What's Cooking (Take Two!)

[Jenise]

Tonight we're having Apple-wine-herb oven-fried chicken. My recipe, supervised from an armchair. With that, asparagus and a green salad of some kind.

Tonight we're having Apple-wine-herb oven-fried chicken. My recipe, supervised from an armchair. With that, asparagus and a green salad of some kind.

Hmmm. I can see some advantages to having you recuperate in the household. Northern California is rather nice right now, y'know.....

[Jenise]

Mike, I'm laughing at the thought. Maybe I can turn it into a longer gig of one night appearances, That would be one way to see the USA in my Chevrolet, as the old jingle went!

It was Pumpkin's birthday on Friday and a seafood spectacle was requested. So:
1. Clams on the half shell -- we're getting some really tasty top necks now
2. Escargots -- an excuse for butter and garlic but heck
3. Lobster in Saffron Cream sauce -- over cheese tortellini
4. Lobster and Bacon Quiche -- with a side of brussel sprouts pan-roasted in the bacon drippings
5. Dessert of fresh fruit and eau-de-vie -- a basket from Edible Arrangements that includes chocolate-covered pineapple bunnies, the drinks were mostly Cointreau for sipping

A bottle of FRV100 accompanied the proceedings.

Now, I'll admit that I did as much selection / orchestration as I did cooking but the final effect was grand.

Saturday we took in some 'kulcha'. The Metropolitan Museum is on a spree of one-room exhibits and this time I found one that included three Faberge eggs, one that was themed for "Music in the time of Caravaggio", and one that exhibited the brilliant morning-glory screens from Japan.

We then walked downtown -- sunny and windy so quite exhilarating -- to our reservation at Kyo Ya for a kaiseki dinner. Ten courses, each plate just two or three bites, all carefully crafted by the chef. A mix of textures and flavors, he even made palatable things that neither of us like! Alas, it was still the Winter menu so the fare was more rooty than leafy but so it goes. Favorites: (1) the jellied fresh crab served mille-feuille style between rounds of lemony turnip and topped with uni, crab roe, and caviar; (2) the petite salad with long-baked onion dressing served on a razor clam; (3) bozushi mackerel that was pressed, fermented, and served atop seasoned rice with wasabi and ginger.

And, of course, home for sweet treats: cookies from the Italian bakery and ice cider. The birthday ends with a hearty round of insulin shock for everyone!

It was Pumpkin's birthday on Friday and a seafood spectacle was requested. So:
1. Clams on the half shell -- we're getting some really tasty top necks now
2. Escargots -- an excuse for butter and garlic but heck
3. Lobster in Saffron Cream sauce -- over cheese tortellini
4. Lobster and Bacon Quiche -- with a side of brussel sprouts pan-roasted in the bacon drippings
5. Dessert of fresh fruit and eau-de-vie -- a basket from Edible Arrangements that includes chocolate-covered pineapple bunnies, the drinks were mostly Cointreau for sipping

A bottle of FRV100 accompanied the proceedings.

Now, I'll admit that I did as much selection / orchestration as I did cooking but the final effect was grand.

Saturday we took in some 'kulcha'. The Metropolitan Museum is on a spree of one-room exhibits and this time I found one that included three Faberge eggs, one that was themed for "Music in the time of Caravaggio", and one that exhibited the brilliant morning-glory screens from Japan.

We then walked downtown -- sunny and windy so quite exhilarating -- to our reservation at Kyo Ya for a kaiseki dinner. Ten courses, each plate just two or three bites, all carefully crafted by the chef. A mix of textures and flavors, he even made palatable things that neither of us like! Alas, it was still the Winter menu so the fare was more rooty than leafy but so it goes. Favorites: (1) the jellied fresh crab served mille-feuille style between rounds of lemony turnip and topped with uni, crab roe, and caviar; (2) the petite salad with long-baked onion dressing served on a razor clam; (3) bozushi mackerel that was pressed, fermented, and served atop seasoned rice with wasabi and ginger.

And, of course, home for sweet treats: cookies from the Italian bakery and ice cider. The birthday ends with a hearty round of insulin shock for everyone!

A lovely way to really 'lean in' to the birthday celebration concept!

That does sound like a wonderful birthday celebration, Jeff.

After being too hot and too dry for the last couple of months, it suddenly turned cold and wet today. I ended up making meatloaf with mashed potatoes. The meatloaf had a generous helping of fresh garlic and chicken livers but was a little too loose and fatty for my taste. I think this is because Taylor's Market, where I get the beef, went from carrying ground round and chuck to ground round and "Taylor's blend". This is basically the scraps from a lot of different cuts including some pretty high end ones all ground up together. I think it's fattier than the chuck was, and I always add a fair amount of their Italian sausage to the loaf, so next time I'll be using the round. We also had "Strawberry Caprese". This consisted of thick slices of strawberry, each with a thin slice of mozzarella, a little Thai basil, and a drizzle of balsamic on top. It worked pretty well and I will do that one again.

