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What are you making for dinner tonite?

What are you making for dinner tonite?
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  • Post #1441 - October 7th, 2021, 1:21 pm
    Post #1441 - October 7th, 2021, 1:21 pm Post #1441 - October 7th, 2021, 1:21 pm
    How about a peach glaze for grilled or oven-roasted chicken thighs?
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #1442 - October 7th, 2021, 6:48 pm
    Post #1442 - October 7th, 2021, 6:48 pm Post #1442 - October 7th, 2021, 6:48 pm
    Back, once again, to Chapter 1, Page 1 of the Suburban's Dinner Cookbook. Started with a familiar side dish prep . . .

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    Mise En Place & Yoshikazu Tanaka Blue #1 Gyuto, 210mm
    Zucchini, 4x gelatinous pork stock, minced garlic, salt, black pepper and evoo. A super straightforward prep. I usually do this without the stock but as long as I had some on hand, I plunked a blob in there. It enriched the dish but was totally unnecessary.

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    Sauteed Zucchini
    Cooked it hot and fast to keep it from getting too sweet or too soft.

    And, of course, charcoal-grilled chicken thighs . . .

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    On The Platter On The Kitchen Table
    Unlike with Sunday night's short ribs, I did *not* beat the rain tonight but did manage to get this off the grill with minimal sprinklage hitting it.

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    Plated Up
    With surprise esquites made with ears of late-season corn that Mrs. Suburban found in the back of the fridge (Instant Pot). I think -- and sort of hope, if we're being honest -- that this is truly the end of our corn for the season. :D

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1443 - October 8th, 2021, 6:00 pm
    Post #1443 - October 8th, 2021, 6:00 pm Post #1443 - October 8th, 2021, 6:00 pm
    I found a recipe which sounded really good with a pistachio mole verde, and dumplings of masa and chorizo... and it just didn't work. The recipe didn't make nearly the number of dumplings (chochoyotes) it was supposed to, they fell apart when simmered and stuck to the pan when crisped up, making a recipe for four just enough for two (with less of the garnishes).
    Now, it was very tasty (if a bit salty), but I wish it worked.
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    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #1444 - October 10th, 2021, 6:42 pm
    Post #1444 - October 10th, 2021, 6:42 pm Post #1444 - October 10th, 2021, 6:42 pm
    Meat & 2 . . .

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    Mushroom Mise En Place & Yoshikazu Tanaka Blue #1 Gyuto, 210mm
    4x gelatinous pork stock, evoo, red wine, black pepper, salt, shallots, minced garlic, quartered and halved creminis.

    These Costco creminis were at the end of the line. It was use them or lose them time. Quick saute of the shallots in the evoo, then added the mushrooms and garlic. Seasoned them, added the wine and the stock, and simmered it all until the mushrooms gave up all their moisture, then absorbed the pot liquor. Once reduced to where I wanted it, I turned off the heat and chucked in a few cubes of cold, unsalted butter to emulsify.

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    Kale Mise En Place & Yoshikazu Tanaka Blue #1 Gyuto, 210mm
    Evoo, black pepper, apple cider vinegar, granulated sugar, minced garlic, Ukrainian kielbasa, yellow onion, salt and Redbore Curly Kale from Three Sisters Garden.

    I can't believe I'm writing this but this kale is so good, I actually get excited by it. Best kale I can ever remember cooking. It's firm, sweet and slightly bitter. it arrives in perfect condition and it cooks up so nicely -- tender but with some bite, and not mushy at all. This is one of my very faves. Fwiw, the bowl in the pic above only holds about a third of the kale I cooked. Even after cleaning and stemming two pounds, the yield was quite voluminous. Most of it was still in the sink when I snapped this pic. It all fit in the 12-quart stock pot and by the time it was done cooking, it probably could have fit in the 4-quart sauce pan!

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    Grilling
    Trussed, oiled and seasoned hanger steaks. Hadn't had these in a while and they were really nice.

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    On The Platter
    Just beat the rain but did not beat the darkness. I brought this pic back a little bit after the fact.

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    Plated Up
    Charcoal-grilled hanger steak, braised kale with smoked sausage, and simmered mushrooms.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1445 - October 11th, 2021, 8:58 am
    Post #1445 - October 11th, 2021, 8:58 am Post #1445 - October 11th, 2021, 8:58 am
    I follow a North Indian vegetarian chef on YouTube and he posted a recipe using techniques I had not seen before.

