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What's cooking?

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Barb Downunder

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Re: What's cooking?

by Barb Downunder » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:30 am

So it's truffle season downunder, there have been a couple of frosts so the perfume is hsppening. So got in some truffles , invited some friends over and had some fun.
Started with a truffled white bean puree with Latvian black bread, followed by a glass of pumpkin soup with cream and shaved truffle, truffled scrambled egg and grilled bread.
Main was porterhouse steak grilled to individual taste with a truffled cognac and stock reduction, green beans with truffle butter and toasted pine nuts and steamed chat potaotes.
I had thought to make a truffle pannacotta with stuff but remembered that one of my guests is diabetic ( and unable to resist if were on the table for others) so ended with fruit and cheese.
My guests had never experienced truffles before and are now converted. So I think this could go down as a sucess.
We all had a great weekend.
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Karen/NoCA

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Re: What's cooking?

by Karen/NoCA » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:43 pm

I made soup this morning, three kinds of summer squash, celery, red bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, onion, garlic, a little chicken, home made stock, fresh herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet paprika, and a little balsamic. I added a small amount of wheat berries and wheat couscous. Heavenly, and the colors just sing. Also made a marinated bean salad, plus a cucumber, onion, pepper salad. With family traveling back home and on the road all day, this will be a filling, but light, dinner for them.
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Robin Garr

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:03 pm

Karen/NoCA wrote:I made soup this morning, three kinds of summer squash, celery, red bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, onion, garlic, a little chicken, home made stock, fresh herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet paprika, and a little balsamic. I added a small amount of wheat berries and wheat couscous. Heavenly, and the colors just sing. Also made a marinated bean salad, plus a cucumber, onion, pepper salad. With family traveling back home and on the road all day, this will be a filling, but light, dinner for them.

Karen, that sounds outstanding! I might steal it (and delete the bird. 8) )

Here's our dinner, hot from the grill: Eggplant from the garden, grilled Sicilian style, with lots of olive oil and garlic. 

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Robin Garr

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:47 pm

Baba ganoush, hummus's bigger, more sophisticated brother. I back-engineered this recipe from Al Dewan, an excellent Lebanese restaurant in Astoria, NYC, in the early '90s. The secrets include roasting the eggplant over hickory smoke, using lots of garlic, a measured amount of tahini, and plenty of excellent, dark olive oil.
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My recipe: http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvis ... 0905.phtml
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Carl Eppig

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Re: What's cooking?

by Carl Eppig » Mon Jul 23, 2012 4:12 pm

Robin, how do you go about "roasting" eggplant over hickory smoke. I'd like to try it.
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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Mon Jul 23, 2012 4:16 pm

Carl Eppig wrote:Robin, how do you go about "roasting" eggplant over hickory smoke. I'd like to try it.

Carl, it couldn't be simpler. Fire up the grill - I use chunk charcoal plus blocks of hickory - and throw a couple of whole eggplants on! Cover and cook over high heat for 15 or 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until they blacken and collapse. It doesn't matter if the skin chars, that just adds to the flavor. Put them in a bowl, let them cool, then strip and discard the skin and use the smoky, tender flesh in a recipe for baba ganoush (like mine in the link posted), or any of other countless recipes that start with cooked eggplant.
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Robin Garr

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Tue Jul 24, 2012 8:14 pm

Makur Bai Krapao, Thai-style spicy eggplant with basil.

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:27 pm

Robin Garr wrote:Makur Bai Krapao, Thai-style spicy eggplant with basil.

A mini-recipe, provided on request:

No real recipe, I just throw these things together. :) But it's basically brown a bunch of onions (I used coconut oil) with minced ginger, garlic and dried red-pepper flakes; add in eggplant cut into rough bite-size cubes, stir-fry for a bit, then put in a shot of soy sauce, lime juice, a touch of sugar and some sambal oelek or Sriracha (rooster) sauce. A little water if necessary and simmer until the eggplant is creamy and soft. Uncover, reduce the liquid to a glaze, then stir in a handful of basil leaves, stir until they wilt. Plate, and garnish with a couple more basil leaves. Served with jasmine rice.
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Carl Eppig

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Re: What's cooking?

by Carl Eppig » Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:06 am

We had a beautiful chef's salad last night with strips of poached chichen breast on top. Should have tried to take a picture!
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Karen/NoCA

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Re: What's cooking?

by Karen/NoCA » Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:18 pm

Tonight it is Firecracker wild pacific salmon, grilled. A Campanelle pasta salad tossed with the following: Kalamata olives, Mama Lil's mild peppers, artichoke hearts, yellow bell pepper, fire roasted red bell pepper, garlic, red onion, oregano, sweet basil, and a lemon vinaigrette, sea salt and freshly ground white pepper. A small bowl of dark red grapefruit (because I found them in a local organic store, and they are very dark red) with avocado slices.
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Paul Winalski

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Re: What's cooking?

by Paul Winalski » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:40 pm

<pedantry>
Bai krapao specifically means the leaves of holy basil, Ocimum tenuiflorum, as opposed to Thai basil (horapa in Thai). Thai basil is a variety of the same species as ordinary sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum. Holy basil has a distinctly different flavor from horapa, which is a lot closer to sweet basil. The leaves in the photograph are definitely not bai krapao. I would call the dish makur bai horapa. Still delicious, but a different flavor. Calling bai horapa bai grapao would be like calling bok choy cauliflower because both plants are species of the genus Brassica.
</pedantry>
:wink:

-Paul W.
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Jeff Grossman

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Re: What's cooking?

by Jeff Grossman » Thu Jul 26, 2012 5:38 am

Robin Garr wrote:The secrets include roasting the eggplant over hickory smoke...

