What's cooking?

We had our first blustery storm of the season today, so it's soup for supper. Potato soup with a good dose of pimenton, cumin, a little chipotle powder, and lots of corn. Store bought asiago focaccia to go with.

We just got back from a weekend up in Bangor. On the way up Friday we stopped a Ted's Fried Clams and Bev had a haddock basket and I had a shrimp roll. That night we went to Captain Nick's in Bangor where Bav had a bowl of mussels and salad, and I had a "Mini Seafood Dinner" consisting of fish chower and an overstuffed lobster roll. On Satuday we had a so-so conference lunch, and a nice dinner at the Ground Round next to our motel; we decided to have some meat, so Bev had a Buffalo Chicken salad, and I have a half rack of Baby Backs. On the way home today we stopped at Ted's again (they are closing for the season next Sunday). We split a pint of Maine Shrimp, a pint of fries, and a large cole slaw. It's good to be home. Incidentally breakfast at the Ho-Jo's both mornings was also so-so.

Carl, Ted's sounds great! We are missing that New England seafood already. Sound like you had a great eating weekend!

[Robin Garr]

The gang over at LouisvilleHotBytes.com is going out for dinner for 30 at Peking City Bistro, a relatively new Chinese restaurant with a Taiwanese chef who's famous in the local Chinese community, and they've put together a 10-course authentic Taiwanese banquet for us.

Here's an approximation of the menu, translated from the chef's handwritten Chinese by the hostess for our organizer:

Traditional Taiwanese ten course feast

cold plate-beef tongue,tofu,wine marinated chicken,smoked fish
seafood soup
shell on prawns two ways
tea smoked duck
a lobster and garlic dish
small fish cooked in bamboo steamer
fish and mushroom rolls
special Chinese mushrooms with vegetables
some sort of dim sum
fruit

Should be quite the experience!

chicken asada mixed with sautéed peppers, onions and garlic, on top of warmed olive, garlic and asiago focaccia. A green salad on the side with a vinaigrette.

For our first dinner at home after the weekend we had broiled lamb ribs with hot pepper jelley from a local purveyor; fried Japanese eggplant from the farmers' market, and our own Brandywine tomatoes sliced. Washed it down with Clockspring Amadodor Zin. Simply great!!!

Sambar last night. Hyderabadi fenugreek chicken tonight.

-Paul W.

[Robin Garr]

Green peppers from the garden, stuffed with a mix of local Dreamcatcher Farm ground lamb and bulghur.

[Jenise]

After a weekend of mostly red meat and carbs in Alaska, I'm wanting something very light and soupy tonight so I'm going to poach (or stew, if you prefer that word, these will be long-cooked) chicken breasts and tons of celery (I love this combination) with herbs. The leg/thigh portions of the whole chicken I'm breaking down will go in a ziploc with half a bottle of tabasco sauce for roasting as tomorrow night's dinner.

Fettuccini in pesto made with just about the last of our basil, Italian sausages, and salad including our own Summer Golds. Washed down with Gritty's Best Brown Ale.

Tonight's dinner will be Thai pad kee mao (Drunkard's Noodles).

-Paul W.

Smoked baby back ribs in a more savory sauce than summer, half of a Broule, and sliced tomatoes (ours). Washed down with a bottle of Gritty's Best Brown Ale. Yes, we're still smokin and grillin here!

[Jenise]

Paul and Karl, you're hurting me, you're both talking about flavors I'm craving. Yesterday I wanted spicy Asian and seafood, so I put together a dinner plate that held a salad of watercress, sliced mushrooms, bamboo, fresno chiles and cilantro, three fried shrimp dipped in habanero sauce and five scallops dredged in rice flour seasoned with madras curry (a Ming Tsai idea). I would kill to have more of those shrimp for breakfast, but the scallops were a disappointment (rice flour--not a good idea). So after dinner I looked for something to get out of the freezer (too crowded, must work it down rather than buy anything) and found a ziploc what I thought were two half racks of baby back ribs. This morning, already looking forward to tonight's ribs, I looked more closely at the bag and discovered that it held pork belly. DANG.

