Well… some friend you are. Since faster than fast hi sped travel needs to perfected a tad I fully understand, though I don’t like it one bit.
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WFD: - Sweet and Sour Pork from Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees. There’s a marinade for the pork cubes that are later rolled in tapioca starch for that familiar thick and sweet element , a sauce to cook with, and sugar for that sweet essence. We use organic raw sugar, but sugar is still sweet no matter what form it takes. Pieces of green and red bell peppers are included as are garlic, ketchup, white rice wine & vinegar, egg white, tapioca starch, and fresh pineapple chunks. The dish is an iconic Cantonese take-away favorite which I really am not tooo fond of but G will like it I’m sure. - Steamed Brown Basmati.
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I’d get mine at the supermarket if I couldnt be bothered to cut up some bacon.
I thought lardons were all fat and no meat.
My best meal during the week I was home alone unsupervised (when I make stuff hub doesn’t like while he golfs with a lot of guys in Myrtle Beach) was an incredibly delicious InstantPot braise. I browned some grass fed short ribs very well on the saute setting, then tossed in a big handful of yellow pear tomatoes and about 4 cubed tomatillos (lower histamine than red tomatoes, important for me), a few small carrots cut up, a few celery sticks cut up, a few smashed and rough chopped garlic cloves, fresh thyme and rosemary and one tiny cubed up garnet sweet potato. Only liquid I added was about a TBS of cider vinegar. High pressure for 90 minutes, removed the ribs, tossed the bones, trimmed the fat while simmering the already rich and thick braising liquid. SO good, best braise this year. I ate one serving, froze two for later meals.
Last night was a high temp sear of a frozen, boneless chuck filet steak, then finishing it in the hot pan turned low. Big salad of baby romaine, halved yellow pear tomatoes, shave parmesan and white balsamic and EVOO dressing.
Low carb PB and chocolate chunk cookies.
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BOIGAH. An elongated patty was seasoned with salt, pepper and dried thyme, pan-fried in butter and olive oil, spooning the fat over top as it cooked and covering with a lid for the last few minutes. Topped with some grated Gruyere cheese and caramelized onion, and it went on to lightly toasted Portuguese Saloio bread.
Sides were sweet potato fries with ketchup for dipping, and a quick salad of Romaine, chopped red bell pepper, grated carrot, chopped green onion and croutons tossed with some Marzetti Simply Dressed Caesar dressing that I jazzed up with some additional lemon juice and a healthy pinch of Aleppo pepper.
Wine. And work tomorrow. Bleah.
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We had bizzare yet wonderfully warm weather this weekend- low 60s in nyc! (Dropping back to chilly this week) Last night my friends had an impromptu gathering to grill on their terrace.
I had seen this mojo de ajo recipe the other day and decided this was the perfect reason to make it. I “cheated” and got the big bin of already peeled garlic. I dribbled it over my grilled tofu and the omnis all doused their meats well. Easy and really delicious
I also made a big salad to share with fennel sliced on the mandolin, lots of clementine and blood orange segments, grilled radicchio, thin red onion, big handful of mixed olives. Lots of black pepper, some good olive oil and a squeeze the citrus juice as a dressing. I was glad to see so many people take second helpings 
Tonight is freezer soup- i think it’s curry coconut lentil…?
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I love this Batali salad with fennel, blood oranges and pomegranite ‘seeds.’
http://globalgourmet.com/food/special/1999/batali/fennel.html#axzz40r2Y5SF0
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holy crap, frizzle, does your dish of taters and octopi sound amazing!
i’m out of sherry. i don’t know how that happened. must fix, posthaste.
