What's for Dinner #33 - Prom Season Edition - May '18

@Ttrockwood

Mine is just beginning to coming back. It is really nice to finally feel more motivated about planning and cooking meals. I think it was the fallout of being extremely stressed for an extended period. The major stress was removed in January and it took 4.5 months to begin to see a little cooking enthusiasm.

Hope you both have a quicker recovery time! :hugs:

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i’ve had a LOT of meals out lately - especially due to the fact that I was in NOLA for 4 days, but then came home with a bad cold and was sick in bed for 4 days. Food in New Orleans was spectacular, to say the least. Loved it so much we’re going back in November. I bought some tasso ham from Cochon Butcher, which I hope to be making something with this weekend.

I also brought back Cochon’s smoky Buckboard bacon, and tried to replicate their famous bacon melt tonight, with sauteed kale (instead of collards) and Muenster (what i had), and a little sliced pepperoncini thrown in. Also quick-pickled some cucumbers in sugar and white vinegar. Not as good as Cochon, but still mighty fine overall.

other meals…

I made carnitas, guisado de pollo, mexi-rice and refried beans for a party we had at friends’ in Stinson Beach - and also a tuna ceviche - yep, that’s CANNED TUNA, and everyone adores it!


the Prep…


finished.

guisado

homemade tortillas

guac with lots of jalapeno, onion and cilantro


Tuna Ceviche

while i was sick i ate a lot of plain pastina (with butter), but as i got a little better, i made some with defrosted pork sugo…

thai-ish chicken - hadn’t had anything Asian in a while.

and i think that’s it!

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I love when @mariacarmen returns from a trip - we get FOOD PICS GALORE! :smiley: Of course, reading them at 11:30 a.m. makes me stahvin’ heah!

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Always good to see you and your mouth-watering food, Maria. Now eat lots 'cause you need to recover :grin:


Just a simple but very enjoyable meal we had today. Loosely based a Japanese dish called “unagi donburi” (rice and eel) but here I used smoked herring so it’s much much cheaper obviously. Though, (smoked) eel is very nice and I do eat it once in a while. You really don’t want to eat eel that often as it is very rich and costs a pretty penny. But anyway, here you go.

I fried the Tyrolean Speck and minced onions, garlic first. Then tossed the wheat around a bit and added boiling veg stock. Let it cook without stirring until a crust was formed. In the meantime made the glaze (Riesling, liquid smoke, tamari, ketcap mannis). When done arranged glazed fish on the whole thing, then the confit yolks and some chopped parsley. There you have it, Austria meets Netherlands, via Japan.

Cheap and good.

PS: I still have a few more smoked herrings left. Gonna find new ideas for them. Tomorrow is Ascension and the whole country has a day off. Smoked herring on bread is getting a bit booooooooring these day.

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Used some leftover roasted chicken thighs and paired with leftover bulgur, sautéed with diced onion and mushrooms

simple veg sides of tomatoes and cucumbers with light basil dressing

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Guisado de pollo i made over the weekend paired with spaghetti tonight, topped with queso fresco, and a side salad of carrots, celery, romaine, scallions, cilantro, with a simple dressing of oregano & cumin, arbequina olive oil and red wine vinegar. hit the spot.

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Last skrei from the freezer. Made a sauce with grainy mustard, lime juice, garlic, lots of seasoning from a grinder, fennel seeds, butter etc. Poured over the fish and it went in the oven.

It was a free day (Ascension) but the weather was unpleasant, unfortunately. Not good for photos but good for the plants in the garden.

