What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

I'll bet the dried peel worked well in your dish, Paul. And Karen, so glad you like the crackers!

Last night we had a childhood favorite combination: oven-baked french fries (from real potatoes) with an iceberg lettuce salad drizzled with white wine vinegar, neutral oil, and salt. When I was a kid of 9 or 10 it was what I would order in the fancy dining room of the Ben Franklin hotel in the little Quaker town I grew up in when I'd go there for lunch with a friend. We could walk to it from my house. I thought I was so swank 'dining' in a real white-tablecloth restaurant without adult supervision. Why only salad and french fries, you ask? Because it was all, on my allowance, I could afford.

To this day, that combo still provides a bit of a thrill.

I'll bet the dried peel worked well in your dish, Paul. And Karen, so glad you like the crackers!

Last night we had a childhood favorite combination: oven-baked french fries (from real potatoes) with an iceberg lettuce salad drizzled with white wine vinegar, neutral oil, and salt. When I was a kid of 9 or 10 it was what I would order in the fancy dining room of the Ben Franklin hotel in the little Quaker town I grew up in when I'd go there for lunch with a friend. We could walk to it from my house. I thought I was so swank 'dining' in a real white-tablecloth restaurant without adult supervision. Why only salad and french fries, you ask? Because it was all, on my allowance, I could afford. To this day, that combo still provides a bit of a thrill.

I love oven-baked potato wedges shaken with a bit of oil, salt, and oregano, then baked on a sheet (350F ~45 min.) until browned and crisp.

I'll bet the dried peel worked well in your dish, Paul.

It certainly did. The fragrance filled the kitchen. I used about one square inch of dried tangerine peel. It added just the right touch of extra complexity. A little goes a long way.

-Paul W.

Don't really know yet but ruminating about using some terrific finds at the local Middle Eastern market today. They had just returned from Chicago where they source offerings and they always have something different. Today their frozen food cases had miniature okra. Fully formed vegetable that was no bigger than a thumb nail. Have never seen okra that small. The Kurdish shop owner said that he uses them to stuff lamb patties that are then fried/baked and served in a tomato based sauce. They also had frozen artichoke bottoms and frozen small fava beans. I've had the favas before, terrific. They come from Egypt and are quite like fresh as I think our frozen baby peas are the closest thing to fresh and often much better. Thinking Tournedos Rossini type dish with the artichoke bottoms. Will have to assess the consistency when thawed. I like the idea of a layered something. Just thrilling to shop there and think about using the ingredients

Very sweet story Jenise about dining at the Franklin Hotel when you were 9 or 10. Interesting and unusual to me on many levels. You were allowed to do that without parental interference. You used your own money. You knew it was special. You thoroughly enjoyed it then and even now causes a frisson of delight. You clearly caught the food and dining bug early. Thanks for the story.

Tonight was pan-seared salmon cooked using the cold skillet and salt method. Easy and good.

[Jenise]

Very sweet story Jenise about dining at the Franklin Hotel when you were 9 or 10. Interesting and unusual to me on many levels. You were allowed to do that without parental interference. You used your own money. You knew it was special. You thoroughly enjoyed it then and even now causes a frisson of delight. You clearly caught the food and dining bug early. Thanks for the story.

I was a free range child, and we lived in a safe town. As long as I was home before dark or dinner time, whichever came first, I roamed all over. I didn't get parental permission because it didn't occur to me that I wasn't free to do be that independent, and I was such a goody-two-shoes that it never occurred to anyone to fence me in. Along the same lines, one day--again, age 9--I went into town, went to several banks and chose one to open a savings account into which to put the first five dollar bill I'd ever seen. A Social Security number--I didn't even know what that was when I left home that morning--was required so I walked to the SS office, filled out the app and was issued one on the spot. I came home that afternoon with my new paperwork and a bag full of plastic coin purses and piggy banks for my brothers and sister. I was born self-reliant.

But hey, those okra! That sounds like an amazing ingredient. I have seen frozen favas in Japanese stores (or at least, an Asian store in a neighborhood that skewed Japanese), but the ones I bought had a bluish hue to them--afraid of the dye, I tossed them. The texture wasn't great either. I'd kill for something more realistic, though.

