What's for dinner? #116 [old]

[linguafood]

Time to move on. After a rather turbulent week & an eventful but exhausting w/end in my current "hometown", things are starting to calm down a bit. Today's been slow and lazy.

I've been craving this recipe http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/... ever since ms. mc mentioned it somewhere on the HC board....

Those garlicky, buttery noodles will be served with stir-fried chicken tenderloins & pork loin (which have been sliced as thinly as possible and are currently marinating in a mix of Maggi sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire, ginger, 5 spice, and cayenne pepper), a cluster of oyster shrooms leftover from who can remember when will join the stir-fry party; a couple crowns of broc have been blanched quickly and will be tossed in with the meaty mushroom garlic pasta. Some chopped scallion on top.

Dinner at casa lingua.

What's cooking in your kitchen tonight?

[megjp]

Good thing, what with all you Americans having your crazy Thanksgiving feasts, that all I had last night was spinach, soba noodles, and a poached egg.. didn't miss posting about that. ;)

[Harters]

Brownish gloop from the freezer. In this case, a chicken & spinach curry. Together with a tin of channa masala. And flatbreads. And mango chutney (homemade - almost the last of the 2008 vintage).

[LindaWhit]

Harters, looks like linguafood added a new thread a bit further upthread but hadn't asked the Mods to add "old" to the title of this thread - here's the post with the new link:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8175...

[mariacarmen]

oops looks like you linked to this same thread. here's lingua's:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/819485

[LindaWhit]

Yup, I meant to do that, linking lingua's post above with the new link. :-)

[BananaBirkLarsen]

According to the package, tonight's dinner was apple-gouda-chicken sausages, but they looked and tasted like hot dogs to me so we treated them as such. Served on warm rolls with the usual sauerkraut-ketchup-mustard toppings. No sides, just hotdogs. And turnovers for dessert, made from pie dough scraps filled with fig jam. We're saving room for our 20 lb turkey tomorrow...

[amyatkendall]

Delivery hot wings and a bottle of wine, y'all!

[Cherylptw]

Tonight the b/f smoked some ribs on the grill for part of his mother's Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow so we snagged some of those and added pork chops & turkey kielbasa. To go with, a pan of fried potatoes & onions and a garden salad. Dessert for me will be a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar (and probably part of a reese's peanut butter candy bar), for the b/f, a giant Mr. Goodbar.

[steve h.]

A Lou Malnati Chicago-style deep-dish pizza will be on the table this evening (sausage).
Thanksgiving begins tomorrow.

[steve h.]

There's just something about a Chicago-style pizza. I get a six-pack maybe twice a year. We wash 'em down with house red and watch TV. Tomorrow is a serious food day. Deb deserves the down time.

[Terrie H.]

That looks delicious!

[Terrie H.]

Not sure why I decided to make this really bad food the night before the over the top meal of the year, but...

Baked potato in the twice stuffed style with New Orleans style BBQ shrimp. OINK.

[linguafood]

"Bad" is in the mouth of the beholder. Sounds pretty tasty to me.

[Terrie H.]

Thank you for the vote of confidence and it was way too tasty. WAY way. :))

[L.Nightshade]

We're having Thanksgiving at a friend's tomorrow. A friend who doesn't like to cook. Mr. NS is going over in the morning to help stuff and truss the turkey. I'm making appetizers, sides, and dessert. I'm doing the baking today, so we'll probably get some kind of take-out for dinner. It's so kind of him to want to host the meal. We hope he'll enjoy the whole experience enough to change his mind about cooking.

I'm really looking forward to reading everyone's WFD reports on Thanksgiving!

[linguafood]

Should we start a new thread? It's time anyway, and it would perhaps collect all those "stray" turkey day threads.....

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/819485

Done.

[scubadoo97]

The other night was a roast chicken. Did a 3 day dry cure and the bird has Thai basil under the skin.

[L.Nightshade]

Looks lovely! I googled dry cure and came up with a bunch of hits about marijuana harvests.
Is it like a brine without liquid?

[mariacarmen]

ahahah gives new meaning to "chicken pot pie"?

[linguafood]

What a waste of good weed '-)

That bird does look great, scuba! I bought a small organic chicken today for my zuni chicken (scheduled for Sunday!), but couldn't for the life of me figure out WFD tonight.... nothing was calling my name, and I feel lazy today. I am, however, craving beef / steak like crazy, so I think we may have to go out for a big fat steak.

We're invited at Costa Rican friends tomorrow -- there will be turkey, pork roast, mashed taters and salad. We're bringing a Brussels sprouts gratin (never made it before, we'll see how it goes -- I'll likely use my potato gratin recipe) and a chocolate pie my man is baking.

[scubadoo97]

The rub or dry cure that went under and over the skin was mostly salt a little pepper and a touch of Old Bay

[L.Nightshade]

So a dry cure is basically a rub that stays on a long time. Cool, thanks.

