What's Cooking (Take Two!)

Broccoli and blue cheese quiche. Lots of St Agur in this one!

Broccoli and blue cheese quiche. Lots of St Agur in this one!

I love St. Agur! With pears and Port, my night is complete.

I miss the 9th Ave Cheese Shop....

[Jenise]

I'm making some salads to take to a Solstice party. If any of you ever saw the Anthony Bourdain episode on Seattle, while there he went to an amazing, illegal pop-up dinner. I think watching that might have been the first time any of us heard of this style of dining. Anyway, the chef who presided over that event now lives up here and he's throwing this party, and we're invited!

[Jenise]

Tonight: spaghetti Bolognese. Had my fourth major dental procedure in three weeks today, and need soft food.

This weekend I made passion fruit mousse for the first time. We've been getting passion fruits shipped up from Florida and they are so delicious just eaten plain, but they have such strong and intoxicating flavor that I couldn't resist making something.

I saw lots of recipes that involved whipped cream and condensed milk - plus the passion fruits. But for various reasons couldn't bring myself to buy a milk product in a can that had added sugar (plus whoknowswhatelse) so I made it with just passion fruit and whipped heavy cream. And it was delicious. Will be doing that again.

...so I made it with just passion fruit and whipped heavy cream.

I think, technically, what you made is called fool. Mousse requires eggs, etc.

Broke out the Romertopf last night for a roast Miso Orange Chicken concoction.

Made a paste of shiro miso, grated ginger, Trappist ginger jam, mirin, the juice and jest of an orange, and sake. Rubbed that under and over the skin, set it on a bed of thick sliced onion and orange rinds, and baked it off. It was reeeeeeeeeeealy good, if I do say so myself. And I do.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/551831760568786824/

...so I made it with just passion fruit and whipped heavy cream.

I think, technically, what you made is called fool. Mousse requires eggs, etc.

Ok! I saw recipes that used either gelatin or condensed milk to set the 'mousse', neither of which I wanted to use. I had plenty of eggs of course, but wasn't sure how it would work with just eggs since none of the recipes called for cooking and the recipes that did use egg whites also used something else (mostly gelatin) to set it.

Either way, delicious.

I think, technically, what you made is called fool. Mousse requires eggs, etc.

Ok! I saw recipes that used either gelatin or condensed milk to set the 'mousse', neither of which I wanted to use. I had plenty of eggs of course, but wasn't sure how it would work with just eggs since none of the recipes called for cooking and the recipes that did use egg whites also used something else (mostly gelatin) to set it.

Either way, delicious.

There is no need for either gelatin or condensed milk. Do this: make a custard with the yolks and some dairy, sugar, and vanilla. Chill. Prepare your flavor (melt chocolate, mash berries, etc.) and mix into custard. Now, in Bowl 1 beat some cream moderately stiff and in Bowl 2 beat some egg whites moderately stiff. Fold cream into custard, then fold whites into the mix. Chill. Mousse.

Gelatin! Sheesh. Using Bavarian Cream is cheating!

There is no need for either gelatin or condensed milk. Do this: make a custard with the yolks and some dairy, sugar, and vanilla. Chill. Prepare your flavor (melt chocolate, mash berries, etc.) and mix into custard. Now, in Bowl 1 beat some cream moderately stiff and in Bowl 2 beat some egg whites moderately stiff. Fold cream into custard, then fold whites into the mix. Chill. Mousse.

Nice. I will be doing that. I happen to love the flavor and silkiness that eggs bring to custard/desserts anyway.

[Jenise]

Another grueling 90 minutes of dentistry today, so more soft food--fashioned out of an about-to-rot eggplant and some leftover Bolognese sauce from Monday that turned into one of those miracle dishes that you would in fact seek out to make deliberately on another occasion.

And it was all in the eggplant. What I did was exercise an idea I remember reading about like 20 years ago but never acted on--baked eggplant slices with mayo smeared on them to get the breadcrumbs to stick. Supposedly gets you a crust without the fat that this diaper of the vegetable world is capable of soaking up. But I dialed it back even further, I smeared the lightest coating of mayo on both sides, but only pressed one side into the fresh bread crumbs (which I had added a bit of parmesan to plus some dried oregano). The slices went onto an oil-smeared (with a basting brush) baking sheet, crumbs-down, and roasted for 20 minutes at 350 until the tops were lightly golden. Did not turn them until ready to serve, at which point the crusted side was perfection: crispy-crusted eggplant slices that had the sinful mouthfeel of that crust but which were relatively healthy to eat. I arranged a few slices on top of some spaghettini tossed with a little bit of pesto sauce and spooned the warmed up Bolognese over the top.

Sounds really good, Jenise. Eggplant doesn't trigger your oh-my-god-it's-white-food thing?

[Jenise]

Sounds really good, Jenise. Eggplant doesn't trigger your oh-my-god-it's-white-food thing?

No, white in and of itself is not a problem--I like all vegetables. The problem is cold/white/creamy or anything pudding-like or that runs like milk--basically anything that on looks alone could be hand cream or ointment.

[Jenise]

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Here's what I made on Tuesday: it's terrine time again and I'm playing with ideas.

[Jenise]

In the oven right now: a giant tamale. Or, actually, a corn-husk lined terrine that is various layers of ancho-chile flavored cornmeal crust, roasted/dessicated roma tomatoes and a heavily garlic-cumin flavored ground turkey force. The result will be edible and will taste good, but beyond that I can't guarantee a thing; I'm flying on my own here.

Tonight we enjoyed lamb shoulder chops that were marinated in our mint, lemon juice, olive oil mayonnaise; and grilled over charcoal and pecan chips. Sides were minted peas, and delicious rolls. Mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. A very minty night!

Arroz con camarones tonight. I made it just like the recipe said... except that I changed almost every ingredient and almost every measure!

[Jenise]

Veal tomahawk chops tonight. Not sure what I'll put with them, but the wine will be a 99 Leroy Bourgogne.

Veal tomahawk chops tonight. Not sure what I'll put with them, but the wine will be a 99 Leroy Bourgogne.

What did you end up with, Jenise?

[Jenise]

Veal tomahawk chops tonight. Not sure what I'll put with them, but the wine will be a 99 Leroy Bourgogne.

What did you end up with, Jenise?

Because it's so frickin' hot here, I did a Burgundian style potato salad (potatoes, herbs, wine, onions, vinegar, EVOO, escarole) and topped the veal chop with a basil vinaigrette with chopped tomatoes and rosemary. Kept it all pretty summery.

Today, lunch will be a tomato and burrata 'tart', and dinner for sitting outside and watching the lightning storm we're expected to get, will be a cold tuna and macaroni salad.

...and dinner for sitting outside and watching the lightning storm we're expected to get, will be a cold tuna and macaroni salad.

Casserole!

[Jenise]

No, salad! It's all done:

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[Jenise]

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And while I'm at it, here's yesterday's lunch:

Because it's so frickin' hot here, I did a Burgundian style potato salad (potatoes, herbs, wine, onions, vinegar, EVOO, escarole) and topped the veal chop with a basil vinaigrette with chopped tomatoes and rosemary. Kept it all pretty summery.

Today, lunch will be a tomato and burrata 'tart', and dinner for sitting outside and watching the lightning storm we're expected to get, will be a cold tuna and macaroni salad.

Nice!!