Eggs Florentine using creamed spinach from the freezer, and tots.
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My daughter accidentally had her Hello Fresh order for turkey and black bean chili sent here, so I decided to make it.
Not bad, and sort of fun!
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The last few nights were either takeout or repeat meals that I did not bother photographing. I “returned” to the kitchen tonight with an ~8 ounce NY Strip and asparagus cooked in cast iron. I also made a boxed rice pilaf (Near East) that was good but I barely touched because of how good this was. Most of the steak was my desired medium rare, but the edges were a little overcooked.
I’m dining solo tonight because of a quirk in our work schedules-- usually when you see chunks of flesh that means the BF was already asleep when I got home from work. So a steak, vodka on the rocks (severally, actually, after the day I had), and an old horror movie it is.
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I picked up a bottle of pomegranate molasses and used it as a marinade for chicken thighs. Also threw in a sliced red onion, sliced lemon, a handful of smashed garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and some zatar spice. Grilled the chicken and then sauteed some more sliced onion to go on top. Everyone ate it with gusto!
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Yum. Pomegranate is one of my favorite things.
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Dinner tonight was a big salad: shredded chicken with bell peppers, soy beans, leek, carrots, ginger pickles, celery, fish roes and freshly toasted sesame. Seasoned with oyster sauce, sesame oil, dark soy sauce, sugar, wasabi. First time made it about 2 months ago when a friend came to visit us for lunch. One of my favorite ever since.
We ordered pizzas last night.
Monday we had scallop risotto that was inspired by the last Top Chef show. Love the scallop carppacio with a lime and yuzu vinaigrette on the rice and pan fried whole scallops.
Sunday was grey sea bream.
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Larb Ramen - leftover frozen pork larb, spiced up with TJ’s Chili Onion Crunch, Maggi seasoning, sesame oil, sauteed shitakes, green garlic, and asparagus, over hot instant ramen noodles (no soup), with a drizzle of sesame oil, cilantro, scallions, and chopped cabbage. Also, the BF reminded me that I wanted an egg with this, so he boiled one for 7 minutes and then dipped it in soy so the outside was a deep mahogany and the inside perfectly gooey. Yum - better than I’d even imagined it.
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Those pan seared chicken breasts with chili in olive oil marinade( and you put something on top to crisp the skin* ) and sugar snaps and mushrooms. And carmelized fennel.
- What is that called? Chicken under a brick?
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Chicken Vindaloo. Yes, it’s spicy. Yes, it hurts. Yes, I loved every bite.
This ended up one of the hottest meals I’ve ever cooked at home. A wonderful burn. Similar to a typical Indian curry but adds potatoes (I subbed some green peas instead) and vinegar in the sauce (I deglaze the pan in white vinegar).
Side of awfully mushy rice that I could not bear to include in the photo-- a little too much water. However, the gluey texture helped quell the heat.
No cocktail tonight, and thank goodness since I may have actually ignited.
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I had a burger for dinner via delivery a couple days ago that came with a ridiculous amount of fries. I saved about half and made some carnitas fries tonight with guac, sour cream, Kraft singles, and salsa Mexicana.
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Chinese tonight.
Leftovers (just a bit of each):
Ginger scallion beef
Cumin Sichuan pepper lamb
Fried rice
Chicken corn soup
Made:
Vegetarian corn soup
Green beans with crisp fried garlic and cashews
Broccoli in garlic sauce
Mushrooms with soy and chilli oil (LGM!)
Rice cakes with chives and cabbage
Scallion-ginger-cilantro condiment - love this stuff
I finally ordered Lao Gan Ma here last week - Instacart messed up and so we got the fried chilli with peanuts rather than my favorite chilli crisp, but everyone still got hooked on first taste 
(Even the MSG-complainers 
)
But that scallion ginger stuff is just the BEST 
.
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Indian vindaloo isn’t actually burn-your-mouth-off spicy. It’s flavorful from the spice, tangy from the vinegar, and porky-fatty. Yes, spicy. But not palate-burning.
I always wonder how these dishes evolved overseas to an impetus to burn the mouth - how could people taste any of the other flavors once that happened?
Even naga chillies / bhut jholokia / ghost peppers (which burned - blistered - my friend’s fingers when she brought some fresh from where they’re grown, and a bit of juice squirted onto them) are prized for their flavor, not just their burn. One in a pot of pork or chicken stew, simmered slowly, has the most wonderful, subtle flavor - plus a slow burn. Add much more, and it’s just burn, you can’t taste anything past that.
As an aside, I’d highly recommend potatoes in vindaloo next time - they soak up the spice and vinegar in a wonderful and complementary way, and are fabulous half-mashed into the rice with every bite!
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Thanks for the input. I make my Vindaloo spicy as for personal preference, which my BF tolerates. If I was making this for a group of people, I certainly would not go as hot.
I’ve made this once in the past and used potatoes, but I didn’t have any on hand-- how did that happen?
As a side note, I know traditional Vindaloo is done with pork as you mentioned (Portuguese influence?), but any time I have have seen/ordered it on a restaurant menu, it has always been chicken and maybe shrimp. Come to think of it, I do not recall ever seeing pork on the menu of the Indian restaurants I frequent. Why is that?
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I would like that burn . My flavor life has melted into the Pace mild salsa . And I like it. I really don’t know what happened.
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Because it’s a Goan Christian dish, and most restaurants are owned by (and the cooks are) Hindus or Muslims - most of the former and all of the latter don’t eat pork.
In India, vindaloo isn’t found at generic North Indian restaurants - usually only at the rare Goan restaurant, or club kitchens that have Christian staff and multi-religious members. Or you have to track down someone who makes it at home and sells it. And then, it’s only pork.
This is a favorite cuisine of my father’s: he loves nothing more than finding an excellent rendition of anything Goan 
(I’m the one kid who developed an anti-Goan palate perhaps as a result of his quest 
)
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First friend invited in for dinner in well over a year. Similar vax elapse as ours, and from a pretty well defined and maintained bubble. Spur of the moment, and sourced mostly from pantry, fridge and yard.
With drinks, green grapes wrapped with strips of prosciutto.
Sorrel soup with giant scallop. This turned out to be a “Wowzer!” (I love it when guests moan!)
Judy Rogers’ simple roast chicken with bread salad
Home frozen yogurt with first strawberries.
It was good to sit around a table again with even one guest.
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Yay! So glad for those who can have safe inside interactions now.
Your menu sounds delicious - I do love that bread salad!
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Amen. And wow, what a dinner you busted out. Lucky guest!
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