Lunch 2024

[liuzhou]

On 3/1/2024 at 9:08 AM, blue_dolphin said:

These are farmed, not wild caught and take 3-4 years to reach this 4” size so they are rather expensive but it’s nice they are available. 

 

4" abalone! That is large. The largest I get here are half that. I get both farmed and wild but they are all pretty much the same size.

[blue_dolphin]

20 hours ago, Neely said:

The above looks delicious @blue_dolphin. I love mussels, thanks for the link. 

I think you'll like it if you decide to give it a try.  I really enjoyed the flavor the cider gave to the broth.  

 

56 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

4" abalone! That is large. The largest I get here are half that. I get both farmed and wild but they are all pretty much the same size.

Well, I went back and measured them and 3.5" is more like it.  And that's the shells, the critters themselves are smaller. 

 

I must say they were very carefully packed and they're still alive and well in my fridge.  At least these guys were until I rudely evicted them from their shells and turned them into lunch. 

They were simply seasoned with S&P, seared in butter and olive oil and given a squeeze of lemon juice.  Served with grilled asparagus, polenta and topped with blistered cherry tomatoes and red onion. 

This recipe was on the website of the fish share I'm using.  All that other stuff isn't really necessary but it helps if you're making a meal out of a few little abalone! 

[blue_dolphin]

Onion and Cider Soup with Melting Camembert alongside an arugula salad topped with the Apple and Beetroot Relish, both from Roast Figs, Sugar Snow by Diana Henry.  The soup recipe is available online at this link. 

I didn't need any sugar to get the onions to caramelize so I skipped that.  No camembert in the house so I used Cowboy Creamery's Mt. Tam instead.  

I also skipped the sugar in the apple and beet relish and added extra vinegar to tart it up a bit. 

[Shelby]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:18 PM, TicTac said:

Looks awesome.

 

Just a quick shout-out to @Shelby - these are what we call "Fries that are not lonely!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

😛

 

My fries were only children  and learned how to play by themselves 

 

🤣

[BonVivant]

Potatoes and chickpeas with pistachio-parsley sauce. Hot-smoked salmon.

Still drinking some very old sour beer from my "cellar".

 

 

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Smoked sprats from Latvia.

Huevo de atun (dried tuna roe) from Murcia.

A spread: beetroot, walnuts, ground flax seeds.

 

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Moroccan "pancakes" (from a Moroccan bakery)

 

Moroccan fried flatbread (from the same Moroccan bakery)

 

In the middle is Turkish tandir flatbread with spicy pepper paste and mince (from Turkish shop with tandir ovens)

[OlyveOyl]

Potato roll with mortadella, ricotta , pistachios.  Cauliflower salad with finely diced red onion, radish and preserved kumquat; anchovy/garlic vinaigrette.

[blue_dolphin]

I used RG Royal Coronas to make this Mustard-marinated beans with shaved asparagus and parsley from Abra Beren's book, Grist and it was a most excellent lunch, if I do say so myself 🙃.

The just-cooked, warm beans are marinated in a Dijon mustard vinaigrette and served with thinly sliced asparagus tossed with olive oil and parsley. I put everything on a pile of arugula as I liked having both a tender and crunchy veg.

[Raamo]

 

 

Lamb Meatballs with ras el hanout, tomato sauce with ras el hanout....  onion in both, garlic in the sauce..  Fries in our brand new airfryer - I'll post a picture over in airfryer topic.

 

Bread to make sure none of the amazing tomato sauce is left.

 

I made the meatballs and sauce last night, since I didn't figure I'd have time to do more then cook the meatballs in the steam oven, heat the sauce in the microwave, the fries in the air fryer, and the toaster for the bread

 

Edited March 7 by Raamo (log)

[Kim Shook]

@OlyveOyl – that crab salad looks absolutely delicious.  Last night I dreamt that a neighbor dropped off a FULL trash cans-sized box of steamed crabs saying they were “extras”.  I’m pretty sure that your crab rolls influenced that dream 😄!  Also, I put your pork loin sandwich information into a Word Document and printed it out as a recipe to try.  It looks and sounds wonderful.

 

@blue_dolphin – I’ve never tasted abalone.  I’m guessing that until I manage to make it to the west coast, I’m better off keeping it that way 😄. 

