Dinner 2025

Maison Rustique · April 3

Recently, I got a frozen pizza from my milkman. I baked it a few days ago. I doctored it, but it was still dreadful--dry and no flavor. I tried a second time with leftovers and I still couldn't like it. Trying hard not to waste food, yesterday I cut it into pieces, Put in a baking dish with more olives, tomatoes and onions, and poured over eggs, milk and copious seasonings. Topped with mozzarella about halfway through baking. A pizza strata. Not the best strata I've ever made but it was vastly better than the original pizza. May be an image of omelet

May be an image of shepherd's pie

**Smithy** · April 3

Congratulations on your thrift and creativity, @Maison Rustique! Nice "save" on the strata!

C. sapidus · April 3

A rare Italian(ish) dinner:

Baked stuffed catfish fillets: Filled and topped with panko, grated parmesan, garlic, chopped anchovies, S&P, and cilantro (sub for parsley :shock: ). Flavor was good but 2 layers made cooking tricky. I would do single layer if I do this again, probably combined with Mrs. C's pistachio and panko coating.

"Grilled" eggplant: Slashes stuffed with garlic, rosemary, S&P, and copious amounts of olive oil. A favorite that I haven't made for a long while.

**Smithy** · April 4

2 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

"Grilled" eggplant: Slashes stuffed with garlic, rosemary, S&P, and copious amounts of olive oil. A favorite that I haven't made for a long while.

It's quite a while since I did that too, but I've always liked it. Yours looks excellent.

Why did you put "grilled" in quotation marks?

C. sapidus · April 4

2 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Why did you put "grilled" in quotation marks?

Thanks! By US lingo, the eggplant is broiled (heat from above). If it was grilled (heat from below, by US lingo) all of the olive oil would run out. 🙃

Neely · April 4

Dinner was chicken satay strips marinated for a few hours in an easy sauce found online. Served with broccolini and rice. Rice yet to be on the plate.

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Paul Bacino · April 4

Greek Salad-- I make my own ziki sauce--chopped cucks, lawyers garlic salt ( pre drain ), lemon juice, zest, white vinegar, dill

chromedome · April 4

As many of you will know, I raise rabbits for meat. I've done some back of the envelope math at one point or another and worked out that even a small establishment like mine (4-6 does) can put something on the order of 800 lbs of meat in the freezer in just one summer, depending how hard you want to work them (and a few other factors). That compares favorably to most forms of larger livestock, though of course (as I've often joked) you don't get many steaks or chops out of a rabbit.

Having made that joke repeatedly, one day my GF challenged me on it. She really enjoys breaded schnitzel-style cutlets, and wanted to know if I could figure out how to make them from a rabbit. I gave it some thought and decided that hind legs or loin pieces were my best bet, so last night I thawed two saddles of rabbit (ie the two loins, and the piece of spine joining them) and gave it a shot. Here's the end result:

Three of the loins I left intact, just removed the silverskin and pounded them out. One loin I cut diagonally in half, to make two smaller portions for the kids. There were also the tiny tenderloins, which I didn't bother to pound because they were already quite thin and (of course) tender. Finally, I had the four vaguely triangular pieces of thin belly meat which I'd left in place when I broke down the rabbits; those I pounded with the studded side of the meat mallet (you'll see two of those at the top of the plate). They were chewy, but not unpleasantly so.

I served them with boiled potatoes, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, and gravy. No plated pictures, because I had hungry/impatient mouths to feed.

(NB: I also roasted the pieces of backbone, with the bits and pieces of meat that weren't worth trimming off, and those are in the fridge as an agreeable nibble I can reheat and pick clean when the mood strikes.)

C. sapidus · April 4

"Delicious chicken bits" from Madhur Jaffrey: Cubed chicken breast, tossed with black pepper, turmeric, cayenne, cumin, ajwan, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and oil. Chicken is browned in the wok and then baked under parchment paper.

Someone kindly posted Suvir Saran's recipe for Crispy Okra Salad (clicky), so I had to give that a try. Thumbs up from Mrs. C, who is typically a non-okraphile. I had mail-ordered amchur powder (dried green mango) and the package arrived just before dinner, along with some hiking socks (not included in the meal).

FauxPas · April 5

Our neighbour dropped off some fresh-caught salmon and we enjoyed it for a couple of dinners and also a couple of lunches as salmon salad sandwiches.

A dinner we have quite often, but we still enjoy it. Simple teriyaki-type marinade, with steamed broccoli and carrots and Instant Pot Spanish rice. Crappy photo, but tasty food!

I love our generous fisher friends and neighbours!

mgaretz · April 5

Been lurking but not posting any dinners lately as I am basically just making the same things as always. But here's another "same old same old". Filet, cooked SV then seared, served with steamed Brussels sprouts.

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Tropicalsenior · April 5

34 minutes ago, mgaretz said:

"same old same old".

Glad to see you back. Your meals are simple but always perfectly prepared. That steak looks so juicy.

Maison Rustique · April 5

Last night was some grilled smoked sausage from the freezer with dill sauerkraut.

I want to try those Madhur Jaffrey chicken bits and that okra salad. Doubt I would cut the veggies like that (my hands!) but might adapt the recipe somehow.

C. sapidus · April 5

3 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

I want to try those Madhur Jaffrey chicken bits and that okra salad. Doubt I would cut the veggies like that (my hands!) but might adapt the recipe somehow.

