Original plan this morn’, pleasant cruise to Half Moon Bay and restock our fridge/freezer with some fresh caught fish off the boat. Noble idea, reality in the form of rain and jet-lag hit HARD.
Re-woke at 4:30 pm:
DW had cheffed up a pot of Oden. Cold weather comfort.
Poblano stuffed with albondigas, salsa. Cauliflower in a cheese sauce (sharp cheddar, smoked pepper jack, sazon). Little gem salad with radish, green onion, black olive and chipotle ranch. There was a bourbon, apple cider and sangria.
Pork burgers spiced with parsley, fennel seeds, paprika, oregano, red pepper flakes and garlic, topped with sautéed green peppers and onion on a brioche bun with roasted garlic aioli
Tonight’s dinner was a fail… After making home made spinach pasta, I came up with the idea of trying to make Jalapeno Pasta (something with a little Southwest kick to it). I cleaned the seeds out of three Jalapeno peppers and put them in the food processor along with eggs, salt and a small amount of olive oil. I pureed that, then added the flour. I thought 3 peppers would be enough to make a spicy pasta, but it was bland.
Finally cooked the chicken I defrosted a few days ago: it was a cold and rainy day, enough motivation apparently.
Made one of our standard home preps, which is usually what I’m craving when I haven’t cooked them in a while.
I hadn’t cooked the whole bag of frozen haricots vert the other day, so I cut them small and made them home-style as well, very simple with just a few dry spices, no aromatics.
Chapatis from the freezer and rice from the fridge rounded out the meal. Ate some for a late lunch, and some more for dinner (though I had plans to make pasta from the new Smitten kitchen cookbook and made confit garlic to that end, but that was just one thing too many).
(@retrospek I’ve got candles going to work on that slow-cooked chicken aroma )
We enjoyed another outstanding dinner at The Farmer’s Daughter including chargrilled dry aged cowboy steak with caramelized onion butter, and Brussel sprout casserole; grilled portobello steak with pesto puree, and fire roasted tomato pepper puree; seared char with black rice, maple glaze, fried kale, and parsnip crisps; delicata squash rings and eggplant stack; fried oysters with honey horseradish aioli; and reginetti pasta with grilled artichoke hearts. It all went great with an excellent red blend and cabernet.
Makes sense. Could you puree the peppers with the eggs separately in a blender? But in any case, a hotter pepper will get you there without seeds as you said.
(ETA: For heat I use mostly serranos, thai chillies, or indian green chillies, depending on what store I’m closest too — prefer the flavor to jalapeños)
Tonight it was oven baked salmon with lemon, tomato, and capers. Boiled potatoes, with sauteed zucchini. This is more like a where’s waldo dish . Can you spot the salmon ? Cheers.
Mr Bean has been collecting sea bass recipes since we have so much it stashed in the freezer. I decided to try “12 Minute Sticky Asian Sea Bass”. I thought it was a little too sweet but Mr Bean loved it. Served with sautéed spinach and sesame seeds. I wish I had the red chiles called for in the recipe as they would have made a better picture.
We had a friend over for Sichuan hot pot. I made my usual base of BTB roasted garlic & mushroom broths. Morsels to be fondue’d: line-caught cod, Savoy cabbage, bok choy, lotus root, shiitakes, fresh wonton noodle, and thin sliced tenderloin our guest brought along with a crisp bottle of Riesling – the perfect grape for almost any occasion. I also made my usual sesame oil/ginger/rice vinegar dip, and a spicy sesame/peanut sauce. Can’t remember the last time we had hot pot, so this was wonderful. My PIC made an absolutely divine Spekulatius ice cream with bourbon, vanilla extract, and toasted pecans.
Why I didn’t take a pic of the actual hot pot is beyond me Let’s blame the Riesling!
Very true! Before the advent of the Internet, recipes were culled from newspapers, Parade Magazine (Sheila Lukins had a long stint as their food editor), Reader’s Digest, and women’s magazines like Good Housekeeping and Country Living. I still make recipes from the last two magazines.
I have a scrapbook from when I was in college and just out, with lots of recipes I cut out of the NYT. Some spectacular failures from that, while I was learning to cook “fancy.”
)
Let’s blame the Riesling! 
