Lunch! What'd ya have? (2017)

[chefmd]

D'Artagnan Bison burger with tomatoes, pickles, feta, mayo.  Nicely gamey.  

 

[blue_dolphin]

Berberé Chicken and Creamy Pecorino Rice from Josef Centeno's new cookbook, Bäco. Sugar snap peas and red bell peppers were steamed and tossed with preserved lemon rind.

 

Lots going on in this dish!  The short-grained sushi-type rice absorbed a lot of flavor and formed a bit of light crust on the rice at the bottom of the skillet.  Left to my own devices, I would have served this with a dollop of yogurt rather than the rich garlic, pecorino cream sauce that turns this into a rather luxurious dish.

I didn't have any of the cubeb pepper called for in the berberé spice blend so I subbed regular black peppercorns and used a bit less of them.  Otherwise, I had everything else on hand and once the spice mixture is made, everything comes together quickly.  I halved the recipe to make 2 servings instead of 4 and the recipe timing and amount of liquid were perfect to cook both the chicken and rice properly.

[Anna N]

36 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Berberé Chicken and Creamy Pecorino Rice from Josef Centeno's new cookbook, Bäco. 

Arrrghhh. I succumbed and bought the book.  Tomorrow I am aiming to make the Bäco bread.   Limited access to ingredients even the more common ones will leave me way behind in your dust cloud.  But I'll enjoy everything you post  anyway.  Incidentally somebody who made that dish mentioned that for the cubeb they subbed 1/2 teaspoon allspice berries and 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns.  I'm assuming they would have ground them. 

[robirdstx]

Back to Floyd's in Webster for a late lunch/early dinner.

 

 

Chicken Fried Chicken and Fries with Gravy on the side for my husband.

 

 

Grilled Catfish and Dirty Rice for me.

[HungryChris]

Because this soup was made with Korean BBQ chicken, the broth is dark and your typical chicken soup is out of the question. I have found that a hearty soup with pureed tomatoes and root vegetables is a tasty solution. I like to top it with grated Romano cheese.

HC

[blue_dolphin]

8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Arrrghhh. I succumbed and bought the book.  Tomorrow I am aiming to make the Bäco bread.   Limited access to ingredients even the more common ones will leave me way behind in your dust cloud.  But I'll enjoy everything you post  anyway.  Incidentally somebody who made that dish mentioned that for the cubeb they subbed 1/2 teaspoon allspice berries and 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns.  I'm assuming they would have ground them. 

 

Well, it's unlikely that I'll be moving at a pace to generate a trail of dust !  I'll be very interested in hearing how the bread works out!

 

I noticed the mix of allspice & peppercorns was recommended by others as a sub for cubebs.  The recipe already included 1 tsp of allspice berries so I made my spoon a little more heaping than usual.  I'll keep my eye out for them but I suspect that by the time I find them, I'll have forgotten what I wanted them for!  

 

 

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'll keep my eye out for them but I suspect that by the time I find them, I'll have forgotten what I wanted them for!  

I have far too many ingredients that meet that same criterion. 

 

Edited to add:   I see Amazon carries the cubeb pepper.  I don't see buying it unless I become addicted to it though. 

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[Nicolai]

It is Sunday. Burgers Sunday  

 

After a nice long swim in the sea, and everybody stinking of after sun moisturizer, we headed to a new burger joint whose USP is Angus and Wagyu beef burgers.

 

Different burgers were ordered and upon recommendation of our food attendant, I ordered the Gourmet Wagyu Burger (medium} with the original topping. The hero of any burger is always the meat patty and it was an excellent 200g of Wagyu goodness.

The most important factor is that the topping "accompanied" and not "overcame" the taste of the meat and this is how it should be.  

It also seems the new trend is not melted cheese but grilled cheese as you can see in the pic the round cheese disc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the ubiquitous Cajun Fries and the Fat Onion Rings for good measure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then at the end of the meal, we were hit where it really hurts, in the tummy, with a complimentary serving of a unique gargantuan Choc Brownie with a white Choc dip, a dark Choc dip, a Smarties sprinklings (Smarties???? What the F@#^%) and just when you thought it cannot get any worse......comes the soft ice cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left the place with a stupid smile on the face and a happy tummy...........and a frowning wifie!

 

 

 

 

 

[chefmd]

Instant pot polenta with sautéed left over pork and poblano pepper.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

21 hours ago, Nicolai said:

And then at the end of the meal, we were hit where it really hurts, in the tummy, with a complimentary serving of a unique gargantuan Choc Brownie with a white Choc dip, a dark Choc dip, a Smarties sprinklings (Smarties???? What the F@#^%) and just when you thought it cannot get any worse......comes the soft ice cream.

 

 

 

Sounds like you had a really fun day, Nicolai, and a great lunch! Hope you got a nice tan.

 

Just for the record though, the "Smarties" are called M & M's over here. They are low quality milk chocolate in a hard, but thin, sugar candy shell with artificial colors. Yum, yum right? Still not as jarring as these super sour, chalky candies we call Smarties as an accompaniment to your otherwise delicious dessert. 

 

Smarties may be different in your country. I didn't really think about that because the M&M's are so recognizable. Maybe they call them by a different name?

[Nicolai]

3 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Sounds like you had a really fun day, Nicolai, and a great lunch! Hope you got a nice tan.

 

Just for the record though, the "Smarties" are called M & M's over here. They are low quality milk chocolate in a hard, but thin, sugar candy shell with artificial colors. Yum, yum right? Still not as jarring as these super sour, chalky candies we call Smarties as an accompaniment to your otherwise delicious dessert. 

