What's for Dinner #92 - the Fool Me Once Edition - April 2023

[LindaWhit]

Silly fools and jokes, chocolate bunnies, and (in the U.S.) taxes prevail this month.

Daffodils are up, trees are starting to bud, grass is growing greener, and Sneezle Season begins in earnest.

Baseball and soccer seasons are winding up, whereas hockey and basketball are both starting the very slow wind-down (seriously, both sports end in early June? Pfffttt…) But football players are enjoying their time off.

Grills are being cleaned to get ready for cookouts and picnics.

Cooks in the colder climes are awaiting the short season of fiddleheads and local asparagus.
Although those in the CA Sierra Nevada mountains and Lake Tahoe areas are going to have to wait a good bit longer to have their snowpacks fully melt (their snowfall has been more than 7 times the height of LeBron James!)

So what’s going on your tables as we start our Spring season?

[Saregama]

And so it’s April already. I can’t remember March and would rather block out February, so better we are in April, I guess.

First dinner of the month was sushi — and sushi bowls. I ordered seaweed and a mat for sushi, but then my sister reminded me that I keep telling her to make cheater sushi stacks / bowls, so I made them to demonstrate how easy they are.

Tonight’s components were avocado (perfectly ripe on delivery, amazing), shrimp poached in wasabi and butter, sesame carrots for crunch, breaded (frozen) shrimp bites for a tempura-like component, a bit of soy sauce, and a generous drizzle of spicy mayo (I used local garlic chutney and eggless mayo for this, and it was so good).

Local rice instead of sushi rice, and usually the texture is a copycat, but it wasn’t starchy enough for my liking today (which didn’t affect the bowls, but did make rolling the maki a bit harder).

For the maki, I made a wasabi shrimp and avocado one, and a crunchy “tempura” shrimp and spicy mayo one.

On the side: sesame broccoli.

Mom had a slightly different meal of vegetable and paneer momos with a side of avocado dressed with sesame oil, soy sauce, and a drop of spicy mayo. She couldn’t resist a few bites of Japchae at the end after saying she couldn’t possibly eat both momos and Japchae (even though that was the menu she set, haha).

ETA: Dessert was banana bread with chocolate chips (eggless, no refined sugar) I baked a few days ago, with some custard poured over made tonight.

[mig (you can call me mig)]

Shrimp poached in wasabi and butter!? I’d love to hear more about that!

[mts]

Tonight’s dinner will be an assortment of salads in order to hurry up spring actually happening around here. It is snowing this morning. The offer to change out the studded tires was met with “April Fool’s!”
Salad #1 Beet (yellow) with carrot, apple, pecans and a touch of unsweetened shredded coconut. #2 is my plain old cole slaw, #3 will be a curried chicken, #4 a southwest inspired bell pepper slaw with jicama and to round out the spread, your basic tossed green salad with an assortment of dressings. There will be homemade sourdough garlic bread, too. No idea what to do with the rest of the month other than cleaning out the freezer…

[MidwesternerTT (MTT)]

Yum

[LindaWhit]

Took these out to defrost before I went shopping to feed the new freezer (delivered at 6:45 a.m.!!!). Wasn’t sure how I wanted to cook them until I realized I wanted something warming and comfy, based on the rainy, raw morning and early afternoon (although the weather cleared up).

Chicken Diable (thanks for making this years ago, Mom!) on Basmati rice with steamed green beans alongside.

There was wine.

And the new freezer has been chilling for about 9 hours. I’ll start to fill it up tomorrow.

And Finny missing his Kitty TV buddy when the slider was briefly opened.

[tcamp (Tamara)]

Weird weather in the DMV. The day started cold and wet, then sunny and much warmer. Now winds are kicking up. Dinner was bratwurst from The Fermented Pig at the FM this morning. Grilled alongside parboiled potatoes coated with olive oil, za’atar, S&P. Also some sautéed cabbage with carroway, red pepper, and a dash of soy sauce. And pickles. I guess I was channeling my German genes today

[Meekah]

Yep, the weather was weird. So was the lightning … I opted to thaw out some meat sauce I’d made, toss it with rigatoni, and consume mass quantities. With a Mai-Tai. cats slept through it all.

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC)]

I made ground beef stroganoff with seared gnocchi and crimini mushrooms in the IP. Pretty good! I overdid the salt a tad.

[ottawaoperadiva]

April got off to a good start with take out from my favourite Filipino restaurant. I had a bulalo soup made of beef broth and contains a beef shank, com on the cob, bok choy and rice.

[shrinkrap]

A variation on a chopped salad from a NYT recipe called “Chopped Salad With Chickpeas, Feta and Avocado
By Lidey Heuck”

Romaine, avocado,later, and maybe croutons.

I got new olive oil from Turkey!

[paryzer (Eli Paryzer)]

We enjoyed an excellent dinner at Belford Bistro including an awesome rack of lamb; pork chops; pasta with jumbo shrimp, artichokes, pancetta, and peas; salad with chorizo, arugula, and manchego cheese; mussels. It all went great with an excellent Cabernet and Shiraz.

[MunchkinRedux]

Spring-herb khachapuri with tarragon, chive and parsley. I used feta, ricotta and mozz for the cheese, stuffing a little in the crust, as well. Along-side, a Georgian-inspired chopped salad with a creamy walnut dressing.

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC)]

That looks excellent

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC)]

Very cool

[gcaggiano (Greg Caggiano)]

To the person who asked last week or the week before if my “beautiful dinner plates were microwave/oven/dishwasher safe”, well, two out of three ain’t bad!

I made Chicken and Eggplant Parm tonight. Did the prep before work, cooked when I got home. Normally I layer the chicken/eggplant with the cheese and sauce in a casserole dish or pan and then plate. But tonight, as fate would have it, I put the contents directly on the plates (three, since mom joined us) and then melted the cheese via each person’s plate in the oven at the same time. I’ve had these plates in the oven many times. Usually five minutes or so. Tonight was 10. Two of the three plates shattered as I attempted to remove them. It was a moment of disbelief, reaching into the oven only to have half a plate in my hand. I thought perhaps the one martini I had was laced. But no.

I’m not sure if people still use the word “conniption” but I think I had one. Mom and BF said they would still eat the food because the plate was ceramic and a clean break. I thought they were crazy but eventually joined them figuring a glass shard or two in my meal might be good roughage for the digestion.

In the end, dinner tasted great and nobody died.

I could hear the Corelle plates I’ve made fun of laughing from the cabinets. They made their return tonight.

Eggplant pre fiasco:

[shrinkrap]

@gcaggiano

I’m not sure if people still use the word “conniption”

I will be!

Glad you were able to enjoy your meal

[rwcfoodie (Karen Mezzetta)]

We have had such yucky weather for such a looong time, I know I shouldnt kvetch, but it has rained so much & has been cold & windy forever… Today we had beautiful blue skies & sunshine!!! Pulled a couple of rib steaks out of the freezer & made Chimichurri to marinate & serve with… Grilled these on our little Weber Q220, very yummy!

[Sunshine842]

Its been hotter than Satan’s armpit for weeks here in Florida…in the high 80s (nearing 30C)

Im finishing up the Renaissance festival after 7 wreks, so fast and easy has been the rule of the land chez moi.

Last night was a prepared Irish stew I found at Costco, which was surprisingly tasty with good texture.

A few more days for breakdown then I can make actual food again.

[ChristinaM (Hungry in Asheville, NC)]

Looks incredible