Dinner 2021

[kayb]

Good wishes to Moe. I agree with @rotuts; a photo of that dinner should encourage him into a quick recovery and discharge.

 

[Dejah]

Winter has arrived after a splendid spell of fall weather! Got snow on Wed, Nov. 10 and more expected all week.

 

Some meals the last few days:

 

Chicken, Beansprouts with fresh Ho Fun                

 

 

Breaded Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy. Eaten with baked sweet taters, butternut squash, and stir-fried sugar snap peas.

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                

 

I use an app from Superstore, and have found amazing deals when I check around 7 am! Last week, it was 7 packages of fresh boneless duck breasts with 2 days left before "Best By Date. This last couple of months were my first experiences cooking with fresh duck. Where have I been! The first time was with Honey Ginger Soy glaze. This time, it was Blackberry and Chipotle sauce.  Now we will have to work on cooking them just a little less;-) Not sure we appreciated the surprise of the hard seeds in blackberries!
 

                                                                                

 

Worked outside with Xmas lights and winter arrangements, so a quick meal was in order: Shake'n'Bake Chicken Legs with BBQ Glaze. Can't seem to find this S'n'B in any stores this past year! Will have to do a Copy Cat version. The extra thin fries are by Cavendish, which I bought by mistake. They were good!

                                                                                
            

 

Another of my favourite shopping experiences is at Safeway. I usually check the meat cooler early in the morning, and quite often, I find packages of lamb chops with reductions of $3 - $4 for a package of 3 - 4 chops. I stockpiled, and last night, we enjoyed some grilled on cast iron pan on the stove. Just replaced my old JennAir cooktop with a KitchenAid Glass-top. Not as happy with the glass top but the Jenn-Air bare coils is no longer available, it seems:-( The downdraft worked fine, but still nervous with the glass top.

                                                                                

 

We've been enjoying the Cavendish brand fries. These were garlic and rosemary seasoned.

 

                                                                                

 

 

[BonVivant]

Greek-inspired meal. This beetroot dish is common in Greece but almost no tourist orders it. Boiled beetroots, a generous amount of olive oil and raw garlic. Too healthful and too lowly for the tourists.

 

Shoulder of lamb and wheat "berries".

 

 

Chilean

[Duvel]

Today a visit to Speyer and its spectacular cathedral …

 

 

Followed by Tapas …

 

 

Extra octopus for the little one …

 

 

Some pleasant wine (disregard the stain) …

 

 

And a little something for the cook …

 

 

😊

[heidih]

37 minutes ago, Dejah said:

Winter has arrived after a splendid spell of fall weather! Got snow on Wed, Nov. 10 and more expected all week.

 

Some meals the last few days:

 

Chicken, Beansprouts with fresh Ho Fun                

 

 

Breaded Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy. Eaten with baked sweet taters, butternut squash, and stir-fried sugar snap peas.

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                

 

I use an app from Superstore, and have found amazing deals when I check around 7 am! Last week, it was 7 packages of fresh boneless duck breasts with 2 days left before "Best By Date. This last couple of months were my first experiences cooking with fresh duck. Where have I been! The first time was with Honey Ginger Soy glaze. This time, it was Blackberry and Chipotle sauce.  Now we will have to work on cooking them just a little less;-) Not sure we appreciated the surprise of the hard seeds in blackberries!
 

                                                                                

 

Worked outside with Xmas lights and winter arrangements, so a quick meal was in order: Shake'n'Bake Chicken Legs with BBQ Glaze. Can't seem to find this S'n'B in any stores this past year! Will have to do a Copy Cat version. The extra thin fries are by Cavendish, which I bought by mistake. They were good!

                                                                                
            

 

Another of my favourite shopping experiences is at Safeway. I usually check the meat cooler early in the morning, and quite often, I find packages of lamb chops with reductions of $3 - $4 for a package of 3 - 4 chops. I stockpiled, and last night, we enjoyed some grilled on cast iron pan on the stove. Just replaced my old JennAir cooktop with a KitchenAid Glass-top. Not as happy with the glass top but the Jenn-Air bare coils is no longer available, it seems:-( The downdraft worked fine, but still nervous with the glass top.

                                                                                

 

We've been enjoying the Cavendish brand fries. These were garlic and rosemary seasoned.

 

                                                                                

 

 

Always wish I was at your table. The mixture of different sorts of dishes appeals to me I also enjoy that you - the restaurant cook - embrace things like "Shake & Bake" - reality cooking " Nice shopping skills too

Edited November 14, 2021 by heidih (log)

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Dejah said:

 

 

Chicken, Beansprouts with fresh Ho Fun                

 

 

 

Do you blanch or do anything special to the ho fun; or is it simply stir-fried?

