What's Cooking (Take Four)

Tonight's dinner will be Cajun andouille and tasso jambalaya.

-Paul W.

Well,we’ve had an interesting week or so uearthquake last week (no damage ) hottest day this summer and wild thunderstorms yesterday left many of us without electricity or mobile phone service for 18 hours. Played havoc with my plans t o do several things to a duck, suddenly I had no idea of When I would have full cooking facilities, light and crucially water. Being dependent on tank water, no electricity equals no pump equals no water and I wasn’t going to risk portioning and preparing several poultry dishes without being able to adequately clean anything. So last night I had tomatoes on toast and the duck is now roasting with an Asian-ish glaze. I’ll add a dish of figs to roast with orange juice and black pepper. Whilst that all does its thing I’ll sort out salad/veg dish and ponder how I’m going to deal with leftover duck.
Hmm ……Rice paper rolls, fried rice, a stir fry….

[Jenise]

Sounds like you have some great plans for that duck, Barb. But wow, roasting a duck on the hottest day of the year--my dear, what were you thinking???

47 degrees outside with wicked cold winds from the north. I'm doing broiled racks of lamb and steamed veggies.


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I'll be having leftovers from the jambalaya tonight, but I'm having baby bok choy, sliced in half lengthwise and stir-fired with oyster sauce and a touch of black vinegar.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Speaking of black vinegar, a side dish that I ordered in a Szechuan restaurant recently of 'cabbage in vinegar' turned out to be stir fried napa cabbage in black vinegar. A delicious treatment, but it wasn't pretty!

That reminds me of Paul Prudhomme's description of traditional Cajun jambalaya and dirty rice: "tastes great, but looks like hell."

-Paul W.

Last night I wanted to use up the rest of a package of baby multi-colored potatoes, so I roasted them in the oven along with sundried tomatoes. I tossed them with black vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, and a dark soy sauce. They were awesome. Sometimes a pretty color is not possible, but the great flavor is.

... Szechuan restaurant recently of 'cabbage in vinegar' ...

Some of the Szechuan dish names in English really do not inspire. You have to know what you're ordering. Or ask others!

[Jenise]

I was happy with the dish, actually. Curiosity made me order it: I love cabbage, love anything sour, and just had to find out what it was. It was definitely more basic than I expected, but still: instructional.

Tonight I'm making cabbage rolls. I have a surplus of cabbage, had some ham I'd bought for sandwiches that really needed to get used, and had a pound of ground pork in the freezer. Basically the foundation for Hungarian cabbage rolls like my dad's wife used to make. Haven't made any in a long time, and though I'll leave out the requisite kielbasa, I'm excited. Maybe I'll sub in some Chinese sausage. Hmmmm...

Wow, you reminded me that I have not made cabbage rolls in a very long time. When I make them, I do a lot because I often want a roll for breakfast. I love the sauerkraut and a drizzle of vinegar over at serving. I usually do Rancho Gordos Pineapple vinegar.
This is going to be on my list for next week. I scored a very lean, organic hamburger a few weeks ago and am anxious to try it. I never used sausage, and have never acquired a taste for sausage even though we have an Italian fellow here in town who puts out some of the best sausages I have ever had. He grows his herbs in his shop area and uses locally grown chickens, turkeys, etc. for the meat. He comes to the Farmer's market each Saturday and is busy cooking his sausages to give out as samples to the people who attend.

[Jenise]

Karen, I've always used pork. Betty was Hungarian, and to Hungarians pork is THE meat. Her filling was half pork and half ham ground blended with cooked rice. The texture of her rolls was very fine, which I loved, due to the pork being ground twice. When she was alive the grocery store butcher would do all the grinding for her--doesn't happen now, of course. I just run the meats through a food processor to get that fine texture. Another Betty-anomaly was the use of Campbells Tomato soup instead of tomatoes, plus a lot of Kielbasa and garlic for seasoning the broth. Yesterday I didn't have sauerkraut so added some vinegar for the tang, but I did have the tomato soup which is odd since I only use it two ways--in cabbage rolls and as the base for Aunt Thelma's salad dressing, neither of which I do often--like once a year for either at best. One thing I never do is make soup with it! I've actually never made cabbage rolls with beef, though I realize that's more common. I just so love Betty's version that I don't pivot.

And I agree--they're great for breakfast!

My menu this week is Vietnamese-inspired and I wanted lamb chops. These are coated with fresh garlic, garlic powder, chile powder, black pepper, fresh lime, soy sauce, and olive oil, and recipe calls for sugar, but I used hot honey as a substitute. They are roasted and then served with cilantro and lime wedges. With these are smashed potatoes with a Thai-style chile and herb sauce. Yukon Gold potatoes, fish sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar, serrano chile, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, garlic. Green onions and cilantro will be sprinkled on top.
Veggies will be baby bok choy, zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, and a bit of Chile Crisp tossed into the mix. I do not like too much sauce on veggies so will add just a little sauce at the finish of a quick stir fry.