I celebrated Easter with coq au vin and 1995 Bouchard P&F Corton.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jeff, what a fantastic, indulgent and appropriately loving menu. Bravo!

Here at Chez J's temporary headquarters, we have two awesome meals planned. Lunch will be little roll ups of a shrimp and piece of seared pork belly with sriracha, cilantro and green onion strips wrapped inside short lengths of flour tortilla. Annabelle's escited as she's never done pork belly before. For dinner, we have porterhouse pork chops marinating in Lan Chi, soy sauce, sugar and Rosemary. Again, my idea: will give Annabelle a bridge between the teriyaki flavors of her Hawaiian heritage but less sweet and more spicy-sophisticated in A way her partner John will love. He does not love teriyaki. Annabelle trusts this will appeal since Neither do I, and yet this is my go-to marinade for grilled pork chops. They will be grilled outside and served with plain white rice after a beet/fennel/chèvre carpaccio with wasabi vinaigrette.

Lunch will be little roll ups of a shrimp and piece of seared pork belly with sriracha, cilantro and green onion strips wrapped inside short lengths of flour tortilla.

Pork and shrimp are yin and yang opposites, right? (I once had a waitress at a Korean restaurant complain that me and my dinner partner were ordering conflicting dishes.)

For dinner, we have porterhouse pork chops marinating in Lan Chi, soy sauce, sugar and Rosemary. Again, my idea: will give Annabelle a bridge between the teriyaki flavors of her Hawaiian heritage but less sweet and more spicy-sophisticated in A way her partner John will love. He does not love teriyaki. Annabelle trusts this will appeal since Neither do I, and yet this is my go-to marinade for grilled pork chops. They will be grilled outside and served with plain white rice after a beet/fennel/chèvre carpaccio with wasabi vinaigrette.

The marinade still sounds a little OTT for me, but what the hay. I love the idea of a beet, fennel, chevre carpaccio!

[Jenise]

Probably. I just know they combine well. Pork and shrimp are a very common combination in Chinese dumplings, for instance.

Not OTT at all! Break it down--salt, sweet, heat and herb. It's very balanced.

[Jenise]

Tonight, we're doing seared/roasted fresh opah in a tomato-fennel pan sauce on a crusty toasted crouton. Also, soft red lettuce salad with walnuts and blue cheese, walnut-lemon vinaigrette.

OK, some of you may need to sit down for this. Tonight, I made macaroni and cheese and it was - drum roll, please - NOT from a box! It was a Donna Hay recipe that is only barely more complicated than the box version. It involves cooking up some macaroni (or cavatappi, in our case) and dumping a bunch of heavy cream, milk, and grated cheddar on top of it. Then stir over low heat until it gets thick. I added cooked, loose Italian sausage, a bunch of peas, and some Dijon mustard. Each bowl got a grating of parmigiano on top. It was pretty good. Not as good as it is when you make a bechamel first and then mix in the cheese, but not bad for such a quick and dirty technique. Of course, it was missing that wonderful synthetic-industrial flavor that only the blue box can impart but even I have to venture away from the particular comfort food zone once in a while.

OK, some of you may need to sit down for this. Tonight, I made macaroni and cheese and it was - drum roll, please - NOT from a box! It was a Donna Hay recipe that is only barely more complicated than the box version. It involves cooking up some macaroni (or cavatappi, in our case) and dumping a bunch of heavy cream, milk, and grated cheddar on top of it. Then stir over low heat until it gets thick. I added cooked, loose Italian sausage, a bunch of peas, and some Dijon mustard. Each bowl got a grating of parmigiano on top. It was pretty good. Not as good as it is when you make a bechamel first and then mix in the cheese, but not bad for such a quick and dirty technique. Of course, it was missing that wonderful synthetic-industrial flavor that only the blue box can impart but even I have to venture away from the particular comfort food zone once in a while.

Good Mac-n-Cheese is a joy, and it's a shame that the ubiquitous boxed stuff has given it a bad rap. Kudos to you for making a pimped out version from scratch!

I've gotta say, for myself I prefer the Joisey diner version. It's one of the few dishes where the fancified French variation (bechamel based) loses out in my house. I go with the classic (around here) evaporated milk, egg, American/mild cheddar mixture that doesn't need a muddying roux to thicken. Hands down, the flavor, consistency, and "OMG this is so freakin' good!" factor of this original is way above any attempts I've ever made to improve on it.

I will now hand in my big white toque and slink away. To the nearest diner....

[Jenise]

Interesting, Tom. Never had or heard of that version. I too love Mac n cheese, but have never warmed up to any version that is grainy from the kind of cheddar used if it's not one that melts smoothly, and too many I've had Fit that description.

My god does MnC sound good. Just the kind of comfort food I crave right now but which I better not go near. I'mnot moving around at all yet (doc's orders, must stay off leg) and would blow up like a blimp if I ate the kind of food I really want.

