C. sapidus

Camarones a la pimienta – Wilted white onion, garlic, and jalapenos, shrimp and lots of black pepper, finished with a shot of mayo and wrapped in warm corn tortillas. Hearts of palm and scallion soup – Fried white onion, garlic, and hearts of palm, pureed with chicken stock and finished with lots of scallions and a little heavy cream.

Thanks, Kim. If you like ginger chicken, my favorite recipe is from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. Nice cheese spread, by the way, the brie and fig preserves sounds particularly tasty. Shelby – Now I have a major hankering for a Reuben Keema matar – Onions, ginger, and garlic, chopped and fried with ground cayenne, cumin, coriander, and turmeric. Add chopped tomato and yogurt and cook until the tomato softens. Add ground meat (we used a mix of turkey and lean beef) and garam masala and brown. Simmer with water for a while, and then finish with peas, chopped jalapenos, cilantro, and lemon juice. Stir-fried green cabbage with fennel seeds – Sliced onions and cabbage, browned and stir-fried with fennel seeds, cumin seeds, and sesame seeds, and cayenne, and then finished with garam masala and lemon juice. This is one of our absolute favorite dishes. Turmeric rice – Temporary teenage daughter came for a visit and helped cook the rice. Pilaf-style Basmati rice with garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, turmeric, and green cardamom, finished with sliced scallions.

Mrs. C made dinner tonight, with a little sous-cheffing from me. Kale soup with Italian sausage, potatoes, fried onions, and homemade ham stock. First bowl topped with grated Parmesan, second bowl with crumbled feta. Apple and strawberry crumble

Chicken with ginger: Marinate chicken with dark and light soy sauce and salt. Gently stir-fry sliced ginger, add the chicken, chile flakes, and Shaoxing wine, and stir-fry until golden. Add chicken stock and long beans, reduce heat, and simmer until sauce is reduced. Finish with sliced scallions and sesame oil. I forgot about the scallions until after I took the picture. Oops. Salad with Mrs. C’s homemade dressing. Mrs. C also made smoked pork stock tonight, so I’m looking forward to dinner tomorrow.

Chicken with chiles – Marinate chicken thigh chunks with dark and light soy sauce, salt, and Shaoxing wine. Deep-fry the chicken and set aside. Gently stir-fry ginger and garlic, and then add dried chiles and Sichuan peppercorns. Add chicken and scallion whites, and finish with a little chicken stock, pinch of sugar, and sesame oil. Served over jasmine rice. Long beans in ginger sauce – Boil long beans until crisp-tender, drain under cold water, and toss with a sauce of minced ginger, Chinkiang vinegar, cicken stock, salt, and sesame oil.

Wok shot of farmhouse pork with Anaheim chiles, sliced garlic, and fermented black beans. Also made stir-fried mushrooms and jasmine rice.

Nice cheesy biscuits, Kay! I do online newspapers, too, but it's not the same. Power came back on for the first time in four days, so I celebrated by making huevos rancheros

Now that is a trip down memory lane. Younger son made the guacamole tonight - I couldn't be prouder. I hope Mr. Kim enjoys the smoker, and best wishes to you. Chipotle meatballs, chayote al vapor, corn tortillas, and guacamole. I baked the meatballs (ground turkey, bacon, eggs, panko, garlic, and fresh mint), with pureed tomato, chipotle en adobo, garlic, oregano, and chicken stock to thin. Chayote al vapor is one of my all-time favorite easy dishes – peel and julienne chayote, sautee with chopped Serrano chiles, cover to steam, and finish with chopped cilantro and crumbled cheese (I used feta).

Mrs. C smoked pork and Asian eggplant on the Big Green Egg. She made babaghanoush with the eggplant - really good but I forgot to take a picture. The BBQ pork was fantastic, and I did get a snap of that. I made mustardy slaw and an improvised some chipotle-tomato-mustard-molasses-whatever BBQ sauce. We pulled the pork, enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches during the Super Bowl, and packed up the extra for future meals.

Ann – Thanks! I love roasted Brussels sprouts, I bet they are even better with a little Parmesan. Dejah – Carrot fries? Do tell! Steve – "Garbage can gumbo" for me, please Beef and potato tinga: Cooked in the crock pot with crisped chorizo sausage, chipotles in adobo, diced tomatoes, garlic, thyme, cumin, and cinnamon. When the tinga was done I removed the solids and concentrated the sauce. Served with warm corn tortillas and Tapatio salsa. Mrs. C made a ginger-orange vinaigrette to go with the salad.

Chicken with sautéed spinach: Marinate chicken thigh chunks with pureed cilantro, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, coriander, cumin, and garam masala. Sautee chopped spinach and remove. Sautee chicken and toss with the spinach. Garnish with sautéed tomato wedges and garam masala. Turmeric and peppercorn rice: Soaked basmati rice steamed with black cardamom and finished with chopped mint

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.