What did you cook today?

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Mike9
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Mike9 »

I made a long sauce today for Cinco De Mayo tomorrow. I wanted something quick and easy and remembered I had some 3 cheese tortellini in the ice box. A "quickie" Brodo was perfect. 2cups of basic chicken stock, 1 bullion cube, a little mirepoix, some parsley, thyme, pepper and roasted garlic powder completed the profile. Simmered for about an hour then removed the beg and poured over the tortellini and topped with grated sheep's milk Pecorino Romano and fresh parsley. Very satisfying for a not so nice day (weather wise).

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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by jbart65 »

I've been trying a few different versions of pad ka-prao, Ronnie, after buying a few more Thai cookbooks. My shortcut is to puree the aromatics with my hand blender, dump into my mortar and pound for a few more minutes.

Three Crab is the preferred fish sauce in my house. My wife thinks Thai fish sauces are too ... fishy!

I sometimes add slivered red bell peppers to mine or occasionally Asian eggplant. And lots of onions, sliced from the non-root end so they are more like slivers. I make sure not to cook them all the way thru so there is some crunch.

I'll be setting out my Thai basil, Thai peppers and Thai eggplant (little round ones) next week. I grew them all from seed in my basement grow station. Lemongrass is already in the ground.

My son grew a ton of Holy Basil last year, but I much prefer Thai Queen or regular Thai basil in my dishes. Could have been the type of Holy basil we grew. I might try another.

I see you've been using an Enjin. Love to hear your thoughts, perhaps on the general board thread ...
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

jbart65 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 11:06 am I've been trying a few different versions of pad ka-prao, Ronnie, after buying a few more Thai cookbooks. My shortcut is to puree the aromatics with my hand blender, dump into my mortar and pound for a few more minutes.

Three Crab is the preferred fish sauce in my house. My wife thinks Thai fish sauces are too ... fishy!

I sometimes add slivered red bell peppers to mine or occasionally Asian eggplant. And lots of onions, sliced from the non-root end so they are more like slivers. I make sure not to cook them all the way thru so there is some crunch.

I'll be setting out my Thai basil, Thai peppers and Thai eggplant (little round ones) next week. I grew them all from seed in my basement grow station. Lemongrass is already in the ground.

My son grew a ton of Holy Basil last year, but I much prefer Thai Queen or regular Thai basil in my dishes. Could have been the type of Holy basil we grew. I might try another.

I see you've been using an Enjin. Love to hear your thoughts, perhaps on the general board thread ...
Hey Jeffry, as always, I really appreciate the benefit of your cooking wisdom, especially on Thai food (btw, which cookbooks are you into right now?). I love the idea of adding onions to pad ka-xxxx. I guess your red bell peppers are my carrots. I like the textural note they add. That's also a great idea, using the stick blender. I don't mind using my mortar & pestle all they way when I have enough time. And yes, I do think it makes a difference in the end product.

I'm so envious of your garden. Even if I were good at it, which I'm not, we have a fairly short growing season here in Chicagoland. Even now, I'm still having to bring my genovese basil plants in at night, as we've had overnight temps in the low 40's. We're past our latest historical freeze date but I'm going to hold off for another week or two before putting plants in the ground.

Once I spend some more time with the Enjin, I'll be sure to post some thoughts about it.

Dinner tonight was an on-the-fly mixed grill. Naturally, I had chicken thighs on hand but I really wanted to try some "kiolbassa" from Costco that had been in the basement fridge for a while. All I can say is, good thing we had the chicken . . . :x

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"Kiolbassa" & Takayuki Grand Chef AEB-L Hankotsu, 150mm
Scoring the sausages.

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Salad
Finished off the great lettuces we bought at last Saturday's Green City Market, and added some arugula and campari tomatoes, along with the end of my buttermilk/yogurt ranch dressing.

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Mixed Grill
Charcoal-grilled chicken thighs and "kiolbassa."

Warning: some items may appear more delicious than they actually are! :P

Flavor on the sausage was okay but they were insanely dense. The bind and definition were completely off and, even scored, the casings were tough. If this were the first time I'd ever had sausage, I'd probably never have it again. Brutal.

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Plated Up
With the end of the asparagus from Saturday's market and the end of the last week's slaw. Yeah, salad and slaw is a bit of overkill but I was trying to offset the double-meat! :D
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by jbart65 »

I just read Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen as well as Thai Hot Kitchen.


Simple Thai Food is the best of many, many Thai cookbooks I’ve read over the years. Perfect for those who want to cook good Thai food without going native.



