A nice breakfast treat . . .


Toasted Sesame Bagel, Chive Cheese, Cold-Smoked Salmon
The bagel and chive cheese are from Once Upon A Bagel in Highland Park, which recently re-opened for delivery and curbside (on 5/1). It's normally not my favorite place for bagels but I'm happy to have them back and happy to support them. Salmon is Norwegian, Kirkland Brand, from Costco.

=R=

For Mother's Day, I flew the coup to do some shopping beyond my immediate area. I went to the land of many culinary treasures: Niles!

First stop was H-Mart for the ingredients for Mother's Day lunch, which is yet to be discussed.

People arrived with gloves and masks. I took advantage of sanitizer to spray the cart and put on a pair complimentary gloves. It was early morning, so few people and easy to maintain social spacing.

I bought what I thought was bulgogi, instead I learned when I went to cook it was marinated rib eye steak. Some of the meat was cut about 3/4 inch thick, then had been through a tenderizing machine cutting slits about 1/3rd inch apart. These were cooked on a hot skillet, initially boiling in their juices, then evaporated enough to begin to caramelize. I learned to wait until they caramelize from talking to the Korean sample ladies in the past.

When lunch was served today, my Dad joked, "It was South Korea on a plate."


The almost-like-bulgogi was on a Romaine lettuce leaf with some ginger-scallion sauce (inspired by Momofuku's Bo ssam recipe), Filipino style garlic rice, more ginger-scallion sauce and Croatian-Serbian-Yugoslav cabbage slaw. It was more like a mini United Nations on a plate.

Dinner tonight was freshly hand-whipped cream over butter pecan ice cream with Mitchell's hot fudge. This jar of fudge was bought in December, 2006, when Mitchell's was about to close. It did eventually have a second hurrah with a new owner reopening it.

I have a problem when I buy a one-of or the last-of, I consider the experience precious and want to use it for a special occasion.

More to be unveiled from shopping in Niles later.

Regards,
Cathy2

Today was a reenactment of Baker's Square circa 1995: sandwich of grilled chicken, avocado, Swiss, sour cream and mushrooms; fries; and side salad with parmesan dressing hacked from Kraft French.

Dug up what I'm pretty sure was the last 'emergency' stash of my homemade pastrami, as I've been promising my family reubens ever since the current situation first came to pass. For the first time, I was able to include homemade sauerkraut (2% salt, fermented 16 days) this time, as well . . .


Three Reubens On The Board
Cheese-wise, I used swiss on one side and havarti on the other (top of pic).


Three Reubens In The Pan
Not too crowded.


Reuben Sandwich
Ready for consumption

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Are you growing horseradish in your yard?

Regards,
CAthy2

No, I got the leaves from a farmer friend. Unfortunately, we can't grow much in our yard anymore because even though it's south-facing, our trees have grown substantially over the past few years, leaving our dedicated garden space in shade most of the time. I guess I should have known not to put in a maple tree. It's gone absolutely crazy.

=R=

HI,

Geo mentioned at some point about growing his own horseradish when he lived in Kansas.

He's been gone from Kansas for years, but his neighbors are still fighting the rampaging horseradish plants. Apparently, these are quite aggressive and difficult to smother.

Obtaining leaves from someone else is far better than nipping some off in the yard.

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi,

Before we knew of any notion of shelter-at-home, I bought a case of Irish oatmeal and a case of freeze dried fruit (blueberries, raspberries and strawberries). I thought my Dad would jump all over the oatmeal, though lately his favorite breakfast is a hot dog or leftovers. How much does he like hot dogs? He cleaned the freezer trying to hunt some down. Whenever I am pushed to do a milk or egg run, I include hot dogs, too.

This morning I made baked oatmeal, because it consumed two cups of oatmeal and a bag of dried mixed fruit. This is a breakfast we really enjoy, probably should make more often and don't for no particular reason.


Lunch was Korean vegetable pancake aka Yacheajeon, which uses the same batter as scallion pancakes and seafood pancakes: 200 gram mix and 300 gram water. I don't make Korean pancakes very often, thus I usually end up on youtube for a refresher. I have seen a number of variations on how these are made:
- Fry the vegetables, then pour in the batter
- Mix the vegetables into the batter, then portion in to the frying pan
- After the first flip, drizzle scrambled eggs to cook on the surface
Of course whichever one I saw last, is the style I tend to reflect.

