I really was not in the mood for anything, but had taken out the rack of ribs yesterday to defrost, so they had to be cooked. A pork dry rub was applied yesterday, then into heavy-duty foil to oven bake on a low 250°F heat for 4 hours. Halfway through, I poured in a half cup of unpasteurized apple cider.
Increased the heat for the last 40 minutes, opened the foil, and spooned on a homemade BBQ sauce consisting of maple syrup, ketchup, orange juice, minced onions, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic and ground ginger. Didn’t add enough ginger, so it didn’t have enough “bite” - could have added dry mustard as well.
Also made a corn-tomato-basil salad and a potato salad. The ribs were tender, but not enough oomph in flavor, corn salad wasn’t good as the corn was rather flavorless, and will have to be drained of the vinaigrette, and potato salad was bland (salt should help, I hope). Probably should have just given up before I started. At least I have leftovers for a few days so I don’t have to think about dinner.
Another early bedtime to try and get some sleep before I have to put on a happy face for work tomorrow.
I found this brilliant recipe for basil vinegrette and was glad to see in the comments that it keeps well in the fridge for five days or so, so i made a batch with a bit extra of my very potent dijon. For dinner i made a salad thing of cherry tomatoes, raw corn, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, cubed smoked tofu and sunflower seeds over arugala with a good bit of this vinegrette which really made the dish. Random side of pumpernickle pretzel sticks.
I simply pan fried the Estonian smoked pork belly to get it a bit crispy. Tossed the tomatoes in the same pan to soften a little. Stirred through parsley and “Beluga lentils” and done.
And this is the pork belly that got me held up at Estonian customs. Every time I bring back Speck they must open all my things. I think they don’t like the shape of Speck in my bag. Looks like a block of drugs!
oops, edit, realized i already posted that dinner!
tonight’s dinner is pot roast using some of @WeezieD’s paprika blend as a rub. unsure of sides yet. made it in my new instant pot (bday gift from my sister). don’t think it’ll replace my stove, but it’s very handy.
I’m glad you’re having fun with the peppers- I am too!
Tonight will be chicken thighs that were rubbed with ras el hanout and oven roasted last night. I’ll chop up the meat and give it a quick warm up in an oiled pan over high heat to get some crispies. It’ll be served as an ingredient for lettuce wraps with various veggies, chopped preserved lemon and a gorgeous batch of harissa I made with Tunisian Baklouti and Palmyra peppers from the garden.
pics of dinner, described above. really loving the Instant Pot, actually, because it seems to give a good depth of flavor compared to older pressure cookers.
It has cooled down a bit this week which is great yet also has me freaking out about the fact summer produce will soon be done and it goes from fall to freezing here very quickly
Last night was another desk dinner, not exciting but perfectly fine papaya salad and summer rolls with tofu.
Tonight i turned on my stove! Just made a quinoa pilaf of sorts, toasted the quinoa in a little oil, simmered in veg stock, when it was almost done i added some corn off the cob, chopped walnuts, edamame, scallions, shredded carrot and the rest of a bell pepper. I flopped some of that over a bowl of spinach that wilted a bit and then dribbled some of the basil vinegrette from the other night over everything. Big glass of reisling a la carte.
Just have to white knuckle it through the next two days at work…
We’re still in the process of unpacking from our move, and the dishwasher in the new place isn’t functioning, so the only cooking I’ve been doing lately has been the occasional plate of scrambled eggs. We’ve been enjoying some decent meals out, though! Last night we just ordered pizza from the place up the street - our delivery options are a bit limited in our new neighborhood but luckily the pizza from this place is passable, especially their supreme, which includes sausage, pepperoni, sliced meatballs, onions, mushrooms and peppers. They use canned mushrooms, which I would normally find deplorable, but I grew up eating canned mushrooms on pizza so there is a nostalgia factor that I quite enjoy. I also love the sliced meatballs instead of ham, which I detest on pizza!
I finally cooked. A quick Shrimp Scampi sprinkled with lemon zest and toasted bread crumbs (using Key West frozen pink shrimp), leftover rice pilaf, and steamed asparagus. Not bad. A glass of wine while I chatted with my sister. It’s almost Friday. Thankfully.
I decided to finally take advantage of Shoprite’s lobster sale.
Ordinarily I would have made lobster rolls, but I wanted to
get my husband to eat it so I prepared it simply with a crumb and cracker
top, butter and lemon … He took a bite and said " this
is like eating a sponge" he has issues with the consistency of certain foods, seafood primarily.
Sooooooo he ate what I had prepared for tomorrow night, a meat and potato dish, a variation of
shepherd’s pie
and I ate lobster
both dinners were good … no trace of sponge
Dinner…steak tips marinated all day in OJ, oil, mixed dried herbs, ground ginger, dried onions, and Aleppo pepper. Grilled on the grill pan; finished in the oven to a perfect medium-rare.
Baked tater, a shitload of butter and sour cream, seasoned with salt/pepper, and some steamed green beans.
Wine. And trying to resist the urge to scratch the effin’ poison-whatever has decided to land on my toes. And hopefully get some sleep tonight without waking up to scratch. :-/
Shopping with Mom, then shopping @ WF and Hannaford, and then home to nap.
Wasn’t much in the mood for food, but had to cook some of the shit I bought today.
So a couple of boneless pork chops were sliced up, broccoli was cut into small florets, and a half a red bell pepper chopped up, seasoned with salt and pepper, and sauteed in hot oil and butter. Added some white wine and a 1/2 cup of spicy mango-plum sauce, and served some of it over some leftover rice pilaf. Glass of wine alongside.
Quick and easy.
Dessert will be a couple of fresh black figs with goat cheese and peppered honey.
Hmm… figs. I’m also enjoy the figs these days. Much needed nap, LindaW.
I made rice porridge to eat with leftover Chinese roated pork (bought from a Cantonese restaurant). Crunchy assorted Sichuan preserved turnips and bamboo shoots etc. No point in making photos of porridge (have made some before, looked like wallpaper paste).
A mostly brown, roasty dinner. Roasted whole chicken seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, minced fresh thyme and rosemary, and lemon zest, and springs of rosemary and lemon halves tucked inside. Sides were honey-peppered roasted potatoes and roasted herbed zucchini and yellow squash. Wine. Chicken needed more lemony on top. Oh well.
And more honey-peppered goat-cheesed figs for later. Fig picture from last night. And gratuitous pics from this afternoon as the cats woke and went back to sleep.
