Category Archives: Home Cookin’

Cuba Meets Brooklyn

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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This is Bistec de Palomilla, a Cuban dish, included here because in my last post, Rome Meets Buenos Aires, I mentioned that I repurposed some chimichurri I had made to accompany it (see photo) and a friend asked about it. Although I don’t usually make slabs o’ beef, I was intrigued by its eponymous label in the meat case of the otherwise white-bread supermarket: not Beef Top Round Steak (which this is), but Bistec de Palomilla. Perhaps they realized that customers have figured out that it’s one tough although certainly flavorful cut of meat, and it might sell better if it had a more exotic name. Or maybe they saw me coming.


Sometimes the recipe is made from cube steak or butterflied (palomilla means moth) round steak providing a head start in the tenderization process, but it still requires some TLC to coax the best from it. The first step is to pound it into submission and marinate it overnight in lime juice, garlic, and seasonings (including oregano and cumin) along with some sliced onion. It’s typically pan fried – I did this one in a cast iron grill pan – and typically served with the rice and beans that, alas, didn’t make it into this photo.

Answering for a friend. 😉
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Rome Meets Buenos Aires

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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Back to the freezer and fridge foraging for fodder because it’s too cold to go out shopping when I already have food at home.

I had stashed a bag of four cheese ravioli in the freezer reserved for when my diet was over – but for some of us diets are never over, especially when serving quarantine time during a pandemic. Black truffle oil and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano had been slated for the final fillip but frankly, the truffle oil on hand tasted pretty lame – more likely it was 2,4-Dithiapentane oil – so remedial measures were required.

Peering into the fridge, I spotted a jar of chimichurri I had concocted when I made Bistec de Palomilla not too long ago. Chimichurri, the Argentinian condiment used to elevate grilled meat, features garlic and cilantro along with a few other piquant elements so it makes its presence known and would be worth the experiment here.

A few dabs later and I’d say it worked pretty well.

Didn’t help the diet though.
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Smoked Turkey Chicken Soup

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳


The wind chill factor makes it feel like what??

Fine. Damn the mediarologists! Full speed ahead! I guess this is going to be another one of those weeks where I don’t venture outside for any reason, which means that whatever I eat will come from the freezer, the fridge, and my cornucopious pantry. A good one for hanging out in the kitchen and cooking, I’d say.

Here then is a wintertime soup cobbled together from smoked turkey wings and necks that had been hibernating in the freezer, simmered long and low in previously homemade chicken broth along with carrots, cabbage, and some herbs (which were on the way out anyway).

Simple pleasures.

More to come….
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Pongal

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Pongal, the holiday, is a four day long harvest festival occurring around mid-January (on the 14th this year) that is observed primarily in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu but like most spiritual anniversaries can’t really be confined to a specific geographical area, diasporas being what they are. One of the most important holidays celebrated by the Tamil community, it is characterized by social gatherings, time-honored rituals, prayers for health, happiness, and prosperity, and, of course, traditional foods. Bidding farewell to the winter solstice and marking the beginning of the sun god’s annual ascent in the zodiac, each day of the holiday features its own set of conventions. It is the second and principal day on which pongal, the dish, is prepared.

The word pongal means to boil or spill over and the seasonal milk plus newly harvested rice preparation does indeed overflow as it cooks, symbolizing the abundant harvest for which participants exuberantly give thanks. The dish manifests in two varieties: sweet (chakkara or sakkarai pongal) which calls for jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) along with raisins, cashews, and spices like cardamom, and savory (ven or khara pongal) which emphasizes an array of more potent spices and herbs.

A multitude of recipes is extant, of course, some saturated with copious ghee (usually the savory variants), some shot through with coconut (usually the sweet), but most of the recipes I’ve found call for the addition of moong dal (mung bean or green gram) to keep company with the rice, similar to North Indian dal khichdi. For today’s culinary adventure, I decided to prepare the savory version.

After toasting the dal, I cooked it together with rice in equal parts (again, recipes vary, often with more rice than dal) using more water than customary to achieve the proper cohesive consistency; they’re prepared sans seasoning – all of the distinctive ingredients are folded in afterwards.

