No hint of spring up here in the mountains. Rolled in late to new snow in the driveway but preapred with some smoked gouda, the 2nd baguette, split pea soup and some red wine. Getting the hang of coming up here prepared. Taking a long weekend to get the last ski days of the year in. Wintry as it is next week will be a total melt off.
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Thank you so much, everyone seemed to really enjoy it- this was new to my family since when we have gone for korean in nyc they always want bbq!
I am a huge fan of ketchup, i wish i had seen this in time before i had one of the leftover pancakes! (Part of breakfast the next morning)
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Last (rainy) day in CA…
The area my parents are in has huge agriculture business (foxy, dole, driscolls, among many others) and get lucky with occasional gifts from friends in the industry. Like a huge gorgeous bouquet of rainbow chard! It felt wrong to even cook it, so i sliced it all very thin and made a salad with a qyick dressing using the white kimchi liquid, a garlic clove, salt and pepper and some fancy olive oil i found in the cupboard from somewhere in Napa.
I had found some tiny japanese sweet potatoes at the asian grocery and roasted a bunch of those whole, just rubbed with some oil and salt. The skin got nice and crisp with the sweet fluffy innards!
In the photo i put a regular size sweet potato on top to show the difference, they were maybe 2-3”.
And the rest of the meal was just an assortment of the leftover banchan and such with a lovely chardonnay.
I had stopped at the great little french bakery earlier in the day, gave myself a bit of a tummy ache with the fantastic cannele but worth each bite!
We had some sliced asian pear and a few truffles from the same bakery for dessert, the blackberry sage (surprising and tasty combo) as well as a smoked hazelnut flavor
Epic travel day today, the same friend had gifted my parents some gorgeous kale, so i had packed up a massaged kale salad with smoked tofu, sugar snap peas, and some cherry tomatoes that became lunch/dinner at my layover
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I’m staying with a friend in Berlin whose kitchen is not exceptionally well-outfitted, so I’ve been keeping meals very simple. She mentioned the other day that she had some fresh ginger to use up, though, so after rummaging through her spice cabinet and finding most of what I needed (cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon), I decided to make qeema.
It turned out very tasty, but the flavor profile was somehow different than what I’m used to. My friend came in while I was putting the spices away and mentioned how nice it was that I had used Kümmel (which I thought was cumin), since it’s a traditional German spice that has apparently fallen out of fashion lately, in favor of Kreuzkümmel (which I didn’t know existed). So I’m thinking “what the heck is Kreuzkümmel” and I’m totally confused, because the picture of the seeds on the Kümmel jar look just like cumin seeds. Google to the rescue. Kümmel is caraway, and Kreuzkümmel is cumin. Doh!
I never really thought about how similar the seeds look before, nor thought of them as swappable spices since they are used so differently in America, but the caraway really did make a decent accidental cumin substitute. A language and cooking lesson all in one day!
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My opinion, in raw applications like slaw, it’s a big difference, but if cooked, you can get away with substituting one for the other. (This accident happens to me more times than I care to admit.)
Last two months were very busy. I hope life doesn’t get in the way of HO for the next few weeks. Hopefully I can post a couple meals a day and catch up on March.
Simple “grilled” mackerel (it’s actually high-temp baked.) Served with cucumber, pineapple, avocado salad. It’s my kid’s favorite fish.
Had dinner at a relative’s house recently. These were the standouts: dahi baray (dumplings in yogurt) and nihari. The dumplings in the dahi baray were made with daal, which gives them great texture and flavor. All too often these days people are using pakora-type dumplings for dahi baray.
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LOL, glad to know I’m not the only one! I tasted them both raw after dinner and as you noted, when raw they are very different, with the caraway having a distinctive menthol-y and anise-y flavor, with less of the smoky earthiness of cumin. However, once cooked the menthol flavor really subsided, and the anise quality was subdued. I think what I was missing was the intense earthiness of cumin - the caraway contributed some but it was more subtle. Luckily the dish was still edible (and tasty)!
Love the combination of the Avo/Pina garnish/slaw…I have got give it a try…perhaps tonight…I am making some sort of fish…and now more thought I might try a Mango/Avo mixture…
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Very glad to hear that! Hopefully life settles down for her a bit and she can rejoin us soon.
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Have not been cooking as I have so much mangalitsa ham left over just sitting on the counter. We just slice whatever we want to eat, serve with garlic roasted in olive oil , campari tomato juice/pulp and french bread.
Only took skin and fat off on part we want to eat so the ham stays good that way. on the part that is exposed, just brush with EVOO, cover with stretch tight.
It snowed continuously with power outages. Today, although ground is still wet, decided to transplant some sedum so, dinner was quick
Costco’s marinated wild morey’salmon pan fried, then, I added water to the marinade, some garlic, soy sauce, pepper and boiled some presoaked cellophane bean noodles till liquid absorbed, added sesame oil and left over baby arugula.
grilled asparagus ( garlic
picture not good but tasted yummy.
