What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Seasonally perfect indeed. Sub crab for lobster, and that's just about what I was going to serve tonight until I realized that one of my dinner guest's Parkinsons is probably so advanced (I haven't seen him in six months) that his shaky hands dealing with tools is most likely off the table. It's going to be a warm and beautiful day, so dinner's still on the patio but will start with crab cocktails, then a green salad and then a version of veal oscar that so far only exists in my imagination: grilled veal chop topped with crab meat and doused in a tart bearnaise, on red bell pepper pasta and topped with a light sprinkle of shaved brussels sprouts. For dessert, an ice cream bar from a local creamery.

Sounds good.

Shaky hands is an interesting concern. My hands don't shake and I don't like picking through crabs, anyway. But at what point do you switch to meals where the kitchen does most of the cutting?

[Jenise]

Good question! And I suppose this dreadful disease can manifest itself somewhat differently among its victims as most bad diseases do. But it turned out this wasn't one of Jim's bad days and I needn't have worried. I sent a bag of crab home with them.

Last night for dinner we had leftover crab and green chile enchilada pie from the night before. It was actually better last night--I'd forgotten it's one of those foods that eats better the second day.

Dinner tonight is Cajun chicken jambalaya.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Dinner here tonight will be Hatch green chile and cheddar sausages on Mexican rice with an avocado-lime drizzle. Haven't decided on the wine yet, but I'm in the Birth Fortnight so I'm popping some really fine corks!

Tonight is chicken Fajitas. My intake of fruit and veg lately seems to be my breakfast avocado and then tomatoes lettuce so I’m going heavy on the veggies; red and green peppers, onion, celery, fennel dry fried and still crunchy.

[Jenise]

Ooh--fennel in a fajita. I love the sound of that!

Tonight: crab again. This time a roasted Vietnamese style recipe from Charles Phan of The Slanted Door. Messy as hell, but OMG the combo of lemon grass and garlic. And you have to do it with fresh crab. That is, you make crab enchiladas with cooked crabmeat, but for this you must start from raw: catch, kill, break apart, blanch, season, roast. Think I'll make some coconut rice to go with that and ginger-sesame roasted green beans.

Tonight, it's summer: A plate of Brandywine and Black Prince tomatoes, a bit of mozz and a bit of a chianti salami, a sprinkle of EVOO and salt. Accompanied by rye grissini and a chianti. No cooking and all luscious. (Well, as luscious as a breadstick can be but you know what I mean.)

Cantonese stir-fried beef with green peppers tonight.

-Paul W.

I’d enjoy Jeff’s tomatoes or Paul’s stir fry but tonight it’s my occasional roastm dinner.
Rack of lamb and the veg.

tonight it’s my occasional roast dinner.
Rack of lamb and the veg.

We love a roast, and I cook one every Sunday night.

Tomorrow will be chicken, with roast potatoes and parsnip, plus vegetables. Mt French beans are ready now; I picked some Friday with fish and there's plenty left.

Unnecessary to say here, but of course I'll be selecting a good red to enjoy with it. I choose alternate weeks, other weeks I ask Joan. 98% of the time she says 'a decent Claret'

[Jenise]

Speaking of decent claret, we're having a 2004 Pontet Canet tonight. With it, lamb chops marinated heavily on garlic, oregano and lemon juice on a garlic wild rice, green salad to start.

Speaking of decent claret, we're having a 2004 Pontet Canet tonight.

That's more than decent

Peter, normally yes, but this 04 had been open for three days and was still quite hard with no interesting secondary nuances. Less enjoyable than expected.

[Jenise]

Okay, that wasn't Bob, it was me. Something went very very very wrong with my computer today, but I think we're fixed now.

I recall that 2004 was not a wonderful year in Bordeaux. ...digital fidgeting... Ah: "A cool vintage... wines lack a bit of ripeness and body... Rainfall during the harvest didn’t help either..."

[Jenise]

Yeah, all that. And I didn't buy many 04's because of that but Palmer, for instance, was great in that vintage. For some reason I bought 8 bottles of PC thinking it was, too. No recollection about details!

[Jenise]

Went out for Thai food yesterday after a dental appointment, which meant we were still rather full at dinner. We don't eat nearly as much as we used to, and it's a fairly recent change. As the cook I haven't actually adjusted to that yet. But rather than have us wake up starving at midnight last night, I made a very light dinner of crab cakes (smallish, one would be an amuse bouche, two is a modest first course) on frisee that I dressed with quince vinegar, salt and a spicy sriracha oil. FANTASTIC combination. Later, we had half a small cantaloupe apiece. Just right.

Pizza tonight. I have been improv with flatbread as a base but today I’ve gone the proper yeast dough, “00” flour route.
I’m making two. And have prepped red sauce, mushrooms, peppers, potatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, ham, mozzarella. Anchovies available.
I’ll top at the last before they go in the oven(as you do)
I have a high tolerance for leftover pizza!

[Robin Garr]

I have a high tolerance for leftover pizza!

The toaster oven does a remarkable job of restoration! Sometimes with leftover pizza brought home, even better!

[Jenise]

Robin, no need to reheat! Cold pizza is one of the best breakfasts in the world! (Wish I had some now.)

Last night we had almost paper-thin porterhouse steaks grilled to black-edgedness after swabbing with Chinese oyster sauce. Flavor's superb, tons of umami, no salt or pepper required, and I paired them with corn cut off the cob and lightly sauteed with butter and enough black pepper to make it hot. A salad of lemon cukes simply dressed with neutral oil and vinegar preceded the steak. Very simple and great with a smart WA cab.

Tuesday's dinner will be zha jiang mian (Beijing meat sauce noodles), with cucumbers and bean sprouts as a garnish.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Tonight I'm going to make chicken pies. Have gravy left over from a roasted chicken last week that would make a killer base. Might even go meatless but for the gravy to stick closer to our usual Monday commitment.

Must be pie time,
I’m making scallop pies for tomorrow’s lunch, using a recipe from one of the famous Tasmanian bakers.
And a flourless orange/ginger cake with pecans (the leftover cake can go home with my guests whose daughter in law has coeliac disease)