Steve Irby

What a difference a day makes-at least temperature wise. Last nights meal was inspired by the most recent cookoff, eG Cook-Off #88: Wings, when the outside temp was ~70F. A stiff north breeze and ~20 degrees later soup moves into the mix. The basil plants made one last contribution to dinner last night becoming a classic pesto served with Mediterranean inspired chicken wings. A full description is included on the cookoff thread. Tonight we had a couple of soups in case @liamsaunt family was in the neighborhood. She does the most incredible job of catering to her family's different taste! Vegan cauliflower soup with cashew butter finished with a fried carrot nest and carrot greens. And potato leek soup finished with sautéed shitake, baby bella mushrooms' and Aleppo pepper flakes.

@Duvel very nice lead-in to the challenge. David Ross was one of my favorite eGullet members and it was quite a shock to learn of his passing. Your doing him proud! I've been in a Mediterranean mood so tonight I roasted up some fresh wings that were marinated in meyer lemon juice, olive oil, marash chili flakes, salt, pepper and garlic. I browned the chicken somewhat in the skillet then finished in a hot oven. I would have liked to get a little more color on the wings but I did not want to overcook them. The final dish was garnished with meyer lemon wedges and castelvetrano olives with a sprinkle of marash chilies and cyprus salt flakes.

Oyster and flounder po'boys on a baguette from Craft Bakery. Dressed with shredded cabbage, pickle and tomatoes.

A little fun with leftovers. I'll call it deconstructed mince and tatties although I would catch hell if Huiray was still on eGullet. He was tough on us neophyte eGullters if we took such liberties from the original derivation. Leftover standing rib roast and potatoes repurposed with crimini & shitake mushrooms atop roast carrots and a sprinkling of peas.

The last of the oysters😢. Shrimp, scallops, oysters and bacon in a saffron cream sauce with spinach.

Companies gone so my time to pig out. I think my leftovers will move next year to the main course. I wilted spinach on the plate and topped with paneed gruyere grits, shrimp, oysters and croutons. Generously napped with hollandaise and garnished with red onions channeling Judy Rodgers.

For Christmas Eve we had a few dishes that have been favorites at restaurants that we have eaten at. Obviously pre-covid. First up Shrimp Henican as served at Commanders Palace. Galatorie's Shrimp Remoulade Blanc Madison's Salmon Rockefeller. Madison's closed quite a few years ago but this dish was my favorite. My rendition includes gruyere cheese grits, wilted spinach and roasted salmon topped with hollandaise and fried oysters. I shucked the oysters just prior to company arriving and they fried up great. Dessert on Christmas Eve was a beautiful pear tart that my wife's daughter in-law made. She is originally from Nice France and said it was just like her mother made. It was delicious! The starter for Christmas Dinner was raw oysters. I bought a 50# box and have shucked on an as need basis. My needs have been frequent trips during the day to monitor QA/QC purposes. Our dinner salad with repurposed white remoulade sauce. I should have stopped with salad! Christmas Dinner was a little anti-climatic after the preceding food orgy. The main course was beef standing rib roast, wilted spinach, roasted carrots and garlic mashed potatoes.

@heidih @Margaret Pilgrim Stewart Farms at the weekend market usually has two or three varieties of kale and also turnips. Early in the season Carl will also have rutabags that he raises for the greens. The greens are similar in taste and texture to turnips. As the root matures the tops get tough like collards (not my favorite). You'll see a lot of variety of cornbread shapes in the southeast all cooked in cast iron pans. The muffins, wedges, sticks etc., allow for a nice crust to develop. The pan is preheated in a ~460 degree oven and seasoned with bacon dripping and the batter should sizzle when filling.

Rutabaga greens & ham, creamed red potatoes and corn bread. As a kid this would have been a typical dinner ( served at noon) with supper being leftovers. The cornbread slathered with Kerry Gold butter will never see the light of day!

We'll call this one Shrimp Serendipity or Confluence of Leftovers. We had friends over this weekend and I bought some shrimp for an app but decided we were covered with bruschetta, artichoke tapenade, grilled sausage and St Andre cheese. I sautéed the shrimp today in the tapenade and added the leftover luganeca sausage along with salt cured olives, capers and meyer lemons.

