What's Cooking (Take Four)

I have two large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, which I marinated with Asian flavors, sitting on a bed of sliced red onions. Along with this, I am steaming baby potatoes and serving them with tarragon, sour cream, and chives from the garden. Fresh, grilled asparagus is my vegetable of choice. I am making a ginger coleslaw with green and red cabbage, carrots, and a lemon. vinaigrette.
This will keep me fed for a few days.

The eldest son is coming for a visit, and he is looking forward to my BLT sandwich on Jalapeno, Cheddar sourdough for lunch.

Going to Baconfest today, an annual winegeek event. Carrying the Charlie Bird Farro Salad (farro is cooked with apple cider and bay leaves, then tossed with parmigiano, pistachios, arugula, radish , mint, basil, tomatoes and a citrusy dressing).
After a couple of great squash blossom dishes this week (stuffed with citrus zest ricotta and then fried, later pappardelle with blossoms, squash, ricotta and basil oil) was hard passing by beautiful bags at market, but am solo this week and keeping it simple.

[Jenise]

Dale I love the sound of that farro salad. Totally up my alley. I'll try to google it. I really envy you this baconfest thing, and always look forward to your notes.

This morning I added chicken broth the leftover Cincinnati Chili sauce from a week ago and turned it into a really delicious soup. Beer Brats from Uli's are thawing on the counter and I need to make myself start in on my terrine project (the annual terrine dinner is next weekend and, as usual, I'm trying to invent something surprising and original).

I'm making roast pork lo mein tonight.

-Paul W.

Tonight was pork chops and sauteed, sliced maitake, royal trumpet, and portobello mushrooms. Sauteed garlic slices until golden, set aside. Sauteed mushrooms in OO with salt, pepper, and thyme. Served with garlic sprinkled over. Easy and tasty.

Jenise

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/ch ... arro-salad

[Jenise]

Thanks, Karen. Just put farro on my shopping list.

I made a few confit duck legs today. I used a shortcut kind of recipe so I did not have to run the oven at its lowest setting for 8 hours, nor buy a gallon of duck fat. The result was good, not great, but all those perqs are worth something... fingerlings fried in duck fat, two containers of duck fat in the fridge, crispy skin, etc.

I doubt this recipe can produce an "A" quality confit but it'll give "B+" without too much strain. (Maybe some practice will improve the outcome; I can think of two things I would not do again as they did not manifest in the final product.)

[Jenise]

Jeff, one of my French friends does a chicken confit in a similar way, or at least based on your description it seems the same. Wish I could find duck legs easily; border woes have cut off my supply.

These were moulard leg/thigh joints from Dartagnan. Even going to the source, fresh duck legs are way cheaper than commercially-made confit. (On the other hand, Dartagnan makes an "A" product and mine were "B" so....)

Unsure what shipping would be to WA but Hudson Valley Farms has excellent legs
https://hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com/produc ... ault+Title

They also have confit legs
Wildfork is another source, probably a little cheaper, quite good but I prefer the HV.

[Jenise]

I'm a fan of Hudson Valley, Dale, I've bought from them several times in the past. When I lived in Southern California, I was spoiled by the fresh duck, whole and parts, I could get out of the fresh meat case at the Vietnamese markets in Westminster next door. And they were cheap, too. Up here I could get it reasonably priced in Canada, but bird flu has put an end to poultry in motion even though both countries have the problem and sick wild birds don't need passports.

[Jenise]

I made a rack of ribs yesterday for lunch and cooked a pound of romano beans for eating whole, with my fingers, so it was all finger food. What I didn't finish at lunch I finished for dinner. My life these days. At the other end of the spectrum, I woke up at 4 a.m. and when continued sleep eluded me, spent an hour watching videos on using xanthan gum. Today: I have no idea!

Jenise, pork ribs are on my menu for Saturday. Yesterday, I wanted to buy baby back pork ribs, could not find them listed on the market's website, so I ended up ordering St. Louis-style pork ribs. I have never seen these and did some research, but I still don't know much about them. It seems as if they have no bones, is that right?

St Louis should have bones (country style "ribs" are the ones that don't). The ends are trimmed so they are flatter than baby backs (and a bit fattier). If you use a long cooking time not much difference in technique.

A spicy breakfast for me this morning; my veggie juice cocktail had a Lisbon lemon ice cube and Waha Wera kiwifruit & Habanero Sauce, which comes from Far North NZ. I love it. Rainer Cherries, a mandarin orange, and a slice of Jalepeno Cheddar sourdough smeared with Devina Peruvian Pepper Spread. A good amount of heat, and very good!

[Jenise]

Karen, I prefer St. Louis to baby backs because left to right, the amount of meat (well, and fat) is fairly consistent. Baby backs on the other hand will usually be leaner at one end but a lot fattier and thicker at the other (and I like the leaner side).

[Jenise]

Last night I roasted some beer brats for myself and served them sliced with a lemon-cuke salad so that I could eat everything with just a fork out on the patio, while reading a book. We've had a few very hot days (85 at my house daytime, 77 nighttime). Today will be cooler and I'm making veal schnitzels with herb spaetzle for brother and BIL tonight.

Recently, I discovered a brand of fillet tuna packed in a jar with spring water...Tonnoni is delicious, and I love that it is offered in water
I broke up the fillets, cored a tomato, and chopped up the pieces,
Then I added chopped bread and butter pickles, green onions, garlic salt, white pepper, and then added chili lime mayo from Lee Kum Kee. It was a pretty dish, healthy, and made a great lunch along with Tostitos and a homemade salsa. Today I will make another stuffed tomato with the leftovers for lunch.

St. Louis ribs are spareribs with the brisket bone trimmed off. Baby backs come from the upper rib cage whereas spareribs are from the lower rib cage.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

St. Louis ribs are spareribs with the brisket bone trimmed off. Baby backs come from the upper rib cage whereas spareribs are from the lower rib cage.

-Paul W.

Yes, all true. That said when I was a kid, my favorite rib restaurant Chris N' Pitts left the extra meat and cartilage on. When you bought ribs at the market in Southern California, they came that way. A zillion years late, at my one and only trip to an Applebee's, I ordered "rib tips" not realizing that this would be the cartilage stuff trimmed off to create St. Louis style, a name that didn't show up in California until I was in my 30's. YMMV.

Today I am preparing St. Louis pork ribs, a different cut that I am not used to. Ribs will have a coating of grated garlic, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, fresh ginger, and Calabrian Chile Paste. These will be cooked in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours, lid removed to let ribs brown up the last 30 minutes. A side dish, Risotto a la Cucamunga, and the veggies will be roasted Brussels Sprouts with bell peppers, carrots, red onion wedges and Parmigiano Regiano. Many of my meals are put together with what I need to use up...like the red onion. It seems to be a trend now for giant produce. On a recent trip to the market for a cabbage head and red onion, I was shocked to see huge red onions and giant cabbage heads. Brussels sprouts were too big, as well. What is up with all that?

Made a totally delicious rice pilaf tonight.

I wanted to report back on cooking for the first time ...the St. Louis Pork ribs. They are awesome, have great flavor, and are easy to separate. Can't believe I have never noticed these before.