Paul, your dish. It's called 'drunkard' why?

"Drunkards noodles" is the literal translation of the dish's Thai name "kee mao" (pad means "stir-fried"). The etymology seems to be obscure. To quote the late Ian Khuntilanont-Philpott on the subject:

There are a number of line of thought about ki mao dishes in Thailand.
They are widely served as bar snacks, in much the same way that Spanish
bars serve tapas (and serve to make you thirsty, when used for this
purpose). Other dishes described in this way are eaten as a stomach
liner before embarking on a serious nights drinking. Other such dishes
are served by the patient wife of the wandering husband who cralws back
hung over in the middle of the night only to realise that he has to get
up for work before 5 the following morning!

Last night at Ted's Clams till March. We had lobster rolls, fries, and cole slaw. Sigh!

Spaghetti and meatballs.

Picked up this beautiful 4 lb Red Snapper yesterday at Costco and am going to grill somehow tonight....Recipe anyone?

Drew

[Jenise]

Picked up this beautiful 4 lb Red Snapper yesterday at Costco and am going to grill somehow tonight....Recipe anyone?

Drew

Wow, whole fish at Costco? I suppose I've seen salmon that way there but never any other fish. Interestingly different options in different parts of the country, aren't there?

I've never cooked red snapper, and most of what I've eaten has been raw at sushi restaurants, so I don't have any immediate reccomendations for you, but from afar I've gathered that it's a good blank canvas of a fish that adapts well to a variety of lively sauces/toppings. I once had it in Mexico topped with a saute of tomatoes and olives. Very nice!

[Robin Garr]

Local grass-fed Dreamcatcher Farm lamb burgers and fresh broccoli. Wine: Whole Foods "365" branded Chianti ... curious what quality of generic Chianti they've put in the bottle.

Plenty this weekend.

Duck confit, bacon-wrapped jerk marinated tenderloin, wild boar roast, potatoes roasted in duck fat and saffron/cardamom infused flan on Thursday night.
Pheasant (pan seared with a little brown sugar, black pepper and thyme, then finished in the oven) on Friday.
Stir fried plantains and kidney bean curry tonight.

Beef stew in the slow cooker, made with chuck roast (1" dice, floured and browned), Yukon Gold taters, onion, crimini shrooms, tri-color bell peppers, beef stock and red wine. Just trying to decide which wine to have with it.

We were going to grill tonight, but there was some moisture of some sort coming down. So we broiled the tenderloin steaks in rasher, heaped them with nuked onions in EVOO; and enjoyed them with baked Delacata squash, and sliced Brandywine tomato that had ripened inside. Washed it all down with Knapp Merlot.

Tonight we are having a vegetable soup. Onions, garlic, celery, rainbow swiss chard, carrots, zucchini, sweet peppers, fire roasted tomatoes, home made chicken stock, parmesan rinds (for extra flavor) sweet basil, parsley, pearl barley, served over lightly toasted and garlic rubbed rustic bread, and shaved parmesan Yum!

[Jenise]

Tonight we are having a vegetable soup. Onions, garlic, celery, rainbow swiss chard, carrots, zucchini, sweet peppers, fire roasted tomatoes, home made chicken stock, parmesan rinds (for extra flavor) sweet basil, parsley, pearl barley, served over lightly toasted and garlic rubbed rustic bread, and shaved parmesan Yum!

Boy does that sound like just what I'm hungry for. Alas, hubby's out so I'm gnoshing on leftovers.

Tonight we are having a vegetable soup. Onions, garlic, celery, rainbow swiss chard, carrots, zucchini, sweet peppers, fire roasted tomatoes, home made chicken stock, parmesan rinds (for extra flavor) sweet basil, parsley, pearl barley, served over lightly toasted and garlic rubbed rustic bread, and shaved parmesan Yum!

Boy does that sound like just what I'm hungry for. Alas, hubby's out so I'm gnoshing on leftovers.

Sounds great! So I'm making pasta fazool for tonight's meal.

Drew