Annie_H

Last week I made some testing meals for an up-coming event I'm not hosting. One cup of sticky rice with some add-ins--a tBsp of quinoa, and wild rice, hijiki, wakame, extra seedy furikaki. Makes 18-20 onigiri sticky rice balls. Vegan, no bonito flake. I served with a shrimp and swordfish chowder for our meal. (corn, leek, roasted garlic blendered base broth I made last Fall). Prosciutto crisps. Then made next day sushi. One cup same sticky rice will make 6 sushi rolls. I'll use smoked salmon between the shrimp. Maybe two rolls vegan. Two and a half cups rice...prepped night before...32 small bites for the vegans, 36 sushi bites. (I offered to bring starter 'small bites'). 18-20 head count at the moment. We don't have any close vegan friends but this is not my party. Easy prep morning day-of. Bamboo steamer stacks for delivery and service. No disruption to the home cooks kitchen. (legendary party blooper years ago when a friend brought a gallon of oil and ten pounds of potatoes to one of our parties to make French fries) What a mess. Never asked, no heads up. Then made, day three, a cashew, chicken thigh, egg fried rice. DH request for his birthday. Not at all related to this event. Just nice for once having a quantity amount for a quick morning prep. I'll make three cups sticky rice mix.

Chorizo and olives over pepperadelle tossed in saute of leeks, shallots, white wine, lacinato kale, a couple inches of tomato paste, chili crisp. *Mulay's chorizo, women owned, heritage bred, no sugars. lean and tender.--Misfits Sometimes we need to settle for what's available. I stock prosciutto, chunky bacon ends, when I want a bit of porky in chowders and seafood dishes--proscuitto crisped in the oven.

Noodle bowl last night. After a few recent house guests I realized how important it is to take offerings to the table in prep bowls. DH likes lots of habaneros and sliced jalapeños. Custom add-ons. House guest meals---pizza, tacos, noodle bowls. All custom for family and close friends. Stacks of vegetables to the table in Meis-en-place containers. Easy prep ahead. So for just the two of us I have been doing the same. Extras at the table. Choose your add-ons. Ikea prep bowls. On the table in prep bowls, guests can add what they want...lettuce wraps, corn tacos, or just a fresh salad. Pizza can be all veg or blonde no tomato. We have no vegan friends but some family members are annoyingly vegan. No problem with three standard 'choice' meals. Pick and choose at the table... I did not think I wanted a marinated ramen egg but had one with avocado at the end of my bowl...love the broth.

From what I gathered from the few videos I watched, he chose that noodle for home cooks. To be used as a base noodle or consumed as is. Most are disappointed in the flavoring wet packets, (as well as $$$), but he encourages using them many ways. Add broth, vegetables, etc. Not spicy enough?, add your favorite hot sauce. Mild enough for kids. And then there is the branding 'celebrity chef' dealio. ($$$) Ramen, to me anyway, is the broth bowl/basic recipe, made in hundreds of variations. The thin scrunched noodle, a bit wavy, seems traditional. He does mention he is a home cook hack. Uses what he has on hand to feed his family. But would never use home hacks in his restaurants for paying customers expecting more traditional elevated variations. Just a guess, but he might be offering a good quality noodle, slightly different in width and 'wavy', to grab a following with a 'new-to-many' noodle instead of another ramen style noodle. Does not call it a 'ramen' noodle because it is not traditional. Though in my home I will use the A-ASHA in my ramen bowls. I call shrimp/dumpling bowls a 'shrimp dumpling bowl'. Even though it is visually a ramen bowl with a ramen egg, etc. A squirrely CulinaryKaren might take offense if he called it a 'ramen' noodle. So he chose not to.

