liamsaunt

The good: my husband gave me a couple of lidded skillets from Our Place. always pans from Our Place I love them because they are lightweight. I already have a bunch of Le Creuset which I also love, but they are so heavy, and one of my wrists is weak from being broken multiple times. These can be easily lifted, and they clean up so easily. I've used them almost every night since Christmas. Non-food related, he also gave me a copy of a book that I have been searching for for years, so he wins the gold medal for overall gifting this year in my house! The odd: my brother gave me an entire box of really strange kitchen stuff that I am unlikely to ever use. A lemon wedger, a "shark cruterie" board for cheese with a picture of a great white shark on it, a silicone bread mixing and baking bowl that you can put in the oven...and a couple other things I am forgetting. I'm sure they will make their way to the thrift store eventually. It's the thought that counts! My niece gave me a copy of Smitten Kitchen: Keepers for my cookbook collection. It looks like it has some good recipes in it.

Instant mashed potatoes make a terrific light and crunchy coating for pan-seared fish.

Haddock veracruz and cilantro rice

Niece asked for fish and chips for her last meal at home before heading back to school for the semester.

chicken katzu with cucumber salad and rice

Falafel, hummus, chopped salad, and pita

That looks delicious! Last night, spicy chicken madras, maharajah rice, and naan

Here is the recipe for that Legal Seafoods dish. I have not made it in a very long time--definitely not since moving to this house, and I have been here for nine years. I do remember that I omitted the lobster because I don't like it. Legal also used to serve another dish with cheese: The Roger Special (named for Roger Berkowitz, the owner at that time). It was shrimp on a mound of jasmine rice surrounded by steamed broccoli and covered in montery jack cheese. I ordered it once and it was pretty awful--bland and the plain melted cheese was really weird with the plain broiled shrimp. It would have been better with a soy-based sauce, or just garlic and lemon. One successful (to me) fish with cheese dish that I enjoyed was a riff on a reuben made with smoked and cured swordfish. I ordered it at a restaurant in Provincetown, MA. They took it off the menu a few years ago, unfortunately. Here's a picture.

Tuesday night miso salmon ramen bowl with baby bok choy, summer squash zoodles, cilantro, scallions, and peppers. My niece goes back to college at the beginning of next week so this is probably the last miso salmon for a while. We all like it very much, but are not wedded to the preparation the way my niece is.

We enjoyed it. I saw part of this discussion (before it was split from the dinner thread) while cooking dinner last night, so brought up the topic at the table. My family decided that we generally enjoy fish dishes with mushrooms that have a flavor profile that includes things like soy sauce. Also, I tend to use shiitake and/or oyster mushrooms rather than button type. That's more a reflection of the fact that these are the type of mushrooms I get in my weekly CSA delivery. We do not like creamy mushroom sauces with fish, or adding them to traditional New England-style dishes like cod baked with butter, lemon, and breadcrumbs. Agreed on this point! We only have monkfish when I get it in my fish share delivery. In that case, the fish has been newly caught, so the membrane comes off easily with a sharp filleting knife. The fish share boat does tend to leave on more of the membrane than you would see on a piece in the market, but that actually makes it easier to get it off in one piece with just a tiny bit of trimming after. This is the recipe I saw that inspired my dinner! I added garlic, used the monkfish I had, and didn't measure anything. I definitely used more ginger than the recipe called for. But the flavor profile was probably pretty similar.

Staff note: This post and the reponses to it have been split from the Dinner 2023 topic, because it started a discussion that is interesting in its own right. Monkfish baked with shiitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Stir-fried baby bok choy and small bell peppers. Rice.

I just baked the crust brushed with olive oil for a bit, then topped it with fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and bacon that I had cooked earlier. Once the crust was browned enough, I drizzled on the yolks of four eggs and stuck it back in for about 30 seconds. Last night, braised short ribs with carrots and celery root over parmesan and spinach risotto.

Pizza and movie night. Margharita with pesto, tomato, and arugula Carbonara: Movie: the Fablemans

Pecan-crusted chicken with creamy mustard sauce and a slaw made with part of the huge purple cabbage I got in this week's CSA delivery

Miso salmon, soy braised broccoli, roasted delicata squash, and coconut-turmeric rice with pickled peppers

Fish curry

Sautéed ricotta gnocchi with pesto and cherry tomatoes

We did snacky stuff for New Year's Eve. I snapped a couple of pictures in the kitchen before stuff got plated up. Vegetable lo mein Batter fried chicken fingers Crabless rangoons We also made sticky soy chicken wings and some garlicky bok choy but I did not get pictures of those.

Chicken curry

chicken shawarma

Christmas eve dinner, seared scallop pasta

Thursday, cheese and basil flatbread Last night, everything but the bagel coated tuna with rice and broccoli

Chicken, cashew, and pepper stir fry

I cook this way sometimes, but find that you have to add things in stages or stuff turns out over or underdone. One favorite in this house is sheet pan fish with peppers. I roast the peppers for a while and add the fish and capers toward the end. I usually serve it with crispy potatoes. sheet pan fish with sweet peppers

Sunday, cavatappi with spinach and pine nuts Monday, fish and chips (haddock) Tuesday, miso salmon ramen bowl with summer squash zoodles, spinach, and lots of cilantro