Dinner 2022

[liamsaunt]

Soy ginger baked salmon with broccoli and delicata squash roasted with the same sauce, plus coconut rice

 

[mgaretz]

Blasphemy ribs, served with steamed snap peas.  Homemade reduced sugar non-dairy peanut butter slated caramel ice cream for dessert.

 

 

 

 

[Annie_H]

Sunday Sushi

 

[Annie_H]

Last night...

Roasted garden tomato/smoked hatch chilis and roasted garlic soup. Panini--smoked mozzarella, parm and gouda, prosciutto, pastrami, and salami. 

[AlaMoi]

I'm teaching the short ribs the sizzle hop . . .

[KennethT]

Back on the horse.... Err... Elk.

 

Mapo tofu

 

 

 

 

[weinoo]

 

Sorta Fuchsia's Gong Bao Chicken With Peanuts (gong bao ji ding). Fuchsia's recipe calls for the chicken to be in much smaller pieces, and doesn't include celery...I'd already cut up some celery, so in it went.
 

Sorta my own stir-fried Shanghai Bok Choy With Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce.

[liamsaunt]

Coconut curry fish.  Unfortunately my fish share gave me pollock this week, which I dislike.  You have to take the good with the bad though, and the curry disguised its unlikeable (to me) characteristics as much as possible.  

 

[Kim Shook]

@Shelby – gorgeous turkey!  And the Hot Browns look perfect.  I haven’t made them for years!  And that PIE ❤️!!!

 

@Tropicalsenior – Hugs to you for your thoughtful gesture and I’m sorry for the loss of your sweet neighbor. 

 

On Friday Mr. Kim got a free sundae from Yelp at Ruby Scoops, a new and really different ice cream place in the city.  There seems to be a bit of a Renaissance going on in that neighborhood, but interestingly, it isn’t old style gentrification.  Lots of places are owned by neighborhood folks and there is a real presence of African American business owners.  The owner of Ruby Scoops was the winner of Food Network’s “Clash of the Cones”.   Our sundaes turned out to be dinner:

 

Mr. Kim and Jessica both got the Hot Honey Cornbread ice cream with miso salted caramel sauce, cone pieces, and whipped cream.  I had vanilla bean with the miso caramel, hot fudge, and whipped cream.  They have all sorts of incredible sounding flavors and offer a “flight” – six scoops of ice creams/sorbets in a half dozen egg carton.  We will be going back. 

 

We spent Mother’s Day north of us in DC and Old Town Alexandria – my old hometowns.  Dinner was at what is probably my favorite restaurant over all.  I’ve been eating there since the early 1970s and love the food and the people so much.  It’s called Taverna Cretekou and is on King St. in Alexandria.  We shared an order of saganaki, of course:

 

Flames halfway to the ceiling, gooey and hot!  Every bit as good as it was when I had my first taste many years ago.  Mr. Kim and Jessica also shared the mushrooms sautéed with garlic and herbs:

 

 

Mr. Kim got an American-Greek salad:

 

The usual cucumber, tomato, onions, olives, anchovy plus greens and the best dolmades I’ve ever had.  They use lovely, tender grape leaves and the rice is cool but not icy and crunchy! 

 

Mr. Kim’s main was Chicken (Kotopoulo) Kalamata – chicken medallions with a tomato/olive/red wine/fresh basil sauce:

 

 

Jessica had one of the specials:

 

Salmon with a white wine, lemon, and caper sauce.

 

I had another special – the braised lamb shank with the same sauce as Jessica’s:

 

I have to say that is NOT an attractive dish.  As delicious as everything was and always has been, I think the cooks need a little training on that particular sauce.  I suspect that it was a cornstarch-thickened sauce and I admit to having a prejudice against cornstarch used like that, but even if you are going to use cornstarch, you need to use it correctly.  The sauce was lumpy, which leads me to think that it was added to the hot liquid.  And it had a gelatinous quality that wasn’t nice to look at.  But the meal was wonderful and the people as nice as always!

 

 

Dinner last night was beans and (rather than on) toast:

 

Because I wanted more beans than would fit on the toast 😁. 

 

[Duvel]

15 hours ago, KennethT said:

Back on the horse.... Err... Elk.

 

Mapo tofu

 

 

 

 

How does Sichuan elk compare to your more usual Yunnan elk ..?

[Duvel]

15 hours ago, weinoo said:

Fuchsia's recipe calls for the chicken to be in much smaller pieces, and doesn't include celery...I'd already cut up some celery, so in it went.

I sincerely hope that the Sichuan (elk) god will smite you for taking your liberties with this classic 😝

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Duvel said:

How does Sichuan elk compare to your more usual Yunnan elk ..?

The elk meat is the same - it's actually the left over ground elk from the Yunnan version.  The meat comes in frozen 1 pound vacuum sealed packages - which is too much meat for two of us, so I take 3/4 and use for something like the Yunnanese dish or burgers or something where the meat is the main protein, and use the left over for mapo tofu, where meat is more of a condiment.

[lindag]

3 minutes ago, KennethT said:

The elk meat is the same - it's actually the left over ground elk from the Yunnan version.  The meat comes in frozen 1 pound vacuum sealed packages - which is too much meat for two of us, so I take 3/4 and use for something like the Yunnanese dish or burgers or something where the meat is the main protein, and use the left over for mapo tofu, where meat is more of a condiment.

Ground elk meat is actually sold here in our supermarkets.  Hunting is a VERG BIG deal in this area.