David Chang's recent y-tube videos are pretty much one big addvertisement for all his products. A few from a couple chefs filmed at Momofuku Ko. They use the noodles and add other things like his chili crunch. His noodles are made by A-SHA, A-SHA amazon page. They make 4 varieties. Chang's are the medium, called Mandarin noodles. The wide, called 'hand cut', are one of my favorites. The A-SHA Mandarin noodles are apron $1.70 per serving. About a dollar cheaper than Momofuku. Same 3.35 oz. I'm guessing the proprietary is in the seasoning packets. I'm surprised he does not have a broth packet. We had ramen bowls last night. Lotus rice ramen. I purchased the packs with the broth packets by mistake but not bad ingredients. "Ramen: black, brown and white rice flours, water. Soup Pack: white miso powder (cultured soybeans and rice, salt), salt, white onion powder, tamari powder (soybeans, sea salt), soybean powder, mushroom powder, dried parsley, dried carrots." Though I prefer to use my own dashi and fresh miso/ginger. Just ordered the A-SHA Mandarin. The rest of my usual stash...fresh noodles in the freezer.

Early lock-down 2020 I ordered once each from iGourmet, SuperMarketItaly, and Eataly. (Eataly was a healthy gift card burning a hole in my wallet). This is SMItaly. Sadly they are the 'bubble wrap people'. : ) And so much of it. Never see that much any more. Anywho, we have been out of pantry olives for a month. And anchovies. Stocked up. Misfits has kept us well stocked for a couple years from ThreeLittlePigs and others but that train ended/derailed. Love the olive oil soap. And the pasta. Six packages of the Garofalo pappardelle. A favorite spaghettoni, --a fat spaghetti. Only regret was not getting six small tins of anchovies instead of one. (thought I ordered six) The nicoise olives seem inconsistent in color. Different batches. Just pleased to fill the pantry.

Love seeing all the corn even though most of us are getting it delivered from the south. We will not see local fresh picked the same morning from the field for a while but FreshDirect has a decent crop now. We had a Harbison week. From JasperHllfarms in Vermont. Our first wheel a couple weeks ago when. we had house guests. A cheese plate and other charcuterie a couple hours before dinner. Then slices of apple and pear with a good scotch an hour after dinner. Spinach/harbison omelets for breakfast. A week ago Sunday we sliced open another. 9 ounces is a bit much for just the two of us. Really nice with bison burgers. Have had a bit every evening. Eater has a good cow-to-table how it is made...(if you like that sort of thing) But Winnimere, similar to Harbison, that was proprietary for Eleven Madison Park until they went Vegan. Same spruce bark wrapped edge. On my next holiday gifting list. Both our extended families love cheese.

HMart is a favorite stop, especially the big one in NJ. Near my car dealership and when I get a loaner car once/twice a year I hit TJ's, CooksSupply, Ikea and HMart. Next time give a heads-up and I'll list some favorites.

Our comfort quick meal is a noodle/dumpling bowl with miso/ginger and whatever is in the crisper. Keep a few dumpling choices in the freezer.

Roasted a Mary's chicken last Sunday. Spatchcocked. About 4 pounds. With NJ fresh asparagus over polenta. Then a small Dashi stock with the frame and a few other bones/feet/beef neck bones from the freezer. About 6 pints is all my freezer can handle. (kombu and bonito flake added off the heat when cooling down) Made tacos from the chicken pickings. Meis en place and another Peruvian style green sauce.

This should be an easy pasta dish. (Just grab the Rao's from the pantry). But I like all the vegetables. A recent favorite low end price range boxed tomatoes--Colavita. They are tender ripe without the usual hard pale stem ends often found in tins. Stick blendered and finished with a few hunks of a young gorgonzola. We like this with shrimp scampi shared at the table, --'no pasta' scampi. But we are having shrimp tonight. *we have 5-6 different tinned/boxed tomato choices as well as tube paste in the pantry. deNapoli is a favorite, then Rao's. Always a big #10 can from Costco for big batch chili. Surprised how good the Colavita cartons are. Especially for tomato soups with lots of roasted vegetables.

Cod cakes. Spicy horseradish remoulade. Shaved salad--fennel, celery, white carrots, over arugula and RG herbed flageolets. I've had the 'classic' nesting glass bowls for 30+ years. A wedding gift. Lots of rice serving choices. Water, olive oil, or a bit of saran all works. Saran for sticky rice balls. Fill the container and spin the saran to form a sphere. Re-peat. I do like my cookie scoops.The large is fine for portioning meat balls, lamb Kofta, fish, crab, and salmon cakes. But too small for rice except smaller sticky rice balls. The orange melamine ones, (mine are green), were all over the place 6-7 years ago but no longer made. I've never used them at home, so I put them into my travel cooking crate. Handy with measure lines interior.