Interesting, Tom. Never had or heard of that version. I too love Mac n cheese, but have never warmed up to any version that is grainy from the kind of cheddar used if it's not one that melts smoothly, and too many I've had Fit that description.

My god does MnC sound good. Just the kind of comfort food I crave right now but which I better not go near. I'm not moving around at all yet (doc's orders, must stay off leg) and would blow up like a blimp if I ate the kind of food I really want.

Y'know, blimps are very much under appreciated also. I'd go for it if I were you, and to hell with those detractors and their modern "fixed wing" abominations.

I really got into a food science article a couple of years ago that discussed the melting points of different cheeses as a function of their moisture content, detailing why some "break" in sauces (Parm/Romano) while others turn out grainy (cheddar). A lot has to do, if I recall, with the fact that cheese doesn't technically "melt". The lattice of proteins that give structure denature under heat, causing the cheese to "slump" rather than change states - and the amount of heat differs depending on the cheese because of variations in amount and type(s) of protein.

And I'm only saying all that to provide a smokescreen and hopefully divert attention from that fact that I use "Processed American Cheese Food Product" (aka Velveeta) (sometimes) or block American cheese (usually) when I make my Mac n' Cheese 'cause it melts - er, denatures - so damn good.

[Jenise]

I'd eat your version! I do something similar, but add parm reggiano for sharpness and tang. Understood re moisture content, and thats why the aged cheddars that taste so good out of hand don't settle into a cheese sauce as well as most people think they're going to.

As for going for it, I lost 13 pounds in the hospital and am more interested in keeping that off than going emotionally off the deep end--as desperately as I feel the pull to do that--than anything. At the rate I'm expending calories, NOT, I could gain weight just thinking about food!

As for going for it, I lost 13 pounds in the hospital...

Congratulations on your success with the Death's Door Diet!

[Jenise]

I'd have gained 13 pounds if I'd eaten what they wanted me to hAve! I was on an unrestricted diet, and could have gorged on the anytime-request list of chili dogs, chicken nuggets, burgers, filled cheese sandwiches, pop tarts, Fig Newtons, Oreos, Lorna Doones, ice cream, fruit pie and other trash food available. What was hard was figuring out what to eat that wouldn't psck in pounds! There wasn't a single low-cal, low-carb, fresh option on the list. I didn't starve, but I hardly ate because there wasn't anything safe or healthy to eAt! Fortunately every time I wrote in watermelon, strawberries and mesclun salad, they sent it.

Frankly, I'm surprised that a week+ exposure to a polyester hospital gown didn't give you a new rash.

It's funny about that list of food: clearly, they have gotten the message that hospital food was awful, and they're offering what most most folks would call comfort food, but it seems like an overreaction. One would hope that they set a good example, rather than just act like the corner commissary.

[Jenise]

Yes, comfort food for people whose anxieties are eased by snacking. I realize junk food appeals to a distressingly high part of the population, but for gosh sakes there's an increasingly aware percentage of the population who live otherwise, and there wasn't anything on that anytime request menu for them. Not one thing! I just kept laying there wishing I'd gone to Cedars Sinai. I'll bet they have a 24 hour delicatessen!

[Jenise]

Annabelle just called from Costco: First halibut of the season! We'll have that tonight with a crab sauce.

Paella tonight. Quail, shrimp, scallops, and sundry vegetables. But I could not get a good crust; I think I'm overloading it.

I'll be kicking off outdoor cooking weather with a batch of Thai mahogany fire noodles (the fumes are too deadly to make this indoors).

-Paul W.

Fusion Asian/Ancient Roman Pork Night!

I got a 2 lb. package of pork loin ribs on sale yesterday and brined them overnight. Today I cut them in bite size chunks and marinated them in soy sauce, Fujian wine, and grated/juiced ginger for an hour.

While they marinated I reduced down a good amount of aged black Chinese vinegar, a little rice vinegar, some brown sugar, and a bit more soy.

After an hour I rolled the pork to coat in a mix of rice flour and corn starch. They then got deep fried to just browned and crisped on the outside.

The fried pork chunks were then tossed in a soaked Romertopf along with sliced onion and halved mushrooms. The reduced vinegar mix was poured over, along with a little more fresh vinegar, Fujian wine, and a good squirt of honey.

Into a very slow oven for almost 5 hours.

Waaaaaaaaaah! It was sooooooooooo freakin' good!!

Pardon me while I dislocate a shoulder patting myself on the back here. The meat was pillow soft, and napped in a salty, sweet, mellow vinegar glaze that was pure paradise on a fork. I'd step over my mother's body for a second bowl of this nectar.

Even my wife - my wife who generally disdains anything porcine on a plate - practically kegaled herself into a la petite mort right there at the table. (The neighbors were very embarrassed.)

So, yeah. If you can get your hands on some of that Asian balsamico, and an ancient Roman unfired clay cooking vessel (although a foil covered baking dish would work just as well, I'm sure ) you have GOT to try this.

Meat pillows, I tell ya. Da bomb.