I’ve just enjoyed nibbling my way through a boiled artichoke with melted butter. Haven’t had one in years as I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere local. This was the first one from a plant put in 3 years ago!

Wow Barb, that is amazing. What a joy to have been eating that artichoke. Sometimes, in our ugly hot summer months, and when I did not want to be near the kitchen, I would bake a potato, and boil an artichoke. We both loved that for dinner. Thankfully, we have a dedicated, small a/c unit for the kitchen and laundry room. I use it mainly when cooking in summer months.

Artichokes are readily available here and will grow in our valley with the right conditions. Many home gardeners grown them in pots here, not sure why.

I am finishing up my tri tip roast, which lasted me all week. I made a soup, had tacos, ate as is. Yesterday, I finally shredded the last of the roast, sautéed the other half of the green and red bell peppers, added more onion and a touch of soy sauce into the veggies. Served on a sourdough sandwich roll. Used the resulting juices to dip the sandwich. OMG, it was heaven. Having another sandwich tonight, along with steamed broccoli. I love broccoli with mustard! But it has to be Sierra Nevada's Spicy Brown Mustard.

Tonight's dinner was inspired by my dear neighbor next door who has been taking curbside the two very heavy yard waste wheelers filled with wet leaves, twigs branches for the past few months for me. Also, the garbage and recycle. The storms have continued and the yard cans continue to be too heavy for me to manage. So I am making a big dish of Enchilada Pie, a family recipe we all loved. Mexican Salad will go with, and it has, black beans, grilled corn removed from the cob, tomatoes, cucumber, Jicama, bell peppers, and more. I made a Bearrs Lime Vinaigrette with honey, cumin, garlic, Sunflower Oil, for the salad. He will pick up his share tonight to share with a friend he is housing. Neither of them cook, but like to eat healthy, and my neighbor cannot tolerate onions, so I am using a leek in the enchilada pie, which he said he can eat. Also, giving them sourdough garlic bread. What is left for me will last a few days as it is a big dish.

[Jenise]

We had a clean-out type of dinner last night, the focus of which was to use a fioretti (sometimes called confetti) cauliflower that I bought last week at a Canadian Asian market and pair it with something from the freezer. A package of Cumberland style British sausages purchased in Vancouver were elected to go with that. Nice oven meal. Both went into a 400 F oven at the same time in quarter sheet pans, the sausages punctured a few times with a toothpick and the cauliflower tossed with a little olive oil. At 20 minutes I removed the cauliflower and tossed it with parmesan cheese. The sausage cooked for another 20 minutes and the cauliflower went back in for the last five minutes of that. The sausages came out browned and crispy. I'll never cook link-type sausage in a skillet again. Had a cucumber salad on the side and opened a good Zinfandel.

Funny, I was just admiring a recipe for shallots, apples, and sausages tossed with herbs and roasted on a sheet pan till everything is brown and crisp. I'll swap the shallots for fennel when I get around to this one.

Tonight I am roasting chickens over a big pan of chopped veggies. The chickens are dry-rubbed and air-drying in the fridge now. The veg mix is fennel, carrot, shroom, and baby corns, the whole tossed with olive oil, sage, rosemary, thyme, s+p.

[Jenise]

The chicken sounds great, Jeff. I am heading to the shops now to replenish various essentials--eggs, cream, bread, and so forth. Might need to bring a chicken home.

[Jenise]

For tonight, I'm leaning toward moussaka, which I've only made maybe 2-3 times before in my life and none recently even though it's something I like a lot. It's time.

