Lunch 2023

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

You're kidding right? UK suburbia venison looks like this!

With that color, are you sure that’s venison ..?!

 

[Kerala]

 

Interesting comment. That's the usual colour of venison I get here, whether in a vac pac at the supermarket or on the bone at a butcher's. We may be getting different species. Muntjac run wild in many places in the UK, but i assume what ends up on my plate is red deer.

[liuzhou]

37 minutes ago, Kerala said:

 

Interesting comment. That's the usual colour of venison I get here, whether in a vac pac at the supermarket or on the bone at a butcher's. We may be getting different species. Muntjac run wild in many places in the UK, but i assume what ends up on my plate is red deer.

 

My home town in Scotland has loads of deer farms. The venison is 90% red deer. I'm convinced that's what you have.

 

[billyhill]

I would have guessed red deer. If they are like their American cousin, it is better eating than whitetail.

 

Oh, venison and beef chili with beans.

Edited February 19, 2023 by billyhill
Additions (log)

[billyhill]

For second lunch, I went a schnitzeling.

 

I guess I should have included that it is venison. Flank and flatirons. 

Edited February 19, 2023 by billyhill
Additions (log)

[KennethT]

Kinda sorta linguini cacio e pepe with Argentine shrimp with capers from Pantelleria (a gift)

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by KennethT (log)

[Dejah]

After cutting off meat from this ham bone for Clam Chowder the other night, I used the bone for Ham and Split Pea soup. Made it yesterday, then out into my "outside fridge" for the night.

Today' is another blustery day, so the soup was perfect for lunch!

Might get a chance to gnaw on that later 😉

                                                                              

But for now, easier eating!

 

                                                                                                  

 

 

 

[johnnyd]

Local scallops and heirloom fingerlings, sauteed in sage butter. Amazing...

 

 

[rotuts]

@johnnyd 

 

wow , looks so delicious 

 

BTW :  I do remember scallops .  right up there , w clams w bellies 

[blue_dolphin]

White Bean Scampi Stew from I Dream of Dinner

I had the notion that I'd like something with shrimp and white beans today and considered just tossing them with pesto when Eat Your Books pointed me to this recipe with its garlicky, lemony broth to warm me up on a chilly day. I used Rancho Gordo Cassoulet beans instead of canned white beans but otherwise followed the recipe.  Easy and delicious. 

[blue_dolphin]

What is that plate of slop, @blue_dolphin?  Why it's the Harissa Eggs with Pita and Dates from I Dream of Dinner. 

In this take on fatoot samneh, the book uses pita chips instead of pita bread but I went the more traditional route and used torn pieces of pita toasted in clarified butter as in this recipe. The pieces of date get almost caramelized while the pita toasts and a squeeze of lime (recipe says lemon) brightens things up. 

I was thinking it might be better to dot the harissa into the pan when you add the eggs so you'd have streaks of spice next to plain eggs but this turned out pretty nicely.  Could be alarming I suppose.  Maybe next time.  

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

What is that plate of slop, @blue_dolphin?  Why it's the Harissa Eggs with Pita and Dates from I Dream of Dinner. 

How is it that I manage to miss these interesting recipes in a book that I own and frequently consult? It is only when you post about them that I begin to see their potential. Surely there must be a role for you in the cookbook publishing world!

[Pete Fred]

Croque Monsieur made with 18-month unpasteurized Comte and a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce in the bechamel.

 

 

 

I made three more for the freezer. I suspect they may not last the week.

[lindag]

Yesterday I had lunch again at my favorite restaurant in nearby Hamilton.

Authentic Thai food!  So good.

I ordered Pad See Ew with shrimp.  Amazing.

I'm going to try to replicate it although without the Thai Chilis and Holy Basil that are not available here.  I did get the real Pan Mee noodles however.

I'm betting it will be good.

Recipe here.

 

[OlyveOyl]

Pasta with a bolognese sauce and a small scoop of ricotta.  Followed by endive salad, pea shoots,  a vinaigrette dressing.

[BeeZee]

desk lunch-leftover chopped Greek salad with some added (canned) tuna.

 

[OlyveOyl]

Lunch today was a Swiss chard tart along with  sautéed onion and sausage. A few golden raisins, oil cured black olives and some Gruyère cheese were also included. Mixed green salad was the side.

[Anna N]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:53 AM, Pete Fred said:

I made three more for the freezer. I suspect they may not last the week.

I am wondering how your package them for the freezer and how you reheat them. Thank you.

[Pete Fred]

Ahhhh, yes... when I said "made", perhaps "assembled" would be more accurate. The three that went in the freezer were unbaked and simply wrapped in clingfilm...

 

 

When I can resist their siren call no longer I defrost overnight in the fridge and bake from chilled in a 200C/400F oven. By the time the top is nicely browned and bubbly, the croque is piping hot all the way through, about 25 minutes.

