Pan seared chicken breasts with a green olive, caper and currant pan sauce
Couscous refreshed with cracked cardamom pods then stirred with toasted sliced almonds, pine nuts and pistachios

I thought that the veal stew recipe--which is just above the salmon/leek pot pie recipe-- was extremely interesting. It's clearly osso buco without the ossi. Though it wouldn't be nearly as unctuous without the bones and their marrow, a signature feature of the eating experience, there's a lot to be said for the idea. Like the fact that the last time I looked at Whole Foods, veal shank was selling for $10.99 a pound, and veal stew meat was half that price. And the gremolata is one of my favorite things about osso buco.

Three-bean Turkey Chili (first batch of chili this season)
Trader Joe's Multigrain Tortilla Chips (Made with organic corn, wheat and steel cut oats - YUM)
Homemade Guacamole

fish tacos (w/mahi mahi)

This is making me think of the veal stock thread (i.e., using veal meat in addition to bones).

That did look like a worthwhile stew recipe to explore. The gelatinous byproduct(s) of the bones sometimes seems much more potent than others. I'm never sure if it's something I've done or the bones themselves.

Duck scallopine with cognac and dried cherries
Spinach with garlic and olive oil
Roasted Yukon Golds
Last of the cherries soaked in homebrew
2006 Rocheux Pinot Noir

Pat: You just made my day! The only difference between my concoction and the Oakland Press recipe: cooking the puff and the different seasonings. Gawd! Yesterday was a good day! There's hope for me yet!

Minestrone w chard and farro

Blackberry-apple crisp w plain yogurt

Homemade pizzas: fontina, fresh thyme, chanterelles, egg cracked on top just before being tossed on a screamingly hot stone.

Butter lettuce, hothouse cucumber, fresh dill. Homemade ranch dressing.

Homemade buttermilk ice cream with sour cherry/almond sauce (this was a batch of jam that didn't set, repurposed) and toasted almonds.

You didn't need the recipe, after all .

Dinner last night was leftovers: fennel-orange salad, chicken legs, and kapusta.

Sake-poached Iwate salmon
Spinach, tofu, and red chili pepper sauteed in sesame oil
Steamed rice

Veal stew* bucco sans ossi-style with gremolata
Heirloom Carolina Gold rice
Haricots verts*

2005 Castel del Monte Rosso

*recent trip to Costco

Would you mind posting the recipe?

You're sweet to ask, but I cobbled together something highly unorthodox. I recommend Lidia Bastianich's recipe in her Italian-American cookbook, though, which I kept in mind.

Usually the soup's made w cannellini and/or chick peas. I had a bag of borlotti (or Romano--Goya) and cooked a cup of raw beans separately before deciding to make the soup. (I use a 300 F oven and add bay leaf, strip of kombu, parsley, sliced garlic & small quartered onion along w un-soaked beans and boiling water.) If you soak them overnight with the intention of making the soup, they can be added directly to the soup pot; fortunately I hadn't drained my beans, so I was able to add the cooking liquid to the broth.

I had long-braised chard, chopped up stems and all, prepared with onion, parsley, garlic & paprika (Madison's big Vegetarian book) the night before and decided to combine the two to make the soup. Lots and lots of cabbage is traditional, usually w green beans or diced zucchini and maybe some spinach, too. However, I have to say I really preferred the chard and would use two bunches--or Tuscan kale.

Other ingredients:

Large onion or two, chopped (red, 1st choice)
Huge carrot, diced
Celery stalk, minced
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1-2 T tomato paste
Smoked ham hock (bacon or diced pancetta will do; also ham shank--I prefer having the bone in pot)
Rind from Pecorino Romano or Parmesan
14 oz. canned Italian plum tomatoes w some of the purée
3-4 pieces dried porcini
Parsley-minced, to taste, but at least 1/4 cup
1/4 t to 1/2 t cayenne (if using red chili flakes, increase to 1/2 t and add at beginning)
S & P; olive oil

1/2-3/4 cup farro

Use Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot. Heat around 3 T olive oil. Dump in onion w a little salt. Cover and sweat, low heat for around 5 minutes. Uncover, increase heat and throw in next 2 ingredients. Allow to soften. Mix in garlic, stirring all for a minute and then push to side.