    Aloo Muli Ki Thichwani

    The vegetables and the aromatics are all smashed together, so all their flavors blend in. Plus it has a smaller number and amount of spices than I am used to in Indian food, especially North Indian vegetarian dishes. I added Tofu for extra protein, but otherwise followed the recipe. Turned out fantastic, with all the flavors blended in.
  • Post #1446 - October 11th, 2021, 6:38 pm
    Post #1446 - October 11th, 2021, 6:38 pm Post #1446 - October 11th, 2021, 6:38 pm
    Indianbadger wrote:I follow a North Indian vegetarian chef on YouTube and he posted a recipe using techniques I had not seen before.

    Aloo Muli Ki Thichwani

    The vegetables and the aromatics are all smashed together, so all their flavors blend in. Plus it has a smaller number and amount of spices than I am used to in Indian food, especially North Indian vegetarian dishes. I added Tofu for extra protein, but otherwise followed the recipe. Turned out fantastic, with all the flavors blended in.

    Very nice. That is a super unconventional method and one I'd never seen before. I definitely have to try it out. Thanks, for the link.

    Had to play the hand I was dealt today. Wanted turkey breast on the bone but the Mrs. could only find a full, boneless breast that had been rolled and netted. With no time to brine or marinade, I really wanted to cook it over charcoal & wood to impart some additional flavor, and it was raining but I didn't let that stop me . . .

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    Boneless Turkey Breast
    Removed the netting, unfurled it and slathered it with evoo. From there, seasoned what would end up as the inside, trussed it, splashed on bit more oil and re-seasoned it.

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    Grilling Under The Patio Umbrella
    Cooking indirect with lump charcoal and some oak chunks. At this point, after about 40 minutes, I rotated the roll. I had the probe in, set to alarm when the breast reached 140F.

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    On The Platter
    Pulled it at 142F. It only took about 75 minutes on the grill to get there. After that, I tented it and it rose to 153F before we unroped it and sliced it up. Not dry but it could have been a tad moister. Next time, I'll allow enough time to marinate or brine it and I'll pull it at 135F.

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    Plated Up
    Smoke-Roasted Turkey Breast and Mrs. Suburban's World Famous Tomato-Garlic Green Beans.

    Happy Monday! :)

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1447 - October 11th, 2021, 6:51 pm
    Post #1447 - October 11th, 2021, 6:51 pm Post #1447 - October 11th, 2021, 6:51 pm
    One of this month's cooking mags (probably Milk Street but it could have been Cook's Illustrated) had a porchetta-style turkey breast. Nowhere near the richness, lacking a nice pork belly, but spreading an herb mixture before rolling and tying is a good plan regardless.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #1448 - October 12th, 2021, 1:09 pm
    Post #1448 - October 12th, 2021, 1:09 pm Post #1448 - October 12th, 2021, 1:09 pm
    That porchetta-style turkey breast is in the latest Cooks Illustrated magazine (as we all know, that's paywalled, but there's the link for anyone who can access it).

    I usually enjoy reading CI's recipe development articles*, formulaic though they may be, but I know people who don't. Unfortunately, something that doesn't seem to be part of the CI formula (at least not since J. Kenji López-Alt stopped writing for them) is acknowledging that anyone else ever had an idea before them. (The starkest contrast to this is Felicity Cloake's Cook the Perfect column in the Guardian, which does its research by reviewing and comparing the time-tested recipes of a handful of famous chefs before deciding how to synthesize the findings into a single recipe).

    I mention this because I saw in the CI article/recipe comments a reference to "the Julia recipe," which I'm guessing is a reference to this 2020 recipe by Ina Garten, adapated for the New York Times by Julia Moskin. I wanted to think it was a reference to a Julia Child recipe for a stuffed rolled turkey breast, but among the Julia Child turkey recipes I found, that wasn't one of them.

    There's also this Serious Eats (J. Kenji López-Alt) version, from 2013 originally, I think, updated in 2018 and 2019, which CI doesn't acknowledge either; no surprise.

