This break has given me a chance to fill in all my missing staples. We call this Happy Happy sauce. It is a good hot sauce. Made from Arbol chilis softened in hot water for an hour. Add salt, shallot, oil, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, brown sugar, vinegar and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Blend in food processor and use.


Happy hot sauce

ronnie_suburban wrote:Pulled these off the grill when they reached 117 F.

Nice!!!

and tonight, day 31 of isolation for us, is finally tuna surprise. we like this but double the tuna, and double the whole recipe after that; no need to make the roux in a separate pan, just do right in the mushroom skillet.
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food ... ole-109434

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Pulled these off the grill when they reached 117 F.

Nice!!!

LOL, I can feel you mocking me!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL, I can feel you mocking me!

Ha, me? That steak does look incredibly delicious . . .

lougord99 wrote:This break has given me a chance to fill in all my missing staples. We call this Happy Happy sauce. It is a good hot sauce. Made from Arbol chilis softened in hot water for an hour. Add salt, shallot, oil, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, brown sugar, vinegar and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Blend in food processor and use.


Happy hot sauce

Gorgeous!

Tinned tuna packed with mountain stream spring water arranged on historically accurate flatbread, cushion of emulsified hen egg, virgin oil, Fleur de sel and shade grown single village hand-harvested Cambodian black pepper.

Accented with woven wheat crisp, drizzle of fresh squeezed Lisbon Lemon essence and dusting of Aleppo pepper. Paring: Late harvest 2019 Ice Mountain Cherry and med-pulp Florida orange juice.

I did a bit of cooking and baking the last couple of days.

I am still full. I think today I will pull down my juicer and go easy on the eating.

The Pie is from the Hoosier Mama Pie book. I am discerning about nuts so left the crumble without them. And I took a cue from Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe and "floured" my bench with graham dust for the crust. The crust is my new favorite pie dough from Stella Park.

The greens are vegetarian. I modified a recipe from Cook's Country, ( I have never used my oven to cook greens before but it was lovely and I will do it again). I looked to Howard McGee for how to replace the ham hock in the Cook's Country recipe.

pairs4life wrote:I did a bit of cooking and baking the last couple of days...

The greens are vegetarian. I modified a recipe from Cook's Country, ( I have never used my oven to cook greens before but it was lovely and I will do it again). I looked to Howard McGee for how to replace the ham hock in the Cook's Country recipe.

Looks good Ava! I've also never done greens in the oven. What were the approximate times and temps?

gastro gnome wrote:

pairs4life wrote:I did a bit of cooking and baking the last couple of days...

The greens are vegetarian. I modified a recipe from Cook's Country, ( I have never used my oven to cook greens before but it was lovely and I will do it again). I looked to Howard McGee for how to replace the ham hock in the Cook's Country recipe.

Looks good Ava! I've also never done greens in the oven. What were the approximate times and temps?

2# of collards
onions, a smidge of oil, pepper flakes, garlic and water, I used water w. a few tablespoons of miso + smoked salt bring to a boil in dutch oven add greens and stir until they wilt, a couple of minutes. Cover and place in an oven at 300F, low and slow for 90 ish minutes. They were perfect.

Pairs4Life,

Have you ever cooked dumplings in your pot of greens?

On the dumplings episode of Vivian Howard's Somewhere in the South, her Mother would cook dumplings in the greens. This addition of dumplings turned the pot of greens into a meal.

If you have not done this, have you seen it done?

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Pairs4Life,

Have you ever cooked dumplings in your pot of greens?

On the dumplings episode of Vivian Howard's Somewhere in the South, her Mother would cook dumplings in the greens. This addition of dumplings turned the pot of greens into a meal.

If you have not done this, have you seen it done?

Regards,
Cathy2

Yes. My paternal grandmother did this. Frequently with a large dose of cornmeal. Some folks also just use corn meal in the greens to thicken. I always preferred the "slicks" flat-wide noodles for my dumplings but a lot of folks would do these drop style biscuit dough into the pot.

I made cornbread but it sounds intriguing. I have a quart of pot linker left that is incredible.

On Easter, my sister dropped off stuff found in her trunk: two types of chow mein noodles, Chinese hot mustard, duck sauce and some sweet sour sauce. Leftovers from a Culinary Historians meeting featuring Louisa Chu and Monica Eng talking about The Legitimacy and Legacy of Chinese Food in America (link for the podcast).

My Dad's eyes lit up when he saw the chow mein noodles, "Those are my favorite! I keep asking for them and getting something else." I guess he just did not ask for the right noodles, though he does like pan fried noodles, too. He very much favors crisp textures.

When Louisa and Monica were offering ideas for food samples, making Monica's Aunt Fanny's egg roll recipe was an easy decision. When it came to Chop Suey, Monica sent a recipe from 1917. I knew Louisa is very partial to Chop Suey and favored a recipe I located: Old-Fashioned Chop Suey from Ling's Chinese Restaurant in Milwaukee. All was good, though extra onion was needed.

