What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

from the Phillipines and is traditionally used in adobo. I finally got around to making chicken adobo with it last night. Since I've only the dish a couple of times, I can't say I really know how it's supposed to be made

I had a secretary who was married to a Filipino. Hilarious story: a white girl, she grew up in some nowhere holler of Tennessee, dirt poor, and he came thru her tiny town with a railroad crew. They fell in love and got married. She was only 12. At which age they were about the same height: of all the dangers of marrying so young, I'll bet most never considered the potential problem of the girl still having a major growth spurt ahead of her. In the next few years Roma grew another six or eight inches taller than he! He knew more about cooking than she did and taught her how to cook, but of course he only knew Filipino food so adobo was something she made frequently. Occasionally she'd bring in the leftovers and share: loved her adobo! Often it was pork cooked until dry but deeply infused with vinegar. I doubt she used a special vinegar, or if she did she didn't mention it. I understood her to just use good old Heinz.

OMG - I was eating the last of my sous vide corn when I saw your reply!

https://tinyurl.com/y9qa3vp3

I never jumped on the "BACON WITH EVERYTHING!!" bandwagon but I have to say that that corn/pig combo was muy delicioso, in the same salty/sweet vein as salted caramel. But porkier. The other is queso and Goya adobo spice - also excellent. Not shown, but also swelly in the belly: Korean bean paste cob, and sprigs of dying oregano from my waterlogged back porch herb garden cob.

Tom, you're hilarious. I'll bet Wifey never stops laughing.

I'll bet she would say she spends more time groaning than laughing, as my love of corn also applies to the joke variety.

38 Dungeness crabs!! My god, when I die I wanna come back as you. 38! The one and only time I ever had the great good fortune to visit the Pacific Northwest I was most excited to FINALLY be able to taste the fabled Crab 'o the West. And it lived up to every expectation. I ate two whole ones the size of Buick hubcaps the first night I was there, at the same meal, NewWifey(tm) looking on disgustedly...er, indulgently, the entire time. With god as my waitress I swear I'll get back there again someday before I die and taste that Nirvana on a plate one more time....

Your whole meal sounds un-freakin'-believable, Jenise. Damn. I'd give what's left of my dignity (I'm married, remember) to be able to sit down and tuck in to a spread like that. Good for you that you're able to live my fantasy!

I'm not jealous at all....*sob*.....

[Jenise]

Yeah, quite a few. But less than most people. First day we only got six. Second day, only 11--we had enough licenses for 20. Several reasons: a brand new collapsible trap Bob bought turned out to, well, collapse! That POS is already in the trash. And on day two, we discovered one of our traps about 1/4 mile from where we'd dropped it. Good thing it was the one with the biggest, most easily sightable buoy or we'd have never found it. It had gotten caught up in a medusa of a kelp sea monster that drug it that far--until it got wedged into some rocks. We couldn't free it, and finally had to cut it free. Third day, two new traps and the addition of a sardine can to each trap and Eureka!, we limited. And the fourth day, we only got 11. So I guess that's actually 48, not 38. We gave some to people less fortunate, and Annabelle took at least half of what we had left to Seattle to share with family over the next week. I picked two bags full this morning, and there are two more bags in the outside fridge.

Made lots of great food over the weekend but had a new discovery: Vietnamese roasted crab with copious amounts of minced garlic and lemongrass. OMG. Best thing made out of crab I've ever had. Truly, EVER.

Hope you get out sometime to indulge in crab again. It's pretty wonderful stuff. You apparently had it cooked whole. Some people prefer that, but to me it has a bile taste and slightly yellow color because after all you're cooking it with all it's innards. Wait until you have it cooked after it's been properly cleaned!!!!

[Jenise]

We're living on leftovers from last weekend's fun: posole, crabmeat enchilada verde pie, and I have a huge bag of fresh, locally grown yellow crook neck squash. Frankly, with the squash on hand, I don't really want or need anything else! It's one of my absolute favorite foods and I'm happy to make it a main course portion with a side of garden-fresh tomatoes.

When Pumpkin is away and Jeffrey eats alone...

Skirt steak, amped-up with Worcestershire and garlic; white asparagus briefly simmered with EVOO and basil; mushrooms sauteed with grains of paradise, and a very full/rich bottle of Frascati (...no, I did not realize it was white until I opened it but it has a rather full body over a taste of Fresca(!) so workable).

I'm finishing up with a short cheese course: cheddar, chevre, and a beautifully smelly piece of brebirousse d'argental.

Ah!

[Jenise]

That sounds awesome, Jeff. What part of that wouldn't Pumpkin like?


I've got to kick myself out of sick bay to get started on Wednesday's dinner wherein four guests are going to get the charity auction dinner they bid on. For the auction, I originally decided on a Southern French 'Cuisine of the Sun' dinner/cooking class for couples or singles. But when I described the menu items, I had to do so much girlsplaining to the auction planners about what they were I changed my mind on the spot and made it a Texas-themed prime rib and Cabernet dinner in honor of my husband, who happened to be standing in front of me at the time. I literally made up the names of dishes on the phone, capitalizing on catchy word play and figuring I'd work out what they mean later. So, Gulf Shrimp Ravioli in a Yellow Rose of Texas Sauce, Fresh Greens with Oil Rig Vinaigrette, Roast Prime Rib with Sagebrush potato gratin, and Old Homestead Chocolate Cake.

