Lunch! What'd ya have? (Late 2016–Early 2017)

[Smithy]

Quote

Brown butter and sage on beans is like finding a pot of gold.

What a fine tag line that would make!

[Duvel]

Today was our semiannual IKEA run. There are three IKEAs in Hong Kong, and contrary to any I have seen prior coming to HK they are located in either two upper floors or two basements in different shopping centers. We opted for the one in Sha Tin, because next to it is Snoopy World, a (small) free Snoopy-themed amusement park for the little one.

I vowed to myself not be lured in by the Køttbullar, and managed to avoid the restaurant altogether. As a reward I found a Din Tai Fung in the adjacent shopping mall. We had:

Xiao Long Bao, house appetizer (tofu, kelp, vinegar) and pork trotter jelly

Stir fried pea shoots and Bao Zi

Wild mushroom and mustard greens dumplings

Pork & shrimp steamed dumplings

Dan Chao Fan for the little one

Won Ton soup (technically also for the little one, but he just drinks the soup).

 

Everyone happy !

[BonVivant]

Trying not to fall down... let's see how long I can stay awake. Time difference is 6 hours.

Got home last night and went straight to bed, more or less. Lunch was a few thing I have in the cupboard. Bread is from the countryside bakery which was bought when they practically just opened the shop.  

 

Brought back from Spain.

 

 

 

 

 

[Duvel]

@BonVivant Great choices ! Have you ever tried "Salsa Espinaler" with the clams ... it takes even the cheaper ones to a whole new level !

Edited October 22, 2016 by Duvel (log)

[Spork]

Mixed greens, lightly broiled miso salmon, a slice of Forkish overnight white, and some spiced/herbed oil.

 

[scubadoo97]

I like turning leftovers into something new.  In this case it was left over steelhead trout, roasted corn, asparagus and grilled zucchini. Made a dandy fish salad and cold vegetable side

 

 

[Anna N]

 

 Lunch today looks almost like dinner yesterday. And it almost is. But I was working with a smoked pork hock at lunchtime and added some of the meat to the soup. It's funny how I seemed to go off soup completely which was surprising since I have been a lifelong fan of good soup. I think where I fell off the tracks was making creamed soups. I like "things" in my soup.  This one had lots of "things".   Reminds me it's time to make some more Soup of the Bakony Outlaws (from Fine Cooking) which has even  more "things" and tests one  knife  skills!

[ProfessionalHobbit]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salsa verde.

 

We make a batch weekly and use it on everything:  from steamed vegetables to scrambled eggs to roast beef sandwiches to baked fish to pasta...it's an incredibly versatile sauce, and it's really just an excuse to buy more herbs.

 

 

 

Tomato salad:  heirloom tomatoes, scallion, salt, black pepper, extra-virgin olive oil.

 

 

Poached egg, tomato salad, salsa verde

 

 

Leftover braised chicken with tomato and vinegar

[chefmd]

Our beach house community had an annual "Turkey Smoker" event.  The've being doing it for 27 years!  Residents bring smokers, whatever food they want to smoke, snacks, drinks.  I had too much food.  Add to that a glass of wine, sunshine, wind, sounds of the ocean.  So lunch was followed by a very decadent nap.  Ribs, turkey, brisket, turkey breast, ribs, salmon, chicken.  

 

 

[Okanagancook]

A meat centric event!  Everything looks delicious and great to have a sunny day.  Makes all the difference.  How long did that turkey take?  Looks like a 15 pounder?

[Kerry Beal]

3 hours ago, chefmd said:

Our beach house community had an annual "Turkey Smoker" event.  The've being doing it for 27 years!  Residents bring smokers, whatever food they want to smoke, snacks, drinks.  I had too much food.  Add to that a glass of wine, sunshine, wind, sounds of the ocean.  So lunch was followed by a very decadent nap.  Ribs, turkey, brisket, turkey breast, ribs, salmon, chicken.  

 

Nap? Hell - that was a meat coma!

[sartoric]

Fish and chips by the seaside. 

 

 

 

The view, a lagoon in front for safe swimming for kids, the island behind is called Wavebreak Island, beyond that the Pacific Ocean.