So, the baby favas met their mate with Sfoglini Rye Trumpets https://www.sfoglini.com/products/rye-blend-trumpets in a sauce made with shallots, guanciale with amped up porchetta seasonings- rosemary, fennel, oregano, thyme, garlic. Deglazed with a bit of Dolin white vermouth and finished off with lots of black pepper and Pecorino. The baby favas nestled into the trumpets like a mamma with her baby.
I am really liking the Sfoglini pastas and almost always now scoop the pasta into the sauce pan and finish cooking in the sauce. The residual starch makes a luxurious sauce without extra cream or butter. The rye trumpets are a good foil with pork sauces, smoked or not, cabbages - Savoy, red or green. Very versatile.
Regarding the favas, they were overwhelmed by the porchetta flavors. I love the straightforward flavor of fava, onion, a bit of garlic and parsley in a brothy sauce. Were I to do it again would add more fava and reduce the guanciale/porchetta

Regarding Sfoglini pastas, I would not recommend the hemp varieties. Perhaps they have changed the formulation but when I tried them a while back I found them thoroughly unpleasant in taste and texture. The Cascatelli and Trumpets on the other hand are excellent.

I'm also in the cascatelli fan club and just bought some porcini trumpets! (And I'd also heard that the hemp ones were awful.)

I'm also eager to try the rye.

Sfoglini is working with someone else, Banza, to make chickpea pasta. They are a top-shelf brand so should be good... and gluten-free.

Made a pot of Mexican hot chocolate (just like I did about a year ago). Rich and thick and (not too) spicy.

But I did look away for a couple minutes and it boiled over. Still plenty to drink but what a mess.

Last night I made a Chinese/Thai chicken, shiitake and bean thread noodles in a spiced broth. The shiitakes are dried and reconstituted in boiling water before being sliced. I filtered the soaking liquid and added it to the chicken stock for added flavor. The stock is seasoned with ginger, black peppercorns, star anise, and cinnamon, simmered for 20 minutes. Then the shiitakes are added along with some fish sauce and soy sauce. The bean thread noodles are soaked until soft and then added to the soup. The recipe calls for poached boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut crosswise in slices, which is added to the soup just before serving. The whole thing is topped with a garnish of scallion greens cut into thin rounds and a bit of Sichuan pepper/salt. Instead of poaching chicken breasts I used meat (and skin) from one of those wonderful Costco rotisserie chickens.

-Paul W.

Breakfast this morning is my usual V8 Tomato juice, low sodium, with 2 small lemon ice cubes, and today I put in a Truffle infused hot sauce. A glass fruit bowl with layers of raspberries, blueberries, mandarin orange segments, and sliced banana. Each layer, sprinkled with Vietnamese Cinnamon, and lemon flavored Greek Yogurt. Finished off with a drizzle of Raspberry, Pear Vinegar...so yummy! I love the fruity vinegars with fresh fruit.

[Jenise]

Somehow this morning I started remembering a calendar/diary type thing I received long long ago from Virginia Slims--yes, I was once a smoker--that had recipes from famous high-end restaurants complete with tantalizing glossy photos interspersed between the business stuff. I have no idea where the book went, but to this day I have not forgotten two things I made in that book and loved. One, a steak was marinated overnight in canned peach nectar before grilling. Another was a stir-fry involving sliced steak, tomatoes, and curry powder.

I happen to have some heirloom type tomatoes on hand--they're colorful but not even close to ripe, which should actually make them perfect for a stir-fry, so tonight I'm going to do a curry-flavored stir fry involving tomatoes, green bell peppers and onion (over rice).

I've been freezing the bones from dishes such as red-cooked chicken, and raw chicken wing tips, for use in making stock. Yesterday these went in the stock pot along with the bones and wings from the Costco rotisserie chicken, some scallions, a celery stalk, and some fresh ginger. The stock is now in the fridge and will be poured into ice cube trays and frozen. I find this a convenient way to deal with recipes that call for small amounts of stock.

Half of the meat from the Costco chicken went into the chicken and bean thread noodles recipe. I'll probably turn the other half into strange-flavored chicken.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jeff, terrible thing to happen. Big mess, but at least the house smells good.

No idea what I'm cooking tonight.

Made a pot of Mexican hot chocolate (just like I did about a year ago). Rich and thick and (not too) spicy.

But I did look away for a couple minutes and it boiled over. Still plenty to drink but what a mess.

It's happened to me, too. And more than once with oatmeal. I have some luck with laying a chopstick across the pot to help prevent boil-overs.