What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Got around to making the dhansak last night. Delicious! Now that I have a batch of the dhansak masala handy I'll have to make it more often.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Yesterday I bought a bottle of tawny port for $6 at Grocery Outlet. If it was any good, and what are the chances of that for six bucks, I would buy it for our neighborhood Wine Club Christmas Dinner. I expected to hate it. And on a typical day I would have pulled the cork in the car to confirm that, but I had a later dentist appt for a toothache I'd been suffering with all weekend and didn't want boozy breathe so took it to a friend's afterward for a four-way taste test. Unfortunately it was a corked bottle, but it was obviously a ridiculously decent tawny port for the money so I'll go back for the rest this morning. Meanwhile, our friends had us stay for dinner which was homemade crab cakes (this is the guy who caught 466 crab this season) and mac n' cheese. Delicious!

Today, after a morning run to Grocery Outlet, I'll be putting together a sausage and cannellini bean soup that I'll be taking to Bill's on Thursday, along with crispy truffled polenta cakes and a garlicky green salad.

You never know where you will find some real goodies Jenise. When TJ's came out with two buck chuck and I was still drinking wine, I found some great deals on very good wine. Our son who is in the wine and spirits business used to laugh at me until he tasted some of the wines. Of course, he deals with high-end restaurants, hotels, bars, country clubs, etc., and knows more than I will ever know about wine and spirits. He brings me wine and I have a cupboard full of great stuff and it gets used in cooking much to his dismay!

Two-Buck Chuck was a great example of applying good marketing spin to a perfectly acceptable, ordinary product. California makes oceans of plain-jane wine but it took Charles Shaw to figure out how to sell the stuff.

[Jenise]

Two-Buck Chuck was a great example of applying good marketing spin to a perfectly acceptable, ordinary product. California makes oceans of plain-jane wine but it took Charles Shaw to figure out how to sell the stuff.

As a wine lover, I can't tell you how many non-geeks tried to prove me a fraud by serving me Two Buck Chuck blind, thinking I'd ooh and ah over it and then fall all over myself apologizing for my snobbery.

Never happened. It always tasted like jug wine, maybe in some cases better than some other plonks I've had but no way did it ever actually impress. I never begrudged anyone their opinion on it, I could understand why they liked it. But these people would not love the European style wines I prefer. I understand that difference; they could not.

Jenise, not everyone is interested in wines like you are, and I do recall telling you years ago about two Buck Chuck and you told me some of them were decent. I am not interested in pairing wine with food nor is it important to me. I no longer drink it or any wine for that matter. If and when I want to serve wine with a dinner I have our son who is the wine guru in the family to give me advice. To each their own and I respect that. I love cooking with it and find it fun to try the different wines my son brings to me.

[Jenise]

Karen, I did not mean to insult you and I can see where my words might be taken that way. I probably throw the word 'plonk' around a little too easily. But 'decent' and 'impressive' are not the same things. Decent means I can drink a glass if I have to, but I don't neccessarily enjoy it and I might turn down a second glass because it's a) too alcoholic, b) too sweet and c) too young for my tastes. It certainly doesn't mean that I would mistake a TBC for a wine costing a whole lot more, like the gamers I mentioned thought I would.

But generally I try not to be snobby about it. I understand that sweet, young and higher alcohol wines taste just fine when that's what you're used to, or even prefer.

Lobster on shiitake mushroom polenta, stir-fried sugar snap peas with onions and black sesame seeds, and sliced, fresh tomatoes (my last).

[Jenise]

Today I'm making sausage and pesto puff pastry pinwheels to take to an Italian wine and food event.

Last night I made chicken tagine but with Moroccan-style preserved kaffir limes instead of preserved lemons. The kaffir limes retained that wonderful aroma and flavor through the curing process. I had been worried that the Persian lime juice that I was using (kaffir limes have very little juice of their own) would dilute that special kaffir lime character. The recipe calls for two preserved lemons. I used four kaffir limes since they are so much smaller than lemons. That turned out to be a bit too much--I didn't take into account that kaffir limes have thicker rinds than lemons.

The dish came out wonderful. The kaffir lime flavor marries well with saffron.

-Paul W.

Great to hear how the limes worked in the dish, Paul.

Yesterday I made delicious lamb shanks in a new slow cooker by Cuisinart, an all-in-one. The removable insert stays in the base, and I was able to saute the onions and brown the shanks. It has a timer and a steam feature. Shanks turned out great, as did a casserole dish of multiple vegetables cooked only with a sprinkle of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and fresh thyme. On Friday, I made a pot of Acoyote Morado Beans, and it made for a tasty meal.

[Jenise]

Karen, I envy you that slow cooker. Someone in my neighborhood tried to sell one new-in-box for $100 and I considered it, but then passed on it. Well, when no one bought it she posted a new note: FREE. I didn't get there fast enough. I have one I never use because it essentially has two settings: low and hi, which are too low and too high respectively. Something with the versatility of your Cuisinart might just change my mind about slow cookers.

