Dinner 2022

[Smithy]

No pictures, but a triumph anyway. I had some not-very-good cornbread from a few days ago. The tomatoes rescued from our container garden are looking lush and beautiful in our kitchen, begging to be used. I had a package of bacon lurking in the refrigerator, and a squash of some sort brought over by our neighbors. I don't know the variety of squash; it looked like a giant patty pan. They said the squash was really good sliced and grilled, but I wasn't in a grilling mood.

 

Two dishes resulted from this abundance. First, the squash: I sliced then cored it, laid the slices in an oiled baking dish, then drizzled them with herbed olive oil and laid strips of (uncooked) bacon atop them. That dish went into a 350F oven.

 

The cornbread reminded me of @kayb's tomato cobbler. Although she starts with cornbread batter, I wondered whether something like it could be used on the already-cooked cornbread and some of the tomatoes. Remembering this discussion about cooking bacon, and needing to hurry it along to render fat out of it, I microwaved several strips of bacon for 3 minutes. The fat went into a baking dish, followed by chunks of tomatoes, then crumbles and chunks of cornbread. The partially-cooked bacon went atop it all, and that assemblage went into the 350F oven. After rereading the post about oven-baked bacon, I raised the temperature to 400F and waited for the bacon (in both dishes) to crisp up and the squash to be cooked.

 

Success! The combination of cornbread, tomatoes and bacon was quite good. The combination of squash, herbed olive oil and bacon was quite good. Mixing the two dishes together on the plate was marvelous. Didn't look like something worth photographing, but it was well worth eating...and a great way to salvage lousy cornbread!

[CookBot]

13 hours ago, shain said:

Lachuch bread.

 

8 hours ago, Duvel said:

But seriously: care to elaborate ? It looks intriguing - like a wheat version of Injeera …

 

I'm curious about that bread too.  I've never heard of it, and it looks like a large, very thin crumpet.

 

[KennethT]

Finally able to make a large batch of Old Lai Huat style sambal, so sambal grouper.

 

[Steve Irby]

I was just about out of Steen's Cane Vinegar so I placed an order with Creolefood.com for six bottles.  I loaded up on a few other items including some Camellia brand beans.  Both Steen's and Camellia are really tasty products worth seeking out.  Dinner was cannellini beans cooked with a meaty home bone.  Served with rice, shrimp and a homemade smoked hotlink.

 

 

Part of the grocery order

 

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Steve Irby (log)

[Katie Meadow]

@Steve IrbyI'm a big fan of Steen's products, especially the cane syrup. I use it combined with honey when making granola, and use it for a drizzle in southern style greens along with a spritz of the cane vinegar Maple syrup I like on pancakes, but prefer Steen's in many recipes. Also I sub it for corn syrup, which I don't like. And for molasses, which I often find too, well, molassesy. I've been trying to convince my sister-in-law to use Steen's syrup in her pecan pie.

 

I know that the Southerners are very loyal to Camellia but I have to say that compared with Rancho Gordo beans they seem kinda dull. I make red beans and rice often, and swear by RG's Domingo Rojo beans. For a straight ahead red kidney bean I find the organic dark red kidneys from Purcell Mountain Farms very good, although the Domingo Rojo beans are my go-to. When I visit my daughter in Atlanta I now pack some of those in my suitcase since my daughter and my husband are big fans of red beans and rice.

[shain]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:43 PM, Duvel said:

But seriously: care to elaborate ? It looks intriguing - like a wheat version of Injeera …

@CookBot

 

Those are Yemani breads, very similar to injeera in preparation and texture. However they are made of wheat flour and semolina, flavored with fenugreek, and importantly are not sour, but rather plain yeasted. They are not hard to make, though the process of griddling them takes some time (much like crepes). I rather buy them, they freeze well.

A common preparation is breaking an egg on top and frying them together. Another good option is a drizzle of honey (or maple). I like them better than pancakes in that way. 

[CookBot]

5 minutes ago, shain said:

@CookBot

 

Those are Yemani breads, very similar to injeera in preparation and texture. However they are made of wheat flour and semolina, flavored with fenugreek, and importantly are not sour, but rather plain yeasted. They are not hard to make, though the process of griddling them takes some time (much like crepes). I rather buy them, they freeze well.

A common preparation is breaking an egg on top and frying them together. Another good option is a drizzle of honey (or maple). I like them better than pancakes in that way. 

 

So they ARE quite a bit like crumpets, but made with semolina.  Very interesting.

 

[CookBot]

4 hours ago, Steve Irby said:

Both Steen's and Camellia are really tasty products worth seeking out.