[Duvel]

Spring is showing it’s sunny face at the moment, and pleasant 26 oC call for firing up the BBQ …

 

Pork collar, lamb loin and what in German is called Fackel (torch): thinly sliced pork belly strips, wrapped around skewers with a dry marinade not unlike magic dust.

 

 

Served with a kitchen sink couscous salad (roasted cauliflower, raisins, onions, tomatoes, nuts …). 

 

No complaints 🤗

Edited May 11 by Duvel (log)

[Norm Matthews]

I wanted to try a recipe for Alfredo sauce that looked good. It was made with cream, butter and a lot of parm cheese. (I use the real Italian kind, I just don't know how to spell it) The sauce did not use any thickener so I thought it would thicken with the cheese. It didn't. It did thicken when the pasta absorbed it though.  I made some chicken breasts stuffed with crab to top it. I added some onion, celery and mushrooms to the sauce.  I was going to try another recipe from a friend who said her mother made corn on the cob by simmering it in a seasoned mixture of milk and honey but Charlie told me he was going out soon so I didn't have time do do that. I just threw them in the boiling water and cooked them with the pasta.

Edited May 11 by Norm Matthews (log)

[gulfporter]

Room temperature garbanzo salad topped with grilled shrimp.  Room temperature here is about 85 😎

 

 

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, lindag said:

Ground elk meat is actually sold here in our supermarkets.  Hunting is a VERG BIG deal in this area.

I get it from Wild Fork foods - everything they sell is frozen.

[weinoo]

6 hours ago, Duvel said:

How does Sichuan elk compare to your more usual Yunnan elk ..?

 

6 hours ago, Duvel said:

I sincerely hope that the Sichuan (elk) god will smite you for taking your liberties with this classic 😝

 

Step away from the schnappes, @Duvel!!

[heidih]

1 hour ago, Norm Matthews said:

I wanted to try a recipe for Alfredo sauce that looked good. It was made with cream, butter and a lot of parm cheese. (I use the real Italian kind, I just don't know how to spell it) The sauce did not use any thickener so I thought it would thicken with the cheese. It didn't. It did thicken when the pasta absorbed it though.  I made some chicken breasts stuffed with crab to top it. I added some onion, celery and mushrooms to the sauce.  I was going to try another recipe from a friend who said her mother made corn on the cob by simmering it in a seasoned mixture of milk and honey but Charlie told me he was going out soon so I didn't have time do do that. I just threw them in the boiling water and cooked them with the pasta.

Gilding the lily a bit? When I was young and cute the Italian brothers at the deli always gave me center cut from the big wheel of psarm. My standard was just cheese, butter, and cream though they did sell me fresh spinach fettuchine (with the occasuonal bit of grit) for a change of pace. It was GOOD. 

[MaryIsobel]

15 minutes ago, heidih said:

Gilding the lily a bit? When I was young and cute the Italian brothers at the deli always gave me center cut from the big wheel of psarm. My standard was just cheese, butter, and cream though they did sell me fresh spinach fettuchine (with the occasuonal bit of grit) for a change of pace. It was GOOD. 

Just watched an episode of Bon Apetit Test Kitchen where they say that real Alfredo is just butter, pasta water and cheese. I have always added cream.

 

[Norm Matthews]

11 minutes ago, heidih said:

Gilding the lily a bit? When I was young and cute the Italian brothers at the deli always gave me center cut from the big wheel of psarm. My standard was just cheese, butter, and cream though they did sell me fresh spinach fettuchine (with the occasuonal bit of grit) for a change of pace. It was GOOD. 

When I say Parm, I always wonder if I am being too vague so i thought just this once, I'd explain.

 

[Norm Matthews]

7 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Just watched an episode of Bon Apetit Test Kitchen where they say that real Alfredo is just butter, pasta water and cheese. I have always added cream.

 

I've heard something like that before. I don't remember the details but the jest of it is American Alfredo isn't the real thing.

[Ann_T]

Grilled a Porterhouse steak and served sliced with a wine sauce.

 

Sides were roasted potatoes, zucchini and sautéed cremini mushrooms. AND, as a side a new version of our favourite Gorgonzola Garlic bread.

I still had one ball of dough left from the dough I made last Saturday night.

 

Decided to make a bastardized version of a Gorgonzola Garlic bread that was served complimentary at Cafe Garangelo, an Italian restaurant in Buffalo, NY years ago.

 

I recreated it for home because Moe loved it so much. When I posted it my blog many years ago, it became one my most popular posts.

 

Tonight's version was pizza dough, brushed with garlic butter, and topped with both shredded mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese with a little basil and oregano

and baked in the Ooni. Finished as it came out of the oven with a little grated parmesan.

Matt sliced it in small slices and I forgot to take pictures before it was being devoured. But I did get a picture when there was still a few slices left.

There is still some steak left, some of both the tenderloin and the strip so I plan to make Moe a steak sandwich tomorrow.

[ErinKeegan]

teriyaki chicken and rice and apple juice 

[weinoo]

9 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

Just watched an episode of Bon Apetit Test Kitchen where they say that real Alfredo is just butter, pasta water and cheese. I have always added cream.

 

I believe this to be true; but it's just easier to get everything emulsified with the addition of cream. We've had this "argument" before; as it relates to pasta carbonara (where we also argued about bacon vs. guanciale) and pasta cacio e pepe. 

 

The key in my opinion, is to use a younger (or less aged) Parmigiano-Reggiano, and some of the pasta water, which in and of itself contains starch.

Edited May 12 by weinoo (log)