By popular demand today, I made Old Fashioned Chop Suey to the recipe, except I added a lot more onion. While I intended to serve this with rice and chow mein noodles. The rice cooker made a rare error and did not cook rice as expected. Chop Suey with Chow Mein noodles was our lunch.




When I bought the Chow Mein noodles at Sunset Foods, there were two types available. One was priced around $3 and the other less than $2. I bought one of each as an opportunity to try them side by side:



Of the two brands, we liked the Sun King chow mein noodles better. If I recall correctly, it was also the higher priced noodles.

I also had my Dad taste the Chinese mustard warning it tends to run quite hot. Initially, he thought I exaggerated and then kaboom the mustard hit him hard. Whenever I get out of this house, I will gift someone with the hot mustard.

Tomorrow is a big day! A doctor's appointment! Can't wait to legally leave the house!

Regards,
Cathy2

Sunday's rib roast ends its presence in a salad with blue cheese, slivered red onion and leaf lettuce with a Balsamic dressing. I was aiming at a blue cheese dressing initially, then changed my mind.


What's left is some fat intended for rendering. Maybe used for a hot water pastry? The possibilities are endless when you cannot leave home.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:When Louisa and Monica were offering ideas for food samples, making Monica's Aunt Fanny's egg roll recipe was an easy decision.

I enjoyed rereading this article and recipe, which I've used as my guide in making egg rolls. I have a question, though: what brand(s) of egg roll wrappers fit(s) the description of "large (7-by-7-inch)"? The only ones I usually see in the produce sections of grocery stores are the Nasoya brand wrappers, and they are neither that large nor square, which makes them more of a pain to roll. Yesterday I was at Woodman's (my first time venturing out to a store since March 20th), and I looked in both the produce area and the freezer cabinets. I saw multiple brands of frozen spring roll wrappers (not suitable for egg rolls, I read) and small wrappers for things like empanadas, but no large square egg roll wrappers.

According to this article, there are only two manufacturers of egg roll wrappers in the U.S. Apparently some restaurants make their own but that is time consuming. These wrappers are usually frozen before shipping to restaurants or other customers. You could call the number here to see who they sell to in Chicago.
Now I know why my former Chinese neighbor went to Chinatown to purchase wrappers for her egg rolls. I don’t know if she bought them from a restaurant supplier there or she was able to talk a restaurant into selling her some.
https://launchcamden.com/egg-roll-manuf ... kingsland/

This is the other egg roll manufacturer I found.
https://www.hotoynoodle.com/egg-roll-wrapper/

My husband and I decided to take this opportunity to dig more deeply into a few cookbooks by focusing our menus for each week on one that we hadn't had a chance to dive into.

Last week was Jerusalem (Ottolenghi/Tamimi), which was a lot of fun and turned up some interesting surprises like the deceptively simple but delicious Couscous with Tomato (crisped like a thick pancake in a hot skillet). I've ordered barberries from an online source and when they arrive we might make another run at this book as they turn up pretty frequently.

This week we're cooking from The Flexitarian Table (Berley), which offers vegetarian versions of most mains and a great selection of grain-based dishes (coming in handy). For next week I have my eye on Moro East (Clark & Clark).

Has anyone found a favorite cookbook to be a particularly good source of inspiration during this time of raiding the larder?

Made a delicious, butter-laden, French-style garlic chive omelet for breakfast this morning but it was definitely not a looker, so no pics. Not even a hint of brown (yay!) but it was a bit on the amorphous side.

Dinner tonight was super simple but it really hit the spot. Whole, roasted chicken, steamed asparagus and sauteed sugar snap peas with garlic, onion, fresh chives (I am working through a pound of garlic chives! ) and fresh thyme . . .


Roasted Chicken


My Plate

=R=

Katie wrote:Yesterday I was at Woodman's (my first time venturing out to a store since March 20th), and I looked in both the produce area and the freezer cabinets. I saw multiple brands of frozen spring roll wrappers (not suitable for egg rolls, I read) and small wrappers for things like empanadas, but no large square egg roll wrappers.

The wrapper used by Helen is one I know by sight. It is usually purchased at Richwell Market on Dempster in Skokie. What she uses is made of barley, it is stretchy and easy to work with. Of course, you can separate them from the stack, but it is expected you use them right away or they begin to dry out. I am 90% certain it is this product.

Helen has made countless egg rolls with these wrappers. From the Monica Eng and Louisa Chu event, there was enough egg roll filling left for almost two dozen egg rolls. I bought these wrappers on the way home, filled and fried them. They easily did the job of encasing the egg roll filling.

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi,

Today was a day of a real life appointment in a doctor's office sandwiched by virtual meetings. A normally full waiting room was just us. No magazines to entertain and inform on celebrity gossip. Fortunately the fish tank is still there.

Lunch on the quick was fried rice using some ham cubes from the freezer, scrambled egg, celery for crunch, green onions, chopped up Romaine lettuce heart* and asparagus. I only use oyster sauce to flavor the rice and a little sesame oil when cooking the egg.