One of the essentials of many world cuisines involves dry toasting spices to bring out their essence. In addition to employing that technique, Indian cuisine takes it one step further by making a tadka, tempering whole herbs and spices in oil to bloom their flavors beyond dry roasting and to flavor the oil as well; it’s the foundation of many Indian dishes and one I frequently use. In this case, ghee provided the lipid component (make sure it’s high quality and fresh) and my “distinctive ingredients” were cashew nuts, cumin seeds, cracked Tellicherry peppercorns for their citrusy notes, curry leaves, grated fresh ginger, green chilies, a pinch of hing (aka asafoetida) and turmeric.

Simply fold the tadka into the prepared rice and dal mixture, cook for another minute or two, et voilà. The texture of the dish should be a little like risotto, think porridge rather than discrete grains like biryani – after all, it’s comfort food; some recipes even call for mashing the rice a bit. It’s often served with coconut chutney (see photo) and sambar.

I confess to consuming it with greedy gusto since this particular combination of cashews, herbs and spices really resonates for me; of course, now I’m craving the sweet version too. Next time!
 
 
Happy Pongal!
 
 

Rumpumpumpom – A Christmas Cocktail

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Okay, I freely admit it. As a countermeasure against COVID stress and concomitant dumbfounding national politics, I started listening to Christmas music earlier this year. Much earlier. Like when it was still light out at 8pm.

It seemed that every day brought some new, depressing wrinkle to the headlines, and in order to survive, many folks went on a quest to find something, anything, that would provide some meaning, a dependable sense of personal stability. For me, at least, there was comfort to be gleaned from hearing the cozy, ageless tunes of a generally happier time that, unlike the news, required no rapt attention, songs that just droned their continual backdrop of falalalalas, hohohos, and parumpumpumpoms.

Now, the essence of an earworm is repetition. Rumpumpumpom. Taken out of context, what does rumpumpumpom even mean? From its relentless, nagging reiteration, I kept sensing that the word itself was on a quest to find its own meaning – that sense induced, to be sure, because it was five o’clock Somewhere – another prophylactic conceit that has gained popularity during these times – and my appreciation for that pastime led me to conclude that the rumpumpumpom conundrum would be solved if only it had a proper definition.

And now it does.

Behold the Rumpumpumpom, my custom Christmas cocktail.

Start with a base of RUM mixed with Hood PUMpkin eggnog, in proportions to taste and proximity to the aforementioned hour of the day. Float a glug of POMegranate juice into the mixture and drag a toothpick (or similar) through it to create a festive holiday design (admittedly not my strong suit). Garnish with PUMpkin seeds. Et voilà: Rumpumpumpom with a raison d’être.

Much to my surprise, it actually worked. Rum and nog are a classic couple and the tangy tartness of the pomegranate juice cut the sweetness of the pumpkin eggnog. By the time I had finished tinkering, it was eight o’clock Somewhere and by then I was easily entertained by the red juice and green seeds accidentally providing unintended Christmassy accents. Time for some photos and a few final taste tests.

And now…it is midnight Somewhere. The quest has been fulfilled, the music has run its course, the room is silent and serene.
 
 
And Somewhere, Someone with more artistic talent and a steadier hand could no doubt squiggle a Paloma Picasso-esque Christmas tree to float atop this libation, perhaps even trimmed with a solitary pomegranate ruby at its apex — and we would toast the holiday together.
 
 
A boy can dream.
 
 
 
 

Winter Squash: Quashing Questions – Golden Papaya Squash

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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Golden papaya squash, reputedly named for its shape, was new to me. Its flesh was on the dry/satiny-smooth side of the texture continuum which, I suspected, might fulfill an unspoken promise of sweetness, but this one needed some help in that department. (Remember: named for its shape, not its flavor.)


What you see here is my effort to rescue the situation with a glaze cobbled together from orange blossom water, brown sugar, melted butter and salt. Mission accomplished.

So there you have it. The final chapter in my thoroughly unscientific, absolutely non-exhaustive, utterly subjective treatise on diminutive winter squash.

Of course, now I’m facing a fridge full of leftover prepared squash, so I guess you know what I’m having for dinner tomorrow, right?
 
Pizza!      Sushi!!      Nachos!!!

ANYTHING BUT WINTER SQUASH!

