What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Robin Garr]

Sichuan-style green beans with house-made organic five-spice tofu from Heart & Soy, a local Asian street-food eatery that makes its own organic tofu.

The recipe is about as simple as it is fast. Buy some five-spice tofu.Then take some trimmed green beans, parboil then stir-fry until kind of charry. Add garlic, ginger, black and red pepper. Deglaze with a mix of soy sauce, lemon juice, a little sambal oelek or Sriracha and enough water to bring it up to about 2/3 cup. Pour in to deglaze, and as it reduces, add the sliced tofu, stir and serve.

Last night's dinner was Sichuan ground pork with minced chiles. Tonight will be Beijing meat sauce noodles.

-Paul W.

I've always been curious about the unknown and I do like to be surprised. In the month packages of the wine club to which I belong to there are now and then surprisingly treasures to try. In the recent wine package have been wines from the coastal region of Toscana. Some of them are products from grapes which I did not know before. Among them a Vermentino from the Maremma region. Wines from Vermentino grapes seem to be in vogue, however not well known, at least I haven’t been drinking any in the past. The Vermentino grape is cultivated on the Tuscan coast recently and experienced there a unbridled boom. Respectable results of the famous winemakers will awaken attention, that there are hardly sufficient offers on the market. I enjoyed immediately the presented Vermentino from the winery Belvento, "beautiful wind", it tasted excellent.There appears to be a climate-related impact to sea breezes, which give the wine a youthful glow. Its pale towards straw yellow color appears bright in the glass, the fragrant bouquet is characterized by very intense apple flavors. On the palate I found a juicy, aromatic taste of russet apple mixed with pear, walnut and some lemon peel. It is a light mineral wine with a taste of buttery pastries.
The estate Belvento in Suvereto, Toscana, (Maremma) is part of the winery Petra (rock in Latin). A native of Tuscany entrepreneur Vittorio Moretti and owner of the successful Franciacorta winery Bellavista has erected this impressive vineyard by the Swiss architect Mario Botta. The terroir and the architecture of the estate are the expression of passionate belief in the great potential to produce top quality wines in the Maremma .
The taste of the wine seemed to be appropriate for fish of all kinds (incl. Sushi) . Poultry curry would also find a good companion in the wine. I chose a dish of classic Italian cuisine to test: chicken Marengo. However, adapted so that it would fit my desired wine - dish harmonies roughly.

Stuffed chicken breast with braised vegetables, couscous and sweet-spicy soy sauce. The filling consists of a seasoned prawn farce with herbs and whole deepwater prawns.

The wine was fine and both together tasted good. For dessert we had fig tart with espresso.

[Robin Garr]

Let's leave Take Two "stuck" to the top of the forum for a while, so folks can easily refer to recent posts. After a month or so we'll let it slide down, but remember, we can always search for recipes in that thread and throughout the forum by using the search feature.

The boss chose some cevap for dinner so, I made some wholemeal flatbreads on the fly and remarkably they formed great pockets! Go figure
So bread, meat and garlicky yoghurt sauce with fresh tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cucumber.
Fresh and yummy.

Heinz - That wine sounds delicious and as always, the food you prepared sounds heavenly.

Last night, I picked up a couple of maple-brined pork chops from the butcher shop. These were thick, bone-in chops and I just salted, pepper'd, seared, and roasted them to a medium rare state. They were absolutely delicious. Served with mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts. I was a little uncertain about the sprouts going into this. These were very small ones (less than an inch in diameter for the most part) that have been fantastic when we've had them in the past. This particular bag of them had sat in our refrigerator for a couple of weeks, though, and I wasn't sure how they'd be. They turned out to be just as good as when fresh (although I did have to trim off more of the brown leaves and end bits on them).

Dinner last night was keema aloo--Indian ground lamb and potato curry.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Heinz--good to see you and your wonderful cooking again. Bravo on stuffing the chicken with a seafood farce, I love the combo and your going to a soy-based Asian sauce is brilliant. Admittedly, I don't think of stuffing chicken breasts often enough.

Robin--thanks for starting the new thread. I was going to do that, too!

Paul--I want those Beijing noodles!!!!!!

Tonight we're having something involving a hickory smoked pork chop. I'm a little under the weather (bad back) so won't do the complicated gratin I was originally planning. Might have to settle for boiled potatoes.

Last night was just a bean soup which I'd made in advance of the storm that never came. And the night before we had pan-fried petrale sole. SO GOOD! We so rarely see anything but salmon/halibut/tilapia up here that this was an amazing treat. I went super simple: just sprinkled a bit of salt and corn meal on each side, then pan seared them and served with lemon and a plain buttered basmati rice. Opened a nice Meursault with it--couldn't have been happier.

And the night before we had pan-fried petrale sole. SO GOOD! We so rarely see anything but salmon/halibut/tilapia up here that this was an amazing treat. I went super simple: just sprinkled a bit of salt and corn meal on each side, then pan seared them and served with lemon and a plain buttered basmati rice. Opened a nice Meursault with it--couldn't have been happier.

