What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Tonight I'm making a classic: chicken picata. Will probably serve it on orzo and, of course!, there will be a first course salad.

The sausage demo dinner went so well that they now want to make merguez. The last time I did that I swore off because the casings were so small and hard to work with. I have left over regular casings and hate to see them go to waste so I'm going to consult Mourad tonight. As I remember, his recipe is nearly the entire page with lots of ingredients.

The sausage demo dinner went so well that they now want to make merguez. The last time I did that I swore off because the casings were so small and hard to work with. I have left over regular casings and hate to see them go to waste so I'm going to consult Mourad tonight. As I remember, his recipe is nearly the entire page with lots of ingredients.

I think chorizo comes in various sizes so why not merguez? You'll just slice before serving rather than tossing them whole on top of the pile of couscous.

[Jenise]

Christina, that sounds like so much fun. I've made sausage with a neighbor who has mastered the craft, and they often smoke them afterward, too. Great stuff.

Tonight for dinner I'm doing veal (scallopini cut), a Spanish recipe in which they're pan-seared, removed and returned to the pan after the construction of a sherry and artichoke pan sauce. I'll probably serve those on a little pillow of crisped fideos.

Tonight is Gnocchi a la Romana ( semolina gnocchi with lots of Parm ) lamb osso bucco in a caramelized sofritto caramelized tomato sauce, garlicky rapini followed by a citrus hazelnut rosemary salad. My guests have sweet teeth so I am offering a cardamom almond cake with topping options of whipped cream, or ice cream, or black currant or ash/hawthorne sauce or lingonberry sauce. I will taste the cake plain. Don't want to overwhelm the cardamom and then decide which option is a good complement. It's a fun, adventuresome group. Husband found a 1985 magnum of Adelsheim Pinot Noir in a dusty corner. Hope the cork is extractable and the wine drinkable.....

A few days ago I had 2 lbs of huge Roma tomatoes from Mexico that needed attention. I seasoned them well, added garlic-infused olive oil, salt, pepper, and put them in the oven to semi-dry. Came across a recipe for Chicken thighs, skin, and bone on. cooked in one pan with shallots, garlic, chicken stock, escarole, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, a little grated nutmeg, the tomatoes, and served with charred bread rubbed with garlic to soak up the juices. I could not find the escarole, so will add baby spinach.
Salad will be a Blueberry Argula Salad with Honey Lemon Dressing, Salad has fresh blueberries, goat cheese, and sliced almonds sweetened with honey, butter, olive oil, and salt, then browned in the oven. I love the colors in the salad and the flavors go so well together.
We have a new bakery in town called When Pie Meets Bread. A young couple, he a baker of fine sourdough bread and she a baker of small pies and pastries. They fell in love and spent many years at the Farmers Markets, sharing a booth. Now, they are in a large building, baking away early in the morning for an 8 am opening and I am going there to get my loaf of bread. Soon they will have a full menu of healthy foods and I cannot wait.

[Jenise]

I'm on a Spanish kick so tonight we'll have fresh Atlantic salmon baked en papillote with a onion/smoked paprika butter. Probably brussels sprouts on the side, and a starter salad of sliced tomatoes.

[Jenise]

Football food! Guacamole (avocado, blue cheese, smoked almonds, diced fresh jalapeno, lime) and chips, peanuts in the shell, pickled baby corn, potato-sauerkraut salad, oven-fried chicken that's been marinating for a day and a half in apple juice, chardonnay, dill and tarragon that will get dredged in 50/50 flour/cornmeal.

Pelmeni. One of the friends at the sausage demo is Russian and an excellent cook. I helped her make 278 of these Siberian dumplings today. Quite like tortellini in shape but filled with beef onion, salt and pepper. Boiled in water or broth and sauced with butter or vinegar or sour cream. Had some for lunch and froze the rest. A fun morning. She's introduced me to the foods of the former Soviet Republics and her first hand knowledge has been invaluable.
My bubble friends have been trading demo/help prep sessions. Our next session is the Kofta Chalau from the July 6 Saveur. Afghan style meatballs with saffron, split peas and sour plums. The last item is unavailable to us so we are substituting dried sour apricots which we get at our terrific Mediterranean market. So lucky to have adventurous eaters.

