Dinner 2025

[Shel_B]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

Jasmine rice can get mushy when done that way - it prefers to be steamed rather than boiled once hydrated otherwise it gets gummy and also loses its aroma.

@KennethT What's the technique that you use for hydrating and steaming Jasmine rice?

[YvetteMT]

Zero pics as I don't have my phone at hand when camping but-

 

Friday night I grilled halibut with rosemary and butter and also an elk tenderloin marinated with ginger(lots), garlic (even more) and coconut aminos ( it's soy sauce for the celiac/glutenfree since traditional soy sauce contains wheat). Served with host made new potatoes and fresh peas in a cream sauce, homemade (not by me!) sourdough with brie. Rhubarb mango cobbler for dessert.  (For 6 adults this time)

 

Combined effort dinners included sausages, casseroles, and ziti with piles of salads,  fruits etc. 

 

Our hosts decided that I was in charge of Friday camp dinners from this point forward.  Smaller group and our hosts are usually stretched thin as it's the start of the group camping which hits full stride the following morning with 20-ish for most meals.  This particular trip includes electricity but no running water so most things are prepared ahead and tossed into an oven to cook or grilled. 

[KennethT]

10 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

@KennethT What's the technique that you use for hydrating and steaming Jasmine rice?

Rice cooker using a little less water than the amount of rice usually calls for.  As that amount of water boils in the rice cooker, it hydrates the rice and by then its completely absorbed.  At that point, the rice cooker switches to keep warm mode and I Iet it sit for at least a half hour after the machine says the rice is ready for it to be completely steamed.  In my 20 year old rice cooker/slow cooker/steamer, I use 2 fillings of rice (washed well) using the included cup which seems to be the standard rice cooker sized cup, and then fill to about 1-3/8 mark on the inside of the cooker - a little less than between the 1 and 2 mark.

[TdeV]

5 hours ago, Shelby said:

This post has been snipped.

 

The tomatoes are SO good.  Did a major splurge.  Made bread--HAVE to have BLT's with real bread.  Along with  fries.  Homemade strawberry sauce and strawberry  ice cream for dessert.  

 

 

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE BLT ! ! !   GORGEOUS  AND YUM.

 

 

5 hours ago, Shelby said:

 Cauliflower "potato" salad again to go with.  That's a keeper recipe. 

 

 

Looks delish. Could you please post the recipe?

 

 

[RWood]

Pearl couscous salad with halloumi, tomato, arugula, corn, red onion (cucumber for my mother) and an herb dressing. Really tasty and cool for these 95F days. 
 

[Shelby]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE BLT ! ! !   GORGEOUS  AND YUM.

 

 

 

Looks delish. Could you please post the recipe?

 

 

Thank you!!!  I want another one tonight so bad.  It doesn't help that I have most of the loaf of bread left that I made lol.

 

 

 

It's easy--I just do my regular potato salad recipe only sub cauliflower.  If I have a head of cauliflower I break it up into bite size pieces--mostly the tops but some of the softer looking stems and then I throw it in the IP.  1 cup of water, keep the cauliflower out of the water using what ever you use in the IP.  0 mins on high.  If I have a microwavable bag, I poke holes in the bag, micro for 3 mins and then let it sit for a while.  You want the cauliflower tender--but not mushy. 

 

I don't measure.

 

Hellman's mayo --or what you like.  Not Miracle whip imo makes it too sweet

Mustard

Diced onion, pickles and celery

2 chopped up hard boiled eggs

Fresh dill (I like to add a lot)

Secret ingredient is some dry Ranch dressing mix

Salt/pepper to taste

 

Mix that all up, add the cauliflower.

 

Good stuff

[YvetteMT]

Rice, corn,  and chicken thighs

 

[C. sapidus]

Leftovers from last night's dinner: Bulgogi and Mexican green rice with sorrel and epazote. A friend contributed a Greek salad, to complete the multinational meal.

