Where there's leftover corned beef, there's usually reubens . . .


Mise En Place, Shiro Kamo SG2 Damascus Sujihiki, 270mm & Kohetsu 1K6 Bread Knife, 240mm
'Russian' dressing, Jarlsberg, homemade sauerkraut, leftover corned beef, unsalted butter and marbled rye bread.


Cooking
Have to say that I've been loving these Chef's Presses. I used to use a second pan in these situations but these are much more efficient.


Plated Up
With a blob of the weekly slaw and a home-fermented garlic-dill pickle. Sadly, not a bag of chips in the house. That would have been perfect.

=R=

Binko wrote:Asparagus is one of the things I do in the microwave almost all the time. Steaming veggies in the microwave works great. That's one of the things I think microwaves are great at cooking (as opposed to just reheating.)

Another one I only started doing in the last year or so is rice. I'm a stovetop rice guy (in other words, don't have a rice cooker; don't really feel I need one), but when I'm just making a cup to two cups of rice, it works great in the nuker. I have a rectangular Pyrex container with a lid that I put it in. For my 700W oven, it's 5 minutes at full power, then 15 minutes at 50% power. I use about 1 2/3x water as rice. Turns out fine every time -- I don't have to worry about paying attention to it on the stove and can just go about my business.

Binko,
Inspired by this post, I cooked rice in the microwave last evening. Absolute perfection. Thank you for the tip!

Mussels Mariniere for some clients Sat PM. Took what was left out of the shells w/all the juice, added a bit of vinegar, chilled and ate it that way as an ensalada for myself. So good.

Jazzfood wrote:Mussels Meuniere for some clients Sat PM. Took what was left out of the shells w/all the juice, added a bit of vinegar, chilled and ate it that way as an ensalada for myself. So good.

Nice, Alan! That looks tremendous.

=R=

Evil Ronnie wrote:

Binko wrote:Asparagus is one of the things I do in the microwave almost all the time. Steaming veggies in the microwave works great. That's one of the things I think microwaves are great at cooking (as opposed to just reheating.)

Another one I only started doing in the last year or so is rice. I'm a stovetop rice guy (in other words, don't have a rice cooker; don't really feel I need one), but when I'm just making a cup to two cups of rice, it works great in the nuker. I have a rectangular Pyrex container with a lid that I put it in. For my 700W oven, it's 5 minutes at full power, then 15 minutes at 50% power. I use about 1 2/3x water as rice. Turns out fine every time -- I don't have to worry about paying attention to it on the stove and can just go about my business.

Binko,
Inspired by this post, I cooked rice in the microwave last evening. Absolute perfection. Thank you for the tip!

Until we got a rice cooker, we almost always used the Science Oven. It was pretty consistent (using about the same rules you have above), but it tended to spray starchy liquid around the edges of the lid and onto the microwave oven itself. The rice maker has been a great tool for us... even though we don't seem to eat as much rice as we used to.

The only food that spikes my blood sugar higher than white rice is the 60 oz Costco M&M’s…

Not that it was much but after some Mondays at work, cooking anything and getting it on the table at a reasonable hour feels like a victory. To that end, it was back to one tonight . . .


Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Thighs


Plated Up
With some spicy-sweet cucumber salad and some leftover/reheated Jacob's Cattle beans. Glad this one's now in the books.

Happy Monday!

=R=

Nice dressup of the beans, Ron!

Tonight's entree was inspired by a dish I had at an Indian customer's home. They just called it chicken, as in "Would you like to have some chicken?" I'm sure it's one of those home style dishes with no particular recipe, just plenty of tradition and practice.
Cubed boneless thighs browned in butter, lots of red bell pepper, a chopped tomato, cubed peeled red potatoes, carrot chunks, frozen peas, a frozen methi cube, Jain curry powder (no garlic, no turmeric, little if any cardamom), Kashmir chili, tomato paste. Comparing theirs to mine, their sauce was much thicker (possibly the potatoes, it was a leftover from lunch) and redder. Mine had more potatoes. That was intentional, they served with rice and I wanted self sufficient. And theirs was at the upper end of my heat enjoyment range, mine was Indian kid style mild. Ms. R, who if asked will say she doesn't like Indian food, had thirds.

i realized winter had gone by without making our favorite mac-n-cheese, recipe honed over many years. so on this first day of spring, we had a nice gooey crispy pan of it, with steamed broccoli and some fresh pineapple. although there is some cayenne in the sauce we also had some optional table side chili crisp.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Where there's leftover corned beef, there's usually reubens . . .

