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1 minute ago, dcandohio said:

KT:  he gets really, really sick if he has any dairy products.  Lots of the margarine brands actually have milk products in them even though they are labeled as vegetable oil.  He can't have any Parmesan cheese.  He won't eat things like breadcrumbs or beef stock that have whey on the label as an ingredient.  Normally I just avoid the whole thing when I'm feeding him by making basic food, like grilled steaks, that aren't an issue.  But we were all craving mashed potatoes!

Ok, I am totally prying now, but that is very interesting because a lot of dairy products actually don't have much lactose at all.  But he can have lactose free milk and cheese, or no? I am now very curious because lactose intolerance is just a digestive issue in breaking down a type of sugar in your small intestine and is normally curable with the addition of lactase into your small intestine. Parmesan and cheddar cheese for example normally have less than .5 grams in 8oz.  Most LF people can eat hard cheeses, yogurt, etc because it requires so little lactase to break down.  And symptoms abate quite a bit with pills for the vast majority of people.  

I wonder whether he really has a dairy allergy or another issue?  I don't know anyone who gets really, really sick who is lactose intolerant (gas, cramps, some other unpleasantness if you don't take a pill, yes, but really sick no).  If I got that sick, I wouldn't tell people I was lactose intolerant, I would say I had an allergy because people don't normally take lactose intolerance as seriously.   Again, sorry for prying, but this made me really curious (I was misdiagnosed with health issues for years and had to do a lot of research regarding gut health/issues so it's something that I am always curious about.)

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16 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

Ok, I am totally prying now, but that is very interesting because a lot of dairy products actually don't have much lactose at all.  But he can have lactose free milk and cheese, or no? I am now very curious because lactose intolerance is just a digestive issue in breaking down a type of sugar in your small intestine and is normally curable with the addition of lactase into your small intestine. Parmesan and cheddar cheese for example normally have less than .5 grams in 8oz.  Most LF people can eat hard cheeses, yogurt, etc because it requires so little lactase to break down.  And symptoms abate quite a bit with pills for the vast majority of people.  

I wonder whether he really has a dairy allergy or another issue?  I don't know anyone who gets really, really sick who is lactose intolerant (gas, cramps, some other unpleasantness if you don't take a pill, yes, but really sick no).  If I got that sick, I wouldn't tell people I was lactose intolerant, I would say I had an allergy because people don't normally take lactose intolerance as seriously.   Again, sorry for prying, but this made me really curious (I was misdiagnosed with health issues for years and had to do a lot of research regarding gut health/issues so it's something that I am always curious about.)

I was perhaps imprecise, and I must admit that I do not know all of the details of his illness, but HE calls it a severe, debilitating allergy   .

He does drink lactose-free milk,  and cheese or baked goods made with lactose free milk.  I've never known him to eat yogurt. Zero butter.  No flavored potato chips or anything like that that might have milk products in/on them.

I've been in a restaurant with him, where a plate was put down in front of him that was supposed to be vegetables sautéed in olive oil, and he could smell the butter. The server said there was no butter, but Mark  asked him to check with the chef just to be sure. The chef came out and apologized, and said he had added a bit of butter into the sauté pan.  

Honestly, I don't discuss medical or personal details with him while we are eating… I just know he is extremely careful, and I try to be as careful in my own house.

And just FYI… He's really easy-going person, not prone to complaining, and he's not in anyway demanding… I've seen him just not eat if there wasn't something permissible available.  So I believe him when he says he just can't tolerate the dairy.

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15 minutes ago, dcandohio said:

I was perhaps imprecise, and I must admit that I do not know all of the details of his illness, but HE calls it a severe, debilitating allergy   .

He does drink lactose-free milk,  and cheese or baked goods made with lactose free milk.  I've never known him to eat yogurt. Zero butter.  No flavored potato chips or anything like that that might have milk products in/on them.

