What's for Dinner #85: The Falling Leaves Edition - September 2022

Thank you! The pictures are slightly different. One is more closeup than the other.

Tomatoes

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I hosted our inaugural potluck for a local home cooking group I run, and the food was fabulous.

Some of the highlights were homemade pork dumplings (raised the pigs, and grew the cabbage, onion, garlic, ginger & carrots for the filling), red beet deviled eggs, lomo saltado, “cheesy peas”, a Thai pork curry, aloo bajji, harissa eggplant, and Palomas and “No-lomas” prepared by a local bartender.

Great time, great food! Next potluck is in November, and I foresee roast and smoked meats, braises, soups, etc.



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This ’ Westphalian Apple Crumble Pie ’ was hand-carried back to me by my son-in-law, all the way from Frankfurt, Germany!!😋🥰😁

It was insanely good! The super-buttery and crunchy top was amazing and addictive! Just the right amount of sweetness. The pastry, rich custard and apples are a perfect match for each other!
I used the air-fryer to heat and crisped



up the pie and now, the whole house is saturated with butter aroma!!

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Yesterday we had neighbor friends over for drinks and snacks on our porch while the kids played in the yard. Tonight I made a lightly creamy chicken soup with gnocchi for my sick (luckily just a cold) kiddo. He loved it! My DH sauteed CSA squashes with garlic and TPSTOB and OO.

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@ChristinaM Would you share/paraphrase your recipe for your creamy chicken soup? It looks perfect for a cold winter day.

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Sure thing. For this tonight I just made a basic chicken soup - sauteed diced onion, carrot, and celery in butter, a tied bundle of bay leaves, fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley, black and white pepper, and covered with Swanson chicken broth amped up with extra Better Than Bullion chicken and vegetable broth. I stripped a corn cob of kernels and added the cob and scraped milk to the pot. Brought to a summer and poached two chicken breasts until pull-able. Removed the herbs, shredded and returned the chicken to the pot, and added a pack of shelf-stable gnocchi, the corn kernels, and about 3/4 c of half and half (more would have been good). That’s it! It’s loosely based on this recipe, which is more decadent and involved.

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This has become a regular chez nous - the BF loves them and so do I, and he makes them so good! Smash burgers, this time with Velveeta cheese. the patties were thinner than other times, so i actually don’t feel stuffed out of my mind, and i insisted that the sides be non-carby veggies. #virtuous :stuck_out_tongue:

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Salad Niçoise, french filet beans, sun sweet tomatoes and baby red potatoes from the garden. Anchovy dressing was added after photo. Bombay rocks.

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Pan-roasted Kurobuta pork chop. Twice-cooked potatoes. Green beans. Homemade applesauce.

Fall is here.

Spuds, long beans and apples from our garden.

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I hope the kiddo recovers quickly.

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I would LOVE to learn more about the cheesy peas and harissa eggplant.
Can you share anything more?

Quesadilla before the “lid” (and more cheese) was added to glue it shut.

I was really craving a G & T. Got home from work and realized I was out of my new favorite tonic: Fever Tree Refreshingly Light Mediterranean Tonic. Fantastic flavor, low in sugar and calories, nice quinine flavor. I really don’t like their regular tonic at all. Without it, I did a complete 180 and made a Rusty Nail. I’m off tomorrow so there may have been another.

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Actually, the dude who made the cheesy peas posted his recipe in our group. I will have to ask about the harissa eggplant :slight_smile:

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Thanks for sharing.
That is very cheesy :smile: But with a few tweaks I think it would be quite popular among some people in my house. Did you think that slow cooking the peas for 4 hours was necessary? I think the frozen peas would disintegrate after such a long time.

Will look forward to a harissa eggplant update if and when you get hold of the recipe.

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That’s a good question! Pretty sure he used frozen peas, and I’m not a slow cooker owner, so I don’t know if he was perhaps using a super-low setting?

I’ll ask. No news on the eggplant dish. Yet :slight_smile:

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Had a very easy and light meal last night. Egg salad on red leaf lettuce, chilled asparagus, and grape tomatoes, and a slice of buttered bread (meant to have saltines with the meal, but forgot).

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Tonight we made TJ’s butternut triangolini with browned butter, foraged puffball mushrooms, and Parm Regg. Sides of green salad and greens (curly red kale and Swiss chard) braised with leftover Rao’s, oo, and chili flake. The pumpkin-cheese ravioli were for the kiddo - cloyingly sweet (like spiced pumpkin pie). He loved them.

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Grilled local lamb chops & local zuke planks brushed with olive oil & Penzey’s mural of flavor seasoning. Tons o’ leftovers for lunches/dinners :slight_smile:


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