What's Cooking (Take Four)

I think ground-zero for chanterelles is Poland so the closer you are to there....

Indeed. I don't spend much time in Poland, but Berlin is pretty darn close and the chanterelles are plentiful and cheap. I eat as many as possible during the summer!

[Jenise]

Yesterday I made meat loaf. The purpose was to come up with a scalable recipe from which, on Friday, I and two helpers can make 100 hot and crusty meat loaf dips based on a meat ratio of 2:1 beef to turkey. Besides S&P, the seasoning will be shallots, garlic and parmesan cheese. The sourdough buns will receive dijon mustard and a wine-y jus dunk before broiling to add beefy flavors to the sandwich. No ketchup!!!

Jenise, sounds very tasty, but so that I understand, you will be cutting the meatloaf to be put into sourdough buns and making sandwiches to dip?

[Jenise]

Not quite, Karen. The loafs will be handformed long tube shapes, 3 per sheet pan, so about 3 inches in diameter which we'll cut into inch thick slices to insert into a sourdough bun. The buns, from a local market, are sturdy authentic sourdough texture--think miniature boules--and will be cut in half, the bottom spread with Dijon and the top half dunked in a wine-y, beefy jus. The meatloaf slices will be inserted. These will be done earlier in the day and oven-ready trays will be transported to the Clubhouse ovens and baked at 450 to heat and crisp up. No extra dipping required.

Today, I have a large crockpot with almost-cooked large white lima beans. I have now added oregano, Turkish Thyme, garlic, and onion powders, Real Salt and white pepper, carrots, onion, fresh garlic cloves, zucchini, Delicata squash, 1/2 can of Bianco Dinapoli Whole Peeled Tomatoes with basil. (awesome product) which I cut up and added some of the juice, low-sodium chicken stock, and a tub of baby spinach will be added near the end. This will take care of a few lunches for the next week and probably will put some in the freezer. It tastes great already, and the house smells great. Puppy is interested... I'm thinking of adding a bit of wild rice.

Our friend Ron, who is staying with us, is making pasta with a mushroom cream sauce for supper tonight, so I'm off the hook. I am, however baking some rolls. I had a couple of sandwiches while in Berlin last November that were made with rolls that were crisp on the outside and very light and fluffy on the inside. I'm hoping to replicate them for my own sandwich purposes.

Oh, I'm jealous! I love chanterelles and very few places near me carry them, and then only occasionally.

One of my favorite cooking shows is New Scandinavian Cooking. They seem to have chantrelles quite often. Locally foraged, too.

Ramps (they call it ramson) are used quite often as well.

I'm jealous!

[Jenise]

Dan, where's that show? I've not heard of it.

As for what's cooking, got a pot of blue corn pozole on the stove right now. Trying to empty out the freezer, and this puts a 3-bone pork loin roast to use in a great way. The dried blue corn hominy was a recent purchase at a new little Mexican market near me. I'm excited!

One of my favorite cooking shows is New Scandinavian Cooking

Bork! Bork! Bork!

Yesterday I made Halupki, German cabbage rolls with sauerkraut, with canned whole tomatoes and juice all layered into a yummy dish. I grilled asparagus and cherry tomatoes for my side, and also cooked up some baby Yukon Gold potatoes in apple cider with a touch of vinegar. Great stuff.

Yesterday I made Shanghai-style red-cooked chicken, one of my favorite cold weather comfort foods.

-Paul W.

I saw a recipe show up in the NYTimes site for vegetarian potato stew flavored with goichujang, so I gave that a shot tonight. It's a pretty standard mish-mosh of stuff - onion, garlic, fingerling potatoes, white beans, lacinato kale. The flavor comes from several tablespoons of gochujang along with some honey and soy sauce. (I also de-vegetarianized it by using chicken broth instead of veg broth because that's what I had on hand.) Once everything's chopped, it goes together quickly. Served with rice, it's a pretty decent supper. I have a couple of chicken breasts that need to be cooked, so I might throw them into the leftovers, but sausage would be a really great addition.

I also baked a couple of small loaves of Sicilian bread from The Italian Baker. For this, you use about 2/3 finely ground semolina (semola remacinata) and 1/3 AP flour. The loaves are small, with a weird traditional shape to them. I really like their flavor, but I would prefer something puffier and lighter in texture. Since I have nothing to compare them to, I don't know it they're supposed to be as dense as mine turned out to be or not.

