What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Jenise wrote: Happy birthday, Larry!

Merci and very punny. BTW, I found that missing Michelin star in my garage next to some gold tablets.

[Jenise]

The gold tablets are (strangely) only believable if accompanied by your other 37 wives.

It's Sunday so as usual I'm making a simple roast.

Meat is chicken, with usual accomplices roasted potatoes and parsnip, steamed broccoli, carrots and brussels sprouts (note: freedom sprouts from 31 Jan )

Codorniu Cava 'Seleccion Raventos' NV as aperitif, Chateau Batailley 2012 with meal.

I'll be making Cajun chicken and tasso jambalaya again. I have leftover Creole sauce and need something to go with it. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it....

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Husband walked into my office just now and said, out of nowhere, "I just LOVED that pork you made last night, can't stop thinking about it."

My mind's been elsewhere but I understand. We'd been out all afternoon and I had left a pair of pork chops out to thaw with no plan for how to prep them. When we got back around 4:30, I threw them into a braising pan to brown, then opened the fridge and saw: half a bottle of flat Bordelet cider, a carton of cream maybe 3/4 empty, a small clamshell of mint pretty close to dried up, and half a bulb of fennel wrapped but browning. Into the pan went the cider and cream, followed by the trimmed/sliced fennel and the mint leaves. After about 45 minutes, with that sauce tasting HEAVENLY, I decided we'd have a Spanish wine with dinner and added some smoked pimenton for the final 45 minutes of braise. Served it on the rice leftover from Friday night's Posta Negra. It really was a wow combination. All things that would work well in concert but none that I'd ever thought to combine before. Mint, only reserved for lamb or Middle Eastern preps in most kitchens, is sadly underused.

No idea about dinner tonight, but probably time for a vegetarian dinner. I have a cauliflower....

Hm. Looks like my post got clobbered because the text below is clearly written by Jenise.

Can any of the dishwashers figure out what happened here?

---

Well, cream + cider = a la Normande.

True that, and I knew it at the time. But the fennel, mint and pimenton were very definitely from left field. And why I love cooking without recipes. All meals are unique. They may happen again, they may not, but there's no "rotation" at my house.

Yesterday for lunch we had the last of the beef and barley soup from earlier last week. I added more beef broth, Saturday's leftover rice, some frozen fresh garbanzo beans, oregano and quite a bit of taco sauce (Cholula) to turn it into a Mexican beef and rice soup.

Then last night we had cauliflower steaks. I love eating it, and I love looking at it. One of the prettiest things on a plate one can make.

Today, don't know yet. I just might braise some pork shanks. Unbelievably, our Whole Foods is now getting in whole organically raised pigs they're breaking down themselves, so all the parts are there and I happened to walk in the day the shanks were available. I've eaten pork shanks but never ever have before had the chance to buy and cook them. Going to braise them with sauerkraut and juniper berries and pair them with riesling.

My Sunday cooking today was cassoulet - as authentic as one can do in just 6 hours. (Paula Wolfert's recipe takes 3 days!)

Very pleased with the result, though not with all of the ingredients (the ventreche is a little too salty and a little too fatty, the Dartagnan brand garlic sausage is a little too gelatinous/springy textured). But I'm happy with the vivid, intense flavors.

[Jenise]

Oops!!! My fault, will explain in the morning when I'm at my big computer.

Tonight I'm making a Puttanesca sauce to have with Penne, mixed salad and my last bottle of 2017 vintage Wine Society Montepulciano de Abruzzo (made by Roxan Co-operative). Next time will be the 2018 vintage.

This Montepulciano de Abruzzo is my go-to wine for pasta, I've been buying it since at least the 2004 vintage when I first recorded it on CT

[Jenise]

So Jeff, what happened? Yours truly occasionally mistakes the quote button for one of my Superpowers which enables me to edit anyone's post. Not really ever used these days but there used to be someone here who'd post while drinking and I'd sometimes clean up his sloshy text. Anyway, the buttons are perilously close and the two intentions look just alike but without the '[quote]' thing in front. I do monitor myself to make sure I don't do what I did to you, but heck, this time I did it. I'm so sorry.

[Jenise]

Made cacio de pepe last night using, for the first time, red lentil spaghetti. Color was lovely when cooked, especially when dressed with the final dusting of pecorino and drizzled with some pesto for garnish, but I didn't like the texture.

Yesterday, we had huevos rancheros (red chile) for brunch. Last night was simply grilled cheese sandwiches (cheddar and gorgonzola) and cream of celery soup. For tonight, I don't have a clue. But I do have some bread rising right now.

My standard bread is made with varying proportions of different flours, grains, seeds, etc. For the last month or so, I've been adding some dried orange peel and a little cardamon or coriander with good success. Today I'm using some orange marmalade to replace the sugar that helps feed the yeast. I'll let you know.

My neighbors and friends love me; I give away half my output.

So Jeff, what happened? Yours truly occasionally mistakes the quote button for one of my Superpowers which enables me to edit anyone's post. Not really ever used these days but there used to be someone here who'd post while drinking and I'd sometimes clean up his sloshy text. Anyway, the buttons are perilously close and the two intentions look just alike but without the '

' thing in front. I do monitor myself to make sure I don't do what I did to you, but heck, this time I did it. I'm so sorry.

Apology accepted. I guessed it was something like that. (Or was it Bucko? (no, no, bad brain, don't use outside voice, shh!))

