Lunch 2023

[blue_dolphin]

18 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Gorgeous. Looks like a fine dining restaurant.  I've never seen pink peppercorns fresh on the vine like that.  What are they like when fresh?

 

Thanks!  These were snipped off the tree in my yard yesterday but they were pretty much dry and tasted the same as the dry ones.  

There are some pictures of the trees in this article, Peruvian Pink Peppercorns: A Surprising Backyard Forage

[OlyveOyl]

Risotto for lunch today. Saffron, shallot , rice sautéed in a little butter, some white wine and chicken stock  for the liquid.  The diced ham and asparagus were added at the finish, along with a knob of butter and freshly grated Parmigiana. I was out of rice for risotto, although I had plenty of rice for paella,  I used Carolina Gold which turned out to be a more than respectable substitute.

And  the last of the chocolate cake with sour cream and freshly made strawberry jam.

Edited May 12, 2023 by OlyveOyl
Addition (log)

[blue_dolphin]

Seared tuna with a preserved lemon, olive and avocado relish from Diana Henry's Simple over Trader Joe's Harvest Grains blend. I added a coriander crust to the tuna.   Sugar snaps, micro-steamed and tossed with Gabrielle Hamilton's preserved lemon butter from Prune. 

[BonVivant]

Button dumplings, made with this simple Hungarian tool.

 

Browned briefly in hot fat.

 

Beef shank with Hungarian paprika.

 

Today...

 

Blinis with green sauce and (sub) Arctic prawns

 

After pureeing beetroots I added water to the blender and that's my drink with this meal.

 

Some vegetables were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I'm on my 5th kilo as of this week.

 

Pandalus borealis. Wild and sweet. One of the most common prawn species that lives in (sub) Arctic Atlantic.

 

Before shelling

 

On 5/12/2023 at 4:53 PM, blue_dolphin said:

This week's fish is ahi tuna again.  Checking Eat Your Books for recipes, I decided on this Tuna Carpaccio with Pink Peppercorns from Polpo for a quick lunch.

In addition to the pink peppercorns, the dressing/sauce contains olive oil, lime zest and juice garlic, red chili and fennel fronds and was quite zippy. 

Purty!

I like to sprinkle these "peppercorns" on yoghurt, burrata, and foods that tend to be mild/delicate.

 

[Smithy]

Are "button dumplings" what I know as spätzel? If not, what's the difference?

[heidih]

6 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Are "button dumplings" what I know as spätzel? If not, what's the difference?

Was wondering too. In my old dialect Ellbogen = elbow which I can kinda squint and see that shape. The tool with the scraper/pusher looks effective and simple. Knoefle means little button to me. 

 

That green sauce looks good to me with the meal. 

[KennethT]

 

Bison mapo tofu with Korean leeks

[BonVivant]

33 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Are "button dumplings" what I know as spätzel? If not, what's the difference?

 

Knöpfle is rounder (and a bit firmer). Spätzle is flatter and longer. The batter is also slightly different, I think.

 

28 minutes ago, heidih said:

Was wondering too. In my old dialect Ellbogen = elbow which I can kinda squint and see that shape. The tool with the scraper/pusher looks effective and simple. Knoefle means little button to me. 

 

That green sauce looks good to me with the meal. 

 

I stayed in Ellbögen village in Tirol some years back.

 

[blue_dolphin]

Rummaging in the freezer for a veggie burger, I encountered a crab cake blocking my access so I took care of it.

With kimchi mayo and a few onion rings, also lurking in the freezer. 

[heidih]

I'd love to go exploring/shopping in some of your freezers!

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Rummaging in the freezer for a veggie burger, I encountered a crab cake blocking my access so I took care of it.

The road to hell and all that. 

[Elkyfr]

Seeds Loaf with Cheddar Cheese, Bacon, Mushrooms, Jalapeños, Onions, Double Cream and Black Pepper.

 

[OlyveOyl]

Sliced chicken breast on an endive salad, Roquefort, toasted walnuts, radish and a little squiggle of Wasabi Mayo.

Lemon cake 4 ways, zest, lemon jam and a glaze of Meyer lemon syrup and limoncello.  Rhubarb and raspberries accompanied the cake.

[pastameshugana]

12 hours ago, OlyveOyl said:

 

The cake looks (and sounds) amazing. I'm a sucker for anything lemon.

[OlyveOyl]

Me, too! It’s based on Rachel Roddy’s Marmalade Cake  at The Guardian.  I use jam in the cake rather than marmalade. It’s even good for breakfast with a boatload of fruit😀!

[Kim Shook]

It’s been some time since I’ve posted, so this is a bit long winded!  And it is definitely restaurant heavy.  Not really sure why that is, but since we were obligated to buy a new car, that will almost certainly be changing. 

 

@kayb – that is a great idea about smoking the bologna.  He did 4 butts yesterday but I completely forgot to get one.  I need to remember that!

 

@OlyveOyl – that lemon cake looks so good.  I love that the recipe used lemon in so many ways – I love a punched-up lemon flavor.  And the plate that it’s on is gorgeous. 

 

An April post-church lunch at our favorite lunch counter place.  Navy bean and creamy chicken noodle:

House made and excellent, as always.  The chicken noodle is more like chicken and dumplings.  Mr. Kim had the club:

 

And I had the patty melt and onion rings:

 

Perfect:

 

Another after church lunch.  Solo this time at a fairly new place – the Lakeside Deli:

My first visit and I’ll be going back.  This was a delicious chopped cheese sub.  Great food, really nice people. 

 

Funny looking lunch:

Leftovers from Mr. Kim’s BBQ judging the weekend before (ribs and brisket) and slaw.  The bites taken out are ONLY Mr. Kim’s. 

