What's Cooking (Take Two!)

What a story! I think Fritz deserves to be handwashed and have his propane tank topped off.

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Last night's dinner. Zucchini Boats stuffed with Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and topped with mozzarella.

That looks good, Howie!

[Jenise]

Indeed it does. I'm getting used to 'Big Zucchini' as it will be called around here. Farmers tend to grow it large; not something I ever saw in southern California, but used to occasionally see when I lived in England, where they called it Marrow.

English vegetable marrow is a distinct variety from zucchini, which the English call courgette. But both are varieties of the same species of gourd, as are also spaghetti squash, pattypan, yellow summer squash, crookneck, the ornamental squashes, and pumpkin.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Did not know it was a distinct variety (obviously). But of course I understand all the others.

[Jenise]

Dinner tonight: having five other couples over for a social dinner/planning meeting. Am serving a meal that's loosely a provencal style casual bistro dinner, since people will have to eat in their laps. For appies, will serve blanched green beans in a walnut vinaigrette and little tartines of foie gras torchon and homemade tomato jam with dry cider in lieu of champagne. Dinner will be Rhone reds with Joel Robuchon's potato and bacon gratin on the same plate with a garlicky romaine-fennel salad. Guests are bringing dessert.

[Jenise]

Put our traps out yesterday for the first time in several weeks. Waited all day, deliberated over inviting another couple to join us for a big crab dinner, then ended up not doing that. Good thing. Our catch? Two keepers. Four traps, but all we caught were women and children. Scads of them. Ended up having to make pasta for dinner. Moved our traps to a new location and left them out overnight, hoping for better. Will go see what we've got in a few minutes---then I'll tell you if we're having crab for dinner or not.

Last night was our neighborhood block party and drive-in movie. For the occasion, I marinated and grilled a flank steak and made a green bean salad. The salad was dead simple: I fried up some bacon bits, then added some balsamic to a tablespoonful of the grease and tossed the blanched beans in it. The bacon was then added in as was a half a lemon's worth of zest. Very nice.

My wife bookended my contributions with crab balls as an appetizer and two flavors of whoopie pies for dessert.

[Jenise]

Nice choices, Mike. Love that you did a green bean salad--green beans perform so beautifully this way, it's a surprise that more people don't consider the option.

We ended up with 18 Dungeness for the weekend. Am testing freezing methods to see if I can't extend what we have to more crab dinners over the next month, in particular Charles Phan's pan roasted Dungeness with lemon grass and garlic. Today, I'll make crab cakes for the freezer. The fat from the mayo is a good preservative and we will enjoy crab cakes for the next three months.

[Jenise]

And today I'm making a bobotie for tonight's South African wine tasting. Also, putting up five more quarts of green tomato pickles.

Dinner last night was an improvised stir-fried chicken with black bean sauce, made using Lee Kum Kee black bean and garlic sauce as the base. It was a success and will be going into the general rotation.

-Paul W.

I made Rose Levy Beranbaum's kickass pear tart with almond cream the other day, and wifey and I decided to have the leftovers as our dinner tonight. Intense moans of gustatory bliss ensued.

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The wine...? Uh, yeah. Méthode traditionnelle. Waddaya gonna do. It's actually my go-to bubbly, the once or twice a year we have bubbly. And besides, I used it to make matching kickass Bellinis with the poaching liquid. Good swill would have been wasted.

[Jenise]

Tom, that's drop-dead gorgeous. Like, bakery-perfect. Are you sure you're not Christina Tosi in disguise?

Are you sure you're not Christina Tosi in disguise?

Oh no! I've been found out!!

Lol. Thanks, Jenise - my head(s) will now not fit through the kitchen door any more

I had already bought some red drum at the fish market and was picking up a few things at Whole Foods when I spotted banana leaves. Seemed easy enough to use, and cheap, so I immediately decided to have fish steamed in banana leaf for lunch. My first time using them, but I was very satisfied!

I made a loose 'pesto' with basil, arugula, almonds, ginger, garlic, olive oil and lime, which I put on the fish before steaming in the leaf. The 'pesto' was also a sauce at the table, which went well with the roasted potatoes and sauteed eggplant as well. All very delicious and the fish was quite succulent, which is how I like my fish. Will definitely be doing it again!

Visited a market which will become part of my go to places and found great Chinese cabbage and daikon so ... Today I have put up a jar of kimchi, and one of saurkraut.

Also had some strawberries whose initial fate did not eventuate so turning them into jam.

Jenise, wow fresh crab, I love crab, fiddly bits aside I reckon they are up there with lobster.

[Jenise]

Okay, so I meant to get two little poussains out of the freezer last night for tonight's dinner, some brining would have been involved. But I forgot.

Now what?

Okay, so I meant to get two little poussains out of the freezer last night for tonight's dinner, some brining would have been involved. But I forgot.

Now what?

Did you find a solution, Jenise? I was thinking a wet prep, like a fricassee, stew, or even steamed with an Asian treatment. What did you decide?

[Jenise]

Okay, so I meant to get two little poussains out of the freezer last night for tonight's dinner, some brining would have been involved. But I forgot.

Now what?

Did you find a solution, Jenise? I was thinking a wet prep, like a fricassee, stew, or even steamed with an Asian treatment. What did you decide?

Yeah, we ate at the neighbor's house.

Tonight I planned dinner based on a hankering for lima beans. And I have some corn on the cob, so I bought frozen limas to make a succotash and pork cutlets to schnitzel.

Yeah, we ate at the neighbor's house.

BWAHAHAA! My favorite recipe

[Jenise]

Btw, I'm also going to make a potato-chevre terrine to take to an event on Saturday night. I made one a few days ago to serve with roasted baby beets and an old pinot noir (a magical food-wine pairing), and am going to make another that I'll serve with steamed asparagus and an orange-shallot-tarragon sauce to fit a Tuscan theme on Saturday night (with Sauv blanc).

And I'll be brining almost 20 pounds of king salmon which I'll smoke tomorrow. And tomorrow we prep another 30 pounds of Coho salmon for cedar planking barbecuing tomorrow night. It's my neighborhood wine club's monthly 'do', and we're doing a salmon roast. Wine pairings will be pinot noir, merlot and some fruity Valpolicellas.

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[Jenise]

Yeah, we ate at the neighbor's house.

BWAHAHAA! My favorite recipe

Sometimes it just pays to stand outside with a glass of wine in one hand and a bottle in the other. Things happen!

Sometimes it just pays to stand outside with a glass of wine in one hand and a bottle in the other. Things happen!

And if it doesn't...you've still got a bottle of wine in one hand and a glass in the other! Win-win