 

Russian neighbors gave Mrs. C some sorrel plants, and she has been growing them in a pot. Neighbors use sorrel in their green borscht, but we both enjoyed the nice sour tang that sorrel gave to green rice. Will make again.

 

I made the bulgogi in the wok with shabu-shabu steak. I would not do that again, flavor was good but the cut was just too thin.

 

[Duvel]

Okonomiyaki, edamame, pickled daikon and yakitori …

 

[TdeV]

@Duvel. 

Lovely!

Could you tell/show us more about the Okonomiyaki dish please.

 

Edited to add: and the yakitori is chicken?

 

 

 

Edited July 23 by TdeV (log)

[gulfporter]

Grilled blackened salmon.  Pasta salad with cuke, green onion, tomato.  Dressing was store-bought Cilantro-Avocado (in refrigerated section).  Was a tad cloying, so I added juice of half of a robust lime and cracked black pepper.    

 

 

 

 

[C. sapidus]

Seafood salad (yam po taek) with monkfish, bay scallops, and shrimp. Dressing was roasted chile paste, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, sliced garlic, mint, and minced serrano chile. Served with lettuce and a good farmer's market tomato.

 

[jedovaty]

Ooo... I made shrimp tonight, too, but as "shrimp rolls"   I recently discovered tarragon and it's amazing how just a few leaves can both transform and unify the flavor.

[jedovaty]

10 hours ago, Duvel said:

Okonomiyaki, edamame, pickled daikon and yakitori …

 

In addition to the food, I'd like one tablecloth please.  Lost it at the smiling shark 😁

[Ddanno]

1 minute ago, jedovaty said:

In addition to the food, I'd like one tablecloth please.  Lost it at the smiling shark 😁

Good spot, I'll take one too

[Maison Rustique]

6 hours ago, jedovaty said:

Ooo... I made shrimp tonight, too, but as "shrimp rolls"   I recently discovered tarragon and it's amazing how just a few leaves can both transform and unify the flavor.

 

@jedovaty, I absolutely adore tarragon. I seldom find it fresh. Looking forward to getting moved and hope to be back to growing herbs next year.

[YvetteMT]

Halibut, yellow rice, and a frozen mix of corn, black beans, onion, poblano and red peppers. (Mix had decent flavor but the beans were not soft. Decent enough that I'd buy again to add to a dish and hope to get the beans softer)

[Maison Rustique]

@YvetteMT That blend looks yummy. I would keep some in the freezer to add to some stock to make an instant soup!

[weinoo]

 

Pasta al pesto a couple nights ago.

 

 

Out laSt night, fried white wild shrimp, meatballs, gravy and fried potatoes.  Pan con tomate.

[Ann_T]

Tonight's dinner.

Pork Belly with a fuji apple sauce

and green beans with a sesame miso dressing.

 

Recipes from the cookbook - Yoshoku Japanese food western style.

[gfweb]

On 7/21/2025 at 6:26 PM, Norm Matthews said:

When I started teaching, I became friends with a teacher who became sort of a mentor in non school things.   He made wine, smoked meats and threw great parties.  One annual party was his birthday party and he smoked a whole pig for that occasion.  About as often as not I was the bartender. At one party, I overheard two other teachers tell him that their years long quest was to find the restaurant that made the best Country Fried Steak. I can't describe what I thought about that but Don Quixote and Sanjo Panza who set out on a quests with little chance of reward  came to mind.  Now decades later my son has started that same search for the Chicken Fried Steak they had at the high school cafeteria and I am old enough to understand why people crave food  they had while growing up. I found a reciipe that had the right taste but still something was not just right.  Charlie found a school cafeteria cookbook with Country Fried Steak in it. The revelation was that instead of using a cheap, tough but tenderized piece of meat, they used seasoned ground beef pressed out on sheet pans and baked, then cut into individual sizes.  It was seasoned with salt, pepper, dehydrated onions and some flour.

 

I am baking hamburger paddies and then treating them like the  recipe below.  Probably the last thing to do is find the right thickness for the meat.  So far it has been too thick for his liking, but otherwise it seemsllike we are on the right track.

