What's For Dinner #83 - the I Scream, You Scream Edition - July 2022

It certainly would help with air circulation - you might also consider (if feasible) forming the crust on something like the upper sheet of a broiling pan. Then you get air circulation and extra drainage for fats, which would help with crisping.

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I think full direct metal contact would help crisping vs a vented pan – I wonder if starting in a cast iron pan or griddle on the stovetop would help.

Once the base is done, it can be transferred to the vented pan or a rack on the sheet pan, topped, and finished. Or you can leave it in the cast iron pan and finish under the broiler.

Maybe more cheese too - like a frico on the bottom.

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Only a few short years ago, I had a “city” studio apartment for work. Not only no AC, but top floor under the roof, giant south facing windows, and the window and “deck” door all on a single side. Because it was about 170 sq ft all told. Every day after work, I came home to 86 degrees inside, and with a fan running nonstop until morning, could only get it down to 81ish. What helped was to sit on the futon with a jar of pickles out of the fridge between my feet. I.e. sit like a yoga master, soles on jar. Seriously. Don’t knock it till you try it lol!!

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Our first (!) Greek dinner in town. Tarama, melitsanosalata, kolokithakia me tzatziki, oxtapodi & kalamarakia, pork & lamb souvlaki. Too much food, and unfortunately no room left for their scrumptious loukoumades :frowning:






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Still managing to stick to my meal plan for this week. Beyond simple last night. Air fried bacon and pancakes from a Kruestez mix. Just the right taste for the night. Even got my fancy china out.

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:face_with_hand_over_mouth::joy:oh, dear.

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What a picture! :rofl:

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Dinner tonight is the last of the roasted chicken and vegetables tossed with fettuccine and bok choy in a lemon-soy butter sauce. I sprinkled the crispy skin on top before serving.

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I know right? When you’re hot, you do whatcha gotta do. And when I was in that apt, I was by myself. So no one there to tease me either. The trick is to keep at least 2 jars of something in the fridge, and swap them out when one warms up too much :slight_smile: :grin:

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Tonight’s dinner was an international affair. I started with dolmades from the Persian grocery store, Korean lettuce salad inspired by Maangchi, and fettuccine al pesto.



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We got Bob Q! Pics are my smoker setup, my pork butt, and a slight dissembling to hurry cooling and further shredding. Served with a gold sauce and some pickled fennel. Buns.



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I hit up my local farmstand today and bought 3 beautiful bowls, all proceeds benefitting a local food pantry. I am grateful to live within walking distance of a farm.

Grilled salmon / whole wheat spaghetti with garlic scape pesto / watermelon feta salad. My first time making watermelon salad and not the last. It was so refreshing and with the availability of mini watermelons, it’s much less of a hassle to prep. The awesome local feta plus extra lemon juice+zest really put it over the top.

Plating still leaves something to be desired. My dish had air fried tofu as the protein but it was not photogenic. :laughing:

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As tonight’s dinner fixings were consumed last night, WFD was pizza from the pantry, fridge and freezer. I like the Serious Eats pan pizza recipe for a number of reasons, one of which is there is no long preferment – a decent dough can be made in the course of a day (I like to add a dollop of sourdough discard to give it that “old dough” flavor).

The usual: pepperoni and black olive. On the side: garden romaine with homemade Caesar dressing.

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Vive le 14 juillet! aka Bastille day.
Charcuterie and a Cotes du Rhone. I stuffed myself, the funky Brutle Blue and grapes will be dessert later.

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Last night at my sister’s i made a small, partial leg of lamb, marinated in lemon/garlic/olive oil, fresh oregano & thyme. Turned out a bit rare, as you can see, but we took individual slices and put them back to cook a bit longer. with COTC and way-too-skinny asparagus.

My breakfast this morning was a lamb & egg taco, to start my day off right.

And there was still a big chunk of lamb leftover, so tonight the BF made “gyros” out of it - fantastic! Store-bought pita, his own tzatziki. On the side, I made a salad with the first farmers’ mkt. heirloom tomato of the season, burrata, and plenty of fresh basil.

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Fettuccine with carrots, fennel and broccoli in an orange-cream sauce (made by mixing heavy cream, vegetable broth and reduced orange juice and some orange zest in the end to give it a fresh kick)

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WOW! What a cool idea! I try to watch my carbs but am not particularly obsessive about it (though I was at one point). Did you regrind store bought chicken or did you grind it yourself? I don’t often buy ground chicken but yours looks much finer than what I recall seeing.

@Amandarama’s suggestion of adding ground pork rinds to help bind the meat does work. I used to cook for a family following a keto-esqu diet before keto was a big thing and products were more readily available. I used ground pork rinds as a binder in meatloaf, meat balls, etc, and as a breading.

I often had to make pizzas for demos or cooking classes when I still worked at WS. You’d think they’d have a good oven but ours sucked. I almost always used a cast iron fry pan for my pizzas as @Saregama suggests. I’d heat it up on the stove with some olive oil to get it as hot as possible, put in my crust and toppings and put it the oven. It worked well, especially in an oven that barely could hit 400 degrees.

Looking forward to seeing your riffs.

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Those cups :heart_eyes:! What brand?

You’re adorable. Love a savory breakfast.

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