What’s for Dinner #56: The No Place Like Home Edition - April 2020

Last night was ricotta gnocchi with Marcela Hazan’s bolognese. I had really high hopes for this meal, but I think the gnocchi (while light and texturally lovely) were kinda bland. Sauce was great but overall it was a let down. Deliciousness to effort didn’t work out to a good ratio for my current crazy schedule. Oh well.

Tonight I marinated some defrosted hanger steaks that had been lingering in the freezer with a paste made from parsley, green onion, a healthy amount of garlic and some fish sauce. Seared the steaks in cast iron til medium rare. Accompanied by roasted new potatoes, carrots and cauliflower. started with a little mixed green salad. No pic tonight but much more satisfying than the prior night’s gnocchi.

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Clandestine grilled cheese at midnight.

The Art of the Perfect Grilled Cheese (Plus 20 Variations to Shake Things Up) J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT

Grilled Cheese with Brie and Preserves

I used my home grown, homemade pepper jelly!

This is what I’ve been reduced to.
:worried:
The reduced part is not gonna last.

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The main difference is more the size than the taste. Since here there is not a dominant Cantonese population here in France, the shops sell the wrappers with the idea one size fits all or they have no idea of the right size, the wonton wrappers in shops are too big, about 9 cm / 3.5 in. I’ve tried to use those to make wonton in the past, I put more ingredients and a bigger shrimp, the feel was not right, too much skin and a big wonton with too much pork. If I put less ingredients, you felt too much wrapper.

With the recipe I was using this time (flour, eggs and bicarbonate soda) the size was 7cm / 2.75 in, it was a challenge to put everything inside but the feeling in mouth was right. Of course need to fine tune the cooking time and the thickness of the wrapper and the folding method. But it’s closer to the real thing. :blush:

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Bolognese over fettuccine because that’s what I had. Tasty and really pretty easy. Just a couple hours of letting the sauce bubble away. Tonight I’m making ribs and I’m very excited.

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BTW, which chili oil have you used for the Sichuanese wontons?

I used some homemade chili oil that I made a little while ago.

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I want to grab those scallops right off your plate!

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This salad looks AMAZING. I am drooling for raw veg. Trying to space apart our grocery trips to reduce contact, which means it is pretty rare these days that we have any raw veg… :frowning:

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Not WFD, BUT… my first sourdough loaf from my own sourdough starter! i couldn’t be prouder. waiting for it to cool a bit to cut into it.

that starter took me 3+ weeks to get it going, but it was worth it.

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Congratulations!

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That. Is. Stunning. You have waaay more willpower than I do if you can resist making that beautiful loaf your dinner.

Enjoy!

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hah! just had some.

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What’s the difference between a dutch baby and a clafoutis? Pretty similar? I also had to chime in that my husband will gladly eat a sweet clafoutis, but sub the sugar and cherries for sauteed veg and ham (or anything savory), and he is not touching it with a 10’ pole. When I ask him why, since he likes savory things, and eats scrambled eggs, etc., he tells me not to ask him to make sense, please. !!!

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:+1::+1::+1: for the bottle of wine. :rofl:

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Yesterday was Mr Bean’s birthday. I’ve been trying to limit how often I go out so I decided to pull together a worthy dinner from what I already had. Good thing I’m somewhat of a hoarder when it comes to pantry items and frozen food. I also knew I had a produce delivery coming so could we could eat what we still had with reckless abandon. Dinner end up being -

A salad with romaine, cucumbers, chopped olives, dill, and feta

Mixed Middle Eastern Appetizers - Dolma, Hummus, Muhammara, and Tabouli

Lamb Sausage with Harissa, Lamb Pelemni, and Costco Tzatzki

I think Mr Bean was as happy. The champagne toast probably didn’t hurt.

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Fresh baked bread and butter. One of life’s simple (and greatest) pleasures. At least to this carb-loving Italian.

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I had to look up clafoutis because I’m unfamiliar. According to The Kitchn, the Dutch pancake is similar to claufoutis though the former is crispier and the latter is more custardy. Maybe someone here has prepared both types and could enlighten us more?

I enjoy dishes that are either intentionally savory or intentionally sweet—generally not a fan of mixing sweet and savory tastes. You could easily vary the Dutch pancake technique for either application.

Sooner or later I’ll get around to preparing a sweet version of a Dutch baby, I expect.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-fruit-clafoutis-233958

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I think a clafoutis is a bit eggier.

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That’s a swell birthday dinner. Bravo to you! And happy birthday to Mr. Bean.

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Dinner last night: NYT 24 hour bread, taco soup, forewent the chips…cuz bread. Taco soup was from a freezer dive.

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