    Here's another one that looks good to me, with a sausage stuffing. And of course there are others.

    Glad I wandered down this little rabbit hole, as I've always found turkey breast boring but have a renewed interest in it after seeing these recipes.

    * And if you do subscribe to CI online and enjoy reading the recipe development articles, here's a good tip for you, if you don't already know it: if you want to have access to a recipe development article in the future, bookmark it separately from the bookmark for the recipe itself, because the recipe development articles are not made readily available online---even to subscribers--after a few years---just the recipes themselves. If you haven't bookmarked the recipe development article separately, the only way to find it later is to browse through the online issues themselves, which subscribers can always do but which is a more tedious search method.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #1449 - October 12th, 2021, 6:27 pm
    Post #1449 - October 12th, 2021, 6:27 pm Post #1449 - October 12th, 2021, 6:27 pm
    Leftovers extravaganza* and misoyaki black cod . . .

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    Plated Up
    This is the end of our freezer stock black cod. I'm sad that it's gone but it was the right time. 24-hour marinade (white miso, sake and mirin), followed by a 12-minute broil. Served it with a variety of reheated leftovers from the past few days . . . Korean-style glazed eggplant, pan-roasted brussels sprouts and long-simmered cremini mushrooms.

    Tomorrow, I hope to have more time and more ambition but tonight, I can see the light bulb again in my refrigerator. :D

    =R=

    * Calling the group of leftovers an extravaganza did not make them any more exciting. 8)
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1450 - October 14th, 2021, 6:48 pm
    Post #1450 - October 14th, 2021, 6:48 pm Post #1450 - October 14th, 2021, 6:48 pm
    Cooking what I presume will be the last okra of the season from Three Sisters Garden. It had been here a while and I needed to get to it before it lapsed . . .

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    Mise En Place & Itsuo Doi Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
    Okra, ghee, yogurt, lemon (for juice), minced garlic, grated ginger, diced jalapeno, tomato paste, buttermilk, seasoning plate #1 (garam masala, salt, coriander, turmeric), seasoning plate #2 (asafoetida, cumin seed, caraway), Kashmiri chili powder and yellow onion.

    Start by sweating the okra and onion in some ghee. Once the onion starts to brown and a fond forms in the pan, remove the okra and onions from the pan and set them aside. Next, bloom seasoning plate #2 in some ghee. Once fragrant -- and before it starts to burn -- add the garlic, ginger and jalapeno. From there, add in the rest of the seasonings, and a few tablespoons each of the buttermilk and yogurt. Wait two minutes and squeeze in some lemon. When that's all bubbling nicely, add back the par-cooked okra and onion, and some water if necessary (and, it was because I used tomato paste, instead of tomato puree, which has a higher moisture content). Simmer covered until the okra is tender and the sauce is reduced. In this case, that took about 45 minutes.

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    Plated Up
    Bhindi masala, garnished with parsley and chives. Paired this with some reheated pizza that was leftover from last night. All in all, not a bad combination.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1451 - October 15th, 2021, 7:22 pm
    Post #1451 - October 15th, 2021, 7:22 pm Post #1451 - October 15th, 2021, 7:22 pm
    I know it's been gradual (as it is every year) but the transition from cooking dinner after work in daylight to cooking in near darkness seemed to happen so fast this year. There are some positives, though. Fall brings some very nice mushrooms along for the ride. Got notice from my forager that she had puffballs for sale and I could not say no . . .

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    Mushroom Mise En Place & Itsuo Doi Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
    Oyster mushrooms, evoo, maitake mushrooms, salt, puffball mushrooms, garlic and black pepper. Only the puffballs were from my forager. The maitakes and oysters were from our CSA.

    Wanted to keep the separate preps pretty simple, which is why I left most of the garlic whole. I really just wanted to use a touch, so I held off on mincing most of it until I was ready to add it.

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    Puffball Prep
    Once they're cut in half, the leathery outer skin of the puffballs is easy to peel away. It's edible but not palatable. From there, I cubed the firm inner portion like tofu and cooked it hot and fast in the wok.

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    Stir-Fried Puffballs
    Garnished with chives. They tasted very earthy and floral. Fantastic when piping hot, right out of the wok.

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    Stir-Fried Maitake & Oyster Mushrooms
    Very tasty but no garnish. :(

    And there were skirt steaks . . .

