Dinner 2025

[Maison Rustique]

@Katie Meadow, I have been doing the tomato/butter thing, too, only I'm putting it on rice. I even eat it for breakfast. There is something very comforting about it.

[Paul Bacino]

Getting to be season ending   BLT-shoulder bacon, pineapple, purple Cherokee, Dukes Meyo, Dave Bread

 

[liamsaunt]

18 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

\Of course that's an excellent suggestion and no doubt what my doctor would say. But, simply put, I just don't want to. Go figure. As a chemo patient I'm honor bound to be relatively stupid. Orneriness is one of the few toolsI have left and I'm stickin' to it.

 

Don't second guess your food choices.  My oncologist told me that she did not care what I ate during chemo, as long as I ate something!  One tip, if you have not heard it already, is to use non-metal utensils for eating, as metal utensils during certain kinds of chemo can sometimes impart a strong metallic taste to the food in your mouth, causing you to lose what appetite you have.  I bought some sturdy bamboo stuff to use.  The forks and "knives" are long gone, but I still use the few remaining spoons for eating ice cream, 12 years later.  I wish you the best.

 

Last night, cedar planked salmon on an arugula salad with apples, spicy glazed pecans, and a maple-mustard dressing

 

[Katie Meadow]

No, I wouldn't second guess anything at this point. So far no metallic taste symptoms but I do use wooden chopsticks often. In my case it isn't the fork that tastes bad, it's just that what's on the end of it often tastes like cardboard. But I have my reliables that work for me. Until they don't, of course.. And then I take another tack. 

[gulfporter]

When we first started visiting MEX in the early 2000's many restaurants had Pollo Milanese on their menus.  I wondered why all the little local Mexican restaurants were serving an Italian dish??  It was also listed as a filling at hole-in-the-wall torta (sandwich) places.  

 

All the local butchers sell pounded and raw but breaded Pollo Milanese.  

 

Today I made one into Chicken Piccata.  Thanks to the butcher shop I was able to skip the mess of pounding, egging/breading.  Literally the meal was finished in 15 minutes, frying to serving.  

 

Quote

 

Explanation of how it evolved in MEX.  

AI Overview
Chicken Milanese
Chicken Milanese, known as Milanesa de Pollo in Mexico, became popular through Italian immigration in the early 20th century, adapting to local tastes with variations like being served in a tortas or with Mexican sauces. It is not originally a Mexican dish but was adopted and integrated into Mexican cuisine, much like other breaded cutlet dishes that are now staples in many Latin American countries.  

Origin of the Dish 
Italian Roots: The dish originates from Italy, specifically Milan, where it was originally made with veal and is known as the Milanese cutlet.
Austrian Connection: It's also a variation of the Austrian Wiener Schnitzel, a general category of breaded and fried cutlets.
Arrival and Adaptation in Mexico

Immigration: Italian immigrants brought the concept of the breaded cutlet, known as milanesa, to the Southern Cone of America between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Local Popularity: In Mexico, the dish became a beloved and popular meal, especially chicken milanesa (Milanesa de Pollo). 

Cultural Integration: The breaded cutlet has been integrated into Mexican food, appearing in cafeteria-style restaurants and most prominently in tortas, or Mexican sandwiches. 

Variations and Mexican Twists
Ingredients: While the preparation of pounding the meat, breading, and frying is similar, the breading might use blended crackers or cornmeal for a different texture and flavor. 

Toppings: Mexican versions can be served with local ingredients, such as guacamole sauce, pickled onions, manzano chiles, or even enchilada sauce, diverging from the traditional Italian preparation. 

Popularity: The chicken version has gained significant popularity, mirroring the rise in popularity of crispy chicken dishes in the United States. 

 

 

Here's today's dinner pics, 

 

Edited Sunday at 07:31 PM by gulfporter
spelling (log)

[Dejah]

Char Siu ribs:

 

                                                                             

 

Breaded Pork Chops with Cream of Mushroom Soup

 

                                                                                                      

[gfweb]

On 9/20/2025 at 4:26 PM, Ddanno said:

 

Can you maybe switch the white rice for wild or brown rice, and pasta to wholewheat? 

 

Why would one want to do that?

[Ddanno]

8 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Why would one want to do that?

 

8 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Purely for fibre

[dans]

Tonight’s dinner is rack of lamb and corn on the BGE, mini Yukon gold potatoes and the last of the Paris market carrots from my garden. I sauted the leaves of a Brussels sprout with the carrot and potato.

 

 

[Honkman]

Variation on Stifado with Pork - made with cubed pork shoulder, plenty of onions, garlic, celery, carrots, potatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, thyme, red wine and beef broth. 

[Neely]

• White Anchovy Tagliatelle pasta. This had strong flavours ( garlic and the anchovies ) mellowed a little by the lemon juice. I forgot to add fried bread crumbs until after we started. 

This tagliatelle is a little too wide for my liking. This is what ‘they’ call a dry pasta dish with olive oil and a little lemon juice the only moisture. 

Edited 21 hours ago by Neely (log)

[AlaMoi]

opted to try the enamel CI for a cheese souffle . . a five egg, for two - worked out well.

