What's Cooking (Take Three!)

... 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?

Yes, or butter.

Our niece came for sleepover, on her way to her holiday cabin. I think I know the type of food she likes
An YAY I do!, made a cassoulet and it was a great hit. She also really enjoyed the entree of smoked salmon with pickled fennel, and breakfast which was simple bacon and eggs.
A lovely visit.

I am always amazed how much cassoulet gets made by folks who don't live in France (myself included)!

[Jenise]

Got a rib eye out of the freezer yesterday afternoon. Was loosely thinking Italian especially with some leftover plain tagliatelle to re-tool with cream and parmesan, but there was a bottle of curry powder on the counter. And the two together brought back long, long ago memories of a recipe from a Virginia Slims ad for a killer steak marinade of peach nectar and curry seasoning. There went Italy!
No nectar around so I just made a dry rub of salt, sugar and curry powder, and let it rain. An hour was long enough for the rub to melt into the meat, and the set created a great crust on the finished meat. Our starter course was a few spears of leftover cold asparagus drizzled with a dressing of mayo, lemon juice and tarragon.

Put the tagliatelle back in the fridge and instead used up leftover raw veggies I had on hand for a stovetop-braised side dish: one fennel bulb, halved, half a leek in thick slices and then a couple 3" lengths of celery in honor of recent posts here by Barb and Rahsaan.

For the neighborhood block party last night I made chicken "shawarma" from the book Cherish, by Anne Shooter. It involves marinating thin slices of chicken thighs in oil and a bunch of spices (turmeric, cumin, hot paprika, coriander, cinnamon, cloves) and then roasting in a hot oven with onion slices tossed in. Served it with pita bread, cucumber, and tomato. It was very tasty but drier than I'd like - next time I'll cover the sheet pan with foil for the first half of the roast. My wife made whoopie pies with penuche and mint fillings.

[Jenise]

Sounds fantastic, Mike, at least in theory. How long a roast did the recipe call for?

Btw, thought of you. We are invited to a friend's home later this week. The invite came via the husband and Bob said she's serving Butter Chicken to which I responded, "I'll bet she got an InstaPot." Your fault.

[Jenise]

Tuna salad for lunch today, tried a new imported (and expensive, I'm guessing, these two cans were a gift) canned bonito called Ortiz. Oh. My. God. The texture and flavor were just unreal. So I filled two bowls with lettuce, sprinkled them with white wine vinegar and Maldon salt, drizzled some of the oil from the can over and then scooped the fish on top. I'm in heaven.

Sounds fantastic, Mike, at least in theory. How long a roast did the recipe call for?

Btw, thought of you. We are invited to a friend's home later this week. The invite came via the husband and Bob said she's serving Butter Chicken to which I responded, "I'll bet she got an InstaPot." Your fault.

Ha! I made that for our girls and some friends of ours last Friday night. I found out that the "serves four to six" is very optimistic. I scaled it up by 50% and we barely had enough for six.

Tonight, it was fresh English peas in leftover butter chicken sauce with rice.

Oh - the shawarma recipe called for 30 minutes. I took mine out after 25, but this was with convection.

[Jenise]

Sounds fantastic, Mike, at least in theory. How long a roast did the recipe call for?

Btw, thought of you. We are invited to a friend's home later this week. The invite came via the husband and Bob said she's serving Butter Chicken to which I responded, "I'll bet she got an InstaPot." Your fault.

Ha! I made that for our girls and some friends of ours last Friday night. I found out that the "serves four to six" is very optimistic. I scaled it up by 50% and we barely had enough for six.

Tonight, it was fresh English peas in leftover butter chicken sauce with rice.

Oh - the shawarma recipe called for 30 minutes. I took mine out after 25, but this was with convection.

Well, by this time tomorrow we'll know! Tonight's the night. I'm taking rose. But what tiny portions! Hopefully this isn't Mary's first time at it!

[Jenise]

Okay, Mike, re the butter chicken: I was so so so wrong!

Mary made hers from scratch and it was probably the best I've ever had. She served chopped vegetable pakoras with two dipping sauces as a starter, then brought more to the table with the main course--the butter chicken, rice, a malaysian fry bread, and two vegetable side dishes involving cabbage/peas and green beans/potatoes. EXCELLENT. No instapot in sight.