Made cacio de pepe last night using, for the first time, red lentil spaghetti. Color was lovely when cooked, especially when dressed with the final dusting of pecorino and drizzled with some pesto for garnish, but I didn't like the texture.

Hm. Legume != wheat. I like beet spaghetti for this sort of thing (that is, wheat flour pasta made with beet water).

[Jenise]

Yesterday, we had huevos rancheros (red chile) for brunch.

Not a dish I think of often as I'm not much of an egg eater, but just last week I was describing to Bob a version I had in Tiajuana once, the best ever. Would kill for a plate of that right now!

I love huevos rancheros. There are variations, but my fave is sunny-side up eggs on corn tortillas with a red sauce. They're usually accompanied by frijoles (beans), papas (hash browns), choice of flour tortilla or sopapilla and honey on the side around these here parts. Although a few weeks ago I had huevos rancheros with mole sauce.

Sometimes, on Sundays, I'll make my own salsa colorado (red sauce) and huevos rancheros for breakfast. Easy peasy and yummy. Might change your mind about eggs,

[Jenise]

About changing my mind about eggs, the damage done by 5th grade Sex Ed cannot be undone by you. I will eat them scrambled or hard boiled from time to time, but the yolks terrify me. The great thing about a Rancheros is the dilution of the egg's poresence by the beans, salsa and tortilla. Layer mine up, please!

Hmmm. Were they talking about fertilized eggs and embryos? I presume you're aware that store-bought eggs are not fertilized.

Oh well, food dislikes are sometimes hard to figure out. I have a friend who loved raisins but detested bread with raisins. I used to make bread with dried cranberries, and he liked it. Then I made bread with currants, and he liked it. Finally I made bread with raisins, representing them as currants, and he liked it. It was all mental. He has now learned to like bread with raisins, which I occasionally make for him. Today, however, I used cranberries in his bread, which is cooling as I write this.

[Jenise]

Hmmm. Were they talking about fertilized eggs and embryos? I presume you're aware that store-bought eggs are not fertilized.

I know that now, but I was only ten at the time! Had no idea what fertilization was (I presume this was deliberately left out of the 'education' lest little kids be tempted to experiment). Aversion fully in place by the time I learned the difference much later. And it's a phobia, not a dislike. Admittedly I have no idea what a runny egg yolk tastes like but I'm sure not going to find out. The mere thought makes me perfectly nauseous. My white-creamy phobia is pretty similar. Outside of those two things there's very little I don't like.

A friend I cook for here is like your friend with the raisins. Often blames the wrong ingredient because she doesn't cook and doesn't understand ingredients. The list of things she likes is much shorter than the list of things she doesn't. I'm not like that at all.

No one has more dislikes than one of my bros. The only two vegetables he eats are corn and french fries. I'm not kidding. If our family and friends go to a restaurant no matter how fancy, he'll order a plate of chicken tenders with or without fries. You can count on your fingers the types of food he'll eat.

Then there was my office receptionist who won't eat most veges (she'll eat four types, but I don't remember what they are). I told her once I had a great BLT on my bread (she likes my bread). Her response was that she'd have only a B. I made some french onion soup she liked, but she removed all the onions (she really hates onions).

Then I had a late friend who would not eat anything with vinegar in it, no matter if it was at homeopathic levels. Stop and think how many foodstuffs have vinegar. He wouldn't eat an open-face steak sandwich I made because it had a 1/4 tsp of horseradish mixed into a large amount of sauce. If he realized that I had marinated the flank steak in Italian dressing, that would have been another reason.

I have a friend who loved raisins but detested bread with raisins. I used to make bread with dried cranberries, and he liked it. Then I made bread with currants, and he liked it. Finally I made bread with raisins, representing them as currants, and he liked it. It was all mental. He has now learned to like bread with raisins, which I occasionally make for him. Today, however, I used cranberries in his bread, which is cooling as I write this.

Heh. I like raisins and I like raisins in bread. But I have no interest in eating raisins in cookies or candy bars. Go figure.

[Jenise]

No one has more dislikes than one of my bros. The only two vegetables he eats are corn and french fries. I'm not kidding. If our family and friends go to a restaurant no matter how fancy, he'll order a plate of chicken tenders with or without fries. You can count on your fingers the types of food he'll eat.

What a painful existence. I have a friend who almost fits that description (claims he doesn't eat any vegetable spelled with more than four letters). But at least he'll eat lettuce.

I once discovered a forum for picky eaters. Was crazy fun reading thru all the ways there are to be phobic about food. The no-vegetable types like your receptionist was a pretty big group. I remember a girl who only ate three things. Can't recall what the third item was but the other two were french fries and mayonnaise sucked out of those little single-serving packets from the condiment bins at some restaurants. I kid you not.

[Jenise]

Last night I made choucroute garni. Not exactly heart healthy food but sure is nice once every winter, and I amped up the sauerkraut with collard greens. Made quite a bit, so while last night we ate the pork shanks, I'll re-purpose the leftovers which contains most of the smoked sausage with spaetzle.

I love choucroute garni. I ordered it in a restaurant in France once and the plate that arrived had an enormous amount of food on it. I immediately thought of the cover of that book of B. Kliban cartoons, Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head.

Tonight I'll be making gai sai takrai, Thai lemongrass chicken.

-Paul W.