What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Glad to hear it. NJ and Philadelphia got swamped, though.

Tonight I'm making prime rib. Caesar salad to start, prime rib, then biscotti with Sauternes. I'm torn between making a classic potato gratin (what I really want) or a wild rice pilaf (healthier) to go with the meat. I think the latter's going to win. Actually, though, my first choice was horseradish mashed potatoes but it turns out that none of the produce departments in this town have fresh horseradish.

Jenise, have you not tried Tule Lake Horseradish? It is jared and comes in regular strength and they also offer a creamed variety, which is the one our meat-eating family has used for years. It is very tasty and I do love it in potato salads, and with prime rib it is divine. Of course, I have never made my own.

This week at our local meat market, I saw very nice, meaty, thick bone-in short ribs. I am doing an Asian twist, cooking them with very large green onions the size of leeks from Farmers Market, soy sauce, Rice Wine Vinegar, ginger root, canned chopped tomatoes, garlic, a little brown sugar, dry Vermouth, and water.
I was going to do Asian-inspired rice but hubby wanted mashed potatoes, so I added butter and a hint of Chinese Five Spice and chives to them. Veggies to stir-fry are broccoli, baby bella mushrooms, and snow peas, with a light Asian sauce.

White lasagna: 3# shrimp, an entire jar of pesto mixed into the bechamel, ricotta, mozzerella, no-boil noodles, parsley, lemon, wine. The house smells so good!

Four stuffed brie en croute: two with chanterelles, two with tomato-basil-pinenuts. For a wine event later today.

Today for dinner is Pork Tenderloins, small slits over each tenderloin and stuffed with roasted garlic cloves. The marinade is balsamic, EVOO, cracked garlic, steak seasoning, fresh rosemary, and thyme, marinated for 24 hours.
Also, Chipotle Corn Salad, which has grilled corn, cut off the cob, sweet onion, cherry toms, sour cream, fresh lime juice, chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chives, pepper, and sliced avocado.
A rice dish will add to the mix, not sure what yet, but will include lemon.

Ended up with an Orzo dish last night to go with the Tenderloins. Sauteéd with butter until just beginning to turn golden, homemade chicken stock added along with fresh rosemary, and lemon juice. Simple but delicious. I tend to forget about Orzo.

Ended up with an Orzo dish last night to go with the Tenderloins. Sauteéd with butter until just beginning to turn golden, homemade chicken stock added along with fresh rosemary, and lemon juice. Simple but delicious. I tend to forget about Orzo.

Sounds nice. I like orzo a lot, though one has to measure carefully... I once made a pot of minestrone soup and decided to add some orzo to it... I never did find anything good to do with the resulting mountain of barely-flavored pasta.

Pork tenderloins with chocolate mole sauce, tossed salad, bi-color corn on the cob. Simple. I'll use leftover mole sauce somehow for breakfast tomorrow.

[Jenise]

Do you make your own mole, Larry?

We've been in Vancouver the last couple days, the only tourism that's safe right now. Tonight we're going to a sake tasting with our booze group (three couples), and I'm making bacon-wrapped water chestnuts for a starter snack.

Do you make your own mole, Larry?

No, I don't want to spend a day or two in the kitchen. We have plenty of jarred moles here. I mix in chicken broth (sometimes water) to thin the paste and make it more pourable.

Chicken breasts with mole sauce may be humble, but it's a good company dish and looks attractive, esp. with a little green leafy garnish and some pepitas.

Tonight is an old family recipe favorite dating back to my childhood, and now the grandkids love it. Baby back pork ribs are rubbed with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, and Mignonette Pepper. Sometimes I place the rack on a bed of onions but am not doing that today. Ribs sit for the day in the rub, then covered tightly with foil cover and baked in the oven 325°for 2 hours, take foil off, for the next 30 minutes to brown the top of ribs.
Roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Good chicken stock is added, mashed garlic, salt and pepper. A stacked eggplant parmasan will be on the menu, as well.

[Jenise]

Larry, I love chicken in mole. Never considered it a 'humble' dish, either.

Last night, to take to a sake tasting, I wrapped soy/ponzu marinated water chestnuts each in 1/3rd of a slice of regular thickness bacon and secured them with toothpicks. I roasted them for about 30 minutes--utterly fantastic. Even the Picky People loved them.

