What's Cooking (Take Four)

Our local Whole Foods is currently carrying Rainier cherries.

-Paul W.

I just made what is possibly the easiest meat recipe ever: I bought beef short ribs, salted them and let them sit a while, pat dry, coat liberally with five spice, and roast low and slow (convection oven, 300*F, 3 hours). Crusty outside, moist and gelatinous inside, rich and meaty, responds well to a balsamic glaze. So much easier than braising!

Jeff, were your short ribs bone in? I love short ribs. I have a high-end Dacor oven over 20 years old and has a convection feature. I've never used it...those sound delicious. I found this recipe, keeping it to try soon.
https://bakeatmidnite.com/slow-roasted-beef-short-ribs/

Last night I made Sichuan stir-fried minced pork with hot chiles.

-Paul W.

After a grueling 5 hour and 8 minute phone call with Xfinity and three different agents, I rewarded my perseverence with rigatoni in a roasted garlic sauce left over from earlier in the week about 4:00, then later a big bowl of cherries. The fresh Washington lapins are finally in and they're the best cherries I've had yet this season. Dark, sweet, tangy, crunchy and free of blemishes--could not be better.

I picked up cherries last week and they were the darkest red I have ever seen, and just as you described. I looked at the bag and they came from Grandview Wa

Jeff, were your short ribs bone in? I love short ribs. I have a high-end Dacor oven over 20 years old and has a convection feature. I've never used it...those sound delicious. I found this recipe, keeping it to try soon.
https://bakeatmidnite.com/slow-roasted-beef-short-ribs/

Yes, bone-in. It had been two racks at the butcher, 5.5# together, which broke down into 6 pieces. (Yes, these look like something Fred Flintstone would order at the take-out window.) I like how these came out but I might dial back the duration a little bit next time, maybe 2.5 hours.

I have found occasional use for convection cooking but not a whole lot.

I had a Fred Flintstone-type rack of barbecued short ribs once at the County Line BBQ in Austin, TX. It was awesome!

Tonight, I'll be having grilled chicken thighs rubbed with Thai hanglay curry powder. As long as there are no thunderstorms, that is.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Tonight: Wagyu beef 80% Oklahoma burgers. Well, one burger. Still can't get used to singular.

You can make two. They're good cold, too, crumbled over salad or for mad experimentation with new sauces.

[Jenise]

Jeff, I elected to make just one burger and cook the remaining meat with various things to make a Mexican meat filling suitable for some great flour tortillas I just bought. So I did that, and then grabbed some Albers yellow corn meal to stiffen it up, a procedure I've been doing since childhood--it was my mother's taco filling. Not authentic by any means but I loved it then and still do for old times' sake. Strangely, the corn meal didn't add in like polenta, it added in like flour, and immediately turned my meat filling into a gooey paste. It went in the trash, as did the rest of the Albers. So sad!

[Jenise]

Today I'm having corn on the cob for lunch. Yes, just corn--very exciting with my new teeth!. I had cherries for breakfast. Dinner will be a baked sweet potato and green salad. Very boring and very typical of how I cook for just myself.

Jeff, I elected to make just one burger and cook the remaining meat with various things to make a Mexican meat filling suitable for some great flour tortillas I just bought. So I did that, and then grabbed some Albers yellow corn meal to stiffen it up, a procedure I've been doing since childhood--it was my mother's taco filling. Not authentic by any means but I loved it then and still do for old times' sake. Strangely, the corn meal didn't add in like polenta, it added in like flour, and immediately turned my meat filling into a gooey paste. It went in the trash, as did the rest of the Albers. So sad!

That is disappointing. I recently picked up some barley couscous. It tastes all right but there is nothing I can do to keep the grains firm: they want to get kinda wet and a little spongy no matter what. Maybe this is why couscous is usually made with semolina....

