C. sapidus

Franci – Your xialonbao look great, what made them not memorable? Dinner from Revolutionary Chinese Cooking Liuyang black bean chicken: Deboned chicken thighs with skin, deep-fried twice and set aside. Stir-fry ginger coins and a head of garlic until tender, and then add fermented black beans, Shaoxing rice wine, and chile flakes. Stir in the chicken, finish with scallion greens and sesame oil, and serve over jasmine rice. Crispy outside, tender inside, and completely delicious. Hand-torn cabbage with vinegar: Our boys have always loved cabbage, probably their Russian heritage. Stir-fry green cabbage until crunchy-tender, sizzle dried chiles in oil, and then finish with salt and Chinkiang vinegar. Southern Tier Choklat Stout for dessert

Beautiful dinners, all! Camarones a la pimienta; arroz Poblano with Mrs. C’s ham stock, Mexican oregano, and roasted chile Poblano; and unpictured salad.

Thank you, Franci. I love that black chocolate stout, but I'm a sucker for a good, rich, dark beer. By the way, I like your "lazy" meals better than mine.

Long time, no post, so there is no way I am going to catch up on complimenting all of the lovely meals posted since my last visit. Vietnamese caramel pork with jasmine rice. It is easy to make a quick dinner when caramel sauce is at hand. Boys said they were hungry so I supplemented with ground turkey and chopped red bell peppers and Poblano chiles. We had our usual un-pictured salad to go with. For dessert, Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. If it says “chocolate” it must be dessert, right? It is a shame that this nectar is only available seasonally.

And that is pretty much the definition of a successful kitchen renovation. We installed a good hood and vented it outside, but if you do enough stir-frying grease still finds a way to glom onto the outside of the hood. Our previous house had short cabinets with a grease-attracting gap above and I vowed never again. When we renovated our current kitchen we installed tall kitchen cabinets that butt up against the ceiling. Since Mrs. C is vertically challenged the top shelves are “mine”. If all of the cooks are vertically challenged the top shelf is still useful for storing rarely used items. We were out of town and it was such a pleasant surprise to log in to eGullet and see you blogging! I look forward to following along with you the rest of this week. Keep up the good work!

Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. Only available in the winter, but always one of my favorites.

Elder son is home from college so we smoked ribs in his honor. Dejah had posted about pineapple ribs a few days ago and that idea stuck in my head. We started with spinach and fenugreek soup (palak shorva) – Planned for an Indian meal that never happened, I didn’t want to waste a crisper drawer full of greens. Onions and garlic fried in ghee and then pureed with the greens and chicken stock. Seasoned with cumun, cloves, and nutmeg, and enriched with heavy cream. Smoked sweet potatoes, topped with butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, and S&P Ribs marinated with pineapple juice, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, dry mustard, onion, and KC Masterpiece. Smoked on the Big Green Egg with apple wood . . . . . . and then brushed with more KC Masterpiece before serving

Appreciate the p.s. - I did a full double-take. De rigeur Western breakfast here - scrambled eggs with chipotle sauce. Rehydrated chipotle and guajillo chiles pureed with tomato, chicken stock, garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano, and honey. Fried the sauce and then set aside. Hard-scrambled the eggs and then mixed in the sauce. Served on warm corn tortillas with queso seco. Usually I soft-scramble the chile sauce with the eggs. Tastes great, looks fecal. Hard-scrambling provides a visual effect more congruent with breakfast rather than clean-up.

Not yet - keep trying! Ann_T - now I have a major hankering for bagels and lox Vietnamese tonight Chicken stir-fried with lemongrass and chile – with red bell pepper, minced shallot, curry powder, sugar, and fish sauce, cooked down in coconut milk and finished with cilantro. Served over jasmine rice Cabbage and egg stir-fry – simple and satisfying, with garlic, salt, and black pepper.

