Home Cooking 2019

I like that.
Complements on your cooking.

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That meat is looking good!

What type of rub/prep did you apply?

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It was delicious! The chowpups ate the last slice last night in a sandwich.
I make my own universal dry rub. I’ve gotten to the point where I just start throwing spices and seasonings into a bowl. But here’s the base recipe:
1 part kosher salt
1 part fresh cracked black pepper
1 part brown sugar
1- 2 parts misc. (garlic powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, chipotle powder, mustard, and chile powder)

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Boy, you’re good at this.

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Why bother with Majordomo when we can have your beef ribs? :wink:

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Lemons From Our Tree


We have a big tree with tart, juicy, citrusy-sweet lemons w/lots of seeds (supposedly the more the seeds the healthier the fruit). Every season I vow to use them for more than cocktails, zest, lemon chicken, salad dressings, the basic stuff. This, my first outside-of-the-lemon-box was inspired by @Bookwich, who mentioned a while back that she wanted to do preserved lemons…:bulb:


Lemons, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, lemon blossoms.

Scraped & Scrapped the Pulp & Julienned the Peel

Baby Greens


Baby kale, stock, scallions, garlic, preserved lemon peel.

Chicken Salad


Chix breasts poached in stock, aromatics & preserved lemon peel. Dressing: mayo, peel, scallions, marinated calabrian chili peppers, poultry seasoning, curry, chili powder, garlic powder, mirin, lemon juice.

These were the get-my-feet-wet w/preserved lemon dishes. But, I didn’t make anything else. Why? My preserved lemons didn’t turn out so great. Too salty. Maybe the wrong salt (too sea salty) or too much salt for thin skinned lemons or I got distracted and added too many tbls. Either way, the dominant flavor was salt. :confounded: I needed to find good preserved lemons (possibly from whole foods’ olive bar) for research. Well…

Look what else @Bookwich had in her purse at Majordomo @PorkyBelly! :blush: This small jar of yellow sunshine…


The rinds taste just like they’re supposed to taste - like pickled lemons! They have the perfect balance - texture, concentrated lemon, salt. :blush:

Chicken Pasta - Pappardelle, Leftover Roasted Chix, Marinated Veggies & Peppers, Preserved Lemon Peel, Scallions, Cherry Tomatoes, Mushroom Medley, Robusto Cheese

Lemon Chicken Soup


Added to the chicken pasta - homemade stock, vegenaise for lite creaminess, multi-colored carrots, preserved lemon peel, skosh of salty, preserved lemon syrup. :yum:

Salad Dressing - Leftover Veggie Marinade, Preserved Lemon Peel, Marinated Calabrian Chili Peppers

Salad - Romaine, Cherry Tomatoes, Pan-fried Shroom Medley, French Breakfast Radish, Scallions, Avocado, Chickpeas, Robusto, Homemade Garlic Croutons

Composed…

Tossed…

Baked Chicken Thighs (yes, again), Lemon & Dried Fruit Quinoa, Sautéed Asparagus


Chicken rub of spike, poultry seasoning, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, saigon cinnamon, ginger & smoked paprika. I imagined a side of light, fluffy couscous w/preserved lemon peel, dried cherries, walnuts & scallions… but I had quinoa, so. Anyway, the Raptor/Golden State/K.D. drama was a big distraction - I overcooked the asparagus, the quinoa didn’t have enough water, failed to sprout and was undercooked, except for the overcooked, tahdig-ish bottom. I was disappointed, but A. liked it. :slight_smile:

Used this pan of drippings, roasted garlic cloves, preserved peel & skosh of the salty, preserved lemon syrup and puréed into an incredible pan sauce. :kissing_heart:

:frowning_face: Almost gone…

Thank goodness for the big rains. We’re getting a second bloom of lemons. I’m going to try my hand at preserving lemons again and finally attempt A’s grandma’s famous lemon pie. Oh the possibilities of lemon…

:kissing_heart: :lemon:

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Holey moley! Over-achiever!!!

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Very funny. I feel like the opposite, an underachiever. There are so many more complicated dishes in my head that have yet to be attempted. Some of them are on what I call the When I Retire list.

Like what? Just name one :slight_smile:

Mole from scratch, baking, traditional by-the-recipe dishes, instead of putting an -ish or -esque at the end of the word.

How long did you wait before using your preserved Lemons? I always keep them around but they should really be left out at room temperature for a minimum of 2 weeks before using

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I don’t think I’ve ever even looked at a mole recipe. Here’s one from Diana Kennedy:

Honestly there’s something to be said for retirement. Some few years ago I made xaio long bao. It took me two days (the first for the broth that then jelled). It was medium good, not great, and too much work for the outcome. But I was retired. I’d not be real happy to spend my two days off working on something that was pretty ho-hum.

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Hi @aaqjr! I’ll look at the recipe and let you know. But I do recall leaving them on the counter for a while.

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Boxes of diamond kosher salt spotted at Gelsons today

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Made a lovely Bolognese sauce using Lidia Bastianich’s recipe. I had to use orecchiette after going to 3 different stores to find tagliatelle or pappardelle, but I found that the little cups of pasta held fair amounts of the meaty sauce. Not too bad of a mistake in my eyes. It’s so popular, I may have to make another batch this weekend.

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When I make B-sauce (M. Hazan’s) it’s such a lengthy process I always make a 4x or 5x batch.

My son made me a donabe, so I made him dinner.

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That’s adorable! It always feels so special to unveil your own cloche.

He MADE the donabe?! Wow.

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His first project with a lid. :). His ceramics teacher makes donabes and sells them, so he had a good master to teach him.

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