What's For Dinner #74 - The Long "Fall Into Darkness, Warmth & Comfort" Edition - October 2021

that is a beautiful pastry!

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going away for the weekend again - more bdays - this time to Arnold, CA (not as good as Stinson, but it’ll still be a fun time with friends.) Menu is kind of up in the air - hostess is providing sausages and some Costco marinated chicken to grill, so i volunteered to bring bread/cheese/charcuterie, etc. But i couldn’t help myself and made another tortilla de patata, again with Spanish meats and a little manchego, since the last one turned out so well. And one of our crew can’t eat meat so i made a cauliflower one for her (well, for all of us), which is more like a frittata as it has cream in it, along with cheese. They turned out nice and chubby! :slightly_smiling_face:

although i had a mishap with the cauli one, tried to flip it too early. :roll_eyes:

I bought a cake for the bday girls - a matcha mousse/valrhona yuzu namelaka/sesame dentelle/matcha latte rice sponge cake - from Craftman & Wolves. i haven’t looked all that stuff up yet but i love matcha and it was very pretty. pics later when it is unveiled.

the usual bubbles/vino/cocktails, and i hear we’re stopping in at some fancy-schmancy distillery, at some point…

happy weekend, folks!

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That looks absolutely perfect!

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@ChristinaM & @LindaWhit - Cripes! :astonished: Any leftovers? :pleading_face:

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Oh what fun, I hope you have a designated driver for the distillery.

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Arnold? Didn’t Arnold almost burn down a few years ago? Gorgeous area as I recall.

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not sure… but it’s possible - CA is always burning up.
my friends have owned a vacay home there for about 4 years now and I’ve only been once.

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Sorry. I finished them up tonight. :grin: With a big glass of…

Because if ever there was a day I needed a full+ pour, it was today.

I’m feeling quite good right now. :wink:

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Set out Wednesday night to make Moroccan spiced red lentil soup, since I knew there were red lentils in the larder, and ras el hanout in the spice drawer. Easy peasy & no problem! The lentils turned out to be an orange colored split pea, and where or where did the ras el hanout go? So it goes in the kitchen sometimes - the pulses took longer to cook than expected, but I subbed in Penney’s Berbere spice for the lost seasoning. Served with some leftover rice pilaf. Very tasty, albeit a little late, thus no pics - needed to get down to business! BTW, the Penney’s berbere is extremely robust - delicious, but a little goes a long way.

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Friend said it was snowing in bear valley this morning. Just up the hill . Fires I want to believe are done for the year . Have a great time.

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This was good! Fresh Pacific cod, caught by DD1 off the coast of Washington. Cooked Greek style, and served with garden green beans, Greek salad and roasted white sweet potatoes. Recipe for cod here:
Greek Cod/Fish Recipe

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A few more recent meals - all good! The rest ok , great for sustenance, if not ecstatic gustatory pleasure…






I take it all back!! The rest, as pictured was DANG tasty!

Ok, from top to bottom, pepper steak sandwiches, seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning; ground beef stroganoff; Melissa Clark’s NYT potato cheddar soup (Thks @ChristinaM); spaghetti w/meat sauce, garden zucchini; scallops, rice pilaf and spinach; Greek style lamb shoulder roast, garden green beans in tomato sauce a la Grecque, mashed white and orange sweet potatoes with shallots, Greek oregano, Ceylon cinnamon and crumbled feta.

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I made orchiette with Italian sausage, broccolini, red onion and garlic. Lots of hot pepper flake for the adults. Green CSA salad with strawberry balsamic.

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“Another way to use up zucchini soup” or sopa xochite. Zucchini, onion, green chiles, fresh corn, chicken broth, milk, jack cheese. Suave and full of flavor. And some corn bread on the side.
Screen Shot 2021-10-08 at 5.53.07 PM

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Shrimp Tikka Masala over basmati rice. I doctored up a jar of Aldi’s brand simmer sauce instead of Patak’s and it was delicious. Even better. Restaurant quality! Trader Joe’s naan on the side as well as a makeshift Bhel Puri using TJ’s Indian chakri mix, a blend of ketchup and Chinese chili garlic sauce, raw onion, and cilantro. It was close enough.

This paired very well with Johnnie Walker Double Black. Funny thing is, I’ve had this bottle for 8 years (you may be able to see the dust!). I’ve never really liked it, finding it too smoky and harsh. But tonight it was great. Maybe I’ve never had it with food before.

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Wishing you all the best PHERDDY

I had turnips from Jrs garden and a new Maille horseradish mustard to try, so it was roasted Italian sausage and vegies, snap pea, radish, shallot salad with creamy Greek dressing. There was wine.

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Fabulous, Fabulous.

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So my daughter nominated me to do a trial run for her and her bf’s upcoming nuptials. So I hosted a cocktail party with appetizers and cocktails for the brides and grooms to be with their parents.

A variety of apps and cocktails were enjoyed.

Still trying to use the tomatoes from the garden!!

Make your own tortilla guacamole and spicy shrimp

13-15’s

Bruschetta

Truffle Mac in port wine cheese

Mini reubens

The first of many drink combos

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Had a long day for many reasons.

Realized I froze most of what I prepped yesterday like a champ - lamb and kheema both. Then remembered I still had part of a chicken breast in the fridge, from the Chinese poaching last week - probably on its last legs.

Decided to use that and the spiced lamb stock from yesterday (I put the bones back into the PC and made a second round of “yakhni” - spiced bone broth) to make something I’ve seen on a couple of Pakistani blogs - “biryani pulao,” which sounds like an oxymoron because biryani is biryani and pulao is pulao, and both are delicious. But why not.

So I caramelized half an onion, added a potato, grape tomatoes, plus a bit. and let that cook for a few minutes. In with the soaked rice, already cooked chicken, and some of both yakhnis from yesterday (the first is strong, the second lighter). Pressure cooked on low for a while, and ta-da!

DELICIOUS. Oxymoron or not :joy:

Also some “chips” on top from the saved skin of the chicken breast.

I’m out of yogurt so no raita - not that it was necessary. No vegetable goes with this meal so I ate some fruit while I was waiting.

Happy weekend to all!

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