Beef and mushroom tacos – Beef chuck cubed and braised in pasilla-mulato chile paste and Mrs. C’s chicken stock. Portobello mushrooms cubed, dry-fried, and added to the braise. Seasoned to taste with a little honey, and then served on corn tortillas with sliced radish, diced white onion, and crumbled queso seco para frijoles. Same chile paste from the other day, just cooked down further for tacos. Unpictured salad to go with.

Dejah – If I am out of Mexican oregano I substitute regular (dried) oregano without much change in flavor. I do prefer Mexican oregano, though, although I can’t say exactly why. You can mail-order from Penzeys or Spice House, but I’m not sure about their policies/costs on shipping to Canada. I have not tried fresh Mexican oregano. My understanding is that there is more than one similar plant species that is called by that name in the kitchen. Do you have a recipe for this? Sounds fantastic! MikeHartnett – Thanks! Recipe was adapted liberally from “seared lamb (or pork) in swarthy pasilla-honey sauce” in Rick Bayless Mexican Kitchen. The recipe pops up pretty readily on a search.

Dejah – We are getting some of your weather (and, um, you can have it back ), otherwise I would have been out making ribs with pineapple sauce. Patrick – I love seeing your bean dishes Made a batch of chile paste with toasted pasilla and mulato chiles, roasted garlic, Mexican oregano, black pepper, cumin, and some of Mrs. C’s chicken stock. Chile paste should show up later this week. Beef and butternut squash with pasilla-honey sauce – Seared beef chuck and fried chile paste simmered with chicken stock. Cubed butternut squash added about half-way through, and honey drizzled in at the end. Garnished with cilantro and served with diced white onion. Supremely popular. Cucumber, orange, and radish salad – Tossed with lime juice, salt, cilantro, and mild chile powder, and topped with pickled red onion (parboiled red onion slices, cider vinegar, cumin, garlic cloves, S&P, and Mexican oregano)

Can you provide more details on the smoking process? I've been meaning to cook a turkey in my hot smoker for ages. Keith – Thanks for the pic. Worth a thousand words, give or take. Chris - Mrs. C cooked the turkey on the Big Green Egg at 350F (165C) using indirect heat, lump charcoal, and soaked cherry wood for smoke. For indirect heat she used a pizza stone suspended between the fire and the grill grate. In case you are not familiar with it, the BGE is a kamado-style ceramic cooker. I am not sure what to call this type of cooking. Smoke-baking? If Mrs. C followed the recipe she pulled the turkey at around 165F (74C). The turkey rested in a cooler until time to serve. I have hot-smoked chicken on a Weber Smoky Mountain (250F / 121C). The meat turns out fantastic but the skin never crisps up. In contrast, the higher temperature from smoke-baking the turkey yielded a smoke ring, plenty of smoke flavor, and wonderfully textured skin. This evening Mrs. C is making a smoky turkey stock from the carcass. I need to think about how best to use this particular bounty.

From Harold McGee, via NPR's Terry Gross: I hope that helps. Mrs. C used ice cubes in plastic baggies.

Thirteen for Thanksgiving this year. More food than pictures, so I am probably forgetting some of the food. Mrs. C made babaghanoush (eggplant smoke-grilled on the Big Green Egg), chicken liver and cashew pate, cranberry sauce, stuffing with mushrooms, grilled salmon with soy-maple glaze, and the turkey. More about the turkey anon. Our neighbor is starting a catering business, so she provided mac and cheese, pear salad with blue cheese and raspberry dressing, buttery rolls, pumpkin pie, and a fantastic curried butternut squash soup. Friends and family provided mashed potatoes, salad, cookies, chocolate cake, and strawberry trifle. I was in charge of vegetables, and made creamy braised Brussels sprouts, green bean salad, braised shallot confit, stir-fried bok choy with fermented black beans and garlic (a special request), and Bourbon sweet potatoes with orange sauce (sweet potatoes smoke-grilled on the Egg) . My favorite was the braised shallot confit, browned in butter, flamed with cognac, and then cooked down with red wine and fresh thyme. Younger son, to my surprise, went straight for the Brussels sprouts when he got hungry again after dinner. Grown-up drinks included beer, wine, hard cider, and dark & stormys. The star of the show was Mrs. C’s turkey. She brined it overnight, iced the breasts, put Cajun butter under the skin, and then cooked it on the Big Green Egg with cherry wood for smoke. Best turkey I have ever eaten, with the possible exception of the practice turkey she made a few days ago. The picture does not do justice to this juicy, smoky fowl.