 

Smarties may be different in your country. I didn't really think about that because the M&M's are so recognizable. Maybe they call them by a different name?

 

Actually you are right as these are clearly M&M's and not Smarties.

 

They look quite similar minus the M&M letters.

 

When at the movies, I usually get salted Popcorn and empty a bag of M&M's/Smarties on top of the warm Popcorn so it melts and is yummy to eat and crunchy. I wear a dark T-shirt to cover up for the mess on my top.

You should try it.

 

You know the joke about the Blonde who got a job at M&M as spellchecker!!!!

 

 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Nicolai (log)

[robirdstx]

I had my leftovers from Saturday's lunch out at Floyd's.

 

 

Grilled Catfish and Dirty Rice - gently reheated in the microwave while covered with a damp paper towel.

Edited September 25, 2017 by robirdstx (log)

[HungryChris]

I was going to put the final coat of paint on the cold frame today, but, it's just too hot out there. So, I turned my attention to lunch, a liverwurst spread with chopped onions, some warm, ripe brie and a bit of kimchi.

HC

[Anna N]

 

 Could have been lunch and might be dinner.   Certainly not ready for another meal at the moment.   It was inspired by an Ottolenghi dish.  Sweet potato and red onion wedges roasted and dressed with tahini sauce and za'atar. 

[liuzhou]

 

Hairy Crabs, aka Chinese Mitten Crabs (大闸蟹  dà zhá xiè or 毛蟹  máo xiè)  - an autumnal treat. Served with a soy sauce and ginger dip.

 

Here is one before I steamed them (to show size.) Two were full of roe. Lucky me.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[kayb]

Yum.

 

[MelissaH]

I was just listening to a Special Sauce podcast where Ed Levine (of Serious Eats fame) was talking to Fuchsia Dunlop, and she was talking about hairy crabs! Now I know what they look like.

[Anna N]

The other day, on one of my rare opportunities to visit the grocery store, I picked up some Brussels sprouts with the intent to make this.  

 

For many years the words that explained my cooking were from Shirley Conan:  “ Life‘s too short to stuff a mushroom”.  I have since stuffed many mushrooms quite happily. Going forward I will cling to my new motto: There isn’t enough time in any life to core Brussels sprouts.  

 

 

 

Halved and shredded Brussels sprouts with bacon, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and a final splash of maple vinegar. 

[Smithy]

40 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 

For many years the words that explained my cooking were from Shirley Conan:  “ Life‘s too short to stuff a mushroom”.  I have since stuffed many mushrooms quite happily. Going forward I will cling to my new motto: There isn’t enough time in any life to core Brussels sprouts.  

 

That's how I feel about slicing them finely with a mandoline. Your finished product looks delicious, though.  Do you think you'd get as good a result if you simply trimmed the sprouts and sliced them in half without coring?

[Anna N]

12 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

That's how I feel about slicing them finely with a mandoline. Your finished product looks delicious, though.  Do you think you'd get as good a result if you simply trimmed the sprouts and sliced them in half without coring?

 Not for the salad that I bought them for. I really do think that requires single leaves to get the maximum effect intended. 

[lindag]

Today was my trip to town to get my nails done (every three weeks) and couldn’t resist stopping by KFC for the little box of chicken strips, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuit and a side of their coleslaw.  Brought home to have with a Budweiser and Clamato.  Pretty darned good.

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

That's how I feel about slicing them finely with a mandoline. Your finished product looks delicious, though.  Do you think you'd get as good a result if you simply trimmed the sprouts and sliced them in half without coring?

 

49 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 Not for the salad that I bought them for. I really do think that requires single leaves to get the maximum effect intended. 

 

@Smithy, I agree with @Anna N about needing single leaves for that particular salad but you don't really need to core the sprouts first, even though that's what the recipe instruction implies.  

 

This is a quote from the recipe that appears online here.

Quote

Carefully trim and core the Brussels sprouts with a paring knife or the sharp tip of a vegetable peeler. Discard the outermost leaves. Peel the leaves of each sprout, putting them in a large bowl, until you reach the paler center. Then cut the centers into thin slices and put them in the same bowl.

 

I just started with peeling off the leaves (which is fiddly enough), then sliced the center and discarded the rest.  I reasoned that if I cored them first, I'd have nothing to hang on to while slicing them.  Worked fine for my sprouts.

 

[Anna N]

16 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I just started with peeling off the leaves (which is fiddly enough), then sliced the center and discarded the rest.  I reasoned that if I cored them first, I'd have nothing to hang on to while slicing them.  Worked fine for my sprouts.

Started that way too but quickly ran out of patience. 

[Katie Meadow]

On 9/30/2017 at 8:35 AM, MelissaH said:

I was just listening to a Special Sauce podcast where Ed Levine (of Serious Eats fame) was talking to Fuchsia Dunlop, and she was talking about hairy crabs! Now I know what they look like.

 

I've grown to love being a downer! Don't forget that Chinese Mitten Crabs may be harmless in Liuzou and Fuchsia Dunlop parts of the globe, but they are a troublesome invasive species here in the US. They burrow into levees and weaken them, causing damage to flood control efforts. Also they are aggressive and omnivorous and can threaten local species. They have been found in Chesapeake Bay, where they threaten blue crab habitat. Just saying'!

[chefmd]

Fried rice with chicken liver, chicken skin, egg, arugula.