What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

It's definitely a long cook but I think that's because of the chuck. Our standard recipe calls for the tenderloin.

I've never had it with dill pickles - that sounds like a good addition!

It actually rang true for me based on food I had when I went to Moscow and Leningrad in 1979. Boiled beef on rice with pickles was an actual dish we were served.

[Jenise]

Last night I made a beef enchilada pie made with ground chimayo red chile I brought home from New Mexico.

Tonight, friends are coming for dinner--the Picky Eater couple. Simple meal of barbecued chicken, cucumber salad and a sage bread pudding, the latter a bit unusual but inspired, in this case, by the fact that I ended up with three bags of leftover bread from Friday night's wine tasting. I snuck some leeks into it--hopefully, it won't be a deal killer for them.

...and a sage bread pudding

A place near me offers 'savory bread pudding' ... you know, stuffing!

[Jenise]

Ah, but stuffing, at least as my mother and most people I know make it, doesn't include a custard where a bread pudding does.

Yeah, it's really good stuffing.

[Jenise]

Went vegetarian last night. First course salad duo of garlic cucumbers and mixed color cherry tomatoes with french basil and onions. Second course was corn on the cob. I feel so healthy this morning!

Tonight--dunno yet. Kind of craving some kind of curry.

Just corn on the cob? No cotija and lime?

Last night we had a chicken curry with rice, braised kale and peppers, chutney.

Tonight we are having pork schnitzel, braised celery,steamed potatoes.

Last night we had a chicken curry with rice, braised kale and peppers, chutney.

Tonight we are having pork schnitzel, braised celery,steamed potatoes.

I've never heard of braised celery. Tell us about it.

I've never heard of braised celery. Tell us about it.

I don't know what she does, but in general I find it offers a nice take on celery. I definitely like the snap/crunch when sauteed but braised it is softer, mellower, but still vegetal. Pretty much what you would expect.

[Jenise]

I've never heard of braised celery. Tell us about it.

I don't know what she does, but in general I find it offers a nice take on celery. I definitely like the snap/crunch when sauteed but braised it is softer, mellower, but still vegetal. Pretty much what you would expect.

Love to see chat about celery, one of my favorite veggies--and one I think is grossly underappreciated. The average American only buys it to put in tuna salad, potato salad or Thanksgiving stuffing. Such a shame.

I don't braise celery per se, but when I make chicken soup I put in a lot of long pieces to flavor the soup and fish those out later as a special snack for myself. I love it tossed with salt and olive oil and roasted, too--it's a favorite side vegetable here at Chez J!

Love to see chat about celery, one of my favorite veggies--and one I think is grossly underappreciated. The average American only buys it to put in tuna salad, potato salad or Thanksgiving stuffing. Such a shame.

I've never been called an average American but would never use celery in any of those dishes (largely because I don't make any of those dishes).

My standard uses for celery are in an Asian tofu 'stir-fry' or braised and finished with lemon/lime/vinegar, maybe herbs, garlic, whatever. I believe I got the braising idea from Alice Waters, but that could have also been her braised cucumber, which is something you see even less often than braised celery!

[Jenise]

Braised cucumber? Now that's something I haven't heard of before. Details, please?

I do a tofu and celery Chinese stir-fry too with LOADS of black pepper.

Btw, I got the idea of roasting celery after reading through some old cruise ship menus from very early this century. Interesting to see what passed for exotic back then, and "baked celery" was a course all by itself!

Braised cucumber? Now that's something I haven't heard of before. Details, please?

Recipe was from the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook, which is plenty intelligent but suffers from the flaw of presenting recipes that work best when you have fresh ingredients with the extra pop of Northern California flavor.

For example, her idea for the cucumber (peeled, seeded) braised in butter is plenty simple and plenty delicious. But finishing it with lemon is something that anyone can do, and works fine, but the extra pop of those fragrant Northern Californian lemons takes it to another level. One where you can build a world famous restaurant around such recipes! (And which cannot be replicated elsewhere)

But I digress. I do like her approach to so many things.

I recall a restaurant downtown making celery ice cream. It was really good.

Celery ice cream? Sounds like an interesting challenge to make.

A couple of nights ago, I made Upscale Tuna Noodle Casserole. I've always made it according to the original recipe, making a roux for the mushroom sauce. Back when I first posted this (over ten years ago) Maria Samms mentioned that she made using heavy cream instead of the roux-based sauce. I thought I'd give this a shot and while the results were fine, I'd stick with the original version for future suppers. The cream pretty much bakes into the noodles, resulting in less sauce. It's not dry, really, but I like the sauce to be more present in the dish.

Celery ice cream? Sounds like an interesting challenge to make.

Perhaps braise it, to intensify the flavor, then juice it and add to a plain cream base?

Well now that you posted that, I had to try and see what kind of recipes are out there. There's one on Serious Eats which involves using celery leaves and celery seeds. There's another in which you cook the celery in milk for a short time and then let it infuse. Another uses celery juice. I could see cooking it in the milk (maybe with the leaves), whizzing it in the processor and straining, and then adding some celery juice to boost flavor if necessary (?)

When I was growing up, my parents owned a bar and were friends with a couple who owned an Italian restaurant. The wife would make celery leaves, quickly sauteed on olive oil, then beat up eggs were added and cooked like an omelet. Very tasty. One of my recent complaints is that celery is now packaged with most of the leaves cut off.

“She” sautéed bacon, onions, garlic. Added in 5 cm batons of celery some diced tinned tomatoes pouch of sugar and braised until tender. Add water if needed. Season.
Nice side. A different vegetable dish for us and a nice change. There are now things I might think of to do with celery.

[Jenise]

For example, her idea for the cucumber (peeled, seeded) braised in butter is plenty simple and plenty delicious. But finishing it with lemon is something that anyone can do, and works fine, but the extra pop of those fragrant Northern Californian lemons takes it to another level. One where you can build a world famous restaurant around such recipes! (And which cannot be replicated elsewhere)

But I digress. I do like her approach to so many things.

I have the book but don't recall the recipe. Will check it out. I'm on a cucumber binge this week. Last night, a cucumber and shrimp salad was our starter course. The main was parmsan-crusted fresh halibut with asparagus.

Tonight I'm making a red bell pepper salad to start and following that with a veal scallopini and shitake mushrooms in a marsala wine sauce over noodles.

It is warm here so a composed salad to start: feta, cucumber, artichoke hearts, and black olives, seasoned with oregano. Then a very small portion of pesto pasta. Finally, soft-shell crabs pan-sizzled in the fat from frying-up three slices of extra-thick bacon.

... soft-shell crabs pan-sizzled in the fat...

Nice, I've been slacking on getting soft-shells during this seasonal window. Maybe tomorrow if they are available. (Although will not cook mine in bacon fat...)

... soft-shell crabs pan-sizzled in the fat...

Nice, I've been slacking on getting soft-shells during this seasonal window. Maybe tomorrow if they are available. (Although will not cook mine in bacon fat...)

Oil of the olive, I assume?