What's Cooking (Take Four)

Dinner tonight will be Thai pad prik gai bai krapao (stir-fried chicken with chiles and holy basil). I'll be using ordinary Thai basil (horapa) with some dried holy basil added. Fresh holy basil is next to impossible to find because it has next to zero shelf life.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Strawberries.

Splashed with a couple spoons of Grand Marnier?
Drizzled with balsamico?
Or just sprinkled with powdered sugar?

None of the above! These berries are so black, ripe and sweet, it would be a sin to add anything to them.

Going to lunch at Bill's today, first time in months as other things kept me home. Pleased to be taking the main course which I mentioned in another post, a Jambon Perseilles terrine. No idea what I'll have when I get home tonight. I'm out of strawberries [sad look].

Dinner tonight will be Thai pad prik gai bai krapao (stir-fried chicken with chiles and holy basil). I'll be using ordinary Thai basil (horapa) with some dried holy basil added. Fresh holy basil is next to impossible to find because it has next to zero shelf life.

Batman serves Thai pad biff! bang! kapow! to the Joker.

This morning's breakfast features a new-to-me hot sauce from New Zealand WAHA WERA Kiwifruit and habanero sauce in my tomato juice concoction, which is always tomato juice with a Lisbon Lemon ice cube and hot sauce. Also, honey-crisp apple slices dipped in extra crunchy peanut butter. Quite tasty.

[Jenise]

Today, at the risk of suffering strawberry withdrawal, I'm going to attempt to make myself a real dinner. There will be a pork chop, no idea what else as of this writing.

Today's menu includes shrimp and scallop soup, which is chicken stock-based and contains crushed tomatoes, vermouth, onion, clam juice, garlic, oregano, fennel seeds and finished off with fresh basil.. Yesterday, I picked up huge strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. I am making a salad using baby arugula, sliced and candied almonds, and blueberries with a lemon vinaigrette. Salad is topped with feta cheese. It is a pretty salad, as the blueberries and dark arugula complement each other. Strawberries and blackberries will be served for breakfast this week, along with a fabulous blueberry, lemon sourdough made by a local lady and sold in our new grocery store.

[Jenise]

Never made the pork chop. Had a Mexican lunch that wasn't in the plans and wasn't interested in more meat at dinner. So: more strawberries! (Do I need an intervention? ) Last night I just had a salad.

Tonight I'm going to a wine tasting and taking a ham/parsley/shallot terrine and bowl of cold garlic shrimp.

Jenise, did your cold garlic soup have Spanish Sherry wine? How did it go over with the folks?

Sunday cook: a big pot of cacciatore (one of Pumpkin's favorites). With some leftover multi-hue carrots, confit them. With the back and ribs, stock.

[Jenise]

Jenise, did your cold garlic soup have Spanish Sherry wine? How did it go over with the folks?

I made marinated cold shrimp, not a soup. It was a great appetizer.

Today I made the first pot of clam chowder I've made in 39 years. Bob's allergy to clams etc took it off my agenda for good, though it was something I'd often make for myself when I was single.

For it I bought two cans of Snows clams--same brand I bought all those decades ago, but the brine this time was more like water than clam juice. Pretty flavorless, and the resulting soup isn't clammy at all. I put a lot of celery and onions in it plus some herbs so it's tasty enough, but totally misses the point.

Jenise, I have found that many of the canned products I used to trust are not the same. Last week, I opened a can of Hearts of Palm that I had used years ago. Awful, tasted like tin, I had to toss them out. Most of my canned products are tomato types, although in summer, I make tomatoes that I have not eaten for tomato sauce. I like the Muir Glen and Cento brands. I also have Garbanzo and kidney beans on hand, but mostly cook beans from scratch. I think the decline of products today is very sad.

[Jenise]

Karen, same here. In cans: tomatoes, beans, artichoke hearts, tuna, bamboo, water chestnuts and coconut milk are pretty much it. I seem to remember a second, competing brand of canned clams (yellow label?) but maybe it's gone now. The market I bought the Snows at only had this one option. Oh well, live and learn!

[Jenise]

Today I made myself lunch. This is an improvement over most days where I've just grazed--an apple or something--to stave off hunger but not actually prepare something lovely to look at and savor. I call this particular salad Lebanese Caprese. It doesn't have a real name that I know of, but it's caprese-ish because it consists of tomatoes, a green, and a cheese, but the green is parsley (and lots of it) vs. basil, and the cheese is feta. I prefer cow's milk feta when I can find it, it's creamier than sheep milk feta and never gamey. The dressing is lemon juice, and again lots of it, a little olive oil, plus salt and pepper. Made myself a nice shallow bowl of it and took it outside to enjoy with the view. I'm trying to learn how to be good to myself.