To even begin to cook, I had to remove a stuck on crust of beyond caramelized sugar from a non-stick pan. I ended up pouring in some white vinegar, bringing to boil on the stove, then worked the surface with a dish brush. The surface looked better than it had recently.

My virtual instructor today was:

In two years, she has had close to 3.4 million views on this video.

This woman had a very forgiving kitchen-sink approach to her vegetables: as long as your prepped vegetables were 2.5 cups, what you chose to use was up to you. Don't like something, don't use it.

My vegetables were green onions, white onion, garlic, sweet potato, leftover cabbage salad, leftover scallion sauce, chopped Romaine lettuce and bean sprouts.

The best looking pancake was divided up and eaten before I took a picture. The pancake pictured did a semi-flip onto itself. It was trick to straighten it out, so it is not as lovely as it could possibly be.


I still have soup to make from Sunday's leftovers.

Regards,
Cathy2

To paraphrase Ken 'Hawk' Harrelson, we managed to jerk up a darned good one tonight. Sausage and onions . . .


Spicy Italian Sausage
Just a house-made variety from a local grocery store but a reliably consistent one that we've come to like over the years. I browned it on both sides in a little evoo then removed the sausages.


Yellow Onions
Used 3, as we're working through a 10-pound bag. Sauteed in the rendered sausage fat.


Beer
I wanted to add a liquid to impart additional flavor and help break down the onions. All I had handy was this recently purchased growler of Campesino Sour from Middle Brow. A sour would not have been my first choice but its tart, barnyard-y funkiness worked very well with the other ingredients and really brought the dish together. Not surprisingly, it also paired well with the meal.


Mushrooms
After the onions and beer cooked down, I added some leftover sauteed cremini mushrooms.


All In
Once the mushrooms had warmed up a bit, I added the Italian sausage back, plus a few pieces of mystery kielbasa from the other night. I covered the whole deal and cooked it all for about 15 minutes more, until the Italian sausages had cooked through to 160F.


Plated Up
This was a really nice dish. The depth of flavor surprised us. It was truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Plus, we used a bunch of leftovers and created some free space in the fridge. Win-win-win.

=R=

Spicy Italian Sausage
Just a house-made variety from a local grocery store but a reliably consistent one that we've come to like over the years. I browned it on both sides in a little evoo then removed the sausages.

Whose spicy Italian sausage do you like? Inquiring minds want to know!

Regards,
Cathy2

ronnie_suburban wrote:Toasted Sesame Bagel, Chive Cheese, Cold-Smoked Salmon

Ronnie, everything you have been cooking lately has been ~fire~, as the kids say. But this simple perfectly executed bagel, lox and cream cheese touches my soul.

I ate pretty good myself yesterday. NSX posted about Captain Alex's soft shells. Scallops for lunch, soft shell dinner. Captain Alex seafood is pristine, good social distancing, and price for quality is off the charts.






Captain Alex, count me a Fan!

Captain Alex
8874 N Milwaukee Ave
Niles, Illinois 60714
847-803-8833

Cathy2 wrote:

Spicy Italian Sausage
Just a house-made variety from a local grocery store but a reliably consistent one that we've come to like over the years. I browned it on both sides in a little evoo then removed the sausages.

Whose spicy Italian sausage do you like? Inquiring minds want to know!

Sunset's hot Italian. I'm not sure if they make it in-house or have it made for them but it's a solid B. It's sold in the fresh meat department -- film-wrapped, foam tray. Again, it's not world-class but convenience:quality ratio is definitely favorable.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:

Spicy Italian Sausage
Just a house-made variety from a local grocery store but a reliably consistent one that we've come to like over the years. I browned it on both sides in a little evoo then removed the sausages.

Whose spicy Italian sausage do you like? Inquiring minds want to know!

Sunset's hot Italian. I'm not sure if they make it in-house or have it made for them but it's a solid B. It's sold in the fresh meat department -- film-wrapped, foam tray. Again, it's not world-class but convenience:quality ratio is definitely favorable.