I've been in a restaurant with him, where a plate was put down in front of him that was supposed to be vegetables sautéed in olive oil, and he could smell the butter. The server said there was no butter, but Mark  asked him to check with the chef just to be sure. The chef came out and apologized, and said he had added a bit of butter into the sauté pan.  

Honestly, I don't discuss medical or personal details with him while we are eating… I just know he is extremely careful, and I try to be as careful in my own house.

And just FYI… He's really easy-going person, not prone to complaining, and he's not in anyway demanding… I've seen him just not eat if there wasn't something permissible available.  So I believe him when he says he just can't tolerate the dairy.

Well thanks for the added color, and letting me pry.  I thought it may be more than just lactose intolerance.  I was curious because it didn't sound like lactose intolerance to me.  Thanks for the conversation- it is just something I am always curious about, the digestive system and various illnesses that can affect it, I find so fascinating.  I think we will have a lot more research on those types of issues in the next 10-15 years.  I didn't mean at all he wouldn't be easy going, sounds like a very nice friend and you for figuring out the mashed potatoes!      

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I don't post on this thread much but recent unemployment has given me the opportunity to cook much more frequently during the week. And given the time to go to the grocery store daily, I have beena lot more fish. Recently @MichaelBDC and I have made: Braised Fish, Pot-Roast Style, salmon and lentils, and orzo risotto with artichoke hearts and sausage. For last night's Valentine's Day dinner I made veal osso buco with polenta and sauteed swiss chard. 

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Leftovers from last night's meal at Acqua Al 2.  I didn't think I brought that much steak home, but I was able to slice it thin enough to make a steak-and-cheese with provolone on rye toast. Heated the two parts of the sandwich under the broiler for a minute to get the cheese all melty and then assembled. Served the reheated potatoes with ketchup.  Very satisfying. 

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Last night- Sous vide chicken breast over egg noodles cooked in some butter and stock with shallot, carrot and celery. Next time there is a good chicken special at the grocery store, I would like to sous-vide some chicken breast so we have it for during the week.  I made an extra breast, but alas...

Tonight- I realized the hominy in the posole wasn't quite done and I halved the recipe and I don't think there was enough broth, so it is being fixed.  Instead for tonight, I roasted tomatillos, onion, serranos and garlic and make a quick tomatillo salsa.  I made enchiladas with chicken and cheese from the same Rick Bayless cookbook instead.  They were quite good.  Hopefully the posole turns out.

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Saturday was date night at L'Ardoise, a local bistro.  I would have posted pictures but they didn't come out well, not to mention the lighting wasn't as great.

Sunday night:  bigos

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Clockwise from top, center: 2 tomatoes, diced; 1/2 lb. lamb stew meat; 1/2 lb. fresh kielbasa, sliced; 1 lb. sauerkraut, drained; 1 onion, finely chopped; 1/2 lb. pork stew meat; 1 lb. beef stew meat; 7 tbsp. unsalted butter; porcini mushrooms; 1/2 lb. shredded cabbage.

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Clockwise from bottom right: 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced; porcini mushroom soaking water; 1/2 cup chicken stock; 1/2 cup Madeira.

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Melt 3 tbsp. unsalted butter in a Dutch oven, then add onion and apple. Sauté for 5 minutes or until onion is translucent but not browned.

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Add porcini mushrooms, then sauté for 1 minute.

Add cabbage, sauerkraut, tomatoes and mushroom soaking water. Remove from heat. Mix well.

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Melt remaining butter in a separate pan and working in batches, brown the meat.

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Add meat directly to the Dutch oven, then mix well.

 

Deglaze the skillet that you browned the meat in with the Madeira, making sure to scrape up all the browned bits. Once alcohol has evaporated, add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2-3 minutes. Pour chicken stock mixture atop the vegetable-meat mixture in the Dutch oven.

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Add kielbasa slices, then season with salt and black pepper. Add 4 whole allspice. Mix well.


Bake for 90 minutes, covered, in a pre-heated 350 F oven, then bake uncovered for 30 more minutes.

