What's Cooking (Take Four)

Aleppo pepper is pul biber in Turkish. It also is flakes of a variety of dried red chile, but it has a bright red color. Urfa biber appears deep purple to black and has a distinct smoky quality. Or so says Wikipedia.

-Paul W.

Aleppo pepper is pul biber in Turkish. It also is flakes of a variety of dried red chile, but it has a bright red color. Urfa biber appears deep purple to black and has a distinct smoky quality. Or so says Wikipedia.

-Paul W.

That's the stuff. After reading the label, I realized that it definitely is not smoked, but is very dark colored.

I have that spice in my spice cabinet and have used it a few times. I'm not really a fan, but I will have to use it a little more. I prefer freshly ground three pepper blend, or white pepper. I also use red pepper flakes a lot.

I'll have to give those tomatoes a try, Karen.

Lunch today (and for the past several days) has been a slab of homemade ciabatta, sliced and drizzled with EVOO and then toasted for a bit. After that, I put a couple of thin slices of mortadella on one of the bread pieces and stick it under the broiler for a few minutes., Then some sauteed shishitos and then some mild provolone go on top and it gets put back under the broiler to melt the cheese. The other piece of ciabatta goes on top of that. It's a very tasty sandwich.

Yum, it sounds delish.

[Jenise]

I have that spice in my spice cabinet and have used it a few times. I'm not really a fan, but I will have to use it a little more. I prefer freshly ground three pepper blend, or white pepper. I also use red pepper flakes a lot.

Except to express an opinion like this, I wouldn't even put black pepper, white pepper and aleppo pepper (which is a chile) in the same sentence. They're each suited to different end results, and not interchangeable in my kitchen. I do love Aleppo pepper though. Haven't owned any in a while, because of the oily quality already mentioned it doesn't last very long. Has to be fresh.

The drupes of the pepper vine are peppercorns, which may be green (unripe), black (unripe and dried), white (ripe with skin removed) or red (ripe with skin intact). Aleppo pepper is dried and ground chile (capsicum)--completely unrelated and as Jenise said with a completely different flavor profile. Pink peppercorns are the fruit of a different plant entirely. The only thing they all have in common is tasting hot on the palate.

-Paul W.

And while we're at it... there are two ways to remove the black skin to produce white peppercorns. There is the running water method and the soaking in water method. Both work but you get a slightly different outcome. The soaked ones have a slightly fermented taste to them.

Breakfast this morning is a thick slice of a multi-grain bread, toasted with mashed avocado sprinkled with Truffle salt. A Satsuma mandarin on the side, along with my tomato juice concoction.

[Jenise]

Karen, I would happily share that breakfast with you!

Btw, funny thing just happened, I was booking a rental car and the software asked for my last night and offered up two options for me to select from: my last name and yours. HUH? Yes I recently sent you a package, but I've probably typed 1400 other last names since then. Crazy!

I have that happen with Amazon, sometimes, I send things to my kids, so Amazon has their names and addresses.

It's a beautiful day in the valley today. I just finished prepping my weekly dinner menu. I found a nice-sized Australian rack of lamb at Costco. Seasoned all over with Quebec seasoning, then sprinkled it with garlic powder and freshly picked rosemary from my garden. Next, baby red potatoes and wedges of Lisbon Lemons were drizzled with Olio Santo, salt, pepper, whole grain mustard, garlic, and onion powders. I cut up fresh parsley to finish off at serving. A batch of asparagus spears, along with cherry tomatoes which were just starting to wrinkle, drizzled with Extra Virgin Lisbon Lemon oil, salt, white pepper, garlic powder, and a little parmesan cheese. All will be roasted in the ovens later. I also plan to make a red cabbage coleslaw with mandarin orange segments, green onions, and vinaigrette, still to be determined.

as my wife is still gallivanting around the Caribbean with our daughter, I am having the boys over tonight for boeuf bourguignonne from the James Peterson book Glorious French Food. It will be served with egg noodles, a salad one of the other guys is bringing, and a purchased almond cake for dessert.

as my wife is still gallivanting around the Caribbean with our daughter, I am having the boys over tonight for boeuf bourguignonne from the James Peterson book Glorious French Food. It will be served with egg noodles, a salad one of the other guys is bringing, and a purchased almond cake for dessert.

And the beverages are...?

We had a Melanie Pfister Engelburg Riesling pre-dinner (along with cocktails for those who wanted them), '18 Il Poggiione Brunello and '19 Vina de Zorzal Senora de los Alturos with dinner, and '05 Huet Le Mont with the almond torte. Some rum, whiskey, and amaro made the after dinner rounds as well.

Yesterday, on one of my favorite cooking shows, The Kitchen on Food Network, Jeff Mauro made a cheese tortilla in the toaster. I had never seen it done before and loved the idea...SO I made mine today for breakfast. I placed Fontina cheese on a tortilla, added a few Mama Lil's peppers, a slice of tomato, seasoned with oregano, folded in the sides of the tortilla, then folded it in half. Place into toaster, open-side up, of course. Delicious. After a little research, there are so many ideas out there for this, even a peanut butter and jam....crazy! Next time, going to try with a flour tortilla.

@Mike... Nice drinks! I'm always happy for a riesling to start, too.

@Karen... I love the sound of this. I'm going to have to look it up. Thank you.