Whoa - gorgeous, flaky biscuits.

Shrimp vindaloo – cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and onions fried with a vinegary paste of garlic, ginger, fenugreek leaves, red pepper, ground cumin, ground black mustard seed, and turmeric. Add pureed tomato, reduce, and finish with shrimp and cilantro. Yum. Green basmati rice – with pureed spinach, fenugreek leaves, cilantro, green chile, and S&P, finished with garam masala. Fresh fenugreek leaves were a pleasant find at the Asian market.

Whitefish pate – smoked whitefish, cream cheese, crème fraiche, butter, mustard powder, Chinese chives, black pepper, and roasted Poblano chile. Served with crackers and raw Belgian endive spears. We will definitely make this again. Browned Savoy cabbage with bacon, ham, and onions – cooked down with chicken stock.

Love the pizza at the beach pic. I like seasons, although I have not yet adapted to freezing temperatures and 30 mph winds. Give it time, though. Dog days and a little icy chill are necessary to fully appreciate spring and fall. Looking forward to the remainder of your foodblog.

Lovely breakfasts, all! I had my favorite breakfast today - leftovers. Keema aloo and garlic naan, in this case.

Dejah – Curry wings sound fantastic Ann – Beautiful chicken! Keema aloo – Black cardamom, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cumin, and ground beef, cooked with potato wedges, green chiles, ginger, garlic, and a spice mix of ground coriander, garam masala, fenugreek, and turmeric, simmered with yogurt and finished with ground cardamom. Mrs. C kindly did most of the prep work while I was stuck in traffic. Spinach with sliced almonds – red bell peppers, panch phoran, ginger, garlic, chile, and asafloetida, finished with garam masala. Mrs. C said this would be a good Christmas dish. Garlic naan – store-bought, baked, and brushed with butter. Yes, again – it is quite good and ridiculously easy.

Thanks, all, for the very kind comments. I had plans for tonight, but Mrs. C was well-fed at her book club so I made guy food for younger son and I - spaghetti and meatballs with jazzed-up spaghetti sauce, and frozen peas with butter and thyme. Younger son was just as happy as if I had spent way more than 20 minutes on dinner . . . Paul - that looks really good. What is it?

Same here. For formal meals we fold the paper towels in a triangle.

Stephen – Welcome to Dinner! I would be very happy eating at your house . . . Smoke-grilled Buffalo wings – marinated with Tapatio salsa, lemon juice, garlic, oil, Worcestershire sauce, and S&P. Grilled with apple wood on the Egg; basted and sauced with a mix of melted butter, Tapatio, and Sriracha. Tossed with the sauce after picture time. Blue cheese dressing with jicama sticks (um, it was white - no picture ) - Blue cheese forced through a mesh and mixed with mayo, sour cream, minced onion, vinegar, S&P, and served with jicama sticks. Roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic and an un-pictured salad, both courtesy of Mrs. C.

Beef kabobs with chimichurri – Marinated cubed strip steak in half of the chimichrri (two bunches of parsley, oregano, garlic, jalapenos, red chile flakes, and S&P, pureed with olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice). Charcoal-grilled kabobs to medium-rare and served with the remaining chimichurri. Cider-braised endive – with butter, thyme, S&P, and apple cider, cooked down to a glaze. This was remarkably good for minimal effort. Store-bought bread and leftover salad, with chimichurri as bread dip and salad dressing.