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    Grilling
    Kind of a bummer when I have to deploy the battery-powered LED desk lamp to see the grill :(. But it works better than the headlamp I've used in the past because it stays pointed at the grill even when I turn my head. :wink: And it's only mid-October, so many months of LED-assisted grilling lay ahead.

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    Charcoal-Grilled Skirt Steaks
    Before grilling, these were lightly oiled and rubbed with a Chinese-inspired spice mixture.

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    Plated Up
    With some leftover bhindi masala from last night.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1452 - October 15th, 2021, 10:20 pm
    Post #1452 - October 15th, 2021, 10:20 pm Post #1452 - October 15th, 2021, 10:20 pm
    That plate looks so damn good
    "In pursuit of joys untasted"
    from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata
  • Post #1453 - October 15th, 2021, 11:07 pm
    Post #1453 - October 15th, 2021, 11:07 pm Post #1453 - October 15th, 2021, 11:07 pm
    Jazzfood wrote:That plate looks so damn good

    Thanks. It went over pretty well with the family. Even in the dark, the skirts were a no-brainer because I've cooked them so many times in the past. But the puffballs, were relatively new for me. Maybe I've cooked them once before. I ended up with 6. I made one for lunch, cooked two at dinner and threw one away because it looked like worms had enjoyed a lot of it before it ever got to me. I have two left and I'm thinking of what else I might do with them. I wonder if I could make mapo puffball with them in the style of mapo tofu. I may have to try that tomorrow if I have enough time.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1454 - October 16th, 2021, 6:28 pm
    Post #1454 - October 16th, 2021, 6:28 pm Post #1454 - October 16th, 2021, 6:28 pm
    Stir-fry, with some store-bought charsiu pork from Richwell Market . . .

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    Mise En Place & Myojin Riki Seisakusho SG2 Gyuto, 240mm
    Shallots, mung bean sprouts, green beans, bell pepper, charsiu pork, orange and purple carrots, garlic chives, grated ginger & minced garlic, fioretto, white pepper, 4x gelatinous pork stock, hot soy bean paste, veg oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and Shaoxing cooking wine.

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    Plated Up
    Garnished with scallion greens, chives and homemade G Wiv-recipe chili oil. I really liked the way this one turned out. It was an excellent combination of veggies. They were cooked perfectly, with some tender bite to them but no mushiness or deterioration. The sauce tasted great and there was just enough of it.

    What to include? What size to cut things? When to add them? How much to add? How long to cook them? These are just some of the questions stir-fry makes you answer. And the answers are seldom the same because I almost never use the exact same set of ingredients twice. Maybe after 100 more stir-fries, I'll begin to develop some genuine intuition. For now, when it works out as well as this one did, I feel it's more a matter of good fortune and good ingredients than anything else.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1455 - October 17th, 2021, 6:00 pm
    Post #1455 - October 17th, 2021, 6:00 pm Post #1455 - October 17th, 2021, 6:00 pm
    Even though it's still in the high 60's, it was back to a cold weather favorite, chile verde pork stew . . .

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    Veg Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki VT10 Fujin Gyuto, 210mm
    These are the ingredients for the chile verde component of the dish . . . tomatillos, roasted and skinned Anaheim chiles (roasted yesterday), cilantro, onion, veg oil, jalapenos and garlic cloves.

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    Meat Mise En Place & Takeda NAS Left-Handed Honesuki, 160mm
    Pork shoulder chunks, black pepper, veg oil, granulated onion, granulated garlic, Mexican oregano, cumin seed and salt. Seasoned the chunks and then seared them in veg oil until brown. After that, I removed the meat and held it until after the chile verde was complete. The honesuki was a great help in getting all the meat off the bone. I was struggling with a filet knife that was a bit too long and flexible to get the job done. But bringing in the honesuki from the bullpen was the right move.

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    Pan-Roasting
    After the seasoned pork chunks were seared and removed, I put the onions, jalapenos, garlic cloves and tomatillos in the rondeau. I cooked these, with a bit of water, until they'd softened up, then added the cilantro and the roasted Anaheim chiles. Once everything was in, I pureed it all with the stick blender, put the pork back in and simmered it until the pork was tender, about 90 minutes. In the past, I'd incorporated some flour into this but I forgot this time. I don't think it mattered much. The pork still browned nicely and the natural pectin in the tomatillos thickened the sauce nicely. A tip of the cap to the new 10-quart rondeau. It was a bit more than I needed but it was nice to have some extra height when I broke out the stick blender.

