What's Cooking (Take Three!)

For lunch I have been craving Asian flavors and hot soup. I did not have all the ingredients for Tom Yum Soup but I do for Beef Pho. So, today it will be made. Onions, beef and chicken stocks, fish sauce, fresh ginger, cinnamon stick, sugar, star anise, garlic, rice noodles, very thinly sliced beef, fresh cilantro. Optional garnish, lime wedges, Hoisin sauce and or Sriracha. House should smell great...we are expecting rain and snow mix, so a nice day to make soup.

Good for you, Paul. I wonder in a contest between you and Larry, who'd have the highest heat tolerance?

Dinner tonight: corned beef with warm potato salad and stir-fried cabbage.

That sounds delicious Jenise. Did you use a vinegar based dressing for your potato salad? I just picked up a 5 lb. flat cut brisket yesterday, and have my St Patty's Day menu planned.

[Jenise]

Speaking of hot sauce, Larry, a guy right here in Bellingham is making the best green hot sauce I've ever had. I can't get enough of it!

[Jenise]

That sounds delicious Jenise. Did you use a vinegar based dressing for your potato salad? I just picked up a 5 lb. flat cut brisket yesterday, and have my St Patty's Day menu planned.

Yes. Mustard+white wine+red wine vinegar+tarragon+S&P+bit of sugar+garlic, very generously poured over warm red potatoes (broken by hand, not sliced) and melted leeks. Served warm. Also, I wilted the cabbage in white wine vinegar, EVOO, salt and sugar. Both great for corned beef, but the corned beef itself was a disappointment. Simmered for four hours and it never got tender. Lean end of the brisket, but that's no excuse--it just had zero fat. Very strange.

For lunch I have been craving Asian flavors and hot soup. I did not have all the ingredients for Tom Yum Soup but I do for Beef Pho. So, today it will be made. Onions, beef and chicken stocks, fish sauce, fresh ginger, cinnamon stick, sugar, star anise, garlic, rice noodles, very thinly sliced beef, fresh cilantro. Optional garnish, lime wedges, Hoisin sauce and or Sriracha. House should smell great...we are expecting rain and snow mix, so a nice day to make soup.

Yum. My fave.

[Jenise]

We resorted to frozen mahi mahi last night. Rubbed it with garlic and oyster sauce before grilling and served it on top of miso rice fried with scallions and purple napa cabbage.

[Jenise]

Today I start work on Pork Rillettes. Lots of recipes out there but I want to produce a more sensual texture and I won't put a thick fat layer on top. Have ideas....

Today I start work on Pork Rillettes. Lots of recipes out there but I want to produce a more sensual texture and I won't put a thick fat layer on top. Have ideas....

I would be really interested to know the outcome of your endeavour. I quite like rillettes but the texture often leaves me unimpressed. Please report back, you always come up trumps!

[Jenise]

I hear you, Barb. I have only made them (it?) once before and it's been a long while. So long that since I last did them, where I hiked all over the planet last time for clean fat, this time I could just buy pork belly at Costco.

Have had them prepared by others numerous other times, with mixed impressions on texture. I'm doing it now because a wine lunch group is doing Loire Valley as a theme, and pork rillettes are specifically a Loire specialty. I don't have a recipe I'm attached to, so went to the internet for ideas.

I specifically wanted to cut back on the fat if possible, perhaps by introducing a vegetable component like carrots, leeks or rutabegas (swedes). Now almost every time I have one of these bright ideas, no matter how honestly I came by the thought, the internet generally informs me that someone else already thought of it but no, not this time. So I read/copied five all-porkers from solid sources, of which no two were even close to alike. Seasoning is all over the place. Cooking times vary from 2 hours to 6. Even the venerable Martha Stewart merely passed on Anthony Bourdain's recipe.

I chose one that calls for marinating pork and pork belly overnight with brandy, allspice, juniper berries and lots of garlic. That sounded like a good idea. Got that started yesterday, and today I'll do the rendering. At some point I'll make the decision to introduce sliced shitake mushrooms. Their strong flavor is a bonus but the real attraction for me is their sillky, sexy texture and interesting color variation. Also, I like that they're flat vs. round, which will be a better fit--literally!--with shredded pork. I'm imagining a fairly high ratio of mushrooms to pork. And at the very least my rillettes won't have that ugly white fat layer on top, there will be a top layer of mushrooms, possibly set in aspic. (Each serving will be it's own small ramekin.) I bought three pounds of fresh, organic, locally grown shitakes so I'll have plenty to play with.

