What's Cooking (Take Three!)

I have a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, half of which will become a Thai red curry and the other half of which will become stir-fried chicken with chiles and holy basil (pad prik gai bai krapow).

I also have some wonton filling left over from last Fridays "big fold". I'll be buying more wrappers and make up a set of "leaf" wontons for boiling. So wonton soup will be on the menu this week, too.

-Paul W.

Sounds great.

Tonight was a bison ribeye, medium rare.

Speaking of fries: I don't very often cook potatoes, but what bugs me is that one potato can cost over a dollar--about the same as a 5-lb bag of spuds on sale, which is far more than I want or need.

Ah, His Royal Squashiness is a big fan of spuds so I cook potatoes fairly often. Most of the time just simple baked potatoes, tossed in the oven for an hour+ along with everything else. The first set will be eaten out of the jacket, the second set is cut into coins and fried.

But the reason for saying all this is that, along with the coq au vin, I mashed up 5# of Yukon Golds. I very rarely buy 5# of anything but we're both happy with this outcome! I'll eat them just mashed but Pumpkin likes to sizzle a large blob in a pan until it is a goopy patty that is blackened on both sides.

[Jenise]

Today I have to make 250 home made crackers for an appetizer I'll be serving tomorrow night and then at the big Christmas party next Friday. Today's work will cover both. Dinner tonight will be leftover Italian Wedding risotto for Bob and sauteed pea greens for me (diet food).

All geared up for this afternoon's second "big fold" of wontons. These will all be in the "leaf" shape as they're intended for boiling rather than deep-frying.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Last night we did the demo dinner for next Friday night's big dinner for 80. At the demo dinner all the cooks, a team of 15 led by me, gather to create, serve (and critique) our courses in real time. This enables me to create a critical path schedule for the evening and ensure that we have enough hands in the kitchen to plate up each course. I am doing one of two passed appetizers plus the main course. Others are doing the other appie, oysters rockefeller, a caesar salad with Dungeness crab and a Belgian chocolate torte for dessert.

The dinner sounds delicious Jenise, and very appropriate for the PNW.

I have a pot of Ayocote Morado beans finishing up in the Slow Cooker seasoned with onion, garlic, Mexican Oregano, Chipotle Pepper seasoning, smoked paprika, and fresh lime juice, which will be added in a bit along with chopped Hatch Chiles. My main course is Spanish Steak Crostini. Thin slices of Seattle Sourdough toasted, cut in half, then spread with Neufchatel Cream Cheese, topped with thinly sliced flank steak, caramelized onions, and roasted red bell peppers, sliced—a sprinkle of feta cheese and fresh cilantro on top. The Flank steak has been marinating overnight in various spices, garlic, fresh lime juice was added this morning and spicy pepper seasoning. The original recipe called for pimento cream cheese, but I could not find it and probably would not buy it anyway, so I chose the lesser-calorie cream cheese.

The recipe is from a magazine called Northern California enjoy , featuring the chef at Huff's Bridge Bay Resort, bar, and restaurant sitting on beautiful Shasta Lake.
I am also making the apple and celery salad posted by Jeff.

I made soup wontons (vs. wonton soup) last night. This is one of the traditional ways to serve wontons. You bring a pot of water to the boil and put in the wontons. You boil them until cooked through (they float when done), drain them from the water, and add them to a bit of mildly seasoned chicken broth. I had 15 wontons to one cup of broth. The Chinese value the slippery mouth feel of the wonton wrappers, hence the name "wonton" which I'm told means "swallow a cloud" in Cantonese. These were delicious. Well worth all the time spent in the Big Fold.

In contrast, wonton soup as traditionally served in US Cantonese restaurants has more soup and fewer wontons.

-Paul W.

I bought a 10# bag of potatoes for $1.99 (about the same price for two potatoes if I had bought them separately).

Sunday breakfast: soft-boiled eggs in egg cups, ww pancakes, bacon, sausage, and Swiss rösti.

[Jenise]

The Chinese value the slippery mouth feel of the wonton wrappers, hence the name "wonton" which I'm told means "swallow a cloud" in Cantonese.

-Paul W.

I do too. Especially with spicy chile sauce.

[Jenise]

Yesterday I started 20 quarts of pork stock using about 8 pounds of broiled babybacks for the meat foundation. They cooked for about 8 hours, and then I scooped out the solids and removed those to the outside fridge and put the pot on the front porch--nature's such a great refrigerator this time of year! It will live out there on and off all week as I reduce it with VSOP brandy and create the sauce for Friday night's Wine Club dinner.

For dinner last night we had carnitas tacos, wherein the carnitas was made from the crisped-up pork from the trial batch of stock made last week and lots of garlic.

I do too. Especially with spicy chile sauce.

I've always approached wontons from the Cantonese/Shanghai side of things--not much spice. But next time I think I'll break out the Lao Gan Ma.

Mary Chung's Sichuan restaurant near the MIT campus in Cambridge MA was famous for its Suanla Chaoshou--a Sichuan wonton dish with boiled wontons, a hot-and-sour sauce, served over bean sprouts. Alas, Mary Chung's closed this year.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, when responding to you earlier it was running through my mind that the boiled wontons in spicy broth is something I've only seen up here but never knew from the Chinese restaurants of my childhood, and your last comment made me realize why. Our childhood Chinese (various restaurants spread around the Los Angeles basin) identified as Cantonese. The occasional szechuan dish was on the occasional menu but spicy Chinese food wasn't a thing. Up here, quite different! I see it often and order it just about every time.

