What did we cook in OC?, Entirely ecumenical; breakfast lunch dinner + in-betweens and afters

[Joan]

Yeah Karo syrup would have been MUCH better. But now that there's a recession, I wanted to use what I had, and I was jonesing for some fudgelike chocolate product without the work of making actual fudge.

Hmm, actually, Koreans use a lot of corn syrup, believe it or not. It's in practically everything. I was shocked when I first started cooking Korean food and realized that the corn syrup section at the local Korean grocery was bigger than the entire baking aisle at Ralph's. That's right. Corn. Syrup. Section.

[Priscilla]

That is interesting, about the corn syrup. HFCS is different than Karo, and I presume the ones used in Korean cuisine are closer to Karo than to the industrial ingredient, but they all come from the same corn. And it's all grown by the Food Industrial Complex.

I'm sounding a little like Jeffrey Duguid going on about American Wheat Imperialism in between the flatbread recipes.

ANYway, last night we had lentil soup I'd made with the usual organic lentils from Mother's Market, and smoked sausage from Mattern I had kicking around in the freezer, bought for the purpose a couple months ago. Little wild celery from Top Veg, tomato from the fahncy tomato guy, garlic from the Korean guy, onion and carrot from the carrot lady. Thyme from the garden. Little hit of red chile flakes, s & p.

Sour cream at service.

CP multigrain, Trader's Joe's saltylicious butter.

Season 1 ep 1 of CSI: Miami. So it begins, Frank.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, 24-hour pork butt, cooked this time in a covered vessel, my largest Cousances/Le Creuset. Before serving I crisped up the crackling on top. Very good.

Served with kumquat chutney made w/fresh ginger and brown sugar, very good.

Also, Top Veg turnips, peeled, 6thed, roasted in a little of the rendered pork fat, s & p. Very good.

Cream Pan multi-grain, MORE than very good.

[Joan]

breakfast: steel cut oatmeal with lentils, kale, berries, greens powder.

lunch: brown rice and steamed broccoli.

can't wait for the joys of dinner...

[alosha7777]

Priscilla - I read your paragraph yesterday and I will be making the asparagus tonight. Thanks for telling me how you do yours.

I didn't do the chicken and asparagus last night because I came across way too awesome a deal on some quality sirloin last night. Made a gourmet-ish version of beef stroganoff. With no sour cream! Steve doesn't like sour cream much at all and hates that all the stroganoff recipes have a cup of it. Ugh. I used cognac, creme fraiche, Dijon and beef stock. Old recipe from Bon Appetit 1999. It was awesome and hub was stoked.

So tonight will be the chicken, basted with butter and also citrus juices and fresh herbs from coworker's garden. Stuffed with orange, lemon and garlic, should be perfect. Funny how I never thought much of chicken when I was younger, but roasting it in the last year has changed that completely. I can't believe I took so long to learn how to cook. Oh all those years I missed out!

[Priscilla]

Doesn't like sour cream? Does not compute. Creme fraiche however ain't nothing to sneeze at and thank God Steve likes that! Sounds really good, Melissa.

As does the chicken. Roast chicken -- I always say you can't be a civilized person if you don't roast a chicken once in a while. Right up there in Ivan's top 5 things to eat, roast chicken.

[alosha7777]

Yeah, he's Mexican, but he doesn't like sour cream or avocados. Boo. Doesn't really eat much cheese either. Weirdo haha.

Thanks for the asparagus thing - they were GREAT!!

[Priscilla]

I'm reminded by this exchange w/Melissa about the blanched asparagus wrapped in prosciutto sprinkled w/grating cheese drizzled w/olive oil baked in a fast oven until hot what a good side dish this is for Easter ham, IF, like me, you think pork is a good accent for pork. Might have to do it again this very Easter in a fact.

Avocadoes, sour cream, CHEESE??? Dang. Only like three of the best things in the universe. Oh well, luckily there's plenty else.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, nearly caught up now on our EastEnders missed eps, Ivan and I had tomato/onion/avocado/parsley/mint/double-cream feta salade w/a lovely sangak from Mission Ranch Market's bakery. Of course the double-cream feta was from MRM as well. Salade dressed with olive oil, lemon, s & p.

Tomatoes, from the fahncy tomato guy @ the Lag Hls farmers market, were not bad, considering... but happy to consider how it's only looks up from here, April, tomato-flavor-wise!

[Priscilla]

Last evening, seared Costco ahi... marinated first for a bit in Japanese-style seasonings: mirin, soy, tiny bit of garlic, slightly larger amt. of ginger, some raw sugar. That Costco ahi, it can be very good. And to think it took me so long to try it.

