What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Made a pot of Mexican hot chocolate (just like I did about a year ago). Rich and thick and (not too) spicy.

But I did look away for a couple minutes and it boiled over. Still plenty to drink but what a mess.

It's happened to me, too. And more than once with oatmeal. I have some luck with laying a chopstick across the pot to help prevent boil-overs.

How does that work?

Made a pot of Mexican hot chocolate (just like I did about a year ago). Rich and thick and (not too) spicy.

But I did look away for a couple minutes and it boiled over. Still plenty to drink but what a mess.

It's happened to me, too. And more than once with oatmeal. I have some luck with laying a chopstick across the pot to help prevent boil-overs.

How does that work?

It breaks the surface tension of the liquid. Sort of like popping a balloon.

[Jenise]

Didn't cook at home last night but accepted a friend's last-minute offer to attend Happy Hour at their home. "Happy Hour" there means cheese, crackers, pretzels, popcorn kind of stuff from a couple who don't really cook. Shrimp were going to be involved this time, though, and so I got the frantic last-minute call "Do you have any cocktail sauce?" My answer, "I don't, but I'll make you one." Ketchup+Dijon mustard+horseradish is better than anything bottled commercially. They didn't know that, but now they do!

Which caused me to shelve last night's pizza--I'd already rolled out the dough but we just weren't hungry enough nor did we feel entitled to more carbs when we got home, so I just made two salads. We'll have the pizza today (chicken Italian saus and fennel).

Tonight was a melange of veges stir-fried in my round-bottomed wok on a gas stove.

And I grilled/roasted a T-bone to perfection (med-rare) using a ridged, cast iron skillet and finishing in a low oven. Works every time.

Sounds delish

[Jenise]

Sounds great, Larry. Steak isn't normally my thing but beef but I've been craving beef in every shape and form lately. Think it's gonna take prime rib to put an end to this.

Driven by conversations with Kenji Alt-Lopez on Instagram about thin-crust pizza, last night I made one. The crust was only about 1/8" thick and crisp from edge to edge. Chicken Italian sausage, fennel and onion.

Tonight I'm making braised lamb shanks. I might not consume it until tomorrow since I've got a leftovers that need attention. Namely, meatloaf stuff with (mostly) hard cooked eggs and mushroom bread pudding.

I've never made my own pizza other than taking good English Muffins and putting on pizza toppings. I used to have them waiting when the kids walked in the door after school and were starving! Have made them on flat breads, as well. I always considered Pizza a treat to order and we did a lot of that when kids were home. Then Pappa Murphy's came to town and I fell in love with their thin crust Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza. I could add a few of my touches and cook at home. I loved it that they would make half the pizza for me and the other half for the rest of my gang.

So, on to tonight's dinner...I have a 1 lb. chunk of wild caught Chilean Sea Bass, and am going to pan sear it in garlic olive oil and butter, then finish off in the oven until a temp of 135° then let rest for a few minutes. Serving with a sauté of large white mushrooms, snow peas, and mixed colors of tiny baby carrots. There are orange, white, purple and maybe yellow. Saw these in the grocery store last week and could not resist the pretty colors and the fact that they were so small. I'm also craving cabbage, so I may cut a cabbage steak, brown it up, and place my dinner portion of the fish on that. Not sure about herbs, spices yet, will figure that out later.

I had to postpone the strange-flavored chicken as I found out I've run out of hot chile oil. I'll be making a new batch of that today.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I've never made my own pizza other than taking good English Muffins and putting on pizza toppings.

And I've never been to a Papa Murphy's.

I've made pizza a few times with my own dough, but buying it fresh and already made at Trader Joe's has changed my life. I can have dough ready to roll out an hour after removing a ball from the freezer. and I get what honestly could not be a more perfect result (super thin and crisp) if I made the dough myself. In fact, none I made myself were this good. So why make it myself?

Your fish and vegetables sound great.

Karen, our dinner last night was a Nigella recipe published by Food & Wine magazine that you might be interested in. A whole 3 lb chicken is browned and then baked with 2 chopped carrots, a cup of chopped leeks, 2 tsp tarragon, lemon (the zest and juice of one large lemon), 3 fat cloves of garlic, S&P and water up to the shoulders so most of the chicken, but not the top, is underwater. Bake that, covered, for an hour and 15 minutes, then add a 1 lb box of orzo (or other pasta, I used rotini), bake about ten minutes more then remove from the oven and let stand ten minutes more than that. (Actually, she called for 15 each but I think 10 is better.) The result is a fabulous pot of chicken and noodles. The lemon is very, and wonderfully, noticeable, but I might use two next time!

This was my first ever Nigella recipe. Her writing style is very nurturing, no wonder she's been so popular.

What's in a name? The delicious Chilean Sea Bass used to be called the Patagonian toothfish. Smart move for consumers; bad news for the fish.

