What's for Dinner #44 - 04/2019 - the April Flowers but no Showers Edition

Your photos are so vivid that it feels like I could reach out and help myself to a taste!

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Sweet. You’re raising a leader–not a follower.

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Red sauce bubbling away on the stove! Using bits and bobs from the freezer and fridge - hot Italian sausage, onion, garlic at the start. Red bell pepper and crisped bits of eggplant later. Perhaps mushrooms too. This will become sandwiches, a baked something using ricotta which has been languishing in the fridge and over spaghetti tonight. Crusty baguette to go with. High winds expected with storms moving through tomorrow so this will make meals easy if the power goes out for hours.

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Returned to the Wok tonight.
This is a Shrimp & Rice Stick & Snow Pea Pod Stir Fry with a heavy Asian influence. And honestly, I’ve never cooked Shrimp better than I did here tonight.

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I could dive right in. The shrimp looks outstanding.

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Lamb kofte kebabs over charcoal with tzatziki were a huge hit. I ground 3/4 of the lamb (the fattiest parts of the leg) coarsely, then ground the remaining quarter to a fine paste along with onions, garlic, fresh mint, fennel seed, coriander, cinnamon and black pepper, and mashed it all together for a texture similar to sausage but not quite as tight. Grilled up really juicy and tender. Red cabbage slaw with lime-cumin-jalapeno dressing alongside.

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It was a rare night when I didn’t know what I wanted for dinner.

Didn’t want scrambled eggs, since I had them for breakfast.

Making a big salad for a work lunch tomorrow, so I didn’t want a composed salad for dinner tonight.

So a tub of chili was pulled from the freezer, reheated, and served on elbow noodles, with grated Manchego cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top.

I did make a side salad of red leaf lettuce, sliced cukes and radishes, shaved carrots, grape tomatoes, goat cheese, dried cranberries, croutons, and maple-balsamic vinaigrette.

There was wine. And no pictures.

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We had an excellent dinner at Fin Raw Bar & Kitchen in Montclair, NJ. Below is a link to the details and pictures.

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Comfort food dinner tonight, though none of the components are really comfort components for me, so that was funny.

Salmon en papillote in a sort-of Bengali way with mustard, green chilies, and lemon. With basmati & quinoa and sorta-dal fry from split green moong dal.

I was going to make some cabbage on the side but got lazy, so I grated half a zucchini into the dal, which made it sort-of Bengali too because there’s a dal made with bottle gourd… :joy:

Very proud of myself for an almost-complete Indian meal, which I rarely bother to make just for myself.

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Wow, thanks so much!!

My wife disparages me all the time for my feeble attempts at pix. Then again, probably pay back for my ribbing her for her “cook everything in one pot” without searing/parboiling/finishing style of cooking. We love each other dearly anyway. :slight_smile:

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Need to use bean sprouts last night, at first i made the more classic korean banchan but then i wanted to make it more of a meal and added cucumbers and tomatoes and a lot of sesame seeds- but as is it was kinda weird…!
Ended up making a basic salad with the extra tomato and flopped the spout mix ontop after the pic, which was much better.

Picked up some fantastic asparagus, a nice medium size- steamed it earlier as part of my lunch situation, added the rest to my dinner salad. Also had a not sweet orange, some olives, red onion since i forgot to buy scallions, sunflower seeds, and a masala burger patty.
Yup, definitely a Random Things Ontop of Salad that I Refer to as A Meal :joy:

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Aw, it made me happy to read that. Secretly I am a tiny bit happy when he is not too TOO compliant. :slight_smile:

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Looks excellent!

Boy, that sounds comforting and good.

Quail , bread , and wine :wine_glass: Cheers .

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We’ve been away for a couple of weeks. After that long of restaurant food for dinner (and several lunches), it’s good to be back in the kitchen. But, in truth, I’m really not that arsed about making much of an effort. That mood calls for Nigel Slater’s sausage & bean hotpot, which I’ve been doing since his “30 Minute Cook” was published in 1994. I usually use plain pork sausages but I had some “Italian style” ones in the freezer, so I may tweak the recipe to make a tad more Mediterranean. Recipe is the first one on this link - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/oct/13/foodanddrink.features11

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Oh, hell yes. That is right in my wheelhouse of flavors.

I used Food Lions self branded hot Italian sausage. While it did put off a red tinted oil when it was browned in the pan there was no “hot” at all. No flavor in general actually, just the texture of a sausage. Not on my repeat purchase list!

Reheating leftover caldo verde. Hummus, pita chips and manchego cheese as an appetizer

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Bringing the heat to de La Casa RedJim for Taco Monday:

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