What's Cooking (Take Three!)

I'll be making Chinese chicken with black bean sauce this weekend, but using Lao Gan Ma (aka The Godmother) black bean sauce with chili. A Taylor Holliday recipe from The Mala Market website.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Wow, I've never heard of salami chips, did you do them in the oven
Well, I just made two salami chips in the microwave, who knew, not too bad. I usually eat the salami wrapped around a Bruno's pepper. I buy the light salami with much less calories and I love it. Thanks Jenise, always learning something new on here.

No, I use a dehydrator. In this case I dried close to 2 pounds of salami. After six hours I removed them and blotted both sides (this is really tedious work) to remove all the exuded fat, then put them back in the dehydrator overnight, machine not running. In the morning, I turned it on for an additional hour in which they reached ideal crispness. I usually do it all in one go (would start early in the morning for serving the same day) but I didn't want to containerize them for fear they'd soften. A MW would probably get you pretty close to the right texture, but you'd never be able to do party quantities that way. Anyway, super delicious, Bill LOVED them.

Tonight, Sirloin Tip Tenders marinated in balsamic vinegar, soy, olive oil, garlic, and black pepper. They will be cooked on a grill pan. Mashed potatoes, with roasted garlic and butter, and some sort of veggies to be determined at the Farmer's Market. But I am thinking about steamed broccoli and half of a corn on the cob. I've never had the tenders before so they are new to me and needed to be used up as their freezer days were up.

I don't have a dehydrator but I have been known to take pepperoni slices, wrap them in a couple sheets of paper towels, zap them for a minute or so in the microwave, and have crispy, spicy chips....

[Jenise]

I didn't dehydrate all the salami I had--there was only so much room--so will try the MW trick with the remainders to compare the textures.

It finally started raining yesterday: Fall-almost-winter is HERE. So today I'm going to make a New Orleans style white bean 'chili'. Starts with the holy trinity of green bell peppers, onions, and celery then crumbled chicken sausage for meat, baby limas, cumin and other seasonings. I'm not much of a chili eater, but I've been craving this for weeks now.

Cooking for one has brought me new challenges, one being using the product within its life . Plus, as I get older, I get lazier about many steps involved in the cooking process. Yet, I still want healthy, and excellent. When I started to make my mashed potatoes yesterday, I saw that I had a white sweet potato that I needed to use. So I peeled it, and cut it into the same size as the unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes I was using. They steamed up nicely, were placed into a bowl with butter chunks, whole roasted garlic cloves, salt, white pepper and tarragon. I mashed them up with a hand held masher, added sour cream, and a little more butter. Best mashed potatoes ever. I loved the skin left on the Yukons, really added a nice extra something the chew.
My idea for the veggies went away when at the Farmer's Market, I spotted a package of broccoli, and a small cauliflower, both were all cleaned up, cut and ready to use. I just had to cut into smaller pieces. I partnered them them with rainbow carrots, hazelnut oil, tarragon, salt and pepper. Very pretty and tasty.

[Jenise]

Karen when you said "as I get older, I get lazier about many steps involved in the cooking process. Yet, I still want healthy, and excellent" you spoke for all of us. I have the same ambition I used to, but the stamina varies from one day to the next.

I so admire the food you're making when cooking for one. I have always predicted that I'd end up living on frozen peas. Part joke, part not. Being part of a group like this would be very encouraging. When I post here, or on a Facebook page based in Europe that I like, actually spurs me to come up with a 'reportable', a name I borrowed from the petroleum world I used to work in. There, we post photos of food we make. Here, we talk more about the food we make. It evens out.

Not cooking dinner at home tonight. I made a vat of lightly pickled vegetables--olives, carrots, celery, and cauliflower highly seasoned with dried French basil and fresh garlic--to take to a Beaujolais tasting tonight. The perfume-y French basil (from Penzeys, and no similarity to California basil) brings out the herbal side of Beaujolais, plus it's vegan, fat free and colorful. Win win win.