[chefmd]

3 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Nap? Hell - that was a meat coma!

 

Right.  I woke up and checked my toes for the signs of gout!

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, sartoric said:

Fish and chips by the seaside. 

 

Best place to eat them. In fact, in the UK, I only ever eat shop bought fish and chips at the seaside. On my rare visits back home to see my mother, a visit here is essential.

 

More frequent visits to Hong Kong also involve fish and chips. Here on the mainland, I just make it myself, and, although it's OK,  it's not the same..

[liuzhou]

Almost every supermarket here sells these stuffed peppers pre-prepared. I prefer to make my own. That way I know what is in the minced (ground) pork.

 

 

The pork is mixed with whatever takes your fancy. Shiitake mushrooms are common, but today I just used coriander leaf (cilantro) and Chinese chives.A slit is cut in the peppers and a teaspoon used to carefully remove the seeds and pith. This stage is known as "taking the pith", Then the stuffing mix is added. This is known as "get stuffed".

 

Usually, these are fried, or sometimes steamed (on top of the rice in the rice cooker) but today I did them in the oven for the first time. It was on for something else anyway. They were fine, but next time I'll reduce the cooking time a little.

The great unknown is the peppers. They can vary from very mild to damned furious. These were in the middle.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@sartoric,

 

Your seaside fish and chips lunch looks like such good time to me!

 

@liuzhou,

 

Yours does too. If it's the right place, "All restaurant prices include bread, butter, and one hot drink". 

 

Okay, now I really want fish and chips. 

[liuzhou]

19 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@liuzhou,

 

Yours does too. If it's the right place, "All restaurant prices include bread, butter, and one hot drink". 

 

Okay, now I really want fish and chips. 

 

Yes. That's it.

By the way, Anstruther is pronounced "Ainster" by us locals.

Edited October 23, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

10 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

By the way, Anstruther is pronounced "Ainster" by us locals.

 

Cool, now I see how no one can pronounce "Worcestershire sauce" consistently. How do y'all locals say that one?

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Cool, now I see how no one can pronounce "Worcestershire sauce" consistently. How do y'all locals say that one?

 

Wooster Sos. As P.G. Wodehouse well knew.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

7 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Wooster Sos. As P.G. Wodehouse well knew.

 

  

[sartoric]

Rightly or wrongly, we antipodeans say woostershear sauce. 

I'll get my coat....

[chefmd]

12 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

A meat centric event!  Everything looks delicious and great to have a sunny day.  Makes all the difference.  How long did that turkey take?  Looks like a 15 pounder?

Don't know how long that turkey took, it was already in the smoker when we got there.  Your estimate of 15 pounds seems to be about right.

[BonVivant]

Duvel, I must have seen it in the shop where I bought these tins. You know one of those wonderful little shops in Spain (and Portugal) that specialises in tinned seafood. I shall look it up in Spain next time. Thanks!

-------------------

 

Well, this zombie made some fried rice with leftover lunch (see tins upthread). The colour of the rice is just the sauces that came with the squid and octopus. No need to season as the sauces took care of that. 

 

 

I don't know how to make a pile of rice look "nice"...

 

 

My lunch. 17 oysters and 2 clams. I gutted the clams, they were sweet, and free.

 

Edited October 23, 2016 by BonVivant (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

21 hours ago, ProfessionalHobbit said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salsa verde.

 

We make a batch weekly and use it on everything:  from steamed vegetables to scrambled eggs to roast beef sandwiches to baked fish to pasta...it's an incredibly versatile sauce, and it's really just an excuse to buy more herbs.

I love that idea. I occasionally do something similar with pesto, or even a thick basil vinaigrette.

 

Do you have a standard herb mix for your salsa verde, or do you vary based on what you have on hand?

[Anna N]

 

Same soup as before (lunch and dinner) this time supplemented with a biscuit. Found a recipe that claimed it would make one biscuit...more like a small loaf of bread!  I made two biscuits, added some cheese to the dry ingredients and it wasn't bad. May hang on to the recipe and keep tweaking it to my taste. When you're a singleton you don't want a dozen biscuits.  The soup is more or less finished now but it was getting very good!