Writing from Home

This Week in the Kitchen, February 25, 2012 Edition

Big news this week. Our bald eagles are back!

Sunday

Today we were guests at a friend’s house for dinner – a feast, really. The family heritage is Iraqi, and mother Mary was visiting, so we got the benefit of her cooking. I’m ashamed to tell you that I don’t know the names of any of the dishes. I was in consume mode from the first mouthful.

 There were two appetizers, the first a ground concoction coated with bulgur wheat, giving it a nutty, crunchy exterior. The second was a croquette, a mix of chicken and greens bound with egg (I’m guessing). I could eat these all day (I’m not guessing).

Dinner proper was a stew served with brown rice. It was delicious. Good food, good company, good conversation, good wine – all the ingredients for a successful dinner party.

We brought home-made vanilla ice cream and sliced strawberries for dessert, along with both Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange Round Pond Estate syrups. Oh, my, they are outstanding.

Monday

Today I failed chicken. Friend Janice brought us a couple of organic chickens from Chaffin Farms. These are clearly labeled “stewing hen”, but for some reason we thought it would be OK to grill them as we usually do. Not. The breast meat was barely edible, and the rest of the chicken we couldn’t even carve. So we had some tasty-but-tough breast meat with grilled asparagus, some Thai Kitchen rice, and Hubby’s wonderful eggplant gratin for our dinner.

The cat was beside herself. She LOVED the taste of that chicken. I must confess that since Adam has come home we’ve lapsed, and she gets tidbits at the dinner table. She snarfed up every bit we offered. And  as we were clearing dinner, we had to chase her off the table. She was determined to have all the chicken she wanted.

We put the chickens in the stock pot and left it overnight on low. By morning, the remaining chicken was dry and tasteless – but the stock is tremendous. I am amazed by how much fat was on these scrawny-looking birds, even after grilling. The stock is coated with a ¼ “ layer of yellow, yellow fat.

Tuesday

Today we are at June Lake, where we performed a less-than-five-minute switch reset on our “new” on-demand water heater.  Somehow three of us, all reasonably tech savvy, got the switch settings wrong --not once, but three times. That said, once the tech guy told us what to do, it was a simple matter – 4 screws, 2 switches. Now the controller works as it should, and we have a (theoretically) never-ending supply of hot water. Yay!

I’ve been hungry for pancakes and gravy, so that’s what we had for dinner. One pound of bulk sausage from Albertsons, four cups of Monday’s lovely chicken stock, a quarter cup of flour, a sprinkling of dried sage, and Voila! – gravy. Rather than make a roux, we mix part of the stock (cold) with the flour, then gradually stir that into the hot stock and sausage. This time I mixed the flour and stock using a whisk. At home I generally put it into a jar and shake it.

Hubby’s pancakes are fluffy and tasty, especially when topped with homemade sausage gravy. I know pancakes and gravy is a foreign concept to many of you. That’s OK – more for me.

Wednesday

I got some relatively inexpensive lamb shoulder chops this week, so today we use some of it in a lamb stew. The lamb chunks are coated with a spice mixture (we toast and grind our own), fried, and then simmered in stock with dried fruit, tomatoes, and garbanzo beans, and some additional seasonings.

The recipe, from Bon Appetít via epicurious.com, is titled Moroccan Slow-Cooked Lamb, but it’s done on the stove top rather than in a slow cooker. We used only 1 ½ pounds of lamb, and threw in some chunks of carrot for the last 20 minutes of cooking. As some reviewers suggested, we subbed a mixture of prunes and apricots. We also used our home-made tomato sauce vice fresh tomatoes, and our home-made stock.

Be sure to turn the exhaust fan on high and open doors and windows while you’re frying the lamb chunks. The oil and spices make a pungent combination. (Cough, cough!) But great tastes and definitely a keeper recipe.

We served the stew over Israeli couscous. It made a great combination, but I had little round couscous balls scooting all over the kitchen counter. I keep finding them in odd places.

Thursday

Lunch at Schat’s in Bishop. We really should try something else, I guess, but the hot pastrami is just too good. Back home again for another pot of America’s Test Kitchen’s Pasta e Fagioli. Easy, quick, delicious.

