Dinner 2020

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Last day (one hopes) of an enervating heat wave.    Huge green salad, followed by a spicy fritatta: potato, pasillas ,red onion, Oaxacan cheese

[Paul Bacino]

Made these as a pre dinner Snack

 

Blueberry/lemon zest/ buttermilk Scones--I added a drizzle of elderberry powered sugar buttermilk topping to finish

 

[shain]

Focaccias. High hydration dough.

Baked once, then cooled. Before serving, brushed with olive oil and baked to crisp and warm. This also keeps more of the olive oil flavor.

 

Served with olive oil for dipping (of our own tree's last year harvest), Sirene cheese, Georgian dry Saperavi wine.

 

Rosemary

 

Tomatoes and thyme.

 

Zucchini, onion, sesame, sumac (the sumac is added after baking, so it's not in the picture)

 

Garlic and fried onions (folded into the dough).

 

Greek salad (of the non authentic style). Flavored with olive oil, wine vinegar, Kalamata olives, soft feta, fresh thyme and oregano.

 

Salad of chickpeas, herbs (basil, spring onion, mint), local white-mold sheep milk cheese, onion, grapes, olive oil, pepper.

 

Ricotta with roasted peppers, mildly spicy.

 

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by shain (log)

[rotuts]

@shain 

 

wow .  very very nice.

 

for a few seconds there , on the ' plumper '  versions

 

thought you ran into a few New Virus'

 

that's all me need !

 

they looked pretty mean.

 

esp :

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[KennethT]

16 hours ago, KennethT said:

Tom kha pla... Rice on the side. I think if I was making this with shrimp or fish cake I would have gone with soup and noodles. But with the flakey fish I agreed with @pastameshugana and went with a brothy sauce.

 

Kaffir lime leaves from my garden. I can't wait until I have some lemongrass to harvest - the store bought stuff near me is like sawdust. I doubled up on it and I could still only barely perceive it. I used the frozen galangal and I was disappointed with that too... Oh well, once we move I'll just have to try to grow some of that too.

 

I hate when this happens... I JUST remembered that I had gotten a package of shimeji mushrooms to go with this - traditionally oyster mushrooms are used, but I like the shimeji...  I completely forgot that I left them in the crisper drawer... out of sight, out of mind....   arrrgghhhh....

[TicTac]

58 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I hate when this happens... I JUST remembered that I had gotten a package of shimeji mushrooms to go with this - traditionally oyster mushrooms are used, but I like the shimeji...  I completely forgot that I left them in the crisper drawer... out of sight, out of mind....   arrrgghhhh....

Welcome to the club - my excuse tends to fall back on the 3 underage rug-rats running around! 

 

I would think that Enoki mushrooms would also work really nice in that dish, as would seared shiitake.

 

Surprised to see none of your (beautiful) Rau Ram make an appearance either!

 

 

 

 

 

[KennethT]

8 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Welcome to the club - my excuse tends to fall back on the 3 underage rug-rats running around! 

 

I would think that Enoki mushrooms would also work really nice in that dish, as would seared shiitake.

 

Surprised to see none of your (beautiful) Rau Ram make an appearance either!

Enoki mushrooms would be good... I think the most commonly used in Thailand would be straw mushrooms, but I can only find them canned here. I worry that the shiitake would overpower everything.

 

I think the flavor of rau ram wouldn't really go with the tom kha flavors very well - I probably could have used some of my sawtooth coriander, but in truth, I really wanted the flavor combination of the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime and lime juice to stand out with the coconut, with palm sugar and fish sauce in the background... I didn't want to add too many herbs as it changes teh profile - those herbs are great with Viet food (especially from the South) where they would all be present.

[TicTac]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

Enoki mushrooms would be good... I think the most commonly used in Thailand would be straw mushrooms, but I can only find them canned here. I worry that the shiitake would overpower everything.

