Dinner 2025

[liuzhou]

I'm doing prep for dinner now, in case I run out of energy later - it was a late night. 

 

Having complained recently about the shocking difficulty I have sourcing lamb, I made a special effort and managed to track some down in far-away Gansu province and had some shipped. I had to buy a lot, so most is in the freezer, but I left these to thaw overnight.

 

 

They need a bit longer defrosting but then I'll marinate them.

 

Also, bought some rosemary which will be involved somehow.  

 

 

Edited December 31, 2024 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[liuzhou]

After a good rest, I can finally reveal what I did with my lamb. I abandoned my original plan and went with a north-western Chinese treatment. First I took some cumin seeds, toasted them in a dry wok and hand ground them to a powder in one of my too many mortar and pestle sets.

 

 

 

Mixed in some salt and rubbed this into the lamb. Ideally, I would then have grilled them over charcoal but living in a city apartment block, that option is not available to me. So into a cast iron frying pan with a little oil they went. As they were frying, they were sprinkled with more cumin and some chilli flakes.

 

 

and lo and behold.

 

New Year's Dinner

 

 

These I served with a wild mushroom fried rice.

 

 

[Honkman]

Our daughter made some deviled eggs and we made one of our very rare repeats - fusion cuisine with Southern-style pork vindaloo and green bean verakka with cardamom cornbread from “My Two Souths” by Asha Gomez

[Ann_T]

First dinner of 2025.

 

Baked a bone in ham and served with scalloped potatoes, squash, and Brussel Sprouts.

[Neely]

 

Things went awry on New years day as we minded our little grandson 11 months old Freddy, instead of the parents joining us.  He’s into everthing, nearly walking and has a big appetite. I ended up cutting 2 steaks off the beef tenderloin ( whole beef fillet )I was intending to roast and serve as thin slices for us all. Instead,  my husband and I just had a quick lunch with salad and a potato, in between the darling demands of Freddy. 

 

 

Then come Thurs early dinner and I’ve made a beef Wellington with what was left of the tenderloin. Had it with asparagus and scalloped potatoes with a rich, beef juice, brandy, mushroom sauce. We joyed this as a quieter meal than the day before. 
 

[Dejah]

Quiet days after all the hustle bustle of the Christmas week!

Just 2 old folks at home, so we celebrated the new year with surf & turf!

Tenderloin steaks done in cast iron pan, garlic butter lobster tails in the air fryer, jasmine rice, and.....PEAS!
Happy 2025, everyone!                                          

                                                                                            

[Honkman]

Mapo Tofu from “A Very Chinese Cookbook” made with ground pork, firm tofu, scallions, garlic, ginger, doubanjiang, douchi, chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorns, hoisin sauce, chicken broth, toasted sesame oil and cornstarch. Served over rice

[liuzhou]

January the Tooth.

 

泡椒牛肉炒饭 (pào jiāo niú ròu chǎo fàn) Beef with pickled red and green chilli peppers plus added shrimp. The shrimp is not normal, but I like how their sweetness contrasts and complements the sourness of the hot peppers, Other ingredients include egg, carrot, peas, chives.

 

 

 

[Norm Matthews]

It has been a while since we had a fairly complete Southern New Years Day dinner because ham hocks have been really poor to non existent for a quite a while, but at a farmers market last summer I got one that was very good and it has been in the freezer until it was time to thaw it for yesterday. Black eyed peas are in the small bowl.  They are in a chip dip.  Collard greens and corn bread complete the meal. 

[Smithy]

With apologies to the fine dinners already populating this new topic, I'll give everyone a laugh. I hope.

 

I mentioned here that a neighbor had shot a bear and given me a packet of the ground meat, and asked advice about how to cook it. @YvetteMT was good enough to note here that it's probably quite mild in flavor unless it's been living on fish, and suggested a delicate hand in seasoning it. I looked at the eG Cook-Off #75: Meatballs topic and got some ideas for the panade. I also ran across this comment that northern US bear meat must be thoroughly cooked due to the presence of Trichinella. Hmm. Meatballs or hamburger? I really wanted to taste the bear itself. I really wanted to make sure it was cooked thoroughly. I got out my instant-read thermometer. Flat battery! Got out the other. Readied myself.

 

What you see below is the sole record of last night's experiment. I made a few meatballs with a simple panade of bread I'm trying to use up and 1% milk left over from a baking project. I made a simple burger. I washed everything thoroughly, pondering the fact that we don't worry about trichinosis in this country from pork any more, and here I was fussing over it from wild game!

 

 

I kept poking my Thermoworks into the meatballs and burger patty. Was 150F going to be enough? USDA doesn't specify bear meat, but for other forms of game they went with 160F. It isn't as though it's all going to be held at temp for a long time, as in the sous vide discussion I linked to before. 160F it is, at the interior.

 

It was a little more appetizing looking when browned, but I can't say I enjoyed it. No particular flavor that I could tell. A bit on the dry side, as you might imagine when it's been cooked to that temperature. The leftovers, and the uncooked meat, are all going into a pasta sauce.

 

And you know what? If this is the worst dinner I produce in 2025, I'll have gotten the kitchen failures out of the way early!

 

 

[Dejah]

Back to simpler fare: Tomato, Beef & Egg stir-fry - lots of Jasmine rice to soak up the delicious sauce!

                                            

                                                                                                                       

[Honkman]

Sausage and Bean Stew cooked in a pressure cooker made with Ayocote Morado Beans. The beans were soaked overnight, then precooked at high pressure with clove studded onion and bay leaves for 5 minutes. After browning sausages, onions and bacon, the beans were cooked another 5 minutes at high pressure with chicken broth, thyme, cinnamon, cloves, diced tomatoes, light brown sugar, molasses, mustard and Worcestershire sauce

[Neely]

Snap on the stir fry @Dejah only ours was marinated pork, beans and red pepper with noodles. 
 

[Maison Rustique]

I think I posted a few days ago that I'd made potato soup (finally). I was telling my sister a couple of days ago that a year or so ago, I'd had blueberry English muffins that I loved and had never been able to find them again. She told me that a local grocery store carries them and sure enough I found some. So, last night I had a bowl of potato soup and half a blueberry English muffin. Happy camper!

 

Thomas Blueberry English Muffins

[Paul Bacino]

New yrs Dinner

 

Schnitzel and spaetzles (  I used a egulleter recipe,  with baking powder  ) @ludja

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Paul Bacino (log)

[Okanagancook]

Baking powder, really…were they noticeably fluffier?  How much did you add, if you have it handy?

Edited 9 minutes ago by Okanagancook (log)

[gulfporter]

In Spain: Rabo de Toro; In Mexico: Cola de Res.  

 

Oxtails in red wine with (a ton of) carrots.  Instapot and oh-so-good. 

 

I made for New Year's Dinner but forgot to take a pic.  

 

Leftovers look and taste the same.   Served with a dollop of mashed potatoes.