cook: salmon dinner

I spied this recipe on Instagram and even took pictures of it in order to re-create it. I love a medium rare salmon and thought slow roasting would result in that soft, juicy fish. 

Even though I roasted the salmon 5 minutes less than the recipe called for, I thought the fish was overcooked. I had some leftover crushed garlic and heavy whipping cream leftover from Ooni pizza night the previous week and folded it into cappellini or angel hair pasta boiled for 2 minutes. I forgot to reserve pasta water and instead just added hot water to the cream sauce to thin though grated Pecorino Romano thickened it again. Oh and I had sugar snap peas languishing in my vegetable bin, and so the green vegetable was tossed into the boiling pasta water too.  

I did not love this dinner. The salmon was meh. I don't care for the brown sugar and salt rub and will return to slathering salmon with butter and olive oil and a little salt. Also I think I prefer the high heat of 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes more or less and then done--the interior of the fish is rare and to my liking. However, the chive, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil with 1/2 teaspoon salt poured on top of the cooked fish before it rests tasted amazing--that I'd do again. I also discovered I'm not a fan of Pecorino Romano--too strong though hubby seems to like it more than Parmigiano Reggiano. And adding greens to the boiling pasta is such a handy shortcut to integrating vegetables into a creamy pasta.

At least I tried a new cooking technique, and maybe I will try slow roasting again. I think that 200 degrees in a convection oven and checking the temperature of the fish halfway through roasting would've produced better results. This past Monday night, hubs and I ate a birthday dessert gifted by my beautiful assistant, Michaela. She bought him a chocolate chiffon layered with whipped cream and fruit and me a whipped cream white cake layered with blackberry and blueberry fruit. The cake slices came from my favorite Korean bakery, Paris Baguette. She even included candles in the gift box.

Patrick, of course, had to drizzle Guittard chocolate syrup on his cake. I love this bakery's fluffy and soft cakes because they're not overly sweet. Dinners this week have mainly been leftovers or grilled sandwich and soup.                                  

The weather has definitely been autumnal. All I've wanted to do is nest and rest.

cook + celebrate: pizza + seafood dining

It’s been a whirlwind of a week. Cecilia decided to throw a pizza party on Monday, and so I volunteered to bake her pies in my Ooni. The pizzas were phenomenal despite the burnt edge of one of the earlier pies. However, the last margherita with loads of arugula and basil was the BEST tasting.                         

 

Bay Area weather this week has been brilliantly warm and sunny. My neighbors, Helen and Nancy decided to take me to a birthday lunch at Half Moon Bay. I chose Barbara's Fish Trap.

Because we had a 30 minute wait, we walked the fishing pier behind the restaurant. I talked to the crabbers and fisherwomen--one red crab and a small croaker.

I knew I was not gonna get to walk the beach, being with two sedentary women, and the weather being too blazing for my hot flashes.

  

The seaside view, however, and my beer were enjoyable.

 

I especially loved fantasizing about sailing on this boat called Digression.

After lunch and a run to Half Moon Bay Nursery, I promptly took a cold shower and napped with Sadie before it was time to go to dinner. I basically exercised (swam a mile) and then slept most of my birthday. After eating an fried oyster sandwich, I wasn't sure I would be hungry for dinner. Nope! I told Patrick I wanted us to dine at Gao Viet Kitchen for my birthday. I ordered the Crispy Imperial Rolls. I noticed that Patrick ate more than one. I brought home what we didn't eat and wrapped the two left in lettuce and herbs as a late night snack.

I wanted something green, something salad-y, and the closest was the Mango Salad with Shrimp. It had too much bell peppers and not enough green mango. Really what I wanted was a green papaya salad with shrimp, but on the menu the papaya salad was served with beef.

I didn't choose to go to my original restaurant pick of PPQ Dungeness Island because of a few negative Yelp reviews and was urged by Cecilia to try instead the downtown San Mateo Vietnamese restaurant. So okay I ordered Gao Viet's grilled lobster with garlic lemongrass chili lemon butter sauce with garlic noodles. The shellfish was delicious and messy, and I'm tempted to cook this dish on my own for Patrick's birthday.

I told Patrick to take pictures of the dish and to messaged them to me because I had forgotten my phone. And I'm committing to memory all the embellishments like mint and scallions and red chilis (sweet chili sauce perhaps?) so that I can cook this at home. Patrick did say it was the best Vietnamese food he's ever eaten, and so now I'm on a mission to re-create this meal on Halloween weekend. 

October 5th, my 58th, was a pleasurable and happy birthday. 

cook: arroz caldo

It was the eve of my birthday, and I was longing for a comfort of home. My mom always used to cook Arroz Caldo, a chicken and rice stew redolent of garlic and ginger and fish sauce. The recipe called for a cup of rice and 3 pounds of chicken! Umm, I only had one pound package of chicken wings, and so I went to the supermarket and picked up lots more. I fried the wings in a tablespoon or so of grapeseed oil to brown and render its fat. And then I removed them from the dutch oven to hold in the lid.

 

There was some nice schmaltz in the pot to which I added chopped onion, garlic and ginger.

 

I softened the aromatics in the fat to soften and then added white and brown rice to toast.

 

A lotta fond at the bottom of the pot to which I then added the chicken and water to cover.