Fortunately for me, it took so many months to find a workable date that yellow tomatoes are now in prime season, so I'll make a yellow Rosa sauce (with gin, not vodka) and garnish the dish with lightly marinated tiny yellow pear tomato halves. Anyway, I'm making that dish today, and it's the most complicated thing I'm serving so it's cool to get the ravioli and sauce both out of the way.

That sounds awesome, Jeff. What part of that wouldn't Pumpkin like?

He won't go anywhere near asparagus, of either color. Grains of Paradise don't excite him; he is sensitive to black pepper so I have to be judicious. He'd like the rest.

I've got to kick myself out of sick bay to get started on Wednesday's dinner wherein four guests are going to get the charity auction dinner they bid on. For the auction, I originally decided on a Southern French 'Cuisine of the Sun' dinner/cooking class for couples or singles. But when I described the menu items, I had to do so much girlsplaining to the auction planners about what they were I changed my mind on the spot and made it a Texas-themed prime rib and Cabernet dinner in honor of my husband, who happened to be standing in front of me at the time. I literally made up the names of dishes on the phone, capitalizing on catchy word play and figuring I'd work out what they mean later. So, Gulf Shrimp Ravioli in a Yellow Rose of Texas Sauce, Fresh Greens with Oil Rig Vinaigrette, Roast Prime Rib with Sagebrush potato gratin, and Old Homestead Chocolate Cake.

Great story!

Fortunately for me, it took so many months to find a workable date that yellow tomatoes are now in prime season, so I'll make a yellow Rosa sauce (with gin, not vodka) and garnish the dish with lightly marinated tiny yellow pear tomato halves. Anyway, I'm making that dish today, and it's the most complicated thing I'm serving so it's cool to get the ravioli and sauce both out of the way.

Yellow tomatoes or yellow peppers.

I suppose the Oil Rig Vinaigrette will take balsamic. Can you find an oil-rig-shaped cruet?

Sagebrush is Artemisia, not Salvia, so while they might be expecting sage they should be getting tarragon and wormwood.

Does a Texas chocolate cake have to be as big as all outdoors?

[Jenise]

Yellow tomatoes, I think, since fresh, sweet local orangey-yellow tomatoes are in season. I bought a few at the farmers market on Saturday. I made the sauce yesterday, it's BEAUTIFUL. Onions, garlic, peeled tomatoes, aleppo pepper for a spike of subtle heat, gin and just enough cream to make the sauce opaque without lessening the intensity of the color--all whizzed up to liquid perfection in the Vitamix. Made the shrimp ravioli, too. Large and round, two per serving.

Ha ha re the cake. What I'm going to do is make a white cake base, divide it, and season half with dark cocoa and the other half with coconut. Think Mounds Bar. I'll make a single round fat layer that I'll pour a ganache over then build up the top with a 'junkyard' of thin shards of chocolate from a layer I'll melt and refrigerate for breaking. I'll augment that with 'Ranch Dust' (powdered cocoa). Wouldn't it be the coolest thing ever if I could put tire tracks of chocolate on the plates?? Where to get a piece of tire, though. Maybe the local Les Schwab Tire Service would help me out with that--but a car tire would be too big. Motorcycle tire would work (she said, thinking out loud).

Overnight the words Texas Toast occurred to me. I could work that into an Amuse Bouche somehow, but what to top it with? Something cheese, remotely Velveeta-ish, chile con queso-ish. Tex-mex? You pronounce it chayze, btw.

I have pork belly in the freezer, could work that in somewhere. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Jenise]

Okay, here's an idea for 'Texas Toast'. A flattened piece of bread stuffed into a tiny muffin tin, which I have, and filled with something cheddar-cheesy.

TexasToastMaybe.jpg

[Jenise]

Menu's final! Am definitely going to include the Texas Toast. It will be a flattened square of cheap white bread rolled up cigar-like with the spicey cheese and a long batton of fried pork belly. I'll pan-toast them just before serving.


Texas Toast
chili con queso
hog belly
jalapeno pickle

Storm in the Gulf
shrimp ravioli
Yellow Rose of Texas' Sauce
marinated baby yellow pear tomatoes, basil

A 'Murrican Salad
baby romaine lettuce
watermelon radish, pecans
oil rig vinaigrette

Where's The Beef?
smoked USDA prime-grade prime rib au jus
potato gratin, fried sage

Old Homestead Chocolate Cake
tire tracks
chocolate debris
road dust

Great menu! Gotta see the vid for this one.

Dinner tonight will be poorman's jambalaya topped with Creole sauce, from Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen cookbook.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, what substitution or omission makes it a "poor man's" version?