Speaking of lazy, we had pizza for brunch. I buy it by the slice from an Italian importer/store in Vancouver, and reheat it at home. It's my favorite pizza on the planet, and I look forward to having a few extra pieces at home (one slice each is a meal) both because I love it and because it's easy.

Cooking for one has brought me new challenges, one being using the product within its life .

That happens at my house, too. Unless the item is something Pumpkin is directly interested in, it is up to me to remember to use things up.

Plus, as I get older, I get lazier about many steps involved in the cooking process. Yet, I still want healthy, and excellent.

Yes! I'm happy to have someone at the store do peeling and chopping of vegetables for me... but I do the cooking.

[Jenise]

Tonight: pot roast! Haven't decided exactly what/how yet, but I've got a lovely piece of chuck roast. $3.98/lb yesterday at Fred Meyer.

[Jenise]

Tonight: turkey cutlets with chanterelles and a brandy/cider sauce on toast. The turkey was purchased at a Canadian supermarket--two servings of fresh Canadian turkey that had been run through a tenderizer. So nice to be able to buy them like that--just what I need for two, not more. Never see anything like that here. And the chanterelles are first of the season! Very large, very white in color (unusually so).

I have beautiful lamb chops, thick cut and very meaty. They are getting a bath in lemon juice, lemon zest, rosemary, oregano. They will cook in oven along with a mix of purple, red and yellow fingerling potatoes tossed in their own mix of lemon juice and herbs, fresh garlic. Veggies are Brussel Sprouts, and since I have a plethora of peppers again, will toss whatever needs to be used up into the mix. I adore peppers of all kinds (did you guess that?) and they roast beautifully, so always on the Saturday menu. I seem to bring home more from the Farmer's Market because someone usually has some variety I do not grow or have not seen in awhile.

I have never seen those either Jenise. Gene and I have traveled into Canada three times when we were RVing. I was always amazed at their meat section, so different than in the US, at least it was back then. I recall wanting to cook a pot roast, but could not find the cut I wanted, when I asked about it was told they did not carry that. I ended up with something else, cannot recall now what it was. I loved going to the grocery stores and local nurseries in every town we visited. Always found something interesting.

[Jenise]

I have never seen those either Jenise. Gene and I have traveled into Canada three times when we were RVing. I was always amazed at their meat section, so different than in the US, at least it was back then. I recall wanting to cook a pot roast, but could not find the cut I wanted, when I asked about it was told they did not carry that. I ended up with something else, cannot recall now what it was. I loved going to the grocery stores and local nurseries in every town we visited. Always found something interesting.

That's the fun of travel. I'd say most of what they offer (in BC anyway) is identical to the cuts we have here, but I'll admit to not paying attention to things like chuck roasts because their beef prices are so much higher that it would never be something I'd buy to bring home. I was actually going for veal on this shopping trip, something they do well and at good prices. Can't find veal here. I don't look for poultry there either, so not sure how I found this turkey. Oh, and what I thought was two pieces was just one large one with a fold in it, but still only two servings. It had been a very small turkey--so nice!

Tonight I roasted a 4# boneless lamb shoulder over a bed of fennel and red wine.

And while I was running the oven, I put 4 potatoes in to bake.

In another pot, I simmered wine, stock, tomatoes, fennel, an orange, bay leaf and cinnamon stick. After it came together a bit, I added mushrooms, baby corn, and carrots for a short simmer. Finally, removed those vegetables (to be added back), strained the rest and reduced the sauce, finishing with a swirl of butter. Delightful, and the house smelled good, too!

Last night I made a Moroccan-style carrot, sweet potato, and lentil soup. It is made with a sweet potato, several large carrots, a sweet onion, and a cup of red lentils (aka masoor dal), simmered in stock (I used chicken stock; use vegetable stock if you want a vegan dish), then pureed with an immersion blender. The soup is simmered with harissa and ras el hanout. It's served with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of nigella seeds (kalonji). Delicious on a cold autumn evening!