And that's all I know at this moment. Oh, and each portion will have a side 'salad' of lightly marinated fresh asparagus.

I found a package of three bone-in Rib Eye Pork chops in my freezer yesterday, and I recall picking them up a coupe of weeks ago but not looking closely to see how big they are, same size as a rib eye steak and thick...where was my brain! Anyway, doing a family favorite cause I love the flavors. Pork is seasoned up with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.
Chops are topped with thick slices of onion, today it will be red onion. Also, thick slices of a bell pepper that is a red, green combo and very pretty. Farro will be placed all around the chops, and a mix of dried oregano, a New Zealand white I love for the Farro and
mixed in with tomato sauce. Baked in the oven until done, uncovered the last 30 minutes to brown up a bit. Love the flavors in this dish.
Asparagus will be grilled on a grill pan, and marinated in a fresh orange juice, fresh garlic oil, a herby vinaigrette, served at room temp.

When I went shopping yesterday, buying another bottle of Tabasco (traditional flavor) was on the list as I was about to run out and needed it for jambalaya. On the shelf was a product I've never seen before--TRUFF Hot Sauce, which has black truffle in it. I bought a bottle of their "hotter" sauce. It has a strong aroma and flavor of truffles, habanero nuances, and a pretty good kick. We'll see if this can improve that chicken sauce not-so-piquant.

-Paul W.

I chose one that calls for marinating pork and pork belly overnight with brandy, allspice, juniper berries and lots of garlic. That sounded like a good idea.

Definitely.

I'm imagining a fairly high ratio of mushrooms to pork.

So, is it more a mushroom pate with a bit of pork in it?

And at the very least my rillettes won't have that ugly white fat layer on top...

You mean, the yummy layer of pure, beautiful fat?

[Jenise]

So, is it more a mushroom pate with a bit of pork in it? ....

You mean, the yummy layer of pure, beautiful fat?

No, lots of pork but enough mushrooms to get some in every bite.

Yes, the one that in some pictures looks like a heavy coating of mayonnaise, THAT one. My cardiologist would have kittens if he thought I ate that.

When I went shopping yesterday, buying another bottle of Tabasco (traditional flavor) was on the list as I was about to run out and needed it for jambalaya. On the shelf was a product I've never seen before--TRUFF Hot Sauce, which has black truffle in it. I bought a bottle of their "hotter" sauce. It has a strong aroma and flavor of truffles, habanero nuances, and a pretty good kick. We'll see if this can improve that chicken sauce not-so-piquant.

-Paul W.

My daughter in law brought me a small jar of that last month, I love it. great in my morning tomato juice and in tomato and rice soup, so far.

[Jenise]

Tonight we're having another couple over for chicken enchilada pie. In a week moment I bought a Costco chicken last Sunday, and this is what became of the leftovers. They love this kind of food and have been hinting that they haven't met our new cat yet.

I'm thinking of conjuring up some kind of spicy rice dish and a green chile drizzle for color, and will start with guacamole salad.

My cardiologist would have kittens if he thought I ate that.

Well, would save a trip to the shelter....

Pork chops tonight with purple sweet potatoes as one of the sides. Really weird eating something that looks like a beet inside, but tastes like a sweet potato.

[quote="Larry Greenly"]Pork chops tonight with purple sweet potatoes as one of the sides. Really weird eating something that looks like a beet inside, but tastes like a sweet potato. [/quote
I've never seen a purple sweet potato, something new?

I'm thinking of conjuring up some kind of spicy rice dish and a green chile drizzle for color, and will start with guacamole salad.

Speaking of rice dishes, have you had a chance to try out that dirty rice recipe yet?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Pork chops tonight with purple sweet potatoes as one of the sides. Really weird eating something that looks like a beet inside, but tastes like a sweet potato. [/quote
I've never seen a purple sweet potato, something new?

Variously called Okinawan or Japanese. Tried one--just once--didn't like the texture.

Pork chops tonight with purple sweet potatoes as one of the sides. Really weird eating something that looks like a beet inside, but tastes like a sweet potato. [/quote
I've never seen a purple sweet potato, something new?

Variously called Okinawan or Japanese. Tried one--just once--didn't like the texture.

Don't think so. I found no difference in texture. They are Organic Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes.

From LA Times 2012:

When the Stokes Purple sweet potato shows up in markets next week, it’s hard to say what will be more intriguing: its look, with dramatically deep purple skin and flesh, its flavor or the mystery of its origins.

