Lunch! What'd ya have? (May 2016–Oct 2016)

[scubadoo97]

@HungryChris  envious!

[shain]

More coconut rice with mangoes and mint.
I used sushi rice, and Kent mangoes from my tree.

The rice is flavored with toasted coconut shavings, a little chili, cinnamon, and enough salt to give it an almost savory edge, then cooked in coconut milk. 

This time Iv'e decided to boost the coconut even more, and added a coconut flavor extract (which does a good job enhancing the floral notes of the coconut) and finished the dish with very lightly sweetened coconut flakes. The flakes give a nice crunchy texture, but I think the dish looks better without them:

Edited September 16, 2016 by shain (log)

[Anna N]

 

 Chicken, spinach and cheese quesadilla.   Unfortunately the container of sour cream was hiding some leftovers (why do I do that?) and when I opened the jar of salsa in the fridge it was incubating something quite disgusting.  Damn. 

[HungryChris]

21 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

@HungryChris  envious!

@scubadoo97 I am uncomfortable with envious, but hope you enjoy it too. We took so much time to plan this trip and make it happen that sharing is a kind of celebration. I would like to think that perhaps it will give an inspiration to someone to do something they would not have done otherwise. The first time we ever landed in Rome, many years ago, I saw tears in Deb's eyes and I knew she loved it as much, if not more than I did and how priceless a commodity that can be. Deb is an absolute wiz at Trip Advisor and Slow Travel and she finds great opportunities and bargains. I happen to love to cook, so it all works out. Here are some pics from our bedroom window  this morning at the Terre di Melazzano, the agriturismo where we are  staying (and have, off and on, for the past ten years). This year the harvest starts on the 19th, just after we leave for Florence.

HC

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[BonVivant]

Islandic langoustines because I'm still in Rejkjavik and had planned to eat them.

 

Waiter pours the soup at the table.

 

The soup is rich and delicious.

 

Another favourite fish of mine.

 

5 langoustines with garlic and butter.

 

The aftermath.

 

Directly after eating the above I walked to this intersection where this hot dog kiosk got its "fame". I've been asking Icelanders about it but they scoff at it.

 

Have read about it during my trip research, of course. Had to try it for myself. It looked pathetic...

 

It tasted like NOTHING. Even cardboard has a taste (me thinks, haven't tried that one yet)! I don't get it. Maybe it's just me? I am critical and can think for myself and I think this is rubbish. Together with Icelanders I scoff at it!

[sartoric]

Stick with the seafood @BonVivant, those langoustines look fantastic. 

Hot dogs can be iffy, we call them "mystery bags".

 

I was given this free range, laid at the home of a happy chook egg.

So, I made an omelette with a chopped spring onion, salt and pepper. Served with a few bits of olive bread.

 

I have 17 more of these eggs, suggestions welcome.

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2016 by sartoric (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@sartoric, It's not very challenging to use up top quality eggs like you were lucky enough to get, but if it were me, I'd like some over easy with runny yolks with good bread. That olive bread seems a very good candidate.

 

Hollandaise with asparagus, eggs benedict or a nice fish would be good. Bernaise with a lovely steak. I would take advantage of the cleaner environment and serve them not cooked hard. Homemade mayo comes to mind as well. Caesar salad dressing?

 

Oh my, you are a lucky ducky! 

 

Mystery bags.  I'm not a fan either, but since my husband is, I will eat them in the form of Hebrew National pricey kosher dogs a few times a year. I figure if they get the kosher seal they can't contain lips and assholes, like I read somewhere and cannot purge from my tiny brain. ConAgra Corp. took the brand over in 1993. They make paints and are my enemy. Paint and chemical manufacturers should stay the hell out of the food business, IMO.

 

Quote from the wiki link:

"The Jewish Daily Forward reported that most Orthodox authorities did not follow this endorsement, and most Orthodox Jews continue not to rely on its kashrut.^[6]

In June 2012, ConAgra Foods Inc. was sued by 11 people in Minnesota for falsely advertising their product as kosher. Their complaint rests on the issue of ConAgra unlawfully tricking people into thinking they are buying kosher meat and being able to charge a premium fee for this alleged fallacy.^[7] "

 

So grossly overpriced mystery bags. You can't win with hot dogs, it seems, even if you throw too much money at it. I'm sure some small manufacturers somewhere make a respectable version, but for us masses, it seems it is best to avoid.

[rotuts]

first , call the HD a sausage.

 

then find them locally made.  TJ's has some nice ones 

 

of course there is the sodium problem.

[ElsieD]

8 hours ago, sartoric said:

Stick with the seafood @BonVivant, those langoustines look fantastic. 

Hot dogs can be iffy, we call them "mystery bags".

 

I was given this free range, laid at the home of a happy chook egg.

So, I made an omelette with a chopped spring onion, salt and pepper. Served with a few bits of olive bread.

 

I have 17 more of these eggs, suggestions welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

My SIL hs a hobby farm and has a dozen or so heritage chickens that roam around pecking at bugs and whatever else they eat.  Every now and again I get gifted with some of their eggs and they are incredible with deep, orange yolks.  We eat them one way only - poached.  For us, they are special and deserved to be served as plainly as possible to fully appreciate how much better they are than the eggs we usually eat.

[scubadoo97]

A quick make due Pad Thai for an early lunch.  

