in "noca" are you?

We are in Redding, upper Sacramento Valley about an hour from Mt. Shasta

We are in Redding, upper Sacramento Valley about an hour from Mt. Shasta

Just checked the Cal Fire map... yikes, you've got the three biggest fires W, SW, and SE of you! No wonder you're getting ash and smoke.

Lull Farm in Hollis has the best selection of heirloom tomatoes around.

Thanks for the pointer, Dan. I finally made it out to Lull Farm yesterday. Wow, what an impressive place! And 30+ varieties of heirloom tomatoes. I bought red Brandywines. I tried one last night. It is the best tasting tomato I've had in decades. I doubt I'll ever buy one of those force-ripened supermarket golfballs again.

-Paul W.

I am partial to the Prudens Purples and the Sun Golds. I am having the last of them tonight so I need to get back there for more.

BTW: If you go on Saturday, the Jamaican employees have a grill set up and sell jerk chicken in the parking lot. The jerk chicken is good but I don't think it is made to Jamaican standards. There is also someone selling ribs, but I've never tried them.

This is a punk year for my tomatoes. All heirlooms scanty in production and few cherry tomatoes except for the Black Cherry. I gravitate toward the darker red or purple varieties. Other growers locally report the same. Nonetheless have stocked the freezer with garden produce to the point of having little room. Back to Pennsylvania at the end of the month so feeling somewhat accomplished.

[Jenise]

Last night I planned a little reunion of the Wine Society I used to organize tastings for here in my neighborhood. I closed it when our HOA refused to allow me to restrict attendance to vaccinated persons only. Now it's a pared down group that I'll plan random pop-up events for. We'll miss the Clubhouse amenities, but beyond the important vaccination factor no more HOA means no more being inclusive of people I don't like! The meal plan was fried chicken from a local market and side dishes brought by others in one of the neighborhood parks. We got rained out so I had to cancel, but I did send out a note that a few of us would go eat fried chicken and drink wine in the park anyway. 45 people showed up to join me; had a blast.

Your HOA must be imported from Florida or Texas.

[Jenise]

They claim it's a Fair Housing Act thing since everyone in the neighborhood pays for, and owns, the clubhouse equally. I could 'rent' it for $300 plus cleaning fees which people do for weddings and funerals, but to just use it as a village club I can't "discriminate", their word. Which makes me and a few others livid. Skin color? Sexual orientation? That's discrimination. Leaving out the people who opted out already by refusing the vaccination? That's just smart. They have the right to choose but not the right to infect me or any of my volunteers. That the Association Manager looks for ways to say no instead of yes does seem to indicate that she has a conservative bias.

Sorry Jenise. I agree- can't see it as discrimination when it is a choice that affects the health of others (who made wiser choices, or in a few cases had no choices).

We gave up on growing tomatoes due to poor sun in yard, but I've been having a ball with farmers market and friends' heirlooms- Black prince, German Queen, etc. And some outstanding hybrids (Ramapo).

Haven't cooked anything that noteworthy, but on Sunday Betsy was cooking 5 spice duck breast and I was in charge of sides (and using leftovers). We had some cooked haiga rice, and I made lentils. Betsy rendered duck first (and saved fat),. but when done there was a nice 5 spice/fat/juice left in cast iron. Sauteed onion, added lentils and rice, some more cumin and cinnamon, and had one of the best mujaddara I've ever had.

[Jenise]

Sounds fantastic, Dale. I love the idea of never letting flavor go down the drain.

Haven't been cooking at all. My grief over the loss of Maestro continues unabated, and we've either been skipping dinner or fed by friends. In the latter mode, Monday night we had our first Dungeness crab dinner at a friend's house here in the neighborhood. They indicated they'd provide me with the crab (we sold our boat) so I could participate in a crab pizza rivalry they're got going on with their neighbors. And yesterday a neighbor brought some over, cooked and ready to go. If the mood holds I'll turn those into crab chile rellenos later this week.

Today much excitement though as we're cleared to go over the border. We'll be lunching at Chez Spohn and then will repair to a hotel for our first overnight away in ages. Tomorrow, Canada shopping! On my list: veal, duck breasts, fancy risotto rice (not arborio, the 'c' word one, names escapes me, carnaroli?, and large jars of Maille mustard. These are things I can't get here.

Sorry for your loss Jenise but for me there is nothing that lifts the spirits like "doing an aisle job" in a favorite grocery and thinking about what I might prepare. It should be interesting to assess any pandemic caused stocking changes.
I like Carnaroli also but don't pass up Vialone Nano rice. It absorbs more liquid = more flavor and is just as creamy as Carnaroli.

Got a deal on cod, so I panfried the fillets with a brown butter sauce and capers. Simple and tasty.

I visited Lull Farm yesterday and brought back the raw materials for tonight's ratatouille. I made Cantonese stir-fried beef with green peppers last night. It's great to buy vegetables that aren't waxed and thus smell like vegetables.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

It should be interesting to assess any pandemic caused stocking changes.
I like Carnaroli also but don't pass up Vialone Nano rice. It absorbs more liquid = more flavor and is just as creamy as Carnaroli.

Indeed I would have; I know of Vialone but didn't realize that difference. My head just wants something better than plain Arborio and Carnaroli is inexpensive up there. Like $6 a box at a good grocer near Bill for what down here I'd have to go to a specialty store and pay $15 for. Alas, I did not make it to that store nor to the Italian markets on Commercial St. I did, however, come home with two large jars of Maille mustard, six veal chops, 18 bottles of wine, a bag of corn chips from a Canadian brand I love (although in general we don't touch snack food), fresh Chilliwack corn, half a cherry pie (my birthday 'cake') that will contain about 1/3 less sugar than its oversweetened American cousin, and a bunch of Chinese take-out.

And I immediately booked another test so we can go back next week.

[Jenise]

Still have yet to cook at home and won't until Sunday, though a crab and green chile enchilada pie is in the works. Picked the crab given me by a neighbor this morning.

I visited Lull Farm yesterday and brought back the raw materials for tonight's ratatouille. I made Cantonese stir-fried beef with green peppers last night. It's great to buy vegetables that aren't waxed and thus smell like vegetables.

-Paul W.

I’ve created an addict. It’s such a great place.

Katie and I used to make ratatouille using Julia Childs recipe. It was such a long drawn out process. Slice veggies, roast, layer, ….. We finally started making a ratatouille “casserole”., Chop everything, sauté them, put into a waking dish and finish. Sometimes we made Ratatouille gratin by topping with cheese as it roasted.