 

I think the flavor of rau ram wouldn't really go with the tom kha flavors very well - I probably could have used some of my sawtooth coriander, but in truth, I really wanted the flavor combination of the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime and lime juice to stand out with the coconut, with palm sugar and fish sauce in the background... I didn't want to add too many herbs as it changes teh profile - those herbs are great with Viet food (especially from the South) where they would all be present.

 

You are more in tune with the authenticity of the dishes than I, given you have visited the source. 

 

When it comes to Thai and Viet food, my position on Rau Ram (and coriander for that matter) is similar to the Franks Red Hot Sauce lady....I put that sh!t on everything!

 

 

[heidih]

6 hours ago, ambra said:

My eleven year old and his cousin wanted to make dinner for us this week so this is what we ended up with! Deviled eggs and Carbonara. We did gently try to explain eggs after eggs was perhaps not very balanced so instead of changing the menu they served us an Amaro  after dinner!😂😂

They did a great job with the Carbonara. It wasn't very sauced, but still very good. 

Fresh figs for dessert.

 

 

Clever imaginative kids. Eggs -  a theme. Bravo!

[Paul Bacino]

Let this Batch--get RED  ( Shishito's )

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 minutes ago, Paul Bacino said:

Let this Batch--get RED  ( Shishito's )

 

Eye and mouth candy!

[Kim Shook]

@Ann_T – I just showed Mr. Kim your Tourtiere pictures and a few minutes later he said, apropos of nothing in particular, “Do you ever think what it would be like to be able to drop by some of your eG friends’ houses for dinner?” 😄

 

@David Ross – I showed Mr. Kim and Jessica your lamb burger and they both have requested it. 

 

@Captain – I would give a LOT to be able to get short ribs that look like that.  Wow.

 

@Raamo – I’ve bookmarked that rib recipe.  They look beautiful.

 

@shain – that gallery of Focaccias is gorgeous! 

 

@weinoo - "Screw the grill".  We said that some time ago.  I know you were joking, but we probably haven't used our grill for 3 years, at least.   😄

 

A lot had to happen for dinner to come together last night.  I made some bread in the bread machine:

 

Then I made gravy.  My roux:

 

Before reducing:

 

Finished gravy:

Dinner also involved using up some leftovers – broccoli casserole from last night:

 

I also had still more chicken leftover from the chicken spaghetti and the quesadillas, so:

Open-faced chicken sandwiches with gravy, Stove Top (the dregs of a cannister – SO salty.  Note to self: don’t buy the cannister pack anymore), candied sweet potatoes made from a can in our “stash”.  And I also found a can of cranberry sauce in the stash:

 

Open-faced sandwiches with gravy are a favorite of mine and I’ve been craving this for a long time.  Nice to scratch that itch!

[heidih]

@Kim Shook My guys liked the flavor of Stove Top but yes hyper salty. I simmered some diced potato and then added the mix. It tamed the saltiness and gave a textural contrast. Even I liked it as comfort food.

Edited September 8, 2020 by heidih (log)

[mgaretz]

Impromptu "lasagna" with my red sauce (sausage version), yellow squash coins instead of noodles and shredded mozzarella.  

 

 

 

[robirdstx]

 

Chicken Scallopini 

 

[Franci]

I am desaparecida, moving this weekend!!!  I am thinking tomorrow is going to be the last day of decent meals then we are going to have some days of uncertainty. I hate it!  I think I will cook a good amount of hard boiled eggs, salads ready, tuna in jars and a couple of take out rotisserie chicken,  smoked salmon and possibly a pizza. 

 

Tonight already very minimalist. NY strip, roasted potatoes, sauté  cauliflower and beets. A couple day ago we bought a lot from the fishmonger, so I finally made a soup, kids didn’t appreciate I used broken spaghetti in it, instead of ditalini (that are harder to find in Florida) like grandfather does. Grandfather soup won but he uses langostines which explains it all 😁 Next time I will use spiky lobster 😙

[Margaret Pilgrim]

31 minutes ago, Franci said:

I am desaparecida, moving this weekend!!!  I am thinking tomorrow is going to be the last day of decent meals then we are going to have some days of uncertainty. I hate it!  I think I will cook a good amount of hard boiled eggs, salads ready, tuna in jars and a couple of take out rotisserie chicken,  smoked salmon and possibly a pizza. 