The steam fogged up my lens

 

[Chris Ward]

Tartiflette today. Winter's coming, need to stock up on that body fat for the cold period. Wait, I already did that. Oh well, too late now.

[Anna N]

 

Salad of tomato and hearts of palm with an Asian inspired dressing and cheese, bacon and pimenton toasties. 

[chefmd]

Braised duck legs with flagiole beans.  @Anna N I am sorry that you don't like beans.  If you come to visit, I will serve your duck leg with roaster potatoes!

 

 

And this is what eagle had for lunch.  We are at our beach house this weekend and eagles are nicely posing for the photos 

 

 

[BonVivant]

I tried 3 new things to day: fermented shark, smoked puffin breast and guillemot breasts. For lunch I just had dried haddock and dried wolffish, plus 2 beers. Got it at the weekend market here in Reykjavik.

 

 

 

It's not that bad. You get a hit of ammonia, yes, but that's why it's always eaten with copious amounts of spirit to overpower the ammonia.

 

 

The portion sold at supermarket is much bigger than at the flea market I went to today

 

Gratuitous photos of Reykjavik today

 

 

And from yesterday's day trip to see the waterfalls, geysers and location of tectonic plates.

 

Edited September 17, 2016 by BonVivant (log)

[kayb]

On 9/16/2016 at 3:24 PM, Anna N said:

 Chicken, spinach and cheese quesadilla.   Unfortunately the container of sour cream was hiding some leftovers (why do I do that?) and when I opened the jar of salsa in the fridge it was incubating something quite disgusting.  Damn. 

I hate it when that happens. Which it does, at my house, with all too much frequency.

 

And just think...if something as acidic as salsa can incubate something disgusting (been there, done that too!), that's some powerful stuff.

 

On 9/16/2016 at 4:22 PM, HungryChris said:

 

 

 

Just heartbreakingly lovely. Enjoy every second!

 

[kayb]

I didn't take photos -- it was a Saturday work lunch because both my client and I are headed out of town on Monday and this was work that needed doing. So we did it over lunch at The Farmer, a farm-to-table establishment that's making a bit of a name for itself in Memphis.

 

We split a chicken tostada salad; sliced smoked chicken breast atop a crispy tortilla, topped with a field pea relish, which was so many orders of magnitude better than it sounds that I can't begin to describe it, tomatoes, spinach and arugula, with a chipotle cream dressing. Pretty marvelous. Would have been even better with the addition of some roasted corn kernels.

 

I opted for the salmon patties lunch. (Admittedly, salmon stretches the definition of farm-to-table in mid-America...) I have fond memories of salmon patties, made from canned salmon, when I was growing up; they were a cheap, easy entree and we had them a couple of times a month. These were NOT my mama's salmon patties. Fresh (or fresh-frozen) salmon, poached and flaked, put together with a minimum of binder (doggoned if I could discern any binder at all, but SOMETHING had to hold it together), with Creole remoulade, and a side of absolutely luscious mac and cheese. The other side was roasted eggplant, for which I'd opted in place of the standard braised greens, and it left something to be desired. I'm not certain what the seasoning was, but it wasn't what I wanted.

 

I tried to consider if there was room enough for an apple tart for dessert. There was not.

[liuzhou]

 

Yesterday. Clams cooked in beer with garlic, black fermented beans and scallion. Served with home made bread.

[sartoric]

In the interest of using fresh eggs, I made some bacon & cheese muffins. 

I am no baker, and my oven is dodgy.

There are two missing from this tray, shortly thereafter two more went missing.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

28 minutes ago, sartoric said:

In the interest of using fresh eggs, I made some bacon & cheese muffins. 

I am no baker, and my oven is dodgy.

There are two missing from this tray, shortly thereafter two more went missing.

 

You say you're no baker, but apparently the muffins were good enough to start disappearing pretty rapidly.  They look delicious.

 

What are the green bits?

[sartoric]

2 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

You say you're no baker, but apparently the muffins were good enough to start disappearing pretty rapidly.  They look delicious.

 

What are the green bits?

Chopped parsley, there was also cayenne pepper in there !

[suzilightning]

18 hours ago, chefmd said:

@Anna N

What eagle had for lunch.  We are at our beach house this weekend and eagles are nicely posing for the photos 

 

 

OHHHHHHHH.... name that fish!  (a game we play on hawkwatches)

 

Yesterday I was at Scott's Mountain Hawkwatch and took plenty of water, a big container of watermelon, a tomato and ricotta salata salad, some nice crusty bread with some butter.

Edited September 18, 2016 by suzilightning (log)

[chefmd]

Store bought dumplings with home made dipping sauce (equal parts Red Boat fish sauce and lime juice, hot pepper).

 

[Anna N]

 

 Still getting my money's worth out of a pound of ground lamb that I turned into mince. Made polenta in the instant pot using the bowl in bowl method, stirred in some cheddar cheese,  put some aside to stiffen so I can grill it later and served some with the lamb mince for my lunch. 

[Norm Matthews]

My lunch today was fish chowder. It will probably be dinner too.

[scubadoo97]

Cook's treat after breaking down 2 organic chickens from Costco. 

Shallots sauted in butter, then livers added and browned.  Marsala wine added and flamed off then a touch of cream was added to finish the sauce.   

Edited September 18, 2016 by scubadoo97
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