Friday

It’s market day again. I bought pickled beets from Moessner Farms; asparagus, leeks, potatoes, garlic, and fragrant basil from Charles Drew, as well as kale to do a kale, sausage and white bean dish; grapefruit, cara cara oranges, and lemons from our organic fruit purveyor. After the market, we drove by the strawberry stand and picked up a half flat of coastal berries. The price has gone down – the plants are really producing now.

We have some Honi Squaw rolls from Schat’s, and some venison patties from Tender Cuts, and some zucchini for the grill. Dinner it is.

Saturday

This morning’s fruit bowl: sliced strawberries, chunks of cara cara oranges, sections of tangelo and tangerine, slices of banana, chunks of kiwi fruit. One pint of berries, two oranges, one tangelo, one tangerine, one banana, one large kiwi fruit – a goodly tally split roughly three ways. And to finish off breakfast, a slice of Trader Joe’s cinnamon raisin bread, toasted.

We’re going to a party tonight, but I’m planning to make the Test Kitchen’s mac and cheese. I think we’d better eat at least a bit before we go.

This Week in the Kitchen, February 18, 2012 Edition

Sunday

Our friends John and Janice leave tomorrow morning, so we’re giving them a hearty dinner – buffalo tri tip, mashed purple potatoes, and roasted Brussels sprouts. The tri tips come from Tender Cuts, our local frozen meat supply house. I went to buy one, only to find that, this time, they are packaged in fours. I decided to take them all. It has taken several days of refrigerator time to thaw them enough to separate, and more hours on the counter to thaw two of them to the point that they can be cooked direct on the grill, rubbed with Magic Dust.

Monday

It feels funny – no company in the house. Today is a new recipe, Lamb and White Bean Chili from the New York Times. I made this one pretty much as written, using ancho chili powder. The lime and yogurt were excellent finishing touches. This one I’ll make again.

Tuesday

 

So what do you cook for Valentine’s Day? We’re having a family favorite – grilled ahi tuna with sticky rice and homemade teriyaki sauce, with some grilled asparagus on the side. We rub the tuna with a bit of oil and season it with salt and pepper. Hubby watches the grill carefully so that the thick pieces of fish are just a bit pink inside when he takes them off the grill.

The teriyaki sauce is simple – equal parts dry sherry, sugar, and soy sauce, with some slices of fresh ginger thrown in. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and cook over medium heat until reduced by at least half. It does make a bit of a mess on the stovetop, but it is delicious. For this dinner we were five at table, and I used 2/3-2/3-2/3 proportions for the sauce.

Slacker Wednesday

Cheese and spinach ravioli with meat sauce from the freezer, livened with the addition of fresh shiitake mushrooms and fresh basil. Comfort food.

Thursday

 

 

Today is a “using up” day. We’re cooking another buffalo tri tip because we didn’t end up with much left over from the last ones – we sent most of them home with our friends. I’ve got half a butternut squash left from making soup, and we have leftover smashed purple potatoes, and I’ve got a bit each of horseradish sauce and tomato chutney.

 

 

 

The potatoes  I packed into a small skillet with a splash of olive oil to make a potato cake. Using a plate to turn it, I cooked it until brown on both sides. What a yummy way to use leftover mashed potatoes.

 

 

And we have leftover tri tip for sandwiches!

Friday

Today is Farmer’s Market Day. After filling my baskets and bags to overflowing, we swung by the strawberry man’s corner, and picked up a half flat of berries.  Oh, boy – good stuff. Onions, shallots, purple potatoes, cara cara oranges, tangerines, tangelos, lemons, zucchini, grape tomatoes, red swiss chard – I feel rich!

One of our local markets had such a good deal on pork butt that I couldn’t resist, so today I’m doing another Kālua pig in the slow cooker. We have whole wheat buns and I’ve done another recipe of mustard barbecue sauce. And Hubby grilled some asparagus – one of Charles Drew’s specials today was two bundles of lovely asparagus for $2.50.

Saturday

We’ve invited a friend for dinner tonight, and he’s a guinea pig for a new recipe, a Giada de Laurentis Meatloaf Parmesan on this page. The intriguing thing about this one is in how the meatloaf is shaped – 8” x 12” x 1” on a large baking sheet – and how it’s finished. Giada’s quick marinara is both in and atop the meatloaf, and the finish has the meatloaf separated into 8 squares and topped with more marinara and mozzarella. I used fresh mozzarella and it melted perfectly.