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    Plated Up
    Chile Verde Pork Stew over long grain rice. Garnished with scallions and mini tomatoes. Served with a blob of the newly minted weekly slaw.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1456 - October 18th, 2021, 6:45 pm
    Post #1456 - October 18th, 2021, 6:45 pm Post #1456 - October 18th, 2021, 6:45 pm
    Kicking off the week with -- what else? -- grilled chicken thighs. But first, a little side dishery . . .

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    Conehead Cabbage, Red Onion & Myojin Riki Seisakusho SG2 Gyuto, 240mm
    Had the very last conehead of the season to cook up. Decided to keep it simple. Very hot and fast stir-fry in evoo with some garlic, salt, pepper and unfiltered apple cider vinegar.

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    Stir-Fried Conehead Cabbage & Red Onion
    Garnished with scallions. I really love this variety of cabbage. It's a bit sweeter than green or savoy and it's less bitter, too. It also gets tender in a hurry. I wok'd this for total of 5-6 minutes.

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    Grilling
    This time of year, even at 6:15 pm on a cloudless day, I was really testing the limits of my camera. F10, 1/50th and ISO 12,800 -- and I got the shot -- but it was pretty flat.

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    Plated Up
    With some leftover, reheated bhindi masala from last week.

    Happy Monday! :)

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1457 - October 18th, 2021, 9:28 pm
    Post #1457 - October 18th, 2021, 9:28 pm Post #1457 - October 18th, 2021, 9:28 pm
    Thanks to Ronnie for adding my pics!
    ****
    Sunday supper with my neighbors, who wanted Cuban sandwiches (menu planning started with a text asking if I knew where to get Cuban bread.)

    So the answer, of course, is La Segunda in Tampa, Fl and nowhere else. But it inspired a little weekend cooking project.

    Started with making a Cuban-style dough. Mixed up a quick starter and set it out to get frisky overnight.

    Then prepped ingredients and dressing for a Columbia Restaurant 1905 salad.

    Followed by making another Tampa specialty—Seabreeze Devil Crab. Started by prepping then sweating a sofrito (onion, celery, chilies, Italian sweet peppers, oregano and parsley from the garden).

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    Next, adding garlic, fresh tomato purée and canned tomato paste.

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    Cooled then dividing the mixture into 2 bowls. Sitka Bairdi crab went into one.

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    Sitka hot smoked salmon was added to the other.

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    The croquettes are assembled by creating a “dough” from stale bread cubes moistened with water and seasoned with paprika, salt & pepper then adding bread crumbs til it reaches the right consistency and shaping around a mound of the seafood mixture and rolling again in bread crumbs. You can either bake or deep fry—as with most things, frying tastes better—crispier—but baking works too.

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    Finally, mixed up the dough for the Cuban loaves the next, let rise, punched down and let rise again. Rolled em out, pressed moistened string into the top and turned over for a 1/2 hour or so, turned back over and popped in the over on 375 for 20 mins. The recipe didn’t call for it but I covered the loaves with a damp cloth and put the oven on the lowest setting to get them to steam just a little, as well as stay warm til we were ready to prep the sandwiches.

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    My neighbor roasted a pork shoulder which was delicious solo and perfect in the sandwich. Removed the string and sliced the loaves. Added a slather of Duke’s mayo and yellow mustard to both slices, homemade dill pickles, pork, deli ham and Swiss, buttered both top and bottom and placed on a sheet pan, topped with parchment then another sheet pan and my heaviest cast iron pot with extra weight inside and back in the oven on 375 for 15 minutes or so.

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    Assembled the 1905 salad while the sandwiches pressed. Iceberg leaves topped with tomato, manzanilla olives, slices of baby Swiss & deli ham, Romano cheese, a squeeze of lemon and a splash of Lea & Perrins, then a couple of spoonfuls of the 1905 vinaigrette.

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    Served up with the sandwiches and the Devil Crab (squeeze of lemon and generous dose of Crystal hot sauce).

