What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Fresh eggs at a Dollar Tree? That's pretty weird!

We got up at 5 a.m. today. Too early, and we shared an apple with coffee. Then I still felt like I needed a bit more in my tummy and fried off half a chubb of Jimmy Dean Hot sausage. Lunch might be the matzoh ball soup I've been looking forward to all week. Speaking of Matzoh ball soup, every version of it I've had in restaurants were in a pristeen clear broth. When I've made it, however, the balls always shed a bit into the broth as they cook. Only way to avoid that would be to cook the balls separately and then transfer them to the finishing broth, but that would sure sacrifice flavor. Jeff or anyone, is that how restaurants do it?

Dinner--I dunno yet. We have an after-dinner chat date tonight on Zoom with two other couples. And last night we Face-Timed with another couple who live nearby. I took a bottle over to them earlier so we could share and taste the same wine.

Around here, Dollar Trees have freezers and coolers in the rear of their stores stocked with all kinds of things, including ice cream, frozen veges, eggs, etc.

OK, so let's talk about avocadoes. I've read both that there was a crop failure and that they are incredibly cheap now. Which is it?

Ditto lobster... they're supposed to be totally a bumper crop this year but I haven't seen prices budge. Eh?

[Jenise]

Have not seen cheap avocadoes. Here in WA, they're about where they always are, approx $1.50-2.00 each. But more importantly two weeks ago I noticed in Southern California and within shooting range of Avocado Central prices weren't any better. The fruit seems good, but I'm betting there's just less as many of the groves went down in the fires of the past two years.

I wound up riffing on a Bittman curried shrimp recipe. I didn't have a couple of fresh ingredients, such as galangal or ginger, but I had powdered of each. I added some green peas and chopped peanuts. I originally decided on a yellow curry base, but wound up with red curry instead. I lined up my containers of Thai curry paste, and when it was time to add some I accidentally grabbed the red curry. Instead of rice, I put the shrimp curry over red quinoa. Overall, it came out purty dern good.

Since I have a surfeit of bananas (they're 10 cents/lb right now), I decided to whip together a dessert featuring bananas. I split the bananas and sauteed them in coconut oil and butter. I sprinkled some Vietnamese cinnamon over along with chopped peanuts. I plated them when they were browned, drizzled over agave syrup and placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside. Finished with several drops of a strawberry/fig balsamic reduction. Yum! If I do it again, I'm going to try a teeny pinch of salt to enhance the flavor.
Definitely a keeper.

How can anyone make a living as a producer if they are selling bananas $1 lb and eggs $1.50 dozen?
Amazing. Must be huge volumes and highly mechanised.?

Bananas are usually 49-59 cents/lb around here. Sprouts is overflowing with bananas (probably from earlier orders before covid-19) and need to get rid of them asap before they rot. As far as eggs for $1/dozen, that's not an uncommon price here even for x-large eggs (probably loss leaders). But Dollar Tree regularly sell medium eggs $1/doz (on occasion they're $1/half doz when egg production is down).

Living so close to Mexico, a lot of our produce is cheaper because of lower transportation costs. Wife is eating our 6 or 7 lbs. of bananas as fast she can. She's in banana heaven.

I too am surprised we haven't see lobster prices fall (they are low by historical standards, $10/lb, but not for last decade, $10/lb is rough standard, but often sales for $6 or even less). But maybe later, it's usually summer. Assuming we are still a functioning society

I made an easy chicken adobo recipe from NYT yesterday. TOTALLY delicious. Uses coconut milk, so southern Phillipines, not Manila.

Tonight the other chicken breast in the package is going into Thai stir-fried chicken with bird's-eye chiles and holy basil (pad prik gai bai krapow).

-Paul W.

I made an easy chicken adobo recipe from NYT yesterday. TOTALLY delicious. Uses coconut milk, so southern Phillipines, not Manila.

OK, I'm going to reveal my ignorance: I have never understood exactly what I'm going to get if I make something "adobo". I read the seasoning list and I get no mental image of the result. Can you say something about how it eats? Do you serve on rice to absorb the coconut milk broth or is it a soupy dish?

[Jenise]

Jeff, you didn't ask me, but I was surprised and impressed that Dale could differentiate between southern Filipino and Manila styles. I have had exactly three dishes by the name 'adobo' and they bore no resemblance to each other. And then there are canned chipotle chiles in "adobo", yet another planet. I look forward to his response.

Tonight I'm making Marcella Hazan's Osso Buco Milanese. I have had a craving for it for a while, so I defrosted a couple of shanks and away we go.

[Jenise]

Dan, is hers a red sauce? And does she pair it with a saffron risotto?

Dan, is hers a red sauce? And does she pair it with a saffron risotto?

It does have tomatoes in it. She adds gremolata at service, but I generally skip that unless I'm entertaining. I prefer to debone the veal after it cooks and remove the collagen. I also will strain the sauce and reduce it a little.

