What's for Dinner - #81 - the Planting Month - May 2022

That looks so good. I love pozole, especially verde.

2 Likes

Pan-roasted pork chops with Penzey’s Galena Street rub. Smashed spuds, baby peas and applesauce on the side.

Peas from the garden, and apples put up from our trees last fall.

22 Likes

Julia Child’s coq au vin, pulled from the freezer. BF didn’t dish up all the delicious wine sauce with the noodles, which i discovered in the pan only after we finished! Sad! But he made a really good wilted spinach salad of his own invention - minced shallots and garlic heated in olive oil, poured over fresh spinach which was then tossed and tossed with s&p and lemon zest. Nice and fresh tasting.

23 Likes

I live in San Francisco (Mission District) and we still call it the City (as in, we’re going into the City), but I remember after i moved here from L.A. (almost 30 years ago), my cousin, who lives in So. Cal., outside of L.A., was calling L.A. “The City.” i was all whaaa?

6 Likes

just gorgeous!

I’ve been craving boxed Mac & Cheese since @Olunia started the Mac and Cheese thread

Here is my Annie’s Aged Cheddar and Shells Tuna Casserole, featuring fancy tuna from the Azores, cremini, celery, green onion, dill and parm regg.

15 Likes

Carnitas tacos with tomatillo and avocado salsa, and black beans.

20 Likes

Yep, I live south of SF.

The Italian market near us sells nduja, but it’s almost a kilo. Not sure I can use it up fast enough, much as I would like to buy some - especially as it’s impossible to find back home.

Last night’s meal was lovely fresh fettuccine tossed with local white & green asparagi, pancetta, and a few oyster shrooms that needed to be used up. Sweat a finely diced shallot in olive oil & butter, added the pancetta and shrooms, splash of rosé, sploosh of cream, fresh parsley, s&p et voila: dinner was served. I’d blanched the asparagi in advance, so they just needed to be tossed in at the end to heat through. Really lovely, seasonal meal. Side was arugula with lemon oil, s&p and grated parm. Simples, as @Harters likes to put it :slight_smile:

24 Likes

Not so much on a salad kick as a dont-feel-like-cooking streak :joy:

The last half fennel bulb shaved, arugula, red onion, sautéed trumpet and oyster mushrooms, and leftover steak.

Tasty, but today I go to the store for some new inspiration :joy:

22 Likes

That’s my kind of meal.

1 Like

So from a professed chicken cutlet eater-repeater :), what is the difference between that and a chicken schnitzel?

2 Likes

Schnitzel literally means Cutlet in German. Same thing.

Chives are called Schnittlauch because you cut them.

Technically, a top quality schnitzel is pounded very thin before being breaded and fried.

I don’t know if cutlets need to be pounded thin, to be considered good ones.

Scallopine is usually pounded thin like good schnitzel.

3 Likes

I was curious if @gcaggiano made his schnitzel any differently than he makes his cutlets, since he says he eats cutlets weekly :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Oh okay! Sorry for being pedant!

2 Likes

Made a few quick goi cuan not feeling like cooking or eating much

21 Likes

So my “usual” cutlets are a blend of Italian breadcrumbs, a little bit of panko, lots of Pecorino, and various seasonings.

Schnitzel I followed a recipe (loosely, not sure how authentic it is) using crushed Ritz crackers and plain panko, in addition to paprika and garlic/onion powders in the breading. Also Dijon mustard in the egg mixture.

5 Likes

Tonight’s dinner was a shrimp salad. The shrimp was poached in a little water with a lemongrass stalk and lime leaf. The shrimp was tossed in a dressing of fish sauce, Sriracha, lime juice and herbs (basil, mint, coriander). Summer is here!

21 Likes

So in Vienna, Austria, they tend to use salt-and-pepper seasoned dry breadcrumbs (finer than panko), and it needs to be pan versus deep fried. And there’s this trick that makes it different from just a regular ol’ cutlet:

"“Where I come from we prefer a crisp, light schnitzel with a crust that rises like a soufflé.”

The secret, he said, is to trap air in the crust when you cook the meat by moving and shaking the pan. After dipping the veal in flour, egg and bread crumbs, he put a cutlet in the skillet, swirling it so the hot oil undulated over the cutlet in waves. This motion creates steam that lifts the crust away from the meat, allowing the bread crumbs to crisp without sticking to the veal in a gummy mass.

Indeed, his schnitzel was a golden, gorgeous thing, with a puffy crust that shattered at the touch of a fork, and tender meat within. He served it with cucumber salad and lingonberry jam."

“because the cutlets were not quite one-eighth-inch thick — the proper thickness for schnitzel, according to mr. lohninger — i pounded them a little with a rolling pin. then, without handling them too much, i gently dipped them in flour, egg and bread crumbs. when they were all nicely coated, i dropped a cutlet in hot oil, swirling the pan as instructed. the meat puffed slightly and browned beautifully. the chicken was soft and savory (thanks to a pinch of cayenne and nutmeg) beneath the ultra-crisp crust.”

Here’s a recipe from Gourmet’s Old Vienna Cookbook:

12 Likes