Dinner 2020

[alwaysdrawing]

Inspired by @liamsaunt beautiful antipasto, but scaled down for a casual dinner for two.

 

Burrata caprese with some home grown heirloom tomatoes, plus proscuitto, calabrese salami, cappacola, and some Brie.  Enjoyed with a bottle of Pinot Nero from Alto Adige Südtirol.  Very nice and light Pinot for a hot summer night.

 

 

Currently smoking a pork shoulder to shred for various meals this coming week. 

[Tri2Cook]

Shredded chicken in adobo. I still haven't decided if it's gonna be tacos, tostadas or quesadillas but I should probably figure that out pretty soon.  Salsa verde to accompany whichever it ends up being. 



Edit: called an audible at the line and did none of what I said I was gonna do. Chicken and cheese (jack, none of the Mexican cheeses are available here) flautas it is...

Edited August 23, 2020 by Tri2Cook (log)

[BeeZee]

Shrimp, corn/tomato/avocado salad, sweet potato waffle fries (from frozen).

 

[heidih]

58 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Shredded chicken in adobo. I still haven't decided if it's gonna be tacos, tostadas or quesadillas but I should probably figure that out pretty soon.  Salsa verde to accompany whichever it ends up being. 
 

 

For green salsa I usually just buy Herdez of one of the other biggies. Not the goofy creamy one they are marketing. Nice charred bits and at under a $1 a can  - well?  

[kayb]

Is it still ratatouille if you put chicken in it?

[heidih]

12 minutes ago, kayb said:

Is it still ratatouille if you put chicken in it?

 

We won't rat on ya

[robirdstx]

Grilled Boneless Chicken Thigh Banh Mi ~ Toasted Bolillo, Sriracha Mayo, English Cucumber, Pickled Carrot and Radish, Serrano Pepper, and Cilantro

 

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by robirdstx (log)

[Dejah]

On 8/22/2020 at 1:36 AM, heidih said:

@Dejah such enticing dishes. So those bigger dried shrimp are quite different? I am using the little guys tomorrow with a few fermented black beans tossed in Not traditional but works for me. 

Not sure how to describe the difference. I think the little ones may have been dried with their shells and so are a little bit crunchy if eaten out of hand? These are definitely peeled then dried. I can eat these like jerky!
 

Splurged on a couple of Cornish game hens, stuffed with wild rice pilaf. Sides were local corn and sauteed water spinach

 

                                                                                     

 

 

Had a chicken breast and a few shrimp to use up. Coated with fine Panko crumbs and pan fried. More of the lovely local corn and new taters. Had sliced my pinky earlier on one of the inserts for the spiralizator, easy prep was required.

 

                                                                                  

 

 

[Kim Shook]

@Dejah – I have some country style ribs in the freezer that were purchased with the intent to make your char siu.  I need to get them out and get busy! 

 

@JoNorvelleWalker – my MIL was denigrating frozen fries yesterday.  I told her that I used them quite often.  I said that I figured “real” fries were cooked twice to get the perfect texture – blanched in oil and then fried crisp.  To me, using frozen fries means that the first step has been done already and they come out of the fryer ready to eat.  I don’t imagine I convinced her of anything. 😁

 

@Shelby– great looking pizza.  I am thisclose to trying again to make my own pizza. I cannot find good pizza in this town.

 

@liamsaunt – what great texture you got in your bread!  I love the bubbles!  And what a great charcuterie board you made.  Looks scrumptious.

 

@MetsFan5 & @Franci – the clams look so good.  I have @weinoo's recipe and my Matiz cockles arrived today, so spaghetti with clams is in my immediate future!  And @Raamo's bruschetta is going to be the first course! 

 

I had some of the miso/mustard sauce leftover from Thursday, so we got some scallops yesterday and we had a very similar dinner tonight to the one that night.   So, I thought it might be fun to take y’all through the steps that folks from the southern USA traditionally use to make green beans.  We went to a new-to-us produce stand yesterday (the one we had been going to has gotten really bad at masking up and told my MIL that they didn’t care if people objected).  Side meat frying in my cast aluminum Dutch oven:

 

Then I added about 6 cups of water and let it boil for 30 minutes.  Beans from the produce stand, brown sugar, Benton’s bacon grease, and tons of fresh-ground black pepper:

Lid on and brought to a low boil.

 

Two hours later and lid off:

One hour slow simmer uncovered. 

 

Most of the liquid gone – what’s left is like pot likker:

I served them with dinner tonight, but they’ll be even better tomorrow. 

 

The produce stand that we went to was pretty well stocked – they even had some good Chesapeake Bay and Northern Neck (river area in VA) seafood.  I got scallops.  They were from a seafood packer in Reedville VA.  The packaging didn’t indicate whether they were actually Chesapeake Bay scallops or not.  But they were dry and fantastic.  I got a lovely sear – didn’t use any flour this time and they didn’t stick and overcook:

 

With the sauce, rice cooked like pasta, and the green beans:

I know that method of cooking rice is supposed to be wrong, but I don’t know why.  It worked better than any other method I’ve used before. 

