Dinner 2017 (Part 6)

[C. sapidus]

Sookha keema, braised potatoes with garlic and bay leaves, and leftover Indian rice made by a friend from Mumbai. Guess I'm on a ground meat kick lately.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by C. sapidus
Picture size (log)

[liuzhou]

So, continuing from last night's debacle of a dinner, I fished the sea bass I had intended cooking then from the fridge, scaled and gutted it, dried it, then made it wet again using Shaoxing wine and salt. Cut three deep slashes across its width on both sides and inserted batons of ginger, green onions and shiitake mushrooms. Stuffed the cavity with more ginger, onion and mushrooms then steamed it.

 

 

 

Served with Malabar spinach stir-fried with garlic. And rice. And a chilli, soy sauce, black vinegar dip.

 

The fish was beautiful despite being 24 hours behind schedule..

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Shelby]

@liuzhou  Your life is never dull   Glad you weren't too injured.

 

CSO roasted chicken

 

 

Chicken gizzards and fries

 

 

Chicken enchiladas

 

A Caprese salad and venison meatball fettuccini 

 

 

This was supposed to be beef and broccoli but when I looked closely at the broccoli, it had grown very fuzzy so this turned into squash, pepper and shiitake mushroom and beef.  

 

[Anna N]

@Shelby

those chicken enchiladas are really calling out to me.  Not something I make so can you tell me more about them, please. 

[lindag]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

@Shelby

those chicken enchiladas are really calling out to me.  Not something I make so can you tell me more about them, please. 

yes!  me too.  I'd love to know more.  When I saw the photo, I thought to myself, 'I want those'!!!

[Shelby]

4 minutes ago, Anna N said:

@Shelby

those chicken enchiladas are really calling out to me.  Not something I make so can you tell me more about them, please. 

 

1 minute ago, lindag said:

yes!  me too.  I'd love to know more.  When I saw the photo, I thought to myself, 'I want those'!!!

Aw, thanks you guys

 

Whenever I have leftover roasted chicken to use up, this is what I like to make.  

 

This particular batch used Hatch chiles that I had frozen, but you can also use canned green chiles of any kind.

  

For the filling:

 

Saute chopped onions in a bit of oil until soft.  Add in some chopped garlic and some chiles.  (If I have available sometimes I add a chopped tomato....corn....whole black beans--or sometimes I don't--tastes great either way).  Add diced up/shredded chicken.  Season with cumin, chili powder, garlic (if you didn't use fresh), dash of cilantro if you like it, salt and pepper.  Of course, you can kick up the heat by adding hotter peppers and hotter seasoning.  Stir in a dollop of sour cream ( you could also use cream cheese, but I prefer sour cream) and remove from heat.

 

For the enchilada sauce:

 

I double or triple this basic recipe so that I can freeze it.  It freezes well.

 

2 TB oil

Chopped onion--a cup or so

Spices--garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro (if you like it)

3 TB flour

1 cup or so of chicken broth (I used tomato juice because I had some left over from canning)

Hatch chiles or poblano...or anaheim or a couple cans of green chiles (if they are the small ones, I would use 3 cans)

1 chopped up jalapeño (if you want to add spice)

 

Saute onion in oil until soft (if using fresh peppers and jalapeño, add them now so they get nice and soft, too--I'm assuming most will use canned chiles so those can be added at the end).  Add spices.  Sprinkle flour over the onions and cook and stir for a minute or so.  Stir in chicken broth (or tomato juice).  Stir and cook until  no clumps of flour are there and it's thickened.  Stir in chiles.  Now, here is where you can either whizz it up in the food processor or your vitamix to make it smooth.  Sometimes I do this...sometimes I leave it chunky.  This time I whizzed it up.  

 

Assemble the enchiladas:

 

I use flour tortillas.  Put a bit of the filling on the tortilla--closer to one side and roll it up  (sometimes I add shredded cheese --makes it extra good).  Place in baking dish sprayed with Pam.  Repeat until you have the amount you want (if I have a bunch of filling, I've rolled up a bunch of enchiladas, wrapped them in cling wrap and stuck them in freezer bags--they freeze well too).  Pour sauce over the top and put a ton of shredded sharp cheddar cheese on it.  Bake, covered with foil, at 350F until bubbly--30 mins or so.  

 

 

[Anna N]

@Shelby

 Thank you so much for typing all that up!   Now I need to do my bit and actually make them.  

[Shelby]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

@Shelby

 Thank you so much for typing all that up!   Now I need to do my bit and actually make them.  

I know it looks like a lot of work, but it's truly not.  Especially if you make the enchilada sauce one day and then you could do the rest another day.  

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I know it looks like a lot of work, but it's truly not.  Especially if you make the enchilada sauce one day and then you could do the rest another day.  

 Yep. That's the way I work these days!  Thanks. 

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

Yep.  those CB's look Perfect +++

 

and CSB'd  no less !

[Toliver]

16 hours ago, Norm Matthews said:

 

That sounds like the same recipe. Mine had ground beef, yellow onion,  taco seasoning, cream cheese,  jumbo pasta shells,  enchilada sauce, salsa, cheddar and, mozzarella.  My recipes are almost always posted at the blog address listed at the bottom of my posts.

