eG Foodblog Tag Team IV: Marlene, Dave, snowangel - Cold Turkey, Three Ways

[Dave the Cook]

Um Dave, did you eat anything last night?

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I did. The cold I've been fending off all week finally broke through last night. I know a lot of people refrain from smoking during illness, especially those that are respiratory, but I've rarely stopped. In fact, for some reason, the urge increased, and I almost went out in the plummeting temperatures for a pack, fever and all (I did the car- and house-scouring the night before, and turned up nothing). I went to bed instead. Sorry I'm late.

There was a rumor of crab at one of the local chains, but all my search turned up was big ol' king legs and snow clusters, when what I wanted was a couple of whole Dungeness. So I grabbed a chicken. Why I thought that this was a reasonable substitute for crab is beyond me, but a lot of things are fuzzy this morning.

When me and the chicken got home, we washed some russets, brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with coarse salt, and put them in the oven at 375F. Then we made a drink:

This is Gary Regan's Missing Link, a simple sour made with dark rum.

While sipping, I spatchcocked the chicken. I toasted a bunch of cumin seeds, set some aside and ground the rest. I took two-thirds of the that, added some ground black pepper, and toasted a bit more, then added olive oil, garlic and chopped fresh rosemary. When the mess started to sizzle, I took it off the heat and stirred in the zest of a small orange.

Once it cooled, I spooned this under the thigh, leg and breast skin.

While it was cooling, I trimmed some zucchini, halved it lengthwise and thirded it crosswise. I salted it heavily and set it to drain.

The chicken joined the potatoes in the oven. The potatoes needed another 15 minutes, so I made another drink. Since I had a naked orange, I decided to make something I've never made before, a Monkey Gland (the version with absinthe substitute rather than Benedictine:

It was good. But if you're not used to making this cocktail, trust me -- be careful with the green fairy.

The Herbsaint made me think of New Orleans, so I decided to turn the potatoes into Cajun-style twice-baked. I scoooped them out and mixed the starch with salt; butter; sour cream; red, white and black pepper (the other trinity, in my book); parmesan cheese and green onions. Some smoked paprika on top, and beck into the oven.

I flipped the chicken somewhere in there, and then flipped it back fifteen minutes later. While it was on the last leg, I rinsed off the zucchini and tossed it into a saute pan filmed with oil. Once they got going, I turned the heat down and let them cook pretty slowly.

There's something weird going on with the photograph there. It looks like the pan is really warped, and there's a pool of oil on the right. That's how the camera saw it, but there was really minimal oil.

I mixed the leftover cumin with some orange juice concentrate and brushed it on the chicken for the last few minutes.

Miraculously, everything was done more or less at the same time:

[Chufi]

I applaud you all for doing this with the whole world of EGullet watching over your shoulder. You are an inspiration - and I don't just mean the food!

That said - I want one of Dave's cocktails, Susan's elk burgers, and char sui, Marlene's steak, Dave's chicken, and Diana's banana/macadamia muffin! All the food looks so good!

Edited February 4, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[rjwong]

Susan, how about making some hummus? Or is that too adventurous for the kids?

[Dave the Cook]

I have been eating salt, yes salt, lick finger dip repeat. It seems to help along with the rubberband on my wrist which I snap with each craving.

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Whatever works, right? I've heard of the rubber band thing, but not the salt. How did you come up with that?

The only reason I haven't given in is because there are no cigarettes around. It's been reduced the simple proposition that if I don't buy them, I'm safe. "Just keep passing the 7-11, Dave" is what I tell myself.

I'm enjoying checking in. Keep up the good work, and bon courage to us all!

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Indeed. Marlene mentioned it earlier, but Maggie is the reason we're doing this at all. I'm grateful. So far.

Speaking of checking in, where's Brooks?

Susan, would it help if you went to bed as soon as your kids do?  Or better yet, tell Paul to deal with the kids and you go to bed! 

I think this is an excellent idea.

I'm thinking pancakes for breakfast this morning. 