 

Tonight already very minimalist. NY strip, roasted potatoes, sauté  cauliflower and beets. A couple day ago we bought a lot from the fishmonger, so I finally made a soup, kids didn’t appreciate I used broken spaghetti in it, instead of ditalini (that are harder to find in Florida) like grandfather does. Grandfather soup won but he uses langostines which explains it all 😁 Next time I will use spiky lobster 😙

 

After you get settled, could you please give us a little more direction on making "grandfather's soup"?      Looks divine...

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Picked up a sack of prepared masa yesterday -> green chili and cheese tamales

  

 

  

 

and a giant artichoke

[MetsFan5]

@Margaret Pilgrim Artichokes! My CA born and raised husband loves and misses them. I’m completely unfamiliar with how to cook and eat them and what to dip them in. But I want to try! 

[Franci]

2 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

After you get settled, could you please give us a little more direction on making "grandfather's soup"?      Looks divine...

 

 

Hi @Margaret. I can do now, this is very, very easy to make. Start with a clove of garlic and some extra virgin oil, then add some very good quality peeled tomatoes in can (crush them by hand or using a moulinex food mill if you prefer no seeds), add at least a couple cans full of water, It needs to be soupy, not a tomato sauce and cook on medium high. After about 10-15 minutes add any fish that will be good for soup (my father  often use monkfish when cooking in the north of Italy,  but in my hometown red scorpion fish or gurnard would be the preferred  option), here I used a snapper head and my father would  then add langoustines. Adjust salt and cook a little longer until with and langoustines are cooked. On the side I cook some tubetti pasta, De Cecco. Only shape, I thought I could go with broken spaghetti but apparently no 😒. We cook in the same way the soup with mussels: ditalini (=tubetti) con le cozze alla tarantina. A picture from the web here. Edit to add:  in my soup I also used some baby octopuses (which I sauté with the oil and garlic, my husband loved it, the kids didn’t like the flavor of it in the soup). 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Franci (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

24 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

@Margaret Pilgrim Artichokes! My CA born and raised husband loves and misses them. I’m completely unfamiliar with how to cook and eat them and what to dip them in. But I want to try! 

 

Shoprite has artichokes.  I dip the leaves in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

 

[patti]

A few recent dinners.  

 

Cheeseburgers with oven fries.

 

 

 

Chicken & pesto flatbread.

 

 

Quesadillas made with leftover pot roast.

 

 

Shrimp and corn soup with cheesy biscuits.

Edited September 9, 2020 by patti
captioning (log)

[heidih]

3 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

@Margaret Pilgrim Artichokes! My CA born and raised husband loves and misses them. I’m completely unfamiliar with how to cook and eat them and what to dip them in. But I want to try! 

 

Just steam or nuke and side with a mustardy mayo. How we came up. My favorite are halved (after a light steam) and on grill along with charred lemon halves. I still like a spicy mayo with that. Heathen but... Some do like to scrape out the choke for service but with big fatties - just go for it and deal with choke when ya get there. As an intro I do like the prepped hearts that Trader Joes tends to have in the frozen section Not flavored. Pretty simple and gives  you the flavor profile. I can snarfle a whole bag myself. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Swordfish on the A4 Box..  By the time I sat down to eat I was feeling full but I managed to clear my plate.  Could not get through the bottle of Soave though.  I did save a little room for chocolate ice cream.

 

[liuzhou]

Penne with a spicy, slow-cooked pork ragu and fresh tomato sauce. Finished with Grana Padano and balcony basil. By the time it reached the table the basil had wilted - as intended.