=R=

When we lived north, I felt the same about SF's hot Italian. But my preferred option was from Poeta's in Highwood, which at least used to be, excellent.

Backtracking to Mother's Day, the sensible plan was ham. I bought one before Easter, but went for prime rib, instead. Saturday night, I checked to find H-Mart had lobster for $9.99 per pound in the 1-1.25 pound category. I called Sunday morning when they opened, the gal who answered was not sure if they still had lobsters. She offered to have the fish market manager call when he arrived at 10 am. I decided to go anyway.

Before 9 am on any Sunday, I expect few people at H-Mart. Indeed this was the case with most customers arriving masked and gloved. I was masked, too, though I took a pair of gloves at the door. I'm glad I showed up, because there were less than 30 lobsters in the tank. I took six with plans for 1.5 lobsters per person.

When I left home, I suggested I might have a surprise when I returned. When I finally got back home, I slyly said, "Guess what I brought home?" "Lobster?" was Dad's first reaction. I was a bit crestfallen. He explained, "If you planned to make ham, you would have started it before leaving. You were gone long enough, I knew you did not go anywhere near. I guessed it was lobster!"

I am a dedicated to steaming lobster. It uses less water, less time and your meal does not surprise you by gushing hot water on you. Cook's Illustrated suggested 8-9 minutes for a one-pound lobster and 10 minutes for 1.25 pounds. Most I bought were in the mid weight range. Plus I checked with Thermopen to learn internal temperature of 140 degrees when poking into the tail.

Until I had the Thermopen, I went by faith in the steaming times to judge when a lobster was done. At least once, it was an under cooked lobster. I was a bit nervous, I was in for a deja vu experience when a lobster tail registered 135 and the lobster was not yet red. I will admit I let it linger in the steam a bit longer until it was red with the thermometer reporting 150 degrees. Fortunately, this lobster was not rubbery in the least.

I looked up what temperature did lobsters turn red and found no immediate answer. I did learn why it happens was only recently discovered:

...
But that isn't a simple process. Astaxanthin is red, but it turns live lobsters bluish green. It wasn't until 2002 that researchers discovered that the protein crustacyanin changes the color of the pigment astaxanthin by twisting the molecule and changing how it reflects light.

"When astaxanthin is free, it's red. When it's bound to crustacyanin, it turns blue," Michele Cianci, a biochemist at Marche Polytechnic University in Italy, told Live Science. He was a doctoral student in the lab where researchers discovered the phenomenon.
...

As lobster was broken down, shells piled up on a platter. Afterwards, I made the stock base for lobster bisque. As quick and easy lobster cooks, making bisque takes quite a while: Make stock, strain, reduce and cool. And don't dare let the shell's linger in the house, because they stink in the morning ... wonder why I know this?

Last night, I picked up tomato paste needed to finish the bisque. After today's lunch, I have about three cups left. Perhaps I will make some risotto with it? Never did it with leftover bisque, but I think it will work out fine.


While I promised to make rhubarb pie, nobody fussed when it was strawberries and whipped cream instead.

Regards,
Cathy2

Al Ehrhardt wrote:When we lived north, I felt the same about SF's hot Italian. But my preferred option was from Poeta's in Highwood, which at least used to be, excellent.

Poeta's sausage is definitely well-made but way too much fennel for my taste. Again, Sunset's not winning any awards with theirs but it's solid.

=R=

I am in agreement about Sunset's Italian Sausage. I also use their mild Italian Sausage.

When you have soup for lunch, you need something more substantial for dinner.

On my outing on Sunday, I went to Jerry's Fruit market. From my visit to H-Mart, I was already masked and gloved. I was ready for whatever may happen.

Early on Sunday is not high tide for patrons at Jerry's. The usual cart-to-cart hustle and bustle was missing. Far fewer patrons, everyone masked and not dangerous, it was almost too easy to rotate a cart in the middle of the aisle. While some customers are not as acutely aware of social distancing as others, it was still a quieter visit than normal.

I liked buying a cauliflower for 39 cents a pound. I bought two, because I could. Daikon radish was half the price as H-Mart, though Jerry's were bigger than I wanted. I found one another customer had apparently split it two. It was just the right size and I really had nothing to do with stunting its growth.

