What's For Dinner #98 - the Pumpkin-Freaking-Everything! Edition - September 2023

OMG, must have been terrifying to those affected! glad you made it safely through…

Where has this been all my life.

4 Likes

On Saturday I went to lunch at a local James Beard award-winning Asian restaurant that had been on my list for years, only to find out that there were exactly two menu items safe for shellfish allergies: smoked mackerel fried rice and sautéed local greens with garlic and ginger. So I ordered them both and they were PHENOMENAL. I ate way too much and had lots of leftovers which I combined tonight with some additional smoked mackerel and topped with fried eggs and a bit too much cobanero chilies for another excellent meal.

Theirs:

Mine:

25 Likes

An easy meal tonight: chopped up a tomato that had a couple bad spots and sauteed it in butter until the pieces started to collapse, adding white wine and a squish of tomato paste. Corn kernels were added, then some feta cheese, dried thyme, and lots of freshly ground pepper.

Rana’s 5 cheese tortellini cooked and added to the “sauce”, and slivered fresh basil added at the end with a sprinkle more of feta.

30 Likes

I am glad I am not the only one that eats from paper plates for dinner.

5 Likes

Seared orange pepper scallops w/lemon zest on corn hash with bacon & a teeny kick from a long green.

Hit the spot! :yum:

24 Likes

Never my preference but sometimes they beat the alternatives. No judgment on the topic ever. We all do what works for us.

3 Likes

Tonight’s dinner was mushroom curry, rice and steamed nappa cabbage drizzled with a little sesame oil and sesame seeds.

19 Likes

My sister had about 20 tomatoes she wasn’t going to be able to eat while she was sick, so Saturday i grated them, strained the seeds, then simmered the resulting tomato sauce with thinly sliced garlic and salt. Tonight BF made pasta and I finished cooking it in the sauce until it reduced and got all soaked up by the pasta. With basil, cherry tomatoes, feta, a little parm, and chopped olives. And BF’s marinated zucchini strips on the side. All delish.

24 Likes

Earlier this summer the owner’s of the lot across from us pretty much clear cut their forest land. Pines, larch, aspens, birch—gone! All the birds disappeared right in the middle of nesting seadon. I don’t know where they went for a few months. They returned last week just in time for the Mountain ash berries. You can really tell when their songs and them are gone. I could never live in the concrete jungle.

5 Likes

On the streets of Bombay :joy:

Seriously, though, it is something else.

The full deal is: generously buttered soft white sandwich bread (often jumbo-sized for this specific use), spicy green cilantro chutney spread over that, and then layers of really thinly-sliced vegetables: red onion, boiled beet, boiled potato, tomato, and cucumber, with each layer seasoned with a mix of salt, pepper, and chaat masala.

Then there’s the toasted version where they add a pile of grated Amul cheddar, butter the outside, and put it in a sandwich toaster (so the seams join) – but the untoasted version is pretty fantastic as is.

12 Likes

How on earth?

Looks delicious, both the original and your revamp!

2 Likes

Spent the last three evenings cooking for house guests. Nothing fancy, but freshly harvested and well received.

SAT: Scallion crepes with home-smoked steelhead. Chopped garden salad: cukes, toms and shallots in vinaigrette.

SUN: Butternut sqash lasagna with a basil infused bechamel. Roasted lamb sausages.

MON: Pasta with pesto, baby peas, and leftover tarragon chicken. Grapette tomatoes on the side.

Tonight, guests depart and normal life resumes, hopefully, with photos.

16 Likes

Between oyster sauce and dried shrimp. That’s why Thai is never a good bet for me.

The whole dish is very easy. Sauce is poured over the sliced meat from a piece of flank steak grilled whole and sauteed artichoke pieces from 1 medium bunch on a platter. Ingredients are 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar or white wine vinegar, and ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil. Naturally, I can’t leave well enough alone and tend to go heavy on the sauce with a little more sesame oil and some soy sauce.

1 Like

Still weird! Half my family is vegetarian, so at regular Thai places we have to remind them no fish sauce and no chicken broth (the latter also at Chinese places), but they do still have plenty of options.

Maybe because this is a fancy James Beard award-winning place and they don’t want to compromise on the intended flavors? (I do think the lack of fish sauce makes a difference to many Thai dishes.)

1 Like

Soup n salad

17 Likes

Thank you!

Wow, I’ve never gone through the trouble of straining the seeds out!

1 Like

it’s no trouble at all, just pour through a sieve.

1 Like