It was discovered in the United States by Mike Sizemore, 61, who grew up on a farm in North Carolina, the nation’s largest sweet potato-producing state. He said in a phone interview, speaking in a delicious Southern drawl, that he worked for 30 years catching car thieves for the state government before retiring in 2003. He always wanted to farm and saw sweet potatoes as a replacement for tobacco, cultivation of which was declining in his area, Stokes County. One day in 2003 he won a prize for his sweet potatoes at a state fair, and an unidentified woman gave him some deep purple sweet potatoes of unknown origin.

Sizemore propagated them and found that he loved the variety, which keeps its deep color remarkably well when cooked. Stokes Purple has a rich, almost winy flavor but is denser and drier than regular sweet potatoes. The key is to bake it for longer than regular sweet potatoes, and at moderate heat, about 90 to 120 minutes at 350 degrees, at which point it becomes pleasingly moist.

Sizemore obtained a patent on his discovery and started marketing it commercially in 2006. He and contract growers for his Stokes Foods raised up to 80 acres of the variety and now have 30 acres. This year he licensed it to California’s largest sweet potato grower and distributor, A.V. Thomas Produce of Livingston. (Ninety percent of the state’s crop is grown nearby in the sandy soil of Merced County.) They planted 40 acres, harvested a good crop in September and are selling it exclusively through specialty produce distributor Frieda’s Inc. — appropriately, since that company’s signature color is purple.

The deep color of Stokes Purple derives from multiple anthocyanins, the pigments responsible for the red and purple hues of cherries, strawberries, purple carrots and many other fruits, vegetables and flowers. Medical researchers have found evidence that anthocyanins and related phenolic compounds may have beneficial health effects, scavenging free radicals that can cause cancer, protecting the liver and lowering blood pressure. Scientists debate just how beneficial such compounds are, but the growers and marketers of Stokes Purple are counting on the possible health benefits to boost demand.

Native to Colombia and southern Central America, sweet potatoes typically have brown, red-orange or white skin and orange or white flesh. Soon after Columbus, they were brought to Asia, and varieties with white skin and speckled pale purple, dry flesh developed on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Such kinds are widely grown in Hawaii; 12 million pounds a year, irradiated to kill insect pests, are exported to the United States mainland, where they are popular with Asians and Latinos.

Okinawan types are considerably drier and lighter in color than Stokes Purple and have a mealier texture when cooked. They don’t yield particularly well on the mainland. Scott Stoddard, a vegetable crops farm advisor with UC Cooperative Extension in Merced County, estimates that Okinawan is grown on less than 40 acres in his area.

So where did the Stokes Purple really come from? A decade ago, when Sizemore was awarded his prize at the state fair, there were already a number of purple-fleshed sweet potato selections available to enthusiasts on the East Coast, said Craig Yencho, a sweet potato breeder and geneticist at North Carolina State University. In the last three or four decades Japanese sweet potato breeders have come up with several deep purple varieties, which are widely grown for use in cooking, in nutraceutical products and to replace synthetic red and blue food dyes. It is possible that one of these Japanese varieties found its way to North Carolina and into Sizemore’s hands. Meanwhile, a company has asked Sizemore to grow large quantities of Stokes Purple for processing.

Deep purple sweet potatoes are tricky to breed, says Yencho, because the darker types tend to be bitter. He does have some purple-fleshed sweet potato test selections with improved disease resistance and yield in the pipeline, he says, so we may be seeing more deep purple sweet potatoes before long.

My favorite sweet potato is the Japanese sweet potato called Satsumaimo. They have a purple skin and white interior which turns sort of yellow when baked. They are the best tasting sweet potato I have tasted , but have a very short season. I watch for them a small market near our house which is the only market I know of that has them around here.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/satsuma ... %20cooking.

[Jenise]

Well, the purple ones I've had were yucky. Much drier and grainier. I only buy garnet SP's because they are the opposite of that.

Just finished making the Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stew Jenise suggested. This will be for lunches for the next few days. I tweaked, of course, used chicken stock instead of water, Aleppo pepper because I had it, fresh thyme, and when I zested the lemon, the juice was added to the soup. I love the Wild Wonder multi-color cherry tomatoes, and use them all winter long until the fresh are available at Farmer's Market. They never disappoint in a recipe. Oh, and I only had one can of Cannellini Beans, so added a can of Garbanzo. Soup is very flavorful, lunch will be good! Will serve over toasted sourdough bread baked with whole, roasted garlic cloves inside from a local bakery, topped with parsley and lemon zest.