One of the odd bits sitting on the shelf at home was a four-ounce packet of einkorn pasta, "The most Ancient Wheat, packed with nutrition, distinctly delicious." I have no idea how I acquired it. The packet indicated there were two servings for a very devoted nutritionist, though not my household.

This evening I was puttering on the internet trying to figure out what to do with the cauliflower. I came upon a recipe for Roasted cauliflower pasta with toasted walnuts, parsley, garlic and lemon zest. I was mildly interested, though glancing through the ingredients it called for four-ounces of pasta and it made 2-3 servings. Not every day can one can banish an odd quantity of an odd ingredient off the shelves.

If this were traditional pasta, I have a good grasp on how to cook without consulting the box. When it comes to whole wheat or non-glutton or other non-traditional pastas, I really need to follow directions or fail. This einkorn pasta required an astonishing 13 minutes to cook. I set the timer and let it do its thing.

While the cauliflower roasted, the einkorn pasta cooked and I assembled the remaining ingredients in a serving bowl. This dish could get away with so little pasta because the roasted cauliflower provided so much added bulk.


I added the optional capers and pecorino cheese, which lightened the need for additional salt. It was actually pretty good and something I may repeat someday.

For dessert it was strawberries and whipped cream sweetened with brown sugar. It was suggested as a joke, which I took seriously. The molasses offered enough flavor, there was no need for vanilla.

Who knows what will happen tomorrow, though tonight worked out just fine.

Regards,
Cathy2

Visit to Hmart for a few items we were running low/out of. Short grain rice, sesame oil, soy sauce, wasabi, gochujang, nori, kimchi etc. In a first I picked up pre-marinated thin slice beef. Added lettuce, a few panchan and - Bulgogi, its whats for dinner.

Super easy, tasty if not mind-blowing, leftovers galore.


Bulgogi, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Bulgogi, count me a Fan!

And that's no bull! Nice-looking plate, btw.

=R=

A relatively lowly cheese dog that kinda hit the spot . . .


Nathan's Skinless* Hot Dog - pan fried
grilled onion, American cheese, homemade sauerkraut, Plochman's yellow mustard, toasted poppyseed bun

=R=

*try as we may, we just cannot seem to get through these dogs, which were sent to us instead the hot dogs we did order.

ronnie_suburban wrote:*try as we may, we just cannot seem to get through these dogs, which were sent to us instead the hot dogs we did order.

Home Depot or free, the only responsible reason for a skinless hot dog. Looks tasty though, aside from the skinless part.

I went Japanese after school snack today for lunch, sort of. Warmed up leftover rice, nori snack pack, spurt of wasabi, good butter dolloped on the rice, sprinkle of Maldon and slices of apple. Strangely satisfying. No pics.

Cathy2 wrote:Lunch was Korean vegetable pancake aka Yacheajeon, which uses the same batter as scallion pancakes and seafood pancakes: 200 gram mix and 300 gram water. I don't make Korean pancakes very often, thus I usually end up on youtube for a refresher. I have seen a number of variations on how these are made:
- Fry the vegetables, then pour in the batter
- Mix the vegetables into the batter, then portion in to the frying pan
- After the first flip, drizzle scrambled eggs to cook on the surface
Of course whichever one I saw last, is the style I tend to reflect.

To even begin to cook, I had to remove a stuck on crust of beyond caramelized sugar from a non-stick pan. I ended up pouring in some white vinegar, bringing to boil on the stove, then worked the surface with a dish brush. The surface looked better than it had recently.

My virtual instructor today was:

In two years, she has had close to 3.4 million views on this video.

This woman had a very forgiving kitchen-sink approach to her vegetables: as long as your prepped vegetables were 2.5 cups, what you chose to use was up to you. Don't like something, don't use it.

My vegetables were green onions, white onion, garlic, sweet potato, leftover cabbage salad, leftover scallion sauce, chopped Romaine lettuce and bean sprouts.

The best looking pancake was divided up and eaten before I took a picture. The pancake pictured did a semi-flip onto itself. It was trick to straighten it out, so it is not as lovely as it could possibly be.

The attachment IMG_0399.JPG is no longer available

I still have soup to make from Sunday's leftovers.

