I made a Valentine’s Day dinner over the weekend, which uncharacteristically included a big steak to share. Splurged! Used the reverse sear method and topped with some marrow butter I had stashed in the freezer. Accompanied by mashed potatoes (not shown), because my husband likes preparing them so much.
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
389
Made the Peruvian chicken, this time NYT style, might try the other one in future (thanks @linguafood and @ChristinaM).
Even though I don’t (yet) have the proper chili pastes, I looked at what the intertoobs suggested were the closest companion subs, then kind of went my own way. Still turned out really nice. Wife and I, and the one daughter home briefly from college, all liked it a lot.
I’ll do it again once I have the real deal chili pastes. Had mashed taters and steamed broccoli on the side. Also I’ll take the wings off next time and start cooking them a bit later, as they got too done.
Also served with thin slices of a hockey puck representing my first attempt at turning freshly milled wheat berries into bread. It tasted fantastic! And here I’d always thought “I don’t like whole wheat bread very much”. But it was also super dense and the crust threatened to break teeth. I’m trying again tonight after making some changes that may, I hope, help gluten development. ETA - I’m doing some kind of soup tomo night, so I’ll use the rest of this older bread as crouton soakers in the soup.
I also ordered some “better” wheat. Hard white, supposedly free of glyphosate residues, non-GMO (I’m not too concerned about that either way), and organic. The stuff I’ve been playing with so far just says “Wheat Berries” and is from my local Persian store, at $2/lb small packages. The stuff I ordered online is a bit under $2/lb, but I’m getting a 50 pound sack… better start baking more!
Oh, and I decided this was a better way to sift the wheat.
Another day, another ridiculous fucking hospital bill for my shoulder surgery. A creaky mid-afternoon PT sesh didn’t improve my mood either. Oh, that’s right — it’s a Monday
Dinner was meant to provide Comfort Through Carb Cuddling™, i.e. the pasta I postponed from yesterday.
Pappppardelllllle with a lusciously creamy Meyer lemon sauce, English peas and black tiger shrimp sure seemed like a super-duper-combo to me. I started the sauce by sautéing a bunch of leeks I’d been meaning to use up forevah in butter until tender, adding a splash of open Pinot Grigio one of my gal pals brought over last week that we don’t drink, the zest of 2 Meyer lemons plus the juice of one, and a splash of cream. A little Aleppo pepper for kicks & fresh basil to finish.
The peas were a bit more al dente than anticipated, as was the pasta, and “finishing” both in the sauce only goes so far. I was also not happy with how the sauce turned out. My PIC, OTOH, loved it (or at least he claimed to, sweetheart that he is).
Arugula salad with the usual lemon vinaigrette & parm also seemed tarter than I would’ve liked. Sometimes a shit day just can’t be saved. Meh.
I dredged bone-in pork chops lightly in seasoned flour after brining in diluted dill pickle juice and pan fried. Sides of green beans with shallot and local ramp salt and cheesy brown rice with broccolini. Yummy.
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
395
Thanks! There’s a local store selling “no promise” (not organic, not certified glyphosate free) a bit cheaper, but given how OCD my oldest daughter is, I figured I’d go with this (promising organic, no glyphosate) first and try to get her on board for her and her kids. She herself has been gluten free for about a year. Neither of us are sure if gluten is the actual problem, and she says she’s willing to try breads made from this. We’ll see.
The other kid (daughter #3) has by testing almost certainly has a gluten problem, so I won’t be asking her to try the new bread,.
Not to belabor a point, but did you not make the sauce to go with the Peruvian chicken, or did you just not take a picture?
1 Like
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
397
No worries! Oh yes I made the sauce. KICK BUTT. No pic; sorry. Guess where all the sauce went? My fly-by visiting daughter loved it so much that she asked if she could take half with her. I gave her all of it, because it’s easier for me to make (better equipment) than her, and she said she could find lots of other uses for it. Luckily this daughter doesn’t have the “cilantro soap” gene.
And speaking of which, my second daughter had always despised cilantro, with the “soapy” taste being the main problem. Weirdly, the last couple of years she’s gone from hating, to tolerating, to actually liking cilantro. So at least in her case, maybe it wasn’t the genetic issue.
I’m another former cilantro hater who converted 200%. Also used to be a total spice wimp until my ex gently raised my tolerance, and now I adore spicy foods. Still owe her bigly for that.
