What's Cooking (Take Three!)

I'm a big Thai satay fan. Although satay is very popular in Thailand and in Thai restaurants, the dish is originally from Indonesia. I've long been aware of this but only recently came across two recipes for Indonesian satay. One is the prototype for Thai-style satay. The other, which I made last night, is very different.

Satay babi rica-rica (pork satay with chile, ginger, and lime) hails from Mandano, Northern Sulawesi. Rica-rica is a local chile-based sambal. Rica-rica is made from garlic, fresh ginger, shallots, fresh red bird's eye chiles, other, milder red chiles, and lime juice, ground into a paste and simmered for several minutes. The result resembles harissa. The recipe as published on Food52 cuts the heat level down to two bird's eye chiles, but the author says the original calls for 20. I went for the full-bore version.

The satay calls for pork loin cut into 3/4" (2 cm) cubes (as opposed to the strips in Thai satay), marinated in half the rica-rica along with salt and lime, then grilled. The result is flavorful, and hot but not blazingly so--a lot of the heat is cooked off. The author suggests serving it with rice and the remaining rica-rica. I passed on the additional rica-rica.

-Paul W.

Love the sound of that recipe Paul, love anything with fresh lime juice.

Last night it was spatchcocked chicken, rubbed all over with Rose Harissa, fresh lime, and additional spices, marinated for 24 hours, and roasted. It was delicious and one of the most moist chickens I have cooked. A Greek Salad side, of baby Yukon gold potatoes, with blanched green beans, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, mainly dill, and a red wine vinegar vinaigrette. I also roasted a few carrots brushed with the Harissa sauce. A very comforting and flavorful meal.

Last night I made the other Indonesian satay recipe: satay ayam (chicken satay). This one originates from Madura Island, off the coast of East Java. This is the version of satay with peanut sauce that has become a national dish of Indonesia. This is the parent dish on which Thai-style satay is based. It differs from the Thai version in several respects. The meat is cut into 3/4-inch cubes, not strips. There is neither coconut milk nor fish sauce nor curry paste in either the marinade or peanut sauce. Instead the marinade is garlic, salt, and kecap manis (sweet soy sauce; I used Chinese dark soy sauce with a pinch of brown sugar thrown in), and lime juice. The peanut sauce is made from unsweetened peanut butter (roasted peanuts pounded into a paste in a mortar and pestle is probably more authentic), salt, kecap manis, a couple of red bird's eye chiles, and lime juice.

As you would expect, the finished product is darker in color than the Thai version. The soy/garlic/lime flavor profile is different from the coconut slant of the Thai version. It's delicious and it's easy to see why it's become an Indonesian national dish as popular there as beef rendang.

-Paul W.

Lunch today included what is perhaps the best Brandywine tomato I have ever had. Served with a couple bruschetti with gorgonzola.

Dinner included roast chicken and twice-baked potatoes (mushroom and broccoli).

Dessert was apple pie, made with apples that grew about 30' from the oven. A good pie with good karma.

[Jenise]

Last summer my Brandywine plant delivered the most excellent tomatoes I've ever grown. I pick them slightly on the green side when they are firm and at peak acidity and sweetness; it's my experience that it's downhill from there as one goes (as most growers unfortunately do) for deeper red color. Loved them so much I boiught two Brandywines this year, but neither's producing a tomato that looks like Brandywines (they're just an large tomato of an average red color) so I dunno what I got.

My weirdest tomato this year is one called Jubilee. Was supposed to be orange, and prolific. Supposedly Tomato of the Year or something like that from Sunset magazine. Well, it's the most prolific tomato I've EVER grown, but the fruit is red, not orange and the shape is elongated. Not as long as a San Marzano but overall shape is similar. And unfortunately, they're pasty and the flavor's rather dull for serving raw. They'll be okay canned, but they miss the mark for salads.

Jenise, I bought a couple of Brandywines at Lull Farm recently. Tonight part of one of them is going into a BLT. I'm also looking forward to enjoying them with some balsamic vinegar and EVOO.