[JungMann]

I could see just a hint of Old Bay with Thai basil being completely revelatory. I'm going to have to remember this combination.

[tequilamockingbird]

Oh heck... for Thanksgiving, I'll put an end to my lurking! Cooking for Grandpa and his lady friend tonight. On the menu: Mac and Cheese with Ham and Broccoli. The turkey and some thick pork chops are in their briny baths. Nothing fancy for tomorrow's bird. The pork chops are for Saturday's Civil War game between OSU and Oregon. Go Ducks!

[vafarmwife]

Welcome TMB- we encourage everyone to share their ideas and recipes.

[mariacarmen]

welcome!

love your handle, by the way....

[L.Nightshade]

It all sounds good, welcome to the board.
Also love your name!

[GretchenS]

Yes, welcome!

[ChristinaMason]

Hooray for de-lurking! Welcome :)

[LindaWhit]

Welcome to the WFD thread, tmb - great name. :-)

[mariacarmen]

no cooking tonight for dinner - we'll do take-out roast chicken and fries from a local peruvian joint. best rotisserie chicken we've found yet.

but later tonight, i'll prep for morning to leave the boy with some sort of thxgiving fixings. he eschews all holidays, which i don't hold against him, but i like to leave him with some celebratory food anyway. Sister, oldster & I will be going out for dinner tomorrow - Frenchy place that features mussels in many preps and oysters and other yummy things - Kleinigkeiten, as lingua denoted above - but also a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for my dad.

meanwhile, for the boy, i'm planning to put a couple of turkey legs in the crockpot with herbs, along with sweet potatoes of some sort (that chipotle chili prep i talked about earlier comes to mind) and some brussels sprouty-bacony thing. that should take care of his cravings.

[L.Nightshade]

How sweet of you to set that dinner up for him! Lucky fellow, hope he appreciates!
Your Frenchy place sounds very good. Love those bivalves!

[GretchenS]

Very sweet of you to leave him celebratory food even though he doesn't celebrate! Enjoy your Frenchy place and your oldster and sister. My oldster is away for 3 weeks and I hardly know what to do with myself but I am secretly enjoying it -- huh, that must be how they felt about us when we went off the summer camp or whatever! :)

[vafarmwife]

Homemade pizza tonight using the leftover Sunday ham on the pizza. Just taking three chip chocolate chip cookies out the oven. May eat a cookie for supper. :)

[Perilagu Khan]

Deviled ham salad sandwiches with French fries and sweet pertata fries.

[mariacarmen]

did you devil that ham yerself? btw, nice to see you here (she says in a whisper, afraid to scare PK away....)

[Perilagu Khan]

No, Maria. I hired a real devil to do the deviling. Who would know better? ;)

And thanks for the welcome back. Can't make any promises about how long I'll stay. We'll see how it goes.

[mariacarmen]

fine, fine, string us along, we won't mind! ( :

[GretchenS]

Mmm, deviled ham, now I know what to do with the last of the enormous ham steak I have been working on.

[GretchenS]

Work has been so busy that takeout has been WFD this week (very unlike me) but I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! And I am thankful all the time for everyone's creativity and wit and supportiveness on this thread and this board.

[ChristinaMason]

Right back at ya! Hope the week calms down for you.

[weezieduzzit]

We've got a lot going on around here today (not even counting everything involved in tomorrow's cooking,) so it's a perfect "little food" night. The stuffed scallops at the market looked fantastic so we have 5 of those, I'll butterfly and bread some shrimp, some stuffed mushrooms, dipping sauces and a bottle of wine (or two....) should do the trick. :)

[linguafood]

I love having just "Kleinigkeiten" (= little things in German) for dinner.

Monday night I had a band practice scheduled smack dab in the middle of our usual dinner time, so I prepped a shrimp salad (with celery & avocado in wasabi-sesame-mayonnaise) and a simple caprese for my return. When I got home, I boiled a few frozen dumplings (shrimp & pork stuffed) and made a quick dipping sauce. It was nice not having a huge meal that late.

[ChristinaMason]

Your shrimp salad sounds fabulous. Must try that. Did you just make it up?

[linguafood]

Yeah, pretty much. I love avocado with shellfish (my man... not so much. but i am the cook, so --), and I had some celery stalks leftover from making tuna salad a while ago.

I wanted a nice kick -- also, the wasabi paste was well past the 'use by' date, ahem -- and the sesame oil just gave it a nice, nutty note. Oh, and a goooooood squeeze of lemon. Cilantro might work well in it, too, or scallions.

[Harters]

Culling our already quite small cookbook collection continues at Casa Harters.