Tonight I'm going to a pinot noir tasting and I'm planning to make a spanish tortilla with the addition of mushrooms. Should be a delightful pinot accompaniament.

Tonight is an old family recipe favorite dating back to my childhood, and now the grandkids love it.

Hang on, I'll be right over!

Tonight is an old family recipe favorite dating back to my childhood, and now the grandkids love it.

Hang on, I'll be right over!

Big disaster. I decided to do the mashed potatoes a bit lighter, save a few calories here and there....usually I rice the potatoes, but got lazy, decided to toss them into the food processor, with the roasted garlic, a little fresh thyme, and chicken stock. Whizzed away just until all the lumps came out. I have NEVER done mashed potatoes this way. OMG, When I opened the processor I knew I was in trouble, the potatoes had turned to glue, a huge sticky mess. Getting them out of the processor was a job, as they stuck to the sides, stuck to the spatula, stuck to my fingers. The taste was decent, but the texture and mouthfeel were obnoxious. Why did I do that?? I tossed them out and luckily had 2 nice Yukon Golds left in my potato stash, so they are getting baked. Lesson learned.

[Jenise]

Nothing worse than gluey mashed potatoes, Karen. I feel for you!

Yikes! I've read not to over-mash but, not owning a food processor, that's never a problem (elbow wears out before anything bad happens to the food).

Tonight: more egg rolls! This time, just a short batch with duck only. I've got the knack of this one.

Tonight is an old family recipe favorite dating back to my childhood, and now the grandkids love it.

Hang on, I'll be right over!

Big disaster. I decided to do the mashed potatoes a bit lighter, save a few calories here and there....usually I rice the potatoes, but got lazy, decided to toss them into the food processor, with the roasted garlic, a little fresh thyme, and chicken stock. Whizzed away just until all the lumps came out. I have NEVER done mashed potatoes this way. OMG, When I opened the processor I knew I was in trouble, the potatoes had turned to glue, a huge sticky mess. Getting them out of the processor was a job, as they stuck to the sides, stuck to the spatula, stuck to my fingers. The taste was decent, but the texture and mouthfeel were obnoxious. Why did I do that?? I tossed them out and luckily had 2 nice Yukon Golds left in my potato stash, so they are getting baked. Lesson learned.

Well, at least your meal would have "stuck to your ribs."

Just yesterday I read an article on Food52 comparing the good and bad features of various ways to prepare mashed potatoes. If you want fluffy mashed potatoes, you have to avoid as much as possible breaking the cellular structure of the potatoes. The ruptured cells release their starch and the result is gluey potatoes. The Food52 article noted that this is one of the hazards of using a food processor to do the mashing.

I used to use one of those hand mashers until I tried a ricer. Never looked back.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I still use a hand masher (circa 1950) but mine is more like a ricer than it is the typical mashers sold today that look pretty useless to my eye. And I like the result from an electric hand-mixer but it's only suited to larger amounts than two servings so I usually hand mash.

Tonight: duck pho. Duck broth I made from a whole Peking duck I bought in Vancouver, fresh ramen noodles from the H Mart, and seared med rare duck breast on top. Also a few shitakes, fresh jalapeno slices, snow peas, green onion slivers and baby bok choy leaves.

That duck pho sounds wonderful, Jenise.

Last night I made a Rajasthani version of aloo rasedar (curried potatoes).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

The Pho was AMAZING. Second best I've ever had, the first being at a restaurant in Seattle--also duck--wherein a deep fried duck confit leg is dunked into the broth at the second they bring it to you, still sizzling. This didn't have that, but the thin slices of rare seared duck breast with the crispy fat cap were incredible. And yes, it was my own original idea.

Btw, the noodles I used? Bought at H Mart. A Korean brand called Frozen Chewy Noodle, which hilariously weren't frozen at all when I bought them. I loved the instructions and here they are, typos not mine: "Cook noodles into boiled water about 3-4 until they are not over cooked." So I presumed that was going to be 3-4 minutes. At about a minute and a half, they were softer than expected so in fact I think the instructions were meant to imply a mere blanching. At even 3 minutes they'd have been pretty mushy.

[Jenise]

Btw, Paul, speaking of potatoes, this week I'm going to do a Portugese recipe for cooking potatoes in wine and finishing them with lots of chopped garlic and chiles (for which I'll use Calabrian). Doesn't that sound amazing?

I wonder whether that was supposed to be 30-40 seconds?