Later in the afternoon, we had porcupine meatballs in a sauce from a Sloppy Joe can. I usually make my own Sloppy Joe sauce, though I almost used mild salsa, instead. Years ago, I would make this only with tomato soup. I broke free from this when a visiting relative left a huge bottle of salsa in our fridge. More often now I empty all the foam containers of BBQ sauce and other take-out sauces, mixed together and thinned with water. Now it is a source of amusement when the family really likes the sauce and there is no way it can be replicated. So today's choice of a can of Sloppy Joe sauce is rather mundane.


*Long time ago, TonyC and CrazyC had a big dust up over lettuce TonyC found in fried rice. He declared it unauthentic from his Taiwanese experience. CrazyC did not agree from her pedigree growing up in Singapore and Hong Kong. Every time I use lettuce in fried rice, I think of those two.

Regards,
Cathy2

I (like many others,) have been taking advantage of some additional time on my hands to dabble in bread baking. I purchased “Home Baking” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid several years ago and am finally digging in. My daughter loved their white bread (toasted with butter and jam.). The oat bran bread was a hit with me especially as I love a “nutty” flavored bread with a little texture. This was good for sandwiches as well as toast. I made the raisin bread today and the smell in the house alone was enough to justify the process. I hope all this practice now will lead to me being comfortable enough to streamline it into my routine when life returns to “normal.”

ronnie_suburban wrote:but it was a bit on the amorphous side

Use a couple of paper towels or a clean* side towel to shape the omelette. Paint it with a little butter to make it glisten/glow and dust with chives. Walla, picture perfect!

Your chicken looked Delightful and I'm sure tasted even better.

*I debated using the word clean but in the end I was worried you would take a stained dirty towel from the hamper and use it to shape the omelette.

G Wiv wrote:*I debated using the word clean but in the end I was worried you would take a stained dirty towel from the hamper and use it to shape the omelette

So, yesterday's boxers are definitely out!

=R=

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:but it was a bit on the amorphous side

Use a couple of paper towels or a clean* side towel to shape the omelette. Paint it with a little butter to make it glisten/glow and dust with chives. Walla, picture perfect!

Your chicken looked Delightful and I'm sure tasted even better.

*I debated using the word clean but in the end I was worried you would take a stained dirty towel from the hamper and use it to shape the omelette.

So, kind of getting the hang of it . . . and no towel necessary!


Chive Omelet
A for flavor, D+ for technique

=R=

Just finished frying a big batch of Swedish meatballs, a first for me.

The frying was preceded by several steps (including grinding the beef and pork), delays (putting the ground beef and pork in the fridge for a day or two til I had enough energy to continue), and missteps (one, really: buying allspice, only to discover that, a, I'd already bought allspice the last time I had this idea, and b, the recipe only calls for 1/8 teaspoon of allspice, so now I have enough allspice to last me the rest of the century).

The frying, when it actually commenced, was a lot of fun, and the meatballs are awesome. Maybe not a-hundred-billion-hot-dogs awesome, but still pretty awesome.

Now I'm in the mood to fry everything in sight.

There's still some ground pork, and I recall Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries has at least one recipe for pork meatballs with Asian flavors (mint? cilantro? ginger? lemongrass? garlic? sweet sauce?), so those are next on my list.

I've been making some form of fried chicken at least once during every grocery cycle because, dammit, I'm not letting a virus deny me the one true joy in life.

First was Hawaiian garlic chicken, then buttermilk-brined fried chicken. This go around will be mochiko chicken.

A first for me, but it won't be the last time I make it. Not only do I have the little rectangular mold now, not only do I have more cans of SPAM, but I have 25 more pounds of sushi rice and I'm not afraid to use it

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:A first for me, but it won't be the last time I make it. Not only do I have the little rectangular mold now, not only do I have more cans of SPAM, but I have 25 more pounds of sushi rice and I'm not afraid to use it

Spam Musubi
Love it!

=R=

More recipes to try:
Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes for lockdown

When you eat a late breakfast, you eat a late lunch bleeding into dinner.

Today's lunch pretty much needed orchestration rather than production:
- Sunset Food's lemon chicken cutlets brought over by a neighbor. (Reheated on a rack at 400 degrees for 15 minutes as recommended by America's Test Kitchen)
- Dehydrated mashed potatoes found in the freezer when cleaning it last weekend. Yes, it never needed freezing, I cannot explain why it ended up there. Bring two cups of water to a boil, stir in the packet of spuds and wait a minute. Tick tock, guess what came last to the table?
- Asparagus, which was peeled while waiting for the water to boil.

Dinner may just be raspberries and whipped cream, because my Dad frets the cream might spoil. As if this could ever happen in this household.

I did a few odds and ends with the purpose of freeing space in the fridge: rendered fat from Sunday's roast for some future project and made egg salad to compress refrigerator space from a big carton to tinier container.

Tomorrow is another day!

Regards,
Cathy2