Oh, yes! My favorite local Middle Eastern place makes a smoky baba ganoush and it is just wonderful. If that is on the table, I don't even bother with the hummus.
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Re: What's cooking?

by Redwinger » Sat Jul 28, 2012 7:16 pm

One of my summer favorites:
Baby Backs, local sweet corn, and rosemary roasted potatoes.

The double chocolate zucchini bread/cake was delish as well.

NJ also reports that the 2001 ESJ Los Robles Viejos is still drinking nicely.

Life is indeed sweet.
Smile, it gives your face something to do!
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Carl Eppig

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Re: What's cooking?

by Carl Eppig » Sat Jul 28, 2012 7:58 pm

Tonight we grilled three rib eyes (had daughter and hubby over and ladies spilt one) over charcoal and mesquite chips; accompanied with fresh corn on cob, and beautiful sliceds tomatoes with some of our own Summer Golds on top. Washed it down with a bottle of 2010 Knapp Cabernet Sauvignon which they make ready to drink, but this was much better than your everyday ready to drink. For dessert we had Shu Fly Pie which I picked up at the farmer's market from a Meninite family from across the border in Maine.
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Karen/NoCA

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Re: What's cooking?

by Karen/NoCA » Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:21 pm

A whole, organic, free range chicken, has been sitting in the refer for two days to allow the skin to dry out. It is stuffed with onions, garlic, and German and English thyme sprigs. It has a nice rub down with melted butter, infused with more garlic and thyme leaves. A oven tray is ready to go with Purple Peruvian Potatoes, Red Bliss and Yukon Golds, dressed with Rosemary Olive Oil and fresh rosemary. These will be mixed with balsamic, caramelized onions after roasting. Tomato bread salad made with a myriad of large heirloom tomatoes, Yellow Pear, Sungold, red cherry, fresh marjoram, sweet green and purple basil, and a red wine and olive oil vinaigrette.
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Jo Ann Henderson

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Re: What's cooking?

by Jo Ann Henderson » Sun Jul 29, 2012 4:02 pm

A few weeks ago my sister came to town for my daughter's blow out 40th b'day party. She wanted me to have a fresh pork butt roasted for when she touched down. I had forgotten how good they are. So, today I am recreating the main entre from that dinner. I don't have a clue what I am going to prepare to go with it. I've been thinking about an onion tart as a side, but the vegetable eludes me. Also, I want to make a side sauce, and I can't remember the magazine I had marked for just such an occasion which had a sauce feature for different meats. Rats!! :?

Sunday Dinner.jpg


P.S. Not yet ready, needs about another 3 hrs of cooking! But, it smells delicious, all over the neighborhood!
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"...To undersalt deliberately in the name of dietary chic is to omit from the music of cookery the indispensable bass line over which all tastes and smells form their harmonies." -- Robert Farrar Capon
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Robin Garr

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:08 pm

Jo Ann Henderson wrote:... a fresh pork butt roasted ...

You are tempting me to backslide, Jo Ann ... :lol:
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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:09 pm

I wonder if eating Caprese daily is good for you, bad for you, or doesn't matter much. It sure is pretty, anyway. 

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Barb Downunder

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Re: What's cooking?

by Barb Downunder » Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:21 am

Robin Garr wrote:I wonder if eating Caprese daily is good for you, bad for you, or doesn't matter much. It sure is pretty, anyway. 

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Anything that looks that good should surely be bad for you!!! :)
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Carl Eppig

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Re: What's cooking?

by Carl Eppig » Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:12 pm

Believe it or not, I saw a recipe in a Bon Appetit in a waiting room this morning, that made it in cherry tomatoes! Who's got the time!
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Robin Garr

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:35 pm

Carl Eppig wrote:Believe it or not, I saw a recipe in a Bon Appetit in a waiting room this morning, that made it in cherry tomatoes! Who's got the time!

I imagine it called for simply halving them, which wouldn't require either excessive time or knifework skills - or maybe even leaving them whole, although I wouldn't recommend that.

Still, if it actually did call for carving cherry tomatoes into teeny tiny slices and placing a bit of mozz on each, I'd call a halt to that. :mrgreen:
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Carl Eppig

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Re: What's cooking?

by Carl Eppig » Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:43 pm

Robin Garr wrote:I imagine it called for simply halving them, which wouldn't require either excessive time or knifework skills - or maybe even leaving them whole, although I wouldn't recommend that.

Still, if it actually did call for carving cherry tomatoes into teeny tiny slices and placing a bit of mozz on each, I'd call a halt to that. :mrgreen:


It called for halving them and scooping the insides out!
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Robin Garr

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Re: What's cooking?

by Robin Garr » Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:43 pm

Carl Eppig wrote:It called for halving them and scooping the insides out!

Okay, that's a little bit much. :P
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Frank Deis

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Re: What's cooking?

by Frank Deis » Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:08 pm

I try to have some Caprese and a nectarine every day this time of year.

But I don't always succeed...
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