Her recommendation is risotto Milan style - with saffron. I generally leave out the marrow or pancetta that she calls for.

[Jenise]

Sounds wonderful, Dan, that would all be my idea of Milanese as well. Lucky you to have veal shanks around. Where I live, they might be brought in around Fathers Day but otherwise we never see them.

Last night I made smoked prime rib for Bob's birthday. I slathered it with a rich jus and served with it horseradish mashed potatoes. First course, I always have one, was an iceberg lettuce a radicchio salad. My favorite thing about the meal was the potatoes. I didn't have any green to put on the plate, but I had a leek, so I thinly sliced enough from the greener end of it and 'melted' those in a bit of butter which went over the round ball of potatoes like coconut on an ice cream ball. The result was dazzling, but in looks and flavor. Will do that again! Served this with a '92 Woodward Canyon old vine cab.

Even made a cake--carrot-walnut with loads of Vietnamese cinnamon (if you don't know Vietnamese cinnamon vs. other normal cinnamons, you're missing something).

Sounds wonderful, Dan, that would all be my idea of Milanese as well. Lucky you to have veal shanks around. Where I live, they might be brought in around Fathers Day but otherwise we never see them.

OB was one of our favorite meals. Any time I found them, I would pick up a couple for the freezer. Lobel's had them for 30% off during one of their freezer sales . I bought 10 pounds of them. I'm down to my last two.

Last night I made smoked prime rib for Bob's birthday. I slathered it with a rich jus and served with it horseradish mashed potatoes. First course, I always have one, was an iceberg lettuce a radicchio salad. My favorite thing about the meal was the potatoes. I didn't have any green to put on the plate, but I had a leek, so I thinly sliced enough from the greener end of it and 'melted' those in a bit of butter which went over the round ball of potatoes like coconut on an ice cream ball. The result was dazzling, but in looks and flavor. Will do that again! Served this with a '92 Woodward Canyon old vine cab.

Even made a cake--carrot-walnut with loads of Vietnamese cinnamon (if you don't know Vietnamese cinnamon vs. other normal cinnamons, you're missing something).

Sounds great!

Last night it was a fritto misto inspired by the zucchini blossoms in the garden. They were stuffed with mozzarella and bacon, then sliced kumara, spring onions, sliced green tomatoes (hey if ya got em gotta have fried green tomatoes ) zucchini fritters. Pretty, tasty and ever so slightly fattening.
Part of my apocalypse plan is to post pretty dishes on fb from time to time.

[Jenise]

Part of my apocalypse plan is to post pretty dishes on fb from time to time.

Me, too. In part, what else do I have to do. And I'm pretty proud of how well we're eating since I haven't seen the inside of a grocery store in weeks.

Toad in the Hole tonight with spring cabbage, to use sausages and cabbage bought for us

[Jenise]

Last night we had seared breast of pheasant (sous-vided for two hours at 130 first with a pat of butter, and that's clearly the way to go) with wild rice, a cognac pan sauce and steamed purple broccoli tips.

The broccoli: I'm in love with this stuff. Bought two bunches two weeks ago while passing thru Oregon on our escape trip home. I've never seen something like this in a conventional grocery (Fred Meyer, a Kroger division), and they sure were beautiful. Not broccolini, but individual shoots or what have you about the same size and length with the most delicious leaves. Tonight's meatless Monday dish will be more of those with black truffle polenta.

Last night we had seared breast of pheasant (sous-vided for two hours at 130 first with a pat of butter, and that's clearly the way to go) with wild rice, a cognac pan sauce and steamed purple broccoli tips.

Keep those warm, I'll be right over!

[Jenise]

They were so good! I was so pleased to nail the cook on them. This was my second try, the first got a bit overdone even though I never left their side for the, oh, 7 minutes or so they were in the pan. Pre-cooking them 80% of the way by sous vide (with a generous pat of butter) made all the difference. Perfectly done, perfectly tender.

Made a Sam Sifton NYT recipe, New Mexican Hot Dish. There was no recipe per se, but just a description such as brown a pound of ground, add a little flour, etc. Nothing but prose and no real measurements. Essentially it wound up being an easy version of stacked beef enchiladas. Only thing I had to substitute was green chile for jalapenos. Tasty, though.

Night before, I made Bittman's French Onion Grilled Cheese (from NYT) on my homemade bread. Also good.

Not broccolini, but individual shoots or what have you about the same size and length with the most delicious leaves.

We had a side dish in a New Zealand winery restaurant of these that was delicious. I emailed the restaurant asking for the recipe without getting an answer.

Seemed to be seared on a griddle - they had black burn lines - and served with lemon juice with finely chopped chillies poured over them. I tried recreating at home but it didn't taste as I remembered.