@Norm Matthews thanks for posting the link & recipe. Stuffing shells has always seemed like such a pain to me. I wonder if you could turn this into a lasagna and just use lasagna noodles instead of the shells? Do you think there would be enough "stuff" in this recipe for the layering required of lasagnas?

[MelissaH]

1 hour ago, Toliver said:

@Norm Matthews thanks for posting the link & recipe. Stuffing shells has always seemed like such a pain to me. I wonder if you could turn this into a lasagna and just use lasagna noodles instead of the shells? Do you think there would be enough "stuff" in this recipe for the layering required of lasagnas?

We actually wondered the same thing, when my MIL talked about making this recipe. But she opted to go with Mexican-ish instead of making her life a whole lot easier and buying a couple of lasagnas from the local Italian shop, which makes terrific lasagna from quality ingredients, because our niece (her granddaughter)s husband "doesn't like lasagna." I'd certainly go for an easier option, either layering it into lasagna (and in my case, probably using the Cook's Illustrated trick of soaking no-boil noodles in hot tap water for 5 minutes, then laying them in a single layer on kitchen towels until they're needed, so you don't need to worry about getting the pasta hydrated in the lasagna), rolling it inside of crepes a la cannelloni, or even taking it a step closer to Mexican and using corn tortillas instead of traditional pasta.

Edited August 14, 2017 by MelissaH
Relationship clarity (log)

[ninagluck]

I'm sorry, but I still have a basket full of chanterelles. 

[Anna N]

29 minutes ago, ninagluck said:

I'm sorry, but I still have a basket full of chanterelles

 There are worse things!

[Norm Matthews]

4 hours ago, Toliver said:

@Norm Matthews thanks for posting the link & recipe. Stuffing shells has always seemed like such a pain to me. I wonder if you could turn this into a lasagna and just use lasagna noodles instead of the shells? Do you think there would be enough "stuff" in this recipe for the layering required of lasagnas?

 

I am not a fan of fiddy recipes like wontons or stuffing pasta but these jumbo shells are so big that they are easy to fill. It only took 9 or 10 to fill the casserole dish and it took a heaping spoonful to fill each one. I spooned the remainder of the filling over the top before pouring the sauce and cheese on top.  Having said that, I see no problem with using lasagna noodles instead but I doubt the filling would be enough for more than one layer of filling between 2 noodle layers, one on bottom and one on top.

 

PS another suggestion that might work is to use small shells and not fill them at all but rather just mix them in with the filling and layer the mixture between two layers of sauce and top with the cheese when it's time.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Norm Matthews (log)

[scubadoo97]

Light dinner

 

used up a tomato and basil from the garden.  Followed by leftover smoked Stealhead trout with string beans and romaine 

Edited August 14, 2017 by scubadoo97 (log)

[chefmd]

Pan seared tuna steak (Darto pan) with Minnesota wild rice.

Edited August 15, 2017 by chefmd (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Shrimp Scampi, Pasta ala Carbonara and roasted garlic.  I am not sure if a purist would approve of this pasta with shellfish but I am not a purist. 

[HungryChris]

This was supposed to be steak night, but turned into heirloom tomato night with sides of steak and baked potato, at least for me.

HC

[ChocoMom]

Cashew Chicken. Served with white rice.   It felt good chopping things, and cooking again (especially after the Funions and  Redbull last night.)   

[dcarch]

by coincidence, like LuiZhou, I also made Malabar Spinach and fish.

 

Picked malabar spinach and tomato from my garden.  Malabar done two ways, cooked and raw with tomato salad. With catfish sauteed in  tamarind and calamondin orange sauce.

dcarch

 

[chromedome]

3 hours ago, Norm Matthews said:

 

I am not a fan of fiddy recipes like wontons or stuffing pasta but these jumbo shells are so big that they are easy to fill. It only took 9 or 10 to fill the casserole dish and it took a heaping spoonful to fill each one. I spooned the remainder of the filling over the top before pouring the sauce and cheese on top.  Having said that, I see no problem with using lasagna noodles instead but I doubt the filling would be enough for more than one layer of filling between 2 noodle layers, one on bottom and one on top.

 

PS another suggestion that might work is to use small shells and not fill them at all but rather just mix them in with the filling and layer the mixture between two layers of sauce and top with the cheese when it's time.

 

I pipe the filling into jumbo shells from a pastry bag. Zip-zip, no time at all. 

[Norm Matthews]

@chromedome I have filled penne pasta and deviled eggs that way and I thought about it this time but there were so few of them to fill that filling and cleaning the pastry tube would have taken more time than grabbing a spoon a filling them with it.  Also the filling was lumpy and I was (a little) concerned about clogging- even though I have a really big piping tip.

Edited August 15, 2017 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Anna N]

 

Yes I could have and perhaps I should have done something to take away from the sheer dullness of this photograph.  But what I was craving tonight was some pork.  Simple, roasted pork butt.   No condiments, not even butter on the bun. I enjoyed every single bite!   It was juicy, a little bit fatty and straight out of the oven (Cuisinart steam oven). 

[Dejah]

Posted a couple of meals in the Instant Pot thread...now I'm wondering if we are supposed to just keep text on that thread and continue to post pictures here?