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just got this message today
when I sent you the reply, it was returned
Lately, few of my mails had been returned/
wander if it is comcast?
Anyway, I had to go to gaithersburg Monday, Emergency, sever itching left ear,
Turned out a bug got inside my ear
still recovering
very very busy, weeds everywhere, cooking but no time to take pictures of food cooked
Perhaps if you are in my area ( Patuxent River, Calvert County, 30 mile before Solomons, give me a holler

Went to Yreka today. Went to Shasta City Meat Market in Montague outside of Yreka. Picked up a whole rabbit, beef back ribs, Italian sausage. It was $23. WTF. I turned around and got more items. I’m putting the Italian sausage on the Traeger to smoke. Steamed napa cabbage, with white potato. Wine to drink. Cheers :wine_glass::wine_glass:

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The pricing seems great! I seldom buy rabbit because it’s often $18 or more for the fool thing. I miss it though.

Exactly, would have paid $23 for just the rabbit in Santa Cruz . I’m stocking up. 40 minute drive through beautiful country with no traffic. No brainer.

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Dinner tonight was based on Deb Perelmans’ street cart chicken recipe in her Every Day cookbook. I came upon a nice sale on chicken leg quarters at WF’s and remembered hearing about this recipe. Turns out the recipe calls for b/s thighs cooked in a skillet which eventually become cut into pieces. I adapted and simply baked the quarters after a 24 hr. marinade. The scene stealer was the salad. My expectations weren’t high. The yohgurt based dressing + cilantro + back pepper really provided a fresh and addicting flavor combination with the iceberg, tomato & onion. I have a yellow rice mix which seemed to have a similar flavor profile so went with what I had on hand.

I’ve never had the famous Halal cart version so can’t compare. This was very moist and flavorful. Since I usually cook for one I’d skip the red sauce in the future and just add harissa directly to the marinade.

Plus there’s leftovers!

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I stopped in TJ’s the other day and looked for these. Management said they are seasonal Nov/Dec. Maybe your location differs? I’ve put a note on my calendar so I don’t forget about buying them in the fall.

After all the marinade and the waiting the star of the show was the salad. It happens to me quite often

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So funny, I actually stop at the halal carts on a semi regular basis and just ask for a box of salad with some of the grilled veggies- basically iceburg, tomato, onion, sometimes cucumber, and the grilled veg are mixed bell peppers and onion- and then the thin white sauce on top of it all. The street cart stuff is definitely just a thinned tart spiced mayo, but it’s crazy delicious. When i get lucky the cart also has tahini sauce so i get that too. Good stuff.
Serious eats did a recipe a while back, my parents make it semi regularly in CA, they love to stop and get some for lunch when they visit me

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Stopped by the puerto rican/dominican spot i love for the rice and beans. Yellow rice (almost certain just made with goyza sazón) that’s perfectly cooked and just almost sticky. Pinto beans today. And some of a slightly mysterious shredded yuca stew that she promised didn’t have meat in it, lots of onion, bell peppers, and tomatoey broth the rice soaked up. Photo before i scooped some on my plate with a side of basic massaged kale salad and some cherry tomatoes. Easily another 2 meals worth left over. And i’m not sure i need yuca stew again. Neither here nor there for me.

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Grilled vegetables would be excellent with the sauce! This sauce is primarily yoghurt with a little mayo, vinegar, smidge of sugar and salt.

I’ve looked at the Serious Eat’s recipe in the past but I had this book from the library and had been following the COTM thread on CH. Next time I’ll try the SE recipe and compare!

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Of course! That would be a lot of fun.

I completely forgot that they are seasonal. I can find good quality white chocolate chips at an organic store around here, but those are almost $6 a bag. TJ is much cheaper.

I have a huge slab of callebaut white chocolate that will last me a long time, but sometimes I think chips work better than chopped chocolate, especially white chocolate because it will melt really fast.

Just came in after spraying my cobblestones
sent some very tiny weeds to extension service yesterday
told it is a form of chickweed and has to be pulled
if they turn brown, there will be seeds everywhere.
So, I spent yesterday pulling but only a fraction could be done
NO MORE HELP , USED TO HELP HUSBAND ( AM NOW WIDOWED) ,AND SOMETIMES FULL TIME HELP
Advised by pop up have discussed this topic with you 3X.
I am sorry