For the okra, any shape that you could fry the pieces to crispy should work just fine. And thanks!

gulfporter · April 5

Been too busy to cook for the past few weeks (don't ask!).

Two days ago I saw an ad posted by a local chef/caterer who was selling smoked garlic heads and bought some (along with his smoked salmon).

Used an entire head of the smoked garlic in a gnocchi meal (MXN garlic is small, but extremely potent!). Shallots, wine reduction, olive oil, topped with prosciutto and parm. Very happy with results.

Last week mi esposo had his 3 month checkup/x-ray of his broken femur, post ORIF surgery (plates, screws, wires attached to the bone). He was cleared for full weight-bearing, from time-to-time, alternating with a cane. He has a bit of limp and stiff knee, but generally feeling quite positive. Today he drove the car for first time in over 3 months.

While "stuck" at home since his femur break in late December, we decided to re-do our inground pool which developed a leak after our last earthquake. Oy! Been 5 weeks but the end is in sight. We think the pool is 50+ years old. We've had workers here 6 days a week. Crew is very nice; we've always had good luck with our local workers; we live between the posh side of Ajijic (ha!) and a large working class neighborhood so we feel good providing work to neighbors.

**TdeV** · April 5

19 hours ago, FauxPas said:

Our neighbour dropped off some fresh-caught salmon and we enjoyed it for a couple of dinners and also a couple of lunches as salmon salad sandwiches.

A dinner we have quite often, but we still enjoy it. Simple teriyaki-type marinade, with steamed broccoli and carrots and Instant Pot Spanish rice. Crappy photo, but tasty food!

I love our generous fisher friends and neighbours!

Looks lovely! Do you have a recipe for that instant pot Spanish rice?

FauxPas · April 5

29 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Looks lovely! Do you have a recipe for that instant pot Spanish rice?

I do! There are other variations but this is the one I started from. I don't bother with the onions, I just use a chunky commercial salsa like Pace and I usually up the salsa amount a tiny bit. Sometimes I make a batch and freeze it so that I have it on hand when a craving hits. 🙂

https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/quick-and-easy-spanish-rice/

Edited April 5 by FauxPas (log)

MaryIsobel · April 5

2 hours ago, gulfporter said:

Been too busy to cook for the past few weeks (don't ask!).

Two days ago I saw an ad posted by a local chef/caterer who was selling smoked garlic heads and bought some (along with his smoked salmon).

Used an entire head of the smoked garlic in a gnocchi meal (MXN garlic is small, but extremely potent!). Shallots, wine reduction, olive oil, topped with prosciutto and parm. Very happy with results.

Last week mi esposo had his 3 month checkup/x-ray of his broken femur, post ORIF surgery (plates, screws, wires attached to the bone). He was cleared for full weight-bearing, from time-to-time, alternating with a cane. He has a bit of limp and stiff knee, but generally feeling quite positive. Today he drove the car for first time in over 3 months.

While "stuck" at home since his femur break in late December, we decided to re-do our inground pool which developed a leak after our last earthquake. Oy! Been 5 weeks but the end is in sight. We think the pool is 50+ years old. We've had workers here 6 days a week. Crew is very nice; we've always had good luck with our local workers; we live between the posh side of Ajijic (ha!) and a large working class neighborhood so we feel good providing work to neighbors.

We have seasonal farm workers from Mexico in our area. A farmer that we know that hired them lets us know when he has a day where he doesn't have enough work for the full crew and we have them over to our place to help us out. The are the nicest guys, always smiling and such hard workers. No standing around, no cell phones out and they even put up with my not so great Spanish!

Neely · April 5

We had slow cooked short ribs , mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts. It wasn’t a big piece of beef and I first rubbed it with a sauce which I concocted myself and wrapped it in foil to sort of marinate for a couple of hours. Placed in oven 160’C for 3 hours, then opened foil , splashed on more sauce and cooked for another hour. It was fall off the bone tender.

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Edited April 5 by Neely (log)

C. sapidus · April 6

Neua naam tok (Issan steak salad, from Pok Pok): Marinated NY strip steaks with soy sauce and a paste of lemongrass and black pepper. Grilled over charcoal, rested, and sliced thinly. Dressing was sliced lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce, quick beef stock (made from steak trimmings), cayenne, smoked paprika, and a little sugar. Salad was mint leaves, cilantro, sliced shallots, and toasted rice powder.

Cucumber relish, with rice vinegar, sugar, salt, long red chiles, cilantro, and crushed peanuts.

Served with coconut rice and butter lettuce to make lettuce wraps.

Shel_B · April 6

Penne with Broccoli Sauce: Rancho Milagro olive oil, garlic, pepperoncini, and an anchovy contributed to the sauce of very finely minced broccoli. I used frozen, organic florets because I heard someone mention doing that for this dish, and I was curious to see the results. The broccoli was mashed up using my new masher, and it did a great job. I was impressed with how quickly it accomplished the task, which resulted in a very creamy and fairly smooth sauce, almost like having been done in a food processor. Overall, the dish turned out well.

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Edited April 6 by Shel_B
typo (log)

Honkman · April 6

Thai-Inspired Bean Curry - green beans and pinto beans are braised in a mixture of onions, garlic, lemongrass, coriander seeds, fresno chili, tomato paste, cilantro, lime zest, coconut milk and beef broth. Served with forbidden rice and topped with a mango, ginger, cilantro and chili flakes “salsa”