Dinner 2024

[MaryIsobel]

If you know, you know. Accompanied by a mug of chicken broth and a glass of white cranberry juice.

[Honkman]

Fettuccine with Romano Beans in Nduja-Tomato Sauce - Diced romano beans get precooked. Nduja and garlic sautéed until slightly crumbly. Quartered roma tomatoes are cooked down and mixed with the nduja mixture before adding fettuccine, romano beans, pasta water, basil, lemon juice and zest. Finished with some parmesan.

[TicTac]

14 hours ago, KennethT said:

Interesting.  I had always heard that predators didn't make good meat, but I guess this is an exception!

Since when?

 

Alligator is delicious and I have known some evil chickens who would come for our ankles and are voracious insect predators that taste superb!

[KennethT]

15 minutes ago, TicTac said:

Since when?

 

Alligator is delicious and I have known some evil chickens who would come for our ankles and are voracious insect predators that taste superb!

I guess I should have phrased it as "mammalian predators...."  Yes, alligator is delicious but I completely forgot about it since I haven't had it since I was a kid.  I don't think I'd go so far as chickens being called predators though - have you ever seen one stalk some grubs?

[rotuts]

@Ann_T

 

all three bottles were throughly enjoyed .

 

# 3  ( R => L ) was a favorite of one person ,  the the other two tasters 

 

thought 2 or 1 , depending on the Volume Tested.

 

these were picked out @ Twine by price category  ( all three same price ) and what TW had.

 

P.S.: ' ratings' on each , L => R :  91 , 92 , 96 .

 

and , 

 

SacreBleu :  # 1 and # 2 were combined , 2/3'd of the way through the tasting .

 

 

 

Edited October 29 by rotuts (log)

[liamsaunt]

Nephew's dinner request: Creamy tomato soup and crunchy grilled cheese.  Easy enough.  The cheese was gouda.  

 

[C. sapidus]

Chicken murgh with spinach, cilantro, lots of ginger, golden raisins, coconut milk, chiles, mustard, and a good chunk of the spice cabinet. Butternut squash baked with garlic, olive oil, snipped red chiles, and curry leaves. Ridiculously good for how simple the recipe.

 

 

Masoor dal with fried onion, panch foran, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, and crushed tomato.

 

[Smithy]

Quick and dirty dinner, mostly because I'd done all the vegetable roasting a couple of days ago. Roasted vegetables (red bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, onions) are smothering a smoked duck breast WAY past its prime, fished out of the freezer this morning. Once everything was sufficiently seared / heated, I added a package of already-cooked jasmine rice along with some water, let it all steam, then let the steam off. Garnished with roasted peanuts; stirred and ate.

 

 

I really wasn't sure how that duck breast would do. I had bought it in anticipation of some use or other last summer, eventually given up the idea and stuffed it into the freezer. By then I'd already lost some other purchases from that favorite shop to age and mold. The duck seems to have survived the long wait and freezing.

 

Dinner, "plated" and then sauced with a balsamic vinaigrette:

 

 

 

There's at least another serving there.

[Honkman]

Oven roasted cauliflower (in a spice mix of fennel, cumin and coriander seeds, cloves and turmeric) served over greek yoghurt (with lime juice and zest) and with plenty of herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro, mint), roasted almonds, toasted puffed rice and nigella seeds (and two wiener wuerstchen)

[rotuts]

Ive been wanting to use the whole spice blends I recently purchased

 

from Spice Trekkers 

 

https://spicetrekkers.com/shop/spice-blends

 

I enjoy Curry flavors , and have been using curry pastes for a long long time. thought Id try these.

 

Initially I though : how would I make the ' substance ' of the curry ( the sauce , if you will )

 

but ended up not needn't anything other than a blend . lightly toasted , and ground :

 

 

 

picked the middle one , and toasted an aliquot :

 

 

I have a very old ' Emeril ' 8 " pan , that came as sale into to a line at BB&B long ago .  it's a crappy pan .

 

but I kept it to heat my drip pot .  now I use it to toast spices , watching carefully as not to burn.

 

 

Picked up a Yoder smoked turkey breast last weekend ,

 

 

very moist , pleasant smoke .  

 

trimmed w ground fresh spice mix :

 

 

make a pot of rice in the fuzzy , in this case brown jasmine , as TJ's no longer carries brown basmati .

 

white rice of your choice would also be might fine .

 

 

on top of the cooked rice .  