Ironically, neither of these books include onions in their versions of Pad Ka prao. Yet onions were a given in Boston and New York in the 1990s when I first encountered the recipe and fell in love with Thai food. Baby corn was another ingredient I encountered now and then (but not anymore).

My hand blender is a beast. It’s a Breville. Expensive, but at the highest level of its 1-15 scale, it makes extremely smooth Thai curry paste purées. It’s almost like having a mini Vitamix. I just made red and green curry pastes using my blender and pestle. Came out great.

DC is hotter than Chicago, but it’s dropping to the 40s tonite. I don’t put my basil out until it’s in the high 50s every night. (-:
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Mike9 »

I made Tinga sauce Tuesday for Chicken Tinga Tacos for Cinco de Mayo. Since my wife cannot tolerate much in the way of heat I made a work around. 1qt, basic chicken stock, 2 bullion cubes, medium onion, four gloves of garlic, big Tbs of tomato paste, oregano, parsley, thyme, smoked paprika, two cans of Rotel tomatoes, 1 guajillo, 1 pasilla, and black pepper. I simmered that for a couple/few hrs to reduce then into the blender then into a smaller pot to reduce even more. It has a wonderful developed flavor. I did add 4 chicken thigh bones and the roasted skin to the pot as well and fished them out later.

Tacos made with queso fresco, chicken tinga, lettuce, grape tomatoes and guacamole.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

jbart65 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 9:48 pm I just read Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen as well as Thai Hot Kitchen.

Simple Thai Food is the best of many, many Thai cookbooks I’ve read over the years. Perfect for those who want to cook good Thai food without going native.

Ironically, neither of these books include onions in their versions of Pad Ka prao. Yet onions were a given in Boston and New York in the 1990s when I first encountered the recipe and fell in love with Thai food. Baby corn was another ingredient I encountered now and then (but not anymore).
If you're talking about Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu, that's been my go-to for a number of years. Yes, it's frustrating about the pad ka-prao recipe not being in the book but it's available at her she simmers website in all its didactic glory. :D That's also my go-to for pad ka-prao.
jbart65 wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 9:48 pm My hand blender is a beast. It’s a Breville. Expensive, but at the highest level of its 1-15 scale, it makes extremely smooth Thai curry paste purées. It’s almost like having a mini Vitamix. I just made red and green curry pastes using my blender and pestle. Came out great.
Okay, I have a Braun and I do like it (metal shaft, good power) but maybe when it eventually dies, I'll step up. Yes, they're pricey but I love all my other Breville kitchen tools.

I worked from home today and as it turns out, I was way busier than I expected. Had I known, I probably would have gone with something less time and labor intensive. But I'd already thawed the pork belly and since I probably won't be cooking again until Sunday, I went ahead nonetheless. However, my day-long ballet between the kitchen and my computer was anything but graceful . . .

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Belly, Bathing Aids & CCK Small Carbon Steel Cleaver
Gave the belly chunks a quick, 10-minute blanching in a bath that including smashed garlic and ginger, leek tops from the freezer and a splash of Shaoxing wine.

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Mise En Place & CCK Small Carbon Steel Cleaver
There are a few stages here. First up was the blanched belly, which got a quick sear in peanut oil and caramelized granulated sugar . . .

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Blanched And Seared Pork Belly

After that browned and came out, in went the Chinese leeks, onions, shallots, garlic and ginger . . .

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Aromatics

After that had all sweated, I put in a ground mixture of the long pepper, white pepper, Sichuan peppercorn, fennel seed, black cardamom and amomum villosum pod. After that, I added the reclaimed blanching liquid (that I'd heavily reduced), both soy sauces, the broad bean paste and the fermented soy beans sauce (hiding under the sugar). After that, this went in . . .

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Sachet
Star anise, licorice root, dried monk fruit, angelica daurica and Tien Tsin chili peppers.

Once the sachet was well-submerged, I added back the blanched and seared belly, stirred it all up, covered it and simmered it for a couple of hours until the belly was fork-tender.

A bunch of little steps happened next (de-fatting, straining reducing, squeezing out the sachet, reseasoning) but I could only choose 2 of these 3: cook, document, work. Unfortunately, work wasn't really a choice and document fell by the wayside.

Very near the end of the cook, when it was essentially ready to serve, I threw in the final two ingredients . . .

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Reconstituted Black Fungus & Chinese Broccoli Greens
I was glad I remembered to soak the fungus earlier in the day. As for the broccoli greens, I more or less ran out of time, so Mrs. Suburban washed them and separated them from the stems to facilitate quicker cooking. I expect the stems will still be usable next time I cook.