YEP ...

I guess this is a thing around here now. Burger Salad night again . . .


Condiments & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Grilled onions, mini tomatoes, home-fermented garlic dill pickles and iceberg lettuce.


Grilling
A variety of cheeses . . . 'Merikan, monterey jack, co-jack. The cheese on that one on the right got pretty ooey-gooey but it and all the others were nicely pink inside.


Plated Up
Abject silliness but fun. No bun, no problem. Realized we had a ready-to-go avocado just as the burgers were coming off the grill. I think this might be our default burger setting for a while. With the last of the Jacob's Cattle beans.

=R=

tonight we're making a melissa clark recipe - cod with sizzling olive butter - with orzo dressed with roasted cherry tomatoes and herbs, and a butter lettuce-avocado salad.

I looked up the recipe and I like the sounds of it. I am not comfortable cooking fish, so I will probably do this next Friday ( already had tonight's bought )

ronnie_suburban wrote:I guess this is a thing around here now. Burger Salad night again . . .


Condiments & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Grilled onions, mini tomatoes, home-fermented garlic dill pickles and iceberg lettuce.


Grilling
A variety of cheeses . . . 'Merikan, monterey jack, co-jack. The cheese on that one on the right got pretty ooey-gooey but it and all the others were nicely pink inside.


Plated Up
Abject silliness but fun. No bun, no problem. Realized we had a ready-to-go avocado just as the burgers were coming off the grill. I think this might be our default burger setting for a while. With the last of the Jacob's Cattle beans.

=R=

Hi Ron,
Finally, a Kikuichi!
FWIW…most of my everyday Kikuichi’s after sharpening, along with a Messermeister flexible fish boner (primarily for breaking down Dover sole). I’ve since removed the forced patina from the 12” carbon. Also picked up a 10” Damascus sankotu, but prefer the control with the 8”.

.

Evil Ronnie wrote:Hi Ron,
Finally, a Kikuichi!
FWIW…most of my everyday Kikuichi’s after sharpening, along with a Messermeister flexible fish boner (for Dover sole). I’ve since removed the forced patina from the 12” carbon. Also picked up a 10” Damascus sankotu, but prefer the control with the 8”.

Haha - I'd been waiting to get my hands on one for a while and I was really curious about how the Swedish stainless steel (AEB-L) would be. So, when it became available, I grabbed it. I have a few other pieces in this steel but they're mostly hunting and pocket knives.

Nice roll, btw! I presume that other than the Damascus, yours are not stainless? What line do you prefer? Elite Carbons?

I can't see the one I own being a very good fit for a (high volume) Pro situation. It's a home knife -- very thin and accordingly, far more flexible than just about every other 210mm gyuto I own (Takeda being one exception that immediately comes to mind). This one only weighs about 4.5 ounces, so that should provide a sense of its ruggedness (or lack thereof).

Even a good stainless with an excellent heat-treat like this one won't hold an edge like most non-stainless steels. And in spite of the finish, food release is not at the top of the scale, either, though I know that will get better with more use. These Persian cucumbers I prepped earlier today for a salad I'm serving tomorrow weren't exactly problematic but they weren't falling away from the blade, either . . .


Persian Cucumbers & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm

Still, as a home cook and knife addict who likes shiny stuff, having this knife in my collection makes me happy. It's beautiful, it cuts like a dream and I don't have to worry too much if someone else in the house uses it.

=R=

We have some seafood planned for tomorrow but tonight, beef again -- this time some hangers from Zier's. But first, side-dishery . . .


Zucchini Mise En Place & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Evoo, white wine, coarsely chopped garlic, 4x gelatinous pork stock, black pepper, salt, mini tomatoes and zucchini.

Just a fast and very hot saute, so that the liquids caramelized and evaporated pretty much as they hit the pan. Turned out very nice but I guess that's to be expected when you inject concentrated pork stock into your veggies.

Back to those hangers . . .


Grilling
End of the charcoal bag, so a nice, low fire that allowed me to go direct for almost the entire cook.