Jenise, at least you are cooking something different for yourself each day. I started cooking when I was 11 years old, and even though I love to cook and eat...I do not want to have to cook dinner every night. I do enjoy my Saturday mornings in the kitchen cooking for the rest of the week.
funny about eating the ear of corn for dinner, I did that for lunch one day.

[Jenise]

Karen, I love leftovers and have made a few things that lasted many days, but my primary interest at the moment is fresh produce, not meat-based foods (come fall, I'll be on that wagon). Not for health reasons, though that would be a good goal, it's just this is what I love and peak season for many of my favorite foods (corn, tomatoes, lettuce, cherries, and stone fruit so far with beans, summer squashes, local melons and the like to come) is just too good to pass up. The corn was lunch--I ate three ears! Then was too full for the yam so I just had a salad.

This morning I've made 1.5 dozen duck pate-stuffed mushrooms wrapped in puff pastry to take as a starter for a Bordeaux tasting at Bill's. I'll bake them when I get there. Someone else is grilling steaks for a main course for which I'm also providing a bold salad: escarole tossed in a garlicky crushed chick pea vinaigrette with roasted radishes.

I probably won't need dinner.

The mushrooms sound great!
Tonight mussels with lovage (I think first time I ever cooked with lovage, though I've had in restaurants, but Betsy put a plant in herb garden on a whim). Celeri batard!

[Jenise]

The mushrooms sound great!
Tonight mussels with lovage (I think first time I ever cooked with lovage, though I've had in restaurants, but Betsy put a plant in herb garden on a whim). Celeri batard!

The mushrooms are fantastic. A really really perfect pairing with Bordeaux, easy assembly and do-ahead advantages. Best served hot, but they can be put together and chilled a day or two before, ready to go into a hot oven.

I'll bet the lovage was even better than standard celery, it's stronger.

Tonight I'm making the Sichuan dish Ants Climbing a Tree.

-Paul W.

Last night was a couple of tri-tip steak strips seared on a hot cast-iron griddle, sliced thinly across the grain, and shingled. I thought I had some chimichurri sauce, but didn't. So I used homemade pesto sauce, instead (kind of close, I thought) and poured a stripe down the middle of the steak shingles. Rather tasty.

Tonight was stuffed (yellow) bell peppers, which I got for about 40 cents apiece. Used ground bison, basmati rice, onions, tomato sauce, diced mushrooms, cheese, all flavored with Japanese 7-Spice. Something we hadn't had for quite a while.

I love stuffed bell peppers. Made a beautiful dish some time back with them and stuffed tomatoes with the tops put back on. Photo worthy, but I prefer the peppers.

[Jenise]

Dinner last night: a cucumber (a small one, the first from my garden) and a tomato, no dressing just a scatter of Maldon salt.

Tonight, not dining at home. Rather, I'm hosting a wine tasting for 65 people. Guests will be served a case and a half of Mulderbosch sparkling chenin from South Africa while they grill proteins on the neighborhood Clubhouse's large outdoor cinder block barbecue. We're providing four large salads and garlic bread to go with them, plus three flights of red wine, each pair consisting of a Bordeaux blend and one of the component grapes. After that, each table will get a half bottle of zin port and a bowl of broken chocolate bars from Trader Joe's (1 lb bars are $8, an amazing value) and that will conclude the evening.

On the menu today is this: https://thecafesucrefarine.com/vietname ... ank-steak/

I made this last night. You're right, Karen, the marinade is fantastic!

-Paul W.

Crab cakes are on the menu today and will be made with lump crabmeat, panko, low-fat sour cream in place of mayo, red bell pepper, celery, red onion, parsley, and lemon juice, and then coated with panko and pan-fried. I am also making a tomato-corn relish, with cherry tomatoes, and fresh corn cut from the cob, dressed with rice vinegar, cilantro, salt, and pepper. A citrus aioli can be made to serve with this, but I am going to use lemon juice.
I have two large brandywine tomatoes and a cucumber, so I will slice these, dress them with fresh basil from my garden, salt, and pepper, to complement the meal.
We are up to 109° today, and yesterday was the same.