I still have no interest in breakfast.

Today is roasting day for the three of us, and yes, mine will be Prime Rib with roasted fingerling potatoes, yorkies and broccoli gratin.  I should probably make some sort of dessert so I'm off to look at cookbooks for inspiration.

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Oops. I roasted last night. Oh well. I probably roast more than anything else, so it's not a hardship. I'm thinking something celebratory. Four days!

[Marlene]

Breakfast is rapidly turning into lunch here as the lad is still asleep. In the meantime, I've been munching on flatbreads coated with kosher salt and sesame seeds on top. With butter. This is enough of the salty crunchy thing to keep me going for a while.

[snowangel]

We've had breakfast. I got my bacon fix this morning. Since I hadn't been to the meat market, cooked up supermarket bacon. Farmland, which is pretty darned good and the supermarket bacon of choice in our household. The bonus was that this week it is 2 pounds for $4.00, so I should really stock up.

No, I didn't eat it all myself. I shared.

And, I made a mess of waffles on my nifty oh-so-keen Nordic Ware stovetop waffle maker. We have one of these up at the cabin (no electricity) and when I saw two of them at a thrift store for $1.69 each, I snapped them up. We have two at the cabin, one here. Great recovery time, no cord to misplace, and the thing doesn't take up much space. I store mine in my rack cabinet.

Finally, the cook eats!

Neither the bacon nor the waffle were as dark as they look in the photo. Since I'm not a morning sweet eater, no syrup on my waffle. The kids really like them with raspberry yogurt. I took plain yogurt and added some raspberries I picked and froze last summer. Alas, no photo of that; they ate it all before I could get the camera out.

The obligatory bite shot.

Hmmm. A little blurry. I really need to work on my photgraphing techniques. I think I'll take the manual with me while I do some serious bench time at the volleyball game.

So far, doing quite well this morning, but then again, this has been the best time of day for me.

[snowangel]

Susan, how about making some hummus? Or is that too adventurous for the kids?

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Hummus is very popular with my kids, and I even have some frozen mashed chickpeas in the freezer.

Thanks, Rachel, for the suggestions!

[Marlene]

Ryan finally rolled out of bed at noon, so I made pancakes. And just for you people, I made Canadian pancakes:

With butter and syrup please. I made 5 of these. I got one. Ryan got the rest.

This afternoon we'll make cookies and because Susan's muffins look so good, muffins of some sort. I'm also going to make the mustard strussel for my gratin although I'm going to use a cheddar cheese sauce for the cheese part.

[snowangel]

Marlene. What, no bacon? My kids and husband are insistent that we have some sort of smoked meat with bacon, and I'm not about to argue!

BTW, I always make more waffles than we'll eat. Freeze the rest and the kids can pop them in the toaster for breakfast before school.

[Marlene]

I was so hungry by the time the lad got up, I was in a hurry. Bacon tomorrow I think, although it will be Canadian back bacon because I think we're going to attempt Eggs Benedict.

[BarbaraY]

Tag Team Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" diagonal pieces

1-2 T vegetable oil

1 t sesame seeds

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t soy sauce

1/2 t lemon juice

1 t toasted sesame oil

pinch sugar

I made this for dinner last night using broccoli. It works very well with that, too Served it with Ah Leung's Honey Garlic Chicken. It was delicious.

[CaliPoutine]

Ryan finally rolled out of bed at noon, so I made pancakes.  And just for you people, I made Canadian pancakes:

With butter and syrup please.  I made 5 of these.  I got one.  Ryan got the rest.

This afternoon we'll make cookies and because Susan's muffins look so good, muffins of some sort.  I'm also going to make the mustard strussel for my gratin although I'm going to use a cheddar cheese sauce for the cheese part.

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are those the williams sonoma maple leaf pancake molds? I just picked those up at a thrift store. Brand new, never used in the box for 1 freaking Loonie(dollar)!!! Whooo Hooooo!!

