What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Last night we dined with friends. Excellent prime rib with carb-intensive sides: mashed potatoes with gravy, yorkshire pudds, garlic bread knots, carrots and brussels sprouts. Today, in atonement, I will only eat from the produce department.

[Jenise]

Sunday, we ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Edie had chicken breast; I had 24-oz T-bone and lobster tail. Appetizer was seafood pyramid; desserts were bread pudding and creme brulee. Cab Sav and Riesling.

I have never eaten at a Ruth's Chris. Late one night with friends, though, we popped into the bar of the DT Seattle location and there I had the worst negroni of my life. It was a cloudy tan in color, like iced tea from a powdered mix. The Campari component was nonexistent, and I have no idea what else was in it.

But wow on the big dinner you had--surf and turf to the max. I'm impressed that you could manage a dessert after all that!

Luckily, the bartender wasn't a cook. Great steaks, though, but worst asparagus I ever ate a couple of years ago. If you do eat at Ruth's, I'd recommend the ribeye. They use prime cuts, broil at 1800F and come out on 500F plates.

[Jenise]

I've heard that about their prep style. Also, I believe they finish each with a pat of butter. Sounds great.

Tonight we had the rest of the lima bean soup I made for Christmas Eve, and garlicky side salads. Definitely back in the healthy eating zone.

Having lunch and enjoying a nice rainy day. Spinach wraps with chicken slices, kalamata olives, and lettuce, with a little ginger, and sesame dressing. Hot broccoli on the side with spicy brown mustard. Delish!

Oh, I remember Ruth Chris steak house, delicious steaks, have not been in one for years and did not know they were still around.

[Jenise]

We're dining at a friend's tonight, chicken in a mushroom sauce she said. Likewise tomorrow and the day after, I won't be cooking again until Saturday. Lunch today will be bowl of hot wilted pea tips. Like spinach, but different.

[Jenise]

So our friend served chicken in white wine, cream and mushroom sauce, a Julia Child (she's a JC nerd) recipe, on mashed potatoes. A small side salad also occurred. Before dinner, some cheeses, and after dinner macarons and fruit cake. I had a little of everything. Felt fine at the time, but by the time I went to bed I had the onset of minor chills and fever, SEVERE heartburn, and other signs of gastrointestinal distress of the type requiring a bathroom nearby. I was literally up all night dealing with those. Would appear to be some sort of food poisoning though I don't know what, Bob wasn't affected. Probably one of the cheeses that I sampled more of than he did. I spent yesterday recovering on much-needed sleep and bland food.

Today dor lunch we're going to try a new Indian restaurant that opened in town, and dinner will be salad and fruit to balance things out since Indian food is so darned heavy. I love the flavors but the lack of fresh, raw elements keeps me from enjoying it very often.

I am in the kitchen on another wonderful rainy day here in the valley. Meaty Australian Lamb chops have been resting in Pinot Noir wine, olive oil, fresh rosemary, garlic, balsamic, salt, and pepper overnight and will be pan-grilled to a medium rare. My mom's risotto I will tweak and use Farro, cooked with onions, brown mushrooms, French vermouth, chicken stock, Beau Monde, and Poultry Seasoning. Veggie will be an Acorn squash I made a few weeks back that I can't get off my mind because it was so good. The squash, red onion, red bell pepper, and grape tomatoes, are seasoned with dried thyme, basil, and oregano, drizzled with olive oil and roasted. Squash is cut into thirds prior to roasting and and topped with baby spinach that has been wilted, and the rest of the roasted veggies. One can top it with roasted pine nuts and goat cheese. Very pretty presentation.

Today dor lunch we're going to try a new Indian restaurant that opened in town, and dinner will be salad and fruit to balance things out since Indian food is so darned heavy. I love the flavors but the lack of fresh, raw elements keeps me from enjoying it very often.

