Dinner 2022

[Ann_T]

Not sure if this was a late lunch or an early dinner. 

It was late enough that I'm not cooking again tonight. 

Steak and Frites with a wine sauce and sauteed mushrooms. 

[Dante]

Sausage gravy over home-made biscuits

[Dante]

Fish cakes with rapini and sweet potato fries

[liuzhou]

Liuzhou Luosifen

[liamsaunt]

Dinner salad with spicy roasted cauliflower and chickpeas, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, fried feta, and an avocado-yogurt dressing.  Some flatbread I dug out of the freezer on the side.

 

[Ann_T]

I decided to smoke a whole chicken yesterday, early evening.

Just a small bird.

I don't have a "smoker" but I have a pellet tube and a gas grill.

Rather than use pellets in the tube I filled it with wood chips. Mesquite.

Moe loved the flavour.

He ate the two wings before bed last night and had smoked chicken breast on slices of buttered baguette for breakfast this morning.

[shain]

Alkaline noodles with cheese and kimchi (home made). Bread crumbs, scallions. 

Some very much needed beer.

 

 

[shain]

Santorini fava, topped with confit garlic and rosemary.

Focaccias from the freezer, warmed and crisp. 

Wine, olives, pickles.

 

 

[shain]

Home made thick potato starch noodles with a fragrant-spicy fermented black bean sauce (xiang la douchi jiang) - garlic, douchi, peanuts, toasted sesame, chili, sesame oil, soy sauce, black rice vinegar, sugar, five spice.

With wood ear mushrooms, egg, scallions.

Usually served in a less messy fashion.

 

[Duvel]

On those days when work and life getting the better of you, but you still (or maybe above all) want to eat like a king with minimum effort, I turn to what we call „freezer gold“. In this case frozen ragu alla Bolognese from Marzella Hazan*. Together with De Cecco bucatini, a (slightly larger) touch of butter and copious amounts of Parmigiano a fantastic dinner, whipped together in less than 20 min,  enjoyed in even less than that - but making you glow for the rest of the evening.

 

 

—-

* it’s just the perfect ragu. There are plenty of recipes out there, but this one is like in her book (while omitting the cured pork, though).

[Shelby]

@Duvel my favorite meal for sure.  We just had spaghetti a few days ago, but I could sure eat it again!

 

@Ann_Tbeautiful chicken!

 

Roasted chicken quarters in the CSO

 

 

Fried bass, spinach, Mac and cheese and roasted romanesco

 

 

 

And last night, both venison and beef steaks on the grill with cheesy potatoes and honey mustard Brussels sprouts from @JAZMore here.

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2022 by Shelby (log)

[Kim Shook]

@Tropicalsenior – your Swiss steak meal looks fantastic!  I’d be making it with LOTS of onions and no mushrooms!  And your popovers are wonderful looking!

 

@MetsFan5 – I’m sorry about the house.  Might be for the best in the long run, but it’s a giant PITA now. 

 

@Ann_T – gorgeous, perfectly cooked steak and fries.  I wish I had planned that for dinner tonight.

 

@Shelby – every single meal looks delicious. 

 

Tuesday, I finally got the spaghetti and meatballs I’ve been craving.  We went to The Grapevine (a favorite local Greek/Italian place) for dinner and for once I ordered Italian (I think I’ve always ordered Greek before).  Mr. Kim and Jessica started with fried mushrooms:

 

Very odiferous.  They said they were great.  Mr. Kim got his usual baked spaghetti:

 

This was the “Chef Michael’s Favorite” with meat sauce, meatballs, hot Italian sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms and topped with mozzarella cheese.

 

I got spaghetti and meatballs:

 

Way too much sauce, but it was delicious. 

 

Jessica got the gyro sandwich:

 

 

And then, the bread:

 

I’ve never been able to figure out what the herb/spice is that Greek restaurants use that flavor their rolls so distinctively.  But these rolls are addictive, as are most of the breads I’ve eaten at most every Greek/Lebanese/middle eastern/Turkish restaurant my entire life. 