Early morning delivery from FreshDirect. This would usually be a Misfits in rotation but I wanted more local NJ asparagus, fiddleheads, ramps, red spring onions, etc. I trim all greens stem ends a 1/4 inch and into a 4 -6 inch cold water bath in the sink. Asparagus as well. Your chard could use a big drink. I don't wash the leafy tops until ready to cook. Produce is expensive so I've worked out many ways to extend their fridge life. This cilantro was delivered two weeks ago today. Stored in water in a glass jar, dry paper towel on top, loose bag. I treat asparagus the exact same way. Stored in water standing--dry p-towel, loose bag covering. Snip cilantro as I need it, re-fresh the water when I think of it. Or every time I snip a handful, I freshen the water. Crisper drawer rich at the moment, I think I'll make another spicy green sauce and another arugula pesto--still have an abundance of that arugula. Both freeze well in half pints. *I keep my cilantro and asparagus jars on the lower shelf in my fridge door. The less cold spot in my fridge. Runs 39-40ºF.(37-38º in the morning when the fridge has not been opened all night). Upper middle back is the coldest-36-37º. Upper back 35º. (best purchase, Thermoworks temp spots.) The temp spots light up when the door is opened.

Shrimp and dumplings. Dashi with fresh white miso/ginger. My last batch of Dashi broth has improved since watching AlexTheFrenchGuy's recent series on ramen. Second pic is my bowl at the table. Always a bit smaller. Usually more broth.

Taco Tuesday. Returned home Monday morning with a big flank steak. Did not trust myself cooking on the smoker/grill Sunday. No need as we had plenty of food with chickens and ribs. Flank from the local farm share. Would never be on my shopping list. Skirt would be my preference. We order from the local farm share only every 3-four months. Too much meat. Basic share is their choice but can do add-ons like good stock bones. Local eggs, cheese, etc. Flank is easily shoe leather. This was excellent. Either the meat quality or the recipe or both. I cut it in half so the cut sides were on the out side edges of a small sheet pan. Marinade for a couple hours. Into the middle of the oven at 210ºF. (recipe is 225º but my oven runs high). Until the internal reached 120º. A few hour before dinner, so I put it on an ice pack and into the fridge uncovered with a dry brine. Stovetop griddle for a sear. Tacos last night were second day other half of the flank. Re-heated low and slow in a foil wrap with chili crisp. Another excellent green sauce.

Lobster rolls. FreshDirect had some nice top split brioche buns last week. (not too sweet). Stocked up and filled the freezer.--making a dozen shrimp rolls in a couple weeks. I like to bake my own but too nice outside for that chore. Stocking up is a good thing. Burnt the shits out of the first two.

Bison burger. Tomato and pickled red onion on mine, DH--kimchi and YellowBird hot sauce. Dressed at the table. Wanted to try the arugula pesto so made a smallish batch. Good but needs some veg like fresh arugula, cherry toms, fresh basil. Serving chilled tomorrow.

You should be able to order any day, any time. Since I only order every 3-4 weeks I don't use an ordering window. But sometimes I find a glitch that wants me to wait. Usually the next day it says "change date and start shopping". *They do have a header notification about delivery delays because of the holiday. They have melons and cherries now--2 pounds of cherries for 6.69. They have always been good every spring. I never have an issue with much selling out. Last delivery they ran out of scallions and credited my account before sending. I hold off shopping locally until I get my delivery. In case something I stock regularly is missing, like celery/fennel/radishes/ginger. Right now they are out of carrots but I can get them anywhere. The brioche buns are great and half the price of the same brand locally. Mine went straight to the freezer.

Left over green sauce over lamb tamales. About 25min steamed from frozen so used the time to make an arugula pesto for the weekend. A first for me. Used a half cup of toasted sesame seeds, (what I have is lots of seeds). A head of roasted garlic, rice wine vinegar, lots of grana padano. Olive oil. Nice change. Ramp pesto sounds good as well. *FreshDirect sent me two big 1pound clamshells instead of two smaller ones. I'll freeze a couple 1/2 pints.

