What's cooking?

Halupki......stuffed cabbage rolls. They were all topped with sauerkraut from Pleasant Valley Farms. Great dish, I could eat them for breakfast but wanted the leftovers for tonights dinner. Last night I served them with creamed spinach, because I had two bunches of lovely garden spinach I needed to use. Tonight it will be a toss-up between acorn squash, Brussels sprouts or another go at the marinated tomatoes on arugula.

[Robin Garr]

I'm making pimento cheese with a Mexican accent to take to a pre-Christmas buffet. To the traditional pimento cheese ingredients (local Kentucky cheddar, of course ) I added chopped green chiles, a bit o' cumin, a dash o' Penzey's Chili 3000 mix, and a teensy bit of very finely chopped chipotle en adobo with their sauce, tasting as I went to achieve a bright but not absolutely wine-killing heat level. We'll serve it with tortilla chips.

Last night was a basic meat loaf with Asiago mashed potatoes. Perfect stuff for a wet, blustery evening.

The night before, I was looking to make clam chowder. I noticed that we had some "Basque chorizo" in the fridge that my wife had picked up earlier, so I threw that in. This turned it into more of a chorizo chowder than a clam chowder as the sausage flavors pushed the clams into a supporting role. Still, it was a very hearty and delicious soup.

Chicken jambalaya will be tonight's dinner.

-Paul W.

Rib eye steaks, with a rub...grilled. Various mushrooms, onion, and garlic, sautéed in evoo, with rosemary, parsley, then a hit of truffle butter at the end Simple baked potatoes, arugula, radicchio, red leaf salad with green onions, plum tomatoes, sweet basil, parsley, and fresh thyme. I have new vinegars that I am trying. So far, they are all excellent. I'm keeping a basil plant alive in my kitchen window. I move it around the house when and if the sun breaks through the clouds.

[Jenise]

Their demonstrations invariably raise business in those shops by 20%.

That made me laugh out loud! But of course the insanity continues because a key ingredient of fanaticism is to not recognize failure.

Thanks for the explanation. I hope to visit Israel some day--you will show me around, won't you?

[Jenise]

The night before, I was looking to make clam chowder. I noticed that we had some "Basque chorizo" in the fridge that my wife had picked up earlier, so I threw that in. This turned it into more of a chorizo chowder than a clam chowder as the sausage flavors pushed the clams into a supporting role. Still, it was a very hearty and delicious soup.

Probably reminiscent of the classic Portugese dish of pork & clams, and quite delicious.

[Robin Garr]

Last night we did a riff on a Madhur Jaffrey recipe from Northern India and ended up with a really aromatic dish: Cauliflower and green peppers sauteed with onions, garlic and ginger and red-pepper flakes. No garam masala, no curry, just a touch of cumin, but wooeee, was it good. The secret lies in ample garlic and fresh ginger, yumm-O.

[Jenise]

Robin, are you watching Rachel Ray again? You had me until you said "yumm-o".

Tonight I'm doing a green salad with shaved raw chiogga beets and a lemon-walnut vinaigrette followed by steamed white asparagus and seared scallops topped with a chunky fresh shallot/herb/raw meyer lemon (including the peel) relish.

Tonight was chicken marinated with soy sauce and hoisin sauce, stir-fried with snow peas. Delicious.

-Paul W.

[Robin Garr]

Robin, are you watching Rachel Ray again? You had me until you said "yumm-o".

Ironic use, meant as parody.

Arrabbiata sauce over stuffed shells

Yield: 8 to 10 servings
12 ounces (1 box) jumbo pasta shells (approximately 36 shells)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for greasing baking sheet
6 ounces thinly sliced pancetta, diced
2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups marinara sauce
2 (15-ounce) containers whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/3 cups grated Parmesan
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
3 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
Lightly oil a 12 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish and set aside. Lightly oil the baking sheet and set aside.

Partially cook the pasta shells in a large pot of boiling salted water until slightly tender but still quite firm to the bite, about 4 to 6 minutes. You will continue cooking the shells in the oven after they have been stuffed. Using a slotted spoon, drain pasta shells and place on oiled baking sheet, spreading them out so that they don't stick together and allow to cool.

