What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Love the sound of that salmon sauce!

[Jenise]

Tonight: fresh black cod, miso-crusted and pan fried, served on a bed of sesame-oil wilted bok choy and fresh shitake mushrooms.

I had 2 large bone-in pork chops in the freezer. They are marinated in olive oil, balsamic, cider vinegar, garlic, fresh rosemary, and Dijon. Our daughter sent me a huge package of her homegrown peppers, slim jims, jalapeno, cayenne, anaheim, and so many I do not know the names of. So, I am making Ratatouille today with many of her peppers, zucchini, onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, fresh thyme, red pepper flakes, and fresh basil. Not sure what else, will see what inspiration I get at Farmer's Market. The marinade for the pork is fabulous and one of my favorites for pork.

Now that Indian Summer is here in New England, I was planning on grilling chicken thighs coated with Chris Schlesinger's West Indian spice rub from The Thrill of the Grill. Last hurrah with the grill before winter sets in. So of course it's raining.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I'm picking all my tomatoes today. It's over 70 degrees--a little heat wave out of the blue--but it will surely be the last. My summer last hurrah food is Bucatini Amatriciana made with the last of the fresh garden tomatoes. I plan to make a big batch so I can freeze some sauce--for once, I actually have room in the freezer for a few cartons of something. Can't think of anything worthier.

Good idea Jenise, I love homemade red sauce in the freezer. There is nothing better than the taste of those tomatoes in the winter. Plus, it makes pulling together a meal much faster.

While we're on sauce... one of my local grocers had a blowout sale on boxes of Tomi tomatoes. So, I got two boxes of _strained_ tomatoes because I vaguely recall hearing that this is the best kind to use to make pasta sauce. Anybody know anything about using strained tomatoes, as opposed to crushed or pureed?

Last night, rolled pork loin stuffed with apples, fennel (& celery), walnuts (& pine nuts), and craisins. I also roasted some root vegetables in the pan at the same time.

[Jenise]

While we're on sauce... one of my local grocers had a blowout sale on boxes of Tomi tomatoes. So, I got two boxes of _strained_ tomatoes because I vaguely recall hearing that this is the best kind to use to make pasta sauce. Anybody know anything about using strained tomatoes, as opposed to crushed or pureed?

Tomi is definitely a score. And the packaging is excellent--will last years beyond the expiration date. But "strained"? I don't recall seeing that designation before and I don't know what to make of it. Crushed but guaranteed not to contain seeds or chunks? I dunno!

OK, with some reading, strained tomato (aka, "passata") is the same as pureed tomato except that it is not cooked. Both pureed tomato and tomato sauce are cooked, and possibly mixed with additional flavorings (onion, garlic, carrot).

So this should make a sauce with a slightly fresher, brighter taste.

I had three large jars of Mutti Passata in my pantry for a long time. Finally, used it all up, and never ordered more. I do use a lot of canned tomato products, however. I really like the diced, fire-roasted tomatoes and seem to use those more than anything else. Being a huge tomato lover, I like the chunkiness of tomatoes in many dishes.

I agree with you, Karen, I also like some texture in my tomato dishes. I like the fire-roasted and I also like just buying whole ones and clutching them with my hands a couple times for big irregular pieces.

I'm aware of passata only because I watched a bunch of YouTube videos about tomato sauce and all the Italian nationals said you need to start with passata. At a buck a box, I can afford to find out!

Late to this conversation but my parents, both born in Italy made passata every summer with garden tomatoes and a gizmo that separated skin and seeds and left juice and puree. It went into old wine bottles, was capped and then heat processed but not cooked. It lent a freshly picked tomato flavor to the sauce and every Italian family I knew made their own passata and used it for Sunday Dinner sauce. It is not about the texture but the flavor. Same issue with tomato paste in a can vs tube. Cans require cooking/high heat processing and that's OK if you want that flavor of long slowly cooked tomato ie sweeter but I personally favor the higher acidity of a less processed tomato
Passata is what is needed to make Pasta al'Assassina.

Thanks, Christina, for the clarifications!

[Jenise]

Last night, for Bob I made a spicy version of buccatini alla amatriciana. I ate a plate of steamed patty pan squash. IOW: one of us is on a diet, and one of us isn't. Not doing anything exciting at all when it comes to food right now.

