pastameshugana
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Posts posted by pastameshugana
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My pasta dough before resting (it's been a few years, I'm very pleased this actually worked!):
All the noodles cut and ready to go:
Plated pasta (plating is a bit messy, no excuses just bad execution). The alfredo turned out perfect, and I was able to teach the two youngest how to make a roux at the same time:
The "caprese" salad - in quotes because I used basil and rocket - which is delicious but maybe not exactly authentic. Olive oil, salt, pepper, and a sun dried chili mango balsamic reduction that was delightful. The bread is just ready made from Woolies...
And dessert! Daughter #2 (12yo) made sugar cookies and pound cake. She intended to make chocolate covered strawberries as well, but the chocolate didn't work, so I made a reduction of the strawberries with lemon and simple syrup for topping:
We forced Mrs. Meshugana to wait upstairs the last hour while we got everything finished and decorated, it was a great night!
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We're doing Valentine's Day in two parts. Monday night we went to a nice little restaurant, a classic 'old school' fine-dining kind of place called Level Four. (The kids who still live with us had frozen pizza while we were out).
Mrs. M had a mushroom risotto that was very nice. Several different mushroom varieties and all done well. The plating was 'creative' - it looked a bit like something out of a Dr. Seuss book (which isn't really a bad thing, for sure).
I had a Sous Vide pork belly, with chili bacon toping, a smoky teriyaki sauce underneath, with Brussels sprouts and bok-choy. Very nice as well. The dish included chicharron, but the humidity killed the crispiness and it was meh...
We didn't get a picture of the dessert, which was a chocolate Malva pudding.
Tonight (Tuesday) the kids and I are cooking: Hand made pasta for fettuccine alfredo, with a caprese salad, and my daughter will make dessert of some sort. Hopefully I'll get pics to post.
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7 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:
I would get me some buttermilk to have with some of that cornbread for breakfast tomorrow morning. (Warm the cornbread; break into bitesized chunks; cover with cold buttermilk. I don't remember where I heard of this but it is G O O D!
Sound similar to something my late grandparents would do when we were little. They would put pieces of leftover 'going stale' cornbread in a glass and cover it with milk to eat with a spoon. My grandfather would add sugar to his. But in those days he added sugar to everything, including his sliced watermelon...
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I often used to get something similar in Romania (Brasov, in particular). At various restaurants and in people's homes, it would be jarred and on every table. Mostly various colors of 'bell' peppers with onion, garlic and salt, cooked down almost into a paste. It's great on brown bread, especially with the little hunks of fried pork fat (served cold) several of the restaurants would serve with the bread.
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I must confess, every time I click on this topic I brace myself for what I might see (I get a little squeamish sometimes).
But fascinating nonetheless!
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Looks amazing! And that book looks beautiful as well. Sadly, Amazon shipping to SA is almost as much as the book, and that looks like the kind of book I'd rather have in hand than on the screen...
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On 1/11/2023 at 7:24 PM, Midlife said:
The bag I have says “Gigli”; Google also says “Campanelle’ and “Riccioli”. The shape is a bit ‘fussy’ for my taste but my 5 year-old granddaughter loved them.
Thank you!
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Just as a general thanks to this topic, I decided to make an omelette this morning for the first time in a few years. I don't often eat breakfast, and it it's eggs I really love a proper scramble.
However, I was delighted to see I hadn't lost my touch. It was delicious, done fast, and magazine pretty. I told myself I was going to take a picture, then remembered as I was nearing the last bite...
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For my entire life (at least as far back as I can remember), El Pato (in the yellow can) has been a staple, go-to, and necessary ingredient.
It's not very hot, but just has that "lil' somethin' somethin'" that many meals need!
When we lived in India, we couldn't get it and so the occasional can smuggled in a suitcase was treasured and meted out in careful doses. Now that we live in South Africa, again we can't find it, but there are many great hot sauces (many very local) that we use and love. Every little market and grannie has their own achar blend that is delightful. One of the seafood restaurants near us (Harbor Fish and Grill in Meyersdal, Johannesburg), has an absolutely incredible chili they serve with their rolls and you can also buy by the bottle. Another interesting note about South Africa: Tobasco is everywhere. Nearly ever restaurant has it on the table, and often multiple flavors.
Back to El Pato: It's affordable, tasty, and goes great on almost everything. I've even marinated chicken in it to make pulled chicken chimichangas. I think I've mentioned before, but dipping plain Lay's Potato chips in it is very addicting...
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2 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
That little 'lake 'o butter' in your potatoes looks amazing.
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We lived several years on the edge of the Navajo Nation, and Spam is very prominent there as well. It featured on several breakfast menus, enough that I forced my children to watch Monty Python's Spam & Eggs skit. They didn't laugh, heathens.