Last night we sat outside and had a cold tomato soup and plate of lightly seasoned purple daikon radishes for a salad. The dinner that followed was salmon schnitzels with a tomato-onion orzotto. This fish was the result of two thoughts intersecting: 1) I had the salmon and that was going to be dinner anyway and 2) I'd turned all the leftover bread, sans crusts, from earlier this week's Texas Toast experiments into a half gallon of perfect fresh breadcrumbs. Bob asked what they were for and I said "future schnitzels and your next meatloaf", and voila, out came the question: why doesn't anyone ever 'schnitzel' fish? My salmon was doomed.

It was excellent, but I was especially enamored with the orzotto as I would be no matter what due to my love for anything tomato. It was going to be made with fideos which I was convinced I had a box of, but didn't. Orzo worked as well, of course.

[Jenise]

Tonight a progressive dinner. My course: carrot and potato gnocchi and roasted root vegetables on a parm and pesto cream sauce topped with a slice of seared pork belly.

Paul, what substitution or omission makes it a "poor man's" version?

I'm not Paul. Took me a while to chase this one down. It's the "poor man's" version because it calls for no seafood and, even, no chicken. Just ham and sausage. Presumably, cheaper proteins.

[Robin Garr]

Paul, what substitution or omission makes it a "poor man's" version?

I'm not Paul. Took me a while to chase this one down. It's the "poor man's" version because it calls for no seafood and, even, no chicken. Just ham and sausage. Presumably, cheaper proteins.

In Paul Prudhoome's "Louisiana Kitchen," he just gives a recipe calling it that without explaining the name. It's a good recipe, though.

Paul, what substitution or omission makes it a "poor man's" version?

What Jeff said. Cheap cut of meat and no ingredients beyond the staples for a jambalaya (rice, tasso, Cajun Trilogy, seasoning mix).

We had a family get-together barbecue for Labor Day. I brought Thai satay, and we had that along with excellent grilled marinated steak (tri-tip, I think).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Makes sense! Last night I made Dungness Crab pho for dinner. I used ramen noodles after deciding that my one bag of rice noodles is probably at least five years old and could be as much as ten. But wow--are these great ramen noodles! I bought them at a large Asian store on the outskirts of Vancouver. The package was quite large, about two stacks of ten each patties of dried noodles. Price was something like $4C. A bargain, even if you don't figure in that my cost, adjusted for currency variation, was 20% less than that. But at the checkout stand, the cashier informed me they were either $3.50 each or two for $4C and she literally made me go back for another. No problem! Much much better noodles than what comes in the little soup packets. These are a new pantry staple for me.

[Jenise]

Corned beef, open-fire scorched cabbage, onion petals.

[Jenise]

So I had a big chunk of leftover corned beef, and my neighbor, who was supposed to leave for Portugal on Tuesday, woke up in a local hospital instead--with sudden onset pneumonia. So yesterday I made a double batch of spaetzle and added it and diced corned beef to the extra head of cabbage I'd cooked (chopped) the day before in the corned beef broth. When I cook CB, I add about two teaspoons of paprika to the cooking broth for enhanced color and flavor. It's a lovely shade of orange and the cabbage soup that results is quite beautiful. Added that back the spaetzle and diced corn beef, allowed some red pepper flakes for kick and topped it with slivered green onions creates a beautiful, comforting soup. I divided that in two, took a terrine of it to the neighbors and fed the rest to Bob and I for dinner. In about ten minutes I'll serve the final chunk of corned beef in a hot and mustardy sandwich. So 8 servings in all and four meals from a single chunk of meat. Not bad.

[Jenise]

Tonight: flame grilled pork chops with fried sage, parmesan-butter rice, broccolini with garlic and lemon, romaine caesar.

It’s been an interestingweek chez nous. I had ingredients for a lunch for the boss’s niece and her daughter and then got called away to take my mum (just turned 90!) for an iron infusion. A six hour turn around. So left him to take them out for lunch.
So we had ist night
duck with spiced blood orange sauce inspired by an Ottolenghi recipe
2nd night
?yum che? Duck pancakes, prawn dumplings, veggie spring rolls
3rd night
Miso soup, pork tonkatsu, crispy ginger pork, tempura veg, kimchi, last spring rolll.
T was fun to gear up for Asian food.

[Jenise]

It’s been an interestingweek chez nous. I had ingredients for a lunch for the boss’s niece and her daughter and then got called away to take my mum (just turned 90!) for an iron infusion. A six hour turn around. So left him to take them out for lunch.
So we had ist night
duck with spiced blood orange sauce inspired by an Ottolenghi recipe
2nd night
?yum che? Duck pancakes, prawn dumplings, veggie spring rolls
3rd night
Miso soup, pork tonkatsu, crispy ginger pork, tempura veg, kimchi, last spring rolll.
T was fun to gear up for Asian food.

Sounds fantastic, Barb. I don't cook enough duck. Used to get great leg-thighs and occasionally breasts at nearby the Asian markets in L.A. but up here I don't have a source for parts, only whole ducks. The few magrets I've bought have been liver-y. Tell us more about that spiced blood orange sauce.

https://ottolenghi.co.uk/seared-duck-br ... anise-shop

Is the recipe I used, largely. Very tasty and looked pretty as well. The Blood oranges giving the sauce
a beautiful ruby red colour.