Dinner 2017 (Part 1)

[Smithy]

1 minute ago, Kim Shook said:

I have been away for some time dealing with family health issues, but I’ve spent the past few days catching up on my favorite threads Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner!  As always, I’m impressed and inspired by the food here at eG.  I’ve been cooking very little the last few months and not cataloging or photographing what I DO cook, so I don’t have much to contribute yet!  Before Christmas I bought myself an electric skillet.  I’ve wanted one for a while now.  I love to make fried things, but have a problem maintaining temperature in a frying pan.  It was on sale and very cheap, so I jumped at it.  My first experiment was dinner the other night.  Fried chicken – by my regular recipe: 24 hour buttermilk soak, drained then rubbed with a spice rub that includes Sazon, Accent, pepper and unsweetened lemonade powder (!!!):

 

 

Also liver (cook’s treat – no one else here likes it), whipped potatoes w/ gravy and butter beans.  I really like using the skillet a lot – looking forward to trying fish and chips!  And it was nice to be cooking again.

 

 

It's nice to see you back here AND cooking again, Kim!  My mother always loved her electric skillet.  She let it go when she and Dad downsized into a tiny apartment, and neither my sister nor I wanted it.  Sometimes I think that was a mistake. Your chicken looks wonderful.

[mgaretz]

56 minutes ago, Smithy said:

How did you like the texture and doneness of the salmon, @mgaretz? I'm always on the alert for more ways to do salmon - my favorite fish, but not my darling's unless it's done certain ways.

 

It was wonderful!

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

I have been away for some time dealing with family health issues, but I’ve spent the past few days catching up on my favorite threads Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner!  As always, I’m impressed and inspired by the food here at eG.  I’ve been cooking very little the last few months and not cataloging or photographing what I DO cook, so I don’t have much to contribute yet!  Before Christmas I bought myself an electric skillet.  I’ve wanted one for a while now.  I love to make fried things, but have a problem maintaining temperature in a frying pan.  It was on sale and very cheap, so I jumped at it.  My first experiment was dinner the other night.  Fried chicken – by my regular recipe: 24 hour buttermilk soak, drained then rubbed with a spice rub that includes Sazon, Accent, pepper and unsweetened lemonade powder (!!!):

 

 

Also liver (cook’s treat – no one else here likes it), whipped potatoes w/ gravy and butter beans.  I really like using the skillet a lot – looking forward to trying fish and chips!  And it was nice to be cooking again.

 

KIMMMMMMMMMM!!!!  I can't tell you how much I've missed you.   I love seeing all of your meals.  Mr. Kim's football pool dinner...Easter...Christmas --the orange rolls made into a tree. I've missed it all.  I could go on and on.

 

Thanks for coming back    XOXOXO

 

 

[kayb]

@Kim Shook -- good to see you back!

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@Kim Shook, please count me among all those who have missed you. I'm so glad you're back!

 

That's a great-looking dinner. I would eat it all including the liver. I like the hearts better, and eat the gizzards. There's lots of nutrition in those organ meats. There's very little Vitamin B12 in chicken muscle meats, I think because they store it all in the organ meats.

 

I have an electric appliance that can be used as a Dutch oven with the domed glass lid or without the lid for a temperature controlled fryer. I enjoy taking it out to the deck for fish and chip fry ups in good weather. I originally bought it to have a way to cook off the generator when the power was out, but have used it more than I thought I would. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I've enjoyed mine.

[Jacksoup]

@Kim Shook I've missed you and your posts

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Dinner was supposed to have been ravioli.  I did laundry and made a trip to the store and settled for Fettuccine Al Funghi, The Romagnolis' Table pp 32-33.

 

 

[Shelby]

Steak night again.  Ronnie found a choice top sirloin on sale at the store yesterday. 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

Shelby,

 I need a way to hide all your posts in the dinner thread!  No matter what I have planned, yours always looks better.  You know that line, "I'll have what she's having....". That would be my meal planning mantra if I ever did any serious planning.

[Shelby]

20 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Shelby,

 I need a way to hide all your posts in the dinner thread!  No matter what I have planned, yours always looks better.  You know that line, "I'll have what she's having....". That would be my meal planning mantra if I ever did any serious planning.

LOL!  Aw, that's so nice of you!  

 

Just put me on ignore 

[HungryChris]

Veal piccata, acorn squash and peas.

HC

[ninagluck]

sometimes I cook something traditional and realize it is vegan! how did we call it before vegan was invented? goulash from runnerbeans boiled potatoes, comforting winterstew

[rotuts]

@ninagluck

 

very pleased to see your posts

 

Always !

[ninagluck]

thank you @rotuts, I love to cook modern cuisine, but also want to keep our tradition alive.

[Tri2Cook]

On ‎2017‎-‎01‎-‎18 at 11:09 AM, kayb said:

 

Tri2Cook, I dearly love paprikash, but have never found a recipe I like to make it at home. Could you share one? This looks lovely.

 

Sorry, I missed this somehow. I'll be honest, I went into it not knowing much about the dish. I've never made it and don't recall ever eating it before. It was tasty but I can't say anything about it's authenticity or how good it would be to the taste of those who know the dish. I just did a google search, read some blog posts that came up in the search and picked a recipe.