I also ladled in tablespoons of fish sauce and let that mother boil. Sometimes I left the lid on but I wanted the rice and water to simmer into porridge, and so I placed the lid ajar or sometimes completely off as it cooked down for an hour and half.

While my arroz caldo simmered, I halved calamansi or Filipino citrus, took out the crispy garlic in oil, hard boiled a few eggs, chopped scallions, and halved bok choy--I used those greens instead of spinach in my lugaw.

Unlike my mom's and other porridges, mine was a caramel brown, probably because I browned the onions too much and used brown rice and lots of patis or fish sauce.

I had also added lots of black pepper because husband said it was rather spicy. Cecilia liked it though, and I have leftover for more bowls of comfort.

cook: ethnic breakfasts and greek sunday dinner

Before Saturday clay, I decided to use up the half avocado in the vegetable bin and the two telera rolls in the pantry to make chorizo egg tortas.  There was no time for process pics as I had to get to the clay studio. Here in California, we're lucky that we can find Mexican bread at Safeway and chorizo at the Grocery Outlet. I shaped raw chorizo into a patty (more ground pork than filler from a particular sausage company) and fried it. On top I put a slice of cheddar and chopped pickled jalapenos to melt. On the split and toasted rolls, I spread chipotle mayo and guacamole and chopped green onions and cilantro.

The piece de resistance, of course, was the fried egg.

Oh my! Delicious AF, and next time I'll use a jalapeno cheese bagel to sandwich those ingredients. And because Sadie was on my heels, my dog came to clay class with me, where my cylinder turned into a small, tall pitcher.

It's now Sunday morning, and I've got leftover chorizo as well as pinto beans I boiled before clay class. I've also got leftover brown and white rice, which impelled me to pull out the longaniza in my freezer to thaw along with the package of phyllo dough. I fried the Filipino sausage with a few slices of tomato, and I added toasted garlic and its oil to stale rice.                               

 

And not having to fry the rice but just microwave it with the garlic and oil was so convenient. In the meantime, I fried my eggs sunny side up. I had bought expensive GreenPan from Food 52, but really any pan like my favorite stainless steel and cast iron are nonstick if you add enough oil. The company recommends cooking low to medium heat to prolong the longevity of the pan, but I consider a hot pan my friend. I want that Maillard process to brown my food. Also I don't find them that nonstick, and it kind of drives me crazy to not use the green side of a scrunge pad to scrub my nonstick cookware. However, I can't quite get rid of my nonstick cookware yet. I'll try to get more uses out of them before I donate them. Putting a lid over the eggs ensures that the whites cook to solid but that the yolks remain runny.

 

Another favorite weekend breakfast in the books.

I never got around to re-frying the boiled pinto beans, nor making breakfast burritos for the week. Maybe I'll have an afternoon free this week. 

Next up, a Greek dinner. And I started cooking after lunch! I started with chopping onions and washing spinach.         

I then chopped the spinach and sprinkled salt over it in a colander to sit at least 10 minutes before squeezing excess water. I then chopped the fresh herbs: dill, a bit of basil, mint, green onions. 

  

I then added yogurt and crumbled feta to the herbs and spinach. I knew I was still missing ingredients and referred again to the recipe. Good thing! I still needed to add nutmeg, cayenne (I substituted aleppo and harissa pepper), black pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and an egg. I totally forgot to add garlic. However, the filling was so yummy, which I kept tasting and adding a bit more crumbled feta.

The difficult part of making spanokopita is handling the phyllo dough. I didn't cut, nor get fancy with the crush. I used a stick of butter or half cup melted to brush on the 6 layers of phyllo I did use.

Afterward, I sprinkled lots of white and black sesame seeds and scored the spinach pie with a sharp paring knife.

Eggplant next, which I sliced before laying on a sheet pan and sprinkling salt. Not pictured is the zucchini I also sliced and sprinkled salt on. I always wondered if I had too many sheet pans, but they sure are handy for tasks like prepping and broiling vegetables.

I had blotted the slices of eggplant and zucchini with paper towels, and while they were roasting in a 400 degree oven, I also started the ragout. I browned the onions and the lamb and tomato paste and bay leaves and deglazed with white wine and vegetable bone broth. I then added a couple of chopped tomatoes as well as a teaspoon of bouillon chicken powder, a couple teaspoons oregano, one and a half tablespoons white sugar, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Instead of salt, I added dashes of Golden Mountain seasoning sauce and boiled the meat mixture until thick. I then laid all the slices of roasted eggplant into the bottom of my dad's cast iron pan. I should have put a few spoons of sauce first, but no matter.

On top of the eggplant, more meat sauce and then the slices of roasted zucchini. Then more meat sauce. Then a béchamel I made into which I forgot to cool and then combine with an egg and did not photograph because I was interrupted by a visit from Mocha, a neighbor's dog who wanted her treat. It was already past 6 o'clock, and Patrick had just arrived from the gym. I got to cooking the completed moussaka by popping it into a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 30 minutes.

And I think it turned out beautifully. That's béchamel, not melted mozzarella on top of my finished moussaka.

There was no room in my upper oven too for the spanokopita, and so I turned on my lower oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit to bake at the same time. I think it turned out beautifully too.

And I was so ready for dinner after 4 hours of kitchen work.

 

Episodes of Before the 90 Days: 90 Day Fiancé and Ted Lasso later, I'm already in a quandary of over what to cook this week. Fish me thinks.