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    Gotta love Sunday supper!
    Last edited by boudreaulicious on October 19th, 2021, 6:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
    "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad." Miles Kington
  • Post #1458 - October 18th, 2021, 10:36 pm
    Post #1458 - October 18th, 2021, 10:36 pm Post #1458 - October 18th, 2021, 10:36 pm
    boudreaulicious wrote:Hopefully Ronnie can add my pics—thanks to him for helping me with that since I can’t really figure it out!

    All set. That looks really great! :)

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1459 - October 19th, 2021, 7:10 pm
    Post #1459 - October 19th, 2021, 7:10 pm Post #1459 - October 19th, 2021, 7:10 pm
    I've been so busy at work that lately, cooking anything after work -- and getting it on the table at a reasonable hour -- has become challenging. So, we picked up some sausages, trotted out the weekly slaw and managed to get some zucchini into a saute pan . . .

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    Zucchini Mise En Place & Myojin Riki Seisakusho SG2 Gyuto, 240mm
    Zucchini, tomato paste, evoo, salt, minced garlic and black pepper. Just riffing on a household staple by including a dab of tomato paste, which I want to use up before it goes away on me.

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    SausageFest!
    Charcoal-grilled cevaps, kielbasa and pork wieners. I stumbled onto a very nice troika here. The cured, emulsified wieners were tender and mild. The cured kielbasa was smoked and aggressively seasoned. The non-encased, uncured cevaps were coarsely ground and aggressively seasoned. A very nice variety of attributes, making for a diverse platter.

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    Plated Up
    Sausage trio with sauteed zucchini, a blob of weekly slaw, Slovakian mustard and some fiery homemade sambal, which went particularly well with the cevaps. It almost played like a very hot ajvar.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1460 - October 19th, 2021, 10:17 pm
    Post #1460 - October 19th, 2021, 10:17 pm Post #1460 - October 19th, 2021, 10:17 pm
    Cevap and Sambal. I may pen a poem.
    Hold my beer . . .

    Low & Slow
  • Post #1461 - October 19th, 2021, 10:39 pm
    Post #1461 - October 19th, 2021, 10:39 pm Post #1461 - October 19th, 2021, 10:39 pm
    G Wiv wrote:Cevap and Sambal. I may pen a poem.

    I really hope it's a limerick! :lol:

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1462 - October 21st, 2021, 6:47 pm
    Post #1462 - October 21st, 2021, 6:47 pm Post #1462 - October 21st, 2021, 6:47 pm
    Worked from home today and with the weather dark, cold and wet, I wanted to make something comforting. So, I broke out a family favorite that I don't think I'd made since April. Ironically, dinner included a couple of 'last gasp' components from our garden . . .

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    Salad Dressing Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki Sasame Petty, 120mm
    Kind of an international affair: Slovakian mustard, minced shallot, shiro miso, minced garlic & aforementioned miso, rice vinegar and evoo. Also added salt and black pepper before I shook this all together in a small canning jar. Odd combination but it really made for a nice dressing.

    The star of the show . . .

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    Baked Rotini
    I've documented this one several times. It's is a mostly-pantry, assembly job. There is some cooking of sausage, onions and garlic but the rest is pretty much off the shelf. Once assembled, it bakes for about 30 minutes at 375F, or until it's browned. It needs no other cooking since, by the time it's assembled, it's pretty much already cooked.

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    Plated Up
    Garnished with freshly grated pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano, and parsley from our garden. Served with a romaine and arugula salad that included what have to be the final mini tomatoes from our garden.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1463 - October 24th, 2021, 6:36 pm
    Post #1463 - October 24th, 2021, 6:36 pm Post #1463 - October 24th, 2021, 6:36 pm
    As for Sunday dinner, 'tis suddenly the season . . . for pot roast! :D

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    Mise En Place & Sakai Takayuki VG10 33-Layer Damascus Western Handle Gyuto, 240mm
    Boneless chuck roast (bone sold separately), white potoates, flour, 4x gelatinous pork stock, garlic cloves/bay leaves/parsley fronds, carrot, tomato paste, salt, black pepper, red wine, celery ribs & leaves, fish sauce, yellow onion, worchestershire sauce and evoo.

