What's Cooking (Take Four)

Crispy potato stix from a can.

Crispy onion threads from a can.

There's a theme here....

109!! Ouch. The fires will be starting any minute.

I spent last weekend in BC wine country, and have dined at the homes of friends the last three nights so haven't cooked at home. Last night was extra special because we sat outside on an island-facing ridgeline where two eagles live in a cedar tree maybe 30 feet from where we sat. They flew in and out all evening, bringing prey.

Today I'm being taken out to lunch so probably won't be cooking tonight either--dinner will be a bowl of strawberries.

Jenise, there is nothing major here yet. By the way, what caused the huge fires up your way? Is that known yet? I heard the smoke is impacting several states here.

Here is a rhubarb pizza that looks and sounds delicious.

https://www.thursdaynightpizza.com/aspa ... arb-pizza/

[Jenise]

My next adventure in rhubarb is going to be as a lightly pickled pizza topping along with bacon lardons and gorgonzola cheese.

Sounds great (even though I don't eat bacon, I can understand the dish). Pure personal inspiration or did you see someone else do that? Would there be a wine match for this? Lambrusco/Bugey Cerdon?

We're big fans of rhubarb and grew up eating my mother's strawberry rhubarb pie. But these days, the only way I use it is to make compote for the daily yogurt and fruit breakfast.

Rhubarb is of course a big and core ingredient in Germany, so there we often drink sparkling rhubarb soda. And rhubarb ice cream is always a summer flavor on my short list.

I saw something on Facebook mentioning those ingredients. I was reminded of being in Iceland where Rhubarb thrives and appears in a lot of (unconventional, to me) ways. I have a friend with a huge plant she calls The Overachiever, and I've been planning to get some from her to play with. It's not been in my world much, but I do like it.

Have you ever had a rhubarb wine? I did once, was made at a small winery on Whidbey Island--and it was GOOD.

Have you ever had a rhubarb wine? I did once, was made at a small winery on Whidbey Island--and it was GOOD.

Don't think so. And I can't say I've ever had a non-grape fruit wine that impressed me, but I'm sure there are good ones!

I foresee deviled eggs in my very near future. I scored 18-ct eggs at Smith's for $1.80. Curiously, a dozen was $1.99.

Have you ever had a rhubarb wine? I did once, was made at a small winery on Whidbey Island--and it was GOOD.

Don't think so. And I can't say I've ever had a non-grape fruit wine that impressed me, but I'm sure there are good ones!

I once made dandelion wine that tasted like a decent sauterne.

[Jenise]

Have you ever had a rhubarb wine? I did once, was made at a small winery on Whidbey Island--and it was GOOD.

Don't think so. And I can't say I've ever had a non-grape fruit wine that impressed me, but I'm sure there are good ones!

I've had a few and they've all been horrible but for the rhubarb wine mentioned (dry, grapefruity) and a Kelley Fox blueberry wine which was very syrah-like, but plumper.

a Kelley Fox blueberry wine which was very syrah-like, but plumper.

Just served the v2 of that wine blind to my Zoom tasting group. They spent a lot of time discussing which grape it might be.

I once made dandelion wine that tasted like a decent sauterne.

Is there such a thing as a decent sauterne? Sauterne (without the final 's') is the term for cheap, insipid sweet American wines popular with skid row drunks because of their high sugar content.

I'll be making Sichuan dry-fried beef from the other half of the flank steak I used for the stir-fried beef with snow peas.

-Paul W.

Put an "s" on my sauterne, and you have the meaning I intended. My dandelion wine was excellent. I do have taste buds.

[Jenise]

a Kelley Fox blueberry wine which was very syrah-like, but plumper.

Just served the v2 of that wine blind to my Zoom tasting group. They spent a lot of time discussing which grape it might be.

And was syrah the first guess?

a Kelley Fox blueberry wine which was very syrah-like, but plumper.

Just served the v2 of that wine blind to my Zoom tasting group. They spent a lot of time discussing which grape it might be.

And was syrah the first guess?

Pinot Noir, quickly corrected to Zinfandel. Then, Syrah.

The only reason they got it is because one of the tasters, Don, is from South Dakota originally and he's had fruit wines before.

My hot weather menu to be prepared today is a rotisserie chicken from Costco (I have not had one in a long time) and a potato salad made with multicolored baby spuds tossed in seasoned rice wine vinegar and home-made pickled red onions. Let the potatoes soak up the juices. Toss with mustard seeds, light sour cream, tarragon salt, and pepper. The veggie dish will be grilled asparagus spears with Yakiniku Sauce.

[Jenise]

Last night's dinner: leftover cold steak and cherries. No plans yet for tonight, but I've been over-indulging and think a day on just salad is called for.

Last night we had a neighborhood get-together, and our daughter (who was in town until this morning) took over. She made hummus, flavored with lemon and basil, a basic spinach-artichoke dip, and focaccia. It was all delicious. The day before, we came across fresh porcinis at the grocery store, which are a very rare treat here. We cooked them up in a cream sauce and served that over pasta with leftover smoked pork on the side. The year+ remodeling project is finally done to the point that we can cook, and it's been great to get back in there.

Welcome back, Mike, you were missed

[Jenise]

Last night we had a neighborhood get-together, and our daughter (who was in town until this morning) took over. She made hummus, flavored with lemon and basil, a basic spinach-artichoke dip, and focaccia. It was all delicious. The day before, we came across fresh porcinis at the grocery store, which are a very rare treat here. We cooked them up in a cream sauce and served that over pasta with leftover smoked pork on the side. The year+ remodeling project is finally done to the point that we can cook, and it's been great to get back in there.

Speaking of hummus, I had one of the best ever a week ago at an upscale Turkish restaurant in B.C.--came topped with saucy marinated mixed mushrooms, primarily oyster. Lemon juice and a finishing application of basil oil were also involved. Really delicious layers of flavor, and not a combination I would have come up with (at least for hummus) myself. Mike, where's your daughter living now? Out of college, I presume.

And what's left to do in your kitchen?

Today there's a pause in monsoon season here in NH and I'll be grilling some chicken thighs.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Going to my brother's house for the Tony's. They're doing steak, I'm bringing a salad: celery, cucumbers, walnuts and frissee in a lemon and roasted nut oil dressing.

Speaking of Sauterne wines...my mom used to make a dish she called Risotto. It was one of the recipes I had to take with me after getting married, it was a tasty mix of long-grain rice, Hot Sauterne wine, mushrooms, chicken broth, Beau Monde, and Poultry seasoning. It was delicious. Over the years, it seems that Hot Sauterne has disappeared. These days, I use whatever white wine I happen to have open, or a good dry vermouth. So, any of you wine connoisseurs have a suggestion for a good wine to add to my mom's dish?

I assume you mean haut sauterne. Don't know if it'll work in your dish, but I always keep a bottle of dry sherry on hand, which I use in lieu of whatever in some dishes. I imagine the wine connoisseurs out there are crossing themselves right now.

In The Way to Cook, Julia Child recommends using white vermouth in French recipes that call for dry white wine because at the time she wrote the book US domestic white wines mostly had too much residual sugar and not enough acidity.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, that's true. It's also true that dry white vermouth IS a wonderful cooking wine; I use it quite often.