Sloppy taco night with a BoSaam packet from the freezer. (braised pork shoulder) Kimchi and yada yada. Another nice fresh green sauce. Jalapeño, Persian cucumber, a celery stalk, cilantro stems, a handful of arugula--last delivery sent me an extra giant container. Added three stalks of rhubarb, sliced and blanched with fresh ginger slices and a few garlic cloves. Then chilled. All blendered together. (blanched rhubarb?..not sure what to call simmered for 5-6 minutes). Blanching is usually brief. 30 seconds-ish. *a new book out has in the title 'savory and sweet rhubarb recipes'. Lost track of the link, --maybe Eater? A recipe in the article had simmered rhubarb, still crisp, with a bit of sugar. Chilled and added to potato salad. Odd, but I'll try anything having so much harvest at the moment.

^^^nice to see the artichokes again. They had them a couple years ago. Doubt I would seek them out full retail but if memory serves, I ate the full package 5 minutes after delivery. Good road trip snacks being shelf stable. Lots of nuts and granola and freeze dried blueberries I see. I'll try the asparagus. I just need to hide it all from myself or I'll snack before it makes it to the truck packing. The cheeses are probably the best deal offered. The pork loin is good. Great leftovers for next day lunches and/or another dinner.

Pizza night here as well. The usual olive, artichoke, prosciutto. Except for the added eggs. Ring mold was meant for testing the melting quality of grated CypressGrove LambChopper. DH veto wanted eggs. Since the second pie we for todays breakfast/lunches, the egg was a nice bite. I'll test the LambChopper on a toasted slice of boule under the broiler on parchment. Should make a nice cheese skirt. Shared side salad.

Stocking the pantry without hoarding behavior is often complicated. Crisper is full with a few weeks of salad/vegetable choices. As is the freezer for proteins. Used the last of the olives, anchovies, prosciutto last night on pizza. I need shelf stable olives. Anchovies, sardines. SuperMarketItaly has a good selection of olives and anchovies. Prepping for a coupe road trips. I ordered once during covid from SMItaly. And once from iGoumet. Not a great selection of sardines from SMI. but we prefer smoked and spiced. They have that. Any-who, not sure what the point is other than I have no other choices I know of. 8 or so varieties of shelf stable olives and some tins of smoked fishes. One single ordering source is preferred. We are heading to a remote location next month with a very limited grocery supply. (lots of fresh seafood)---Newfoundland where we have a home.

Over the last holidays I starting looking for shrimp recipes to get a bit out of my comfort zone. Try new things. EG searching has 10,000 mentions and 300+ pages, but no 'Shrimp: The Topic'. Seems all other seafood like fish and oysters for example, in restaurants, and in the best seafood suppliers, often do not mention the variety of shrimp unless it is split rock shrimp or sometimes 'local fresh caught Carolina'. Even when I order fried shrimp heads, no mention of the variety. (I need to ask more questions) So, I went down the rabbit hole about various shrimp varieties and the different water temps where they grow and thrive. One example is DelPacifico blue shrimp Seems only FultonFishMarket has the head-on. Fulton is open 2am-7am. Must be offered somewhere in the city. but I ran out of time. Their collective of boats is worth a view, Pacifico boats/sails --motor out, then raise their sails.

Nice to have shrimp in the home again. Wild caught gulf, 26-30's. For the holidays I also stocked 36-40's for xMas day mini shrimp rolls. Not nearly as good as the larger. Cheaper by 5$ or more a pound. Might just be the variety and the waters. Smaller 'salad' shrimp are consistently not very shrimpy. I tend to keep shrimp simple. Shallot, leek, celery, butter, white wine. Skillet cooked separately so I can watch it like a hawk. A couple were a bit underdone. I like that sweet spot where it just turns opaque. Then tossed in a seaweed/white miso/ginger/fresh lemon salad. Over a chili crisped pasta. --two separate dishes but I tend to just pile it on. Not tossed together.