    Pretty standard prep. Season the meat with salt and pepper, and lightly dust it with flour. Brown it in evoo. Remove and hold. Sweat the mirepoix and a few of the garlic cloves (smashed) to lift and incorporate the fond. After that, add the tomato paste and stir it in until it loses its raw note. Next, add the liquids, stock, parsley fronds and bay leaves. Once that's all simmered for a couple of minutes, add back the beef and bone, cover and move from stove top to a 275F oven. Cook until tender, checking and basting it every 30-45 minutes. I added the potatoes - and a few additional carrots -- when I estimated there was about an hour left of cooking time. Remove the meat, separate the fat from the jus, reduce it a bit and serve . . .

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    Plated Up
    Sunday pot roast, garnished with chives and parsley.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1464 - October 25th, 2021, 10:22 am
    Post #1464 - October 25th, 2021, 10:22 am Post #1464 - October 25th, 2021, 10:22 am
    Having scads of shishito peppers and remembering a dish I had at Hot Eastern in Boston I set out to try to come close to that -- and I think I hit the mark.

    I started with this recipe for Pork and Pepper Stir Fry, using chicken instead of pork, because I had boneless skinless shmoo in my freezer.

    The marinade is a lot of liquid -- I'm wondering if there's a mistake there, but the meat velveted nicely using that much marinade. It did have the problem I always have, though, of the heat turning any starch remaining in the wok into a nasty, sticky crust. Especially with no later sauce to deglaze with, I had to scrape a lot of browning starch up before moving on to the veg, and contrary to the recipe I did not have leftover oil in the wok. So then stir-fry some garlic then a pile of sliced shishitos, mixed with the cooked chicken, and the dish is done. Taking a taste, I added a little sesame oil; a little black vinegar might have been good too.

    A little heat (not as much as there was with the Horn Peppers in Boston), a little sweet and garlic and soy: dishes don't have to be complex to be beautiful. Slicing the meat into shreds worked nicely: it's one of my biggest peeves about many Chinese restaurants: all the meat is in bite-sized slices, there's no cubes or shreds to differentiate one dish from the next. That would be like going to an Italian restaurant and all the pastas are made with farfalle
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #1465 - October 25th, 2021, 11:01 am
    Post #1465 - October 25th, 2021, 11:01 am Post #1465 - October 25th, 2021, 11:01 am
    At the inspiration of Ronnie and food inspiration of Kenji, I made baked Ziti and served it with homemade bread turned into garlic bread. That really is comfort food on a cold rainy night.
  • Post #1466 - October 25th, 2021, 6:47 pm
    Post #1466 - October 25th, 2021, 6:47 pm Post #1466 - October 25th, 2021, 6:47 pm
    lougord99 wrote:At the inspiration of Ronnie and food inspiration of Kenji, I made baked Ziti and served it with homemade bread turned into garlic bread. That really is comfort food on a cold rainy night.

    Yep. Really hard to beat this time of year.

    I took some inspiration from Mandy at Souped Up Recipes and made a Cantonese-style shrimp and broccoli stir-fry . . .

    Image
    Mise En Place & Konosuke YW White #2 Gyuto, 210mm
    Broccoli, minced garlic & grated ginger, dried Chinese chiles and veg oil (stir fry components)
    Hoisin sauce, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, granulated sugar and cornstarch (sauce components)
    U-26 shrimp and seasonings (salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika)

    Season the shrimp and flash it hot in veg oil until just opaque. Remove it and hold. Then toss in the garlic, ginger and dried chiles. Once that's aromatic -- just a moment or two -- follow it with the broccoli. Once that's all tossed together, add about a 100ml of water, cover the wok and steam it all until the broccoli is just tender. From there, add the sauce components and stir until it just starts to thicken, then add back the par-cooked shrimp. Toss is all around for a couple of minutes, until everything is warm and well coated . . .

    Image
    Plated Up
    Stir-fried shrimp and broccoli over brown jasmine rice. Garnished with scallions and homemade chili oil (G Wiv recipe, of course).