Good for you, Jenise, the salad sounds lovely.
For breakfast today, I'm having pimento cheese spread on a favorite cracker, sweet onion, and creme fraiche sourdough flatbread. I'm also having three large, juicy strawberries with a 25-year-old balsamic vinegar and my usual tomato concoction with green hot sauce. There is always a small dish of organic yogurt, lemon honey, because I can't swallow pills, so I melt them in the yogurt.

[Jenise]

Jenise, I have found that many of the canned products I used to trust are not the same. Last week, I opened a can of Hearts of Palm that I had used years ago. Awful, tasted like tin, I had to toss them out.

If you have a Grocery Outlet, look there for Caramia brand hearts of palm in jars.

Jenise, glad you are beginning to think about being good to yourself! Salad sounds delicious.

Couple of fun dishes this week. We harvest a bunch of ramps over the weekend. Grilled some, had some in eggs, pickled 2 quarts (one hot, one not). But highlight was ramp and sausage risotto. So easy, so good.

Another night Betsy made tasty hot honey chicken thighs, but the highlight of meal was a asparagus/radish/green bean salad with a miso/lime dressing, topped with coconut/almond/Aleppo pepper.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/102 ... bean-salad

[Jenise]

Dale, I am definitely going to make that salad, thank you!

Tonight is the neighborhood wine club. Theme is Kirkland wines (ugh) and the food suggestion is of course Costco food. I can't just bring myself to take something out of a package, so I'm going to use tortilla chips and smoked pulled pork purchased there to make two giant trays of nachos. I purchased the cheese there but will make my own salsa. The Clubhouse has an oven so I'll be able to bake them off on the spot.

Lately, I've been cooking because of my cravings. I had my recipes planned for two weeks, but my gut told me it wanted a chuck roast in a slow cooker. I found a nice chunk with marbling but not huge fat chunks, and just under two pounds. It has been well seasoned since yesterday, and this morning it will be browned in the slow cooker that does it all, along with onions and garlic. liquids are beef stock, red wine, and Worcestershire. Carrots and potatoes will be added later. A tomato bread salad made with Kumato tomatoes (fresh, not available yet from Farmer's), multi-color cherry tomatoes, and sourdough baguette croutons seasoned with herbs and browned in fresh garlic oil. A simple evoo and red wine vinaigrette.

Last week, I picked up a new product from Italy, Amore Sun-Dried Tomatoes. The ingredients list says, Sun-Dried tomatoes, salt, olive oil, white wine vinegar, marjoram, basil, black pepper, and rosemary extract. Whole tomato halves with just a touch of oil and tasty. I am going to take a few, cut them up, and toss them into the pot.
They come in one of those heavy, resealable bags. Might add some richness?

Made a gnocchi gratin seasoned with sage and nutmeg, with added champignon mushrooms, spinach, and the shredded meat from two turkey thighs. Very easy and very good.

Another round of this gratin because Pumpkin liked the first one so much.

I'm in the process of baking bread as I write this.

Today, I am making my favorite cold summer soup, gazpacho. There are so many ways to make this, but the one I have stuck with has a Clamato base, and builds from there, with avocado, cucumber, green onions, 1 Tbsp olive oil, a good red wine vinegar, garlic, tabasco sauce, tomato juice, and small shrimp. Sometimes I add jalapeño pepper, celery. Lime juice is always added after it chills for one day in the fridge. Love this soup, and it makes a great lunch on the warmer days.
;

I love these cukes, but lately, when I buy them, there is mold starting to form on the dark green part. Then, within one or two days, they are all slimy and moldy. I have purchased from two different places, and the same thing happens. I also buy English cucumbers, and they last a while. Anyone else having this issue?

[Jenise]

Karen, that's happened to me before. I wonder if they've been in super cold storage (maybe even gassed) such that the second they're in normal temps they decay immediately. Really irritating. I never put cukes away wet, btw, as they often are in the plastic grocery store bags they come home in. I dry them and wrap them in barely-damp towels so they can breathe.

I haven't cooked in days. Yesterday I lived on strawberries and cold fried supermarket fried chicken. Today I'm actually going to try to make a real dinner. I'm going to thaw out some filet mignons that should have been used long ago, so I'll trim them a lot but should end up with just enough to make a serving of beef in black bean sauce with a lot of red bell peppers and green onions.

I love these cukes, but lately, when I buy them, there is mold starting to form on the dark green part. Then, within one or two days, they are all slimy and moldy... Anyone else having this issue?

Definitely happens when there's moisture involved. Just had to 'save' a batch of cucumbers this week by making quick pickles before the mold spread!