After said searing, landed atop lollo rosso lettuce and dressed with the reserved marinade, which I had quickly boiled, mixed with a little mayonnaise to make a variation on a longtime signature Miss Priscilla item, Creamy Teriyaki.

Just very good fish. I am growing to like the seared, which I had formerly eschewed. Of course the quality and freshness of the fish is paramount in its success, there is nowhere to hide. And, a collateral benefit is its sheer speed of preparation, allowing that much more Sake Time for Ivan and me.

Cream Pan ciabatta bought that a.m. when Le Mangeur and I had late breakfast there next to a group of about 20 Italian people.

[Priscilla]

Ha ha a pattern can be discerned... last evening, AGAIN w/the seared fish, this time lovely albacore from Santa Monica Seafood but still w/the Asian Taste marinade.

I do go on jags, cooking-wise, it's a known fact.

The bed this time was also from Top Veg but their excellent salade mix, and the ciabatta was a slight variation, too, rolls rather than the large, which we got to Cream Pan too late for: Sometimes on Sundays esp. there has been before us a Ciabatta Bandit, and if I've neglected to all ahead w/my order, as happened yesterday, I'm outta luck on the ciabatta. Not that the rolls are anything to sneeze at, and I am not so inflexible, hidebound, rigid as to not make use of them anyways.

[Priscilla]

Last evening dinner for 2 w/EastEnders when Le Mangeur went study groupin' for AP Econ.

Ivan and I had shrimp Louie salades, wild Canadian bay shrimp from Santa Monica Seafood, which, at $9.99/lb. are a very reasonable and delicious way to get yer shellfish on. They are a far cry from the mealy awful tasteless little dots that normally pass for "bay shrimp."

Nice bed of chopped Top Veg Romaine, chopped tomatoes, big old ripe Hass avocado, also chopped, shrimp strewn artlesslly over, with Swan Oyster Depot's Louie dressing, recipe courtesy of Saveur mag, copiously applied, or, to taste.

(Swan Oyster Depot on Polk Street in San Francisco -- if you haven't been, go. Just go.)

PLUS, and this is a big plus, trying for the first time the famed and famous baguette from Banh Mi Che Cali, a gift from a coworker of Ivan's. Which was good. But, I am here to tell you that it was very similar to, and in some ways not as good as, the Bread Co. baguette we get at Mission Ranch Market in MV, which is also a Viet-French baker's product.

We are yet again so lucky in this regard, the MRM regard. Bread Co. baguette is just a very very good baguette. As was Banh Mi Che Cali's, mind.

And now I think we are finally up to speed in EastEndersage, too, and so can proceed now apace.

[Joan]

Pasta with tomato sauce from a jar cooked with kale from the garden
toast with creamy peanut butter from Mother's Market, topped with sliced banana
soy milk with cereal
frozen orange sections and frozen grapes

:-)

[le mangeur]

Hey le mangeur sitting in for Priscilla on this day, T3H BEST MOTHER'S DAY EVAR!

Anyways, we started with the usual Sunday Cream Pan action, perfect as usual. We (Priscilla, Ivan, and I) were all really scattered for some reason and couldn't decide on a suitable dinner. Part of it I think was that we were still on the high from last night's spectacular dinner.

As we walked out of CP, Priscilla noticed an advertisement for a Samurai exhibit at Bower's Museum. She mentioned this, and I was the first and most vocal proponent of going to see it. My idea turned out wonderfully, with Bower's having an ancient Chinese secret..err art exhibit also. We spent about 3 hours going through the exhibits there and watching a Nova episode about Samurai swords. My idea fulfilled its purpose: Priscilla finally found her craving for tonight: linguine with clams, and burrata salad for starters.

The Burrata
Burrata:me::strawberry croissant:typical CP first timer. I could not believe my mouth!
It's basically a delicious pouch of creamy cheesyness. The outside is mozzarella curd.

The rest of the salad consisted of Top Veg salad mix, Fra'Mani pancetta, and a simmering vinaigrette.

The Linguine
Delicious clams hand picked by me from the water tank at the Irvine 99 Ranch Market. Fresh & Easy brand linguine, consistent with previous F&E pastas, id est delicious, the rest of the Fra'Mani pancetta, and Lurpak for the butter.

I was only able to eat one serving of the linguine, but the first course was quite filling and it all balanced beautifully.

[le mangeur]

Well while I'm here I'll do the other best dinner ever, from Saturday night.