My big accomplishment for the week was the kale and wild rice salad I took to Bill's on Thursday. He was planning some lovely mushroom tarts, but to stay on course for myself I took the aforementioned salad. Since almost no male I know loves kale, I was planning to only take enough for myself, but at the last second I took the whole batch and passed a bowl of this bright emerald colored superfood around the table. Well, turns out there were at least two other fans (and Bill's wife later) so every morsel disappeared. And yes, Bill tried it. Conclusion: he still doesn't like kale.

This weekend I'm making hongshao ji (red-cooked chicken) and a batch of ratatouille (while it's still zucchini season in New England).

-Paul W.

On the menu is Chicken Puttanesca, cauliflower mash with one red potato, to help stabilize the cauliflower, with butter, salt, and fresh thyme. A sauté of purple peppers, yellow and green scalloped squashes, the white part of Bok Choy, red onion, green zucchini, and tomatoes, with olive oil, garlic powder, and Herbs de Provence. The green leaves from the Bok Choy will be chopped up and added in the last couple of minutes.

[Jenise]

Today I'm making a huge pot of sauerkraut to take to an Oktoberfest dinner. Though the kraut is considered a condiment, I've made it in a way that will be satisfying to those of us who will want more with our sausage--and no bun. A gallon of store-bought (Chef Store, only $11) got rinsed and added to finely diced ham that I'd browned and baked with juniper berries, bay leaf, and some sugar to balance out the remaining salt. I'll add finely shredded cabbage at the end of cooking, taken from the darker green outer leaves for color and interest.

However, my oven just died. The pilot light (gas oven) isn't staying on and after several flicks, when it does come on, some gas has built up and it makes a bit of a boom. This is exactly what happened back around 2010 when it literally blew up and the explosion--with the door shut!--fried the white nightgown I was wearing. So I can't use the oven. Okay for today, harder to do without tomorrow when I'm taking rack of lamb to a dinner party.

Gosh, Jenise, you have terrible oven problems! Remind me never to buy whatever it is you have....

Tonight will be chicken cacciatore with roasted delicata squash on the side. (Delicata are suddenly in season; every green market and every shop has them.)

[Jenise]

Viking. Never buy a Viking.

Yay for delicata. A tray of it showed up at last night's wine event. Very popular these days because, I'm guessing, it's easy to cut, clean and display. And you don't have to peel it.

But where did it come from? I don't recall seeing delicata until about 15 years ago.

That sauerkraut dish sounds like a variation on choucroute garni, my favorite Alsatian dish. I ordered it once at a restaurant in France and got a huge plateful--enough for four people! What immediately popped into my head was the title of a book of B. Kliban: Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head.

-Paul W.

Yay for delicata. A tray of it showed up at last night's wine event. Very popular these days because, I'm guessing, it's easy to cut, clean and display. And you don't have to peel it.

It's not too squashy so it roasts pretty easily.

But where did it come from? I don't recall seeing delicata until about 15 years ago.

My friend Guugul sez: It was documented at least as early as 1894 and was popular right through the end of the 1920s. Food fashion drifted away, for whatever reason, but it stayed away because the vine was susceptible to every fungus known to squash-kind.
In 2002, someone at Cornell bred a bush-style version of the vine that was resistant to fungus. And that's why it's back.

I picked up a small Delicata last Saturday. The young man who took my money told me I picked out a good one. I asked him how he knew that and he explained to me about the orange stripes in the grooves all the way around the fruit. He said because the strips are all the way around, means that it is sweet.

Fly's Head Pork. I'm putting the garden to rest and have tons of garlic chives so this dish uses quite a lot.
Also putting up dill for the winter. Grocery dill in the winter is always moldy so I use the tender stems of fresh dill, put it in the food processor with some salt and preserved lemon if I have it, and olive oil. I put it in 4 oz jars and freeze with a layer of olive oil on top. This is so much easier to use and tastes totally fresh. Great spread on roasted fish, in Winter Borscht, in a salad dressing, on labneh and grated raw beets etc.
Dill is invasive, seeds spread everywhere but I really don't mind. My mother NEVER used dill. It's not and Italian thing but I am using it more and more especially for Georgian cuisine and love it but not from the grocery.