SobaAddict70

My breakfasts during the week are totally boring by comparison. It's usually a piece of pastry and a large English breakfast tea with cream and sugar, or a fried egg sandwich with sausage and cheese on a kaiser roll with salt, pepper and ketchup and a large OJ or GJ (grapefruit juice). Such is life when you work in midtown Manhattan amidst a plethora of pushcarts. Weekends are when I try to liven things up a notch.

Thanks folks. Baby mesclun and Bordeaux spinach salad Bordeaux spinach is an heirloom variety of spinach -- more tender leaves with a slightly sweet taste. The vinaigrette is my standard recipe of 1/2 large shallot (minced), 2 tablespoons red wine, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. That makes more than enough vinaigrette for this salad; I just save the remainder for future use. I know it doesn't look like much, but sometimes a simple green salad is what you need. Saag paneer, rice, lime chutney The paneer is from Tonjes Farm Dairy, the spinach was frozen (since it'll be at least 2 more months before regular spinach appears at USGM). I skipped frying the paneer in ghee; I'll do that next time. Recipe is from Saveur, here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Spinach-with-Fresh-Indian-Cheese- I also subbed the last of my chipotle peppers instead of the serrano. Going to have to buy some more dried peppers from Kalustyan's soon.

I usually poach or soft-cook them. Occasionally will make omelettes or have them sunny-side up. I haven't heard of roasting them though, that is a new one to me. Baked eggs are divine. Keep meaning to try doing soufflés, but those intimidate me. Might make an egg and potato curry this weekend. We'll see. Wild turkey eggs will be available at the market soon. They're slightly larger than your standard large chicken eggs, have a somewhat tougher shell and a "gamier" flavor when cooked. Re hard-cooked eggs, I've heard of the 5 minute method. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add your eggs and boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and have the eggs sit until the water has completely cooled down. Peel, then eat. I haven't tested this method yet, but supposedly it works.

Momo with sriracha and mushroom soy Chicken curry over rice Salad Bottled water For $12 from a Tibetan food cart that I've never ordered from before.

I'm envious that some folks have asparagus. Sigh. About 1 tablespoon each of coriander and black cumin seeds, toasted until aromatic. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind till powdery. Clockwise from top left: 1 clove rocambole garlic, minced; enough chopped Italian parsley and cilantro leaves and stems to equal 1/3 cup; 2 scallions, thinly sliced. I added 1 chipotle chile, crumbled (I'm a wimp), a large pinch of sea salt and some leftover homemade preserved lemon pulp. Pulse until you have a rough-textured purée, then add 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil and stir in the coriander/cumin powder. Chermoula. This keeps about a week in the fridge and is best the day you make it; its potency declines over time. It rarely lasts that long because I'm addicted to it. Making chermoula is just an excuse to buy more parsley and cilantro. I use it in just about everything that's not a dessert, including as an accompaniment to roast beef sandwiches, banh mi, stirred into scrambled eggs or over roasted vegetables. It's fabulous. Roasted heirloom carrots, with green lentils and chermoula Fettucine with Meyer lemon, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and fried sage leaves

Totally forgot about that. One Russian version is shchi. There's a recipe here. If I recall correctly, there's another style, but with fresh cabbage instead of sauerkraut. And now that I think about it, bigos also features cabbage.

I'm making a batch tonight and taking pix for here and eventually, the blog.

I use it in congee, with roasted/steamed/sautéed vegetables, in vinaigrettes and in things where I want some "heat" but not the telltale flecks that black pepper provides.

Bolognese is a specific type of pasta sauce, more along the lines of what Franci and ChrisTaylor mention. Also, there are various types of meat sauce for pasta that come to mind, such as for example, sugo di carne (basically a sauce that you might make using pan drippings from roast lamb or pork, spiced with rosemary, but for pasta and a good example of wasting nothing that comes out of a kitchen). But that's not what you want, right, Shel? When I was a teenager, our standard "meat sauce" for pasta was ground beef browned in oil with a little garlic and onion thrown in, then Aunt Millie's, salt, pepper and maybe a bay leaf. I think but am not sure -- maybe Mom added a teaspoonful of sugar. You could sub a can of crushed tomatoes for the Aunt Millie's and it will work fine. My eyes didn't open until later, but that's not what you're asking for in this thread. That's the basic template. You can gussy it up with things like red wine, a battuto/soffritto, etc., but those are all optional, at least as far as you're concerned.