N.B. If you're using pancetta instead of ham on a bone, add along w carrot and celery. Bacon? Blanch lardons (1/4 in. slivers) in water first, drain, pat dray and add, then, too. Or don't be such a fussy frog--throw in raw pieces; just go easy on the olive oil.

If bottom of pan is dry, add a little more oil and fry tomato paste for a few minutes until it colors and starts to seize up a bit. Then mix everything in pan together, adding cayenne, then hock, shank, whatever. If you keep the rinds of your Italian grating cheeses in the freezer like I do, now's the time to fetch one and fling it into the pot as well.

Add water to the pan so that it rises above the bone. Here's when you'd throw in your beans if they're raw, though I waited until later with cooked ones, and just added their broth. Moosh up the canned tomatoes with your hands, or let the Peanut do it, and plop them in along with the juice. Anything else catch your fancy? By all means. Just put a lid on it when it comes to a boil and turn the heat down to simmer until beans soften. They say the acid in tomatoes retards softening of beans, so you might want to add them later, along with greens. At any rate, check pot again after about 45 minutes or so to see if the beans are softening and swelling.

Meanwhile, thoroughly clean and roughly chop chard, preferably with leaves first stripped off of stems so the latter look like reddish celery bits. Add these to pot along with parsley after you think beans are close to done. (See what I say about tomatoes, too; if reserved, now's the time to add.) Continue cooking, partially covered.

At the same time, soak porcini in boiling water. When softened, fish out of water and chop. Filter grit from the soaking liquid and pour it into soup pot after you toss in the mushroom bits.

During the last half hour of cooking, you should plan to cook your farro in a separate, small pot, using lightly salted water. Bring to boil, cover and simmer around 20-30 minutes. Drain.

To serve: season soup to taste. Remove bone and shred meat to add back into soup. Add farro to each bowl and store leftovers separately from leftover soup since they would absorb all the liquid otherwise. (Another option is to add some of the farro to the amount of soup you plan on serving immediately and cook together for around 5 minutes so the grains absorb some of the broth.) I like squeezing a little lemon juice into the bowl, mixing it in, then drizzling on unfiltered olive oil OR grated Pecorino. I bet Zora would do a gremolata, instead. Basil-garlic-olive oil is traditional, but it ain't summer.

Green salad (romaine, tomatoes, avocado) with balsamic vinaigrette
Turkey chili with pinquito beans
White rice
Cornbread

Thanks! You know, I don't give a fig if it's unorthodox, so long as it tastes good (though I'm willing to admit that trying an authentic version of a dish leads to greater understanding). And this sounds like it will.

Smoked turkey breast
Cornbread-oyster stuffing
Red beet-goat cheese salad

Parmesan chicken
Mashed potatoes
Edamame

Ginger snaps

Decided to wing a potato and leek soup. Sweated a large chopped leek in a little butter and evoo, added a couple of large sliced shallots. After about 5 mins I added diced celery root, stirred that around with more evoo and s&p. Then I threw in a pound of diced yukon gold and about a quart of vegetable stock. I let this simmer for about 1/2 hour then pureed it with my stick blender-- not too much, didn't want the potato to get gummy. I dusted some shallot slices with flour and separated them into rings, fried them until nicely carmelized and used as garnish along with a swirl of good evoo.

Turned into one of the best soups I've ever made.

I'm stealing your garnish idea . I really like that.

I made a small chilaquile casserole for my husband last night (a Mollie Katzen recipe) before I went out to a party.

