dcandohio

Shredded beef tinga over rice. Cuban bread and manchego cheese.

A quick trip to visit my sister and deal with some things in Mom’s house. Fun to cook for another human! I made grilled Asian-style sticky ribs, mushroom fried rice and grilled bok choy. I put the ribs in a slow oven for about an hour with a little bit of water and soy sauce and covered them tightly. I find that pre-cooking them keeps him from drying out on the grill.

Monday I defrosted a piece of steelhead trout from wild Fork, which is turning into one of my favorite things ever. I had a lot of homemade Caesar dressing, so I coated the fish with that, and then topped it with diced tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and onions. Cooked the fish in foil packet, and served it with roasted tiny Yukon Gold potatoes and steamed broccoli. This is a really easy and flavorful way to do fish. Homemade Caesar dressing has all of the right stuff for fish: lemon, garlic, olive oil, Dijon. Yesterday I defrosted a thick bone-in pork chop, also from Wild Fork. Marinated/brined it in chicken stock with smoked paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, and cayenne. I roasted it for about 8 to 10 minutes, and then put both sides under the broiler to create brown, lovely goodness. Served with, of course, a Caesar salad, because I have SO MUCH Caesar dressing.

Sounds like a great base for an Asian style barbecue sauce.

I had one egg left in the refrigerator that had to be used, so yesterday‘s breakfast was a fried egg over very spicy black beans and rice. Sliced Florida strawberries on the side.

Broiled Steel head trout served over a bit of leftover pasta with a simple sauce of Lemon, butter, garlic, white wine, dill, salt, pepper. The vegetable was sautéed tiny green beans and slices of red pepper.

I make a version of wonton soup by using Trader Joe’s mini cilantro chicken wontons, which are delicious and have 150 g of sodium for four dumplings. So, about 38 g of sodium each if you were going to eat more than four, which I do. I simmer garlic and ginger in low sodium chicken stock, with a splash of low sodium soy sauce, hot chili oil, and five spice powder. Then I throw in giant handfuls of bok choy. You could use other greens if that is what you have. Then, add the frozen dumplings and cook them until they are heated through. This makes a pretty satisfying wonton soup for a lot less sodium and not much more work than the fully prepared version.

I’ve been thinking about quiche, so last night I made a ham and Swiss cheese quiche flavored with tarragon, that I enjoyed for lunch today.

It was kind of weird to watch the Super Bowl solo, but I made habanero honey chicken wings and a Romaine salad and watched anyway.

My mother would’ve wanted us to go out to eat! She loved restaurants and good food. Growing up here, you don’t necessarily appreciate it because you are steeped in it, but when you go away and you realize other places are so, so different, begin to crave your motherland. Every time I come back, I have such renewed respect for everything that is New Orleans, and especially the resilience of the people, because they are freaking rockstars.

Even though the reason I had to travel here is sad, it’s nice to be back in the land of good food. Rosedale‘s, by Susan Spicer, continues to operate on all cylinders. Spacious outdoor patios, casual environment and a casual menu. This is close to city Park if you are going to the sculpture garden, which I highly recommend. I had shrimp Creole that was served on rice with two perfectly fried planks of eggplant… Ethereal. http://rosedalerestaurant.com If you are in the central business district, we got excellent Indian street food from Tava in the Auction House market, which is a lovely small food hall. Minimal outdoor seating of 4 small tables. https://www.auctionhousemarket.com

It’s really nice to be with my sister, and to be dining with someone and sharing food instead of eating alone. Last night we grilled a T-bone and a fat ribeye, and shared them, along with a giant Caesar salad. There was king cake for dessert.

To my mom, aged 89, a resilient and resourceful woman who passed unexpectedly but peacefully in her sleep on Saturday. She recycled and re-purposed before it was cool, she was a voracious reader, a gifted seamstress, and she loved a dirty joke. My mom and dad‘s liquor cabinet had become pretty depleted over the years as they got older and more sick, but there was a giant bottle of crown royal, some shitty sweet vermouth, and an ancient bottle of Peychaud bitters. I’m having a Manhattan in a New Orleans Saints glass that is probably 40 years old. Fly free, mom.

