Lunch 2019

[TicTac]

10 hours ago, KennethT said:

Absolutely... I forgot about the chicken skin!!  But my father always made them with lots of onions... because he loved onions...

Onions cooked down slowly in chicken fat are a thing of beauty.  The ultimate confit medium!

 

I still remember slathering on schmaltz with my grandmother, getting excited to hit a 'load' of skin and onions in the dish, then topping with some salt.

 

It's amazing how food and tastes create such strong memories.  I can still tell you all of the dishes I had with my grandmother in Italy 20+ years ago - what we did in between meals, not so much, but the food itself....I can still picture it!

 

[kayb]

Scotch eggs -- how I do love them! Especially with quail eggs! I suspect it may be about time for a trip to the Asian market to clear out the quail egg stash...

[Kim Shook]

Went for one last visit to my grandparent's house before it goes up for auction in December.  Lot's of good memories and a bit of sadness, too.  One last Short Sugar’s BBQ for a long time:

 

Sunday brunch at Mr. Kim's favorite Greek/Italian place.  Their great bread:

Why do Greek restaurants always have such great bread.  Even when the restaurants aren't all that great, the bread usually is!

 

Salad:

 

Baked spaghetti w/ meatballs:

Mr. Kim got the same baked spaghetti, except with all the meats. I ate about a third.  Had another third for lunch today.  I'll probably finish tomorrow.  😁

[heidih]

cuz bread is the staff of life 

[Smithy]

What a bittersweet time, @Kim Shook. I'm glad there are plenty of happy memories for you, and that you could indulge in some nostalgia at some favorite restaurants.

[liuzhou]

On 11/9/2019 at 4:21 AM, KennethT said:

I think the "t" in schmaltz comes from the Yiddish

 

No. The Yiddish has no 't' either. The OED lists three alternative spellings for English - schmaltz, shmaltz and schmalz.

 

Quote

schmaltz, n.

(ʃmɒlts, ʃmalts)

Also schmalz, shmaltz, etc.

[a. G. and Yiddish schmalz fat, dripping.]

 

[liuzhou]

I don't do this often, but today I baked a potato for lunch. With Harbin Red sausage and golden garlic. Butter of course. Sea salt. And black pepper. The correct amount of pepper to put on your baked potato is "too much".

 

 

 

Harbin red sausage was introduced to Harbin in north China by the Russians during WWII. Nothing like Chinese sausages. More like Polish.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

13 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 The correct amount of pepper to put on your baked potato is "too much

 

 

👏👏👏👏👏

[Anna N]

 

A carrot, a parsnip and an onion went into a ...  Oh wait. They went into the oven and when they were almost roasted to my satisfaction they were joined by a cut up  cheddar smoky. A few pickled onions on the side. 

[Kim Shook]

Toasted Havarti w/ Dijon mustard on sourdough:

I love Aldi!  

[shain]

A buddha bowl / cold rice bowl of sorts. 

Sushi rice, flavored with mirin and lime. Arugula, mint, basil, cuces, carrot. Edamame with lime zest. Chilis, cashew. coconut flakes.

Tofu marinated in soy sauce, chili and lime. Eggs, later drizzled with soy sauce.
I nearly forgot the avocado! At was then added generously, but is therefore missing from the picture.

 

 

[TicTac]

Sadly no picture, though not that this lunch was a beauty to begin with...

 

But a total mish-mash of 'odds and sodds' as my mother used to call it.  I put together what I thought would work, and indeed it did!

 

Crispy fried Haiga rice, leftover paste from last night's clams (green onion, chili, garlic, ginger) and finished with leftover chopped smoked sprats...a squeeze of lime....very strong enjoyable flavours!!!

 

My 4 year old asked for extra.

[gfweb]

Stromboli

[Katie Meadow]

@Kim Shook says: Why do Greek restaurants always have such great bread.  Even when the restaurants aren't all that great, the bread usually is!

 

We don't go out to eat very often, and it has been years since I thought to go to a Greek restaurant. We were in Greece years ago and although we enjoyed ourselves immensely, happily eating local yogurt and fresh Greek salads at every meal, the bread was not memorable. In fact our big joke when we were wandering about a town in the afternoon and smelled that wonderful smell of baking bread, we would say, "Oh, there's tomorrow's bread!"