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Plated Up
On leftover jasmine rice and garnished with chives. I definitely bit off more than I could chew today but it was worth it. This ended up being one of the best things I've made in a very long time. The pork was tender but not mushy, and really flavorful. The broth was delicious. The fungus and the greens carried the broth well, with the greens imparting a mild bitterness that matched up really well with the rest of the dish. I'll definitely make this again . . . on a frigging weekend! :)
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by jbart65 »

Yep, one and the same book, Ronnie. I’ve been cooking tons of Thai food lately and was dissatisfied with my books. I’ve read dozens of Thai cookbooks over the years but none fully satisfied me. Most are too complicated (David Thompson), have too many exotic ingredients (Andy Ricker) or are too Americanized.

So I did a ton of research and Leela’s book kept coming up. Hits almost all the spots. Yes, I’d like a few more solid or interesting recipes beyond the greatest hits, but her book is just authentic enough and focuses on the essentials. I like that it doesńt veer off into all the extraneous stuff that so many authors feel obliged to include.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

We're taking this frittata to our Mothers' Day gathering at my sister's house . . .

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Frittata
Sauteed Newsom ham, onion, mushroom with assorted cheeses, and garnished with chives.

Happy Mothers' Day! :)
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Was tasked last night with bringing a vegetable side dish to dinner at a friend's house where another friend, who cannot eat alliums or garlic, was also in attendance. No time to shop but remembered a napa cabbage in the fridge, as well as the leftover Chinese broccoli stems from Monday's pork belly dish.

It all ended up in the wok, high heat and peanut oil at first to wilt the veg. After that, some freshly microplaned ginger, then some homemade gelatinous pork stock and a bitch's brew of additional liquids to create a sauce -- soy, oyster, fermented soy bean, mature black vinegar and Shaoxing wine. Freshly ground white pepper, black pepper and Sichuan peppercorn to finish it off. Let it all bubble until the broccoli stems were just soft enough to eat, and done . . .

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Napa Cabbage & Chinese Broccoli Stems

The dish went over well and it all but disappeared, which made me happy. It ended up being a decent pairing with the main dish, which was a beef dish heavily redolent of clove. It was an interesting experiment, especially for me, not including any onion, scallions, shallots, leeks or garlic but that seems to have worked out well enough. Ironically, and I wasn't informed about this up front, the dietarily restricted friend couldn't eat any cruciferous vegetables either, so she never touched it. :lol:
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Re: What did you cook today?

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Some dietary restrictions!
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

jbart65 wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 9:55 pm Some dietary restrictions!
Yeah, it's a lot but hopefully, temporary. She's in the midst of some fairly intense G-I issues.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by playingfetch »

Split this beauty with my girlfriend and had fresh purple asparagus from the garden as a side. Used the Weber to smoke for about 45 minutes then finished up with a sear over the coals. :D
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

playingfetch wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 2:17 pm Split this beauty with my girlfriend and had fresh purple asparagus from the garden as a side . . .
That's a nice looking ribeye right there! :)

Continuing down the personal rabbit hole that opened up several months ago, it was back to Thai-style red curry chicken for us tonight. I've come to call it "Thai-style" because even though I use some Thai products and I started with a recipe written by a Thai cook, I take a ton of liberties with this, especially because I try to use up what I have on hand, as well as vary things from batch to batch . . .

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Mise En Place, Yoshikazu Tanaka Blue #1 Gyuto, 240mm & Takeda NAS Honesuki, 160mm
Genovese basil, creminis, peanut oil, coconut milk, Maesri red curry paste, gapi, zucchini, shirataki noodles, chicken thigh chunks, 1x gelatinous pork stock, fresh bamboo shoots, fish sauce, re-hydrated wood ear mushrooms (leftover from last Thursday's pork belly prep), shallot, kaffir lime leaves & Thai bird chiles.

The Yoshi is a joy to use and it cuts like a dream but having regularly encountered pieces of bone in boneless chicken thighs (go figure), I deployed the beefier honesuki to chunk it down further. Just didn't want to take a chance on chipping the Yoshi.

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Plated Up
Garnished with scallions, chives and what I like to call The Peacemaker, aka dried Thai chile powder. I now put four whole Thai bird chiles in the batch, which provides some bite and some heat but does not blow the skulls off the rest of the Suburban clan. But that's not quite hot enough for me, so I add the dried Thai chile powder to my serving. It's a pretty darned good work-around and yes, it keeps the peace. :lol:

Happy Monday! :)
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Re: What did you cook today?