 

I can't say that I've noticed any issues with the bechamel separating after being frozen, but then again I've never had a good poke around to check. Too busy enjoying the cheesy goodness! 😋

 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Pete Fred said:

Ahhhh, yes... when I said "made", perhaps "assembled" would be more accurate.

Thanks for sharing. Just puzzled as to why. Doesn't seem to be much less trouble this way than when done from scratch. Not judging. Just a bit puzzled. I guess making the bechamel. 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Thanks for sharing. Just puzzled as to why. Doesn't seem to be much less trouble this way than when done from scratch. Not judging. Just a bit puzzled. I guess making the bechamel. 

 

That was my first thought but I can see it would be kind of nice to have one for breakfast without getting all the ingredients out.  My problem would be remembering to thaw it O/N in the fridge 🤣

 

Today's breakfast was sort of a deconstructed lasagna.  I made a small batch of the Lasagna with Gochugaru Oil from Korean American the other day but a full batch of sauce because I thought it sounded interesting. It includes plenty of red onion, a whole tin of anchovies, butter, gochujang and gochugaru. None of them take over but work together to yield an intriguing flavor that's hard to pin down. I was thinking it would be good on spinach or ricotta ravioli but was too lazy to make them so I just turned the same ingredients that go into the lasagna (spinach, mozz, parm, ricotta) into a baked pasta. 

 

Edited to add that I just realized that just posted my breakfast in the lunch topic. Might as well leave it here. It was a rather late breakfast 😉

 

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

That was my first thought but I can see it would be kind of nice to have one for breakfast without getting all the ingredients out.  My problem would be remembering to thaw it O/N in the fridge 🤣

Yeah. I think I need to remember that other people have different ideas and that they're not necessarily on the same wavelength as me where convenience is concerned . When I read that it's going to take me that long to prepare something from the freezer I become a little antsy.  And I don't think I would ever remember to thaw them in the refrigerator either.

[Kim Shook]

@Pete Fred – that is exactly the kind of Croque Monsieur that I love in restaurants and would love to make myself.  Would you share your recipe/method, please! 

 

Mr. Kim gave me a pasta making class at the cooking school attached to Publix.  It was a lot of fun and gave me some confidence that I might possibly be able to make a stab at trying to make it again.  Some of you may remember my abysmal attempt at pasta making back in April of 2020.  Their recipe for pasta was very different from the one I tried to make back then – it was so easy to put through the pasta machine.  The second pasta he made was just semolina and water and he said that it works best extruded or rolled and pressed which is what we did with it – we made cavatelli:

 

Which was paired with an arrabbiata sauce:

This was very good, though a little too spicy for me.  Because this was only a 3-hour class, the instructor made the sauces ahead of time, but he took us through the process verbally and gave us all the recipes. 

 

With the regular pasta (which we all got to work on making – I was glad to get a “feel” of properly made pasta) we made lasagna, pappardelle, and agnolotti.  The lasagna:

This was delicious, but a tad dry to my taste, but I always serve lasagna with a side of marinara.  It was made with a good, meaty and creamy Bolognese.  Its secret ingredient was chicken liver – a trick that @David Ross ❤️ taught me many years ago.  No béchamel -instead an eggy ricotta-Parm mixture. 

 

The agnolotti was filled with what was basically creamy mushroom duxelles:

It was sauced with a creamy mushroom Marsala cream sauce:

The sauce was incredible, and I even tasted the agnolotti.  I don’t like mushrooms at all, but even I could tell it was good.  And, in fact, most of the other students said it was their favorite of the entire meal.  My favorite was the pappardelle and a creamy leek and pancetta sauce:

Such a perfect combination of creamy and salty and sweet. 

 

So as not to waste anything we took the leftover pappardelle, the Bolognese we didn’t use in the lasagna and the cream and  made a VERY creamy Bolognese sauce to go over the pasta:

 

My messy and delicious plate:

 

Mr. Kim’s lunch one day that he worked from home:

The sausages are these that I picked up at the European market I discovered recently:

They are Polish in origin but these are produced in Illinois. 

 

For the 4^th or 5^th year in a row we’ve given up restaurant going for Lent – Mr. Kim  estimates what we would have spent and we give a donation of that amount to our local food pantry.  Sundays are considered “little Easters” and you can indulge in what you’ve given up (you should have been around here the year I gave up cussing).  So, right after church, we hied ourselves to our favorite deli for lunch.  It was damp and cold, so soup was in order:

Their matzoh balls are fantastic – about the size of a tennis ball, but light and fluffy all the way through.  And they taste great.  Mr. Kim had the pastrami, corned beef, and slaw with Russian dressing on rye:

 

I had the cheesesteak, which I’d never tried here before:

It was good, but not as good as their deli sandwiches 😄. 

 

Yesterday:

A small ET bagel, a small apple and a simply enormous radish. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@Kim Shook

The mushroom agnolotti in mushroom sauce gets my top vote.

 

[TicTac]

Leek/Cream/Pancetta looks great - my mom made something growing up similar, subbed the pancetta for bacon and added blue cheese.

 

Killer.