Since I was going to a party with a lot of food, I didn't eat before I left, but then when I was at the party, it was too late for me to be interested in eating anything substantial . So my dinner last night was a couple of handfuls of popcorn and some cheese slices. (There was a lot of good food at the party, which I'm sorry I missed out on. Once a certain time passes, I really don't have an appetite. Maybe this is a byproduct of my many years of dieting, in which I've trained myself not to eat late at night.)

ETA: This is the chilaquile casserole recipe. It's an old standby. I don't think I've ever halved it before, but that worked fine. I only had enough old tortillas to make a half batch.

Linguine with roasted yellow beets and arugula
drizzled with olive oil; dusted with pecorino romano

nachos (I had a craving )

My wife makes a dish that sounds like this recipe but she subs cream of chicken soup for the eggs and buttermilk. Pretty good stuff!

Love it when this kind of thing happens! I've grown so dependent on cookbooks as a way to get me out of ruts in the kitchen that consequently, I've become rusty when it comes to improvisation. However, soups are one of the most forgiving ways to restore one's sea legs and mix metaphors at the same time.

I bought a Long Island pumpkin a while back at the farmer's market even though I had heard the variety could be kind of bland. It just was so pretty and I was in the mood.

Rumor proved true. Froze some of the leftover purée and took it out to make a simple soup with half a leftover onion, some sage and a new batch of (mostly) chicken stock.

Blah. Added some cream. Better, but... So I rummaged around for the muhammara and plopped a bit into the center of the bowl. Swirled. Wonderful!!!!

* * *
Another great garnish: Batter-fried sage leaves

Poached salmon
Mashed yukon gold potatoes with porcini mushrooms*



*I got this idea from a description of a restaurant dish on a recent eGullet blog. Instead of simmering the mushrooms in cream, I used chicken broth. The reduced chicken broth and a couple of tablespoons of mushroom soaking liquid went into the potatoes that had been smashed up with some extra virgin olive oil, plus the finely chopped mushrooms (1 oz. dry).

Khadoo (Afghan stewed pumpkin) with garbanzos and yogurt sauce
Basmati rice
Merguez meatballs with minted yogurt
Anna Blume's muhammara
cucumbers in yogurt
Feta
Spicy olives
Afghan bread

2005 Les Hauts de la Brune Languedoc

butter lettuce with cucumber, red onion, artichoke hearts, croutons, and vinaigrette
smoked turkey breast with gravy and dried cranberries
mashed potatoes with oyster mushrooms
maple glazed beans
braised swiss chard with balsamic

Cubed kabocha simmered with ginger, light soy sauce, and mirin
Burdock and carrot kinpira

Grilled porterhouse steaks with carmelized onions and a red wine reduction
roasted string beans and potato

The amazing part was my dad trying -- and liking -- both the onions and the sauce -- he doesn't like "dirty" plates.

I just got another, much better-looking hunk of mystery pumpkin from the market.* Do you mind sharing the recipe for this? How did it work out?

*A colleague and I just found a fabled produce market--gorgeous! A space larger than a city block covered in piles of the most gorgeous fruit and veg I've seen since I've been here. Mountains of tomatoes, cukes, okra, peppers, squash, mango, grapefruit--everything. Even lettuce. Lettuce! I haven't seen it here in months, and when I did see it, it wasn't pretty. I bought probably seven kilos of produce, for less than twenty bucks, and I'm just giddy about getting to eat fresh food!

Dinner tonight was a Nicoise-ish salad:

Lettuce (yay!), tomato, green pepper, cucumber, Kalamata olives, potato, hard-cooked egg, Ortiz bonito del norte packed in olive oil
Vinaigrette: oil drained from tuna, red wine vinegar, garlic, dijon, s&p

Yummm...

