What's For Dinner #105 - the Start Your Gardens! Edition - April 2024

[tomatotomato (Denise)]

@retrospek

Last Friday started our birthdays week.

So, does this mean I ought to be wishing happy birthday to you and your husband? Happy birthdays!

[ottawaoperadiva]

@Saregama

(WHEN did a $30 cocktail become ACCEPTABLE???)

I’ve been cutting down on the amount of alcohol I drink and am surprised at the number of restaurants that make mocktails but charge the same as cocktails. I don’t mind paying a little more for mocktails than juice or coffee for example because there are more ingredients and a little more labour intensive perhaps but there is no alcohol in them.

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))]

@paryzer

spring pea agnolotti with ricotta, mint puree, brown butter almond, and pea shoots

Swoooooon

Togarashi beurre blanc sounds pretty good too…but it looks like the sauce broke?

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))]

@small_h

Not pictured: Me realizing that the bluefish was grievously undercooked, and scraping all the fava leaves off so I could microwave it (after that, it was really nice). Also not pictured: Me wondering why some of the fava leaves had neat little holes in them, before discovering that I’d been refrigerating a small black slug for about a week.

Relate to all of this

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))]

@ernie_in_berkeley

spaghetti carbonara, with stuff)

Looks and sounds great.

[Phoenikia]

@ottawaoperadiva

mocktails but charge the same as cocktails. I don’t mind paying a little more for mocktails than juice or coffee for example because there are more ingredients and a little more labour intensive perhaps but there is no alcohol in them

I’m not that surprised by mocktails at upscale restaurants are in the $12-$18 Cdn range, when cocktails at the same restaurants are in the $20-$26 Cdn range, because of the effort to make them. At the same restaurants, some wines by the glass will be $20-30, and a drip coffee might cost $5. A juice might cost $5. A fresh squeezed juice might cost $9.

The non-alcoholic spirits used in some mocktails, such as Seedlip, aren’t cheap

I see the pricing of mocktails as cocktails minus the cost of a shot of liquor, with the same amount of labour, rather than something that’s going to be in the same price range as coffee or a nice juice.

I stopped drinking recently. I am looking forward to some posh mocktails this patio season.

[Saregama]

Looks are overrated.

Give me something beige /brown / blah-looking and flavor-packed over something pretty and boring tasting any day!

What recipe do you you follow for rendang? I love the dish.

[ottawaoperadiva]

@Phoenikia

The non-alcoholic spirits used in some mocktails, such as Seedlip, aren’t cheap

I hadn’t thought of that. We have a store in Ottawa called Knyota and they specialize in selling non-alcoholic beverages. They’ve been getting really good reviews but their beverages have been getting good reviews.

[paryzer (Eli Paryzer)]

@ChristinaM

@paryzer

spring pea agnolotti with ricotta, mint puree, brown butter almond, and pea shoots

Swoooooon

Togarashi beurre blanc sounds pretty good too…but it looks like the sauce broke?

Everything was outstanding!

I think that they just drizzled oil on the Togarashi beurre blanc to get that cool look.

[Saregama]

Everything looks so appetizing, but good lord on that porchetta crust!

[Phoenikia]

At this Toronto bar, the cocktails are $15, which is a little lower than typical lately, and the mocktails are $12. I’ve usually been paying $18-$22 for cocktails, since 2020.

Menu - famous last words

[BierMonk]

Two Questions:
What did you use to make your Rendang Paste?
How large were the Beef Cubes before cooking?

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))]

Ah, makes sense.

[honkman]

With so many cookbooks and magazines at home we hardly ever repeat recipes and even if we make same/similar dishes use always new recipes - this one is from a recent Cook’s Illustrated but we also liked the one in “All about Braising”

[honkman]

We pre-cut most of the ingredients for the paste and finished it in the food processor.
The cubes were about 2 inches - looking back we had the rendang for 2.25 hours in the oven but should have only left it for 2 hours - some of the pieces were falling apart too much

[BierMonk]

Makes sense.
Food Processors really can not grind the Ingredients for the Paste very well. I often use a Blender but then you have to add more Liquid which lengthens the time to cook the Paste.
I recently used the small Bowl Attachment for my Folk’s Hand Blender which worked pretty well.
Another Option for the Lime Leaves and Lemongrass is to bruise them up well, all whole into the simmering Stage and then remove them to serve.

[paryzer (Eli Paryzer)]

@Saregama

Everything looks so appetizing, but good lord on that porchetta crust!

The porchetta crust was amazingly crunchy! I was barely able to cut it with a steak knife.

[Saregama]

Were there any critical differences between the two? I’m not sure I’d be able to tell unless the lemongrass was askew or the depth of flavor of the curry paste didn’t hit the mark.

I bought some small packets from an Indonesian store that I’ve still to try. I won’t use them as the only flavoring, but it does simplify some of the ingredient sourcing to have a starting point, as with Thai curry.

[honkman]

The paste between both recipes is quite similar. The biggest difference is that CI does most of the braising in the oven which makes it easier than AAB where you do it on the stove

[linguafood (Natascha)]

Somewhat of a ladies night tonight. We’re hitting the final Moth-type event of the season – a couple of musicians I worked with last fall are part of it & I’m looking forward to hearing them perform again. It’s BYOBAF, so I have the choice between the very good halal cart right next door to the venue, or BMOS and be left with carrying an empty container to the bar where festivities are supposed to continue, and where I am almost guaranteed to forget it…. tho I may be able to dump it on my PIC who’s meeting up with some dude at another bar nearby – sometimes it doesn’t totally suck to live in a small town.

While the halal cart is mighty tempting, I am srsly trying to lighten up my food intake for these last two weeks before Berlin (which is so very much gonna make a difference ).

I’ll still add some fun stuff like roti chicken and avocado