Plated Up
With a blob of the weekly slaw.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:Hi Ron,
Finally, a Kikuichi!
FWIW…most of my everyday Kikuichi’s after sharpening, along with a Messermeister flexible fish boner (for Dover sole). I’ve since removed the forced patina from the 12” carbon. Also picked up a 10” Damascus sankotu, but prefer the control with the 8”.

Haha - I'd been waiting to get my hands on one for a while and I was really curious about how the Swedish stainless steel (AEB-L) would be. So, when it became available, I grabbed it. I have a few other pieces in this steel but they're mostly hunting and pocket knives.

Nice roll, btw! I presume that other than the Damascus, yours are not stainless? What line do you prefer? Elite Carbons?

I can't see the one I own being a very good fit for a (high volume) Pro situation. It's a home knife -- very thin and accordingly, far more flexible than just about every other 210mm gyuto I own (Takeda being one exception that immediately comes to mind). This one only weighs about 4.5 ounces, so that should provide a sense of its ruggedness (or lack thereof).

Even a good stainless with an excellent heat-treat like this one won't hold an edge like most non-stainless steels. And in spite of the finish, food release is not at the top of the scale, either, though I know that will get better with more use. These Persian cucumbers I prepped earlier today for a salad I'm serving tomorrow weren't exactly problematic but they weren't falling away from the blade, either . . .


Persian Cucumbers & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm

Still, as a home cook and knife addict who likes shiny stuff, having this knife in my collection makes me happy. It's beautiful, it cuts like a dream and I don't have to worry too much if someone else in the house uses it.

=R=

All but the big boy are stainless. As you know, a real bitch to maintain. I’ve seen the blade of a Damascus chip on a grain of sand hiding inside a leek. I dropped my 8 (in photo) fight on its tip. Eddie of NW Cutlery put a new tip on it.
Happy cooking.

The last meal we're cooking on this trip in Somebody Else's Kitchen, Shrimp Veracruz and salad, olive oil chocolate cake. Almost everything including the jumbo pink shrimp, Vidalia and red onions, plum tomatoes, limes, lettuce, cukes, strawberries came from the local farmers market. We did end up getting bell peppers, cream, local oranges (used in the cake) and a foil cake pan from Publix. Cilantro lime dressing (plus garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar and a little mayo), we had a fine time.

Evil Ronnie wrote:I dropped my 8 (in photo) fight on its tip. Eddie of NW Cutlery put a new tip on it.

Nice. I did the same a while back for our mutual friend, Alan. Documented it here.

=R=

Friends over tonight and another stab at seafood soondubu. First step, yesterday (as mentioned above), prep the cucumbers for a spicy-sweet cucumber salad . . .


Persian Cucumbers & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Salted these overnight, draining them occasionally.

Next, also yesterday, made the anchovy-kombu stock . . .


Stock Mise En Place & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Yellow onion, dried anchovies, dried shiitakes, knob onions, Korean radish, and kombu.

Toasted the anchovies briefly in a dry pot and once they became aromatic, added a few quarts of water, along with the rest of the ingredients. Let all that simmer for about 40 minutes, then steep for another 20. Strained it and reclaimed the shiitakes for later.

Next up (today), prepping everything else for the dish. Here it all is, except the stock, the tofu and the seafood, the latter of which I was waiting to prep until closer to cooking time . . .


Stew Mise En Place & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
King oyster mushrooms, gochugaru, gochujang, scallions, toasted sesame oil, minced garlic, black pepper, fish sauce, avocado oil, reconstituted shiitakes (from stock) and yellow onions.

Next up, prepping the seafood. Started with the baby octopus, which I picked up at the Joong Boo/Glenview . . .


Baby Octopus & Yu Kurosaki VG10 Fujin Petty, 120mm
Had absolutely no idea what I was doing here but figured it was all about the tentacles. So, that's I what I used, eventually cutting them into small pieces that I hoped would cook and get tender quickly, which they did.


Seafood+ Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki VG10 Fujin Petty, 120mm
Silken tofu, littleneck clams, squid, baby octopus, easy-peel/de-veined u26-30 shrimp and anchovy-kombu stock (had more of this, which I also used, in another container).

I learned from the last time I made this that the silken tofu needn't be cut into pieces at all, as it breaks apart plenty once it gets mixed into the stew. All I did with it this time was remove it from its packaging and let it drain in a colander for a few hours before I added it to the pot. Seafood in at the very end -- octopus, then clams, then squid and finally, shrimp. From there, it was a bit of a scramble to fire up 4 dolsots at the same time but I managed it and we all added eggs to our bubbling bowls . . .