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"Bigos", from "A Quintet of Cuisines" by Michael and Frances Field and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1970), page 101.

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I used up a bunch of things that were past their time* yesterday to make a cream of kale soup with potato and roasted garlic.  It came out really well.  I meant to serve it with some of the rye croutons I made earlier in the week but forgot them...

 

*The kale that was salvageable was left from a 3-bunches-for-$5 special in mid-January.  I used one bunch at the time (which was all I really needed to begin with:rolleyes: ) and the other two were left in the vegetable crisper to age.  The kale was too old to be palatable raw, so I knew it had to be cooked.  Hence the idea of soup. The potato had sprouted and the garlic was on the verge of sprouting. The container of cream had been opened in early January.  The chicken broth had a best by date of last October.

I really hate wasting food. Now I've got to make sure I eat all of the soup;).

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Tried a new recipe from Andrew Carmellini's Urban Italian cookbook, a surprising go-to of mine. Went with the black sea bass with Sicilian-style pesto, but used halibut instead of sea bass. I am not usually a big fan of pesto but this one used sundried tomatoes and slivered almonds rather than the traditional basil and pine nut. Stirred in half cup each of parsley, basil, and celery leaf at the end. Halibut and pesto turned out great. Served with cuttlefish ink pasta that @MichaelBDC picked up at Glen's Market and sautéed broccolini. Really enjoyed this meal. 

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Rubbed my 38 hour sous vide brisket with some rendezvous rub and put it in the skillet to caramelize the outside.  Served it with flatbread, hummus, sautéed onion, pepper and mushrooms, some lettuce and quick pickled carrots.  The brisket turned out very nicely, juicy, but firm texture with really good flavor, which is nice since I have another one in the freezer.

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Salad with napa cabbage, radicchio, romaine, radishes, cucumber, Campari tomatoes, avocado, and fried tortilla strips; champagne-caper vinaigrette
Turkey meatloaf
Mashed potatoes
Steamed asparagus topped with crumbled bacon and grated hard-boiled egg; drizzled with evoo; s + p

It didn't seem like it was going to be that big a meal, but this was a lot of food.  Really good, though.
 

 

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Thai curry using Mae Ploy yellow curry paste  and light coconut milk.  I had a few chicken thighs in the freezer, so I sliced them up and tossed them with Singapore seasoning from Penzey's, and garlic and ginger, and let them sit for about an hour. 

In a wok, I stir fried yellow onions, celery, red pepper, carrots, and then added the chicken, in olive oil with a splash of sesame oil. After that started to cook I added the curry paste and the coconut milk.  I let that simmer. I then added two peeled and cubed eggplants, and a box of beautiful beech mushrooms.  The curry bubbled for a while till the eggplant was soft.  

I served it on rice topped with chopped cilantro… If only I had had a lime!  So super easy, and really delicious.  And I have at least three more meals remaining.

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Dinner for seven:

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BBQ ribs, St. Louis-style

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German potato salad with pancetta, bacon and crispy shallots

Green salad with cherry tomatoes, radishes and homemade ranch dressing (1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 tbsp. each chopped parsley, dill and chives, a pinch of ground mustard, a pinch of paprika, salt and black pepper)

Cheesecake

Fruit salad

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Dinner last night featured more of the chopped salad (I made a lot), baked chicken drumsticks, and leftover asparagus with bacon and egg. There was also a pasta course of sorts:  shells stuffed with a seasoned ricotta-yogurt-mozzarella-parsley mixture, baked in marinara sauce topped with more mozzarella and Parmesan in two Le Creuset gratin dishes.   All that was left at the end of the meal was half of one dish of shells (about 3 shells) and some salad. (I made a lot of salad!)

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Last night's dinner featured Asian-Spiced short ribs from a Jean-Georges recipe in Food and Wine. The "Asian-spice" part of the recipe consisted of ketchup, red wine, red wine vinegar, unsulfured molasses, dried onion flakes, dried garlic powder, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chipotle chile. Served with polenta and roasted brussels sprouts. 

