What's Cooking (Take Four)

Sounds great Jeff. Do you get your black pudding from English shop you mentioned?

Sounds great Jeff. Do you get your black pudding from English shop you mentioned?

Yes, Myers of Keswick. They sell an Irish brand, Glen Ri. It comes in half-pound tubes and is pretty firm. The website says they are sold out but that isn't true.

We were taken to a dim-sum restaurant on Xmas. Didn't like it the first time years ago, and I still didn't particularly like it yesterday. Plus it was chaotic and at warp speed.

Not a fan of dim sum, or just of this restaurant Larry?

We did the 7 Fishes Xmas eve. A bit less elaborate than a couple of previous ones, counted caviar, gravlax, shrimp as courses.
My #1 "do again" was mussels steamed in a pastis broth, and then broiled with a Ricard/garlic butter. She did the steaming day before, makes it an easy quick dish when there are a bunch following
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/101 ... erb-butter
I was pretty happy with my bacalao fritters, I was afraid a little wet as I began to fry, but held together. Lots of scallion and lemon in mix, a saffron sauce on side.
I was too late to order the big whole blackfish or bass I wanted (would have been too much food anyway), did halibut filet in a court bouillon.
Betsy did a Saveur spaghetti and clam recipe that was delicious, but she noted next time to remove the clams before tossing in pasta, too hard to integrate and the little vongole clams fall out of shell.
Lots of work, lots of fun.,

[Jenise]

My week went down the tubes pretty quick. Planned to shop Monday, cook Tuesday. Instead, hospital until 10 p.m. Monday night, chasing prescriptions most of Tuesday (that I still don't have, major snafu by the hospital), grabbing groceries on the fly and making decisions mid-aisle, home at 3 p.m. with just over two hours to dress Bob, prep/cook, mop the kitchen floor and set the table. I'd planned to make an apple crisp dessert (thank you, Jeff, for the idea) but ran out of time and served some locally made chocolates instead. With champagne I served seared Hokkaido scallops in a lemon-butter-wine sauce, then a green salad with blue cheese followed by roast capon with a champagne gravy over jasmine-and-wild rice with herbs, and brussels sprouts on the side. It was all I had time for.

Not a fan of dim sum, or just of this restaurant Larry?

The restaurant. A friend and I occasionally wax nostalgic about a dim sum restaurant near our university five decades ago.

Jenise, that's a better meal than 99.5% of people put on the table without your travails. Sounds like A+ under circumstances!

Jenise, that's a better meal than 99.5% of people put on the table without your travails. Sounds like A+ under circumstances!

What Dale said!

[Jenise]

Jeff and Dale, thank you for that. I don't think my guests felt cheated but I wanted to do more. I was so beat, emotionally, from that day and getting an average 3 hours sleep a night for the nights immediately prior that, sadly, from the moment my guests got there I wanted them to go away. Saving grace was that everything I did are things I can do in my sleep, no recipes required. I never even put up a tree. The only decorations were two ornaments I received as gifts.

Hang in there Jenise, be sure to take care of yourself. Do you and Bob have long term care insurance? It was a lifesaver for Gene and I.

[Jenise]

Yes we do, for Bob anyway.

A Portuguese Braised Beef Shanks recipe is a mash-up of one I make with suggestions from a friend. Cross Cut Beef Shanks, are browned and then slow-cooked in tri-color ground peppercorns. allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, sea salt. onions, garlic, and beef stock. red wine, dark molasses, 1 dried Guajillo, and 1 dried Arbol chile pepper. A side dish of Risotto alla Milanese with parmesan and saffron cooked in butter, white wine, and chicken stock. Sauteed Brussels sprouts and cabbage with caramelized shallots are the veggie side.

The past few days, there was a lot of rain filling up our lakes, dams, and groundwater. I've been wanting to juice more lemons and pick oranges, but everything is sloppy and wet. My picker is on vacation until the middle of January... may have to call in my handyman and see if he is up for the chore.

[Jenise]

Karen, that sounds wonderful. You've inspired me--I just bought some lamb shanks. In a red sauce over Risotto Milanese sounds like what I want for dinner. If I have the time, I'll go for it.