[Marlene]

They are. For a brief time, WS experimented with shipping to Canada. They included at least one free box of these in every Canadian order. I had so many of the damn things I started giving them away as gifts.

[snowangel]

Debate. I just got a couple of things out of the freezer. I have two venison backstraps, but they aren't very big (about 3/4 lb.) and I also pulled out something marked "roast" that is about 2.5 lbs. Given that Diana won't be here tonight, and Peter may or may not eat meat, I'm debating whether to roast the tenderloins and add a venison steak to the mix or doing the big roast. ???

[Marlene]

big roast.

[snowangel]

I don't think there's anyway that big roast will thaw in time, now that I think about it. And, I'm sort of thinking that some of these big roasts will need to be roasted in a bag or something. I really need to read all of those venison cookbooks I checked out of the library.

And, I'm hard pressed to roast a big cut of meat tonight because of the damned volleyball schedule.

[Dave the Cook]

I finally decided that toast would be okay. Then, maybe because it smelled so good (are there any better smells?), my appetite started to come back. I drizzled a little honey over the butter.

This is Morat's English Muffin Bread.

[snowangel]

Dave, hope you feel better soon. A couple of friends who have quit noticed that they got colds right away. Maybe the body cleansing itself?

Isn't toast wonderful? My kids love toast. Peter thinks that butter toast is one of the greatest foods ever!

[Susan in FL]

Um Dave, did you eat anything last night?

←

I did. The cold I've been fending off all week finally broke through last night. I know a lot of people refrain from smoking during illness, especially those that are respiratory, but I've rarely stopped. In fact, for some reason, the urge increased, and I almost went out in the plummeting temperatures for a pack, fever and all (I did the car- and house-scouring the night before, and turned up nothing). I went to bed instead. Sorry I'm late.

There was a rumor of crab at one of the local chains, but all my search turned up was big ol' king legs and snow clusters, when what I wanted was a couple of whole Dungeness. So I grabbed a chicken. Why I thought that this was a reasonable substitute for crab is beyond me, but a lot of things are fuzzy this morning.

When me and the chicken got home, we washed some russets, brushed them with oil and sprinkled them with coarse salt, and put them in the oven at 375F. Then we made a drink:

This is Gary Regan's Missing Link, a simple sour made with dark rum.

While sipping, I spatchcocked the chicken. I toasted a bunch of cumin seeds, set some aside and ground the rest. I took two-thirds of the that, added some ground black pepper, and toasted a bit more, then added olive oil, garlic and chopped fresh rosemary. When the mess started to sizzle, I took it off the heat and stirred in the zest of a small orange.

Once it cooled, I spooned this under the thigh, leg and breast skin.

While it was cooling, I trimmed some zucchini, halved it lengthwise and thirded it crosswise. I salted it heavily and set it to drain.

The chicken joined the potatoes in the oven. The potatoes needed another 15 minutes, so I made another drink. Since I had a naked orange, I decided to make something I've never made before, a Monkey Gland (the version with absinthe substitute rather than Benedictine:

It was good. But if you're not used to making this cocktail, trust me -- be careful with the green fairy.

The Herbsaint made me think of New Orleans, so I decided to turn the potatoes into Cajun-style twice-baked. I scoooped them out and mixed the starch with salt; butter; sour cream; red, white and black pepper (the other trinity, in my book); parmesan cheese and green onions. Some smoked paprika on top, and beck into the oven.

I flipped the chicken somewhere in there, and then flipped it back fifteen minutes later. While it was on the last leg, I rinsed off the zucchini and tossed it into a saute pan filmed with oil. Once they got going, I turned the heat down and let them cook pretty slowly.

There's something weird going on with the photograph there. It looks like the pan is really warped, and there's a pool of oil on the right. That's how the camera saw it, but there was really minimal oil.

I mixed the leftover cumin with some orange juice concentrate and brushed it on the chicken for the last few minutes.