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So I made a vegetarian taco filling from my Rick Bayless book with roasted poblanos, onion, zucchini, corn and crema.  They said you could sub in greek yogurt, but that sauce broke, so I added in some cheese and milk.  It still tasted good, but it didn't look as nice as the picture did.  But it will be very good as a rice bowl tomorrow with some chicken.

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We started on dinner prep for reasons you'll see shortly.

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1 lb. carrots. 

Trim, peel and slice into matchsticks.  Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Add:

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1 shallot, finely chopped

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1 garlic clove, smashed and ground to a coarse paste.

You can do this with a mortar and a pestle, or if you don't have one, the flat of a chef's knife. Smash the garlic clove with the heel of your hand or with pressure atop the knife. Mix in a little coarse salt, then proceed to pulverize the garlic clove so that it becomes a paste. We like ours a little chunky.

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2 tsp. toasted cumin seeds and 2 tsp. toasted coriander seeds.

Toast the seeds in a pan, then either grind with a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.  Grind to a coarsely-textured powder.

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Combine carrots with: shallots, garlic, toasted cumin and coriander seeds, the juice of one Meyer lemon, a pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to taste and 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Mix well.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Marinate for 6-7 hours.

To be continued...

From "A Platter of Figs" by David Tanis, page 282.

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Moroccan carrot salad, garnished with cilantro, lime juice and Castelvetrano olives

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Clockwise from center: one 3 lb. chicken cut into pieces, washed and patted dry; bay leaves; salt; 16 shallots, peeled and trimmed; black peppercorns; canned artichoke hearts, drained; 4 tbsp. unsalted butter.

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Melt butter and 2 tbsp. vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown chicken, then transfer to a plate.  This is a step you can't rush because if you do, then the color will wash out in the braise.

After the chicken has been browned, add the shallots to the pan and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, or until the shallots are all lightly colored.

Transfer chicken and shallots to a Dutch oven. Pour off all but a thin layer of fat and add to the Dutch oven, along with 1/4 cup white wine. Season with salt and black pepper and add the bay leaves.

Cook over low heat, covered, making sure to baste the chicken with the collected juices every 7-8 minutes. Add the artichoke hearts about 15 minutes through. Chicken should be done after approx. 30 minutes, when a fork or knife pierced through the thickest part of the thigh causes the juice to run clear.

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In the pan you used to sauté the chicken, add 1/2 cup chicken stock and bring that to a boil over medium heat. Scrape up all the browned bits with a spoon, then reduce the stock to 1/2 its original volume. Pour that over the chicken, then plate and serve at once. The chopped parsley is my addition, mostly for color.

Poulet sauté à la Bordelaise ("sautéed chicken with shallots and artichoke hearts"), adapted from "The Cooking of Provincial France" by M.F.K. Fisher and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1968), page 123.

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Last week: I made ground chicken wontons and wonton soup that turned out nicely.  I filled the wontons with garlic, chives, ground chicken and some turkey stock that was so dense it congealed (frozen from T-day) and seasonings.  I have extras that I froze that we will use and steam or make into more soup.  The soup was some of the turkey stock, powdered chicken soup base, soy sauce, seasame oil and bok choy.  Simple, but turned out very nicely.

I had extra chicken filling, so I added a bunch of bread crumbs and made chicken burgers, which we had another evening. We also had chicken tacos with the last of the sous vide chicken.  I am giving us a week off from that to use some other things, but that worked nicely and we will do it again this weekend. 

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I had a friend over tonight who has a weird work schedule and wanted to eat at 5 PM.  I boiled large shell pasta, and stuffed them with a salad of chickpeas, artichoke hearts, black olives, and red pepper with a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.  I also rolled asparagus in prosciutto and roasted them till the prosciutto was crispy. 

I had homemade cheese shortbread in the freezer, which I put out along with chips and salsa.  An easy coffee table meal to facilitate a long-overdue conversation between friends. 