 

with added mix-ins : red and green onion :

 

 

plated on gently micro'd spinach , w dried cranberries and cherries , and chopped walnuts :

 

 

I was wondering how I would make the ' sauce ' for these spice blends 

 

it turns out , in this case,  the sauce was not needed

 

The aroma from this blend , carefully toasted , and ground was

 

Phenomenal   

 

Im very much looking forward to trying the rest

 

the Spice Trekkers casn are not inexpensive ,  but Id say well worth it , allowing you to easily

 

toast a portion ' to order '  and , they don't need to be cooked in a sauce to enjoy their flavor.

Edited October 30 by rotuts (log)

[liamsaunt]

Chicken and pepper stir fry

 

[C. sapidus]

39 minutes ago, rotuts said:

I was wondering how I would make the ' sauce ' for these spice blends 

 

it turns out , in this case the sauce was not needed

 

 

Sounds delicious! If you wanted a 'sauce' you could always add in some combination of yogurt, tomato, coconut milk, cream, tamarind, water, blended spinach/cilantro, etc. Plus, hard to go wrong by adding ginger, garlic, chiles, etc.

 

Lots of options that can easily be fiddled to taste.

[rotuts]

@C. sapidus

 

fine tips.  thank you .

 

Ill keep that in mind.  Im sure the results would be a ' cut above '

 

for now :  just the toasted spice blend.    

 

in something .   so fresh ( toasted ) flavors and aromas stand out.

 

because they really do.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Quick dinner after a long day.

Shell on shrimp pan fried with shrimp roe noodles, a lot of chard, black bean chili crisp oil, garlic and ginger with a Tatamagouche Deception Bay IPA. 

 

[Anchobrie]

albacore salad. Simple and effective. Really good albacore belly.

 

 

[Ann_T]

Tuesday night - Chicken Stew and Dumplings.

 

Wednesday night - Grilled Pork Chops (cut off a rack of pork)

and served with roasted Brussel sprouts with Cremini mushrooms and roasted potatoes.

[weinoo]

In these potential end of days, I turned to some comfort food last night (and not much different than @Ann_T's above).

 

 

Chicken soup...with dumplings matzoh balls.

 

One of my better chicken stocks from frozen parts and an old hen (in my market, called a gallina).  The matzoh balls were light as a feather. Initially, I thought they would fall apart, as they were so moist, even after resting in the fridge for an hour or two. But I was able to form almost balls, and they held together beautifully, and practically melt in the mouth.

 

 

Cooked in salted water with a touch of saffron.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 31 by weinoo (log)

[C. sapidus]

Pollo con oregano: Chicken braised with onion and garlic, marinated with a paste of garlic and Mexican oregano, and then broiled.

 

Chayote al vapor, with jalapeno and cilantro. Simple and very tasty, a long-time favorite.

 

[Neely]

Same same but different. Husbands Indian curry again with rice, beans, chips ( we are out of pappadams ) and mango chutney. He likes to cook this curry and I like to eat it. 
 

[Katie Meadow]

21 hours ago, weinoo said:

In these potential end of days, I turned to some comfort food last night (and not much different than @Ann_T's above).

 

 

Chicken soup...with dumplings matzoh balls.

 

One of my better chicken stocks from frozen parts and an old hen (in my market, called a gallina).  The matzoh balls were light as a feather. Initially, I thought they would fall apart, as they were so moist, even after resting in the fridge for an hour or two. But I was able to form almost balls, and they held together beautifully, and practically melt in the mouth.

 

 

Cooked in salted water with a touch of saffron.

 

 

 

 

Saffron? How edgy! Yum. As for matzoh balls nothing is bettuh than light as a feathuh. And I just made a batch of chicken stock the other day. Good for election night if I can keep anything down. If I'm too crazed to cook, then rye whiskey and a side of xanax.

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

rye whiskey and a side of xanax.

Start now.

[rotuts]

the time to start 

 

was 8 years ago.

[gulfporter]

Been at least 12 years since my last trip to a US Costco and I forgot how big (and cheap) their rotisserie chickens are!!  

 

This is our 4th meal from one and I still have a bit more left. 

 

Salad of chicken, apple, green onion, cranberries and toasted pecans.  Over arugula and dressed with my usual lemon-dijon-garlic vinaigrette.  

 

 

[C. sapidus]

Seafood salad (yam po taek) with poached shrimp and bay scallops. Salad was red-leaf lettuce, cucumber, mint, sliced lemongrass, and cilantro. Dressing was roasted chile paste, lime juice, fish sauce, sliced garlic, bird chile, and lime zest. Coconut rice to go with.

 

Gosh I love Thai salads

 

[haresfur]

Roasted cauli with half the cauliflower I posted about in the gardening topic. Just olive oil and salt. Served over brown rice and soy sauce.