Jenise, you are brave for going out for Indian food after having such an episode. I like some Indian food but also find it heavy and some of the spices are overpowering.
As I get older, I find my stomach has become a bit more fussy. It also might be because I eat a Mediterranean diet most of the time now and when I do eat a richer diet for a few days, I do not feel as energetic. Mainly the reason why I stay home more these days, and avoid large family gatherings with lots of food. The plus side is, that my family takes turns coming up to see me more often and I get to have lots of one-on-one visits. They are 2.5 hours away so it is usually not an issue and they are all a lot younger than me!

[Jenise]

Karen, this Indian food was in some ways lighter than normal as the family is from Kerala or thereabouts on India's southwestern coast. I have in the past found Keralese food to be the lightest and most complex of Indian foods, involving a lot of seafood and less heat/more obvious complexity as befits that protein. This food was AMAZING. The chana (garbanzo bean) dish we ordered had fresh diced tomato and onions stirred in, for instance, making the dish lighter and brighter. Really good. Can't believe a restaurant that good opened in our little podunk town.

I think the fussy issue comes with age. I don't typically have that issue, but my brother (who dined with us this day) sure does, and I've heard from others, "I just can't eat spicy food like I used to".

Yesterday I marinated then roasted a turkey breast and served slices over scoops of an artichoke bread pudding that I made. It was wonderful, and we already enjoyed the leftovers with breakfast. (Pan crisped with fried eggs for Bob, cold for me.)

I've seen here in Redding when some great family restaurants come into town, others open. Maybe the Indian restaurant will inspire others.

[Jenise]

Karen, other recent new restaurants here failed quickly. But I've never seen anything like the chatter across all local social media this restaurant's getting and it's 100% positive reviews, raves even. Literally, EVERYONE'S talking about it. And all this in spite of poor ambience--it's a former Denny's in considerable disrepair as the building was empty for about four-five years, but oh wow the food. And three other problems: no beer, no wine, and it closes at 7 p.m. And yet they're slammed! People who love Indian food are loving it, and people who never liked it before are loving it. Never seen anything like it. I got almost 100 new signups on my Facebook page within 48 hours of posting my review!

This morning, as we do every New Year, for our first meal we had a bowl of Black Eyed Peas in honor of my grandmother who was somewhat superstitious in spite of her deep faith in Christian Science. She had black eyed peas every New Years and so do I in her honor. (I don't believe in luck.)

So I got an urge to play in the kitchen and went crackers! Making prawn crackers (kroepok ), squid ink rice crackers, and , pumpkin seed and cranberry crackers. All from scratch, process went on for several days but in manageable bites. Overall very pleased with the results for the first effort ..
The kroepok quite bland, but that was probably because for a first effort I just used tinned baby prawns no real flavour to start with. I’m sure I will get a better flavour with decent prawns.

pumpkin seed and cranberry crackers

Those sound good!

On the stove is a cut-up small head of cauliflower, along with a few purple, red, and yellow baby potatoes cooking in chicken stock and salt. The food processor contains roasted garlic cloves, fresh thyme, French and Lemon varieties, and a little Neufchatel cheese. The two will be combined into a mash. In the slow cooker are two well-seasoned, cross-cut beef shanks I browned first and then set on a bed of sauteed onions. Later carrots and celery will be added along with garlic cloves. The liquid I added was vermouth, balsamic vinegar, and chicken stock. A pinch of ground cloves oregano, fresh thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves, and tomato paste were also added. The veggie side will be string beans, cooked with onions, garlic, Beau Monde, Poultry Seasoning, and tomato sauce.
It is a great rainy day which makes me happy as yesterday I put micronutrients around my citrus trees. I was too lazy to mix the water and powder but knew rain was coming so let Mother Nature provide the water.

On Sunday I'll be making Sichuan dry-fried beef and celery.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I haven't really cooked much at home this week. Thursday night I steamed some Chinese cauliflower florets with lemon juice and dillm which I served over slices of pan-crisped artichoke bread pudding from earlier in the week. We didn't eat at home Wed or last night, nor will we tonight. But on the stove stewing away is a pot of chicken, made from several misc parts that ended up in the freezer. Talk about comfort food--for me it doesn't get any more comforting than that and right now I need a lot of comforting. Too the weather, heading into snow on Thursday and four days of single digit temps, calls for food like this.

