C. sapidus

Keema with spinach, turmeric rice

Holy crackers, Shelby, how many people are you cooking for? Don't get me wrong - I would happily be one of those people. 😃

Tai bai chicken, stir-fried red chard with garlic, and jasmine rice. Chicken and chard both from Fuchsia Dunlop’s ‘Land of Plenty’. Tai bai chicken has been a longtime favorite. Sauce is dried red chiles, pickled chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, dark soy sauce, chicken stock, Shaoxing wine, etc. slowly cooked down to a glaze. End result is tender chicken in a complex spicy sauce. Good stuff. In progress and done:

Chorizo and egg tacos

Perhaps they had heard about the French Laundry but missed the point. 😉

Clean-out-the-fridge fried rice, with arroz verde, asparagus, bacon, escabeche sauce, ginger, garlic, jalapeno, half a white onion, fish sauce, egg, and cilantro. Should’ve let the rice dry out a bit on the counter before it hit the wok. But hey, tasted good and I cleared plenty of space in the fridge.

Leftover beet salad, made by Mrs. C. She said it included mango, pistachios, feta, raisins, and cilantro. Maybe other ingredients, but anyway quite delicious.

Definitely indoor plants around here. Kaffir limes are pretty easy in pots - I kept one going for years. Mrs. C has turned the sunroom into a craft room so it looks like I will need to find a sunny spot for plants in my home office. 🙄

That looks lovely, and I love curry leaves. Sadly, I have not been able to find them for weeks. Maybe I need to grow a curry leaf plant indoors, along with a replacement kaffir lime.

Thanks! Tequila shrimp and pasta is based on a recipe in 'Cocina de la Familia' by Marilyn Tausend and Miguel Ravago

Tequila shrimp and pasta with ancho and pasilla chiles, garlic, Mexican oregano, rice vinegar, flamed tequila, heavy cream, and cilantro. This has a deep chile flavor that I have been craving. Green bean salad with shallots, cilantro, and lime and tomatillo salsa dressing

Interesting. I value taste over looks, but I do find it pretty hilarious how certain foods turn out visually. And sometimes the descriptions are equally entertaining. For instance, I love dried chile sauces combined with eggs. I expected the combination of deep red and egg-yolk yellow to look lovely. Instead it usually looks like something that emerged from the nether end of the digestive system. Cracks me up. But maybe I have no more batty to be driven. 😜

We have 18 stovetop pots and pans that have met our needs for many years. All-Clad stainless-lined aluminum sauté pan – large: Probably our most-used piece of cookware because I love to bang pans around while cooking and it does a bang-up job of browning, searing, and quickly reducing sauces. Falk stainless-lined copper saucieres (large, medium, small): I use these frequently but Mrs. C finds them too heavy. Great do-anything pans for sautéing and searing to stews, braises, delicate sauces, and caramelizing sugar. The small one melts chocolate beautifully without a double boiler. Thin cast iron woks (medium, large): The medium one gets lots of use and has built up a remarkably durable non-stick patina. Best 20 bucks I ever spent on cookware, and still available from the Wok Shop. The large wok gets used less often so the patina is not quite as remarkable. All-Clad saucepans (large, small): Mostly used to steam rice, but also handy for soups, sauces, and deep-frying. Staub Dutch oven: Glad to have it, even though we don’t use it very often. All-clad stockpot with steamer inserts – very large: Mrs. C uses this to make chicken stock and steam vegetables. Non-stick frying pans (small, medium, large): Useful for cooking fish and eggs. These get replaced every once in a while. Cast iron flat pan: Used to roast spices, garlic, and dried chiles. Cast iron skillets (large, small): Large one is for searing meat. Small one is of unknown providence and rarely used but it is an heirloom from Mrs. C’s family, so . . . Non-stick saucepans (large, small): Mostly used to boil water for pasta or vegetables. If these went away I would not be sad. Does a kettle count by official rules?

Chicken escabeche with white onion, carrots, garlic, pickled jalapenos, cider vinegar and chicken stock, seasoned with Mexican oregano, allspice, and black pepper. Mexican green rice (arroz Poblano) with Poblano chiles, spinach, cilantro, flat-leaf parsley, white onion, garlic, and chicken stock. Mrs. C and I agreed that this is our favorite version of a frequently-made dish. Mrs. C made a particularly tasty batch of roasted asparagus with lime juice. @Kim Shook I would love to dive into that quiche and biscuits. Lovely fruit salad, too.

Always nice to find local treasures like that! I have enjoyed some fabulous red sauces at unassuming taco places. I assume they are made in house since the sauces are too thick for a typical pepper sauce bottle.

The past 2 years Mrs. C has given me hot sauce Advent calendars, so I get to try 20-some hot sauces in small bottles. Usually takes about a year to go through them all. Some of the habanero / Scotch bonnet sauces have been eye-openers, in both ways. I had not been using those sauces but discovered that the combination of fruity flavors with appreciable heat enhances many dishes. Otherwise my staples lately have been Melinda's Extra Hot, Tiger Sauce (sweet, mild), and Cholula or Tapatio. I generally do not enjoy Tabasco or Frank's, unless I want a dish to taste strongly of vinegar (which works well for collard greens).

Leftover surprise - egg with braised broccoli (with garlic and anchovies), steelhead, feta, peanut sauce, fish sauce, and sauteed ginger. A classic "tastes better than it looks" breakfast. 😆 Edit: Perhaps this belongs in the "Gallery of Regrettable Foods" (clicky).

Typical breakfast concoction: Roast a Poblano chile and slice into strips. Dice and sauté ginger, garlic, and chiles. Stir in chile jam, Poblano strips, cilantro, and cumin. Add eggs, mixed with half-and-half, black pepper, and fish sauce. Finish with feta cheese. When making breakfast concoctions I always assume that somewhere in the world, some grandmother is rolling over in her grave. Tasted good, though

Been a while since I posted here, so it is amazing to see so many familiar names! Good to see plenty of new names, too. Anyway, work interfered with cooking for a few years so I decided to retire. 😉 But enough history. I finally found a local source for good Mexican-style chorizo, so tonight’s dinner was zucchini, mushroom, and chorizo tacos with a chipotle-tomato sauce.

Thanks for asking! Recipe is from My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King. 1/2 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen) 1 cup cilantro leaves and stems 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, pounded 12 fresh mint leaves (I use more) 3 green chiles (I use serrano) 2 cloves garlic 1 tsp (or more) salt juice of 1/2 lime (or more - I probably used 2) 1 1/2 tsp sugar (or to balance with the lime) Whomp everything up in a blender, and then adjust sweet / sour / salty to taste. Fantastic stuff - wonderful in raita, among other things.

Indian meal for houseguests. This was my leftover plate for breakfast. Clockwise from front right: Pork vindaloo Parsi green chutney Cucumber raita Butternut squash with curry leaves Green chicken korma Onion kachumbar Turmeric rice in the middle

Sirloin is good. If I am feeling flush strip steak is particularly nice.

Sookha keema, braised potatoes with garlic and bay leaves, and leftover Indian rice made by a friend from Mumbai. Guess I'm on a ground meat kick lately.

Vietnamese caramel pork with green beans and basil. Jasmine rice.

Recipe from Rick Bayless (clicky)