What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Made a pizza last night, a test-case version of the portugese sausage pizzas I'm making tomorrow night for the local yacht club. So glad I did, as I am going to need twice as much mushroom as I had imagined, and will layer the ingredients differently. Also decided on a different prep for the pickled onion topping.

Tonight we're not dining at home; it's our regular monthly wine tasting at someone else's home. I'll take a marinated green bean dish (they're vegan, but get this: they're serving oysters!)

Yes, crusty bread and, for diversion, a green salad.

Lots of good wine choices, of course.

[Jenise]

Yes, crusty bread and, for diversion, a green salad.

Lots of good wine choices, of course.

I have taken cooked potato slices and layered them with brie (rind cut off) and slices of prosciutto for a delicious side dish--got the idea in some restaurant, can't recall where. But I do recall they served it as a side dish with meat--my preference is for it to be the centerpiece of a main course with asparagus in a warm lemon butter. And of course, crusty bread and a crispy white.

[Jenise]

Pork chile verde tonight. Leftovers from last week, which I might serve on grits instead of rice just for a change-up.

[Jenise]

Tonight: sausage and cabbage cooked together for two hours to create a delicious sludge to smear on crusty bread. From a NYT recipe. Might add sage.

[Jenise]

Tonight: sausage and cabbage cooked together for two hours to create a delicious sludge to smear on crusty bread. From a NYT recipe. Might add sage.

OH. MY. GOD. To die for.

Doro wat tonight.

-Paul W.

Last night I had just returned from two days on the road, so it was a simple supper of roasted chicken, roasted red potatoes, and broccolini sauteed with garlic and a little balsamic.

Tonight's dinner will be Sichuan fish-fragrant chicken, Fuchia Dunlop's recipe.

-Paul W.

...fish-fragrant chicken...

That is some concept! Led me to some interesting googling.

[Jenise]

lunch today: Wasabi poke, garlic shrimp, marinated pepper strips. Dinner will be panseared monchong, a Hawaiian fish, with stir fried ramen noodles and chayote stems.

...fish-fragrant chicken...

That is some concept! Led me to some interesting googling.

"Fish-fragrant" is the direct translation of "yu xiang". It refers to a set of seasonings (pickled chile paste, garlic, ginger, black vinegar) and ingredients (wood ear mushrooms and a crunchy vegetable (traditionally lettuce stems; celery or bamboo shoots can be substituted) that are commonly cooked with fish. Yu xiang ji si often appears as "chicken with fish flavor" on Chinese restaurant menus.

I used Lan Chi Chili Paste with Garlic as the pickled chile paste.

-Paul W.

Catching up on last weekend, when it was cold and rainy and I wanted something substantial. I ended up making a traditional beef and veal ragu that went over pappardelle. The recipe was from Bon Appetit via Epicurious, but it was a dead ringer for a Lynn Rosetto Kasper ragu I've made in the past. It really hit the spot and was just as good as a leftover last night.

There was leftover ground veal and ground beef from the ragu, so that made for tasty burgers a couple of nights ago.

The lady who cleans our house makes a little extra money on the side now and then by making and selling tamales. We just picked up a dozen pork and a dozen chili cheese. They're exceptional (quite a bit better than those from the woman who comes by on her bicycle and sells door to door) and they've been dinner a couple of other days this week.

[Jenise]

I'm jealous of those tamales, Mike. Lucky you to have a good source, and so close! No cooking for us tonight, just airline food.

We found some (frozen) Alaskan king crab in the market so bought a half.
Picked the meat, made a sauce by cooking up the shells with onion, garlic, tomato and reducing added butter and tossed through homemade tagliatelle and garnished with red pepper flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.

I'm jealous of those tamales, Mike. Lucky you to have a good source, and so close! No cooking for us tonight, just airline food.

Unfortunately, she only makes them a couple of times a year. (Which is probably better for me in the long run!)

We found some (frozen) Alaskan king crab in the market so bought a half.
Picked the meat, made a sauce by cooking up the shells with onion, garlic, tomato and reducing added butter and tossed through homemade tagliatelle and garnished with red pepper flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.

