What's for Dinner #68 - the Spring has Sprung Edition - April 2021

Mixed Asian tonight. (H-mart and several larger asian chains are now on Instacart, I must not have been the only one wishing hard for this to happen…)

Japchae was back on the menu as a new kid favorite. I’ve been keeping it pretty plain, just spinach, onions, and scallions.


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Also rice cakes, but Korean-ish instead of the usual Taiwanese - with gochujang and cabbage standing in for kimchi.


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Long beans and garlic broccoli for vegetables.

Salt and pepper vegetarian “chicken” and tofu for veg proteins.

Meat was Chairman Mao’s pork belly - cooked sous vide and then finished stovetop. My first time making this - so good!

But sib wasn’t feeling like pork tonight, so there was a request for ginger scallion beef. I pulled one of the chuck steaks I had cooking sous vide (along with a 36-48h chuck roast) and it had tenderized plenty in just a few hours, so that was a quick addition.

(I’m going to try making chinese/Taiwanese steamed buns for the pork belly - I do love those Momofuku buns!)

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A favorite dinner, chicken mole with mexi cauli rice. Salad of mango, avocado, red baby bell, red onion, Fresno chili. cilantro, a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of Tajin. T & T with a splash of Mathilde orange liqueur, pain rx, because I had my teeth cleaned today. I do a lot of word puzzles and I discovered what a necromancer was last night. I thought it was just a made up name, what great name for a cocktail.

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Stating the obvious, but what lucky family.

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Aww :two_hearts:

Joint effort tonight - I made the carbs and meat. Sil made the veg and tofu (except broccoli, which she dislikes her own and requests that I make).

(It was a rollercoaster of a year, but we came to a better place.)

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Pepperoni pizza with half a batch of Lehmann NY style dough and string cheese (which worked pretty well).

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I made this Rancho Gordo recipe for Flageolet Beans with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, and added some andouille sausage.

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In the process I brined a lot of beans, and will be looking for help on another thread.

TIA!

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My first reaction to your picture was “Ah ha! A lettuce leaf under the potato salad and the chicken salad. That should make washing up easier.” sigh

I’m sure I’ve posted before that my wife and I have an agreement. When she cooks I clean. When I cook, I clean. The only exception is Wednesdays which are trash nights. Guess what I’m doing after dinner then? I really need to negotiate better.

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Down North Pizza is a mission-driven endeavor dedicated to combining top-quality food with the added goal of improving their community. Their aim is to help erase employment barriers faced by formerly incarcerated men and women by providing culinary career opportunities at a fair wage within an equitable workplace. In order to help spread awareness they have collaborated with several well-known Philadelphia area chefs. I leaned of them through their recent collaboration with Micheal Solomonov and CookNSolo. Together they created a Buffalo Chicken Schnitzel Pizza - Buffalo chicken schnitzel, Harissa glaze and Preserved celery. They also had a companion cocktail, Head-On, which included Gin, Atxa, Green Chartreuse, Cel-Ray and Lime.

Everything was delicious. I will definitely be visiting Down North Pizza.

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Yay. The world could use more of this, especially now.

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“a bit more butter”? I was expecting the PSTOB!

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hah! wife’s no dummy.

Our rule for years was the cook cleans his/her own mess, because we both cook often enough. lately though, we’ve both been cleaning up together, no matter who cooks.

re lettuce under the potato/chicken salads: BF worked at a buffet restaurant many, many eons ago. he fancy.

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oh that pork belly! going to have to look this up.

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I’m coming 'round again after taking a little time to lick my wounds about the WFD meta thread. I felt a little jumped-on, but I understand that it was all in the spirit of inclusivity and enlarging the tent, and so I’m ok with it. And I miss this community.

I don’t have terribly much to report on in terms of recent meals. I corned a beef, which was delightful. The lentils I cooked in the broth after to make a soup were salty beyond measure, so that was a huge fail! Lots of bread baking, and using sourdough discard for pizza crusts is turning out to be fantastic.

I’m inspired by the various sushi/sashimi pix above, and have a question for you guys. A couple of months ago, I bought frozen tuna steak pieces from a reputable Asian grocery. But they weren’t labeled sashimi or sushi grade. They look pristine. Can we eat them raw without getting sick? And if not (parasites?), will turning it into ceviche cure the problem? Otherwise, I’ll just sear maybe with a sesame crust. Thank you and looking forward to the daily check-ins again.

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Leftover lamb rogan josh and a bit of okra, supplemented by fresh cabbage stir-fried into (South Indian) cabbage thoran (with coconut).

Instead of dal, baby lima beans (freezer) cooked with lots of coconut and cilantro.

Kids had (beyond) cheeseburgers and roasted cauliflower.

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I also attempted steamed Bao / lotus flower buns to turn yesterday’s pork belly into momofuku-ish / gua bao / pork buns for lunch.

I rolled the buns out a bit thinner than the recipe. But I liked them that way - more bites for the same calories… :roll_eyes: :laughing:

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Berbers bolognese and broccoli with carrot-top and lemon pesto. Definitely a winner!

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We missed you! Welcome back.

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Forgot to post from a few nights ago - seared pork coppa steak (split), sweet potato waffle fries, broccoli with ramp butter. And bagged bacon Caesar (yuck).

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:heart_eyes:

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Bucatini alla carbonara

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And a whiskey sour to start :cocktail:

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Indian spiced oven-roasted turkey kebabs, masala cauliflower, potato and chickpeas, (not pictured) palak paneer and/or steamed green beans, cucumber raita and garlic naan.

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