What's Cooking (Take Four)

On the menu for today is a pork tenderloin, marinated in balsamic vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, steak seasoning blend, and fresh rosemary and thyme from the herb garden. This will be oven-cooked. A coleslaw made with red and green cabbage, shredded carrots, and dressed with a mixture of seasoned rice vinegar, creamy horseradish, lemon juice, onion powder, celery salt, mustard powder, salt, and black pepper. The recipe calls for mayo, but I am using low-fat sour cream. Also, in place of sugar, I am using honey, I love the mixed coleslaw salads, as they keep well all week

I have a cookbook authored by Biba Caggiano, who owned Biba's Italian Restaurant in downtown Sacramento for many years.
My son served her restaurant's wine and spirit orders for many years, and we went there often. She signed her book and gave it to me for my birthday one year, long ago. One of my faves is being made today, Peperonata in Padella or Peppers, Onion, Tomatoes, and Balsamic Sauce. Served with spaghetti or any pasta.
Our weather is cooling down this coming week with temps into the 60s and mid-80s. Rain is expected Monday for three days. Can't wait!! I love the cooler mornings when I can open up the house.

Karen - we went to Biba's many times over the years and had a lot of memorable meals there. We also have all of her cookbooks and have never come across a bad recipe in them.

We bought a Breville oven a while back that has an air fryer setting, so last night I finally tried it out for fried fish. I used cod fillets and did the flour-egg-panko thing, having browned the panko first with some garlic and EVOO. Stuck them in the air fryer for about fifteen minutes and they came out very nicely. Tender and fully cooked on the inside, very crispy on the outside. Served them with fries that I made according to an NYTimes recipe in which you slice the potatoes in 1/4" strips, soak them in water, drain and dry, toss with olive oil, and then spread them out on a baking sheet pre-heated to ~500 degrees. Cook until done. They didn't look all that great, with irregular browning, but they tasted great and were pretty crispy. (I would have done them in the air fryer, too, but there wasn't room for them.)

[Jenise]

Mike, plain water or hot water on those air fries? I always pour a pan full of boiling water over my prepared potatoes and soak for an hour or so before oven-frying. Softening the exterior and making it more permeable does wonders.