That sounds really good!

There is a Thomas Keller dish I have made several times -- you cube up a large butternut squash and fry with shallots and sage, and then you prep a batch of shiitake mushrooms and saute with thyme. Combine and serve (in the Bouchon cookbook, you are supposed to make Parisian gnocchi which are VERY different from Italian gnocchi and a big pain in the butt).

I decided that the delicious flavors of that dish would make a wonderful soup, and I found a recipe online that corresponded rather closely to the flavors in the dish. I will puree the squash/sage, and make thin slices of the shiitake so there is something to chew in the soup.

This is for our joint Thanksgiving with the Riley family who used to live very close by but now are down 50 miles away near Cherry Hill. We have had several Thanksgivings with them, partly because our son Tom was a swimming buddy with their son Gavin, and now both of them are musicians and still friends. Because Tom lives in Philadelphia it's a shorter drive for him this time. The Rileys decided to have the meal on Saturday so we are cooking now -- Louise is making pies and I'm also roasting a Celeriac and some golden beets for an appetizer. Golden beets have such a surprisingly sweet and mild flavor that they are good roasted and sliced and topped with lingonberries or a little orange marmalade. I'll put goat cheese on the side -- we have non-dairy people as well as non-gluten people (girlfriends of Tom and Gavin) so we all have to take some care with the ingredients. Fortunately there is a good gluten-free flour from Bob's Red Mill which Louise will use for pie crust.

The rest of the meal will be traditional, turkey, cranberry sauce, whatever. I'm also supplying the wines, maybe a magnum of Champagne for the appetizers (8 people) and some Valpolicella Ripasso and Ribeira del Duero plus whatever else, a Burgundy?

I'm also supplying the wines, maybe a magnum of Champagne for the appetizers (8 people) and some Valpolicella Ripasso and Ribeira del Duero plus whatever else, a Burgundy?

In recent years I tend towards substantial whites and avoid reds altogether. Doesn't seem to suit the herb-laden dishes generally, even if you take dark meat turkey.

We had some friends over last night. One brought turkey gumbo, which was the main product of their Thanksgiving day leftovers. It was delicious. To go with, I made a salad with persimmons, butter lettuce, feta, and hazelnuts. Also made a frittata from one of Ottolenghi's books. It was made with cauliflower, smoked mozz, cheddar, and smoked paprika. For dessert, my wife whipped up an applesauce cake.

Meant to make the cinnamon ice cream to go with the cake, but it got lost in the shuffle.

[Jenise]

We found some (frozen) Alaskan king crab in the market so bought a half.
Picked the meat, made a sauce by cooking up the shells with onion, garlic, tomato and reducing added butter and tossed through homemade tagliatelle and garnished with red pepper flakes and a drizzle of olive oil.

That sounds heavenly. Pretty unusual to find Alaskan King crab down there I guess?

[Jenise]

Today's a cooking day. Brother comes for a 48 hour visit tonight so am making braised short ribs for tonight, which I'll finish with an onion-tomato broth, roasted carrots/parsnips/celery, and herb-parmesan popovers following a spicy salad of napa cabbage and shaved carrots in a creamy-berbere dressing. For tomorrow, I'll make a three-hour veal Bolognese sauce and have that ready to go for an Italian dinner.

I'm also supplying the wines, maybe a magnum of Champagne for the appetizers (8 people) and some Valpolicella Ripasso and Ribeira del Duero plus whatever else, a Burgundy?

In recent years I tend towards substantial whites and avoid reds altogether. Doesn't seem to suit the herb-laden dishes generally, even if you take dark meat turkey.

As it happened the host had been given a magnum of Elio Grasso Barolo at a retirement party and insisted on opening that. Some people wouldn't call Barolo "light" but I think it is, like many red Burgundies, and it went beautifully with everything. We had Champagne and white wine with the living room appetizers. We are "red wine people" and I think most of the guests were also. To each his own. We did open the Valpolicella after the magnum was consumed. Then Port with pie.

[Jenise]

Not sure what we're having tonight, but it will most likely involve leftover turkey. Maybe broth, roasted celery and noodles, too.