Lunch 2023

[blue_dolphin]

On 5/21/2023 at 4:04 AM, chromedome said:

At one of my restaurants, I offered the option of ordering my veggie burger with bacon and cheese. I called that one "The Hypocrite" and it was surprisingly popular.

Following on, a veggie burger (from Six Seasons) with bacon and cheese, riffing on the Bacon Jalapeño Smashburgers in I Dream of Dinner. The book recipe involves chicken burgers and mine are veggie but frying them in bacon fat is a win. 

As you can see, I lost some bits around the edge so I need to work on how thin I can smash these burgers without them falling apart. 

Still, a step in the right direction!

 

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by blue_dolphin
Format (log)

[Kim Shook]

Last Thursday, Jessica and I went to Shoney’s for what could be our last meal there.  For those that don’t know Shoney’s, it was a big chain restaurant similar to Howard Johnsons or Hot Shoppes; a family place with table service, basic, solid filling food.  Across the river from us on the other side of the city is the last one open in Richmond and more are closing all the time.  They aren’t great, but they are part of my culinary history and so a trek was in order.  I got something to take home and the buffet (they have surprisingly good fried chicken and collards):

 

Looking at what I ate, this was certainly a “cheat day” – two kinds of potatoes and collards.  We shared onion rings:

 

Jessica had the chicken fried steak and a baked potato:

 

And then the REAL reason we drove all the way across the river:

Their hot fudge ice cream cake is a family tradition.  My grandmother and my mother loved it.  As a little girl Jessica would request it deconstructed – she liked to add the hot fudge herself little bit by little bit.  And I love it.  When Momma was living with us. she and I would go for “lunch” to the Shoney’s that was near us.  In order to eat the enormous (they’ve started making them smaller) hot fudge cakes, we’d get a large order of onion rings and dessert and that would be lunch. 

 

Friday:

Some of Mr. Kim’s chili from the freezer and slaw.

 

Saturday I pulled the last of the mini ET bagels from the freezer.  One got smoked salmon cream cheese and the other just got toasted and buttered:

[OlyveOyl]

Yesterday’s lunch was a bit of a mash up. Lentils cooked in chicken broth, onion, cumin, curry and lemon thyme. Swiss chard and parsley from the terrace pots plus some cherry tomatoes added near the end of cooking.  Topped with thinly sliced pork tenderloin, now I’m wishing there was more left over.

Edited May 24, 2023 by OlyveOyl
Addition (log)

[Anna N]

 

 

 

A bowl of Manhattan-style clam chowder from Progresso with a slice of toast made for a most satisfactory lunch. It was especially heartwarming to know how few clams were sacrificed on my account. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 

 

A bowl of Manhattan-style clam chowder from Progresso with a slice of toast made for a most satisfactory lunch. It was especially heartwarming to know how few clams were sacrificed on my account. 

 

Although they all get caught in my teeth.

 

[johnnyd]

Pork belly, rubbed with S&P, sugar and 5 spice, cooked low and slow for 6 hours, in a ginger chx stock with udon. Mmmm....

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Excited to use the sea beans I got at the farmers market yesterday, I tried a recipe for Sand Dabs with Shallots, Sea Beans and Sherry Vinegar from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook.  I got Pacific grenadier filets in my fish share this week so I used that instead of sand dabs.  Pacific grenadier is often by-catch in black cod fisheries.  It's a mild white fish, good for fish & chips or fish tacos and worked nicely here.

The fish is floured and pan-fried in butter and the remaining browned butter is the base for a sauce of shallots, sea beans and sherry vinegar.  Very easy and delicious. 

I tossed the sugar snaps with a preserved lemon butter but needn't have bothered as the brown butter/shallot/sea bean butter would have done the trick. 

 

[Anna N]

@blue_dolphin, I have zoomed in and zoomed out and zoomed in again and I still can't make out what the grain? js. 

[blue_dolphin]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

@blue_dolphin, I have zoomed in and zoomed out and zoomed in again and I still can't make out what the grain? js. 

It’s Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend that contains pearled couscous (mostly), orzo, baby garbanzo (oh the horror) and red quinoa.  A handy side that cooks up in a 10 min simmer. Probably discontinued as my TJ faves tend to be!

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

It’s Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend that contains pearled couscous (mostly), orzo, baby garbanzo (oh the horror) and red quinoa.  A handy side that cooks up in a 10 min simmer. Probably discontinued as my TJ faves tend to be!

Ah! Thank you. For a minute I was even seeing popcorn. I could identify the couscous and the orzo but I guess it was the baby garbanzo and the quinoa that threw.me. Hope for your sake that TJ continues to carry it. 

[OlyveOyl]

Whipped ricotta crostini, tomatoes, radish, olive salad. Thinly sliced semolina seeded bread oven toasted until golden, spread with whipped ricotta and assorted toppings. The ricotta had lemon zest, preserved lemon, lemon thyme, mint, chives and chervil.