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Last night was more of a black bean soup I made last week (actually Rancho Gordo moro beans, a cross between black and pinto) and a mortadella and provolone sandwich with mustard and lettuce on a whole wheat hot dog bun.  

Sometimes instead of buying a loaf of bread, I'll pick up a bag of Vermont Bread Co. whole wheat hot dog buns and use them for sandwiches.  Sometimes I'll cut one into multiple pieces to make finger sandwiches.  It's something different and one bun has fewer calories (120) than two slices of bread.  And they don't have room for lots of filling, so it cuts down on the amount eaten that way as well.  If I have any uneaten after a week, I'll make breadcrumbs out of them.

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Last night was the Israeli couscous/swiss chard/harissa recipe that was in the Washington Post recently. Picked up some chicken legs at Glen's and roasted them for a quick dinner.

Saturday was soup night and @MichaelBDC was eager to make a soup he had made earlier this winter. Italian sausage, elbow macaroni, kidney beans with a can of diced tomatoes, celery, carrots, and broth.

 

 

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I made a recipe from the Rick Bayless cookbook I have been working through.  I have to say, I really like the flavors of his recipes, but I REALLY DISLIKE in the strongest way, the way the recipes are written in the book.  I get it is trying to be more casual with free flowing instructions, but it is really easy to miss things and I find it very confusing.  This recipe used up the rest of my tomatillo salsa.  It was pork tenderloin, small white potatoes essentially braised in the tomatillo sauce.  I didn't have a poblano pepper to roast, so I used a few serrano peppers and they kicked things up a notch to a bit of an addictively dangerous level.  I would make this again, it is very flavorful and easy.  I needed to use some vegetables in the drawer, so I roasted purple cabbage, carrots and shallot in olive oil as a side, the cabbage toned down the sweetness of the carrot, and the carrot and shallot amped up the cabbage a bit.  Hubby normally isn't a cabbage fan, but he liked this.  We finished with some vanilla frozen yogurt as a safeguard from the serranos.

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Inspired by Corduroy's peppered rare big eye tuna over sushi rice, I tried to make something similar Thursday evening. Ended up going with albacore tuna since it was significantly less expensive than blue fin tuna at Whole Foods. Seared the tuna for two minutes on each side, placed on top of sushi rice (made by following Mark Bittman's instructions), and topped with a spicy citrus soy sauce. Sauteed some bok choy (vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce) for a vegetable side. Meal was great and with enough leftovers of everything except the tuna, I sprang for the more expensive tuna the next day to re-do the meal again Friday evening. 

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Last night was fresh tagliatelle with olives, baby arugula, and Pecorino Romano.  Tonight is the last of previously cooked whole wheat spaghettini with a bunch of mostly leftover vegetables, plus bacon.

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Combine 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 6 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet. Stir constantly or until flour and oil become a smooth paste. Cook over low heat for 45 minutes to one hour, stirring slowly and constantly.

This picture was shot after 10 minutes.

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Brown roux after 20 minutes stirring.

The roux will progressively become darker and darker as you stir. If it ever burns, you'll have to discard and start over. The key to prevent burning is careful attention, a low heat and constant stirring.

You'll know that the color is right when it becomes a rich shade of dark brown that's the color of deep honey. The color lasts for only a handful of seconds before it starts to blacken. That's when you'll take the pan off heat.

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Clockwise from upper left: 3 onions, diced; 1/2 lb. okra, trimmed and sliced into 1" lengths; 2 quarts shrimp stock; 2 bay leaves; a pinch of cayenne pepper; 1 green bell pepper, chopped; 5 tbsp. brown roux; 1/2 lb. Dungeness crab meat; 1 tsp. finely chopped garlic; 1 lb. peeled shrimp.

