What's For Dinner #86 - the Apples, & Cider, & DONUTS, Oh MY! Edition - October 2022

Apple picking.
Fresh apple cider.
And even fresher Apple Cider donuts!

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Yeah, yeah - there are pumpkins and hayrides and ghosties and goblins. And Salem, MA will be jam-packed for the entire month. But pumpkin spice stuff is WAY overdone since it started coming out in July. (And I won’t go anywhere near Salem, MA in October.)

But apples? There are thousands of kinds! And picking them on a crisp fall afternoon and then making pie, crisps, apple butter, or crunching into caramel apples and/or dunking for apples at the county fair to win a stuffed animal. Or go with Peter Brady’s favorite - pork chops and applesauce!

October - the month for really kicking it in with braises and stews and making the house smell great with appley things.

What are you cooking up this month?

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There was a recent thread about “dumplings” which got me thinking, I want some chicken and dumplings. So that is what I made for dinner (last night). The dumpling recipe is my mother’s recipe, although I added a little paprika (to the dumpling dough), as my girlfriend doesn’t like pepper.


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Not WFD tonight, but the beginnings of tomorrow’s dinner: lamb sauce.

2 lbs ground lamb from our old share (just picked up the new one yesterday) were fried up in a separate pan bc this lamb is fatty AF, while I ‘infused’ some olive oil with fresh rosemary, sage, and garlic in the sauce pot. Added some RPF, a finely diced shallot, a good squeeze of tomato paste & let that get toasty. Splash of our party red wine, dash of oregano, cooked that off, added the degreased lamb, then a container of the grated FM tomatoes. This will simmer until we leave for our poker game, and simmer some more tomorrow afternoon for our Sunday dinner. I wish I had fancy Italian pappardelle, but I think TJ’s may have to do.

I wanted to post the video of the bubbling sauce, but it was too large. Wah.

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First really cool weather made it perfect for baking.

But first, another foil container dinner from the downstairs freezer defrosted for an easy prep: baked mac and ham and cheese. Added some more cheese sauce (defrosted from the upstairs freezer), some seasoned Panko crumbs, and baked until hot. A spinach salad alongside (not pictured) and wine.

Dessert was a Gingerbread Cake that uses applesauce in the recipe, topped with fresh whipped cream. I eyeballed the amount of unsulphered molasses in the recipe, thinking it was too much, and IMO, I was right. This is just a tad over on the molasses flavor, although it was good. Mine came out much darker than hers as well. But again, it was good. I added thinly sliced Honey Crisp apple slices to the top, but they didn’t add much.

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A lemony fish chowder with halibut, salmon, and veg.

Loosely based on an Epicurious recipe, I started out with a bit of chopped bacon, used a variety of fresh veggies, went short on the cream, and thickened everything with a spoonful of potato flour at the end.

This was excellent – tasty, fresh and bright. Quite different from the standard New England style, and equally as good.

Served with a few croutons from the remains of a loaf of homemade bread.

Leeks, peas, carrots, green beans, potatoes and chives from the garden.

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I’m celebrating. I have my property back . Raking , cleaning , using the chain saw , weed eater, loving it . The renter is gone . Cabin is in bad shape. I’ll polish it better than ever .
Starting with a yellow fin crudo with capers and lemon.
Cheers .:wine_glass:

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We enjoyed another fabulous dinner at The Farmer’s Daughter, with some friends, in Newton, NJ, including salmon; outstanding crispy crab cake with sweet potato fritter and maple mustard drizzle; crispy pork schnitzel with braised red cabbage and homemade spaetzle; wild mushroom tartare; cider braised chicken thighs; pumpkin mascarpone ravioli; and grilled trout; It all went great with an excellent Malbec, cabernet, and petite syrah.










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Nice . And the wine .

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YAY!!! Glad it’s back in your hands, but sorry it was left a mess.

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What’s the ravioli filled with? And I’m guessing that’s parmesan shavings and basil on top. Is there any sauce with it?

Tonight’s dinner will be a Mexican Quiche. I’ll heat it up at halftime. I kind of got the idea from @Stefsteves who mentioned that quiche is a good “catch all” for emptying the crisper drawer. So when I saw beef chorizo on clearance at the grocery store, I grabbed it. I had some Mexican cheese in the freezer, along with the leftover crust (from my first quiche) and half a bag of chopped broccoli. I browned an onion with the chorizo and it all went into the mix.

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Sweetcorn puree

Lemongrass ginger reduction

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Ooh interesting combination. Did you like it?

Fantastic

Very fall like.

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Keeping it simple tonight with pantry friendly spicy peanut noodles!

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Cooking project for a cold and rainy Sunday, and for DOTQ – Masala Pot Roast / Pakistani Pasanday.

Recipe from the same book as the Chana Pulao last week, and another good outcome, so I’m reading through everything I had flagged in there!

Very simple, and absolutely delicious – lots of caramelized onions, a few spices and aromatics, and a long, slow cook (made faster in the pressure cooker in my case).

I also baked a loaf of bread specifically to eat with this: not my best loaf, but better than the alternative.

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Looks inviting - I could dig in!

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Short rib rendang. Unfortunately I couldn’t find Makrut lime leaves at Hmart today, but they came through with lemongrass, beautiful fresh galangal and everything else I needed. Steamed broccoli and overcooked brown rice on the side. Cooking rice properly is my nemesis! Still a fabulous meal.

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Love rendang – yours looks fabulous!