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Sichuanese dinner: lettuce wraps of ground lamb, marinated in a shit-ton of sichuan peppercorns, cumin, ginger and garlic. for the wraps: romaine leaves, quick pickled carrot and daikon, red onion, red jalapenos, scallions, and cilantro. after the lamb was cooked i added some sugar, chopped dried thai chilis, and a ton of chopped scallions.
i made a spicy mala vinaigrette (lots more sichuan peppercorns, a sichuan chili oil that i also made awhile ago, minced garlic, scallion, soy, ginger, black vinegar, etc.) which was poured over sauteed bok choy and mushrooms (criminis and enokis). (recipe for the vinaigrette was shared by BC, from a popular cookbook, whose name escapes me momentarily, making the rounds these days, maybe on CH’s COTM?) (ETA - the book is “Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees.”)
and hash browns. because, HASH BROWNS. I justified them to myself by making them sort of asiany - a little shredded carrot, sliced red jalapeno, and cooked in a mixture of oil/butter and sesame chili oil - that and the fact that one of my favorite Sichuan restaurant dishes is the barely cooked spicy, shoestring potato dish.
but really, there is no need to ever justify hash browns to oneself.
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I made a batch of miso and tahini spread for the four year old’s sandwiches so I’m stealing some of that for tonight’s dinner. For me the miso spread will be smeared on some salmon that will be grilled (broiled). For the bloke I’ll thin the sauce and drizzle it over silken tofu. Toppings will be sesame seeds, spring onion and frizzled ginger. Blanched broccoli will feature as will buckwheat noodles. Maybe some crispy kale too.
The child’s dinner shown - she had leftover potato from last night instead of noodles and quick pickled cucumber instead of broccoli. I also may have told her that the salmon which spent 30 seconds too long under the grill is ‘ocean chicken’ as she’s somehow got the idea in her head that she dislikes salmon. She’s devouring her ocean chicken as I write this. This lie will go into the list of other lies I have told her - such as every time she uses the word ‘like’ inappropriately a brain cell dies. I’m sure these lies will come back to haunt me eventually. In the meantime she claims to ‘like totally like ocean chicken mum.’ 
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Thanks MC. It 's hard to go wrong with what’s essentially fish, chips and salad but it was very good. I even saved the cooking liquid to use as a lunchtime soup base for me. I’m thinking of throwing some chickpeas (garbanzo beans?) into it.
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both terms work. sounds good!
Last night I made ribs with Sichuan spices. Black beans in chili oil, Sichuan peppercorns and Sichuan facing heaven chilies.
The last 2 ingredients I got in Chengdu and mailed them home whilst I was still travelling there. Almost all the things I mailed back from China are still edible and in good condition, contrary to what people often say. Such as the peppercorns and various Sichuan chilis, and many kilos of teas.
Ok, the ribs. I got the meaty kind for a change. Took a lot longer at low temps to be done. Meat fell off the bone effortlessly when it was ready.
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Maybe in American English, but not in English English. They’d be fatty but not all fat, so I’d use streaky bacon (as American bacon), rather than the more common back bacon.
My normal supermarket sells both bacon & pancetta lardons.
We’re out for lunch, so a lightish dinner is on the cards. Sausages and a microwave pack of Merchant Gourmet’s lentils du Berry. It’ll need nothing more than a big splodge of English mustard.
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Lardon is thick bacon cut into pieces, with meat and fat. At least here, it means that.
Lard, is another story, it is called “saindoux” here and are all fat.
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Were the chilis sun dried? Lovely dish. I think it’s difficult to find this chili in Europe.
My Saturday WFD was sashimi (tuna and a kind “swordfish”) sliced by Chef naf, with a mushroom, leek and seaweed udon. Tasted good, but I’m no Japanese chef, the slices were irregular and not very presentable.
Yesterday, fried squid with red endive risotto, the recipe normally asked for mascarpone and grated parmesan. The mascarpone was forgotten in the fridge and wasn’t in an edible state, I substituted with same among of cream.
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Yes, the chilis are dried. I have eaten the fresh ones in Chengdu but it’s not the same. Apparently you’re not supposed to eat them when fresh as they are used mostly for that distinct taste, one of the tastes which Sichuanese food is famous for.
Check the Asian shops in bigger town next time perhaps? I’m sure they stock it.