The recipe was 2 lbs stew beef coated in 4 tbsp. flour seasoned with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. It's then stewed in a sauce made from 1 1/2 c beef broth, 1 c crushed tomato, 2 diced onions, 2 diced bell peppers, 4 minced garlic cloves and 4 tbsp paprika. I sautéed the peppers, onions and garlic, took them out of the pan and browned the meat in batches in the same pan. I then deglazed the pan with the beef broth and dumped everything in a crockpot on low. That wasn't according to the recipe but I wanted to put it on before work and not have to worry about it while I was away all day so a crockpot seemed like the way to go. I adjusted the salt when I got home and wound up adding more paprika. Despite my lack of familiarity with the dish, I felt like it needed it to my taste. It's entirely possible that's just an indictment of the paprika I have on hand.

[chefmd]

White beans, dried mushrooms, slab bacon.  

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

41 minutes ago, chefmd said:

White beans, dried mushrooms, slab bacon.  

 

 

I "liked" this -- then I got to thinking -- I really like this.  Any particular recipe?

 

 

[kayb]

Business today took me to the old river town of Helena, Arkansas, and allowed me to come home with one of the Delta's great culinary delicacies, a dozen tamales. Delta tamales are a much different creature from the classic Mexican or TexMex ones, being made exclusively with ground pork, and seasoned with salt, black pepper and red pepper (generally cayenne) powder. 

 

These were pretty mild, which I prefer. As they should be, they were covered with cheap, canned chili and grated cheddar cheese. For absolute authenticity, they should have been accompanied by saltine crackers, but I didn't have any.

 

 

I am replete. 

 

[mm84321]

First time trying Argentinian beef here in Buenos Aires. "Bife de chorizo"..fantastic flavor from an exceptional product simply prepared..

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Nothing special here tonight but sometimes everything comes together right.  Grilled pork at $1.99 a pound.  I don't understand this somewhat bony cut, but it is red meat about as flavorful as a Berkshire chop at more than five times the price per pound.  Served with organic applesauce and freshly pounded mace.

 

Barely blanched Brussel's sprouts dressed with balsamic vinegar.  Traditionally gathered Native American wild rice.

 

Dessert, a glass of rye.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I started and finished dinner tonight with two old favorites from the Plough, Inc. Cafeteria in Memphis, TN, from my stint there many moons ago in Maybelline cost accounting. The first is a weird sounding salad, that is surprisingly good. I would never have even tried it but for the recommendations of colleagues. It's simply iceberg lettuce topped with canned pineapple, then the juice from the can poured over as a light dressing. Then (and this is the part that threw me) shredded cheddar cheese is scattered on top.

 

The middle course was actually kind of weird too, come to think of it. Has anyone ever heard of chicken tempura? Details over here on the Cook Your Way Through Your Freezer Challenge.

 

The final thing was a sweet potato custard, lightly spiced and sweetened. I told one of the Plough cafeteria lunch ladies one day that the pumpkin pie was the best I'd ever had. She told me that was because it was sweet potato pie. Mine was without the pastry crust but still delicious.

[chefmd]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I "liked" this -- then I got to thinking -- I really like this.  Any particular recipe?

 

 

Thank you!

 

No recipe.  Just trying to cook what I have to clear fridge and pantry.  Freezer is next!  Beans and dried mushrooms were soaked separately for about ten hours.  Both were separately cooked in instant pot, I used mushroom soaking liquid to cook beans as well as the mushrooms.  Bacon was pan fried in cast iron.  

[Dejah]

A couple of meals this week:

Coffee-Spiced Roast Chicken, fried tofu with sweet chili sauce, bok choy
               

Shepherd's pie with mashed cauliflower topping

          

Prime Rib, roasted chayote, and sauteed rapini. This was my first time cooking rapini. Loved it!

         

Curry Pork, baby bak choy, low-carb pita bread

         

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, ninagluck said:

I love to cook modern cuisine, but also want to keep our tradition alive.

 

Please do. I love traditional Viennese food. One of the best dishes I ever ate was liver and blood sausage in a restaurant on Prinz-Eugen-Straße about 25 years ago.

[quiet1]

3 hours ago, chefmd said:

Thank you!

 

No recipe.  Just trying to cook what I have to clear fridge and pantry.  Freezer is next!  Beans and dried mushrooms were soaked separately for about ten hours.  Both were separately cooked in instant pot, I used mushroom soaking liquid to cook beans as well as the mushrooms.  Bacon was pan fried in cast iron.  

 

This reminds me - the rest of the house likes mushrooms (I think they all taste like dirt) so I'm wondering what sort(s) I should get dried to stash in the pantry for a quick pasta sauce or similar. Porcini is the one everyone thinks of, of course, but there's a TON available and I'm not sure which are worth having on hand. I want something that can be rehydrated to add to things (sauces, eggs) when we don't have fresh on hand because we have had some trouble in the past with fresh mushrooms not keeping well, so we don't usually buy them unless we have a specific purpose in mind. But it really seems like something we should have, because I know if you like mushrooms they can really add to a dish, and round out a fast meal.