 

We love this place and the family so much.  We’ve been going to this family’s restaurants in Richmond since we moved back in the late 1990s.  They are not Greek, but Lebanese (I guess they call it Greek to appeal to more folks).  We’ve ordered lots of food from them during the last two years.  I’m so glad that they are still weathering the COVID storm and serving good food and hiring good people. 

[RWood]

Got the Ooni back out. I purchased a steel plate on Etsy to replace the stone and tried it out finally. So much better than the stone. It seemed to heat up faster, and the crust was much better on the bottom.

Pepperoni, mushroom, black olive and red onion.

Edited April 28, 2022 by RWood (log)

[Midlife]

Is that the “steel plate” in your photo or a rack you’ve transfered the pizza to?

Edited April 28, 2022 by Midlife (log)

[Captain]

Frozen dough balls from the weekend defrosted on the kitchen bench with stuff added.

 

 

 

[scamhi]

it's been a while. Still eating, just not taking pictures.

tonight pork chops grilled and butternut squash shiitake mushroom and a green salad.

A nice Fleurie to drink

[RWood]

51 minutes ago, Midlife said:

Is that the “steel plate” in your photo or a rack you’ve transfered the pizza to?

No, that’s just a screen to keep it from sweating. The steel is a 5/8 inch plate that is shaped the same as the stone that was in the Ooni. It weighs a ton. 

[Ann_T]

6 hours ago, Shelby said:

@Ann_Tbeautiful chicken!

Thanks @Shelby Perfectly cooked steak.  I would like some of your cheesy potatoes. 

 

6 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

 

@Ann_T – gorgeous, perfectly cooked steak and fries.  I wish I had planned that for dinner tonight.

One of the things I miss about living in Toronto is the number of wonderful Greek Restaurants.  

 

@RWood, nice looking pizza. Some of my favourite toppings. 

 

@Captain, beautiful crust on your pizza.  

 

I asked Moe what he wanted for dinner tonight and he chose grilled prawns with Pasta Aglio E Olio.

I pulled the Spot Prawns from Walcan Seafood out of the freezer before leaving for work.

Easy work night dinner. While the water boiled for the pasta,

I shelled the prawns and marinated them with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, hot red pepper flakes and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

Grilled the prawns on a cast iron grill pan.

[liamsaunt]

Noodles with broccoli and shiitake mushrooms in a spicy soy broth with some peanuts for crunch and chili crunch for extra spice.  Lots of chives on top too because my CSA has been giving me a huge bunch of chives every week (and I have a large amount growing in my vegetable garden as well)

 

[KennethT]

Last night was the first time I made massaman curry - it really reminds me of some of the Malaysian or Nyonya curries I've made in the past, but I used the Maesri paste in the can, amended with some roasted shrimp paste (I had left over from my Indonesian dish over last weekend), some extra toasted/ground coriander and cumin and a small piece of whole cinnamon (true cinnamon, not cassia), a couple cloves, some nutmeg and a few cardamom pods.  It came out well, but I forgot the tamarind paste!!!!

 

[mgaretz]

Tuna cakes (like crab cakes made with tuna), baked not fried.  Made with a can of tuna, panko, mayo, Old Bay seasoning and a bit of pepper.  Convection baked for 18 minutes at 400F then two minutes under the broiler.  Served with steamed Brussies in butter.

 

[lindag]

3 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

Tuna cakes (like crab cakes made with tuna), baked not fried.  Made with a can of tuna, panko, mayo, Old Bay seasoning and a bit of pepper.  Convection baked for 18 minutes at 400F then two minutes under the broiler.  Served with steamed Brussies in butter.

 

I'm really going to try that tuna!

[Tropicalsenior]

23 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

Tuna cakes (like crab cakes made with tuna)

These look delicious. What gives them their delicious golden color? Does it have any egg at all in it?

[gfweb]

Steam oven salmon and Israeli couscous

[mgaretz]

3 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

These look delicious. What gives them their delicious golden color? Does it have any egg at all in it?

Well mayo is mostly egg, but no added eggs.  The color comes from the bit of panko dusted on top and then sprayed with a light mist of oil (I'm using Avocado these days) and then the browning from the oven and broiler.