I made the curry paste from scratch using lemongrass, galangal, soaked dried chiles, garlic, shallots and belacan. Blitzed that in the food processor, then mixed with a hand-ground spice mix (cumin, coriander, fennel).
No thread, just winging it. Had some delicious chicken soup with orzo & lemon; we call it mock avgolemeno, very tasty & comforting. My surgery wasn’t extensive but was productive as I actually had two procedures done while sedated. They usually have to do them one at a time. So big bonus there and I’ll have my permanent implant in about 3 months!! Usually takes 9-12 months. So I’ll be chomping away tomorrow & even have a lunch date with my dear friend/horrible cook. We will be eating at a nice resto. Oysters may happen!
Joint cooking effort with a friend tonight, impromptu dinner together.
Chicken and chickpea moroccan-ish stew with couscous and crusty bread (I skipped the extra carbs in lieu of wine). And I did a whole roasted cauliflower (gorgeous - eat this, Miznon!)
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My mom does a whole stewed cauliflower party dish which I adapted to roasting.
The cauliflower is cooked twice. First boiled/steamed till a knife goes into the stem easily. Then coated with oil and whatever seasonings you like (I mix it up each time - this time was s&p, mustard, thyme, cumin) and roasted until well-browned.
I made other stuff but the true star was these pork chops. I’m confident that brining is the key to pork. I brined them for the day in a bath of kosher salt, sugar, garlic cloves and whole peppercorns. Then coated them generously in my all purpose, dry rub (paprika 2 ways, salt, brown sugar, cumin, coriander, black pepper, chili powder and cayenne) and grilled.
I also grilled a little handful of garlic scapes which was amazing since they loose ALL of their garlic bite. Sides of a few lonely grilled peppers, broccoli and simple cucumber salad. Leftover quinoa for the carb lovers among us.
Those look amazing! Do you know what kind of peppers those are? Can I hear more about serving quinoa? I want to try it, especially if you don’t have to “serve immediately”.
I agree; brining makes a huge difference for me.
If you like them brined, may I also suggest Kenji of SeriousEats dry brine?
I don’t know the name of these peppers but they are so darn cute and sweet. They come in a big bag and are perfect grilled up with a little oil, salt and pepper.