What's Cooking (Take Two!)

Tonight's dinner is gai sai takrai (Thai lemongrass chicken) and jasmine rice.

-Paul W.

A new friend and another couple are coming over for dinner tonight. It is sweltering hot here (20+ degrees!) so I will be able to grill outside.

Dinner is grilled heritage pork chops topped with bacon jam. Wine will be an old Williams Selyem Pinot Noir. My friends are taking care of the rest of the food and wine and I suspect there will not be any disappointment.

[Jenise]

Tonight we're getting together with the Dorks of York, and the topic is Southern Rhone. This afternoon I'll be making some ground turkey & artichoke meatballs en casserole with a lot of olives and herbs d'Provence to take along.

There was some grilled pork and bacon jam left over from the other evenings festivities and I was tired after working out tonight, so I just stuffed some tortillas with that along with avocado, Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, queso criollo cheese and a little spritz of fresh lime juice.

This weekend I'm going to make misr wot (Ethiopian red lentil stew) using the Whole Foods berbere.

-Paul W.

Coulibiac, made with wild salmon and chopped dill, minus the hard-boiled eggs but plus a layer of shrimp, wrapped in puff pastry with layers of sauteed spinach, sauteed mushrooms in wine and cream, chopped fennel and parsnip (parboiled), and a bed of seasoned basmati rice (fennel seed, charnushka, cardamom, juniper, allspice, bay, cinnamon, lemon).

My first one and I'm pleased.

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Hard to get it on the plate without it falling apart. But a little sour cream and salmon caviar helps!

For next time: The root vegetables are in there because there wasn't enough spinach to cover the pan. I'll get 3 or 4 times as much spinach next time. I'd also like a bit more mushrooms and even a bit more shrimp -- they add texture -- but it's pretty good as it stands. Though rumor has it that I should really use kasha instead of rice for greater authenticity.

Looks great -- we've made it before.

The definitive version uses sturgeon -- I'll probably never get to do that.

Looks great, Jeff, and it sounds like it would be fun to make.

That looks great, Jeff. I want some!

[Robin Garr]

Italian sausage with roasted fennel, onions, carrots and garlic and black beluga lentils.

The weather has been typical yucky Sacramento winter-gray-fog the last few days. I had a smoked hamhock in the freezer, so I simmered it up with some vegetables and lentils to make a hearty and healthy-feeling soup for a chilly day. It hit the spot.

The weather has been typical yucky Sacramento winter-gray-fog the last few days. I had a smoked hamhock in the freezer, so I simmered it up with some vegetables and lentils to make a hearty and healthy-feeling soup for a chilly day. It hit the spot.

Just bought a couple of ham hocks yesterday and intend to use for the same purpose later this week. Love me some hearty winter soups and stews.

Speaking of Kulebiaka, my first attempt as well. Made for 40 for the Old Russian New Year celebration last weekend. Puff pastry wrapping 9 layers of blini, rice, mushrooms, egg, salmon then egg, mushroom, rice, blini. Terribly cramped with the oven space. Not happy with blotchy appearance of the puff pastry because it got dried out while assembling 4 of these monsters. Served with dilled sour cream. Have to say it was better as the flavors melded. Will do again for a large group

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Those look great, Christina! Did you work from a traditional recipe?

Jeez. the two of you are killin' me here!

That looks great, Christina. Are those capers in the top photo?

Jeff, never occurred to me to alter the shape. Your execution would have been much easier. It was almost impossible to lift trays in/out of the oven each having 2 kuliebaka . It took 13# salmon, 3 cups rice 4# mushrooms, 18 eggs. I like the green in your combo.
Yes, I followed recipes from Russian cookbooks by Anya von Bremzen and Darra Goldstein. Labor intensive but not difficult.
One change I will make is to leave the poached fish whole. The recipes said to flake the fish after poaching and this created a mess when mounding. The classic Russian recipes call for blini encasing the layers top and bottom. This is necessary to keep the puff pastry from getting soggy which it did not even the next day. All in all a lot of fun for an appreciative audience of Russian expats.
Mike, those were peas with almonds, tarragon, shallots

[Jenise]

Christina and Jeff--your work is to be envied. Gorgeous results, both. I've never made one of those. And here I am surrounded by salmon--nuts, isn't it.

Made paella last night for dinner guests (who became my friends about 15 or so years ago when they read a post of mine on WLDG and contacted me to see about attending a party I mentioned planning). They now live in Florida and had brought some Floridian chorizo and I happened to have made two quarts of strong shellfish stock last week, so we couldn't NOT have paella, could we?

Tonight: spaghetti Bolognese with homemade pasta.

[Robin Garr]

Bandh Gobi, Northern Indian cabbage curry with onions, tomato, garlic, ginger and aromatic spices. This one came out really well!

Jeff, never occurred to me to alter the shape. Your execution would have been much easier. It was almost impossible to lift trays in/out of the oven each having 2 kuliebaka . It took 13# salmon, 3 cups rice 4# mushrooms, 18 eggs. I like the green in your combo.

Yikes! That's a lot of salmon.

I did what I usually do: read a whole bunch of recipes then put it together the way I like. I got my rice from one recipe, the spinach from another, and the shrimp layer was an adaptation of somebody's pureed whitefish layer.

Yes, I followed recipes from Russian cookbooks by Anya von Bremzen and Darra Goldstein. Labor intensive but not difficult.
One change I will make is to leave the poached fish whole. The recipes said to flake the fish after poaching and this created a mess when mounding. The classic Russian recipes call for blini encasing the layers top and bottom. This is necessary to keep the puff pastry from getting soggy which it did not even the next day. All in all a lot of fun for an appreciative audience of Russian expats.

Yes, I saw the blini and acknowledge that it's a good idea but I'm way too lazy to do it.

I also saw the poach-and-flake scheme but my head is still ringing with that Daniel Boulud piece in which the salmon overcooked so I was determined to keep it whole -- and refrigerated -- till the last moment.

My puff pastry did lose a little something to the cream-wine-mushroom layer directly under it. I might consider a thin layer of something to block that next time.

Jeff, I think we must have read some of the same books. Balthazar's recipe had whole filets and uncooked spinach. Julia Child had a fish mousse, white fish filets and mushrooms wrapped in a single large crepe. After consulting many sources, like many "traditional" recipes no two were alike. As it turns out the salmon in puff pastry is the French version and the generic Russian is usually filled with meat or cabbage.
I made the crepes the day ahead and the rest went together quite quickly. The creps allow you to keep the filling quite moist so it does not dry out in the baking. I am able to get the all butter DuFour puff pastry so did not have to make my own.
Will also make again tweaking the contents.

[Jenise]

Tonight we're comparing syrahs with our house guests, a plan decided over coffee about an hour ago and a change from the coq au vin and pinots I'd been planning. So the chicken is now in a brine with fresh rosemary, fresh bay leaf, wine and a big fat chipotle (dried, not the adobo kind, which I don't care for), and we'll just roast that later. Not a combination I've tried before but big herbs and a little smokey background essence sounds just perfect to me for the wines. .

Today, I'll try my hand at persimmon pudding made with pulp from locally grown American persimmons.

[Jenise]

We're going to a dinner party tonight, but will have leftover wot for lunch. Yum!

[Jenise]

Dinner tonight: purchased lots of mushrooms last week for something that never happened. Shitake, crimini and m---take, the name escapes me but I'm sure of that much--and was thinking of doing sautéed mushrooms that I'd serve over a cast iron skillet of layered and crisp roasted potato slices. Came here to say as much and saw Christina and Jeff's photos and now I'm thinking pot pie or strudel. Damn, don't know what to do!