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Warm roux over low heat in a heavy stockpot or soup pot. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until vegetables are softened, about 15 minutes. Add okra and green bell pepper. Sauté for a few more minutes, then add the shrimp stock, bay leaves, cayenne pepper, 2 tsp. dried thyme and 1 tsp. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Add crab meat to the pot. Stir. Simmer for one hour, partly covered.  Add the shrimp in the last 2-3 minutes of cooking.

Taste for salt, then serve immediately.

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Crab, shrimp and okra gumbo, from "American Cooking: Creole and Acadian" by Peter S. Feibleman and the Editors of Time-Life Books (1971), page 66.

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We served that with brown rice (leftover rice from takeout Chinese the night before) and beet greens with onion and anchovy.

Prunes poached in red wine with cinnamon and Meyer lemon zest for dessert.

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Friday night I made spaghetti with meat sauce.  Simple, but tasty and my stomach needed a non-spicy food night.

Last night I made a white bean, banana pepper, chorizo soup from Rick Bayless.  Served with some good crusty bread and butter.  Hubby really liked it.  It was fine, but I wasn't crazy about it.  I like other chorizo, white bean soups better.  It was a very quick soup though.  I didn't realize banana peppers could have capsacin as hot as they did when I cored and seeded them.  I got a bit of a burn on my fingers and then touched my nose, and whew.  I washed it off, but that was intense for a few minutes.

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Daylight Savings Time dinner was a brined and roasted pork tenderloin from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home served with lemon oregano potatoes (a favorite of mine) and braised red cabbage (butter, chicken stock, red wine, and red wine vinegar). A great meal for daylight savings time as it was not a lot of work yet resulted in an amazing dinner. 

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The storm was a bust but our storm related dinner was not! @MichaelBDC and I went with bison chili from the New York Times app that is labeled as a Texas Chili followed by several comments on how Texas chili would never contain beans (which this one did). Despite the naming mistake, we like the chili a lot with the use of brown sugar, cocoa, and coffee as well as jalapeno, cayenne, and Crystal hot sauce for the spice, and of course kidney and cannellini beans which may not be authentic to Texas chili but provides a bit of nutrition and a good carbohydrate. We put the ingredients on the stove to simmer and headed to Sixth Engine for a few drinks, which is the best part of this recipe on a snow day.

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So I'm here in Fort Lauderdale, but I had been in New Orleans, and I got Italian sausage from the Terranova grocery store on Esplanade near city park. So delicious.  But traveling with it is a hassle: Freeze sausage, pack with cold packs, check luggage,  pray for on-time arrival. All good. Thank goddesses.  Sausages frozen solid when I got home.

I grilled it tonight along with thick slices of red onion and red and yellow bell peppers.  I made a salad of baby arugula, radicchio, and fennel, with a garlicky vinaigrette that included honey.  Served with French bread and Parmesan Reggiano.  Everyone consumed heroic  portions. 

 If you are ever in New Orleans, near city park, and you have a chance to go to the little Terranova grocery store, you should.  These places may not exist forever, and their sausage rocks my world!

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Arugula Salad with Roasted Asparagus and Egg

1/4 lb. pencil-thin asparagus, trimmed of their woody ends and sliced on a bias
2 tsp. olive oil
salt
black pepper
mixed salad greens (mesclun, arugula)
2 eggs

Combine asparagus and oil in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a roasting pan or Pyrex baking dish and roast in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes.

Cook the eggs by slipping them into boiling water. Boil for 9-10 minutes, then plunge eggs in ice water and peel.

When asparagus is done, transfer to a salad bowl. Toss with salad greens. Transfer to a plate. Quarter the eggs and top salad with them. Drizzle with 1 tsp. dressing (recipe follows), then serve immediately.

This recipe is sized for two people.

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This is our template recipe for salad dressing. Macerating the shallots in salt and vinegar helps take off any harsh edges off of the shallots. We'll vary this template occasionally by adding herbs (thyme and Italian parsley are favorites), substituting white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar for the red wine vinegar, or a very small pinch of sugar which helps round flavors.