Regards,
Cathy2

Among the discussion topics at today’s LTHNLG gathering was
pornography and what’s for dinner. I decided to copy Cathy’s idea of Yacheajeon for tonight’s dinner. My vegetables were scallions, carrots, zucchini.

made marcella hazan's bolognese today - satisfying to have something simmering gently for 4 hours on a rainy afternoon. and then it dried out enough to eat on the deck! with first of the season cherries.

G Wiv wrote:I went Japanese after school snack today for lunch, sort of. Warmed up leftover rice, nori snack pack, spurt of wasabi, good butter dolloped on the rice, sprinkle of Maldon and slices of apple. Strangely satisfying. No pics.

Love those nori packs! I need to get some. And condiment spurts are always a treat!

Found a couple of old but usable red cabbages in the back of the fridge. Peeled off the outer leaves. Then decided to slice them up thin and wait for some inspiration to come . . .


Red Cabbage
Inspiration never did show up, so I just cooked it all down in a stock pot with evoo, onions, garlic, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and the remainder of the Middle Brow Campesino sour I used with some sausages the other night.

But happily, cabbage wasn't the centerpiece of the meal . . .


Prime Ribeye Steaks from Zier's
Nicely marbled.


Weber Kettle + Royal Oak lump charcoal
Per my SOP, first direct/uncovered on both sides to mark and sear, then over to the indirect side of the grill, where they cooked, covered, until done.


Resting comfortably


Dinner
The ribeye, the cabbage and some tomato & garlic-roasted green beans. These steaks were enormous. My son ate an entire one by himself. Julie and I split one. The third (unnecessary) will make for some nice leftovers.


Money Shot
I managed to not screw these up. Phew - always a relief!

=R=

Cathy2 wrote:I liked buying a cauliflower for 39 cents a pound. I bought two, because I could.

Either I have misplaced cauliflower or I thought about buying two and ended up taking only one. The joke's on me!

I had everything prepped to make Cauliflower Kuku, except the cauliflower. I switched to chopped up cabbage, which has been a lifesaver more than once over the last few months. Instead of baking the eggs to set, I flipped it over to finish on the stove. It was delicious as usual, though it used up the last of my feta. I almost never run out of feta.

I made a fresh cucumber salad with sour cream, splash of vinegar, a little salt, parsley and green onion.


Earlier in the morning, I made strawberry bread. I made this recipe for a Culinary Historians meeting two years ago. While the recipe is from the test kitchen director, it has some flaws when it comes to timing. When available, I will read the comments of people's prior experiences. This had many comments related to this bread needing 90 minutes to cook instead of 60 minutes. I made it as a sheet pan cake for the meeting. I found my notes commenting about a longer than expected cook time, too.

This recipe also had a reputation for being not easy to handle. I made a parchment sling to keep it together when I removed it. I can see the necessity of this sling, because it was still wobbly an hour after leaving the oven.

One more point of hysteria related to this recipe, add or not to add the jam. I like gilding the lily, so in went the jam. The one thing that made me committed to this recipe, it really tastes great once you overcome its issues or choose to ignore them.



Double tasking in the oven, I also roasted two large sweet potatoes. Now I am committed to doing something with them. To borrow from Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, "I will think about that tomorrow."

My best friend from high school sent a note today, "Spending every day in the house, makes everyday feel the same." Agree, the only thing that is dynamic in my life is what will I cook next.

Regards,
Cathy2

ronnie_suburban wrote:Money Shot

Speaking of condiment spurts, that's a hell of a Money Shot!

Very, very nice!

One of my favorite salad dressings was Bakers Square parmesan. Please tell me how you recreated it!!!

JoelF wrote:Today was a reenactment of Baker's Square circa 1995: sandwich of grilled chicken, avocado, Swiss, sour cream and mushrooms; fries; and side salad with parmesan dressing hacked from Kraft French.

Sitka Pacific Cod was on the menu tonight. Dipped in Egg/buttermilk mix then dredged in fine breadcrumbs seasoned with Spice House Greek Islands mix. Sauce was a riff on tartar sauce—started with some Ramp chimichurri to which I added Greek yogurt and minced pickles (along with some of the shallots, chilis and a splash of brine from the pickle jar). Sides were crispy scallion rice and sautéed asparagus, broccolini and red onion. No points for plating but we were hungry!!!