You know what comes to mind when I see "thin pork chops"? Grillades and grits. It's normally made with cuts like pork butt and pork loin, but there's no reason why you couldn't substitute pork chops for them. That's out unfortunately, mostly because several recipes call for the meat being browned, usually in bacon drippings or oil (after having been dredged in seasoned flour). http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Classic-Grillades-Grits

make preserved oranges. sterilize a few glass jars and lids, then pack them with sliced oranges, orange juice, sea salt and if you like, a spice like fennel seeds or crushed black peppercorns. make sure the jars are completely filled with fruit, juice and salt. seal. store the jars in a cool, dark place for one week. each day, shake the jars. after one week, transfer them to a refrigerator. store in the refrigerator for three more weeks. continue shaking the jars each day. the oranges are ready for use after approx. one month. the obvious choice is Moroccan dishes (tagines, couscous, etc.), but I treat preserved citrus the same as preserved lemon. you'll be using the peel, which will turn into a very soft, faintly sweet, aromatic substance that might remind you of olives. some ideas: use the peel (approx. 1 tablespoon, chopped up very fine) in stews, in salad dressings, in pasta, to dress steamed or roasted vegetables, in a picada, or as an accompaniment to roast beef sandwiches. for the zest, you can make candied orange peel. or citrus salt.

cavolo e pancetta (stewed cabbage, with pancetta and onion)

Thanks, Chris. Ann: J'adore homemade pasta. ========== Arugula and mesclun salad, with ricotta salata, mandarin orange and hazelnuts Shallot vinaigrette -- 1 shallot, finely minced, sea salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons red wine, 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Place shallots in a bowl, sprinkle salt and pepper over them. Add red wine vinegar and red wine. Mix well. Whisk in extra-virgin olive oil in a thin stream. Taste for salt and pepper if necessary, then use as needed. This vinaigrette is wonderful for all sorts of salads, not just this one. Another variation consists of 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon red wine and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar in addition to the shallots, salt, pepper and oil. I thought that Fairway had kumquats on sale, but that proved to be a wash, so I decided to get the next best thing instead. Today was 65 F (!!!) in NYC, but it'll be 27 F on Thursday. Crazy weather. The reason I bring this up is because I was hoping to get to USGM this week. I might go tomorrow morning before I go into the office and pick up a few things. I'm getting tired of being cooped up indoors and relying on supermarket produce; just wish the weather was warmer. It's hard to do the seasonal thing when the next aisle over, I'm looking at sweet peppers trucked in from overseas. The oranges were from California but at least it's not like a tomato from Chile or something. The second course was leftover mussels. Whenever I cook mussels in this manner (with a tomato sauce), the leftover sauce combined with the mussel juices becomes a broth that's its own sort of reward. Tonight was no exception.

I like them raw, particularly in salads like insalata di funghi: sliced mushrooms, lettuce, shaved Parmigiano. Wild mushroom ragout also works.

Chicken liver crostini, mesclun salad Recipe for the chicken liver pâté: http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1015975/chicken-liver-pate.html?action=click&contentCollection=Magazine&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article Roasted cauliflower, Spanish chorizo, preserved lemon Spicy Spanish mussels, with almond picada Recipe for the mussels: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/nutrition/spicy-spanish-mussels.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2Fspanish%2Bmussels%2F (as written, except that I omitted the hazelnuts because I felt it didn't need it, and I also halved the amount of garlic since I was using rocambole garlic)

It's a spicy herb sauce common in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. My version usually contains hefty doses of Italian parsley, cilantro and scallions. Sometimes I'll add mint. I also like toasted and ground coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garlic, chipotle peppers and/or preserved citrus, occasionally saffron. The sauce base also contains sea salt, black pepper, Meyer lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil.

Sunday brunch: Beets, citrus, walnuts The beets were roasted Saturday evening, then macerated with fennel fronds, Meyer lemon juice, crushed fennel seed and sea salt overnight. This mixture was then combined with chopped clementine orange, walnuts and scallion, and dressed with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette (1 teaspoon clementine juice, 3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper to taste.) Scrambled eggs (2 eggs, sea salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons milk) with champignon mushrooms (chopped champignon mushrooms (otherwise known as white button mushrooms, the kind you get in your supermarket), sautéed in olive oil, with chopped shallots, slivered scallion, sea salt and black pepper) and green mango pickle.