The last of Thanksgiving leftovers! Smoked turkey risotto with Tony Chacere's extra spicy seasoning. I used some very rich smoked turkey stock and really worked the arborio rice to develop a nice creamy consistency.

I bought some beautiful radishes and carrots at the market yesterday. The green portions looked so good that they became supper tonight. Loubo radish salad with a garlicy vinaigrette and Spanish braised chickpeas with tuna and olives.

@rotuts Plenty of piggy left in. I occasionally go in halves and buy a local hog. I'll have the hog scalded and split in half or sectioned into primal cuts. I always get the head, tail, and extra fat. The last pig had mangalista aspirations with a 4-6 inch fat cap. Low and slow on the rendering has yielded very good results. I vacuum bag in pretty small portions in my VP112.

Non-cardiologist approved buttermilk biscuits made with lard and White Lily SR Flour. Generously anointed with butter and ribbon cane syrup. I'm 67 and originally from the Philadelphia MS area and the syrup is just like we had as kids. Not quite the the glorious catheads my grandmother made but still very tasty. Baked on a cast iron griddle (hoe) that has been handed down at least three generations.

Not My Mom's Green's. Turnip root and tops with jasmine rice and longaniza sausage. The greens are from Stewart Farms located in Bay Minette AL. Carl Stewart always has the best produce at the Saturday market. It finally cooled off on the Gulf Coast so I made fresh sausage this weekend. Ten pounds each of Luganeca, Bubba's Five Alarm Hot Links using recipes from Len Poli.

Lasagne Alla Verde Bolognese from American Sfoglino. It took me a couple of days to get this in the oven but it was worth the effort. The ragu was made per the recipe but I substituted Citterio hot capacolla and homemade toulouse sausage for the pork shoulder, mortadella and prosciutto.

We went a little heavy on the red meat over Christmas so seafood got top billing for the New Year. I bought a box of oysters that were fat and salty and delicious raw and grilled. I also made a nice gumbo with leftover smoked turkey and andouille that I made a few weeks ago.

I had some leftover items from sunday brunch that became todays breakfast. Egg salad, creme fraiche and paddlefish caviar topped the top half of a bagel from Panera. The bottom half was topped with salmon cured with a north african spice blend, cream cheese, red onion and salt cured capers.

Dinner was a chocolate covered almond antidote aka "shrimp salad". I polished off the contents of the nut medley rather quickly and will now focus on the panettone.

We had an all dressed up and nowhere to go brunch. I've been threatening to make the Shrimp and Tasso Henican appetizer from Commanders Palace for years so this weekend I got busy. I followed the recipe published in Savuer and substituted homemade guanciale for the tasso. It is a really tasty dish and worth the effort. It would have been perfect with a few of CP's twenty-five cent martinis! I also made the Caviar Parfait from Michael Mina after watching Hubert Keller's Secret of Chefs Las Vegas. Another delish dish but I'm afraid the caviar would blow the budget for a party.

A hearty breakfast non-southern style. The red onion was pretty hot so social distancing should not be a problem this morning.

Here are a few pics from our party for three. A quick appetizer of homemade longaniza sausage and kashmiri curry cured salmon served with Forkish's overnight white bread. Followed with a salad of mixed greens, bluecheese, pear and toasted pecans. The main coarse was bacon wrapped turkey tenderloin, stuffed porkchops, garlic mashed potatoes and wilted spinach. The meats were prepared SV and finished with a quick fry. Dessert was white chocolate and amaretto cheesecake.

Thanks. I cooked them three hours @ 140F plus another 45 minutes as the water bath came up to temp. The meat went from the fridge at 38F into a cold water bath and it took awhile for the Anova to bring the five double chops to temp. The sausage texture was great. It was definitely fully cooked and I think I will drop the temp to 135 on the next batch.

Dinner was faux stuffed porkchops served with mashed potatoes and a green salad. The chops were actually laminated with homemade sausage placed between two chops, dusted with transglutaminase, vacuum bagged and cooked sous vide.

Tamales with queso fresco, avocado, tomatoes and salsa from the farmers market.