What's for Dinner #23 - 07/2017 - the Summertime Picnic & Grilling Edition

It’s JULY. Canada Day, Independence Day, Bastille Day. LOTS of days. No matter what, in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s hot all over. So grilling and picnic food are in order. What’s cooking?

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Errands and my happy place, Wegmans, which was surprisingly quiet for the Saturday before Independence Day.

Picked up some wild North Carolina shrimp for a quick scampi with minced shallots and garlic, Meyer lemon juice and white wine, with a sprinkle of minced parsley and fresh lemon zest on top. More Basmati rice, and steamed green beans alongside. Wine. Quite nice.

Raspberry cheesecake gelato for afters.

And a bonus nose picture of the Fearsome Finnegan during a morning cuddle belly scrub time.

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We picked up some chicken thighs from Mayflower on Friday and then the rest of tonight’s dinner was informed by cauliflower found at the Union Square farmer’s market. So, tandoor chicken on the grill, cauliflower with mustard and fennel seed [Jaffrey recipe) and some basmati rice. Usually I make some dal, but for some reason that didn’t appeal tonight. A quick grill of some pre-made Naan bread completed the meal.

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We just lit the grill for Pollo a la brasa, both green and yellow sauces made and waiting in the fridge. Broccoli on the side.

The aji amarillo plants (huge bushes!) are full of peppers so this is back in regular rotation. :slight_smile:

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Still under the weather, find stir fry cooking on my wok the easiest and quickest way for a meal.
last night, had stir fried NY strip ( had the butcher slice a whole NY Strip, and filet mignon , thin enough for stir fry, as well as for quick steak n cheese sandwich and Korean charcoal beef. I freeze them in individual servings for convenience. )with carrot, celery, asparagus, red pepper, garlic, ginger and spring onion . Used Pixian Szechuan sauce, ( not spicy enough for my taste) forgot to add hot chili pepper and rice wine for the beef with roasted szechuan peppercorn and for the veggie, separately stir fry with garlic, and a splash of oyster sauce , sprinkled with peppercorn and then mix together and added sesame oil for fragrance. That took less than 15 min total served with rice. Champagne mangoes for dessert

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Your wok is so clean. What is it made from?

First dinner of July… actually 2 different things. The partner had smoked mackerel with “caviar” lentils, mine was steamed crab claws. A big crunchy salad alongside. Rainy and miserably dark day, even in the middle of the afternoon.

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It is one of my favorite cooking utensils. It is an All Clad SS 3 ply Stir Fry French Wok ( That was what it was called when I purchased it in 1980’s. ) The dome cover is separate. It heats up fast, cleans easy, almost non stick unless I have some starch coating on my meat which I then deglaze. The handles do not get hot.

Thanks! It’s getting better but I still need medicines, I think partially the problem is we didn’t want to skip meals and continue eating! It’s tough on the stomach. I tried not to eat a lot though.


Thanks @Presunto for the explanation on SV. I have bought the book Modernist Cuisine Home but didn’t have time reading it.

Will leave Cambodia today! We stayed 10 days already, enjoyed it foodwise. We will cross the border at Ha Tien to Phu Quoc… 4 hours trip.

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Can someone start a WFD July post? I’m on phone now and couldn’t start a new topic…Thanks!

@sck is this a bug? Or it’s only me?

I’m trying to - I’m always frustrated that you can’t start a NEW topic from a current thread. You have to go back to the category. Just a second.

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Wild Monterey Bay salmon. From out in our Bay. Romanesco zucchini. Small boiled new potatoes. With a dollop of sour cream and Dill. Wine to drink::wine_glass: Cheers

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I made a small “practice batch” of a classic potato salad this afternoon, i rarely make the classic style and need to bring it for a party in two weeks. I like red potatoes and used those but will likely go another testing round with russets. Followed the serious eats method and recipe but swapped in cider vinegar, skipped the sugar, added a good splash of pickle juice, used dijon and vegan mayo. Ok so maybe i didn’t follow the recipe at all…! Haha. Anyways. Very tasty, better after some time in the fridge and a touch more salt.
Not an attractive thing to photograph…!

Had too much of it this afternoon so for a light dinner i used the gorgeous cucumber i found to make an israeli salad and i tossed in a good handful of cubed baked tofu. Generous glass of wine a la carte.

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no cooking here in the last 3 dinners, but i just had my first taste ever of Duke’s Mayo - ordered through Target (free shipping when i spent $50.00 - which i did :smiley:) as we can’t get it here in CA. Found it very tasty, and especially compared Kraft mayo (which has sugar), but it’s a really, really close cousin to Trader Joe’s mayo, which i also like. I really want to make BLTs with it. But i need to find good tomatoes first.

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50 dollars for mayonnaise. Awesome. I would do the same just to taste it.:relaxed:

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Curious, why don’t you make yours, it isn’t difficult and homemade is better!

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Fabulous. Mine is carbon steel and it stains.

I have a huge S/S one which I use infrequently for making Singapore Noodles. Since it is a standard wok, my husband made a round steel to accommodate my electric stove. Just gave it away recently bec I seldom use it. I just gave it away 6 months ago as I am downsizing since I started to collect copper but a not really using them yet. I think the grade of steel makes a difference as well as the fact that the All Clad is triple ply.

I am still debating about a sous vide . Perhaps, I will try a Joule. I think Kenji states that using a solid layer of pingpong balls on the water surface insulate the bath and help steam to condense and drip down as well hold food down. Other than for using it on duck breast, I am not sure yet what I need it for. I hate to collect again just like all the copper that I purchased but worried to mess them up. I did a lot of smoking t he last 2 years, have a Mak pellet smoker that makes fantastic brisket, pulled pork, smoked fish and ribs. So, for these huge cuts of meat, the smoker is perfect.
How about a wish list for your cooking need as a new topic?
hmmmmm I would like to have a Grillworks 38 or 42 Asador
( Argentina Grill)

@ccj, I like admiring your wok every time you post it!

@naf, Phu Quoc was the BEST thing on my Vietnam trip. Intended to be there only 3 days, ended up staying 7. No electricity, no radio or telly, no papers, saw almost no other tourists -also on the beach, lodging was the most spartan room, had to surrender our passports to the owner, ate at a shack on the beach behind the lodging every evening, had a nice time every day talking with a Scottish pensioner who lived on a boat in Nottingham, 3 of us drank a bottle of Vietnamese wine with our “christmas dinner” in the beach shack -the most disgusting wine ever-, no idea about the tsunami till we got back to the mainland. Still have some very rare photos of me on the beach. (I don’t like it when people make photos of me!)

I’ve always noticed that I’m happiest when I am not around people, like on Phu Quoc. Indeed I win at not needing contact with humans for the longest time, Olympics level! 100% introvert!

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Squid with gochujang. In the sauce: onion, garlic, ginger, rice wine.

Tiny squid, more than a kilo but didn’t take me long to clean. I’m quite skilled at cleaning squid now. Hard to make out what it is in with all gochujang/korean fermented bean paste and gochugaru/Korean chilli powder.

Wax beans with pulverised black sesame seeds and some more gochugaru. Drizzled with some more Korean pure sesame oil. Simple and nice!

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