What typically happens is that as our batch is running low, I'll make a fresh batch and add it to the pre-existing one so that the jar of dressing never completely empties.

Shallot Vinaigrette

1 shallot, finely minced
pinch of salt
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 oil-packed anchovy fillet
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine shallot with salt and red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Stir a couple of times. Macerate shallots for 5 minutes.

Mash anchovy fillet into a paste. Transfer to a small bowl or glass mixing cup. Add shallot mixture. Whisk in olive oil until ingredients are well-combined and emulsified.

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8 chicken thighs, seasoned generously with salt and black pepper.

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Clockwise from bottom: three carrots, trimmed, peeled and sliced on a bias; 3 celery stalks, trimmed and cut into 2" lengths; 2 onions, trimmed and peeled, then cut into chunks.

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10 peeled garlic cloves; thyme sprigs; bay leaves.

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4 cups homemade chicken stock; dried porcini mushrooms soaking in 3/4 cup boiling water.

Soak the mushrooms for 15 minutes, then strain out and reserve both the soaked mushrooms and porcini soaking water.

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1 cup pinot gris.

I'm a big believer in cooking with wine you would normally drink. If you don't have any pinot gris, chardonnay could work.

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Sauté the vegetables in a little bit of olive oil or until they begin to soften and take on a little color.

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Remove the pan from heat, then add the garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Add the porcini mushrooms. Mix well.

Heat a skillet until hot but not smoking. Add 1 tbsp. oil. Swirl pan until oil coats the bottom of the pan with a thin film. Pour off excess oil. Add 4-5 chicken thighs to the pan, skin side down. Reduce heat to medium-high. Brown chicken until skin is well-browned, about 15 minutes, then transfer to a plate. Add remaining chicken thighs, then repeat browning process. When chicken thighs are done, transfer chicken and vegetable mixture to a roasting pan, ensuring that the chicken lies atop the vegetables, skin-side up.

Pour off most of the fat from the pan you cooked the chicken in, then deglaze with white wine making sure you scrape up all the browned bits. Add chicken stock and porcini soaking water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.

Remove from heat and pour stock mixture atop chicken. Liquid should come up halfway; the chicken shouldn't be submerged.

Cover with foil, then braise for 90 minutes in a pre-heated 375 F oven.

Remove foil from pan, then raise heat to 400 F and braise for 15 minutes or until chicken skin is crisped.

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Oven-braised chicken thighs with porcini mushrooms and vegetables.

 
 
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Last night I reheated the potato and spinach gratin and served it with breaded baked chicken leg quarters.  Instead of doing a flour, egg, etc., dredge, I coated the outside of the chicken in a mixture of mayo, creamy dijon mustard, and lemon juice plus s + p, and then rolled the chicken in the last of some homemade whole wheat bread crumbs. (The breadcrumbs were made from the last two hot dog buns I mentioned upthread and have been going into all kinds of dishes, including reheated leftover pasta. The crumbs also went onto the top of the potato and spinach gratin when i first made that.  I made the crumbs somewhat differently than I would typically, following a simple recipe in Ruth Reichl's My Kitchen Year, a wonderful cookbook/memoir I've been reading.)

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Chioggia beet and Cara Cara orange salad with shallot vinaigrette and mint crème fraîche.

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Leek ravioli with ricotta cheese and pancetta, served with Meyer lemon-butter sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

First time making ravioli too.  The ones in the background were my first attempt, and I discovered that a teaspoonful of filling per raviolo was too much. The dough was also too thick. You can see how much thinner and smaller the successive ones are as you proceed to the foreground.

B pronounced the pasta a success and we'll be making them again. I can see wontons in my future.

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Crabmeat salad (sort of a crab remoulade) over romaine and avocado. 

Grilled asparagus 

Banana chocolate chip bread pudding. 

 Right as we sat down to dinner we had a tornado warning, so it made things a little weird, but nevertheless, everyone enjoyed the food. Luckily,  The bad weather passed us without incident. 

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