Regarding growing the plants, you should consider intentionally leaving a tomato or two on the vine to full maturity and then harvesting the seeds to plant for next year's crop. Brandywines are heirloom tomatoes and the whole point of an heirloom variety is that it breeds true.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I haven't grown from seed because our season starts so late. Better to get plants already started in a greenhouse that arrive ready to plant. But considering the fact that this year almost no plant I bought except the one Early Girl appears to be the plant I expected it to be, I may have to consider this.

[Jenise]

Oh gosh, a neighbor just showed up with more crab. Don't know how many are in the bag, maybe 4. I'm having gout issues right now and don't think I dare eat any more! (Besides, today as with all Mondays, we're vegetarians.) This friend shared that this season (since August 18th that is) they've set a new record on their boat: 556. Yes, you heard that right. 556 Dungeness crabs. Holy f--ing moly. I had no idea.

If only I could be right over...

[Jenise]

They'd be yours! But since you're not here, I'm going to drop them off at my brother's this morning.

We're going camping down on Camano Island today and dinner will be marinated strips of chicken breast, Asian flavors (sesame oil, soy sauce, chile oil, and a little sugar) grilled in a forest on my tiny Coleman stove wrapped in lettuce leaves with chile crisp. Yesterday there was no rain in the forecast, but today it's 50%--wish us luck, this meal really can't be converted to inside cookery.

Yesterday for lunch we had a take on the Italian pasta y fagioli (sp?) soup: a brothy thing with garbanzo beans, leeks, taglialini and asiago cheese. Paired with that was a salad of shaved zucchini, nectarines and flat leaf parsley doused with lemon juice, mild olive oil and a wee bit of salt. Soup was very good, but the salad (I had intended arugula and nectarines but my arugula was bad, this was the punt) was spectacular in bright flavor and textural contrast, and just perfect for the soup. I'll do this again. And again.

Dinner was a green salad with 2 hour baked potatoes. I got distracted before dinner and did not get the potatoes started when intended so I introduced a shortcut--after washing them and while still wet, I microwaved them for five minutes and put them into the oven (450F) hot. The result at 90 minutes was the best, crustiest skin ever. Good energy savings too; this will be how I do all baked potatoes going forward.

The BLT was made with North Country Smokehouse applewood-smoked bacon, Boston lettuce, Brandywine tomato, and Hellman's mayo. I'd forgotten just how good locally grown, vine-ripened tomatoes can be. Last year's drought wiped out Lull Farm's heirloom tomato crop.

-Paul W.

A friend does Baconfest each year (BLTs), used to be a competition with 6-7 quality bacons, after several years of North Country and Vanderose always ending up as top 2, he only does those.
It's been a great season for tomatoes (I'm not growing, just farmer's market and CSA). Caprese, BLTs, tomato sandwiches with furikake, lobster/tomato/corn. Monday needed a quick meal, did a NYT recipe- cut up 2# tomatoes (heritage yellow and red in our case), toss with grated garlic, teaspoon salt, pepper, basil. Do the panfry/steam thing with potstickers (I used Trader Joe's gyoza), Dumplings on tomato salad, toss with vinaigrette (3 T chil crisp, 2 T rice vinegar, 1 T soy sauce), top with more basil. Fun, maybe 30-35 minutes total (less if you used a pan big enough to do potstickers in one batch(

Jenise, another thought regarding your heirloom tomato woes. An heirloom tomato will produce seeds that breed true, but only if it's pollinated by the same heirloom variety. If, say, a Brandywine vine's flower is fertilized by non-Brandywine pollen, you will end up with a Brandywine tomato (the maternal genetics control the development of the fruit), but the seeds will be hybrid. So if you want an heirloom tomato plant to breed true, you must insure that it's only pollinated by that same variety. I'd do the pollination myself and make sure that the flowers are covered by a transparent plastic bag (to prevent unwanted inset pollination with a different variety) from the time they bloom until the flower drops off and the tomato starts to develop. My guess is that whoever produced the heirloom seedlings you bought was unaware of this nuance. Or just sloppy about it.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I bought the plants at our local food coop. Generally reliable except where the tags get pulled and put back in the wrong plant. I don't know, this year, how come they all came out so wrong.