With this we have lovely green beans finished with butter and toasted sesame seeds, a recipe titled Frosted Green Beans with Sesame Seeds from The Silver Spoon. And I’ve made the America’s Test Kitchen Quick Cheese Bread again. I’ve made this three times, and the last two I’ve forgot each time to add the melted butter. I’m beginning to think I don’t really need it!

Next week I’ve got a couple of organic chickens from Chaffin Farms in Butte County. Janice brought them to me. So we’ll have good chicken and great stock. And I’ve got venison patties and some lamb shoulder. I’m thinking lamb stew of some sort.

This Week in the Kitchen: February 11, 2012 Edition

Sunday

This is going to be an interesting week. We will have two sets of house guests. We will be at least 8 at table on Monday and Tuesday, that many again on Thursday and Sunday, and six most other nights. So you will understand if posts are a bit sparse.

Also, I’m using a beta editor, so please forgive the variable font. I just can’t get it straight!

We started our week with this easy dinner – Salsa Verde Chicken Bake – a recipe from the Simply Recipes website. One chicken breast, most of a jar of commercial green salsa, a bit of rice to put it on, voila! Hubby grilled some asparagus, too.

Monday

My nieces are visiting, so I have even more opportunities to cook. Two cups of garbanzos and a cup of sesame seeds, lemon juice, garlic, salt – hummus! We’re doing an easy dinner, too – Asian Marinated Flank Steak with Horseradish Sauce, roasted Brussels sprouts, and slaw with some of the new slaw dressing we tried out last week. I do like it. For dessert I have a bag of Lindt white chocolate truffles.

Tuesday

Another easy day -- a crockpot recipe from Slow Cooker Revolution, the America’s Test Kitchen crockpot book -- chicken cacciatore, served with whole wheat penne and grilled zucchini. And I made that special dessert, as promised, the one my boys call “death cake.” Its real name is Espresso and Mascarpone Icebox Cake.

Wednesday

My nieces leave today, and our friends John and Janice arrive. They don’t arrive until late, so we enjoy a simple dinner – burgers and grilled asparagus. Much to my surprise we are out of A-1 sauce. Hmmm, must discuss with Adam. Oh, well, I have a tomato and some sweet red onion and ketchup.

Thursday

Janice has brought me some kaffir lime leaves, so we’re doing a chicken recipe from Daniel Boulud’s Braise, Marinated Thai-Style Chicken in Green Curry. There are 17 separate ingredients in the chili paste. The chicken thighs marinate in coconut milk spiked with fish sauce, basil, and a couple of the Kaffir lime leaves. Another of these last gets ground up in the chili paste, along with lemongrass and galangal and thai chiles and other ingredients. The result is a slightly spicy, citrusy, delicious green sauce with tasty, tender chicken.  A lot of work, but worth it.

Chocolates for dessert.

Friday

Janice has also brought me a wonderful new cookbook, Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij. The subtitle of the book is “Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies”. The pictures are beautiful. I can see that I’ve got some collecting to do – rose petals, advieh, angelica, verjus, grape molasses. While I’m picking out a recipe for tomorrow night – one that does not involve rose petals – we’re having simple fare tonight.

Thick pork chops, cut from a pork loin, brined for a few hours in 16:1 kosher salt to water with a bit of sugar thrown in, then grilled to juicy perfection. We have a jar of Moessner farms red cabbage, and friend Linda is bringing stewed apples. Janice and I are trying a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for roasted broccoli, too, and we have Buttermilk Lemon Cake, made from a very good King Arthur mix, with sliced strawberries for dessert.

We’ve decided that next time we try the roasted broccoli, we’ll use the same roasting technique we use for Brussels sprouts – 10 minutes covered, 10 minutes for browning. It was a bit too crunchy. But tossing it with sliced garlic and crushed red pepper cooked in a bit of olive oil was a nice touch.

Saturday

Tonight we are having a khoresh, a braise. This one is Butternut Squash and Prune Khoresh, spiced with cinnamon, turmeric, saffron, and lime juice. We used stew beef, but I think another time I would use chuck roast. We cooked some Lundberg red rice, and Hubby grilled zucchini slices.

We used the leftover cake to make mini-trifles – layers of cake with raspberry jam, sprinkled with a bit of sherry. The cake is topped with a layer of Bird’s dessert mix pudding, and that in turn is topped with sliced strawberries, sliced almonds, and whipped cream. We skimped a bit on the cream, but it was still wonderful.