If you google Afghan pumpkin recipes, you will (as I did) come up with the same recipe on several sites. I adapted mine somewhat, because I had a container of already roasted Kabocha squash that I wanted to use and the recipes start with raw. Basically, what I did was make a sauce with canned tomato blended with onion, garlic and fresh ginger, coriander and cumin, which I then fried in olive oil, the way a lot of Indian recipes start. I cooked that for a while, added some water, sugar (less than the recipe called for because the squash was pretty sweet on its own) and a few pinches of ras al hanout, then I added the chunks of roasted squash and let it simmer for about twenty minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a little water now and then so that it wouldn't stick and burn--the squash broke down into a puree, so that there weren't distinct pieces of squash in a tomato sauce. I added canned garbanzos and some more water and let it cook for another 15 or twenty minutes. I added the garbanzos so that there would be more protein in the meal for my daughter--they are not traditional in the dish. The yogurt sauce is yogurt with salt and a tiny bit of fresh garlic and mint--the recipe called for dried mint to be sprinkled on top, but I had fresh mint, and I finely chopped some and mixed it in. Anyway, the khadoo served on top of basmati rice, topped with the minted yogurt was a big hit. Very tasty.

RE eating raw veggies in the Third World: my vegetarian SIL and BIL lived in South and Central America for many years. I heard lots of stories about how they always soaked their lettuce in bleach solution, and peeled or cooked everything else before eating salad to avoid nastiness. Did you do that?

Zora, that recipe sounds great. I may give it a try!

We're advised to wash in bleach, cook, or peel any raw veg we buy locally too, but I take it on a case-by-case basis. I've never bleached because I'd frankly rather go without than eat a bleached lettuce leaf. And I did go without for the first three or four months I was here--as is advisable in most foreign lands. But I've worked to develop a resistance to the bacteria here by brushing my teeth in tap water and not taking Cipro for every little tummy upset. Now I just generally wash vegetables in distilled water, or soak in distilled salted water with things like lettuce to get rid of any possible parasites.

Basically, nastiness happens no matter how careful you are, so I try to exercise a reasonable amount of caution and then just live life. Really, though, I've gotten sick due to food very few times here; the constant dust has done much more of a number on my immune system than the food has.

^Interesting stuff from Post 2075 onward. Q: You might consider starting a topic with lists of available food stuffs and let us pipe up with suggestions for simple things you should be able to prepare, provided you also let us know what resources you have for cooking.

* * *
Behold My Butt: Braised pork w wild mushrooms and juniper berries

This is a long overlooked dish in Marcella Hazan's second cookbook; I'm providing full English name just in case it's also used in Essentials.

Was planning on roasting the shoulder butt I found on sale last week, but found a fuss-less recipe that sounded really good to use instead. Calls for 20 Juniper berries and 6/8 oz. dried porcini along with white wine and a little onion and that is it. I only had half the amount of porcini left, so I chopped fresh mushrooms fine and sautéed them on high heat, and fetched some vegetarian wild mushroom stock out of the freezer to supplement the soaking liquid that goes into the pot. The succulent, cut-up meat is traditionally served with polenta which I intend to do with leftovers; mashed potatoes are more than adequate for the wonderful sauce. There's a very fussy recipe for carrots with Parmesan that would not be too much of a pain to follow while stirring polenta.

Homemade rice bran daikon pickles
Wasabi leaf* parboiled, then steeped in dashi and light soy sauce
Miso-grilled tofu with sesame seeds
The last of the kabocha, simmered in fresh ginger, mirin, and light soy sauce

* The stuff I have is described on the packaging in Japanese as "wasabi leaf." However, it does not at all resemble wasabi leaves, which are round and usually one to a stalk. This is ferny looking, and only has a mild wasabi flavor. Any ideas?

spinach, escarole, turkey bacon, and shiitake mushrooms baked with shredded gouda and fat free half and half
mashed potatoes with oyster mushrooms

Fireplace-grilled ribeye steak
Braised kale with fig balsamic
Roasted cippolini onions
Baked potato with sour cream and chives

Pear and quince crisp

1999 Dom. Michel Lafarge Bourgogne Passetoutgrain

Skate cheeks (from Black Salt). Lightly dredged in salt and pepper seasoned flour; sauteed in butter for 6-7 minutes; served with a squeeze of lemon. Wonderful little puffs of pure seafood. Texture somewhere between a scallop (much more tender and ethereal) and an oyster (a bit more substantial). Glad I tried them.