Anyway, tonight: big steaks, Two for four of us, roasted broccolini, nectarine and zucchini salad.

Baby back pork ribs are on the menu, rubbed down with brown sugar, salt, coffee granules, dry mustard, black pepper, cayenne, and smoked paprika. Before going into the oven, they will get a nice BBQ sauce slather, Yesterday I made a pot of beans, AYOCOTE MORADO BEAN, cooked in onions, garlic, Mexican Oregano, chicken broth, and Hatch Chiles. Lovely bean with great pot liquor. A coleslaw salad with green and purple cabbage, shredded carrots, red onion, and a yet-to-be-determined, "no mayo" dressing. I rarely detour from our family's recipe so this will be fun.

[Jenise]

Karen, that sounds so good! We're going to skip meat today. Instead I'll be doing something with spaghetti squash picked up from a local farm, though I know not what yet.

Ooh, I was >this< close to doing baby back ribs, too! But Pumpkin wanted poultry so I made Chicken Paprikas instead.

[Jenise]

Today we go meatless, as per habit. Another tomato paella might be called for.

Yesterday's breakfast was Garlic Naan bread, a small slice slathered with sun-dried tomato with chipotle peppers topper, a fried egg with crispy edges, and topped with cherry tomatoes sprinkled with red and green Hatch chile flakes. So yummy!

[Jenise]

So friends showed up with four whole crab still warm from the steamer and some home-smoked salmon yesterday afternoon. There went Meatless Monday! Dinner was cracked crab and a cucumber salad. We couldn't eat all that, but I did crack all the crab meat. This morning for breakfast I made Bob the French treatment of baked eggs: eggs and cream baked together with herbs. In this case, though, I added chives and a little crab meat, and gave him two slices of sourdough bread to smear it on. He loved it. I didn't join him, I had a raw tomato eaten out of hand like an apple.

Dungeness Benedict?

I'm very jealous of the abundant Dungeness. Used to be unattainable on East Coast, but local HMart often carries live now. Yet I never actually buy - I have no problem dismembering lobsters but unsure exactly what to do with Dungeness. I'm sure there's a Youtube.
While we use Food52, Serious Eats, (and this site!), etc largest percentage of our recipes come from NYT. This week's mag had an article of soba noodles- I looked to see if Eric Kim or Bryan Washington, and was surprised to see it was Yotan Ottolenghi. A fun and different take -dashi includes corn cobs, shiitakes, tomato skins etc, then noodles topped with tomato pulp with miso, etc.
https://tinyurl.com/msnfyvx3
Would be fine as veggie main, but we had with bluefish dijonnaise (I had thought mackerel as common in Japan, but fishmonger didn't have)

[Jenise]

Dale, how to deal with a Dungeness crab.

First of all, always hold the crab from the bottom, between the small legs, to prevent the claws from being able to grab you. Wearing gloves is a good idea (we own the thick rubber gloves made for lobster fishermen). On a flat surface, lay the crab on it's back. Use a ball-peen hammer between the eyes to kill the brain immediately. Then pick up the crab, one hand on each side and twist to release the carapace. Pull off the gills and rinse the halves before steaming. Boiling is also an option, but most of us prefer steamed. It goes pretty quick. Oddly, in Oregon they are more likely to boil whole, but in my area we dislike the bile taste that comes from whole cooking and killing them first is clearly the most humane.

That soba noodle dish sounds delicious. Will look it up.

We had Korean food for lunch yesterday and I wasn't hungry at all for dinner last night, so just nibbled on a few slices of cucumber.

Tonight I'm doing swordfish--method not yet decided, however.

[Jenise]

Grilled Chuck Eye steaks tonight with broccolini and mushroom salad.