 

As I mentioned on the Breakfast thread, for various reasons I’ve been MIA for some time.  I’m trying to catch up here at eG.  I feel like I’m swimming upstream trying to get up to date on the Dinner thread, but now I’m current in Breakfast and Lunch.  So here are some recent lunches from me.

 

One day we just crackers and Rodel sardines from my canned fish stash:

These were excellent!!!

 

Chicken salad on a toasted English muffin.

 

I got a craving for a childhood favorite and I had some Campari tomatoes on the counter!  It was SO good. 

 

Ham and cheese on toast:

 

An after church brunch at a local diner.  Mr. Kim had eggs, bacon, toast, and home fries:

 

I had eggs Benedict and hash browns with onions:

 

The following Sunday, we went to a new, to us, place called The Flyin’ Pig.  Every single thing we had was great.  Hushpuppies with spicy pepper jelly and honey butter:

The pups were really good and the pepper jelly was a great idea – too spicy for me, but I’m stealing that idea of serving pepper jelly with hushpuppies and cornbread! 

 

Mr. Kim’s “side salad”:

This was so much better than what you usually get as a side salad.  The greens were lovely, colorful baby greens, there were chopped tomatoes (that actually tasted good), cucumbers, cheese, croutons, and corn.  I’d never had corn in a salad before, but it was a great addition – crisp and sweet.  And the dressing was fantastic – a honey-lime vinaigrette.  Truly impressive.  For his main, Mr. Kim got The Bruce – a pulled pork sandwich and their smoked, grilled wings.  He chose the spicy garlic sauce for his wings:

The pork was great – juicy and smoky, but not wet and over smoked as we find so often.  The wings were too hot for me to taste, but Mr. Kim liked them a lot – in spite of the fact that he like his wings breaded and fried.  The blue cheese was incredible.  As good as homemade and loaded with chunks of cheese. 

 

I got the brisket burnt ends sandwich and the onion straws:

Truly a delicious meal.  I loved the sticky sweetness of the burnt ends and the onion straws were done with my favorite method – dredged rather than batter dipped.  We did think that it was odd that they had this sandwich, but no brisket.  We will happily go back there.   

 

One day lunch was a weird attempt to make some room in the freezer:

Pigs in a blanket and fish sticks.  (The Doritos were from the overflowing chips bin).

[OlyveOyl]

@Kim Shook  Thank you Kim, I hope you enjoy the pork loin if you get to try it.

And may you continue to have sweet crab dreams!😁

[NadyaDuke]

Actually remembered to take a picture because I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation and food! I was out running an errand in a part of town I don’t usually go to so on a whim I tried a little Korean place that had good reviews. I was early so no one had their food yet so I didn’t know what to expect. I ordered the gochu-garu salmon, described as “salmon seasoned in gochu-garu dry rub and mint pesto served with vegetables over rice.” I was thinking I’d get a single plate or bowl of food and I got this tasty beauty. It was delicious.

[C. sapidus]

Roasted chile Poblano and seared white onion with sauteed garlic and chiles, finished with half-and-half, feta cheese, Meyer lemon juice, Mexican oregano, thyme, cilantro, and Hatch chile powder. The latter did more for flavor than appearance.

 

[KennethT]

 

Recipe testing the filling for a Malaysian samosa of sorts (made with ground bison). Looks like dog food, tastes amazing!

Edited March 9 by KennethT (log)

[C. sapidus]

4 minutes ago, KennethT said:

 

 

. . .  Looks like dog food, tastes amazing!

 

Some of the tastiest things look like dog food . . . 

 

Palak paneer variant with spinach, fenugreek greens, cilantro stems, and fried paneer. Sizzled cumin, black mustard, and fenugreek seeds, added garlic, ginger, and green chilies, and then simmered with the greens and crushed tomato, finishing with yogurt, turmeric, and garam masala.

 

I was out of garam masala and too lazy to drive to the store so I ground up a batch with black and green cardamom seed, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, black pepper, coriander seed, and cumin seed.

 

Edited March 9 by C. sapidus
Grammar (log)

[KennethT]

4 minutes ago, C. sapidus said:

 

Some of the tastiest things look like dog food . . . 

 

Palak paneer variant with spinach, fenugreek greens, cilantro stems, and fried paneer. Sizzled cumin, black mustard, and fenugreek seeds, added garlic, ginger, and green chilies, and then simmered with the greens and crushed tomato, finishing with yogurt, turmeric, and garam masala.