 

Cinco de Mayo – done up right at Taco Bell!  LOL:

Actually, we love Taco Bell. 

 

Afternoon snack that day was a piece of my favorite kind of cheesecake – dense and rich:

We stopped at a Giant grocery store when we were up in NOVA and got a couple of pieces. Their bakery makes perfect cheesecake.

 

A post church lunch at our favorite deli.  Mr. Kim had a cheeseburger:

We almost never get those here, but they’re really good.  I got the half and half – half a chicken salad sandwich and half a tossed salad (not pictured, but HUGE with their housemade 1000 Island dressing), plus some rings:

 

For lunch last week (and for the freezer) I made a batch of BBQ soup.  The meat is samples that Mr. Kim has been bringing home from BBQ competitions.  Some states allow the judges to bring home what they (and only they) have sampled, and we’ve been stockpiling it in the freezer.  I just added some beef stock, wine, seasonings, and a bag of Veg All.  Depending on the BBQ it sometimes needs a splash of vinegar because it is sweeter than I want.  Always good and always different!

 

A few days ago I had to take Jessica to have some dental work done and sat in a Wendy’s during lunch time.  Chicken, apple & pecan salad:

This was surprisingly good.  Except for the gelatinous vinaigrette.  I took more than half home and put Penzey’s Green Goddess dressing on it for dinner and it was SO good. 

 

Out running errands on Saturday and we stopped at a Mexican place we hadn’t been to in many years.  We were surprised at how good it was.  Mr. Kim had the carne asada burrito:

 

I had two tacos; one was a hard taco with ground beef and the other was a soft flour taco with carnitas:

 

 

On Mother’s Day Jessica and Mr. Kim took me for a picnic lunch, a drive to Fredericksburg and dinner.   We stopped at a nice little park in Ashland for lunch.  The menu:

 

Deviled eggs:

 

Cheddar cheese and water biscuits:

The water biscuits were Food Lion’s store brand and were every bit as good as Carr’s (and were $1.27 instead of over $4). 

 

The sandwiches:

 

The berries and the pasta salad:

 

Someone’s plate:

 

The desserts (which we actually didn’t get to until the next day):

From a favorite local bakery.  From top left: their take on a cannoli, berry cheesecake macaron, vanilla latte macaron, blueberry lemon macaron, blondie, and chocolate chip cookies. 

 

The macarons are enormous and yet the texture and consistency are perfect:

 

 

This was disappointingly lacking in flavor. 

 

Mr. Kim was off for a couple of days this week and we went to a sub place we love for lunch.  My cheese steak and fries:

 

Mr. Kim’s pepperoni cheese steak:

 

Sorry this was so long - I'll try to keep up better!

 

[TicTac]

Chefs treat lunch 

 

step 1- make gravlax

 

step 2- slice it really thin off the skin and save said skin after the gravlax is done (use the skin to wrap your salmon that’s not sliced as a method of preservation)

 

step 3- hot pan!

 

 

 

step 4- slather with sorrel sauce! 

[OlyveOyl]

Korean rice cakes with a  pork sauce ,Gochujang, garlic, ginger and more. Baby Tuscan kale from pots on the terrace, peppers and a mess of scallions and cilantro.

And for a palate cleanser, tangerine sorbet with a little hit of pastis.

[billyhill]

Work has been brutal and I have not been cooking as much. This humble submission was supposed to have been made 3 days ago.  Not as authentic as I usually make it and somewhat deconstructed.  Puerto Rican chicken and rice.

[blue_dolphin]

@Kim Shook, I will be stealing Jessica's ham, Swiss, arugula, fig jam combo for a future breakfast! 

With that pesky crab cake out of the way, I was able to access the bag of veggie burgers I made from Grains for Every Season. Sautéed greens, aged Gruyere and TJ's onion chips (oddly spongy so I crisped them in the CSO) were involved, along with the last of the frozen onion rings and some fresh veg. 

 

Not bad but the middle is a bit mushy.  I think I'll try the next one as a smash burger to maximize the exterior crunch and minimize the interior mush. 

Also, bacon will be involved. 

 

[chromedome]

11 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

@Kim Shook, I will be stealing Jessica's ham, Swiss, arugula, fig jam combo for a future breakfast! 

With that pesky crab cake out of the way, I was able to access the bag of veggie burgers I made from Grains for Every Season. Sautéed greens, aged Gruyere and TJ's onion chips (oddly spongy so I crisped them in the CSO) were involved, along with the last of the frozen onion rings and some fresh veg. 

 

Not bad but the middle is a bit mushy.  I think I'll try the next one as a smash burger to maximize the exterior crunch and minimize the interior mush. 

Also, bacon will be involved. 

 

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.

[BonVivant]

Prawns with soft eggs and with quark, eaten with bread.

 

 

Vegetables on the side

 

Meal #2.

 

Burrata doused with chilli oil, beetroot-drained yoghurt-walnut-apple spread.

 

Mixed herbs with drained yoghurt and nuts.

 

Turkish flatbread

 

Lamb chops from Turkish butcher, and first chive blossoms from the garden.

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by BonVivant (log)

[RWood]

Nice day by the pool for snacks.
Pancetta Mushroom Tartletts, Hot Honey Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Arancini with tomato sauce, olives, grilled rosemary bread and Prosecco!

[heidih]

54 minutes ago, RWood said:

Nice day by the pool for snacks.
Pancetta Mushroom Tartletts, Hot Honey Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Arancini with tomato sauce, olives, grilled rosemary bread and Prosecco!

Not pool weather here but I am zooming to kitchen to smake some version of hot honey roasted brussels sprouts - thanks - I needed inspiration

[Anna N]

56 minutes ago, RWood said:

Nice day by the pool for snacks.

Wow. They all look amazing. I am especially taken with those mushroom tarts,