We typically eat sauerkraut on New Year's Day (wife is part Kraut), but for several reasons we didn't this year. So we had sauerkraut today, sausages, mashed potatoes, and home-made bread. And beer, of course.

That sounds great Larry, love sauerkraut. Redding has a kiosk downtown right next to a health food store. My favorite thing to get there is a Polish Kraut dog with sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard. They serve them on very fresh Hoagie rolls which I love. I can only eat half of it these days, but the rest is fine the next day, heated just a tad. I make a great pork tenderloin with sauerkraut in the slow cooker, it has apples and potatoes, as well. A real comfort food. I serve it with homemade applesauce. yum!
It is 31° this morning. I opened my windows this morning and every roof was white, as are the yards, with lots of frosts. I hope we do not get snow this year, snow used to be rare here except in the three mountain ranges around us.

Jenise, glad to hear about the new Indian restaurant featuring Kerala-style food. The dishes from Kerala and Karnataka can be amazing and not at all heavy. The heavy Indian food style common in restaurants is the Mughlai style of Northern India and strongly influenced by Persian food and the Mongol emperors, who ruled the Indian subcontinent for centuries before being deposed by the British in 1858. Coming as it does from royal kitchens Mughlai dishes have a lot of nuts and cream.

I remember back in the mid-1970s when I first encountered South Indian vegetarian food. One of the Biology professors at Holy Cross in Worcester was from Udupi in Karnataka, as was his wife (a Bio prof at Clark University). They arranged to get their extended family to the US by opening an Indian vegetarian restaurant called Annapurna (closed, alas, in 1992). I still remember my first visit there. I was in total palate shock. From the rasam soup starter to the gulab jamun dessert, it was all like nothing I'd ever tasted before. And all delicious. It's what started me cooking Indian for myself.

-Paul W.

This morning I made a Mediterranean Chickpea and Roasted Red Pepper salad for a few lunches this week. The salad consists of chickpeas, English cuke, grape tomatoes, roasted red peppers, shallots, fresh parsley, and mint, and I added two small sliced radishes. The dressing consists of Dijon mustard, fresh lemon juice, garlic, Allepo pepper, Sumac, black pepper, salt, and olive oil. I plan to serve it over slightly wilted baby spinach today, and different lettuces over the next few days. Avocado can be added to the salad, but I did not want to do it now, may add it later on.

[Jenise]

Jenise, glad to hear about the new Indian restaurant featuring Kerala-style food. The dishes from Kerala and Karnataka can be amazing and not at all heavy. The heavy Indian food style common in restaurants is the Mughlai style of Northern India

-Paul W.

I was somewhat aware of this, but didn't become so until I went to a Keralan restaurant in Atlanta. The food was lighter and more complex...it kinda blew my mind. So I was very pleased to see that kind of coastal food on this restaurant's menu. We went again last night, the place was packed again. The night before we drove by on our way to somewhere else and there was a line out the door--in the rain. No one who lives here and has agonized over the bland local palate (for which no restaurant can survive without hamburgers and fish and chips on the menu which they mistakenly think tourists come here for--they don't) can believe the success this Indian restaurant is having. Never ever would have bet on it!

[Jenise]

Last night, for a starter salad I combined watercress, sliced fresh mushrooms and thinly sliced Jerusalem artichokes with neutral oil, vinegar and a clove of minced garlic. Really a great combination that I would do more often if only I could find watercress more often! It's rare here, especially the kind that's not the mild hothouse version. Our entree was duck-fat pan roasted Chilean sea bass drizzled with a cherry/Bordeaux/walnut balsamic vinegar on a bed of 'hash' made with shaved brussels sprouts and spinach fettucine tossed with a bit of butter. Really a great foundation for a piece of fish.

Tonight I'm doing something with thinly sliced beef, shabu shabu thin. Not sure what yet, though. Might become a Mexican rice for stuffing in lettuce leaves.

Jenise, is your cherry/Bordeaux/walnut balsamic vinegar from Walden Lane? That intrigues me and I am a nut over vinegars and olive oils. Had not heard of this!