 

Camellia red beans are the best for red beans & rice.  They're so much bigger than the red beans you find elsewhere in the U.S., and cook up especially creamy.  (But I haven't yet had Rancho Gordo's red beans.)

[lindag]

On 10/1/2022 at 1:22 PM, lindag said:

Stuffed spaghetti squash is on the menu for tonight.

 

Recipe.

 

 

 

Squash was good despite my going a little heavy-handed with the red pepper flakes as well as using hot italian sausage for the ground beef that got lost in the overloaded freezer.

Suffered for it later with heartburn/indigestion though Tums got me through the night.

Going to have the leftovers tonight along with a dose of Omeprazole sad as chaser.

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

@Steve IrbyI'm a big fan of Steen's products, especially the cane syrup. I use it combined with honey when making granola, and use it for a drizzle in southern style greens along with a spritz of the cane vinegar Maple syrup I like on pancakes, but prefer Steen's in many recipes. Also I sub it for corn syrup, which I don't like. And for molasses, which I often find too, well, molassesy. I've been trying to convince my sister-in-law to use Steen's syrup in her pecan pie.

 

 

THANK YOU for the ideas about what to do with the Steen's cane syrup I bought on a whim some time ago. The ideas of using it in a pecan pie, and my granola (when I get back to making it again) sound excellent. Would you use it on a 1:1 basis as a substitute for corn syrup in a pecan pie?

[KennethT]

Vietnamese grilled chicken (actually baked/broiled) on a bed of rau ram with stir fried yu choi and sticky rice. I could really use a good banh mi right now!

 

 

Not much better than rau ram soaked in chicken juices...

 

 

Pandan flavored kuih bakar from Lady Wong for dessert

 

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

THANK YOU for the ideas about what to do with the Steen's cane syrup I bought on a whim some time ago. The ideas of using it in a pecan pie, and my granola (when I get back to making it again) sound excellent. Would you use it on a 1:1 basis as a substitute for corn syrup in a pecan pie?

I have no idea! I've never made a pecan pie. I count on my SIL to make one at Thanksgiving. 1:1 sounds like a good place to start. I think corn syrup is sweeter than cane syrup. The thing about most pecan pies is that they are usually far too sweet for me. I love my SIL so I give her a pass. I save my slice for breakfast the next day, when I'm too tired or hung over or disoriented to make any judgments about anything.

[Honkman]

Ropa Vieja - with flank steak cooked in the pressure cooker with onions, garlic, green and red peppers, oregano, cumin, olives and vinegar. Served over rice

 

[gulfporter]

Grilled pork tenderloin with fresh corn and black bean salad.  Served with cherry-chipotle jam.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

On 9/29/2022 at 12:37 PM, Kim Shook said:

I would really love to have the recipe for the Mock Snitzbrote.

Sorry to be so late with this but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[Paul Bacino]

Cooked Chanterelles 

 

 

Tomato salsa

 

 

 

Over Sous vide halibut

 

[gfweb]

Sous vide cod with tomato-fennel-onion confit and risotto

 

[kayb]

Debating about dinner. Chicken piccata with duck fat potatoes, or white beans and ham with duck fat potatoes?

[lindag]

The weather has been chilly here this week (though we haven't had our first frost yet) so I'm wanting some bean soup.  I have some lovely ham shanks from our nearby meat packing company that really make deeply flavored broth.

 

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, kayb said:

Debating about dinner. Chicken piccata with duck fat potatoes, or white beans and ham with duck fat potatoes?

Depends. If I’m invited we can forget the beans and ham. Or I’ll make do with a large order of the duck fat potatoes

[kayb]

For you, Anna, I would make the chicken piccata. Or whatever else you wanted to go with the duck fat potatoes.

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, kayb said:

For you, Anna, I would make the chicken piccata. Or whatever else you wanted to go with the duck fat potatoes.

Thank you.  You are very sweet. 
Just wondering if you were really holding a poll or asking a simple rhetorical question. I couldn’t resist the chance to answer either way. 

[Ann_T]

 

Steak for two.

Presalted an 18 oz steak and grilled it last night for dinner.

Served with "petite" baked potatoes.

 

[kayb]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Thank you.  You are very sweet. 
Just wondering if you were really holding a poll or asking a simple rhetorical question. I couldn’t resist the chance to answer either way. 

Mostly rhetorical, but I asked Child A, who’ll be the other diner, and she voted for white beans.

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, Ann_T said:

Presalted an 18 oz steak and grilled it last night for dinner

For presalting do you use a specific amount of salt (say 2%) ? Kosher ?