Lunch 2023

[rotuts]

@Duvel 

 

I would not complain if that was my ' local '

 

it would certainly upgrade my ' Basic '

 

and outside to boot 

 

Im guessing those overhead ' vines ' fill out in the summer

 

and are an added delight .

[Duvel]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Im guessing those overhead ' vines ' fill out in the summer

 

and are an added delight .

That’s correct. These are vines and will produce leaves in 6 weeks and some more shadow, and later in the year grapes.

 

 

[gulfporter]

Chorizo verde made into hamburguesas.  First pic when they hit the grill, then after a flip and cheese on one. 

 

 

[heidih]

16 minutes ago, gulfporter said:

Chorizo verde made into hamburguesas.  First pic when they hit the grill, then after a flip and cheese on one. 

 

 

Is that regular chorizo mixed with a ton of herbs or?

[Duvel]

3 minutes ago, heidih said:

Is that regular chorizo mixed with a ton of herbs or?

It sure is green 💚

[Kim Shook]

 

 

@rotuts & @gulfporter – I grew up on fried bologna sandwiches – thin slices of deli bologna with four slits cut into it so that it spread apart and resembled a Celtic cross.  Two slices with a piece of deli American yellow cheese in between and grilled between two buttered sliced of white bread!  Heaven.  Then, a few years ago on our trip to Memphis we had the BBQ bologna at Payne’s and our lives were changed.  I still love Momma’s fried bologna, but I’ve been chasing that Payne’s sandwich ever since I tasted it! 

 

@Ann_T – that lamb shank looks delectable.  My favorite cut of lamb.  I’m not an eggplant fan, but I’d even try that in order to get that shank!

 

Lunch yesterday was leftovers from take-out pizza the night before:

It was better than it was when it was fresh. 

[gulfporter]

36 minutes ago, heidih said:

Is that regular chorizo mixed with a ton of herbs or?

Lots and lots of herbs and greens, very little pork.  Spice mix includes cloves as well as cumin, etc.  Every family has their own recipe.  Not common throughout Mexico, but find it here and there.  

[rotuts]

@Kim Shook 

 

indeed  , to fry bologna you do need to cut into it

 

so it doesn't curl up

 

Im glad you got to try BBQ bologna 

 

Ive only had it once , and its in its own class.

Edited April 22, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[gulfporter]

1 hour ago, Duvel said:

It sure is green 💚

Next year I'll try to remember them for Día de San Patricio ☘️

[blue_dolphin]

On 4/17/2023 at 11:15 AM, gulfporter said:

Seared tuna taco on flour tortilla with pickled onion, cilantro, avocado and wasabi mayo. 

 

With acknowledgements to @gulfporter, coriander seed crusted, seared tuna taco on flour tortilla with pickled onion, cilantro, avocado and a red cabbage/radish slaw (largely hidden) dressed with wasabi mayo

For the wasabi mayo, I was lazy and doctored commercial mayo with wasabi paste, grated fresh ginger, lemon zest and lemon juice.

[KennethT]

24 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

For the wasabi mayo, I was lazy and doctored commercial mayo with wasabi paste, grated fresh ginger, lemon zest and lemon juice.

How else would you make it, other than making the mayo from scratch?

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

How else would you make it, other than making the mayo from scratch?

 

I always assume everyone around here makes everything from scratch and I'm the only lazy one doctoring up my jar of mayo from Aldi!

[KennethT]

54 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I always assume everyone around here makes everything from scratch and I'm the only lazy one doctoring up my jar of mayo from Aldi!

ha!  To tell the truth, I'd do the same thing assuming I had a decent mayo in the house.  But, considering I don't really eat mayo on a regular basis, I'd have to make it from scratch because I wouldn't want to buy a big jar just for that!

[liuzhou]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

ha!  To tell the truth, I'd do the same thing assuming I had a decent mayo in the house.  But, considering I don't really eat mayo on a regular basis, I'd have to make it from scratch because I wouldn't want to buy a big jar just for that!

 

The only 'mayo' I can easily get is Kewpie and the less said about that the better, although I can get Hellman's online. For some reason it's made in Spain!

That said, I too, seldom use mayo and so, when I need it*, make it myself. Tastes better, too if I may say so.

 

*Usually for potato salad.