Spurred by finding goat pieces at the local Mediterranean Market I am making braised goat in Obe Ata from the NYT cooking section in 2019. A featured story on Yewande Komolafe, a Nigerian chef, food stylist from Lagos. I have made her Joloff rice using the obe ata and beef suya from that article but never found goat to try her braise. I must say that the obe ata is intense and addictive to me. A mix of bell pepper, habaneros, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, onions it requires deep caramelization of the puree to impart a characteristic flavor....so says a Nigerian friend that I made the Suya for some time ago. Serving it with Joloff rice. Sadly my friend has moved away and I won't be able to get a good read on how it turns out.
As I am likely to do when I saw that article I immediately set about sourcing the spices that I had never heard of like selim seeds, grains of paradise, uziza seeds, calabash nutmeg, clove basil, Nigerian honey beans. A real education in seasonings. My pantry is prepped for making those recipes in the article. I fortunately have adventurous eaters in my midst.

As I am likely to do when I saw that article I immediately set about sourcing the spices that I had never heard of like selim seeds, grains of paradise, uziza seeds, calabash nutmeg, clove basil, Nigerian honey beans. A real education in seasonings. My pantry is prepped for making those recipes in the article. I fortunately have adventurous eaters in my midst.

Bravo, Christina! I can get Grains of Paradise and they have their own grinder in my house, but I have not heard of the rest of those spices.

I've been way too tired for a long time to cook anything fancy. So, tonight was simply tamales, refried beans, and rice. And homemade Colorado sauce.

I predict huevos rancheros tomorrow morning and using the leftover Colorado sauce.

[Jenise]

Nothing wrong with that combination, Larry. And a good breakfast coming up!

We went out to dinner last night.

Today, I'm doing Superbowl food (for just Bob and I). 10 or 12 years ago we found ourselves in Maui on Superbowl Sunday and bought takeout from a local Food King for our langorous lunch/dinner: furikake battered fried chicken, cherry tomatoes, peanuts in the shell, and champagne. That has been our silly go-to Superbowl menu ever since. Today I'm doing those food items and adding marinated cold shrimp and lightly pickled Persian cucumbers.

"This was my first ever Nigella recipe. Her writing style is very nurturing, no wonder she's been so popular." I went to her website and checked out the recipe, beautiful photos of this dish, and read the reviews Thanks for the heads up. One person said the chicken falls apart easily, leaving lot of bone in the dish, after making it a time or two, she put cheesecloth around the chicken so she could pull it out in one piece.

[Jenise]

The picture is irresistable, isn't it? I might not have been tempted without that.

BUT, my chicken lifted out of the dish whole where I removed major pieces of boneless meat so that our portions could be eaten out of wide, flat bowls. Cheesecloth would have been wasted and moreover, would have absorbed and taken with it precious pot liquor.

Also, I reviewed the recipe again yesterday after making it and noticed that her instructions call for "two medium leeks, white only" which she estimated to be a quantity of about five cups. I wouldn't call those mediums! Anyway, I only had one leek so what I put into the dish was about a cup.

Yesterday's new batch of hot chile oil was a success. I used hot chile flakes from the Mala Market. My last batch of hot chile oil came out rather pale, so this time I added a few tablespoons of Kashmiri chile powder for added color. I also heated the peanut oil to a slightly higher temperature for better extraction.

Now that I have the chile oil, I'll be making Sichuanese bang bang ji (aka strange flavor chicken) for dinner tonight.

-Paul W.

What a surprise. We had huevos rancheros for breakfast.

I've been way too tired for a long time to cook anything fancy.

Say more? Is this connected to the pacemaker?

I'm trying to figure it out. Not with the pacemaker, which is working fine. I don't take nearly as many naps as before.

Babble alert: But it's been a rough year on me (teeny violin, please) physically and mentally. And too many doctor appointments for the two of us.

Working on a new book. Writing sometimes weighs on me. Might be a small part of it. The covid pandemic has really altered my lifestyle, like so many others. I probably need some more exercise. Plus, I'm a night owl who gets up too early sometimes.

Not really complaining, though. Just trying to figure it out and stay vertical.

Thanks for asking.

Baked some bread today. I gave the new neighbors a boule to welcome them. We'll see if they like it. I give it a thumbs up.

Today was the last day, also, of my next-door neighbor moving out and into a different neighborhood. I really liked them and shared adult beverages, my bread, and goodies for their German Shepard, who loved me.

Now, I have to wonder who's going to move in next to me.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day (Observed). Pumpkin wanted Chicken Pot Pie so I made it (using breast meat from a recently-roasted chicken, various chopped vegetables, package puff pastry, and a goodly amount of flavored-up bechamel).

Dessert was a Walnut Torte, borrowing an Italian recipe: 9 oz of toasted crumbled walnut pieces, 1/2 cup sugar, juice and zest of an orange, and a little vanilla, bound together by 2 eggs, 3 tbsp flour(!), and 1.5 tsp baking powder. I also threw in some chocolate chips. This is really excellent. Served with Frangelico-flavored whipped cream and candied kumquats.

And more chocolates afterward.

Sounds great.