Lunch! What'd ya have? (2015–2016)

[con delight]

Salmon with red cabbage

[sartoric]

Zucchini fritters with minty yoghurt.

 

[BonVivant]

Second lunch.

 

 

 

First lunch. Always start with cheese, bread and Speck or Jamon Serrano.

 

 

 

 

The crusty side

 

[Okanagancook]

Yummy looking cheeses, soft and hard.  And then the DUMPLINGS!!  Double yum.

[BonVivant]

OC, the cheeses are all lovely. I was lucky to find unpasteurised Mont d'Or only 10 minutes from my house. I used to scoff at this cheese shop LOL... (well, they did deserve it before, years ago.)

 

Cheers

[HungryChris]

Meatloaf and kimchi sandwich.

[liuzhou]

 

A simple working lunch today. Camembert and Seaweed Crackers.

[HungryChris]

Meat loaf and pickled zucchini ribbons on homemade sandwich bread.

[shain]

Pasta mafaldine "of the forest" :
Portobello mushrooms, porcini, toasted pine nuts, dried unsweetened berries. Used eggs and really thick pasta water for thickening the sauce. Flavored with rosemary, pine needles, lemon peel, chives, parsley, tarragon, paprika, garlic, sauteed onion, thyme and a touch of vinegar.
Pasta was lightly toasted before boiling.

Edited February 12, 2016 by shain (log)

[blue_dolphin]

That pasta looks really good, @shain!  When you say the "pasta was lightly toasted before boiling," how do you do this?  Does it affect the texture or do you taste a "toasty" flavor in the finished dish, or both?

 

Light Lenten lunch:

 

Tuna salad with capers on whole grain toast, bread & butter pickles and apple slices.

 

[shain]

25 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

That pasta looks really good, @shain!  When you say the "pasta was lightly toasted before boiling," how do you do this?  Does it affect the texture or do you taste a "toasty" flavor in the finished dish, or both?

 

Thank you very much!

 

Toasting the pasta is mostly a matter of flavor, but it does effect texture in a way. It gives it a flavor of lightly toasted nuts or a golden toasted bread, very pleasant. I use it for many pasta dishes, in any place where the flavor is appropriate to the sauce (not for tomato sauce, for example). It does effect the texture in a way, making the cooking time longer and highly reduces the chance of over cooking it (it can get past al-dente, if you are not really not careful, but it will take a real long time for it get mushy).

 

The method that I use to toast it is exactly the way I like to toast nuts. Spread the pasta in a single layer over a baking tray, and place it in a cold oven (this helps to get an even bake). Set the oven to 150 dC (300 dF) and toast until it gets pale golden-copper and smells nutty (get it out of the oven when you notice a reddish tint). If you toast it for too long, it gets quite red and will start to crack, this is not serious, it's just likely to break when boiling if this happen. The toasted color will fade somewhat when cooked, but the scent of it while cooking is amazing, like a pound of toasted pine nuts.

This works good with both short and long pasta shapes, and obviously, only with dry pasta.

Edited February 12, 2016 by shain (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Thank you for the clear description, @shain.  I've only accidentally and partially toasted spaghetti when using a too small pan and the the ends got singed before it softened enough to sink into the water !    It sounds interesting and I'll have to try it sometime.  

[Anna N]

@blue_dolphin

 

 You had me right up until the word tuna!  Loved the look of your lunch just can't do tuna fresh, canned or any way at all. Still it appealed so much I might have to try it with a chicken (tuna of the land?) salad. 

[gfweb]

Asian Chicken Salad. It was edible.

 

[Anna N]

Few phrases can be more depressing than "it was edible". My condolences. 

[liuzhou]

Another Day, Another Burger

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

20 hours ago, shain said:

Pasta mafaldine "of the forest" :
Portobello mushrooms, porcini, toasted pine nuts, dried unsweetened berries. Used eggs and really thick pasta water for thickening the sauce. Flavored with rosemary, pine needles, lemon peel, chives, parsley, tarragon, paprika, garlic, sauteed onion, thyme and a touch of vinegar.
Pasta was lightly toasted before boiling.

 

Very nice-looking pasta dish, and an interesting technique for roasting the pasta.

 

What really caught my eye though, was your use of pine needles. What kind?

 

I used to chew on (and swallow) white pine needles as a kid, but quit after everyone said I was kooks and that I was going to poison myself. I always thought fresh rosemary tasted of pine, so that would be a very harmonious combination, I think.

 

A brief Google yielded that there are species of pine that are poisonous (like yew), but also that folks make vitamin-rich tea with others. I loved the bright, tart flavor of pine needles, and now that I've found out most species aren't toxic, I would love to hear what you have to say on the matter. Please PM me if you fear we will drift off the Lunch topic.

[Anna N]

 

 Cheese, bacon and tomato melt.

[Okanagancook]

That's the first thing we made in Home Economics way, way back in the day when there was such a thing as Home Ec.  The boys were in 'Shop Class'.  Cheese Dreams is what they were called.  Yours are stupendous!  And, ps, sorry about your cold weather. :-)

[Shelby]

2 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

That's the first thing we made in Home Economics way, way back in the day when there was such a thing as Home Ec.  The boys were in 'Shop Class'.  Cheese Dreams is what they were called.  Yours are stupendous!  And, ps, sorry about your cold weather. :-)

Gosh, it doesn't seem so way back....sigh....in my school we had to take both Home Ec and Shop.  I liked shop a bit better back then   I think kids should still have to take those types of classes.  Sigh.  I could rant on forever about that.

 

Anyway, gorgeous, Anna....makes me yearn for summer tomatoes....only 6 more months.....

[Okanagancook]

Let's see, junior high I think so 1965'ish.  She Loves You Yeah, Yeah.........

[BonVivant]

A summery salad on this dark, miserable day. (I had to brighten the photos quite a bit as it was really dark at 2pm) 

 

 

[Anna N]

M

 

Cheesy orzo with broccoli. 

[HungryChris]

Salads with a variety of lettuces, avocado, Compari tomatoes, cukes, pickled zucchini, pickled onions, pickled asparagus and blue cheese crumbles. 

 

[Anna N]

HungryChris,

 Your salads look fantastic.

 

 

 This is a wheatberry bowl with a spicy peanut sauce, steamed carrots and broccoli and a cooked chicken breast from my freezer. I cooked the wheat berries in the Instant Pot.