What’s for Dinner #25 - 09/2017 - the Autumnal Edition

Middle Eastern dinners–meze, especially–are a go-to for us, too.

Sending you good thoughts on that chemo, smtucker. I hope that you enjoy your trip to Santa Fe and sampling chile dishes to the fullest! Chile season in New Mexico sounds like a adventure that I need to have.

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FYI - I lower the heat by 25°, as I find they burn too quickly otherwise. With the ones above, I just didn’t stir often enough.

Hey Home Cooking HOs - just a heads up that nominations are now open for next quarter’s cuisine. Head over to the nomination thread and hit me with your suggestions!

Dinner tonight was dry fried NY strips in hot peanut oil, then added onions, white part of scallions, ginger, garlic , beef strip back in the wok . Spices used after dry frying was Pixian broad bean paste, Pixian Sa Cha sauce, a splash of Shao Shing wine, then I added carrots , red and orange peppers ( Need green vege typically snow peas, asparagus or celery but have not been to store. ) . When everything was tossed briefly , coarsely chopped toasted szechuan peppercorn and sesame oil was added before serving with rice.
There is enough left over for lunch. I should not have cooked this dish without the green vegetable. Really miss them

Dessert was watermelon and Gauayabana paste.

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Thinking of smtucker and her trip, so, decided to make chili con carne
Good Luck smtucker. T his chili may not be as good as y ours there but it is pretty good.
RED SAUCE FOR CHILI
Used dried chili pods ( holy trinity- ancho, papilla and mulato as well as hatch equal amount of each chili pods)
Reconstituted them by roasting them in a 300 degree oven for a few minutes, just until i smell the fragrance emitted by the pods but before they got charred. Add boiling water, removed the stems, refresh the water ( as the initial water may8 be bitter), pureed in food processor. Then fried onions and garlic, added the pureed pods, chicken broth, oregano, cumin and bay leaf, a pinch of sugar, then simmer for 30 minutes
Caramelize onions, garlic, added 3 pounds of grass fed ground beef, brown them , added red sauce, simmer, added a tin of anchovy in oil, a can of died tomatoes, 2 cans of pinto beans, 2 cans of cannelloni beans, 1 can of black beans,

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CONTINUE SORRY, TIRED, HIT REPLY BY MISTAKE
added bay leaf, chipotle and adobo sauce, 4 freshly shucked corn, then simmered for 30 minutes.
Here is a picture of the chili which I will simmer more tomorrow for dinner as well as freeze some . I may add another can of black beans. Too tired now !

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I bought their sweet potato tots once, they bag was exactly two servings :wink: good stuff!

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Enjoy your time in santa fe, i hope treatment goes as smoothly as it can.

Worked late but one of my coworkers is taking a baking class monday nights and brought in homemade challah to share(!!), so i had a slice with some peanut butter late afternoon to hold me over til i got home for dinner.

I had MY OWN kombucha as an aperitif!! There’s a (apparently normal) issue with baby scoby in the bottles but my ginger lemon i had was flavorful and fizzy! And hasn’t killed me yet… (unfortunately the chai version didn’t fizz , just tried one bottle with the teabag and some sugar but was a flop)
i really just wanted more nut butter so i made a quick sauce of pb/soy sauce/rice wine vinegar and poured it over a steamed broccoli/cauliflower mix. The cruciferous veg and nut butter combo really works well together- i gotta stay away from the too crunchy raw veg a few more days.

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unintentionally, pork three ways. i’d marinated (xiaoshing vinegar, dry sherry, dark soy, brown sugar) Trader Joe’s pork belly last night but i was out of 5-spice, so i went to Chinatown today at lunch. Came home with 5-spice and… bbq pork and roasted pork! it just looked so good! and the roasted pork was on sale ($4.99/lb. vs. 7.99/lb.) So i stir-fried some gai lan and these yellow garlic scape-like things (not like the usual ones we get), and tossed in the chopped bbq pork pieces, braised with some dry sherry and chili flakes, and reheated the roasted pork until the skin was super crispy, served over lettuce leaves with quickled carrots for wraps. TJ’s pork was seared with dried thai chili peppers. Served the whole thing with rice, sriracha, and really ripe kimchi i made months ago.

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Cheesy egg quesadillas with scrambled eggs, onions and a hefty handful of Barber’s sweet red cheddar with my new favorite Siete foods tortillas.

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Nori hoagie wraps because I needed something light and refreshing for dinner as Ohio hasn’t figured out that it’s fall yet. It’s my favorite season so I’m hoping that the fall atmosphere rolls in soon

There will be dark chocolate dipped in vanilla ghee at some point before bed

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Grilled porterhouse steak, home made Yukon gold oven fries, sprouts

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Spicy chicken and peanut stir-fry served with steamed broccoli. I used the first of my homegrown chiles in it - one cayenne and one paper lantern. They are taking forever to ripen but worth the wait - both types packed a punch!

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Made some more bánh cuốn:

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I am drooling–
may go to Va this weekend to get groceries, perhaps I can buy some to bring home from vietnamese restaurant
did u see my reply re making part of it with sweet potato flour?
Very busy in the garden, getting ready for fall planting so, ma not try for a while.
Thanks

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I tried the Siete brand chips the other day at whole foods there was a tasting table, they were delicious! (Although i didn’t buy them since i just get regular tortilla chips when the random craving strikes)

I did, thanks - don’t have any sweet potato flour on hand but will check it out when I get my hands on some.

I’m not even too particularly fond of chips or tortillas for that matter but I’m not daring to try the chips in fear of getting hooked like I did with the tortillas. I don’t eat them often but definitely a nice option for me other than various vegetable leaf wraps. Did you try the regular? I’ve heard the lime are outstanding. The price also helps me resist.

I just tried the regular, i hate anything lime flavored (yet love fresh limes). But at least now you could make legit nachos for a big football game or whatever!