Bozeman, Montana, United States
I was actually not anticipating being back home from my
Oregon and California trip until late October. Conditions were such with the
fires that I returned a month earlier. I
had mostly cleaned out the stock of leftovers in my freezer between trips over
the summer when it was warm and I didn’t feel much like cooking. I didn’t think
I’d be doing a fall food porn blog entry but ended up spending a lot of time
around home over six weeks and doing lots of cooking, including restocking my freezer
with leftovers.
In colder weather, soup becomes a hot commodity (don’t mind
my dad jokes, please). With the exception
of Hungarian Mushroom Soup, my fall soup creations all had an American theme,
including Mennonite Cabbage Borscht, Montana Steak Soup (with real steak rather
than stew meat), Chicken Enchilada Soup, and Chicken, Leek, and Wild Rice Soup.
Just because the weather cools down, it doesn’t mean you can’t
eat salad. The nice thing about many
salads, of course, is that they don’t involve cooking, but other salads do
involve cooking ingredients that ultimately get served chilled or room
temperature.
Among these I made a quite good variety mostly from recipes I
found online – Cherry Tomato and Anchovy Salad, Greek Green Bean, Cannellini
Bean, and Olive Salad, Peach Caprese Salad, Vinaigrette Cole Slaw, Radicchio,
Orange, and Toasted Almond Salad, Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean Salad,
Greek Lentil Salad, and Andalusian Orange, Red Pepper, and Albacore Salad.
Notice the mostly Mediterranean theme.
In the last of those salads, I used a can of smoked albacore
tuna I bought on the Oregon Coast. I’ve,
of course, had smoked salmon and some other smoked fish before, but never smoked
tuna in a can. The flavor was much better than regular albacore. I’ll have to remember that, if I can find it
in grocery stores. While in Oregon, I also bought a huge can of clam meat. So
once I opened the can, I had to use it all within about a week, so I had a bit
of a clamfest that week with Greek Clam Pilaf, Linguine with Clams, and
Portuguese Clam Chowder, all topped off with some fresh clams.
Regardless of season, I always try to mix in some fish meals
between meat and poultry.
My main three were Sauteed Salmon with Capers and
Dill, Sea Bass San Sebastian Style, and Codfish alla Ghiotta. On a trip to a
different grocery store than I usually go to, I noticed some fresh sardines and
couldn’t resist. Canned sardines are ubiquitous, but it’s not often you come
across the fresh ones in the U.S. They’re
great grilled or broiled with just some lemon and thyme, a very common dish on
menus in Portugal and Galicia.
I go through phases of trying to be healthy and eat a high
protein diet, mostly when I’m lifting weights, but in this age of the Covid-19
plague I’ve definitely become more relaxed. That includes eating some more
pasta. I’m partial to making many of the
classic Italian pasta dishes rather than just the tomato and cream sauces that
are most common in Italian restaurants in America. My four creations this season included
Spaghetti Carbonara, Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli (typical of
Puglia region), Rigatoni with Sausage and Cream Tomato Sauce, and Penne all’ Arrabiata.
The last of those translates to “angry” rather than Arab, because of strong
flavors of red pepper flakes, kalamata olives, capers, and anchovies.
I understand
why they’re considered classic pasta dishes – all have a combination of ingredients
that works well together to make uniquely flavored dishes.
And then there was Malfatti in Tomato Sauce, a recipe that
sounded good but left some to be desired, essentially spinach and ricotta
cheese-based dumplings that are rolled into balls and boiled before being added
to the sauce. Hmmm, we’re not making
those again. Bean dishes weren’t too big
on this fall’s menu, the main exception being Alubias con Chorizo, the classic
Spanish dish of white beans with spicy sausage.
When I’m trying to eat high protein, dishes with chicken
breast are a staple of my diet. Not so much this season with only two chicken
dishes adopted to use breast meat – Hungarian Chicken Paprikash and French Coq
au Vin Rouge. I did try out a few whole birds, though, in the form of Cornish
Game Hens with Lemon and Leeks and Catalan-style Roast Duck with Pears. The duck came out delicious, much more of a
success story than the goose I made for Christmas two years ago.
Thus, I am no longer intimidated by large
fatty birds.
Sometimes I crave meat but am not too much of a steak fan,
and grilling is not a cooking technique I use much. I did made some Pork Chops au Poivre, huge
bone-in chops sauteed with lots of cracked pepper in the style of Steak au
Poivre and finished off with a red wine sauce. My main meat dishes were three
Italian recipe stews – Maiale Agrodolce (sweet and sour pork – nothing like the
Chinese restaurant kind), Agnello con Piselli (Lamb with Peas in the style of
the Romagna region), and Braised Rabbit “Italian Grandmother Style” with herbs,
vegetables, and olives.
Last but not least are vegetables. I eat lots of them but
always seek interesting recipes. I refuse to eat boring boiled vegetables or to
try to give them some flavor by making them unhealthy to eat by topping them
with lots of melted butter. My potato dishes included Two-Color Roasted Potatoes
(Red and Yukon Gold) with Garlic and Dill; and Roasted Multicolored Fingerlings
with Basque Piperade. My other European-style
vegetable dishes included Hungarian-style Green Beans (with bacon, mushrooms,
and paparika), Peperoni Agrodolce (sweet & sour peppers), Asparagus
Provencale, Hungarian Layered Cauliflower Gratin, and Bulgarian Zucchini, Dill,
and Rice with Garlic Yogurt Sauce.
Speaking of rice, I tried out a new ingredient I’ve never
used before – wild rice. I did so in two dishes – Chicken, Wild Rice, and Leek
Soup, and Wild Rice Pilaf with Pecans, Butternut Squash, Apples, and Dried Fruit.
Both were fantastic. I’m sure I’ll be using
wild rice again in the future, but I will say this about it – it takes ages to
cook.
deb Sherer
2020-11-10
Yumm !! Always so hungry after looking at your cooking pictures !! Maybe get together to make Pasta some cold winter evening :)
modernnomad67
2020-11-10
Sure, Deb. Make use of that pasta maker I gave you way back when. I've found some interesting pasta dishes that aren't just your usual red sauce and white sauce ones.