Diane wrote:One of my favorite salad dressings was Bakers Square parmesan. Please tell me how you recreated it!!!

JoelF wrote:Today was a reenactment of Baker's Square circa 1995: sandwich of grilled chicken, avocado, Swiss, sour cream and mushrooms; fries; and side salad with parmesan dressing hacked from Kraft French.

Started with Kraft French, about 50% more mayo, grated parmesan, and a bunch of fresh ground black pepper. A little extra cider vinegar might be good. If I were starting from scratch, I'd use mayo, a little tomato paste, cider vinegar, paprika, and a bit of garlic instead of the French dressing.

Thanks! It was one of my guilty pleasures!

JoelF wrote:

Diane wrote:One of my favorite salad dressings was Bakers Square parmesan. Please tell me how you recreated it!!!

JoelF wrote:Today was a reenactment of Baker's Square circa 1995: sandwich of grilled chicken, avocado, Swiss, sour cream and mushrooms; fries; and side salad with parmesan dressing hacked from Kraft French.

Started with Kraft French, about 50% more mayo, grated parmesan, and a bunch of fresh ground black pepper. A little extra cider vinegar might be good. If I were starting from scratch, I'd use mayo, a little tomato paste, cider vinegar, paprika, and a bit of garlic instead of the French dressing.

Cathy2 wrote:Double tasking in the oven, I also roasted two large sweet potatoes. Now I am committed to doing something with them. To borrow from Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, "I will think about that tomorrow."

Today's lunch was inspired by an internet search: <sweet potatoes garbanzo bean flour>. First page results had Sweet Potato Chickpea Gnocchi.

I never would have thought gnocchi, though I really liked the challenge. Plus I have the grooved gnocchi board ready to try. Actually, I have at least six of these. They were bundled together at a rummage sale and priced at 50 cents. I used to have more, but I have given them away over time.

A local church had a tortellaci class a few years ago. I showed up with two pasta machines, several pasta cutters and those gnocchi boards. Apparently, I had more equipment than most of the Italian ladies. I did learn how some of it was used. In exchange, I lightened my collection of gnocchi boards. Good deal on both sides.

If I had just rolled out the pasta logs and cut them, I would have had lunch on the table so much faster. I had to experiment with the gnocchi boards. I cut grooves into every dumpling. Once the dumplings were cooked, they were drained and slipped into a pan with olive oil, butter, garlic, parsley and green onions. Every serving had freshly grated Pecorino cheese.


I now have less than a cup of chickpea flour, I plan to make a Socca, a French chickpea flatbread. It wasn't my idea, it was suggested by a friend.

Tomorrow is my eight-week anniversary for shelter-at-home. For my Dad, it is nine weeks and Mom can beat us both. How to celebrate?

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:I now have less than a cup of chickpea flour, I plan to make a Socca, a French chickpea flatbread. It wasn't my idea, it was suggested by a friend.

Last night, I measured out what I had, there was 3/4 cup chickpea flour. I added an equal amount of water. The recipe called for 30 minutes to rehydrate, so I let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, I added olive oil and salt.

JoelF really liked these when he had them in France. When he made them at home, they were leathery. A friend who makes these often advised a thin layer of batter makes it leathery. Thicker layer of batter has the crisp exterior and soft interior. I aimed for thicker over thinner, because I likely had only one chance.

I did a modified version to the method suggested in the recipe: preheat oven at 450 degrees, then turn on broiler for 10 minutes. Preheat in the oven until smoking a caste iron pan, then stick under the broiler for seven minutes.

My modification: I never bothered to preheat the oven, though I did turn on the broiler and adjusted the rack to six inches. I preheated the pan on the stove until it was smoking, added the oil and batter. I then slipped it under the broiler for seven minutes, rotating it once half way through.


I read socca can be eaten as-is as street food, it can be dinner with a salad or breakfast with eggs, olives and cheese. I settled on breakfast.


When I referred to this as a flatbread or pancake, my Dad immediately began spreading butter. If I had left the room, it might have been anointed with pancake syrup, too.

It was fun to have a European style breakfast. Of course, I had to Americanize it by drinking a fine vintage Cherry Coke. You get your caffeine your way, and I get it my way.

Regards,
Cathy2