Plated Up
Seafood soondubu (haemul sundubu-jjigae) with jasmine rice and spicy-sweet cucumber salad.

=R=

Over the past couple of weeks my brother has not shut up about wanting to roast a whole chicken. I don't know if he'll ever get around to it. But it'd been a long time since I'd done it and his idea sounded good, so I figured while he cogitated on it, I'd steal it.

First thought was to go with the very popular recipe/method in the Zuni Cafe cookbook but that would have required a time machine, since I couldn't go back a day and pre-salt the bird. Instead, just went with a basic truss, oil, season and roast. But first, a quickie veg side dish . . .


Veg Mise En Place & Kikuichi Swedish Warikomi Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Creminis & king oyster mushrooms, unsalted butter, shallots, red wine, evoo, red jalapeno, 4x gelatinous pork stock, black pepper, cauliflower, minced garlic and salt.

Did this in stages, sauteing the mushrooms first (evoo, butter wine, stock, garlic, shallots, jalapenos). Once they were done, I removed them and did the cauliflower separately (evoo, salt, pepper) until it was a bit charred. From there, added a splash of water, covered with foil and let it steam for another minute or two until just tender enough. Next, mixed it all together . . .


Sauteed Mushrooms & Cauliflower

During the veg prep, the chicken was roasting (350F convection). After about 65 minutes (occasionally flipping the bird , rotating, etc), it was ready to go . . .


Whole Roasted Chicken


Plated Up
With spicy-sweet cucumber salad. This will never replace chicken thighs for me but honestly, I'd forgotten how good a whole roasted chicken can be.

Happy Monday!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Over the past couple of weeks my brother has not shut up about wanting to roast a whole chicken. I don't know if he'll ever get around to it. But it'd been a long time since I'd done it and his idea sounded good, so I figured while he cogitated on it, I'd steal it.

This will never replace chicken thighs for me but honestly, I'd forgotten how good a whole roasted chicken can be.

Happy Monday!

=R=

Great minds…

I reorganized my freezers this weekend and found one last whole chicken at the bottom of the garage chest freezer. Roast chicken with garlic, shiitakes, Yukon Gold potatoes, onion and Chinese celery. Seasoned the bird with olive oil, paprika, lemon pepper, salt and a sprinkle of baking powder. Squeezed some lemon inside and out; garlic and celery leaves in the cavity; roasted on 450 for about 90 mins (not sure why they always say 60–it never comes to temp that fast).

About 60 mins in, added a big splash of white wine and a few spoonfuls of chicken jello and another spritz of lemon. Skin was super crispy. Bird was juicy and flavorful. Served with some green beans that I roasted with garlic and lemon zest aside the bird for the last 20 mins. Hubs said we should have this every week

boudreaulicious wrote:Great minds…

I reorganized my freezers this weekend and found one last whole chicken at the bottom of the garage chest freezer. Roast chicken with garlic, shiitakes, Yukon Gold potatoes, onion and Chinese celery. Seasoned the bird with olive oil, paprika, lemon pepper, salt and a sprinkle of baking powder. Squeezed some lemon inside and out; garlic and celery leaves in the cavity; roasted on 450 for about 90 mins (not sure why they always say 60–it never comes to temp that fast).

About 60 mins in, added a big splash of white wine and a few spoonfuls of chicken jello and another spritz of lemon. Skin was super crispy. Bird was juicy and flavorful. Served with some green beans that I roasted with garlic and lemon zest aside the bird for the last 20 mins. Hubs said we should have this every week

Sounds excellent. Nothing like cooking up a great meal while also depleting freezer stock. Win, win!

=R=

Easing back in, after a couple of days away from the kitchen, with some grill time . . .


Grilling
Charcoal-grilled pork shoulder chops finishing up on the indirect side after a few minutes directly over the fire. Lightly oiled, salt, black pepper and a dash of my bbq rub.


On The Platter


Plated Up
Digging around in the fridge for something else earlier in the day, I found some pickled ramps that I put up last year (and had forgotten about). With the new season just ahead, I was glad to find them. Their mildly sweet acidity paired up very nicely with the fatty chops. Also had some leftover/reheated mushrooms & cauliflower and jasmine rice.