[liamsaunt]

A NYTimes Cooking recipe for pearl couscous risotto with roasted cherry tomatoes, pesto, and fresh mozzarella.  We were out of fresh basil so I used chives to garnish. 

 

[Dr. Teeth]

Early holiday brisket w/ prunes and dried apricots.   Not shown roasted carrots and parsnips.

[Maison Rustique]

I posted in the gift thread a while back about some tinned fish meals my sister had given me. I finally had one. This was delicious. I had it over a bed of spinach and home-grown tomato generously sprinkled with Omnivore Limone salt blend. If you are a hearty eater, you would likely want something else with it, but I am not, so this was a perfect meal for me.

 

Look for more tomato meals. I am making trips to Topeka to tend to my sis and BIL's cat and garden while they are traveling. I picked a lot of tomatoes today but there are tons that will be ripe later this week. And so many green ones! I texted my sis that they are going to be harvesting tomatoes into December at the rate these are producing!

 

[blue_dolphin]

Thanks for sharing that, @Maison Rustique, especially the photo. When you posted about your gift, I was very curious to understand the difference between a “meal” and a tin of seasoned fish!

[Maison Rustique]

1 minute ago, blue_dolphin said:

Thanks for sharing that, @Maison Rustique, especially the photo. When you posted about your gift, I was very curious to understand the difference between a “meal” and a tin of seasoned fish!

 

She said when she brought them that she'd gotten them for her lunches at work and really liked them but had been eating them for a while and was getting tired of them. I've got 2 more to try--one is tuna and another salmon. I think the tuna is provencal or nicoise and the salmon is Moroccan.

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Maison Rustique said:

Look for more tomato meals

 

I too am on a tomato kick. 

 

Tonight's dinner, despite my attesting in today's lunch post that I probably wouldn't want more than a salad, was a slice of tomato-cheese pie and a salad of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peanuts, and barberries tossed with a salad dressing based on the dressing from this recipe. 

 

 

 

I posted about the first effort at this pie in an earlier dinner post. This time I did things differently. About a week ago I roasted the sliced tomatoes per the recipe, then stuffed them in a container and froze them until I could use them. I thawed them yesterday, thinking I'd get around to baking the pie, but all I did yesterday was prepare the elements: made the pie dough, shaped and blind-baked it, then refrigerated it; made the cheese / mayonnaise mixture and refrigerated it; put the thawed tomatoes into the refrigerator. 

 

Today was assembly and baking day. I pulled the blind-baked pie shell out and let it warm in the oven as the oven preheated. The tomatoes had thrown a lot of liquid out. I left the liquid out of the pie and drank it instead. (By the way, it was delicious!) I loaded the tomatoes into the barely-warmed pie shell, topped them with the cheese / mayo mixture, and baked. 

 

Before baking:

 

After:

 

And garnished:

 

 

Marvelous! How much of that was due to the intensified tomato flavor because of freezing and thawing, the use of the proper pie pan size so the tomato layer was thicker, or sheer luck? I don't know, but I won't hesitate again to have everything prepared and ready for assembly. If I can lay my hands on more heirloom tomatoes before the season ends, I'm going to give them the same treatment and post about it in the Preserving topic. Then, later, I'll groan at myself for adding more stuff to the freezer. 🙂

 

As far as the salad goes...well, it's edible but won't win any prizes. It's based on this recipe: Healthy Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad from theplantbasedschool.com. I have only myself to blame. I cringe at the use of "healthy" when somebody means "healthful"! But I forged ahead and made their recipe to the best of my abilities. The dressing isn't very different from my basic broccoli salad dressing, except that it's heavy on Greek yogurt and light on mayonnaise; mine is heavy on mayonnaise and thinned slightly with milk or cream. The difference seems to be crucial.

 

 

I'll eat the salad, but I won't repeat that dressing. But the pie, now, that's a keeper. For reference, here's the recipe one more time: Roasted Tomato Pie with Cheddar-Parmesan Crust (WaPo gift article, I hope) and here's a PDF of the recipe in case that link doesn't work: Roasted Tomato Pie With Cheddar-Parmesan Crust Recipe - The Washington Post.PDF

 

 

[Ann_T]

I made Crispy Pork Stuffed Eggplant for dinner tonight. I made this the first time back in 2012.

I guess I must have forgot just how good it is because I hadn't made it since.

 

So good.................

[Smithy]

34 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

I made Crispy Pork Stuffed Eggplant for dinner tonight. I made this the first time back in 2012.

I guess I must have forgot just how good it is because I hadn't made it since.

 

So good.................

 

Don't leave us hanging like that! Is it the pork or the eggplant that's crispy? Got a recipe, or a general procedure?

[C. sapidus]

Sambal udang (stir-fried shrimp sambal): Sear shrimp and remove. Blend and stir-fry a paste of toasted shrimp paste, long red chiles, shallot, garlic, and macadamia nuts (sub for candlenuts). Add shrimp, heat through, and serve. Forgot to add palm sugar, oh well.

 

Tumis sayur: Stir-fried frozen spinach with smashed garlic and long red chiles.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by C. sapidus
Ingredients (log)

[Honkman]

Red Lentil & Pumpkin Dal from “Simple” by Diana Henry - made with pan-seared butternut squash, caramelized onions, red lentils, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric, chili flakes and cilantro. Served with yoghurt