    Happy Monday! :)

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1467 - October 26th, 2021, 6:45 pm
    Post #1467 - October 26th, 2021, 6:45 pm Post #1467 - October 26th, 2021, 6:45 pm
    Back to my happy place, with charcoal-grilled chicken thighs. But first, sauteed spinach . . . :)

    Image
    Mise En Place & Shigeki Tanaka Aogami #2 Petty, 150mm
    Evoo, black pepper, salt, minced garlic, red onion and pre-washed baby spinach. It doesn't get much easier or more convenient than this. A weeknight, after-work wonder.

    Image
    Sauteed Spinach
    Garnished with red chile flakes. A disproportionately large bang for the buck (or effort).

    Image
    Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Thighs
    Found a couple of pieces of kielbasa to throw on the grill, as well.

    Image
    Plated Up
    With leftover jasmine and brown jasmine rice.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #1468 - October 28th, 2021, 6:27 am
    Post #1468 - October 28th, 2021, 6:27 am Post #1468 - October 28th, 2021, 6:27 am
    Fettine di Manzo Farcite - Stuffed thin Beefsteaks from Marcella Hazan. Very simple and basic, but quite good.
    ImageThin cut matching pieces of top round from Hofherr meats in Northbrook, Livoni Prosciutto and Fontina cheese.
    ImageSalt and pepper, then fontina and prosciutto and put them together.
    ImageBasic Flour, egg, breadcrumb setup. Coat the sandwich particularly sealing the ends.
    ImagePan fry in oil until breadcrumbs are browned and meat is medium rare.
  • Post #1469 - October 28th, 2021, 8:00 am
    Post #1469 - October 28th, 2021, 8:00 am Post #1469 - October 28th, 2021, 8:00 am
    love all things breaded and fried cutlet, looks/sounds great
  • Post #1470 - October 28th, 2021, 7:52 pm
    Post #1470 - October 28th, 2021, 7:52 pm Post #1470 - October 28th, 2021, 7:52 pm
    lougord99 wrote:Fettine di Manzo Farcite - Stuffed thin Beefsteaks from Marcella Hazan. Very simple and basic, but quite good.

    Damn, Lou! Those cutlets look awesome! :)

    There are a handful things I've been wanting to try cooking for several months now but for whatever reason, just hadn't gotten around to it. I decided to tackle one of them today and make some pork & cabbage dumplings. I did take one pretty significant shortcut and bought wrappers at the store. Other than that, it's a relatively quick prep that provides lots of nice cutting opportunities . . .

    Image
    Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki R2 Hammered Gyuto, 210mm
    Shaoxing wine, scallions, toasted sesame oil, light soy sauce, coarsely ground pork, finely minced Chinese celery, white pepper & Sichuan peppercorn, grated ginger & minced garlic, wrappers and minced napa cabbage (with 1% salt).

    I combed the internet and ended up with a recipe that incorporated good-looking stuff from a bunch of online sources. Before mixing this all together, I let the salted cabbage sit for about an hour, then squeezed as much moisture out of it as I could. Once mixed, I let the filling sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before filling the wrappers. I used to do quite a bit of high-volume, assembly line cooking back in the day, so putting together ~60 dumplings was a nice way to reminisce without feeling overly taxed.

    Image
    Wrapped Dumplings
    Hmmm . . . .I wonder who the jokester was who made the tortellini-shaped one. 8-)

    Had to make a dipping sauce, too . . .

    Image
    Sauce Mise En Place
    Sesame seeds/gochugaru/salt, minced garlic, scallions, black vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, veg oil and granulated sugar.
    Everything in the front row gets the veg oil, heated, poured over it. After a quick stir, the top row items and some water get mixed in.

    For the cook, I went with a pretty standard pan-cooking technique: browned, then steamed, and they turned out pretty good . . .

    Image
    Plated Up
    Pan Fried Dumplings with Dipping Sauce. Crispy on the outside. Flavorful and juicy on the inside.

    Then, at the very end, after I'd cooked and eaten a lot of dumplings, I tried one batch, adding a cornstarch slurry to the pan in an attempt to create a lacy, connective veil that tops the dumplings after they're cooked and inverted out of the pan. That was only partially successful . . .

    Image
    Corn Starch Veil
    It was a light, solid mass and it was crispy but it didn't brown evenly. I'll take another shot at this next time but for a first effort, I was pretty happy with the overall outcome.

    =R=
    Same planet, different world

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