What's Cooking (Take Four)

My favorite Asian grower at Farmer's Market sells 2 lb. bags of baby zucchini, yellow crook neck squash, patty pan, and others for $5. Yesterday, I cut them all up and mixed them with Turkish oregano, garlic, green onions, pepper, and 1 Tbsp. of Calabrian pepper and threw in cherry tomatoes. They cooked in my homemade tomato sauce, with a little champagne vinegar. Very yummy. I'm not too fond of these veggies mushy so I leave them with a bit of crunch. Today, I am making our family's three-bean salad, a great fresh, cold, and tasty dish I love for lunches, with pickles, Bruno's peppers, and a cracker. The weather is getting cooler for the next 10 days and I am thankful for that and hoping our great Cal Fire teams get a chance to calm the fires.

Karen that sounds good. Hope the cool helps with fires.
Jenise, so sorry re your accident, but glad you can eat now.
Couple quiet nights. Monday Betsy made hot honey chicken thighs over collards that were quick sauteed in the smaltz. Last night we took advantage of convergence of a lobster sale and tomato/corn season to do a favorite recipe (from James Boyce,though we didn't have Minus 8 vinegar anymore, Betsy used red wine vinegar and white balsamic)
https://share.icloud.com/photos/030nLpr ... h8djmkEPWw

[Jenise]

Although a bit concerned about being able to get my mouth around a big burger bite (the new skin in the corner of my mouth might not like being stretched), I granted Bob's wish for burgers last night. I decided to do a mashup of smashburger and Oklahoma style: I pressed lots and lots of thinly sliced onions into very very thin burger patties, cooked them on high heat onion-side down until the onions blackened, then flipped them for another minute to finish with muenster cheese on top. Stacked two together and loaded into a bun with just a handful of arugula. No other ingredients needed--fabulous!

I'll be making a Thai curry (probably massaman, maybe yellow) with cauliflower tonight.

-Paul W.

... and Oklahoma style:

That's where you post a copy of the Ten Commandments over the stove and force your guests to recite them, right?

[Jenise]

Right, while wearing special underwear.

I'd actually nor heard of this until Michael Ruhlman mentioned it's his wife's favorite, so I looked it up. I make three different style burgers: Green chile, classic American and WeeBee's (a drive-thru we adored in Anchorage AK). This one's a instant favorite: we now have four!

There was a Kenji article on Oklahoma style burgers in NYT a while back, meant to try but forgot, this is a good reminder
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/dini ... ecipe.html

And kudos to Jenise. After a lot of seafood and chicken, Betsy wanted something different. I went to store for duck breast, they didn't have. So wandering beef section, I saw some chuck blade steaks, not a cut I'd ever bought before. Vague memory of them being mentioned here before, searched and found a couple old references from Jenise. Did her "Yosemite" marinade - sherry, mustard, Worchestershire sauce, garlic, oregano. Great flavors, tenderized steak.

[Jenise]

Wow, Dale, thanks for digging both of those up. Enjoyed Kenji's article tremendously--I had not read any recipe/instructions before this week's dive into the genre, was just going by Ruhlman's description. I was going for the result Kenji achieved based on mouth-watering photo of Ruhlman's result, including the requisite overhang, but went about it a little differently. Lacking a griddle, I used a large 12" skillet into which I loaded the already flattened-and-loaded-with-onion patties. He doesn't specify beef/fat ratio but I chose 93% because I didn't want so much fat the onions would swim instead of burn, and would choose that again.

And the blade steaks with Yosemite marinade! I still make that frequently though chuck blade steaks are virtually non-existent up here (might have been what I was complaining about in the post you found, I seem to remember going on the hunt), and I absolutely love the marinade with lamb. They're called shoulder chops not blade steaks, but it's exactly the same cut.

[Jenise]

Soft food today as yesterday a piece of a tooth fell off yesterday, which I probably cracked in last week's fall. Going with soft food until my dentist can check this out, like either an eggplant-less ratatouille or spaghettini tossed with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil.

Today's menu is flank steak bathed in fresh garlic oil, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire, Dijon, fresh garlic, and gr. black pepper. Also, a summery pasta salad, with cherry tomatoes, a bit of Gruyere cheese chunks, fresh basil, thyme, garlic, lemon, salt pepper. I will use penne or fusilli pasta, and whatever I find at Farmer's Market this morning. A sauté of snow peas, broccoli, garlic, sweet onion, and peppers is my veggie choice this week.
Note: I roasted ( less mess than a sauté) all the veggies I mentioned, added fresh garlic oil, Chinese Five Spice, and flaky sea salt and they came out perfect and very tasty.

Sounds yummy, Karen.

-Paul W.