Jenise, my cabbage roll recipe was given to me by a good friend who was of German heritage. I remember asking about the hamburger and she said having to feed their six kids and usually a few friends it was the cheapest choice. I did use ground chicken once and did not like that at all. I can see that the sausage would give it a more complex flavor and I have times when I thought the filling was rather bland. I started adding sauerkraut juice to the meat and that worked. I think next week I am going to add one of my new Hosa hot sauces!

Some Sichuan dish names are downright misleading. One of the province's most famous dishes is shuizhu niurou, which means "boiled beef". A lot of outsiders (Chinese as well as foreigners), wary of the high heat level reputation of Sichuan cuisine, order it thinking it will be a mild accompaniment to some of the hotter dishes. It isn't. It's one of the most incendiary dishes in the whole Sichuan repertoire--loaded with chile flakes, hot fermented chile and bean sauce (doubanjiang), and Sichuan peppercorns.

Others are very difficult to translate, like youxiang, which has been variously translated as "fish-flavored" or "with fish flavor" which is completely misleading because no fish or seafood or sauce made from same is involved. It's not clear just where the name comes from. Some say that it is because a similar sauce is commonly used for fish, others that the smell of the dish evokes memories of crucian carp. Fuchsia Dunlop translates it as "fish-fragrant".

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jenise, my cabbage roll recipe was given to me by a good friend who was of German heritage. I remember asking about the hamburger and she said having to feed their six kids and usually a few friends it was the cheapest choice. I did use ground chicken once and did not like that at all. I can see that the sausage would give it a more complex flavor and I have times when I thought the filling was rather bland. I started adding sauerkraut juice to the meat and that worked. I think next week I am going to add one of my new Hosa hot sauces!

Beef would be delicious and in many areas it would be the traditional preference; I would guess most recipes call for it. Just not in Hungary. Just to be clear, in Betty's version the sausage doesn't go in the filling. It just floats around providing flavor and extra texture when you go for a bite of it. I absolutely love it, but it's not on my diet right now.

[Jenise]

Didn't cook at home last night but went out for a fried chicken dinner. The thread here has had me craving KFC. But instead of KFC, we went to a local restaurant called Bantam. Upscale casual in a southern style with cocktails and table service, all they do is chicken, both fried (all boneless!!!) and rotisserie half or whole. You can get large plates for big eaters or sharing, also smaller more personal portions. Variations include sauces like herb-butter and pineapple-habanero. We ordered a kale salad with pecans, blue cheese and an orange-tarragon dressing and shared the fried chicken plate that had one breast and two thighs. It came with a vinaigrette-based slaw (thank god) and one of the best biscuits I've ever eaten. The choice of sides to go with those includes Mac n Cheese, red beans and rice, grits, and mixed roasted vegetables. Hush puppies etc are available as starters. A very smart menu in a snazzy setting and we really, really enjoyed it.

Sounds good. For my fried chicken fix, I have recently switched to the diner near my office: chicken and waffles comes with a crisp waffle and four(!) pieces of chicken on it (a cut-up half). The whole plate is crispy.

Jenise, is that called The Bantam Kitchen? We have one here is Redding, the reviews are awesome and it is very busy. It is in the southern style and here is a link to see if it is anything like what you saw up there.
https://thebantamkitchen.com/redding-th ... -food-menu

[Jenise]

Karen, no, unrelated. I wonder if one got the idea from the other, though!

Here's ours: https://bantamkitchen.com/

Harvesting tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, onions from the garden currently so did a quick Google and came up with a Greek dish with all of the above. Just needed olive oil, garlic and some seasoning and there it was,, dinner, delicious! Oh and a bit of bread.

[Jenise]

Barbara, you're making us all jealous. The only thing that happened in my garden in the last month is my rosemary plant died. We covered it up to protect it from a brief phase of extreme cold and frost and uncovered it two weeks later: total brown. GONE.

Jenise, I have an Athens Blue rosemary in my garden. It has survived snow, frost, and wind several times. I never cover it. Mine has tiny leaves (no chopping) and new growth is on a weeping white stem. The plant is upright, and I have had it for many years.

[Jenise]

Jenise, I have an Athens Blue rosemary in my garden. It has survived snow, frost, and wind several times. I never cover it. Mine has tiny leaves (no chopping) and new growth is on a weeping white stem. The plant is upright, and I have had it for many years.

This same plant survived an even longer, colder frost two years ago. Why now, I have no idea. But this is a repeat pattern: I plant one, it grows, does well for 4-5 years, then dies one winter. I plant another, same thing happens. I've had to replace my rosemary probably five times now. I can't figure it out. I don't know the variety, but I buy an upright growing type not a low ground cover type.

Maybe it's not the cultivar; maybe there is mold or fungus or phylloxera or something like that?