 

Not meant to disparage Greek food. I could live on taramasalata and retsina and salads and olives for weeks and be thrilled.

[kayb]

Reclaiming my Southerner credentials I lost by admitting to not caring for fried chicken. Lunch was a Frito chili pie from Sonic. (They just aren't, somehow, the same as when A&W Root Beer used to make them in the bag, slit open along one side and the chili dumped in.) 

 

Followed by chocolate covered cherries, the kind with the liquid centers. 

[Anna N]

 

Takes a great deal to put me off my food click!

 

Smoked duck breast on toasted rye bread with lingonberry sauce. 
 

 

[Wolf]

Yesterday mornig, as I went to the market, I decided to make 'pizza meatballs with a surprise'. So, I made meatballs (with grana padano added to the usual mix) wrapped around cubes of gouda (should've been about 1/2"- mine were bigger so the meatballs were rather on the large side), in pizza sauce* with sliced mushrooms. Served with spaghetti.

* made roux on meatball drippings, roasted some tomato paste when the roux was mid-brown, added tomato passata and finely chopped anchovy fillet, a bit of salt, majoram and oregano... Returned meatballs to the pot (played with sauce consistenchy while cooking by alternating passata and warm water to replenish liquid), and added sliced button mushrooms halfway through cooking

[Anna N]

 

The power of protein. It looks like a lot of meat but in fact those are quite small slices of rye toast. The leftover steak has an underpinning of horseradish mayo and the smoked duck, of course, is garnished with lingonberry sauce. 

[Kim Shook]

Brunch after church today was at the opening of a cheese shop inside our favorite cidery, Blue Bee Cider.  The cheese shop is called Truckle Cheesemongers.  We got some cheeses for later and had cider, a grilled cheese sandwich and a Idle Hands (local bakery) baguette for brunch:

I had the pippin cider – from Virginia heirloom apples.  Mr. Kim had the Hopsap Shandy – dry-hopped with Cascade, Columbus and Citra hops (whatever that means).  The sandwich was so good:

Tarragon bread and some kind of Cheddar cheese. 

 

 

 

[Raamo]

New Orleans–Style Red Beans and Rice

 

 

Made this yesterday, let cool down and reheat today - recipe says this is for optimal texture - and had some for lunch - this was excellent.  Our first time trying this - it was mentioned on reddit at the top of a thread about making once and enjoying all week.  We should get 5 servings out of what I made yesterday.  I used a smoked ham hock for the first time - brings some nice smokiness and complexity!  I replaced the andouille sausage with hot italian and it works well IMO.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Raamo (log)

[Anna N]

Couldn’t quite pull off this, but could not quite let go of the idea of savoury French toast. So I simply took it in a different direction away from India and towards “Mexico”.  OK so Mexico is a bit of a stretch but the flavours remind me of Mexican and Tex-Mex food. 

 

 

Eggs, jalapeño, cheddar cheese and Mexican chilli powder (the kind many of us associate with chili con carne) with a side of Trader Joe’s tomatillo salsa. Scratched this gal’s itch.  

[heidih]

52 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Couldn’t quite pull off this, but could not quite let go of the idea of savoury French toast. So I simply took it in a different direction away from India and towards “Mexico”.  OK so Mexico is a bit of a stretch but the flavours remind me of Mexican and Tex-Mex food. 

 

ggs, jalapeño, cheddar cheese and Mexican chilli powder (the kind many of us associate with chili con carne) with a side of Trader Joe’s tomatillo salsa. Scratched this gal’s itch.  

 

 

Oh I thnk even DK would approve - though mashed beans might be needed. alongside

[BonVivant]

Austrian-style beetroot dumplings (with melted butter and deep fried shallots)

 

 

Tapas lunch in Sevilla:

 

 

 

Assorted Iberico charcuterie

 

Spinach and chickpeas

 

Tiny broad beans with scrambled eggs and bits of jamon

[TicTac]

Can you elaborate more on the spinach and chickpea dish?  Sounds like a great combo!

 

 

[BonVivant]

10 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Can you elaborate more on the spinach and chickpea dish?  Sounds like a great combo!

 

 

 

It's an Andalusian classic, with Moorish/Arab and Sephadic roots. I have never made it but it's probably not hard. There are many recipes out there (look up "Espinacas con Garbanzos " or English equivalent).

Edited November 18, 2019 by BonVivant (log)