Heat the oil in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes. Add the garlic and sauté until tender, about 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer, stirring often.

In a medium bowl, stir the ricotta, Parmesan, egg yolks, basil, parsley, mint, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spoon 1 1/4 cups of the sauce over the prepared baking dish. Fill the cooked shells with the cheese mixture, about 2 tablespoons per shell. Arrange the shells in the prepared dish. Spoon the remaining sauce over the shells, then sprinkle with the mozzarella.

Bake in the lower third of your oven until the filling is heated through and the top is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Plus acorn squash halves, topped with dark brown sugar, a little butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and baked.

Panettone bread pudding for tomorrow's dessert.

[Robin Garr]

Mary and I made donuts from an Alton Brown recipe this morning. They were amazing, better even than bakery donuts. We made just enough for two apiece. If we did this often we'd weigh 500 pounds.

I made the dough last night and we altered AB's recipe, a la Reinhart, to let it rise cold overnight in the fridge. It definitely enhanced the product, which had a beautiful texture and grain within a think, crispy exterior. Mary shaped them, using two rings - one for the exterior, one for the hole, and fried them in an inch of vegetable oil in a deep black iron skillet ("chicken fryer"). We didn't get fancy with the toppings either, just a little powdered sugar a la beignets.

Panettone bread pudding for tomorrow's dessert.

I made mine in a tube pan.

Believe it or don't, tonight we roasted ... a turkey thigh! Although we were at two different turkey dinners on Thursday, we were fairly moderate in our consumption at both, and I wasn't turkey'd out. Plus, I wanted leftovers. So I used my standard recipe - http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvis ... 1123.phtml - with a natural/humanely raised turkey (from Whole Foods), and am now loaded with tryptophans again and very happy.

So, somewhere there is a one legged turkey hopping around?

[Jenise]

Just salads here tonight. After the weekend's revelry, much needed!

Smoked turkey, chorizo and Swiss Chard soup. I took a smoked turkey for sandwiches and snacks for Christmas to our son's homes. Used the rest of the meat for making soup. Verry yummy with the addition of hatch chiles, smoked paprika, etc.

Tonight we had pasta in fresh tomato sauce (tomatoes from Mexico!) with the just about the last of our indoor basil plant; along with homemade Italian sausage patties, and a nice salad. Washed it down with Knapp's Reserve Pasta Red.

Venison Bolognese sauce and pasta. The deer was butchered last week.

Drew

An organic chicken spread thick with a new bbq sauce sourced from Nine Springs Ranch in McArthur, CA. I'm oven roasting it until nice and caramelized. Jasmine Rice with leeks, shallots and two types of mushrooms cooked in my new rice cooker. Salad with winter greens, cranberries, oranges, and toasted walnuts, with a orange zest, orange juice, champagne vinegar and evoo dressing

Stuffed peppers topped with local produced and cured bacon and B. sprouts done in a frying pan with olive oil, butter, Herbes de P and lemon juice. Wine? The remainer of the Barolo from last evening and a glass of freshly opened Hawley Ponzo Vnyd Zin. Dessert ? later a mango smoothie.

We had kind of a 'reverse' pizza tonight. The base/sauce was an arugula pesto (w almonds and parmesan), then topped with sauteed red peppers and taleggio. 'Reverse' because it was red on top of green instead of the other way around. Not planned, but was also Christmas-ey in colors, bidding farewell to the season.

Regardless, quite tasty and matched well with a 2008 Beaune Chouacheux from Fanny Sabre.

[Jenise]

Rahsaan, that sounds delicious.

Been attending parties for the last three days, therefore not cooking for us at home but making appetizers to take to those events. The best one I made was toasted baguette slices topped with slices of foie gras and a sundried tomato "jam"--SDT's softened with just a bit of chicken broth and cooked down with sauteed shallots, garlic and herbs de Provence and a pinch of sugar. It's an idea I've had running around in my head forever as a savory alternative to the sweeter fruit stuff typically served with foie gras, and it was just as successful as I'd imagined it would be.