menuinprogress

French onion soup with a little bit of arugula and onion salad.

"Chicken tortilla stackers" We've been making variants on this for a long time - leftover shredded chicken layered with corn tortillas, red chile sauce and cheese and baked in a casserole dish.

Stew made from a pork shoulder bone and attached meat, with some roasted and blended ancho, guajillo and arbol chiles.

"Mexi-Schnitzel" This dish is no doubt blasphemy in serious schnitzel circles, but we've been making it for years and really enjoy it. Pork as the protein, with a breading of panko with cumin, powdered chile, and Mexican oregano. Lime squeezed over instead of lemon, and served with pico de gallo and black beans.

Paella with shrimp, smoked sausage, peppers and clams.

Vietnamese "chicken noodle soup" - Phở gà.

Pizza night. One with leftover smoked ham, peppers and onions. And another with beet greens, bacon, ricotta and caramelized onions.

Smoked picnic ham with scalloped potatoes. Slicing it up after resting, but still warm off of the smoker.

Breakfast this morning was a sort-of-benedict. Egg with mushrooms, homemade peameal bacon, arugula and some hatch green chile cheese sauce left over from a batch of mac and cheese. There is an English muffin hiding under there somewhere...

The skin has generally come out soft and tasty. If you are looking for crispy skin, though, this definitely isn't they way to go.

Smoked duck.

A first attempt at making Bún bò Nam Bộ, a dish we really enjoyed in Hanoi. It is a salad of sorts, with rice noodles, lettuce and herbs, quick-pickled veg, stir-fried beef and a nuoc cham sauce. You build the bowl with a fair amount of greens on the bottom, so it becomes more of a salad when you mix it up. Really nice combination of savory and fresh flavors.

Pan-fried berbere-spiced chicken leg/thigh with mash, gravy and baby bok choy.

Poached shrimp and guacamole sandwich with hot sauce and a squeeze of lime.

Salmon with tarragon mushroom sauce.

Chicken salbutes (a soft Yucatecan version of a tostada) with habanero hot sauce.

Egg-in-a-jar on top of leftover potato-broccoli-bacon chowder.

Thai minced pork with rice and a fried egg.

Our first go at making Khao Soi since having it in Thailand. Nowhere near as good as the version we fell in love with in Chiang Mai, but not a bad start.

Thai minced pork with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and chile, and a papaya salad.

Lamb mini-meatball tagine pizza, and one with peppers, onions and bacon-end lardons.

Beef pho with brisket, chuck and tendon.

Eggs in purgatory.

Korean comfort food on a "cold" Southern-California night - soondubu jjigae. For banchan we had cukes two ways and some gai choy.

We usually have turkey for Thanksgiving and not Christmas. We were traveling in SE Asia this November and missed our normal opportunity, so turkey for Christmas it was. Tonight we had a soup made with leftovers (turkey stock and meat), but influenced by our time spent in Vietnam - rice noodles, fish sauce, lemongrass, shallot, garlic, ginger, chiles, cliantro and lime.