Tonight I'm either making steak or chanterelle risotto or maybe even steak with chanterelle rice. Haven't made up my mind yet. It's almost 2:00 and I haven't really eaten anything but a few leaves of lettuce when I made a turkey sandwich for Bob. I was a bad girl for the last few days. I've maintained but need to get back to losing!

Lamb shanks here. As an experiment, I also threw a handful of pork baby back ribs in the pot and braised them, too.

This particular recipe discussed a prep step that I've never considered before: boil the wine to reduce it by 1/3 to 1/2 before putting it in the pot. I can't quite make up my mind whether this makes any sense: of course, I understand that it concentrates the flavor by driving off some of the water. But if I need a certain level of liquid in order to cover the meats then I'm likely to end up adding more broth. So, not sure what I've really accomplished other than to swap water from a bottle with water from a carton?

That boil-the-wine step doesn't make any sense to me, either, unless the objective is to get rid of all the alcohol. But with a long braise all of the alcohol is going to evaporate on its own, I would think..

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jeff, the only reason I ever boil/reduce wine is when it's going into a sauce at the finishing end of things when concentrated flavor and a lack of rawness in the wine is going to be a plus. At the start of a braise? Forget it. I wonder if the source of your recipe had a mistaken idea that this would get rid of the alcohol (the braise all by itself is more than long enough to do that, but maybe they're unfamiliar.)

That makes sense (going into a sauce). Probably my source just doesn't know what he's doing. (But I can fix recipes... do it all the time.)

This is the recipe I have used for a long time, very pretty presentation and I love that my neighbor gives me some of his homegrown pomegranates and I know it is time to make this recipe. I usually add a bit more vinegar to the sauce and it takes it up to excellent.
Be sure to read the reviews for some ideas that may suit you.
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/ ... hanks.html

Thank you, Karen.

This is the recipe I have used for a long time, very pretty presentation and I love that my neighbor gives me some of his homegrown pomegranates and I know it is time to make this recipe. I usually add a bit more vinegar to the sauce and it takes it up to excellent.
Be sure to read the reviews for some ideas that may suit you.
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/ ... hanks.html

I have to get some lamb shanks now.

[Jenise]

Dinner last night: steamed carrots and cauliflower. Yup, that was it. My teeth are killing me, and I was given so much novacaine on Tuesday for this surgery that my nose is still numb. I'm no stranger to invasive dental work*, unfortunately, but this is a worst-ever.

*Not that anyone cares, but it might amuse y'all who know of my aversion to cold/white/creamy textures, which started when I was a child, is in large part responsible for this. When I was a kid, all toothpaste was white. You can just imagine how gross I found that to be. It wasn't until a brand called Close-Up came out in my teen years with clear gels in red (cinnamon) and green (mint) that I could finally brush my teeth without gagging. Until then I brushed only when parental supervision forced me to.

I prefer gels to pastes, too, but not to the same extent as you. My bugaboo with toothpaste is the insanely overpowering mint flavor that's always used.

For a while I used a children's orange toothpaste and I've had fennel toothpaste and Barbie's Malibu Treehouse toothpaste and god knows how many others that you see once in a while.

[Jenise]

I prefer gels to pastes, too, but not to the same extent as you. My bugaboo with toothpaste is the insanely overpowering mint flavor that's always used.

For a while I used a children's orange toothpaste and I've had fennel toothpaste and Barbie's Malibu Treehouse toothpaste and god knows how many others that you see once in a while.

LOL. Once I get used to something, it's a lock. I could throw up at the thought of using anything other than what I've grown used to. When Close-up disappeared I switched to AquaFresh. It was striped--part white but at least part gel. Once I got used to it, I was okay. For years. And then that product was discontinued and I literally flailed away in the sea of white pastes struggling to find something I could tolerate without gagging. Then I found a blue gel from Colgate which I buy by the dozens at the Dollar Store in tubes about a half or third the size of the usual "family size". The small tubes are major for me because though the gel in each starts out very firm it sometimes goes soft before the tube's done which I find repulsive, and at which point I toss it and start another. And do I ever share my tube, even with my husband? NOT ON YOUR LIFE. I feel bad admitting this because I know just how ridiculous I am, but I can't help it.

Cooking the other half of an organic chicken today, a la Zakarian who produced the most beautiful skin on the turkey bird (on The Kitchen)I have ever seen. My bird is sitting on a bed of onions, and lots of lemon slices. My favorite potato salad with sour cream, horseradish, mustard, and herbs. A sheet pan of large Brussels Sprouts, with a good EVOO, kosher salt, and pepper, later topped off with balsamic and honey. The other half of the sheet pan will be Butternut Squash, again with EVOO, salt pepper, cinnamon, and a hint of nutmeg. Happy Thanksgiving week to all of you and your families!