Edited April 23, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Katie Meadow]

Since mayo to me shouts "something quick" I don't make my own.  Mayo is for BLT's, tuna salad, egg salad, deviled eggs and some potato saladsI 'm a dedicated user of Dukes. When dipping artichoke leaves we sometimes add a little squeezed garlic or smoked paprika, but just a touch. Homemade mayo is delicious, I admit. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Katie Meadow (log)

[kayb]

20 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

 

 

@rotuts & @gulfporter – I grew up on fried bologna sandwiches – thin slices of deli bologna with four slits cut into it so that it spread apart and resembled a Celtic cross.  Two slices with a piece of deli American yellow cheese in between and grilled between two buttered sliced of white bread!  Heaven.  Then, a few years ago on our trip to Memphis we had the BBQ bologna at Payne’s and our lives were changed.  I still love Momma’s fried bologna, but I’ve been chasing that Payne’s sandwich ever since I tasted it! 

 

The next time Mr. Kim smokes a pork butt, get you a chub of bologna and put it on the smoker as well. Any good, all-beef bologna, though the choice when we had it was “rag bologna,” the kind that’s wrapped in a cloth coating rather than plastic. Two or three hours should be long enough, though you can go longer. My preference is to then slice and sear on a hot grill with some bbq sauce for a sandwich.

[BonVivant]

3 different meals.

 

Steamed flounder with salted black beans. The fish rests on a bed of ginger root.

 

 

You are going to see these elegant white spears in one form or another for the next 6 week or so. Today they are shaved and eaten raw. Crunchy, juicy and refreshing.

 

Smoked herring ("bloater"? Shall ask the fishmonger if it's hot or cold-smoked. I'm under the impression that it's hot-smoked.) with its roe sac exposed. It's the best time right now to eat herring and shrimp as they are usually full of roe.

 

2 types of rye bread

 

 

 

Last one...

 

A Chinese supermarket in the big city near me had renovated their shop. Now there's a fish counter, fresh meats and roasted meats (char siu, ducks and pork bellies).

 

@KennethT, I used to be able to get cheap Furmint. Hungarian wines are not popular here. Would love to go back!

 

 

 

22 hours ago, heidih said:

Is that regular chorizo mixed with a ton of herbs or?

 

I forgot to try them. Next time if I see them again. Fresh green and red chorizo at the market in Morelia.

Edited April 23, 2023 by BonVivant (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Another tuna taco.  This time, I used planned-over Kimchi Poke from Cook Real Hawai'i  (as seen in yesterday's breakfast) to make the Wok-Fried Poke from the same book.  Sheldon says this was a way to use up leftovers after a party the night before until Sam Choy elevated it into a speciality at his restaurants.   It's a nice preparation, only seared in a hot, hot pan for less than half a minute so each cube is cooked on the outside but still raw in the middle.

My version is not elevated at all, just stuffed into a tortilla with a kimchi slaw made with red cabbage and radish.  Avocado might have elevated it but I was out!

 

[blue_dolphin]

Yesterday's lunch was Crispy Black Bean Butterfish from Cook Real Hawai'i

I've always used fermented black beans in a stir fry prep where everything comes together in the wok so this method of making a the sauce separately, frying the fish and blanching the baby bok choy was interesting.  I used rockfish instead of the butterfish (black cod) specified in the recipe so it was a bit less luxurious but still good. 

 

[BonVivant]

Steamed tofu with dried shrimp

 

 

 

---
It was cold again earlier in the week. Sauerkraut and cured-smoked pork belly.

 

Polish smoked sausage (actually a long one, didn't fit the pan)

 

 

 

----
Green sauce for asparagus and bread

 

Sweet asparagus from my favourite local farm.

 

 

Finally, my fishmonger is able to get flat oysters for me again (couldn't since after lockdown). These taste 3 times better than Pacific oysters. So much umami on their own but even better with some lemon juice and a bottle of wine.The flat ones cost almost twice as much for the typical weekly market shoppers so they (the oysters) are usually sent straight to restaurants and for export.

 

This simple meal makes me a bit emotional...  Thank you, farmers. Thank you, harvesters. Thank you, fishmonger.

"Nothing is worth more than this day", Goethe once wrote.