 

An amazing heirloom tomato:

This was easily the best tomato I’ve had in 40 years.  I was reminded of my summers as a child in NC.  Drizzled with EVOO and sprinkled with a little Maldon:

 

Cornbread:

[Dejah]

6 hours ago, kayb said:

Is it still ratatouille if you put chicken in it?

My hubby would say DEFINITELY!

[liuzhou]

13 minutes ago, Dejah said:

Not sure how to describe the difference. I think the little ones may have been dried with their shells and so are a little bit crunchy if eaten out of hand? These are definitely peeled then dried. I can eat these like jerky!

 

My local supermarkets and markets have about ten different sizes of dried shrimp. Most, if not all, are shell on. I'll check tomorrow. They range from large

 

 

to the tiniest

 

 

The smallest are known as 虾皮 (xiā pí) and are barely recognizable as shrimp by the naked eye.  They are smaller than a grain of long grain rice.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

@Kim Shook my fries tonight, cooked from frozen, were as good as any I've made fresh.  Maybe better.  As good as fries from a Belgian restaurant?  Probably not.  I am not complaining.

 

[CantCookStillTry]

Porterhouse & Roasted Veg.

 (Pattypan, Carrot & Broc with onion, garlic, thyme & balsamic). 

 

[shain]

Lately, I enjoy experimenting with creative use of the muffin tin (or muffin silicon, in my case  ).

I grilled cabbage, onion, chilies, scallions and frozen firm tofu. A quick few pulses in the food processor to get them finely chopped.

Added eggs, a little vital gluten, sesame paste, some flavorings - garlic, ginger soy sauce, oyster sauce, five spice, smoked paprika, cumin, nutritional yeast, some MSG. Baked until set.

Then brushed them with a mixture of chili oil and hoisin sauce, and grilled until nicely browned.

I didn't really know what I was expecting the result to be, other than the flavor profile. Ended up with a very nice vegetarian burger-like patties. Great flavor. Not a lot of bite, but pleasantly tender, not mushy. The scents reminded me of the night markets in Taiwan.

Also steamed silken tofu, with douchi, home made chili oil, soy sauce, scallions. I scored it in order for the sauce to penetrate, but it was so tender it broke along the cut.

Served with rice.

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by shain (log)

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

As good as fries from a Belgian restaurant?  Probably not.  I am not complaining.

I am sure as soon as you switch to horse fat,  your method will yield fries that any Belgian would be happy to be served ...

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

My local supermarkets and markets have about ten different sizes of dried shrimp. Most, if not all, are shell on. I'll check tomorrow. They range from large

Do you know if they use preservatives in them?

 

I need some for my experimentation - the ones from se Asia seem to have more of the preserving stuff, whereas I think I can get Louisiana shrimp which are simply shrimp.

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

Do you know if they use preservatives in them?

 

I need some for my experimentation - the ones from se Asia seem to have more of the preserving stuff, whereas I think I can get Louisiana shrimp which are simply shrimp.

 

They are sold loose by weight, so there is no real information that I remember. Again, I'll check tomorrow and get back to you.

[Shelby]

Venison burgers, shishito and fries

 

 

 

zucchini fritters and tzatziki along with a grilled chicken fattoush salad

 

 

[Dejah]

Here are the two kinds of dried shrimp I have on hand. Used the larger ones for Joongzi last month. Can't remember what my niece paid for the shrimp meat. She was shocked at the price, but for her favourite auntie, any price 😉
The large pieces were bulk, so no label. The smaller ones listed water, salt, sulfite

                                                              

 

 Size comparison.

 

                                                             

[Dante]

Pulled pork sandwich with Shasha sauce, sides of grits and corn 

[Dante]

Quenelles with "melting potatoes" (basically thick sliced, seared, then braised) and edamame

[Eatmywords]

16 hours ago, heidih said:

 

For green salsa I usually just buy Herdez of one of the other biggies. Not the goofy creamy one they are marketing. Nice charred bits and at under a $1 a can  - well?  

 

I like the Herdez stuff too.  Doesn't taste of preservatives.   If by the goofy one you are referring to the guacamole salsa, it's more a topping/condiment than one you'd cook with. I love it actually.  Great on anything mexican or latin influenced and has a nice kick. 

[heidih]

5 minutes ago, Eatmywords said:

 

I like the Herdez stuff too.  Doesn't taste of preservatives.   If by the goofy one you are referring to the guacamole salsa, it's more a topping/condiment than one you'd cook with. I love it actually.  Great on anything mexican or latin influenced and has a nice kick. 

 

I am in avocado land so....

[Eatmywords]

Maesri green curry w chicken, string beans*, cubanelle*, kale*, chives*,  thai basil*, onion, garlic, lemon grass, ginger, coco milk and lime over jasmine. 

 

*Du jardin.

 

 

 

I love all the Maesri pastes; red, massaman, yellow, panang, etc.  The green is my fave and I find closest to a decent resto version.  Maybe the spiciest too. I used a bit more than half the can (~2.5oz) for a large dish and it had real heat.  I'd put the pastes in my top 10 'cheater' products.   

 

 

[KennethT]

@Eatmywords do you add your own shrimp paste? Their paste lacks it (due to allergies probably) so to make it taste right you need to add your own.  Also, to the Panang paste, I add more dried spices as well as a few tbs of ground peanuts (not peanut butter) as well as the shrimp paste...