The explanation given to me (which is the same given by my old friend who grew up in Guam) was that it was something that would keep long term without refrigeration, so it just made sense to have it around. Of course people eventually developed a taste for it...
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7 hours ago, &roid said:
They were nice and rustic thanks to KP’s cutting!
Beautiful! Great to get them to fall in love with cooking young. All three of our adult children started cooking young. We've got two more in the house that are catching on.
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The Yoder's are really nice, top of the heap when it comes to pellet grills/smokers.
I think the next step down would be Green Mountain Grills - they used to be *much* better than Traeger's, but I think Traeger has caught up a fair bit in the last couple of years. We sold our little GMG when we moved to South Africa last year, but it was a good friend for a long time.
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13 hours ago, kayb said:
God help us. I will eat raw oysters with the best of them, but a Drago’s chargrilled is a thing of beauty. I have been known to eat a dozen for an entree, another dozen for a main, and split a dozen fo dessert.Years ago my wife and I spent a few days in New Orleans. One night, all we did was go down the list of "best oysters in NOLA" and get a dozen at each place. Drago's was the clear winner. And don't forget to use your bread to soak up all the lovely juices/butter in the tray!
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I don't know how I ended up at the method, but my go-to:
Crack the eggs in the pan with Olive Oil or butter, stir gently as they are setting, add sriracha or chili of choice (right now using Aachar from a local vendor in Soweto), some cheese of choice, and keep stirring until juuuust before they are about to set. Then I add a little bit of either: Milk, cream, or yoghurt (depending on what is at hand), and let the excess moisture evaporate.
The result is soft, but not slimy, well-set but still glistening, and lovely striations of white, yellow, and red from the chili. I don't add salt or pepper because the chili has enough of both.
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On 8/8/2021 at 2:32 AM, FauxPas said:
I hadn't seen these before and was going to throw some in the cart when I noticed they were $3.69 per bag. And not exactly a huge bag either. 🙂
Still, I'd like to try them. They only had a few bags left on that shelf, does that mean they are really popular?
Ingredients included "spices, sugar, onion powder, mango powder, garlic powder, tomato powder and paprika extract".
When we lived in India, this was one of the more common flavors available. Along with 'American Style' which was essentially Sour Cream & Onion as far as I could tell.
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22 hours ago, Ann_T said:
Baked a batch of Hello Dolly bars for dessert. Haven't made these in years.
These look amazing, but I’ve never heard of them. It looks like coconut over melted chocolate on a cookie or graham cracker base of some sort. Am I in the ballpark? -
On 9/23/2022 at 7:47 AM, Dejah said:
Definitely fall temperatures. Using the oven to warm things up.
A gift of a Kabocha squash = supper last night. Stuffed with ground beef mixture and topped with Tex-Mex shredded cheese. We share half a squash.
I really love the idea of the stuffed squash - we've done stuffed peppers for years, but a couple of the vagrants living with us (our younger children) don't like bell peppers. This might be the solution!
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Ours has definitely trended earlier over the years. Because of my job, we are often out evenings (the whole family), and leave early. On nights we are out, we make plans that dinner is ready to eat when we get home - 8-9pm. Sometimes that means picking up drive through rubbish...
When we're home, we'll eat between 5 & 6pm.
Amazing how your body changes over the years. Staying up until 11-12 used to be normal and easy. Now we're wrecked by 9pm. I'm usually up between 3:45-4:15am so that's part of it I'm sure.
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13 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:
Vegetable ramen soup bowl with bok choy, spinach, zucchini, and a soft-boiled egg.
Beautiful egg!
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14 hours ago, Anna N said:
This recipe just didn’t work for me. I followed it except for a few minor things that shouldn’t have mattered. I had to forget the zest and juice of the lemon because my lemon was moldy. I searched and searched under my bed for the herbs but they were nowhere to be found so I had to leave those out. Amazon was out of both furikake and chilli flakes the last time I placed an order. But apart from these minor changes I made the recipe as shown. I found it very disappointing and quite flavourless. Love Jo.
Hilarious!
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9 hours ago, Anna N said:
How can something so simple make me salivate so much?
Seriously. @blue_dolphin 's breakfast offerings are truly spectacular. I think a "Blue Dolphin Breakfast Cafe" would be a hit.
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Dinner 2023
in Cooking
Posted
There is a restaurant in the border town of Nogales, Mexico, that does something like this (I'm sure it's common). For the table salsa, the server brings a cart with a selection of both fresh and roasted: Onion, garlic, various chilies, and tomatoes. You can select your ingredients or desired heat level, or let them make their own style, and after a minute or two in a big stone mortar it's ready. Always delightful.
This place also serves everyone a hot 'shot' of spicy fish broth before the meal, which is also wonderful.
I believe the restaurant might be called San Marcos.