Bistrot du Coin?

I had defrosted some ground beef, and was looking on the Internet for inspiration when I came across a Thai-inspired ground beef stirfry. I made a sauce of soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, chili paste, garlic, ginger, lime, and brown sugar. Browned the ground beef and separately sautéed yellow bell peppers, carrots, onions, and celery. I added the sautéed vegetables to the ground beef along with the sauce, and at the end threw in a whole jalapeño, sliced thin and let that cook together for a bit. Topped with cilantro and served over rice. Success!

Chicken Tinga quesadillas, served with a simple salad. I poached and shredded three chicken breasts. They were set aside while I made the Tinga sauce. In a blender, I combined plum tomatoes, chicken stock used for poaching the chicken, chilies in adobo sauce, onion, garlic, cumin, and oregano. I then cook the sauce until it was very thick, add it in the chicken, and let it simmer for a while. Nicely spicy.

French green lentils marinated in a tarragon/Dijon vinaigrette. The lentils were piled on a salad tossed with the same dressing used to marinate the lentils. The main was braised chicken kale Italian sausage from the Fresh Market. Really nice change of pace for me. And since it was very warm here on New Year’s Day, having a big salad was perfect.

Tilapia cooked in a foil packet, topped with chopped grape tomatoes that were looking very sad, wrinkly black olives, chopped; and Trader Joe’s Zhoug. Drizzled with olive oil. This is a very easy and full proof way to cook a mild fish. Served it with a simple green salad with a pomegranate balsamic vinaigrette.

I made a big sheet pan full of roasted vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, celery and carrots. I will use the vegetables over several days, but today I served them with sweet potatoes roasted with salt, pepper, and coriander; and salmon topped with a homemade mango chili glaze. Since it is cooler than usual here, I did not mind having everything in the oven for a while and everything was done all at once. I have lots of leftover vegetables and salmon. Hope that will reduce my prep and cooking over the weekend!

Last night I was going to call and have something delivered, and then I thought about all of the inspiration that I get from the cooks on this site who put together delicious meals from what is in the refrigerator and the freezer. I had a small container of chicken gravy in the freezer, which I defrosted and thinned to make a soup base. I added ginger, garlic, coriander, and soy. I threw in a handful of shelled edamame, Romaine lettuce that was getting sad, celery and Trader Joe’s chicken cilantro mini dumplings. It made for a pretty tasty and very easy wonton style soup.

Black bean chili, made with ground pork. We are having a little cold snap here in South Florida, and chili hits the spot.

Shrimp sautéed with roasted garlic, chopped fresh tomatoes salt and pepper served on cheesy grits which were cooked with chicken stock and a bit of tomato paste.

I marinated bone-in pork chops in chicken stock with chicken grill seasoning, garlic, soy sauce and Sriracha. Took advantage of the glorious Florida weather to cook them on the grill. When they were almost cooked, I brushed on Hunts chipotle cherry barbecue sauce straight from the bottle. Very acceptable sauce. Accompanied by potatoes grilled in a foil packet with onions, parsley and olive oil. We threw together a quick salad of Romaine and tomatoes with leftover Caesar dressing. Very nice meal with old friends, and easy to socially distance down on the patio.

My Thanksgiving dinner for two: Whole turkey breast, dry brined and then rubbed with garlic herb butter. Mashed potatoes and homemade gravy. Dressing made with hot Italian sausage and lots of celery, onion, herbs, etc. Five spice roasted carrots. Butternut squash pie provided by my guest.

Soup of hot Italian sausage, white beans, kale. The base is homemade chicken stock with red wine, diced canned tomatoes, plus carrots, celery, onion, garlic and Italian herbs.