cook: potato leek soup

I'm still eating for fuel more than for fun. My lunch below is what I call a California Niçoise: a Yukon potato and celery and scallion salad dressed with just mayonnaise, lemon juice and a bit of Dijon mustard; edamame; Castelvetrano olives; boiled green beans; leftover broiled salmon with herbs; and a hard boiled egg.

I think my palate quickly became accustomed to simpler flavors, and cooking sure became easier.

Recently, hubs came home with a huge crop of leeks. What he thought were garlic shoots turned into 10 pounds of leeks. He said he wanted me to cook a potato leek soup instead of Colcannon. And so I obliged. I rinsed a lot of dirt from the leeks, the green leafy tops of which I boiled for 30 minutes with a tablespoon of salt, a huge bunch of lemon and English thyme, garlic cloves, and pepper. That was it! And the scent fragranced my condo as I was chopping the white and light green roots, the garlic, and the white potatoes. With the stove turned off and the broth cooling, I sauteed the chopped leeks in more than the 3 tablespoons of butter called for in the recipe. Once the leeks softened, I poured in the strained leek broth, garlic and potatoes and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

I had leek broth leftover. I borrowed Cecilia's immersion blender to puree the soup and unfortunately burned myself as well as drop a glass jar of the soup I was giving to Cecilia. I kind of gave up at that point.

The soup, however, was fucking delicious and because I used a lot of butter, no need to add heavy cream or even milk, nor the lemon juice called for in the recipe. So delicious that I plan on cooking the rest of the leeks in more soup with the pound of potatoes I have left.

cook: eating for nourishment and panang curry

These days for my postmenopausal health, I've been eating more vegetables and fruits for longevity and to fuel my body rather than just titillate my palate. Below is a school lunch of leftover stroganoff, a green salad with spring greens and crunchy vegetables, homemade dressing, and half and half for my morning coffee.

 

And for good measure, a tangerine for a sweet snack afterward.

Instead of my favorite grilled cheese after some hard paddling, I made a Saturday lunch last weekend of turkey, avocado, arugula, tomato, banana peppers, red onion, and broccoli sprouts on sourdough.

I loved my California Dagwood, but wish I had remembered to toast the bread. 

For dinner this past weekend, I did a fridge cleanout and instead of frying Chicken Karaage with tempura vegetables, I put that bell pepper, zucchini, and kabocha squash into a Thai curry. And to amp up the flavor of that panaang curry paste, I sauteed it in coconut oil with onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and then added brown sugar and fish sauce into the coconut milk as well as garnish the stew with lots of Thai and Italian basil. 

I had to cook another pot of jasmine rice because I burned the first pot, but it forced a slower and lower simmer of the vegetables in the curry sauce.

15 minutes of cooking another pot of rice and that very low heat kept the zucchini and bell pepper crisp and the kabocha soft but intact.

Thai food for a Sunday supper was comforting and delicious, but also healthier. Cecilia thanked me for serving her vegetables.

cook: hatch chile cheddar apple hand pies

Ever since Pi Day, I hanker for food with a crust. And so inspired by Cybil, I made my own version of an apple green chile cheddar pie, but portable. While the prepared pie dough was defrosting, I peeled 2 Granny Smith apples and squeezed lemon juice. The New York Times recipe for the filling called for brown sugar, white sugar, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice too to be added.

I also bought a pound of ground pork because I thought the same ingredients minus the apples and the spices would make a delicious empanada. I chopped a white onion and garlic and added adobo sauce as well as green chilies and oregano. I was thinking that some gifted spiced pear butter would make a nice addition.

However, there was not enough pie dough for both kinds of hand pies. And so into the fridge the pork went with plans to get more Hatch chilies and also use Habanero cheese when I get to making the empanadas. In the meantime, the fruit pies baked in a 400 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes after I rolled a circle, filled with the spiced apple, folded over and crimped to close, cut slits for steam to escape and brushed with egg wash.

I think the pies looked GBD (golden brown delicious).

They were good, but honestly they needed more spicy heat and more cheddar cheese. Next time.

clay: spoons and scoops

Clay Body: Laguna's Bmix 10 (Smooth)

Glaze: Blue celadon and Artic (gloss white) cone 10 glazes

Method/Firing: Coil built/Cone 10 Reduction

In between class periods at work, I'll pop into the ceramics classroom and grab a hunk of clay and then wedge it and start pinching and pulling. There were two longer handled spoons of which I kind of hated the darker and wholly unpredictable purple rutile glaze, but I do love these celadon and white glazes. The spoons look even more beautiful in sunlight.

These scoops are already in my flour and sugar bins. Of course, I'll be making more but need to burnish surfaces that aren't glazed.

clay: cone 10 urn/vase (coil pot)

Clay Body: Laguna's Bmix 10 (Smooth)

Glaze: Marshamallow or cone 10 matte white glaze

Method/Firing: Coil built/Cone 10 Reduction

Of late, I'm in love with extruded coils and pinch potting to make this pot. I've been mimicking Frances Palmer's forms, and on this vase I used a loop tool to flute the smoothed coils and erected slabs to form the base and rolled balls to adorn the rim. The handles were from the extruded coils. Hubs likes it, he says, though I am putting in a plastic cage or some chicken wire inside to hold stems.

clay: rutile coil pot

Clay Body: Laguna's Bmix 10 (Smooth)

Glaze: Rutile or cone 10 glaze

Method/Firing: Coil built/Cone 10 Reduction

Had I known how dark the rutile would turn out, I might have just glazed this pot white.

I was expecting a creamy oatmeal color with a subtle mottling of pink, lavender and light blue--not the dark purple I see above. From Ceramics Monthly:

Rutile is that unbelievably beautiful glaze additive that produces colors ranging from light and dark blue, to tan, gold, yellow, and even purple. It also produces a range of crystal formations. It seems to behave however it chooses, depending on the glaze base and the firing conditions. After a number of inconsistent glaze batches, old ceramic hands learn to test their new batches of rutile before committing to a full 5-gallon bucket of glaze. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to hear of studio ceramic artists purchasing multiple 50-pound bags of rutile such that their glaze will be consistent for at least a few years. These phenomena all come down to one thing with rutile: inconsistency. Rutile is a mined colorant, and as such, its makeup depends on the mine source. As mines are exhausted or businesses open and close, rutile sources change—often too frequently. The problem here is that rutile isn’t just a metal oxide or carbonate; it is a blend of three or four of them. While it is sold as light or dark rutile, the complexity and chemistry of the colorant is far more convoluted than its sale description would suggest, as seen in various natural rutile sources (1).

I had loved this pot in its greenware and bisque form. I suppose I'll make it again. 

A couple people have said they love the pot, and the vase is growing on me. It does coordinate with the plant pots I have.

cook: green chile pork pepper jack hand pies

I liked my Hatch Chile Granny Smith Cheddar hand pies, but I wanted my pies even more savory. And so added a can of Hatch chilies, drained, to a mixture of sauteed ground pork, onion, garlic, adobo sauce, cumin, oregano, jalapeno, and cilantro. I then stuffed the meat and herbs and spices with slices of pepper jack into pie crust, which I brushed with an egg wash and baked for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. 

I loved them, and so did my neighbors Cecilia and Nancy. I aim to make them again but with carnitas and chipotle peppers and spiced pear butter.