I wanted to share how my dinner came out yesterday. I had not made Risotto for a very long time due to my goal of taking off some pounds. When I got into my grain pantry, I found a Lunberg Family Farms Risotto bag. I love Risotto and have an old family recipe that does not ask for the long stirring and adding broth process. I used the Risotto in the recipe, sauteed onion first in butter, then added the rice and gave it a few minutes before adding Dolin Dry Vermouth, Penzeys saffron, and chicken stock. I gave it a few stirs, put a tight lid on the pan, and cooked part way, as I would reheat it later in the day. It came out perfect, with just the right amount of saffron, a good chew to the rice, and wonderful flavor. I added the Parmesano Reggiano at reheating. The cross-cut beef shanks were a challenge at the start. They were very large and had thick skin and fat all around the cuts. I used three different cooking shears to get the dang stuff off of the beef. They turned out well after several hours in the new slow cooker that browns, sautees, and cooks on high or low. The beef shanks came from Prather Ranch, a well-known brand in these parts, and were very tender and tasty.
https://pratherranch.com/

Simple dinner tonight: posole that I started last night in a Crock Pot and flour tortillas. And I made Edie drink some beer.

I'm away at the semi-annual D&D game, eating mostly godawful takeout food.

[Jenise]

Jeff, didn't realize you were into D&D. Hope the torture's over soon.

Karen, re your risotto, that's the classic restaurant shortcut for the dish. The frequent stirring and repeated liquid additions coax a very specific texture out of the rice that the shortcut version doesn't quite get to, but the offset is that you're not under the gun for 18 minutes.

I didn't end up making the lamb shanks. Life got in my way. Maybe tonight!

"Karen, re your risotto, that's the classic restaurant shortcut for the dish. The frequent stirring and repeated liquid additions coax a very specific texture out of the rice that the shortcut version doesn't quite get to, but the offset is that you're not under the gun for 18 minutes.

The texture was great for me, and I feel that most folks going to a restaurant are also okay with it. The rice was not mushy, had a nice chew, and had an awesome flavor. My mother made a great family risotto with mushrooms and Haute Sauterne, she only stirred it to get it mixed, then put the lid on and let it cook. We used that recipe for family gatherings for decades. It also had Spice Islands Poultry Seasoning and Beau Monde. Spice Islands was the thing back in the day. Don't hear much of them anymore, although I did place an order for Beau Monde a year ago as I could not find it here.

Dinner last night was wontons in chicken broth with bean sprouts, seasoned with a dash of Sichuan-based dipping sauce.

I used to both play and DM D&D. One of the weekly D&D games was played in the early evening at the DM's house. Each of us took turns providing dinner for the group. The DM didn't know how to cook and brought in take-out. One week he decided he would try his hand at cooking a dinner for us. He got an easy recipe for spaghetti Bolognese. It called for a clove of garlic. Never having cooked in his life, he assumed that the head of garlic he bought was a "clove", although while doing the peeling and chopping he did think it was an awful lot of garlic to put into the dish. The spaghetti was tasty, but afterwards if anyone burped, the whole room knew it.

-Paul W.

Jeff, didn't realize you were into D&D. Hope the torture's over soon.

Well, other than dinner, I can just pile ham/cheese/turkey/prosciutto on lavash, sizzle it in the pan that had the bacon in it before, and that's OK. One of the other players is into coffee so we get good brew.

The game began in college in 1978, playing a few hours every Monday evening. After we graduated, we switched to three-day sessions twice a year.

We believe we are the longest-running game with both the original GM and the original players.

[Jenise]

The texture was great for me, and I feel that most folks going to a restaurant are also okay with it. The rice was not mushy, had a nice chew, and had an awesome flavor.

Oh I'm sure it tasted great. I only meant that the two methods would produce slightly different results.

[Jenise]

Jeff, probably a good thing that I didn't get into D&D in my early life; I'd have been an addict, I know.

Jeff, I got started with D&D in 1980, when I joined DEC. By then the first edition of Advanced D&D was out and that is what we were all playing. With one major rule change.* The other players and DMs were mainly veterans of the original TSR D&D rules (which were awfully vague). What version of D&D are you playing these days?

-Paul W.

*The original AD&D rules placed heavy restrictions on spell-casting by mages. A mage had a certain number of spells that could be cast per day, and they had to prepare the spell(s) ahead of time. Our system (invented by Dave Schiefler) gives a mage a certain number of mana points (or spell points) based on the mage's level. Casting a spell consumes mana points based on the level of the spell. The mage does not have to prepare spells ahead of time. They can cast any of the spells they know at any time, provided they have enough mana points.

[Jenise]

On the stove: a pot of black eyed peas made with an entire bunch of culantro (not cilantro, CUlantro) that my brother brought home from Costa Rica over the weekend. Hard to find here.