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the load of burgers, tacos, wings. leftovers from mothersday slam
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Pork chops, boy choy and salad, though more accurate to say I murdered the boy choy more than I actually cooked it . . .

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Bok Choy Mise En Place
Bok choy, lemon (juice), sugar, peanut oil, shoyu, mirin and sake. Just an epic fail. The thick, reduced glaze I made with everything but the bok choy and the peanut oil turned out fine but I should have steamed the bok choy instead of trying to hot-wok it. The leaves were done and wilted down to nothing long before the stems were even remotely palatable. I ended up quartering it mid-saute but it was too little, too late.

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Salad
The bright spot of the meal was the salad with homemade buttermilk & yogurt ranch dressing. Romaine, green leaf lettuce and arugula were all in tip-top condition.

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Charcoal-Grilled Pork Chops
Even taken off the grill at 125F internal, they were drier and tougher than I would have preferred. These were from Whole Foods. I need to promise myself that when it comes to pork, I'll stick with my butcher because he's the only source I have for pork that isn't overly lean.

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Plated Up
Glad I cooked and took advantage of a nice evening by the grill but this was proof that they certainly all can't be winners.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Tonight: SausageFest!

But first, side-dishery . . .

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Long Bean Mise En Place & Kurosaki R2 Hammered Gyuto, 210mm
Long beans (these had definitely seen better days), peanut oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, 5-year Chinese vinegar, minced shallots and crushed garlic. Still stinging from last night's baby bok choy debacle, I was determined to focus and get it right with the long beans.

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Long Beans
Granted, they don't emit nearly as much moisture as bok choy but I managed to end up with something much more desirable this time around; a nice, sticky coating of sauce, shallots and garlic.

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SausageFest!
Charcoal-grilled veal wieners (top), kielbasa and pork wieners.

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Salad
My first inclination was to have blob of the weekly slaw with the sausages but our greens were still in such good shape that I opted for a complete copy of last night's salad, again with the homemade yogurt-buttermilk ranch dressing. Boring, yes but sensible.

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Plated Up
With some of my pickled ramps and a couple of mustards.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by jbart65 »

Good stuff, Ronnie. I’ve grown long beans before. Cool looking, but I decided eventually that I like regular green beans better. Long beans are less moist, a bit spongy and have less snap. Could have been the variety I grew. I did like that they were easier to prep, though.

Just pulled some baby bok Choi from my garden. One of my favorite greens/veggies. I usually just chop and use in Asian noodle dishes. Gonna have to try grilling or something different. They grow fast and easy and I’ll have plenty thru the end of June.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

jbart65 wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 8:16 pm Good stuff, Ronnie. I’ve grown long beans before. Cool looking, but I decided eventually that I like regular green beans better. Long beans are less moist, a bit spongy and have less snap. Could have been the variety I grew. I did like that they were easier to prep, though.
No, I don't think what you describe is specific to the variety you grew. That's how they are, chewy. And while I do also like standard green beans a lot, I enjoy the chewiness of the long beans and the fact that the wrinkles that develop when they're cooked help carry whatever sauce they're cooked in. Unlike standard green beans, which tend to break apart when they're cooked longer, the long beans tend to wrinkle up and stay intact.
jbart65 wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 8:16 pm Just pulled some baby bok Choi from my garden. One of my favorite greens/veggies. I usually just chop and use in Asian noodle dishes. Gonna have to try grilling or something different. They grow fast and easy and I’ll have plenty thru the end of June.
Nice. I think most people just chop them, or at least separate the leaves from the stems/cores. It's in season here, so nice and easy to get some better stuff but the chances of me successfully growing it myself are nil.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Highlight of tonight's dinner was that we had friends over, which was the first time for that in a very long time. I actually had to temporarily convert my knife lab back into a dining room! :lol:

I would have felt silly snapping pics of my plate with guests sitting there but I did get a couple of shots while I prepped . . .

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Grilled Asparagus
Eventually served this with a few pats of homemade ramp butter melted over it.

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Charcoal-Grilled Hanger Steak & Takamura Migaki SG2 Gyuto, 210mm
Steaks turned out great. Five of us finished off just about all of it, plus all of the asparagus. Our guests brought a homemade, gluten-free garlicky mac & cheese that was really good and which also completely disappeared. Mainly, though, it felt really nice to cook at home again for friends.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by XexoX »

Hey Mr.Suburban, the Salem Oregon Costco has Wagyu New York Strip Steaks for only $99.99/lb. You should stock up. :mrgreen:
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