pastameshugana

Beautiful!

Kerry thank you - some really sound advice over there! Now my next attempt (by wife's request) is going to be a fig/brie roll.

@liamsaunt your ratatouille and pork chops look absolutely incredible! Is that a compound butter? Monday is my 'down' day - I'm a pastor so the weekend is my heaviest work load. The kitchen is a nice retreat for me. While making iced tea this morning I saw we still had some fresh roasted green chillies in the fridge, and decided to take a stab at baking some green chili cheddar bread. The flavor was incredible, great chew and everything. Just some drama with a strange cavity I posted about over here in the baking forum. My wife got inspired by the bread (there's nothing like cutting open a fresh loaf and having the first slice when the kids aren't around!) and decided to make a spanish inspired meat loaf, with a red chili glaze. I smoked it for her for 3 hours with hickory pellets and we had our oldest son and his wife (and baby on the way) over. We feel a duty to nourish our future grandchild!

This morning I saw some fresh roasted green chilies in our refrigerator, and thought I would make some cheddar & green cheese bread. I used a pretty basic recipe for the bread from Secrets of Jewish Baker, essentially the basic milk bread. Added some shredded sharp cheddar to the dough during the mix. Rolled the dough flat and added chopped and (mostly) dried green chillies, more cheddar, and rolled it jelly roll style into my loaf pans. The flavor is great, texture is close. Definitely in the ballpark of what I wanted to achieve (although I'm wishing for more chile flavor next time - I think I'll double the chillies and also add some 'chile water' to the dough). However, as you can see in the picture, I got a big cavity in my rolls. I suspect I just needed to roll tighter, but is there some other issue that would be causing this?

That is a seductive looking and sounding sandwich.

Well I will admit it makes it into a small portion of our dishes, and it seems a little goes a long way, so that’s probably we’re getting so many miles out of ours.

I’ll add a third to tomato paste. In my first training I was taught to start your tomato sauce with paste, slightly browning a teaspoon or so in the oil before everything else goes in. You can’t define what it adds but you can certainly tell when it’s not there. I’ll add curry leaves to the list. Can’t get them fresh here, but dried works. They add a great smoky flavor to lots of meat dishes, especially ground beef for something like tacos. And fish sauce! Smells gross and tastes even grosser to me. But in a meat dish, especially Asian, just adds something special. And a bottle will last you forever!

Tonight I had to skip making the baguettes - but we found some very nice substitute bread for our Banh mi. The pork started as a 12 hour smoke over in this thread. I tossed the second half that wasn't eaten as carnitas with some onion & garlic I had sweated with a dash of 5-spice, added 1/4 cup of butter for texture and fish sauce. My lovely wife pickled the radish and carrot, and we served it with a mayo/sriracha spread and all the fresh veggies. Turned out delightful. My last banh mi was in Ho Chi Minh city in February, and I've been working up a serious craving that this fully satisfied.

Welcome to the family. You'll get lots of help here, and find lots of Mexican food lovers. Like @Kim Shook I'm curious what area either are your from, or what regional cuisine do you cook?

I see you're rocking a Global knife in the background. Just a single or a whole set? @shain The pizza with the figs looks incredible. And your crust/char look perfect. I had extravagant plans for dinners this week (see the smoking thread and the 12 hour pork butt that is still mostly in my fridge), but in-laws showed up and my schedule went down the tubes. Didn't get a picture, but my amazing wife turned half of the pork butt in to carnitas for tacos, with homemade mango salsa, spicy guac, pickled onions. Was planning to make my own baguettes and use the rest for banh mi tonight, we'll see what the clock dictates. Last nights dinner was sirloin rescued from the freezer that I grilled, Mrs' M made chimichurri, my oldest daughter made biscuits and an arugula salad. Everything was nearly gone when I realized I should try to get a pic. Here is the last bite:

We whisper this to each other when we see misbehaving children out in public.

Here’s an update after 12 hours on the GMG, just took it off this morning about 5:30am. It was coming apart in the tongs as I lifted it out.

I just put in a 9.5lb pork butt that I’m preparing for Carnitas tomorrow and Banh mi on Thursday. Mrs M scored and marinated it, I seared it on all sides on a hot grill and now it’s in my green mountain grills Davy Crockett at 225. Should go about 5 or 6 hours in hickory smoke before I wrap it up and move it to the electric oven until it’s done. I’m expecting at least 10 hours but we’ll see how it goes. Love the GMG pellet smokers. 1 degree of control and WiFi/app connected so I can monitor my cook from anywhere.

Memory lane: As a young child (7yo), my father got clean from a very long, very bad addiction to methamphetamines that nearly destroyed our family. As life got back to 'regular', we were understandably in narrow financial straits (of course I didn't realize that as a kid). Our special treat each week was going to Taco Bell on Sunday afternoons after church. My mother always ordered the 'pintos & cheese with green sauce & onions' - and so it became my favorite as well. I've eaten that weekly for nearly 40 years, and passed it on to all of my kids. So, when TB cancelled the green sauce, I was affected a little more than I should have been over a $1.29 cup of reconstituted been product with various questionable toppings. It's fascinating how powerful certain foods can be in memory.

This looks fantastic, care to share a recipe or a guide?