Dinner out with friends last night. Chef brought out some rillettes with a dark berry reduction on baguette to start with. They were pretty salty & we’ve had better at our favorite French place in Berlin, but who’s gonna complain about a freebie?
My mistake ordering that one, as I’d had it before and don’t think it does the inherent sweetness of rock shrimp any favors by breading them and covering them in buffalo sauce. I’ll try to remember this for the next time
The main attraction of the evening, and my main reason for dining there, however, was that coffee-rubbed elk steak. Our HK friend and I both ordered it, and they came out at different temps. My plate was decidedly closer to MR than rare,
I made chipotle chicken chowder very loosely based on this recipe from Simply Recipes. Too many changes to list, really, but it was a good starting point. A little square of corn pudding on the side.
That does happen under the broiler. I think being surrounded by heat causes the vegetables to collapse, whereas turning them on the burner does not (although it will eventually, of course).
Yeah, when you do them directly on the gas burner, the skin blackens before the flesh underneath has a chance to cook and collapse. In fact, if you want to really soften/cook the flesh, you have to put them in a covered container after you’ve blasted the skin and let the residual heat/steam do the work.
Good to know that heat all around va direct heat distinction. I don’t have a gas range but when I’ve considered it, I’ve always wondered about blistering veg and how it would actually work.
I adapted this baked fish in tahini sauce by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley. BF pulled sole out of the freezer, which was thinner than the fish called for, so I skipped the flouring and frying and went straight to baking after the marination. I also added a little allspice and cumin to the marinade. Almonds instead of pine nuts, because that’s what I had. We had this with a pilaf of whole wheat cous cous, lentils, and peas. This was absolutely delicious and easy to put together on a weeknight!
Duck with apricot and ginger, potatoes gratin, beans with curry, coconut milk, dried apricots and tomatoes, and pumpkin pie spice -butter- sugar -acorn squash.
My town’s Winter Farmer’s Market, where I bought some local wine. (Good thing!) And that’s where my summertime driveway wine drinking neighbor caught up to me, of course. GMTA.
I also got local honey, some Moroccan olive oil, and some Lilac Hedge Farms beef short ribs (which went into the freezer for later).
Home. Where I had to deal with a big-ass spider greeting me on the wall as I climbed the stairs. Ohhh, HELL NO! Sorry, Charlotte. Out you go!
Wine was poured. HELL YES! (Not the just-purchased stuff.)
A big, fat bone-in pork chop was seasoned with olive oil (not the new stuff), s/p and Penzeys’ Tsardust Memories seasoning blend. Pan-seared, removed to a baking dish, white wine added to the sauté pan with a quartered Cortland apple seasoned with dried thyme. Poured on top of the chop and baked in a 350° oven until done on the Thermapen.
Sides were a reheated half a baked potato and steamed green beans. And some homemade applesauce I had defrosted before I remembered the apples in the fridge bin.
Both peppers and eggplant (eggplant more so) leak since I’m looking for eggplant to be very soft, and peppers I also want somewhat soft, so I don’t blacken them at super high heat. The flavor of eggplant is worth it, but the clean-up can be annoying.
Noooo, I don’t want to end February/start March off with a creepy-crawly visual on HO’s WFD threads!
Suffice to say Charlotte was easily the size of a quarter. She was too close to the door for my main living level, so there was no way she way staying in the stairwell, even though it’ll be very cold tonight outside.
A Lowe’s person was supposed to show up yesterday morning to put in a new backsplash, but they never showed up. Was supposed to come today between 8-11am. Didn’t. Showed up at 1pm speaking mostly Portuguese, which meant my PIC and he had to communicate through an app. His boss was AWOL and the manager at Lowe’s utterly useless, so we canceled the job & will have the aMAZing contractors who are working on our master bathroom either recommend someone reliable, or do it themselves. JFC. At least the remodel is moving along swimmingly.
WFD tonight was my darling’s scrumptious Peruvian chicken and green sauce, this time with half the olive oil. I want to drown in that sauce
I had intended to go out with one of my meetup groups today but I’ve had after work appointments everyday this week then a job interview this morning so I’m exhausted. I made pasta with a red kidney bean sauce. Not bad for a Google search. I would make it again.