=R=

Chicken thighs roasted with grape tomatoes, smashed garlic, diced bacon, olive oil, lemon juice, smoked paprika and gr. cumin. Topped with parsley and served with roasted potatoes.

lougord99 wrote:
Chicken thighs roasted with grape tomatoes, smashed garlic, diced bacon, olive oil, lemon juice, smoked paprika and gr. cumin. Topped with parsley and served with roasted potatoes.

I thought you claimed you couldn't improv. That looks pretty damned nice!

Our dinner tonight . . . Mandy posted this one recently at her Souped Up Recipes youtube channel. Garlic Beef In Black Pepper Sauce looked good and relatively easy, so I decided to give it a go . . .


Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki VG10 Fujin Gyuto, 210mm
Avocado oil, unsalted butter, whole garlic cloves, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, freshly ground black pepper, granulated sugar, toasted/ground Sichuan peppercorn powder, baking soda, Chinese cooking wine, Delmonico steak chunks and corn starch.

Mandy used ribeye in her video but the Delmonicos -- effectively, the chuck alternative -- looked better and were a bit cheaper at the grocery where I shopped this one. And in a dish like this, where the beef is highly manipulated, that seemed like the better play to begin with. It was quite tender though, I'm guessing ribeyes would have been even more so.

In any case, the meat gets marinated for ~20 minutes in corn starch, baking soda and Chinese cooking wine. While that's happening, using a cast iron frying pan, the garlic cloves are browned in the oil and then removed. After that, I cranked up the heat and in went the beef, which got nicely browned in the garlicky oil. From there, reduced the heat, added the browned garlic cloves back to the pan, along with the sauce (oyster sauce, soy sauce, water, sugar, Sichuan peppercorn powder, dark soy sauce, and black pepper) and mixed it well. As the heat was killed, added some of the butter to emulsify the sauce.


Plated Up
With soy-sesame glazed/broiled eggplant and leftover/reheated jasmine rice. We liked this, so I'll probably make it again, with a few changes. It was a tad salty, so next time, I'd cut the soy and oyster sauces in half and sub in broth or stock to make up the volumetric difference. Interestingly (or maybe not), the garlic sweetens quite a bit when it cooks and it was the only component in the dish that helped balance out the saltiness. In the future, I'll also cut the beef into slightly smaller pieces to facilitate faster cooking. Other than those issues, this one's really solid.

=R=

Tis the season for grilling . . .


Skirt Steaks
Lightly oiled and seasoned with salt, black pepper and a dash of my bbq rub. They don't take long, so I went 100% direct over the fire on these, keeping them moving repeatedly while they grilled.


Charcoal-Grilled Skirt Steaks


Plated Up
With Mrs. Suburban's 'world famous' roasted cauliflower, a blob of the weekly slaw and some spicy-sweet cucumber salad.

Happy Sunday!

=R=

Tortilla Española
Non traditional methodology. Skin on white “A” (or chef’s) potatoes, a bell pepper, and a large yellow onion sliced and mixed with an especially luscious Greek olive oil, salt and Espelette pepper. Baked 25 min on a Silpat lined pan, before combining w whipped egg and poured onto a hot oiled skillet. Let the bottom set and into a 400F oven for 25 minutes. No flipping required… browned under the broiler and finished with Malden.

Happened to catch a really interesting-looking Fukuoka yatai dish in a random youtube video. It looked so good and remarkably simple. I had to give it a try . . .


Mise En Place & Anryu Blue #2 Hammered Petty, 130mm
Furikake, togarashi, garlic chives, duck eggs, toasted sesame seeds and Kewpie mayo. I'd never seen this before but the kewpie was used as the cooking fat. Mixed the garlic chives and a not-so-healthy slather of the mayo in a cold, carbon steel pan and brought it to heat. Once it was bubbling around the edges and the chives had soften, I added the duck eggs and killed the heat. From there, added the seasonings and let the eggs continue to cook.


"Plated Up"
Never even bothered to plate this one. We mixed it all up and ate it directly out of the pan. Yolks were still runny and it was really nice. Next time, I'll use more chives and kill the heat even earlier. I like them a little crispy but thinking about the video I watched, I think I slightly overshot the mark, as the ones in video were a bit greener. But this was a fun, easy and really delicious dish. Definitely more than the sum of its parts.

=R=

I have used Kewpie in place of butter on grilled cheese. Despite the protestations of the DW, it turned out quite well.