Broccoli di rabe, garlic, peperoncini, black olives and a little pasta. I had a very large head of the broccoli from the Farmers Mkt. which was put to good use with the pasta. Blanched the broccoli in the pasta water and then sautéed in evoo with the aromatics.

Edited May 28, 2023 by OlyveOyl (log)

[KennethT]

Yesterday we went out for lunch (and actually ate at the restaurant!) to a place I've wanted to try for a while - Atla.

 

Guacamole

 

Ceviche

 

P

Potato and cheese flautas - there were unremarkable.

 

Chilli rubbed branzino grilled. This was awesome.

 

We even got dessert - the best churros on the face of the earth. Freshly fried and so light I thought they'd crumble under their own weight. Chocolate sauce was practically unsweetened and had some coffee notes - so good with the cinnamon and sugar. Then I finished the remaining sauce using my finger.

[BonVivant]

Creamy black lentils

 

Prawn shell broth

 

- - - -
Asparagus salad

 

Hake's roe. Salted overnight, then poached in kombu broth. Slice into rounds, place on (buttered) bread, drizzle with chilli oil.

 

Latvian smoked sprats

 

Australian "Riesling"

 

It's now half way into the season, I've eaten 7 kilos thus far. (My personal record is 14kg)

 

 

[Kim Shook]

On Wednesday, I CSO’d some leftovers from dinner at our local Chinese place the night before:

Mu Shu pork and crab Rangoon. 

 

A couple of days ago:

Applesauce, half a bologna and half an egg salad sandwich. 

[MetsFan5]

As a kid I loved liverwurst. I had odd tastes as a child, loved raw clams, lobster, I’d drink soy sauce! and love olives —yet wouldn’t eat any pasta dish that had a sprinkle of parsley. 
 

I tried boarshead livetwurst a  few days ago. It wasn’t great. 
 

 Any recommendations?

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

As a kid I loved liverwurst. I had odd tastes as a child, loved raw clams, lobster, I’d drink soy sauce! and love olives —yet wouldn’t eat any pasta dish that had a sprinkle of parsley. 
 

I tried boarshead livetwurst a  few days ago. It wasn’t great. 
 

 Any recommendations?

 

I loved it as a kid too.

Still like it now, but in much thinner slices,with mustard.

[lindag]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

 

I loved it as a kid too.

Still like it now, but in much thinner slices,with mustard.

Me too, only with thin-sliced onion.

Of course, in my book, every thing  is better with onion.

Edited May 29, 2023 by lindag (log)

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Me too, only with thin-sliced onion.

Of course, in my book, every thing  is better with onion.

I have that book as well. It's one of my favorites; came as a boxed set with the "everything is better with butter' volume.

[OlyveOyl]

Farro salad with preserved lemon vinaigrette on a bed of endive and sorrel.  The farro salad included julienned pork tenderloin, tuna, radish, tomatoes, capers, black olives, mint, parsley and chervil.

For dessert we had a strawberry cake , today with sour cream and strawberries, yesterday we had it with strawberry gelato.

 

 

[KennethT]

Javanese chicken soup

 

[blue_dolphin]

Pasta with anchovy and samphire from Ottolenghi's Simple. 

Spaghetti would have been better than bucatini, as it almost alway is, but I was out. 

[heidih]

20 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Pasta with anchovy and samphire from Ottolenghi's Simple. 

Spaghetti would have been better than bucatini, as it almost alway is, but I was out. 

First thought - any issue with saltiness- since both anchovy and samphire can be a punch?  Sounds delightful and I trust Ottolenghi.

[MaryIsobel]

23 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Pasta with anchovy and samphire from Ottolenghi's Simple. 

Spaghetti would have been better than bucatini, as it almost alway is, but I was out. 

Wow -  you are my idol, truly. You are bold and adventurous and obviously enjoy your food immensely. I need to pull my self up by the bootstraps and start venturing outside the ordinary/habitual things that I most often turn to. I had samphire (it was called sea asparagus) at a high end restaruant years ago and thought it amazing. Not an eassy thing to find but I suppose if I ventured into Vancouver or Richmond, I could find it.

 

[blue_dolphin]

3 minutes ago, heidih said:

First thought - any issue with saltiness- since both anchovy and samphire can be a punch?  Sounds delightful and I trust Ottolenghi.

No, I was a little concerned, but it was fine. I rinsed the samphire first and it gets tossed into the water with the pasta for the last 30 sec of cook time so that’s like two baths. Also, I chose my “nice” anchovies that aren’t super salty. 

[blue_dolphin]

7 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Wow -  you are my idol, truly. You are bold and adventurous and obviously enjoy your food immensely. I need to pull my self up by the bootstraps and start venturing outside the ordinary/habitual things that I most often turn to. I had samphire (it was called sea asparagus) at a high end restaruant years ago and thought it amazing. Not an eassy thing to find but I suppose if I ventured into Vancouver or Richmond, I could find it.

 

I was quite amazed to find this at the farmers market so I’m having fun!