 
 
 
(For those who are just joining us, the saga begins here.)
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Winter Squash: Quashing Questions – Sweet Dumpling Squash

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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We talked about sweet dumpling squash in the carnival squash post. This miniature charmer was sweeter than carnival squash (contrary to my expectations based on admittedly limited research) and almost a little nutty with a tender texture and thin skin, so I decided that it would make a perfectly irresistible example of stuffed squash, complete with edible serving bowl.


Turned out to be rather photogenic as well. I cut off the top, cleaned it out, and roasted it flesh side down until it was soft; then I filled it with a mixture of sweet cranberries, chewy wild rice, crunchy toasted cornbread croutons, sautéed apple cubes and pecans. Looks good enough to eat, right? I might even consider adding this to my already overstuffed Thanksgiving menu.

Next (and last) up, golden papaya squash.
 
(For those who are just joining us, the saga begins here.)
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Winter Squash: Quashing Questions – Orange Kabocha Squash

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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Not merely an alternate color scheme, the orange kabocha squash is actually a red kuri/kabocha hybrid. This one was about six inches in diameter, conforming to the rubric of petite proportions I settled upon at the outset of this project. Japanese pumpkins are often described as tasting like a cross between pumpkin and sweet potato; this was no exception.


Since I simmered the other kabocha, I decided to give this one a straightforward oven roast treatment. Certainly tasty as you’d expect and falling along the dry/satiny-smooth side of the texture continuum, it did not disappoint. I suppose I should have done more with it, but my kitchen has essentially transmogrified into a culinary cucurbita laboratory of late and I wanted a baseline experiment. (Perhaps there’s a reason why chef’s whites look a little like a lab coat. 😉)

Next up, sweet dumpling squash.
 
(For those who are just joining us, the saga begins here.)
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Winter Squash: Quashing Questions – Winter Sweet Kabocha Squash

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👨‍🍳 Cooking in the Time of COVID 👨‍🍳

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I know kabocha as a dark green, firm-fleshed squash often reputed to taste like a blend of pumpkin, chestnut, and sweet potato, and it’s another of my favorites (most Japanese squashes garner high marks from me). But one crate at the farmers’ market bore a sign that read “winter sweet kabocha” and another was identified as merely “winter kabocha” so I inferred that they were two different varieties. I bought one of each (see the pair side by side in this photo) and decided to pass on the standard green variety – I mean really, how many kabochas can I use? Since the pair tasted pretty much the same (I suspect it was a labeling issue), I’m pretty sure in retrospect that purchasing both winter versions had been unnecessary and it would have been wiser to compare winter sweet kabocha to the more common green one (which I didn’t do) or the orange variation (which I did do).


Since kabocha of any color holds its shape commendably when steamed or simmered…


…I couldn’t resist making Kabocha no Nimono (かぼちゃの煮物), a classic Japanese treatment that simmers chunks of kabocha in dashi (Japanese soup stock) seasoned with sake and/or mirin, soy sauce, sugar and salt; the garnish is fresh ginger sliced into matchsticks. Very satisfying.

Next up, the aforementioned orange kabocha squash.
 
(For those who are just joining us, the saga begins here.)
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️
 
 

Winter Squash: Quashing Questions – Tetsukabuto Squash

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The Japanese tetsukabuto squash is a cross between kabocha and butternut squashes, which makes it a C. moschata and a C. maxima hybrid.


Its flavor reminded me of sweet pumpkin with nutty overtones; on the dry/satiny-smooth side of the texture continuum, it’s sufficiently firm to cut into cubes, for example, and it will retain its shape fairly well. Intensely flavorful, it’s another standout of the group.


I tinkered with a couple of different preparations for this one. This classic combination was an afterthought (that’s why there’s not all that much of it) but it was delicious with this squash. Essentially, there are four main ingredients: orecchiette pasta, crumbled hot Italian sausage, lacinato kale sautéed with garlic in the sausage drippings, and dollops of squash (which should have been cubes), along with a bit of minced fresh sage. A more decadent version adds a splash of chicken broth and heavy cream – another superb afterthought that didn’t make it into this photo but fortunately did make it into my mouth 😉. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. I only wish I had made more of it.

Next up, winter sweet kabocha squash.
 
(For those who are just joining us, the saga begins here.)
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. ❤️