Good to hear. I like fish done simply and I have memories of eating sole with my parents.

Tonight is chicken cacciatore. It is just about made now -- the Staub is full of carrots, celery, fennel, bacon, two kinds of mushrooms, red wine, olives, herbs, and about to receive a large quantity of tomato: paste, puree, and crushed. Chicken parts are already browned and will be submerged soon, then transferred to the oven for a long sit.

[Jenise]

Jeff, that sounds glorious. I haven't made that dish since forever, yet I love it and have fond memories of it from childhood. No bell peppers? My mother loaded hers with bell peppers, which it dawns on me I took for granted as traditional but it may not be.

Jeff, that sounds glorious. I haven't made that dish since forever, yet I love it and have fond memories of it from childhood. No bell peppers? My mother loaded hers with bell peppers, which it dawns on me I took for granted as traditional but it may not be.

Were it up to me there would be peppers and onions in it, too.

It is amazing how much seasoning it soaks up. I put in quite a bit of chopped garlic, fresh rosemary, dried oregano, dried thyme, capers, and black pepper... and it could use more. When I reheat it next, I think I will sautee some more fennel and bounce up the seasoning some more.

Speaking of which, one thing I ignored was to add a bunch of parsley. I figure it doesn't really do much. Am I wrong?

Chicken cacciatore is one of my favorite dishes that my mother used to make when I was a child. I've never made it myself, but Jeff's report has convinced me I'm going to have to give it a try.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Speaking of which, one thing I ignored was to add a bunch of parsley. I figure it doesn't really do much. Am I wrong?

I don't think so. Parsley is a delicious accent when fresh and standing on its own, but long-cooked IMO it would more likely have muddled vs. amplified the other herbs.

With spring upon us and an abundance of lemons seemed good to make lots of lemon cordial for long, cold lemonades come summer.
And as my fruit and veg lady had given me some strawberries as a trade for lemons I made a pot of strawberry jam.
And then some really nice firm cucumbers were in the market, so it was time to make a batch of bread and butter pickles.
And I recently decided it was time to get back into cheese making so there is Camembert maturing, and it is getting nice and "fluffy". When that is wrapped and ripening I think I will start a blue.
Retirement is giving me the time to do these fun things. Regular meals are a bit boring however as I seem to have run out of inspiration after so many years of it.
Oh and I also made some tofu which turned out okay but needs work.

Well, someone is keeping busy! I can make cordial, and pickles, and jam but I have no idea how to make a cheese at home -- so, I'm impressed.

Dinner last night was hong shao gai - Chinese red-cooked chicken. I threw in a shredded slice of fresh galangal as well as the usual ginger and star anise. Not traditional, but yummy.

-Paul W.

Last night's dinner was Chinese stir-fried beef with ginger (one cup, minced!) and cilantro (three cups of leaves, loosely packed). Recipe from "The Chinese Cookbook" by Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee.

-Paul W.

Carnitas!






Cheers,

Jason

The carnitas look delicious.

Last night I made South Indian-style masoor dal. Dinner tonight will be Sichuan gun ban niu rou si (dry-fried beef).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jason, that's one of my favorite foods in the world. And what I should have planned for dinner tonight.

I'm having a couple over who both hate tomatoes and onions. And she can't eat anything spicy--she's not a cook so has trouble defining exactly what 'spicy' is and where she can draw the line, but apparently spicy foods give her massive earaches. Sounds bizarre and she's well aware it does--doctors can't figure it out--but she's a very smart lady (journalist by trade, used to cover the Parliament beat in Toronto). Not hard to cook for, but some of the things I consider ball game food are out. Something like Carnitas where guests can choose from the things they like would have been perfect.

Instead I'm starting with the mildest nachos ever (bottles of hot sauce available for those who need), and following that (those?) with oven-fried chicken and macaroni salad.

[Jenise]

Back's still killing me and I need to deliberately under-perform. So last night I'd planned to have our first-ever Chinese takeout dinner since moving to Washington state, but it turned out the restaurant was closed so we settled for leftovers of the chicken dinner from Sunday. Chinese take-out might happen tonight.

[Robin Garr]

Feel better soon, Jenise! I'm not sure I've had Chinese takeout in the past 20 years or so, but pizza delivery is definitely an option for don't-wanna-cook evenings around here.

[Jenise]

Feel better soon, Jenise! I'm not sure I've had Chinese takeout in the past 20 years or so, but pizza delivery is definitely an option for don't-wanna-cook evenings around here.

You mean you can't get Edward Lee to drop off a few cartons? You're lucky to live in an urban setting where good things are available. Where I live is rural as far as take-out is concerned--not much around at all, and what's here isn't good. The Chinese isn't epic but it tastes a lot like the Chinese restaurant food of my childhood, so I kind of liked it for that the 2-3 times we tried it.