Miraculously, everything was done more or less at the same time:

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Whatta dinner! Good ideas from that... We haven't spatchcocked a chicken for a long time, so I'll put that on the list. And salting/draining the zucchini! Why haven't I thought of that?! Oil and coarse salt -rubbed baked potatoes make a frequent appearance at our house. They're so good, but I hadn't thought of then using them for stuffed-baked or twice-baked. You're a one man culinary think tank.

Ryan finally rolled out of bed at noon, so I made pancakes.  And just for you people, I made Canadian pancakes:

With butter and syrup please.  I made 5 of these.  I got one.  Ryan got the rest.

This afternoon we'll make cookies and because Susan's muffins look so good, muffins of some sort.  I'm also going to make the mustard strussel for my gratin although I'm going to use a cheddar cheese sauce for the cheese part.

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Way cool!

Debate.  I just got a couple of things out of the freezer.  I have two venison backstraps, but they aren't very big (about 3/4 lb.) and I also pulled out something marked "roast" that is about 2.5 lbs.  Given that Diana won't be here tonight, and Peter may or may not eat meat, I'm debating whether to roast the tenderloins and add a venison steak to the mix or doing the big roast.  ???

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A Mystery Roast is very appealing, Susan..... Not even time to do a quick thaw, with the help of your microwave? Leftovers could be used for some mini sandwiches tomorrow, or for cubes of it on a toothpick with a grape tomato, or something snacky.

[Dave the Cook]

big roast. 

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I don't think there's anyway that big roast will thaw in time, now that I think about it.  And, I'm sort of thinking that some of these big roasts will need to be roasted in a bag or something.  I really need to read all of those venison cookbooks I checked out of the library.

And, I'm hard pressed to roast a big cut of meat tonight because of the damned volleyball schedule.

←

Susan, I think the tenderloins make more sense. I'm hard pressed because there's only two of us, and I'm going out of town tomorrow. For the former reason, I rarely do big roasts anyway. I'm just going to go to the market and see what looks good. I promise to get as big a hunk of meat as is practical, Marlene!

[srhcb]

[

Isn't toast wonderful?  My kids love toast.  Peter thinks that butter toast is one of the greatest foods ever!

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FLASHBACK!

I haven't thought of this in many years.

My Mother used to make us a "special treat" called Toast Boxes.

It was just toast cut into squares and served on a plate!

SB (has a clever Mother)

[Dave the Cook]

Oil and coarse salt -rubbed baked potatoes make a frequent appearance at our house.  They're so good, but I hadn't thought of then using them for stuffed-baked or twice-baked. 

If you have a convection oven, the skins are even better (a tip I got from Marlene).

And thank you. You're very kind.

A Mystery Roast is very appealing, Susan.....  Not even time to do a quick thaw, with the help of your microwave?  Leftovers could be used for some mini sandwiches tomorrow, or for cubes of it on a toothpick with a grape tomato, or something snacky.

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Okay, I could go this direction, too.

[Marlene]

Think of it this way Dave. You're going out of town. The ones left behind won't have you to cook for them for a couple of days. Leftovers. You'd be doing them a kindness.

[Dave the Cook]

[

Isn't toast wonderful?  My kids love toast.  Peter thinks that butter toast is one of the greatest foods ever!

←

FLASHBACK!

I haven't thought of this in many years.

My Mother used to make us a "special treat" called Toast Boxes.

It was just toast cut into squares and served on a plate!

SB (has a clever Mother)

←

My grandmother used to cut the toast in strips and build log cabins out of them before serving us. Why she thought it was necessary to entice us to eat toast is beyond me, because Peter's right, I think.

[snowangel]

Dinner will be VERY late here. Due to Diana's volleyball sked, she and Paul probably won't get home until shortly after 9:00 pm, but they will be hungry, so the tenderloins are making more and more sense so we can actually get to bed tonight and get up tomorrow for church.

And, no blog of mine would be complete without a home-ownership disaster (flood last time as I recall). Well, the exhaust fan in the bathroom is dumping copious amounts of water on the bathroom floor when we turn it off. Off to help the handyman and get to volleyball on time. I want a cigarette.