(You notice we’re eating dessert often this week? Gonna have walk it all off!)

Tomorrow is buffalo tri tip, mashed purple potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, and Bourbon-Pecan bread pudding. I made the brioche (shortcut – another King Arthur mix) today.

This Week in the Kitchen, February 4, 2012 Edition

Soup Sunday

A few weeks ago I picked up a pristine but used copy of America’s Test Kitchen Live! at our local bookstore. I drop by every now and then to see what’s “new” in the used cookbooks section. This book cements what I already knew –America’s Test Kitchen chefs are The Unrivaled Masters of refining recipes for home kitchens.

This week begins with one of their recipes – Pasta e Fagioli. The first time I try a recipe, I usually follow it closely. I did use leeks rather than onions, and basil rather than parsley, and deglazed the pan with a splash of dry Vermouth. But the flavor secrets – pancetta, a bit of parmesan rind, anchovies – with our flavorful homemade stock resulted in a fragrant, tasty, satisfying dinner. We served the soup with grated parmesan and toasted naan.

Just how good is it? Adam likes it, really likes it. Keeper!

Monday

Tonight we’re finalizing (we hope) plans for a summer hike around Mont Blanc. Our hiking buddies are coming to dinner. We’re keeping it simple so we can focus on planning. Hubby will grill two chickens rubbed with tagine spices. I’m roasting Brussels sprouts and making a Wild Rice and Toasted Pecan Pilaf using what remains of brother Harry’s pecans and the wild rice that Nicky gave us.

For dessert we have berries and lemon curd. And a bottle of Far Niente’s Dolce – Heaven in a Glass.

Tuesday Dinner with Friends

A repeat tonight – Poblano Albondigas with Ancho Chile Soup. The meatballs have been languishing in the freezer for a week or two. Plans do change, and a freezer is a handy thing to have when they do.

I’d been trying out various albondigas soup recipes, some better than others. This one is a winner – the tastes of the poblanos and the ancho chile are a perfect complement.  I may never have to try another albondigas soup recipe.

 I have some jus from last week’s tri tip that I’ll put in the pot along with homemade stock. And I’ll throw in a parmesan rind for extra flavor and add some rounds of carrots because they look pretty and taste good, too. And maybe some chunks of zucchini as well. I will sub a small can of diced tomatoes for some of the liquid, and stir in a can of black beans, rinsed and drained. And I’ll use brown basmati rice instead of white.

One other changeup – we toast Mexican oregano (and cumin and coriander seeds for that matter) and grind our own. I learned this from Mark Miller’s Tacos, another wonderful cookbook – but that’s for spring and summer.  I toast on the stovetop in a small skillet, stirring constantly, and dump to a saucer as soon as the oregano is fragrant and beginning to brown. We now own a spice grinder, but for years we used a cheap coffee grinder – works just fine. I store the toasted and ground seasonings in little canning jars, the kind you would use for jellies.

And to go with the soup, I’m making slaw and a wonderful cheese bread from the Test Kitchen’s book. This is a quick bread – no yeast, just baking powder – but with cheddar in the middle and parmesan top and bottom, it is a moist, chewy treat.

Oh, and we tried a new slaw dressing – another keeper recipe. I did not put green onions or ginger in the dressing, but grated some ginger into the slaw just before I dressed it. I omitted those two ingredients because the bulk of this dressing, along with a bag of slaw and a knob of ginger, is going to Tahoe with Zach. The chicken skewers in the recipe – just a distraction.

Wednesday

Today I’m cooking for a ski trip. Where am I going? Oh, not me. Son Zach and friends are headed to Tahoe for the weekend. I’m making pulled pork, a Carolina mustard barbecue sauce from the Barbecue! Bible, and Hubby will cook a tri tip. Buns, pork, beef, horseradish sauce, barbecue sauces, hot sauce, whole wheat buns, slaw – everything they need for a simple meal.

We get some of the pulled pork for dinner, along with grilled asparagus, and grilled fingerling potatoes.

