September - the beginning of school; the beginning of the end of summer; the beginning of the slide towards the end of the year.
Temps drop (depending on where you are), leaves barely begin to change color (depending on where you are), thoughts slowly turn to braises - although there are always those holdouts who will grill defiantly into the cool(er) nights.
What are you cooking?
Last nights meal,
Shelled some shrimp and used the shells to make stock along with lemon zest, green onion and garlic and cooked some Korean noodles in the stock. Browned the shrimp in butter with zest, green onion and sweet basil. Used some of the zest, onion and basil to top off the dish. It was one of those dishes where I just said “damn, this is good”.
The shrimp were plump and sweet
Damn, that does sound good!
GORGEOUS morning here - low humidity and a nip in the air for the first time since May. I think we’re going to celebrate the start of the 3-day weekend with dinner out, but tomorrow I’m going to Costco to load up on ribs and other smokable meats for a festival of BBQ this weekend! YAY FOR LABOR DAY!!!
dinner was the brisket, finally, which turned out just ok. a bit stringy, good when you got a big bite of fat with it. COTC with an (weezie’s) aleppo/granulated garlic/smoked paprika/s&p butter, and a big-ass salad with various sliced veggies, and a buttermilk/herb dressing i made.
I like the big ass salad .
I’ve been doing some freezer cooking for the parents while i’m home, reprising a few of their favorites i have made before as well as a batch of mom’s favorite potato leek soup (freezer ready photo)
Spinach lasagna rolls, frittata muffins, raisin bran muffins and lentil soup not pictured. All vegetarian (of course I don’t cook with omni proteins) yet my very meat and potatoes parents are thrilled
This new to me recipe for tamale pie was dinner last night to rave reviews, more servings went to the freezer. Really delicious simple recipe- i cheated and used a Penzy’s spice blend that is really mild since my parents don’t do well with chilis. The browned butter for the cornbread is really brilliant.
As our beloved Harters would say, it’s a brown gloop meal.
But not one pulled from the freezer - leftover roast chicken was chopped up, as was the rest of the green beans. Some carrots, onions and red bell peppers were sliced. All was sauteed, and mixed with some broken cooked spaghetti and a quick peanut sauce.
Brown gloop in a bowl. No pic because, well, brown gloop.
And a glass of wine. Clears out the lower shelves of my fridge, so I can start filling it up anew this weekend.
Dessert, if I want it, will be more figs with peppered honey and goat cheese.
lucky parents to have you around!
BF glazed TJs pork belly with sherry fino and sugar, made mashed potatoes with a delicious parm/garlic/parsley butter, sauteed tomatoes, yellow squash and onion (wish this portion had been bigger), and a nice simple butter lettuce salad.
Could someone please start a new thread for september?
Take care, Scooby, and those who are in Florida. Hope you have enough snacks and alcohol til the storm passes 
Thanks. All good here. Just a mess in the yard and back deck.
It’s going to be a cooking weekend. Three quarts of meat sauce was made and tucked into the downstairs fridge to cool down, then into the freezer.
For dinner, a boneless pork chop was seasoned with salt and pepper and seared in a hot skillet in olive oil and butter. Added about 1/4 cup chopped shallot after I flipped the chop to the other side, then added some diced tomatoes and some minced garlic. Let that simmer for a bit, added 1/4 cup of white wine, and drizzled with 1 Tbsp or so of honey. Covered and let it simmer until the liquid had reduced to almost nothing.
Served a couple slices of the pork and tomato-garlic sauce on top of garlic-parsley linguine with green beans alongside. Wine. And the DVD of “The Neverending Story” on the tube to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the publication of the book on 9/1/79.
No-cook meal tonight - charcuterie, olives, cheese. I was too busy setting up and seasoning my new smoker to make a real dinner! I’ll be hitting Costco tomorrow for ribs and who knows what else. Yay meat!
Get one of those monster bone in prime rib eyes from Costco . 3.3 lbs. See above . Fun .
I’ll be eating off that mammoth for days .
That is a GORGEOUS steak. I’ll have to see if our store has anything that nice on offer!
I had the three little packaged prime rib eyes , and walked up to this magnificent piece of beef . " Oh there you are " . and put the little ones back in place .
I did take a photo of the lentil soup! Really more like stew, i added an unholy crapton of stuff to it… Corn, spinach, mushrooms, carrot, red potatoes, green beans, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and a quick broth i had made from the tops of the leeks with carrots, celery, dried mushrooms and a mix of dried thyme and fresh rosemary.
Wine time while cooking
We went to the family favorite hole in the wall mexican for dinner that night- my parents only ever order the carnitas. Not many vegetarian options but i was more than happy with my pile of fresh homemade corn tortillas, killer guacamole and a side of sautéed zucchini blossoms they had on special.
And, sigh, now I’m back in nyc… WFD is still TBD.
The smoker’s virgin voyage was a success! I smoked a few racks of ribs and a handful of chicken drumsticks for DH’s lunches next week. I’m not a huge fan of smoked chicken myself, due to the lack of crispy skin, but these drums were tasty enough. The ribs were rubbed with a combination of brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne, chili powder, cumin, coriander and paprika, with a pinch of ginger, cinnamon, mace and thyme added for good measure - decent flavor but needs work. I smoked using apple wood at 225 and gave them about 3 hours of smoke followed by 3 hours of no smoke, which was maybe a little too much smoke and not quite enough time to get the thickest ribs fully tender. Still, not bad for a first outing.