[Jenise]

Dinner for 80 tonight. I'll be in the kitchen all day.

This morning I made a pot of tomato soup which consists of 1 1/2 lbs. of Roma tomatoes, a few fresh cherry toms that needed using, a yellow onion, one large carrot, fresh garlic, and 1 medium red bell pepper. Everything was cut up, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, then roasted. I put this into a pot with one can of all-natural Guesto sapore whole cherry tomatoes from Italy, and fresh basil. Then I added a good amount of Low sodium V8 juice. It is cooking on a low heat. When I think it tastes right, the immersion blender and fresh parsley will be put to work to make a smooth soup. I have not made many homemade tomato soups, but after reading a few recipes, I knew I did not want to add chicken stock or coconut cream, but I wanted a pure tomato taste with a little zing. I added an all-natural red pepper sauce from New Zealand called Kaitaia, and I like what I am tasting so far. Our eldest son is coming tomorrow with his wife and will spend the day with me. I wanted to make a great tomato soup and a sourdough, grilled Gruyere cheese sandwich for them. I picked fresh oranges from my tree and will slice them, adding sweet paprika, cinnamon, a bit of red onion, and topped with pomegranate seeds. A drizzle of fresh lime, olive oil, and honey dressing will compliment the oranges.
If the soup needs to be brightened, I will add fresh lime from the neighbor's tree which is the best.

Suanla chaushou (hot-and-sour boiled wontons) tonight, using the recipe from Mary Chung's Sichuan restaurant. Chaushou means "folded arms" and is the Sichuanese dialect name for wontons (="swallow a cloud" in Cantonese).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

This morning I made a pot of tomato soup which consists of 1 1/2 lbs. of Roma tomatoes, a few fresh cherry toms that needed using, a yellow onion, one large carrot, fresh garlic, and 1 medium red bell pepper. Everything was cut up, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, then roasted. I put this into a pot with one can of all-natural Guesto sapore whole cherry tomatoes from Italy, and fresh basil. Then I added a good amount of Low sodium V8 juice. It is cooking on a low heat. When I think it tastes right, the immersion blender and fresh parsley will be put to work to make a smooth soup. I have not made many homemade tomato soups, but after reading a few recipes, I knew I did not want to add chicken stock or coconut cream, but I wanted a pure tomato taste with a little zing. I added an all-natural red pepper sauce from New Zealand called Kaitaia, and I like what I am tasting so far. Our eldest son is coming tomorrow with his wife and will spend the day with me. I wanted to make a great tomato soup and a sourdough, grilled Gruyere cheese sandwich for them. I picked fresh oranges from my tree and will slice them, adding sweet paprika, cinnamon, a bit of red onion, and topped with pomegranate seeds. A drizzle of fresh lime, olive oil, and honey dressing will compliment the oranges.
If the soup needs to be brightened, I will add fresh lime from the neighbor's tree which is the best.

Karen, I smiled reading about you adding zing to your tomato soup. Homemade tomato bisque was a staple in my mother's repertoire, and made from canned tomatoes but get this: she added baking soda to kill the acidity. It's effective in helping make sure the milk doesn't curdle, but it also loses the zing in the tomatoes!''

Sounds like a great plan; enjoy the day with your son and family.

I have been craving a Costco rotisserie chicken for too long so today is the day. Costco is making a delivery around noon. I have also prepared a sheet pan full of Japanese sweet potatoes, regular sweet potatoes, fennel, carrots, and fresh lime slices slathered in a Harissa Lime concoction. A refreshing plate with Satsuma Mandarin wedges and I have dinner through Christmas and the rest of the week. My son will head home later in the day as he is delivering my best friend to her son in Sacramento. Life gets complicated with two sets of grandparents, a new baby, and young adult grandkids who have their own lives to start making their traditions.

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope whatever you celebrate it is a blessed day for you.

It isn't even Christmas yet but I think all our visits are done!

Pumpkin's sister and family were here for dinner on Thursday. I served a really excellent cassoulet, if I say so myself. Served with a hybrid green and chopped salad.

We also saw two of the fam on Wednesday evening for a light show at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Friday we celebrated the birthday of our upstairs neighbor, Nancy. I pan-roasted a flock of quail and, separately, broccolini and almonds. Then we dived into a big cheese board. (She's a cheese-a-holic.) Six cheeses, three kinds of fruit, four kinds of bread.

Sprinkled all through here are my ice creams, cookies, and eggnog.

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope whatever you celebrate it is a blessed day for you.

My wishes, too: Happys and Merrys, everyone!

The Thai red curry I recently made had cauliflower florets in it. That left me with the main stem of the cauliflower and a bunch of the leaf stems. It turns out that cauliflower stem (dandal in Hindi) is prepared on its own as a vegetable and one of my Indian cookbooks has a Bengali recipe for it. I made it last night. I had only the one dandal (the recipe calls for 3-6) but I added the cauliflower leaf stems as well. The dish was very tasty, but the cauliflower leaf stems are pretty fibrous. If I make this again I'll use just the cauliflower main stem.

-Paul W.

Sunday, we ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Edie had chicken breast; I had 24-oz T-bone and lobster tail. Appetizer was seafood pyramid; desserts were bread pudding and creme brulee. Cab Sav and Riesling.

Sounds spectacular, Larry!

Tonight: venison chops, seared in a cast iron pan, rare+ for me and medium-well for he. Served with brussels sprouts and mashed potato.