We do the pork, a recipe given to me by my family (thanks Bonnie and Sis!), in the crock pot. It’s called Kālua Pig. A real kālua would involve an imu, a Hawaiian underground oven, but …

Rub a 5-6 pound pork shoulder or picnic roast with 1 T. liquid smoke (I use Stubb’s mesquite) and 1 T. kosher salt. Cook on low for 8-12 hours. Be prepared for wonderful smells emanating from the pot.

Remove meat from the pot; it’s done when it’s falling apart. Shred the pork, discarding any fat. De-fat the liquid left in the pot, and pour it over the meat. If needed, reheat covered in a 350 F oven for 20-30 minutes.

Slacker Thursday

I think it must be pasta night. I’m not very adventurous with pasta, but seeing as how I do have some great smelling basil and some spinach cheese ravioli (beginning to see a pattern here?) I think I’ll just thaw some homemade tomato sauce and add mushrooms.

Friday

Market day again, and it’s about time. My vegetable drawers are nearly empty. I have a single zucchini, two carrots, some celery, a green pepper, and a few stray jalapeno peppers. I need shallots and onions, and lots of green vegetables – we’ll have company all next week.

My nieces are here Monday through Wednesday, and our friends John and Janice arrive Wednesday and will stay until Monday. I’m going to cook ahead – think chicken cacciatore. And Janice is bringing me some kaffir lime leaves, so I’ve got a nice recipe from Daniel Boulud’s Braise – Marinated Thai Style Chicken in Green Curry. And I’ve promised to make a “Death Cake” for my nieces. Next week’s should be an interesting post.

Dinner tonight?, Grilled fresh brats from Trader Joe’s, and zucchini.

Saturday – A Gourmet Group Dinner

Our group of four couples gets together as often as busy schedules allow. We’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, although only two couples remain of the original four. We started out doing theme dinners – host and hostess pick a theme, each couple has a course, and each couple selects a recipe.

Somewhere along the way we ditched the theme and decided that if the host and hostess set the menu, we’d get a more consistent dining experience.

We try to make sure that the recipes are ones we’ve never made before, so we mine food magazines like Fine Cooking and new cookbooks. (Bon Appetít used to be a favorite, but given their current editorial policy, I’m thinking I won’t renew that subscription. I get the mag for the food, not the celebs!) Each couple prepares a course and brings the wines to go with that course.

The first three courses for today are recipes from The Stinking Rose Restaurant Cookbook, a Christmas gift from one of the couples. We have appetizers – Italian Pot Stickers. I’ve made dumplings, but never pot stickers. So I’ve consulted my dumpling guru, Andrea Nguyen, she of Asian Dumplings. She gives very nice directions, and I have just the right large, heavy, nonstick pan – my paella pan, actually.

The second course is Pasta with Butternut Squash, Fried Sage and Garlic Chips. Mains are Slow-Roasted Prime Rib and The Stink House Rose Salad.

Think garlicky.

And then dessert – Strawberry and Cream Cake with Cardamom Syrup from The Best of Gourmet – a heart-stopper in more ways than one. (Oh, and the Ray’s made garlic cardamom ice cream to go along with the garlicky dinner theme.)

This looks to be a fantastic meal. I’m packing my leftovers containers – I can never eat it all.  (But I did – the only thing I brought home was half my dessert!) 

January in the Kitchen: the Month in Review

It became clear to me that I needed to do some analysis on my food diary. I’ve got the rudiments defined.

For the month of January:

January, 2012	# of meals
Total dinners cooked	29
Dessert served	7
Grill Used	14
Ate out	2
Have no idea what we ate!	1
New recipes	12
Meat Breakdown (exclusive of eating out)
Beef	10
Fowl	4
Lamb	2
Pork	9
Fish	4
No meat	2

 

I can see we have some work to do – more fish certainly. I will say, in our defense, that we serve small portions (4-5 ounces) of meat, almost invariably accompanied by a green vegetable of some sort. And we eat a bowl of fruit every day to start our day. Today’s fruit bowls for 3 contain: 1 pint strawberries, 2 oranges, 1 tangelo, 1 tangerine, 1 banana, 1 small kiwi fruit.

I am a little startled to find that I’ve lost an entire dinner. We came back from LA on a Saturday and I cannot for the life of me remember what we ate.

And you’ll notice that the meat breakdown, totaled, is >29. That’s OK – meatloaf and pasta sauces contained a combination of ground meats.

Any suggestions on what else I should track – like maybe pasta dinners? Repeats?