Yum! Love pelmeni.

The sausage demo dinner went so well that they now want to make merguez. The last time I did that I swore off because the casings were so small and hard to work with. I have left over regular casings and hate to see them go to waste so I'm going to consult Mourad tonight. As I remember, his recipe is nearly the entire page with lots of ingredients.

AFIK merguez can be made with any size sausage casing. Or no casing at all--it makes wonderful grilled sausage patties.

Jenise posted a merguez recipe here. It has a straightforward ingredients list. The only "exotic" ingredient is harissa, for which one can substitute Lan Chi chili paste with garlic.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

You're very lucky, Christina, to have friends who love to cook together. I don't, and I miss it terribly.

Paul, thanks for resurrecting that merguez recipe, I'd forgotten I posted it here, and I'm glad to see my note about dialing it back some. Wouldn't be everyone's favorite but things haven't changed for me since I posted that--I don't like most merguez. I like spicy food but most merguez I try don't have what I'd call a balanced spiciness. And that's not a euphemism for 'mild', I like heat I just don't like excessive cumin and most taste of almost nothing but.

I remember that thread and will try Jenise's recipe. It does indeed have many fewer ingredients than Mourad's and I do have Lan Chi chile garlic sauce. I was making different harissas at that time and I keep a batch of Einat Admony's from her cookbook Balaboosta in the freezer. I also like Mourad's dry harissa recipe. Rawia Bishara's recipe is heavy on the cumin but all are great to quickly marinate shrimp for a stir fry.
Going to try larger casings simply because I have them and want to grill them. I did not stuff a breakfast sausage mix or one of the batches of Italian for a pasta rapini dish.

[Jenise]

I'm drinking champagne. After a long day of trying to get Covid tests completed in anticipation of heading up to Bill and SWMBO Spohn's on Thursday, which resulted in me driving like a bad out of hell back to a Walgreens about 75 minutes after leaving said place for said test and threatening to burn the place down on arrival, I'm back home and in great need of calming. A pound of ground beef awaits in the kitchen downstairs, fate currently in the air.

A pound of ground beef awaits in the kitchen downstairs, fate currently in the air.

I did not know you could blow bubbles with ground beef. Learn something every day.

[Jenise]

Stick around, kid, I'll show you the ropes!

The ground beef turned into a lovely Buccatini Bolognese, and a good time was had by all.

I made Gong Bao Ji last night, using Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe but with diced red bell pepper and diced celery thrown in. It still amazes me what a difference using very fresh dried chiles and Sichuan peppercorns makes in this dish. The kitchen was fragrant with the smell of the chiles and the pleasant numbness from the peppercorns lasted for over an hour.

-Paul W.

I have shrimp and scallops thawing to toss into thin spaghetti. Fresh garlic is softened in butter, olive oil. Seafood is added, along with red pepper flakes, add clam juice, and cooked pasta, until the pasta has absorbed most of the liquid. Sun-Dried tomatoes, parsley, lemon zest, and juice are added. Salt and pepper to taste. I like to drizzle Tabasco Sauce on this at serving. Very yummy dish. An arugula salad of some sort will go with to use it up along with honey, lemon vinaigrette.

I was devoted to Stanley Ginsberg's Rye Baker book but I gave up on rye breads due to the extreme variability of flours from different sources but made a deli rye to go along with yellow split peas soup for lunch today. Foiled again because recipe had way too much yeast. [ I thought it seemed like a lot - 9 grams for 588 grams flour].Dough fermented in half the time suggested even in a 68 degree kitchen. Could have temped the dough and put it in fridge to retard rise. Recipe also said 25-30 min to temp 205-212 F and it took 55 min to reach 207. My oven is accurate. Taste and crumb nice but flavor would have been much better with a slower rise. Were I to do it again I would use same flour source, reduce yeast, temp dough, retard ferment, lower oven temp after an initial blast but I can't give enough bread away to keep tweaking these recipes and taking notes to get it right so I'm giving up again !
Pea soup was a wonderful blast from the past on this winter afternoon. Had not made it in decades and the remembrance of it's comforting taste was great.