Plantes: My main "go-to" herb is Italian parsley. I go through 1-2 bunches a week. Now that I've started making charmoula on a weekly basis, I'll probably increase it. Other candidates include: chives -- as a garnish, in omelettes, pesto mint -- in desserts, in soda, for infused syrups, in ice cream or sorbet, with Thai food, lamb, in salads, in tisanes, tea thyme -- with lamb, in tisanes, in stews, soups, infused in port oregano -- with tomatoes, tomato sauces, vegetables, Greek salad, pizza basil -- mostly in Italian cooking: insalata caprese, pesto, stufato di verdure, etc. rosemary -- with lamb; in Italian cooking: pollo alla cacciatore, etc.; in infused syrups, roasted vegetables sage -- with brown butter, in soups and stews; fried in olive oil till crisp, then crumbled over pasta, vegetables or used as a garnish in salads cilantro -- in charmoula, in Indian and Mexican cooking Some things that I occasionally come across are: sorrel, marjoram and tarragon. Not all of these are available year-round (I buy primarily from farmers markets). One thing I like to do as the year progresses is an herb salad.

Oh, here and there. Still cooking from scratch every day, with a menu that changes according to the seasons.

It's been a while, yes? Some pix from the past month... Garlic soup Olive oil poached cod, cabbage, chickpeas, Spanish chorizo Fennel, burrata, Meyer lemon Chickpeas, with Greek yogurt and charmoula Turkish figs, spiced port, cream Dal and rice, with carrot and green mango pickle, raita and mint chutney Roasted beets, with cow's milk ricotta cheese, shaved fennel and scallion Cabbage and fennel soup, with leeks, Maine crab and fennel greens

That would require some sort of thought and self-aware intent, it seems to me. I think it's more a matter of being clueless. Not that that's an excuse, because it pretty clearly isn't. But it's hard for me to ascribe any sort of intentional malice to her. I don't think she "fetishizes slavery and Jim Crow." I think she genuinely doesn't "get it." I don't believe she holds any sort of hatred or ill will in her heart toward African Americans, and her knowledge that that's how she feels inside makes this all the harder for her to understand. Yes, she's been insensitive and insulting, but I suspect she still doesn't really understand how hurtful her words and actions have been, and why people are saying she's a racist. Like I said. I honestly believe she's just clueless. With all due respect, saying she should be forgiven because she's from another time is a crutch. But that's okay; it's not your fault if you think that. Well, I'll assume you're using the collective "you" in this post, rather than speaking directly to me, since I most certainly have never said anything of the sort. Really? What do you call this? I'm with you on this one. And I've decided to immediately stop listening to rap music. I'm rethinking the Quentin Tarantino movies.

That would require some sort of thought and self-aware intent, it seems to me. I think it's more a matter of being clueless. Not that that's an excuse, because it pretty clearly isn't. But it's hard for me to ascribe any sort of intentional malice to her. I don't think she "fetishizes slavery and Jim Crow." I think she genuinely doesn't "get it." I don't believe she holds any sort of hatred or ill will in her heart toward African Americans, and her knowledge that that's how she feels inside makes this all the harder for her to understand. Yes, she's been insensitive and insulting, but I suspect she still doesn't really understand how hurtful her words and actions have been, and why people are saying she's a racist. Like I said. I honestly believe she's just clueless. Well, since I don't come from that tradition -- and by "tradition", I mean, I wasn't born and raised in the South, so therefore I can't relate to the mores of the community -- it seems to me that her comments pertaining to the southern style plantation wedding for example, the way the BOH were treated at her restaurant (separate entrances for the staff, really?) or compensating her staff with beer instead of monies owed them -- goes beyond mere cluelessness, into more contemptible forms of behavior. Your mileage may vary. With all due respect, saying she should be forgiven because she's from another time is a crutch. But that's okay; it's not your fault if you think that.

Racism exists everywhere, even here in NYC. I don't see anyone claiming otherwise. That being said, there's a bit of a difference between someone like Tony Bourdain, who knowingly makes provocative statements concerning vegetarians and LGBT people but may not necessarily mean them, and someone like Paula Deen who fetishizes slavery and Jim Crow without a moment's hesitation. Or so it seems to me.

Minestra di lattuga (Lettuce and watercress soup) Contains celery, shallots, carrots and pancetta cooked in unsalted butter and olive oil, to which was added chicken stock, watercress, green leaf lettuce, sea salt, black pepper and red kidney beans (prepared from dried)). Garnished with pecorino cheese and Italian bread fried in olive oil.

annabelle -- they're Chioggia beets. any beets are fine, but if you use regular (red) beets, you'll probably want to combine them at the last minute so that the "bleeding" is minimal.