Takikomi gohan with sliced pork, naganegi (Japanese bunching onion; looks like a leek), shiitake, and aburaage (deep-fried tofu skin).

Turkey sandwiches with lettuce, provolone, cranberry sauce, and pear slices
Corn and Crab Chowder from the Jan 2008 Bon Appetit

Oooooooooooh.... explain how!

Sick of cooking...

chili dogs with onions and hot peppers
cole slaw with buttermilk dressing
Cherry Garcia ice cream for dessert

Ha! I couldn't wait to get back into the kitcen after being away for the holidays. So, I've made:
Grillades and cheddar grits
Lentil soup with kiebasa and kale

And if I can get to Bestway today to get chicken wings and necks, I'll be making chicken stock!

My kitchen looks like a bomb went off, needless to say

Simple--you need a good bed of hot coals, though. A couple of small, wet logs of equal diameter set about ten inches apart, perpendicular to the opening, onto the bed of coals and a small grill rack balanced on them. Then put the steak on the grill rack. Three to four minutes per side.

Last night was 1 pot red curry pork w/eggplant and onions bachelors meal (2 pots if you include the rice).

Sautee some sliced onions; remove. Sautee seasoned (pepper/salt) sliced pork loin; remove. Sautee chopped eggplant adding more oil as required.

Deglaze pan with a little white wine. Add onions and pork back to pan. Add coconut milk, Thai red curry paste, fish sauce and sugar. Bring to low simmer. Add a fresh chopped tomato and basil and cilantro. Season to taste.

Serve over jasmine rice.

EZ and yummy.

Scott

Last night was buttermilk biscuits and root vegetable stew.

Tonight is Beer and Cheese Soup from The Frugal Gourmet, plus some leftovers. I used to make the soup a lot years ago but had kind of forgotten about it. I have some kielbasa to use and thought it would be a good vehicle for that.

It's been a weird day; I've been cooking, nibbling and snacking all day:

Toll House cookies w/ walnuts
Pasta w/ a smoked salmon cream sauce
String beans w/ shallots, pancetta and red peppers
Crepe w/ smoked salmon, cream cheese and radishes

... a "roving" dinner

Last night was a belated xms family gathering (due to my niece arriving from out of the country after the holiday) and as always, there was waay to much food prepared by all:

cheese, dips, candies, etc. for apps
brined beer can chicken cooked in the "Egg"
stuffed flank steak
roasted root vegetables
yams
rolls
green bean casserole
salad
lemon and olive oil roasted new potatoes (Jamie Oliver)
home-made spaetzle (courtesy of my niece, currently studying in Germany)
chocolate espresso pecan pie (Fine Cooking)*
home-made stollen (courtesy of niece's German boyfriend's mom)
various ice creams

*(and the first thing baked by Mr. S in a verrry long time--he hasn't lost his touch!)

Tonight is
Baked turkey drumsticks
Steamed broccoli with hot pepper sesame oil
Macaroni and cheese with ancho peppers

Roast beef hash with green peppers, onions, mushrooms and baby Yukon Gold potatoes seasoned with thyme, salt and pepper

Boquerones (Spanish marinated anchovies)
Fresh borlotti bean soup
Cold cooked broccoli with vinaigrette
Mt. Tam triple cream
Toasted baguette
Leftover Meyer lemon tart with blackberry coulis

2005 Domaine Diochon Moulin-a-Vent

marinated black-eyed pea salad
steamed broccoli
bourbon-marinated pork tenderloin