[MaryIsobel]

1 hour ago, Dejah said:

Winter has arrived after a splendid spell of fall weather! Got snow on Wed, Nov. 10 and more expected all week.

 

Some meals the last few days:

 

Chicken, Beansprouts with fresh Ho Fun                

 

 

Breaded Pork Chops in Mushroom Gravy. Eaten with baked sweet taters, butternut squash, and stir-fried sugar snap peas.

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                

 

I use an app from Superstore, and have found amazing deals when I check around 7 am! Last week, it was 7 packages of fresh boneless duck breasts with 2 days left before "Best By Date. This last couple of months were my first experiences cooking with fresh duck. Where have I been! The first time was with Honey Ginger Soy glaze. This time, it was Blackberry and Chipotle sauce.  Now we will have to work on cooking them just a little less;-) Not sure we appreciated the surprise of the hard seeds in blackberries!
 

                                                                                

 

Worked outside with Xmas lights and winter arrangements, so a quick meal was in order: Shake'n'Bake Chicken Legs with BBQ Glaze. Can't seem to find this S'n'B in any stores this past year! Will have to do a Copy Cat version. The extra thin fries are by Cavendish, which I bought by mistake. They were good!

                                                                                
            

 

Another of my favourite shopping experiences is at Safeway. I usually check the meat cooler early in the morning, and quite often, I find packages of lamb chops with reductions of $3 - $4 for a package of 3 - 4 chops. I stockpiled, and last night, we enjoyed some grilled on cast iron pan on the stove. Just replaced my old JennAir cooktop with a KitchenAid Glass-top. Not as happy with the glass top but the Jenn-Air bare coils is no longer available, it seems:-( The downdraft worked fine, but still nervous with the glass top.

                                                                                

 

We've been enjoying the Cavendish brand fries. These were garlic and rosemary seasoned.

 

                                                                                

 

 

I think that Cavendish frozen fries - all varities - are the best frozen fries one can buy in Canada. They put McCain's to shame!

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by MaryIsobel (log)

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Do you blanch or do anything special to the ho fun; or is it simply stir-fried?

fresh rice noodles don't usually need to be cooked prior to stir frying

[weinoo]

37 minutes ago, KennethT said:

fresh rice noodles don't usually need to be cooked prior to stir frying

do you use a fair amount of oil or non stick, because I find them pretty sticky otherwise?

 

Or maybe they're cooked in more liquid?

[Norm Matthews]

I made a chicken enchilada soup in the slow cooker today.  It was a good cold day meal.  Charlie had his with tortillas and I had mine with corn chips.

[chileheadmike]

Chili and green chile corn bread. 

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

do you use a fair amount of oil or non stick, because I find them pretty sticky otherwise?

 

Or maybe they're cooked in more liquid?

fresh rice noodles are notoriously sticky.  For me, I think the key is to only stir fry 1 portion at a time and have your wok be really well seasoned.  My wok's seasoning comes and goes a bit (a few weeks ago, I made a curry in it that had a lot of tamarind, and it stripped 80% of the seasoning by the time it finished cooking!) so I personally wouldn't attempt cooking fresh rice noodles right now - or maybe I'd coat them with a little bit of oil before the wok, and a bit more oil than normal in the wok heated to smoking so they don't stick together so bad until you can get them moving.  And have your stir fry sauce at the ready to pour on top once you get a bit of char on the bottom.

[heidih]

7 minutes ago, KennethT said:

fresh rice noodles are notoriously sticky.  For me, I think the key is to only stir fry 1 portion at a time and have your wok be really well seasoned.  My wok's seasoning comes and goes a bit (a few weeks ago, I made a curry in it that had a lot of tamarind, and it stripped 80% of the seasoning by the time it finished cooking!) so I personally wouldn't attempt cooking fresh rice noodles right now - or maybe I'd coat them with a little bit of oil before the wok, and a bit more oil than normal in the wok heated to smoking so they don't stick together so bad until you can get them moving.  And have your stir fry sauce at the ready to pour on top once you get a bit of char on the bottom.

interesting as the fresh ones I get (the broader ones) are a Vietnamese branded company but local. They are lightly oiled sold in that head over heels rolled fashion and you do have to gently pull them apart..

[weinoo]

We had an interesting pasta dish, with a new (to me) shape last night...