This morning I put a light tortilla shell in a pie plate. Then mix 3 fresh eggs with low-fat cottage cheese, put that on top of the tortilla, add halved cherry tomatoes, baby spinach, salt pepper, and top with Gruyere cheese. Baked in the oven until risen and cheese is melted. Tasty!

[Jenise]

Flour tortillas should make a nice crust. I'm sure if were more of an egg eater I'd have tried that by now.

Last night I made steak salads, wherein the steak was filet mignons pan served sliced and under a quick butter-mounted pan sauce out of shallots, white wine, dijon mustard and curry powder (vaudovan was called for but don't have). Delicious!

[Jenise]

Karen, just now on Facebook I was offered a tutorial video on "air fryer quiche". Didn't watch it, but I could see they used a flour tortilla as the crust. For an air fryer with a round basket (presuming from the shape), this would work pretty well.

So dinner tonight: Bob asked for schnitzel, but I want Mexican. I have pork tenderloins in the freezer so this can work. I also have fresh green chiles. I'm inspired by the possibilities for a fusion dish here. Will let y'all know later.

Pumpkin wanted turkey, and not another cordon bleu. So, I got a chunk of boneless turkey breast with some of the skin still on, wrapped it around the sides with parma cotto (and tied it on). Then seared the top in a pan and placed it on a bed of fresh thyme sprigs, lots of it. Simple roast for an hour at 350*F.

Meanwhile, I got 3# of cut-up butternut squash, 1.5# fingerling potatoes, and half a pound of big crimini mushrooms, tossed all with oil, thyme, oregano, s+p and roasted on a sheet pan at the same time. (Actually, I started them 20 minutes ahead of time at 450*F so that they'll all get done together.)

Lastly, I had some leftover macerated cherries so added a can of pineapple chunks, a teaspoon of corn starch, and a glug of Cointreau to make a fruit sauce.

And we were very happy with the result! Moist turkey meat, crispy ham around it, all the veggies done through, delicate air of thyme suffused through everything, the sauce tastes rather of oranges than cherries or pineapple but so it goes....

Sounds wonderful Jeff, lots of nice flavors going on there. I have not cooked a turkey breast in a long time. Maybe I can find one this weekend.
Jenise, yes, I used a large flour tortilla for my quiche. There is no need for an air fryer here as my Dacor oven also has an air function, which I have never used in twenty years. My daughter has two air fryers and just picked up a neucular oven. Her counter looks like an appliance store. She loves them all. She has little time to cook, so these gadgets are needed.

[Jenise]

Well, didn't make the schnitzels last night. Rather, my new neighbors passed a few warm-from-the-cooker Dungeness crabs over the fence and those became dinner with a great bottle of Marie Copinet blanc de blanc. Life is hard.

Last night I made Thai pork and lemongrass meatballs in lettuce cups (recipe at importfood.com here). Easy to make and delicious.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Yesterday for lunch I made what had been my dinner plan on Sunday before the crabs showed up. Pork cutlets (aka schnitzel) made from thin slices of pounded pork tenderloin that had marinated a good 24 hours in white wine, Mexican hot sauce and garlic salt. I served the schnitzels on grits seasoned like a tamale and topped them with a fresh salsa of roasted Hatch chiles marinated with oil, vinegar and oregano. Absolutely fantastic, all of it, but in particular the flavor of the marinated meat in the schnitzels.

[Jenise]

Vegetarian tonight: salad (romaine from my garden) and homemade pizza featuring fresh ripe tomatoes and sauteed maitake mushrooms.

Baked a loaf of English apple and cheese bread last night. Nice flavor.

Wow, I have never heard of apple bread, interesting. I have made apple cakes with nuts, tho...

Tomorrow the New Hampshire Astronomical Society holds its annual summer barbecue. One of our members who used to live in Texas has a top-of-the-line barbecue smoker. He will be doing Texas-style barbecued brisket and ribs. I'm making Chris Schlesinger's Tidewater coleslaw from his book The Thrill of the Grill.

-Paul W.

Ayocote Morado Beans were slow-cooked yesterday with onion, garlic, oregano, and what was left over from my homemade tomato sauce used in another dish. Half a turkey breast inspired by this week's post, cooked on a bed of whole carrots, fresh rosemary sprigs, and a marinade of butter, fresh garlic oil, lemon, and juice from a jar of peppers. I will do something with a sack of baby, multi-colored potatoes, brown mushrooms, and red onion, and if I find something interesting at Farmer's Market this morning to toss into the mix. I may delete the potatoes, and do a cabbage salad, a very old recipe from decades ago, using ramen noodles roasted with almonds and sesame seeds, and the seasoning packet is used to make a vinaigrette. It is delicious.