For starter we had delicious asparagus from the UCI farmers market (I was not there personally though) wrapped in Fra'Mani pancetta. Atop, a soft-cooked duck egg was placed and CP ciabatta rolls were the bread component.

The main course was Whole Foods whole (get it?) chicken legs marinated in garlic, olive oil, and whatever herbs Ivan could find in our garded, which I am currently in the process of redoing. I personally made sandwiches on three of the remaining ciabatta rolls, but my parents had the chicken landed on salad (Top Veg salad mix) with a dressing of Salvadoran crema and the pan juices form the chicken. I had a small salad with this dressing as well. Ivan is still raving about this dinner!

[ivan]

Ivan is still raving about this dinner!

Yes. Yes, I am.

[Priscilla]

On this holiday weekend there has been some cooking.

After Friday provisioning at Lag Hls farmers market and the nearby Trader Joe's there and Costco for wild sockeye, there was, anyways.

Friday was previously prepared David Changish steamed pork buns (excellent; the bun recipe too, JUST RIGHT), duck scallion ginger potstickers also previously socked away for nearly free (hadda buy the wrappers) with leftover duck & c., and broccoli from Farmer Mike, who was happily at the market that day with his fabulous wares.

Saturday, grilled wild sockeye, teensy perfect Yukon Golds, steamed, and asparagus, Cream Pan ciabatta, with sauce Gribiche, a favorite I hadn't made in a while.

Sunday, with teeny gamers: Fried chicken (Albertson's up the hill conveniently had every conceivable part of said chicken for 99 cents/lb.), potato salade using the decidedly NON-teensy Yukon Golds, one of the shallots from the potato lady, and the Farmer Mike chives, and coleslaw w/a Farmer Mike carrot and carrot lady cabbage. Also my signature Squishy Rolls, which Cream Pan's butter rolls often obviate but not today, fried chicken calls for regulation Squishy Rolls.

Today, Monday, will be a big fried-chicken salade using Farmer Mike Romaine, beautiful tomatoes, leftover fried chicken cut up, and either ranch-style or blue cheese dressing, and the rest of the Squishy Rolls.

[Priscilla]

Farmers market fruit has also inspired, but I forgot to include, the parade of frozen desserts that has passed through the old Simac: mostly from David Lebovitz' incredibly wonderful The Perfect Scoop and his davidlebovitz.com blog, with one recent old-fave exception, Marcella Hazan's apricot sorbetto from In Marcella's Kitchen. D.L.'s strawb froz yog (so simple and just about the best froz dessert ever... made a repeat appearance for the gamin' teenys yesterday, along with chocolate chip which was D.L.'s stupendous Philadelphia base w/a Lindt South American bittersweet chocolate bar chopped and mixed in; D.L.'s strawb sour cream ice cream, excellent.

Coming up right quick here, D.L.'s tiramisu ice cream, helping attrit the 4-lb. tub of Gioia mascarpone I happen to have in my fridge at the moment. And his peach sorbet as well, from a D.L. LA Times article from a while ago.

[Priscilla]

David Lebovitz' watermelon sorbetto (didn't include the chocolate chip seeds) has been made twice, and will be made many more times, I can confidently predict.

This last batch I used tequila instead of vodka and maybe a jot more too and orange liqueur and hey presto it's watermelon margarita sorbetto!

Watermelon season at the farmers market is a good season.

Did I mention David Lebovitz' cantaloupe sorbet? I think my favorite, possibly; very subtle and musky, as cantaloupes are. And the best best best color.

Cantaloupe season, see above!

[Priscilla]

Last evening, with a majority of the actual work being done by Ivan and Le Manguer with me just "supervising" is the nice word for it:

halibut, roasted in a hot oven (Costco's dependably excellent halibut)
roasted Yukon Gold (from the potato lady at Friday's Lag Hls fm) cubes tossed in olive oil, chopped (well, Microplaned, actually) garlic, finely chopped rosemary the aforementioned finely chopped by Le Mangeur
beautiful chanterelles impulse-bought at Costco, sauteed in butter w/s & p, a little cream added to some
an excellent hairloom tomato from the fahncy tomato guy at Friday's fm, some red and yellow stripey variety I ferget the name and he even had it on a card there,
with Marcella's garlic-infused red wine vinegar dressing

Oh and there was pesto with our still-lush and blessedly slow-to-bolt basil on my fish and Ivan's fish, but decidedly NOT on Le Mangeur's, even though he made the pesto and likes the smell, he does not like the, um, taste.

Cream Pan baguette, just perfect as per usual.