 

I was out of garam masala and too lazy to drive to the store so I ground up a batch with black and green cardamom seed, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, black pepper, coriander seed, and cumin seed.

 

Do you have access to fresh fenugreek leaves or are they dried?

 

I never keep garam masala in the house anymore as I've made my own curry powder for meat - see my Singapore chicken curry recipe. I make a big batch, then portion and keep in the freezer.  When I make that curry, I always have a few tablespoons leftover, which I keep in the freezer so I have it whenever I want.  I used some today in the samosa filling.

[C. sapidus]

38 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Do you have access to fresh fenugreek leaves or are they dried?

 

 

These were dried, but fresh fenugreek leaves are often available

[BonVivant]

Indonesian shrimp paste. Sweet and very shrimp-y, needs to soften with boiling water before using. I add some fish sauce and acidity as I find it too sweet.

These go in a soup broth, eaten with noodles and green vegetables.

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Spicy octopus tentacles in the style of "ali nazik" (Turkish smokey aubergine pulp with yoghurt and lamb mince).

I tore the bread into smaller pieces (they are bigger than a dinner plate).

One of the best and rarest Cantillon beers.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

On Sunday, we had a disappointing brunch after church at a place we hadn’t ever tried before.  It wasn’t terrible, just really ordinary.  My hot pastrami and Swiss on marble rye and fries:

Mr. Kim’s Rueben and potato salad:

I asked when we ordered if the sandwiches were grilled and was told they were.  Pretty sure that the fillings were heated up and then put on toasted bread.  My pastrami tasted good, though it was pretty dry and sliced paper thin (personal preference – I like a thicker slice).  Mr. Kim’s sandwich was salty almost to the point of being inedible.  The meat was stringy and very dry.  My fries were fine, for battered fries, but the potato salad was tasteless.  One other thing that had nothing to do with the food, but was odd and irritating was that the menu indicated that all sandwiches came with a side, potato chips, and a pickle.  The list of sides included, among other things, both fries and potato salad.  But we were charged an upcharge for the fries, but not for the potato salad.  With our favorite area deli a couple of miles away from us, I can’t imagine that we’d ever go back there. 

 

Today:

Sausage, egg, and cheese on a toasted baguette and some store bought  mandarin orange congealed salad. 

[blue_dolphin]

Pasta alla Norcina from Diana Henry's Roast Figs, Sugar Snow with a bunch of roasted broccolini thrown in.

Very much the same thing as Marcella's pasta with sausage and cream in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  Both specify a mild sausage with no chile peppers or fennel. I bought a sweet Italian sausage but it did have fennel but it was fine. 

 

[Neely]

Went out for lunch with a couple of friends. Had Calamari, I always have calamari for a “not” fancy lunch.  It included pickled ginger and nori with a wasabi mayonnaise. 
Also had a locally brewed lager which was great. 
Upthread a ways I saw @BonVivant you had a Framboise beer. Where we had a country holiday home until recently… there was a boutique brewery there that had a Framboise lager which I loved. Can’t find it again around here and 4 hours is a bit far to drive for a beer. Hah!
 

[OlyveOyl]

Linguine with peas, Parmesan and a leftover cubed chicken cutlet.  This was a speedy lunch,  cooked in a large sauté pan. While the sliced garlic was gently sautéing, I soaked the linguine in cold water.  When the garlic became fragrant, I added red pepper flakes, fresh bay leaf and a sprig of thyme. Then added two cups of chicken broth, simmered a few minutes and placed the linguine in a flat layer in the broth, it needed a couple of tablespoons of water to cover. Rinsed the peas in hot water and placed over the al dente pasta. While the plates were warming in the oven, I cubed the cutlet and warmed it briefly along with the plates.

Plated the pasta, which at this point had adsorbed most of the broth, topped it with the chicken and Parmesan.

A bit of Brillat Savarin and a prune in Armagnac  concluded lunch.

[blue_dolphin]

Broiled miso-marinated black cod on rice noodles, steamed sugar snaps, cucumber & pickled ginger salad

[MetsFan5]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Broiled miso-marinated black cod on rice noodles, steamed sugar snaps, cucumber & pickled ginger salad

I would pay a decent amount of money for this dish!! 

[OlyveOyl]

Rice salad today with beans, tuna, fennel, capers, red onion, tomatoes , radish and oil cured black olives. Anchovy/garlic vinaigrette was the glue that held it together. 

[Paul Bacino]

Fried rice Tortilla