 

 

It's a shape Faella calls Tofe...https://www.gustiamo.com/tofe-by-faella/

 

Quote

Faella Tofe are ridged, rounded shells - like small rounded penne - ideal with melted cheese and creamy sauces, or rustic sautéed vegetables. 

 

With a creamy (ish) fresh mushroom and tomato sauce, and lots of cheese.

 

They took way longer than the package directions say, but I think all their pastas just say the same thing for cooking times.  These are thick and meaty almost.

 

Steamed artichokes alongside.

Edited November 15, 2021 by weinoo (log)

[Dejah]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

interesting as the fresh ones I get (the broader ones) are a Vietnamese branded company but local. They are lightly oiled sold in that head over heels rolled fashion and you do have to gently pull them apart..

Good input on Ho Fun.
This was the first time I've had REALLY good results with the fresh noodles. I got these in the city. Like all the packages, the noodles are always packed so tightly, in layers. This time, I was patient, opened the packages early in the day and let them warm up to room temp. Then I took the time to take the layers apart, then separated each noodle if sticking to each other. The trick IS to separate ALL the noodles.
I use my well seasoned 16" carbon steel wok, heated up on Ultra-High on the cook top, coated the bottom and sides with cooking oil, heated the oil until barely smoking, then tossed in ALL the noodles. Tongs are good for turning the noodles with a metal spatula.
The noodles didn't stick and I got Wok Hei.
Tossed in the other ingredients, then little sloshes of sweet soy sauce at the end. That's all the liquid I used.
I was very happy with the results this time. I was giving up on using fresh noodles, and had been using the re-hydrated dry noodles. NO COMPARISON!
Now that I've had some success, I can stay with the fresh noodles.
 

[Honkman]

Venison Bolognese with carrots, parsnip (why is it so hard to get parsley root in the US), leek, celery root, morrels, black beer, warm spices

 

[Dejah]

I envy Ann_T's supplier of halibut. When we do get it in the supermarkets, it's usually very expensive.
We do get a steady supply of baby pickerel. The fisherman from Lake Winnipeg comes to our city 3 times a year, and we pre-order fillets and whole dressed pickerel to make sure we get our supply.
Besides fish'n'chips, I also like to steam fillets or the whole fish.

This week was fillets, steamed with ginger and green onion, soy sauce, then splashed with hot oil just before serving.

 

                                                               

 

Tonight, we had Chinese Style Braised Beef & Daikon in the IP. The sauce was slightly sweet with rock sugar, but savory with soy, oyster sauce, Hoisin, Chu Hou sauce, ginger, tangerine peel, star anise, and bay leaf. I had a small chunk of chuck roast, but I would have preferred beef short ribs or brisket. The gravy was great with rice, and stir-fried green beans was the side.                                             

 

 

                                                      

 

                                                             

 

[heidih]

Thanks @Dejah for the tangerine peel reminder. We are in drought but if my trees so produce this winter I must dry some peel Have not done that in years. I've put it o a list.

[Dante]

Shepherd's pie

[ambra]

8 hours ago, weinoo said:

We had an interesting pasta dish, with a new (to me) shape last night...

 

 

It's a shape Faella calls Tofe...https://www.gustiamo.com/tofe-by-faella/

 

 

 

I use these for Macaroni and Cheese a lot since we don't have macaroni here. Also sausage sauce.  

Edited November 15, 2021 by ambra (log)

[liuzhou]

Spicy shrimp orzotto.

 

[liamsaunt]

Tuna bolognese

 

[scamhi]

dinner last night sheet pan chicken schwarma. with labneh with sizzled scallions and chile, Israeli salad with feta.

[Annie_H]

Lots of pasta here this week. 

I made a wild mushroom chorizo ragu with shallots and leeks. White wine and a young gorgonzola for the cream. Thinking if a first small course with dinner guests I would add something green and maybe topped with fried shallots. I had some arugula but it was rolled in a damp towel---out of site out of mind...I found it this morning. 

New to me brussel sprout method recently. Halved and cut side down on a cast iron stove-top burner. Medium low heat. Caramelization without overcooking. Planning that for Thanksgiving. 

[Duvel]

MILs birthday today, so I prepared a bit more than the usual Monday dinner …

 

SV duck (4x) and goose (2x) legs, red cabbage (plus a tiny bit of Grünkohl, frozen from 2 weeks ago) and potato Knödel (half/half). A sauce made from the defatted bag juices, plum compôte and chinese five spice. Very good, if I may say so.
 

 

A fruity red to go with … 

 

 

MIL was happy, as was the rest of the crew. Little one consumed almost one goose leg - must be a growth spurt or something 🙄