 

Extra photos: fresh from the field. This piece of equipment is called an "asparagus spider". It goes over a row of asparagus, holds up the cover so the worker can harvest. As you can see it's back-breaking work, each and every spear is harvested by hand. This farm is small, they hire a small team of workers from Poland (I saw maybe 5 people, the same team every year, have chatted with them a couple of times). I can't peel like this machine, so thin the peel is near transparent. Pay an extra euro and you can take a bag of the peel home for soup/essence, I always do. Categorised by quality and sizes (prices do come down as the season progresses. This year the price has gone up eur.4). Every time I try asparagus from another farm I go right back to my local farm for more.

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by BonVivant (log)

[heidih]

48 minutes ago, BonVivant said:

Steamed tofu with dried shrimp

 

 

 

---
It was cold again earlier in the week. Sauerkraut and cured-smoked pork belly.

 

Polish smoked sausage (actually a long one, didn't fit the pan)

 

 

 

----
Green sauce for asparagus and bread

 

Sweet asparagus from my favourite local farm.

 

 

Finally, my fishmonger is able to get flat oysters for me again (couldn't since after lockdown). These taste 3 times better than Pacific oysters. So much umami on their own but even better with some lemon juice and a bottle of wine.The flat ones cost almost twice as much for the typical weekly market shoppers so they (the oysters) are usually sent straight to restaurants and for export.

 

This simple meal makes me a bit emotional...  Thank you, farmers. Thank you, harvesters. Thank you, fishmonger.

"Nothing is worth more than this day", Goethe once wrote.

 

Extra photos: fresh from the field. This piece of equipment is called an "asparagus spider". It goes over a row of asparagus, holds up the cover so the worker can harvest. As you can see it's back-breaking work, each and every spear is harvested by hand. This farm is small, they hire a small team of workers from Poland (I saw maybe 5 people, the same team every year, have chatted with them a couple of times). I can't peel like this machine, so thin the peel is near transparent. Pay an extra euro and you can take a bag of the peel home for soup/essence, I always do. Categorised by quality and sizes (prices do come down as the season progresses. This year the price has gone up eur.4). Every time I try asparagus from another farm I go right back to my local farm for more.

 

So nice to have a super local farm and a relationship. Yes so much of farming is back breaking esp on the harvest end. Strawberries!  I miss my local place but I understand why the kids did not want to continue the lifestyle. Japanese farmers that came back even after internment during WW2. Now being honored  https://rafu.com/2023/04/torrance-city-council-approves-wwii-camp-wall/

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, BonVivant said:

Steamed tofu with dried shrimp

 

 

 

---
It was cold again earlier in the week. Sauerkraut and cured-smoked pork belly.

 

Polish smoked sausage (actually a long one, didn't fit the pan)

 

 

 

----
Green sauce for asparagus and bread

 

Sweet asparagus from my favourite local farm.

 

 

Finally, my fishmonger is able to get flat oysters for me again (couldn't since after lockdown). These taste 3 times better than Pacific oysters. So much umami on their own but even better with some lemon juice and a bottle of wine.The flat ones cost almost twice as much for the typical weekly market shoppers so they (the oysters) are usually sent straight to restaurants and for export.

 

This simple meal makes me a bit emotional...  Thank you, farmers. Thank you, harvesters. Thank you, fishmonger.

"Nothing is worth more than this day", Goethe once wrote.

 

Extra photos: fresh from the field. This piece of equipment is called an "asparagus spider". It goes over a row of asparagus, holds up the cover so the worker can harvest. As you can see it's back-breaking work, each and every spear is harvested by hand. This farm is small, they hire a small team of workers from Poland (I saw maybe 5 people, the same team every year, have chatted with them a couple of times). I can't peel like this machine, so thin the peel is near transparent. Pay an extra euro and you can take a bag of the peel home for soup/essence, I always do. Categorised by quality and sizes (prices do come down as the season progresses. This year the price has gone up eur.4). Every time I try asparagus from another farm I go right back to my local farm for more.

 

 

 

Fantastic.  Is that bottle of Chilean Syrah empty or is it a white syrah?

[KennethT]

 

Javanese chicken soup - soto ayam.

[blue_dolphin]

Seared scallops and baby boy choy with black bean sauce and fried garlic noodles from Cook Real Hawai'i

 

Kind of a repeat of the last lunch I posted but with scallops instead of fish. 

[heidih]

2 minutes ago, KennethT said:

 

Javanese chicken soup - soto ayam.

Nice meal. I am always interested when I see citrus cut lengthwise versus equator.  But I see it in food videos. Ive found it seemed less able to yield juice.  Always good to learn and lean out of preconceptions.