Pared back mixed grill for us tonight, because there were 2 garlic pork sausages and 2 black angus beef patties in the fridge. Add a baked spud, grilled cos lettuce, roasted cherry tomatoes. Onions n gravy.

FYI if the concept of mixed grill is foreign to you, it is one of the classic Aussie pub dishes, often badly done with rubbish ingredients, but it persists. Usually a small steak, a sausage, a pattie/rissole, a lamb chop, a rasher of bacon, chips (fries) and salad (token). Maybe add an egg. Very Blokey.

FYI if the concept of mixed grill is foreign to you, it is one of the classic Aussie pub dishes, often badly done with rubbish ingredients, but it persists. Usually a small steak, a sausage, a pattie/rissole, a lamb chop, a rasher of bacon, chips (fries) and salad (token). Maybe add an egg. Very Blokey.

What no kidney?

Does "Very Blokey" mean "guy food" / "boy food" or is there a different connotation?

[Jenise]

Man food, I'm sure!

Btw, the Mixed Grill is very common in England too. Never warmed up to the idea except as something one should do to use up small bits of meat for which there's too little for any other purpose, as Barb is doing.

Didn't cook last night, but went to a five course winemaker dinner at a local restaurant featuring a favorite Washington winery from the Columbia Gorge appellation. The Gorge comprises vineyards on both the North (Washington) and South (Oregon) sides of the Columbia River, and in a span of less than 20 miles goes from cool climate (pinot noir, chardonnay) to warm climate (Rhone and Italian varieties). It's the wackiest and most beautiful AVA I know of, and the wines can be spectacular. The menu was a brilliant exercise in sourcing local (30 mile radius) ingredients in the barely-there season between winter and summer.

[Robin Garr]

Bucatini with hot Italian Beyond Sausage, tomato sauce, and burrata.

sausage-burrata.png

[Jenise]

Oh I love burrata. Never considered topping a hot pasta dish with it!

[Robin Garr]

Worth a try! I can't take credit for the idea, though. It's pretty common at Italian restaurants around here. Break it up a bit so the creamy parts leak into the pasta and sauce ...

[Jenise]

Unfortunately, "leak" is a problem word. My issue with white creamy stuff doesn't like the look of that. In Mexican restaurants I prohibit them from putting crema on my dishes, and I just about faint at the sight of a white creamy salad dressing when put on wet lettuce such that it runs like milk. That burrata's dangerously close.

[Robin Garr]

I hear you ... I'm glad I don't have that aversion, but it would definitely alter my eating habits, as it does yours!

[Robin Garr]

I had half of a store-bought burrata left over and wanted to use it while it was still fresh. Pulling ideas out of my hip pocket, I quickly simmered and finely chopped a bunch of fresh spinach, then sweated garlic in a little butter and olive oil, stirred in the spinach with a little leftover spinach cooking water to make it just fluid.

Then I stirred in just-drained orzo and finished the dish with a little pasta water, grated Parmigiano and a squirt of lemon juice plus S&P. Divided into bowls and topped each with a share of the chopped burrata. Finish with a grind of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

I don't mean to sound braggy, but this combination of flavors was incredible. I'm writing down the recipe because I fully intend to do this again, for dinner next time when I have a decent Italian white or maybe a fine rosé around.

spinach-orzo-burrata.jpg

Sounds yummy, Robin. What does the pasta water do for it?

[Robin Garr]

Jeff, pasta water is an old Italian trick. Because a fair amount of the wheat starch from the pasta gets into the water, a little of it stirred in briskly can help lightly thicken the sauce and help it adhere to the pasta. Also adds a little salt, but obviously you don't want to overdo.

[Robin Garr]

Here's a longish but interesting piece from Serious Eats where they put the pasta-water method to the test and found truth in it.
https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/doe ... rence.html

Thanks!

It just seems so counter-intuitive... I struggle to thicken the sauce so you want me to add water?!?!

[Jenise]

Last night was dinner on the deck, so a bowl of wasabi poke and a bowl of bell pepper strips with vinegar and salt with a bottle of rose filled the bill. Today I'm hoping for for similar (not looking too warm out there yet, might be disappointed!) and will have a Trinidadian triplet of tomato choka, eggplant choka, and a crudo of halibut with mango chow chow,