Crispy Chickpeas…again…
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Wife and I went out for an early dinner. We shared Sambal with brown rice, a tempura mix, duck rolls, shumai and a kani salad. Came home for matcha ice cream.
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Do you have a favorite recipe?
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It was a long day. Visit with Mom and stuff for work.
Dinner relatively easy - seasoned a pork tenderloin with olive oil, s/p and Penzeys Tsardust seasoning. Pan-seared, then into the oven to finish cooking in a roasting pan. I added 1/4 cup of apple cider, just shy of 1/4 cup of white wine to the pan and whisked to pull up the fond. Added some honey-crunch mustard and dried thyme and whisked as it reduced. Mounted with butter and set aside until the tenderloin finished cooking.
Sides were baby roasted potatoes with olive oil, s/p, garlic powder and dried parsley, and steamed green beans with butter, marjoram and savory.
There was wine. Cheesy TV on the flat screen. I need something I don’t have to think about.
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Welcome to your new kitty baby! I hope JoJo and Newbie eventually curl up together as my Alfie and Finn did 2 days after bringing Finn into the house. 
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I “adapted” this recipe from Epicurious years ago, because it allowed me to use ground lamb:
. * 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 lb ground lamb
- 2 medium onions, small dice (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 carrots, small dice
- 1 bay leaf
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups vegetable broth(24 fl oz)
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup pearl barley
- 1 tablespoon malt vinegar or cider vinegar
Par boil barley in two cups of water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside the Barley.
Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then cook lamb, breaking up clumps with a fork, just until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Transfer lamb to a bowl with a slotted spoon and pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from pan.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to pan and cook onions, carrots, bay leaf, salt, and pepper over moderate heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Add broth, water, and barley and simmer, covered, until vegetables and barley are tender, about 10 minutes. Add lamb and vinegar and gently simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes (for flavors to blend). Discard bay leaf.
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Congratulations on the new addition to the family!! I’m optimistic the kids will get along with each other soon enough.
Hot cider is so delicious…!
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The lettuce situation is ridiculous. I couldn’t bring myself to pay nearly $4 for a head of iceberg, and after running all over the city doing stuff for work all afternoon i also lacked enough give a shit to go elsewhere.
Baby spinach for salad (meh, not my favorite) with a mixed chickpea salad thingy on top. Yikes, blurry photo!
And i found a small bag of sun chips! Very nostalgic for me, used to eat these all the time. Still tasty.
Kombucha a la carte not pictured
I’m craving chocolate so i’ll make some hot chocolate before long, there’s dark chocolate in the freezer that isn’t great for snacking and will work nicely chopped and whisked into some vanilla almond milk.
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. Cheers. 
Tonight’s dinner was Pork Picatta with a pre-dinner snack/app of stuffed brussels sprouts. Someone brought the sprouts to Thanksgiving and I loved them and asked for the recipe. Came out great.
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I’m told that plaice fillets are going to be topped with a breadcrumb & Parmesan mix and quickly baked. As the oven’s going to be on, there’ll also be mini roast potatoes - they’re cut into an approx 2cm dice and, erm, roasted. And there’ll be peas.
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Looks incredible!
In Louis Sachar’s book Holes (a wonderful middle grade book), there’s a character who everyone calls named Zero. His real name is Hector Zeroni, a possible name for your new cat!
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That puts a more positive spin on it! He is just so happy being out of the shelter. It must have been quite confusing after being in a home for 12 years.
He’s not too interested in food so we are experimenting. The rescue organization had to put him on an appetite stimulation med. Hopefully this will resolve as he learns his new home is safe, stable and loving.
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Cooked cataplana using Gilberts’ cooked chicken andouille sausage for the first time instead of Italian andouille sausage since I am now allergic to red meat(?)
Made sofritto using caramelized onions, garlic, finely grated carrots and celery , the rind of one lemon and tomatoes in EVOO .
To the cataplana for 2, 2 Costco’s tilapia loin, 6 large Patagonia U15 shrimp, baby squids and tentacles ( left over from my son’s party whereby he fried them for his friends using a dry Korean frying mix),
added shrimp and chicken broth, bay leaf, smoked Spanish paprika, a pinch of saffron, found 2 poblano peppers that I smoked and peeled, , added one chipotle some adobo sauce , a tin of anchovy in EVOO.
cooked cataplana for under 10 minutes ( actually 7 minutes),ready when steam came up)
served with lemon, parsley and a couple slices of left over Wegman’s cheese and jalapeño bread,
It was good, not as good as regular hot andouille pork sausage but one cannot choose if one is allergic to red meat.
I think I prefer using flowered squids from the Asian store as the baby suit with their tentacles almost disappeared with 7 minutes of cooking
Cataplana is the name of the dish as well as the vessel
For seafood lover, this is a fantastic investment as it cooks very fast, retains flavors, , but try and order the heavier gauge copper . I bought 4, 2 of them stock ones, ended selling one in Bay after one use, kept one for use in boat, ordered 2 custom made ones from Portugal. They are amazing , th
If I have left over white wine, I would use that too
Picture shows the soffrito ( I only use half of it, froze the other half for another cataplana meal or for a small paella meal) , second picture is the seafood with broth without the sofritto .
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ahhhhhhh, keep us posted. I’m sure the shelter gave you some good food suggestions for him. My mom adopted several dogs in Raleigh and she got some great suggestions from the NC State vet school
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Almost the last of the turkey leftovers, this time as turkey pot pie. I included carrots, cauliflower, and a tiny bit of potato. No peas in the freezer 
Just the antidote to the dank, wet weather.
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Thanks! I’m always looking for a way to recreate a scotch broth of my childhood. I’ve used the joy of cooking recipe most often - will give this one a spin soon!
Great news about the new kitty and Jojo are getting along. Hope newbie will get used to home food soon.
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