I made a large pan of orange-rosemary chicken for eating during the week. For today, I marinated a chunky cut of Chilean sea bass in coconut milk, ginger, garlic, lime, and cilantro; then roasted it on a sheet pan with a mound of cherry tomatoes. A high-acid dish but very yummy.

[Jenise]

Jeff, your post reminds me of a Nigella Lawson sheet pan idea I've intended to try. Chicken parts are marinated with cut (sliced?) oranges and quartered fennel bulbs for 24 hours before roasting. There's probably an herb component, like thyme, involved. I can taste those flavors just thinking about it.

I also have a great rustic Italian recipe for taking a pile of lamb rib chops and another pile of roughly-chopped fennel and roasting the whole kit and kaboodle at high temp. If lamb and fennel is your jam, this will do it.

[Jenise]

Flavors would be delish; but the lamb doesn't overcook med-rare in the time it takes to sufficiently cook the fennel?

You par-boil the fennel for 10 minutes first. And it cooks at a high temp for a strangely long period of time. I'll post.

# from "Rustico: Regional Italian Country Cooking" by Micol Negrin

Agnello Arrosto con Finocchi

1.5# boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1.5" cubes
6 garlic cloves, halved
2 tsp fennel seed, crushed
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp black pepper
1/3 c EVOO
2 fennel bulbs, no stalks, yes fronds
1 tsp salt

1. In a 10"x14" roasting pan, combine the lamb, garlic, fennel seed, chili, pepper, and oil. Refrigerate for 48 hrs, tossing once or twice.

2. Preheat oven to 450*.

3. Bring 4 qts water to the boil. Cut fennel in quarters, remove the core, now cut each quarter into 4 wedgets. Boil fennel for 10 minutes, then drain.

4. Add cooked fennel and coarsely-chopped fronds to the lamb, season with salt, and toss. Roast for 1 hour.

Notes:
- The dish was originally created using wild fennel hence the addition of fennel seed to boost it. I imagine adding one or two sliced leeks would also work with its 'foraged' cred.

[Jenise]

Yes, the par boiling would be needed. I will love everything about that. I do adore fennel. I will be tempted to sprinkle the lot with a little gin for the roast.

Sichuan dry-fried beef tonight.

-Paul W.

Yes, the par boiling would be needed. I will love everything about that. I do adore fennel. I will be tempted to sprinkle the lot with a little gin for the roast.

The person who shared this recipe with me had just finished making a triple batch -- limited only by the size of his largest roasting pan!

IIRC, when I made it I used shoulder chops instead of cubes. Works just fine, recognizing that I was cooking for the ex-, who liked meat well (texture more important to him than flavor).

The Sichuan dry-fried beef came out wonderful but it was a bad idea. Yesterday I came down with one of those hit-and-run fever-and-diarrhea viruses. I got almost no sleep last night. The hot Sichuan food decidedly didn't help matters any. Things are better this morning but I'm still running a fever. Folks I've talked to say it lasts for a couple of days so I'm hoping it'll be over tomorrow.

-Paul W.

The Sichuan dry-fried beef came out wonderful but it was a bad idea. Yesterday I came down with one of those hit-and-run fever-and-diarrhea viruses. I got almost no sleep last night. The hot Sichuan food decidedly didn't help matters any. Things are better this morning but I'm still running a fever. Folks I've talked to say it lasts for a couple of days so I'm hoping it'll be over tomorrow.

Ouch, Paul. With gastroenteritis! Sorry to hear that, apparently it has been common this year.

[Jenise]

IIRC, when I made it I used shoulder chops instead of cubes. Works just fine, recognizing that I was cooking for the ex-, who liked meat well (texture more important to him than flavor).

So yesterday I came home with a small lamb rack (aka shoulder chops) and two fennel bulbs with every intention of doing this recipe, but on the way home I acquired a dinner guest. I went with the general idea of this recipe but cut the rack in half and pre-browned it before adding to the vegetables (which got the addition of two small russet potatoes, quartered, shallots and two types of olives. As threatened, a sprinkling of gin added some dimension. EXCELLENT!