Pea soup was a wonderful blast from the past on this winter afternoon. Had not made it in decades and the remembrance of it's comforting taste was great.

We are working through a cauldron of clam chowder. When you make it yourself you can get just exactly what you want in every spoonful.

[Jenise]

Speaking of rye, just chanced upon this recipe for rye-flour based ginger cookies. Looks pretty awesome:


Spiced Rye Ginger Cookies
Five spiced rye ginger cookies
With their bendy centers and slightly crunchy edges, these cookies are the perfect combination of soft and crisp. Rye flour is their not-so-secret ingredient, enhancing both the cookies’ texture and their complex and alluringly spicy flavor. King Arthur Baking Company.

INGREDIENTS

For the dough
▢Butter for the baking sheets
▢2 cups medium rye flour
▢1 teaspoon baking soda
▢1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
▢2 teaspoons ground ginger
▢3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
▢1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
▢1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
▢3/4 cup granulated sugar
▢1/2 cup mild vegetable oil
▢1 large egg
▢1/4 cup molasses
For baking
▢1/3 cup coarse sparkling sugar or 1/3 cup (66 g) granulated sugar

GET INGREDIENTS Powered by Chicory
DIRECTIONS

Make the dough
Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Lightly butter two rimmed baking sheets (or line with parchment paper).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
In a large mixing bowl, use a hand whisk, an electric hand mixer, or a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to beat the sugar and oil until well combined. Add the egg and whisk until smooth.
Stir in the molasses, followed by the dry ingredients, and mix well. The dough may be covered and refrigerated at this point for several hours, if desired, and to help reduce spreading during the bake time.
Shape and bake the cookies
Use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to portion 1 1/4-inch (3-cm) balls of dough. Roll the dough balls in granulated or sparkling sugar to coat before placing onto the prepared baking sheets. Leave 2 inches (5 cm) between the balls on all sides as they’ll spread as they bake.
Bake the cookies until they’re puffed and the edges are set, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and leave on the rimmed baking sheets to cool completely. Cookies will keep for several days at room temperature in an airtight container, and can be frozen for longer storage.

Pea soup was a wonderful blast from the past on this winter afternoon. Had not made it in decades and the remembrance of it's comforting taste was great.

We are working through a cauldron of clam chowder. When you make it yourself you can get just exactly what you want in every spoonful.

I'm more a fan of seafood chowder. I use at least one whitefish, shrimp, and scallops.

BTW: I do almost the same thing as the seafood pie but don't use mashed potato topping just breadcrumbs. My recipe is a variation on the British Seafood Pie that ATK sent out in a recent email. I haven't thought about adding a smoked fish to it but it might add a little something extra to both the chowder and the casserole.

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articl ... perience_1

We are working through a cauldron of clam chowder. When you make it yourself you can get just exactly what you want in every spoonful.

I'm more a fan of seafood chowder. I use at least one whitefish, shrimp, and scallops.

Right. Mine is mostly clams but also cod and scallops.

Since I decided again to swear off rye bread I thought I should try to use the flour other ways. I did the Spiced Rye Cookies that Jenise posted above. Made as written with 2 slight variations. I was low on regular ginger so used half regular half roasted. Instead of rolling dough in granulated sugar I used demara sugar.
The spice combo is terrific with the kick of a good amount of black pepper. There is no wheat flour in this recipe and the aroma of rye while cooking was standing even above all the spices. The rye flavor in the finished cookie adds a great complexity with a hint of bitterness. Definitely a bump up on the standard ginger crinkle cookie and I would make this again.
Back to that rye bread....it is quite typical for these breads to mature crumb and flavor in a good way with time and stale more slowly than wheat breads. Today's taste grew on me quite a lot. The extremely dark caramelized crust has softened and the flavor is now excellent. Perhaps because it didn't fight with my teeth and I could concentrate on taste ! Using the thinly sliced rye bread tonight for an open faced smoked salmon, fennel appetizer.