 

Chicken Fried Steak recipe from Threadgills - 

    

              Recipe By : Threadgill's - The Cookbook ISBN 1-56352-277-2 

 

Threadgill's meat seasoning mix 

  1/2 cup kosher salt 

    4 tablespoons black pepper 

    2 tablespoons white pepper 

    1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper 

    2 tablespoons granulated onion 

    1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 

    4 tablespoons granulated garlic 

    2 tablespoons paprika 

 

    Mix ingredients well. Store in a glass jar or plastic container. Keep tightly

    sealed. Shake before each use to prevent settling. 

 

    8 6 ounce tenderized beef cutlets -- at room temperature 

    2 eggs 

    2 cups milk -- at room temperature 

    3 cups flour 

    2 teaspoons Threadgill's Meat Seasoning 

    2 cups frying oil -- preferably canola 

 

    Whisk eggs and milk together in a bowl and set this egg wash aside. Combine

    the flour and meat seasoning in another bowl and set aside. Heat the oil in a

    heavy 14-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat to 350 degrees F. Use a 550

    degree thermometer to check temperature. The oil should pop loudly when a

    drop of egg wash is dropped in. 

 

    Dip each of the first 4 cutlets in the egg wash mixture. Dredge them in the flour,

    then dip them back into the egg wash, and very gently place them in the hot oil.

    As you carry them one at a time from the egg wash to the skillet, hold a plate

    under them to catch the dripping egg wash. There'll be a regular explosion of

    noisy oil a-popping. 

 

    Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until breading is set and golden brown. Gently turn

    them with a long-handled meat fork or long metal tongs. Be careful. Cook

    another 3 minutes. 

 

    Carefully remove them from the skillet and drain on a platter lined with paper

    towels. Let oil reheat and repeat process for other 4 cutlets. 

 

    Serve with White Cream Gravy and Mashed Potatoes. 

 

 

 

 

One of the problems with CFS is tough meat and another is meat juices liberated by frying that destroy the breading/crust.

 

Using precooked ground beef solves both, but leaves a texture problem.

 

I've mostly dealt with it by slicing beef thin/pounding and precooking before breading and frying.

 

What do CFS pros do?

 

 

[Neely]

Lasagna with salad. I never used to put cheese through the layers but after reading US style recipes, I decided to do this. Nothing fancy, just a few spoonfuls of ricotta sprinkled over the meat layer. Cheesy bechamel sauce on top. Was pretty good. 

[Ddanno]

9 minutes ago, Neely said:

Lasagna with salad. I never used to put cheese through the layers but after reading US style recipes, I decided to do this. Nothing fancy, just a few spoonfuls of ricotta sprinkled over the meat layer. Cheesy bechamel sauce on top. Was pretty good. 

 

Danggit, you've made me amend my grocery order for the fourth time.

[weinoo]

 

Another one of my plating semi-disasters.  Pan-roasted pork rib chop, sliced off the bone (which is at lower left) and served with pan sauce made with shallots, mushrooms, white wine, chicken stock, mustard, horseradish and butter.  Mustard greens and Jasmine rice round it out.

 

Last night, I made dinner at a friend's apartment, a mere 9 floors below ours. Did all prep here, and brought it down to finish.  Only took a picture of one plate:

 

 

On top - fresh artichoke hearts, braised with olive oil, garlic, white wine, lemon, saffron and pimentón.

 

Below, two versions of the exact same recipe for Maryland-style crab cakes.  On the left, jumbo lump blue crab.  On the right - Jonah crab.  3 out of 4 of us preferred the jumbo lump.

 

Also on menu:  Gildas to start, pasta al pesto with green beans, yellow beans and potatoes for the main. Blueberry/nectarine cobbler, served with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

 

As a famous person once opined: "No complaints."

[Duvel]

34 minutes ago, weinoo said:

As a famous person once opined: "No complaints."

Hey, I cite that guy frequently, too 🥳