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Last night I had a pizza craving, so it was purchased dough brushed with sauteed garlic and olive oil, topped with crushed tomatoes, fontina, parm and asiago. Simple, but our favorite combo. It hit the spot.
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How long actually can you keep the ham on the counter without going “bad”? Is there way to use up the bones (a soup)?
I was told 2-3 weeks but I never buy this ham except between Dec and February when the weather is cooler. We just keep it on the rack on the kitchen counter,
If I buy the same ham without the bone, it has to be refrigerated. The reason given is that when the bone is intact, it continues to cure. Suggestion is to hung it but since I have the ham holder, we keep it on my counter. My holder has a swivel grip so we can rotate the ham without taking it off . It is a good party ham.
We only take off the skin and the fat which we are going to eat, the rest of the ham stays intact. Once we are done eating, we brush it with EVOO and then, stretch time. I had covered it with towel but my son prefers stretch tight.
Yesterday, was the 7th day. I had m son slice some pieces, vacuum packed it and it keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator.
Once we are thru, I would like my son to split the bone and make stock. As for the fat, it is excellent I heard some chef use it to make whip cream but do not know how. It is excellent with greens . I think when I have the time, I will make some venison sausage with it, using the fat from the mangalitsa.
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http://puremangalitsa.com/cookbook/
http://winfieldfarm.us/store/?p=1021
My son buys a whole serrano ham when he was living in Spain.
I have never had serrano ham but have purchased pata negra de bellota ( sliced and vacuum packed)
After reading about mangalitsa and blind study in 2013, whereby the mangalitsa of johnston came in just below the pata negra, we decided to buy the swivel grip jamonero rom Barcelona and the michelangelo knife and enjoy mangalitsa as an alternative to the more expensive pata negra.
It is still pricey but worth it when one does not have to prepare anything for a party except for french bread, garlic ( I use garlic that is roasted in EVOO) and campari tomatoes. My son squeeze the juice and throw the pulp out. I eat the pulp as it is difficult to find ear my home. Some guests like to add old dutch cheese which my son bring home from Amsterdam.
I hope u can try some . The fat also is supposed to be good for baking pie crust!
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Thanks a lot for the information. I will try mangalitsa ham when I come across them, the price of pata negra de bellota is insane (can’t afford to buy a leg!). We are thinking of jambon de Bayonne.
Slicing pieces and vacuum pack it in the fridge make sense, especially we are only 2, it will take months to finish. We talked to a seller, he told us to brush with olive oil and cover with towel too.
same here but we only buy when we have a party. My son leaves for Amsterdam in a few days, so, there is only me, I will the vacuum the rest.
I am not familiar with Jambon de Bayonne but I can say that I dd not really feel that much difference between the mangalitsa and pata negra.
As I said earlier, there were blind studies n 2014 I believe . Most judges who participated thought they were very close, except for one who thought the mangalitsa was better. However, they all think the mangalitsa is better than the serrano for sure .
Splurge on a jamonero if you like the ham as it is worth it. It is so much cheaper in Spain than here in USA. The one I have retails for over $1000 at La Tienda ( has hard wood and swivel grip) but cost way under $500 delivered express to Sophia ( Sophia is a Mafia Country . The retailers refused to deliver there unless it is first class,insusred, signature etc because of that reason. Buying slices here is so much more expensive as they charge for slicing , one just buy amount to use and so shipping adds a lot to the cost. _. Unfortunately, my son was flying back from Sophia for Christmas and I wanted one so bad for a party otherwise, it would have been cheaper shipped to Amsterdam
It’s mango/avocado/citrus season here, so that is what I’ve been eating, every which way.
Salad with grapefruit and avocado dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Salad of mango, orange, and avocado, same.
Avocado with salt and lime on baguette or English muffin.
Arugula salad with citrus dressing.
Shrimp sautéed with orange slices, tomatoes, cardamon and red chili peppers.
Strawberries and cherry tomatoes are also coming in to the farmer markets, so many of those also.
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Looks like a ball…
Actually a very thick chunk of calf’s liver. In the hot pan it turned itself into a ball.
Peking-esque.
I have made this several times. Duck legs were brushed with a sauce I made then cooked sous vide. When done brushed with the sauce again and chilled. Repeat this step often (brushing and chilling), this is how to get the sauce to stick to the skin and meat. Took me a couple of days.
The sauce had a few things in it: liquid smoke, tamari, five spice powder, garlic, Indonesian sweet soya sauce, ginger. The dipping sauce for the pancakes is the same but with the addition of liquid from the SV duck. Boiled it again and strained.
The char on the skin acts as a protective layer, just scrape if off and eat the skin. I brought the tray from the kitchen but then thought it’d be fine to leave all the things in it and make photos like this.
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