C. sapidus

Patagonian scallops with roasted chile Poblano in a cilantro-lime-habanero sauce.

I might have a never-used garlic press somewhere. I either chop up fresh garlic with a knife, or smash it up in a granite mortar. We go through several heads of garlic most weeks. Local organic market often has very good garlic. Grocery store garlic is usually decent. Interrnational market garlic is hit or miss.

Lately I have been digging hot pickles with kimchi (tuna salad, etc.) - so why not with fried rice? Plus kielbasa, soy sauce, sriracha, and an egg.

Breakfast tacos with zucchini, roasted Poblano, and cubed kielbasa. White onion, habanero, garlic, cilantro, feta, half-and-half, and an egg.

Steak salad with a cilantro dressing. Salad included butter lettuce, cilantro, scallions, sliced shallots, pickled shallots, and sauteed zucchini. Dressing was cilantro, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, garlic, and a little Hatch chile powder, all whizzed up in the blender. NY strip steak was marinated for about an hour with garlic, black pepper, and soy sauce. I didn't feel like grilling in the rain so the steak was "reverse seared" - baked in a 275°F oven for 20 minutes, seared on a cast iron pan, and then rested before slicing. Very tender.

More invalid food: Chicken and ginger simmered in caramel sauce (ga kho gung), braised cabbage with dried shrimp, and jasmine rice.

Yassa, apparently based on a Senegalese restaurant in DC. Grilled chicken with a sauce of mustard, green olives, onion, lime, chile habanero, and a bay leaf. Marinade was a paste of garlic, chile habanero, black pepper, salt, and oil. Jasmine rice to go with. Mrs. C air-fried asparagus with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Chicken off the grill: Plate:

Zucchini and shiitake mushrooms with chile habanero, garlic, lime juice, black pepper, basil from the garden, and Mexican oregano, somewhat tamed with coconut milk. Zucchini was salted beforehand, which I prefer.

Mrs. C fried chunks of halibut in cajun spices. Horseradish, mustard, Cajun spices, and fresh dill in the sauce I stir-fried broccolini and shiitake mushrooms with lots of garlic and ginger, plus oyster sauce, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, a smidge of sugar, and fish sauce.

No fresh herbs in the house and I wanted something green and aromatic, so the choice came down to thyme or Mexican oregano. I suppose I could have sauteed a bay leaf with the garlic, etc.

Improvised lunch: Patagonian scallops briefly marinated with red Hatch chile powder, black pepper, fish sauce, black soy, and thyme. Sauteed red curry paste, ginger, garlic, and star anise, added coconut milk and chile jam, and then simmered scallops in the sauce until done. Would make again, in the unlikely event that I remember what I did.

^ That is one of my strongest memories of our visit many years ago. That, and bodysurfing glass-clear waves at Little Beach on Maui. 😃

Garlicky oven-roasted chicken (ga ro-ti), marinated with garlic, black pepper, soy sauce, fish sauce, and a little sugar. Stir-fried spinach with garlic and dried chiles. Mrs. C was on a bland diet after outpatient surgery, and this is as bland as I cook. 😉

Tamarind Patagonian scallops with crisped shallots, cucumber salad with pickled shallots, and jasmine rice. For the scallops, flavored the oil with dried chile guajillo, sauteed shallot, garlic, and jalapeno, mixed in tamarind, fish sauce, soy sauce, palm sugar, and sriracha, and then finished with fried shallots. I had been craving this but couldn't recall the recipe. Glad to have found it!

Matar paneer: peas, fried paneer, and a sauce of tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, coriander seed, cayenne, black pepper, paprika, turmeric, garam masala, and a little yogurt. I started making this for lunch but we got chatting with a neighbor, so it became dinner. Served with microwave brown rice.

Not really, although the chicken had plenty of flavor. Perhaps baking rather than grilling might have preserved the cilantro flavor. Or making a sauce from the leftover marinade. smashed cucumber salad sounds like a great idea

Grilled chicken, marinated with a paste of cilantro, garlic, black pepper, and fish sauce. Served with a dipping sauce of simmered-down rice vinegar and sugar, mashed garlic, and Aleppo pepper flakes. No pic of the finished products but here is the chicken on the grill. Stir-fried broccolini with garlic, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Cucumber salad with sliced shallots, rice vinegar, sugar, and fish sauce.

Chipotle cream sauce for leftover potatoes and green beans, topped with feta cheese and a quick shallot pickle. Shallot pickle is getting crisper and spicier. Chipotle sauce included fried onion and garlic, freshly ground cloves, cumin, and Mexican cinnamon, and cilantro. Would make again. 🙂

Shrimp fried rice: onion, ginger, garlic, jalapeno, red curry paste, fish sauce, and an egg Cucumber salad: ginger, jalapeno, fish sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, and cilantro. The two went very well together

Savoy cabbage and shrimp soup with onion, ginger, dried shrimp, white pepper, fish sauce, and chicken stock

Thanks! If you like eggs on things you might want to search for Parsi "kasa par ida" ("eggs on anything"), from 'My Bombay Kitchen' by Niloufer Ichaporia King. Excellent cookbook, too. 🙂

Leftover peas topped with an over-easy egg and pickled shallots

Shrimp and spinach pesto, braised endive with kielbasa

Dunno anything about ‘Hercules’, but welcome!

I like onions. I think onions make everything better. Whatever the recipe calls for, I am likely to use more (assuming cooked onions, not raw). Often I cook onions down to a fraction of their initial volume, pure oniony goodness, as is done in many Indian recipes. See also: garlic and chiles. If the amount of onions was critical, clearly the recipe should provide some sort of +/- tolerance, in weight and/or volume (but preferably weight). But I have become a loosey-goosey cook over the years. 🤷🏼‍♂️