-Paul W.

That sounds very appealing!

[Jenise]

We were gone all day yesterday and I arrived home tired, emotionally depleted and with no plan for a Meatless Monday dinner. To help inspire, I decided we should open a bottle of wine (which we've been doing with less frequency of late) which was a Cal-Ital white, and while sipping I realized I had a bag of Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi (never had it before) and a head of escarole. So, browned the gnocchi and added chopped walnuts to toast toward the end of cooking, and separately prepared a salad bed of escarole chiffonaded and dressed with oil, vinegar and truffle salt. Scooped the gnocchi on top when crispy and voila, a dinner, almost by accident, that's a dish we'll want again. Easy, healthy, satisfying.

Last night I made a batch of egg nog: 6 eggs, 1/2# powdered sugar, a cup of milk, 3 cups of cream, 1.5 cups of booze (rum and brandy), and a dash of vanilla. Now it's sitting in two big mason jars in the back of the fridge, slowly improving.

And you know what this means?

The holidays have begun!

Ah memories, my mon used to make eggnog with those ingredients. It was my favorite part of Christmas to help with the process. I got to partake, (without the booze in it) and a sprinkle of nutmeg on top, looked so pretty and tasted great. She was always ready with cookies or some sort of sweet for friends who stopped by to drink some of her eggnog. Loved the festivity of it all. I never started the tradition in our own family though, but we did have a drink that my husbands family made on Christmas eve. Can't recall what the name was right now, but some sort of concoction we had to make.
Now that I think about it my mom used to all hers, Tom and Jerrys.

The recipe here is just the basics. When it is served, each person adds more booze and nutmeg as they like.

A Tom & Jerry is basically the same thing as egg nog, just served hot.

Of course, I'm Jewish so we had very, very few Christmas traditions growing up.

OK, I didn't cook it,Betsy did. Chile Crisp Fettucine Alfredo with Spinach.Huh? What? But turned out delicious. Will do again. She did a half recipe, but with 2 full tblsp chile crisp,and more spinach than full recipe called for. Unexpected combo that works

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/102 ... all&rank=1

[Jenise]

Oh wow, does that look good--I love everything about that, including the extra crisp and extra spinach. Exactly what I'd do.

[Jenise]

Tonight: 1" square chunks of ham and two smoked chicken/apple sausages will be oven baked with sauerkraut, green beans, potatoes, cloves, star anise, bay leaves, peppercorns and a dried chile for two hours and then served over home-made spaetzle.

[Jenise]

Okay so that choucroute dish was great. I was particularly proud of the fact that I went to look up a spaetzle recipe--I only make the stuff about once a year so I don't have any reflexes--and decided no, wait, don't. Since I knew that it only needed flour eggs and milk, all a recipe would do is tell me how much of each. Well, I decided to force myself to work it out. Start with two eggs, add enough milk to absorb a cup of flour, see what happens. And dang, it was great! Recipe no longer needed!

Last night we had an amazing dinner at Bill Spohn's house, which was made even more amazing by the fact that a massive power outage meant we dined by candle and flashlight.

He served watermelon bites with balsamic vinegar, anchovy and onion 'jam' on crackers with two champagnes, including a 1990 Heidsieck Rare, scallop and shrimp ceviche with a Grand Cru Alsatian, a mushroom and barley soup with a shootout pair of pinots from BC and Burgundy, braised lamb shanks with '70 and '90 Montrose, and a lovely tart with a '96 Y'Quem. Pulled out all the stops, they did!

Tonight I'm making lamb meat loaf. I've lost the recipe, which I found in a long ago Bon Appetit, and just kind of wing it these days. The base of the panade is oats and red wine, and the seasoning is herbs and garlic. It's wonderful. Will put that on mashed potatoes because I really never want anything else with meat loaf. A salad and some sort of vegetable will be involved as well.