There’s absolutely no chance that the one under current review is getting trashed. Delia Smith’s “Complete Cookery Course” has been a constant stand-by since 1978 when it was first published. I suspect that most Britons who think of themselves as serious home cooks will have one of Smith’s books on their shelves – and it’s probably going to be the “CCC”. She’s been so influential in home cooking that for probably 3 decades you’d have dinner at someone’s house and, when you commented on the food, you’d get the response that “it’s one of Delia’s”. This is one that’ll be on the shelves until I turn up my toes.

But, as to food, it was difficult to decide what to cook that was new from the book. So many recipes have been cooked over the last 30 years. So many have become standards at Casa Harters. So, dinner tonight is meatloaf. It’s not a dish that’s at all common in Britain. Almost foreign. Anyway, St Delia’s recipe involves minced beef, sausage meat (I’m using Cumberland), finely chopped onion and green pepper, garlic, bread, dried mixed herbs and an egg. She also recommends a tomato sauce. And we’ll have a baked spud with it. And some runner beans.

[mariacarmen]

that sounds very much like a typical American version, Harters. Is your minced beef equivalent to our ground? or do you actually use beef that's been minced by hand?

[Harters]

Whenever I say "minced" in connection with meat, read it as "ground".

By the by, this is organic supermarket minced beef.

By the by even more so, this afternoon, I went to the website of the farm I regularly use to buy free range meat form and it looks like they've stopped farming and are just buying in stuff to resell. Bugger! I've found another small prducer, in the next county and have sent them a smallish tester order. I rememeber what it was like before we found that last one - tried several palces and found them all shite, as whilst they could produce tasty meat, they couldnt butcher it well.

Yours

John "Worried" Harters

(PS: I'm looking forward to leftovers for meatloaf sandwiches. One of our best ever foody experiences was the sandwiches we bought from a little deli and ate overlooking the Antietam battlefield in Virginia. So good)

[mariacarmen]

cold meatloaf sandwiches are sublime. especially, i'd bet, with some of that wonderful cheddar you have available to you.

do you think your producer just wasn't getting enough hits? a shame.

[ChristinaMason]

meatloaf sandwiches surpass the original meal, in my opinion! love them. don't forget the mayo!

[LindaWhit]

I agree with mc, Harters - that *is* very much like a typical American version. And while I won't be doing so tonight, meatloaf became the standard "Wednesday before Thanksgiving" dinner when my Mom and my late stepfather lived in central PA. It made an easy meal for those of us driving in from New England (or flying in from Chicago or CA) and it made a GREAT early snack used in sandwiches before the big turkey dinner!

Enjoy.

[Berheenia]

Last night I dredged some boneless breasts in flour-egg-panko and pan fried them but the last week it has been what's in the freezer and tonight it's whats in the fridge because we are GOING TO FLORIDA for a vacation. With only 2 of us TG has become a bit bleak (our family can't do both TG and xmas) so we are not cooking a bird this year. I thought I would feel left out but am getting over it! Happy Thanksgiving to all my WFD friends and enjoy the leftovers- the best part IMHO.

[mariacarmen]

second go at the Lyonnaise-style salad, with duck fat potatoes again - this time for the Boy. Still no frisee anywhere (i didn't know it was seasonal, or is it?) so we supplemented regular endive with the arugula. i used just 3 slightly smaller than (my) fist-sized red potatoes and 3 slices of bacon total for the both of us, and we were stuffed. had the surplus potatoes afterwards with the dressing again.

[JerryMe]

Bizarrely enough - I spent the entire day driving and DS got dinner at Culvers. I'm so far behind in the T-Day weekend coming up that I was game. Have the burger w/ shrooms and cheese curds which are perfect w/ Sriracha.

[suburban_mom]

Somedays, Culvers is the right thing! Hmmm, cheese curds and Sriracha - might have to try that.

[operagirl]

Tonight, I'm making stuffed blue hokkaido squash. It's full of long-grain rice, french green lentils, (soaked dried) wild mushrooms, yellow beets, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and turkey stock. I hope it tastes as good as it smells!

[ChristinaMason]

Oh man, that sounds wonderful. Great fall dish!

[operagirl]

Thanks, Christina! It turned out really well. Brought the leftovers to my brother's place for lunch today :-).

[suburban_mom]

I finally made those tasty, infamous garlic noodles (don't tell my child who claims he doesn't like garlic - we told him they were buttered noodles and he ate half a plate). The were on the side of pan fried pork chops and steamed sugar snap peas.

[linguafood]

Aren't they awesome? I'll make them again next week. Or on Sunday as a side for zuni chicken!

[ChristinaMason]

Dinner? Who has time for dinner? I'm way too busy cooking for Thanksgiving and snacking along the way :)

Any of the assorted leftovers in the fridge will have to do. Plus I'll gain some much-needed refrigerator space.

[L.Nightshade]

Yeah, this. If I take a break from advance prep, it will be to throw some leftover vegetables into a bowl of ramen. Having fun though!

[chef chicklet]

ChristinaM I was thinking exactly the same thing!!! I can't make dinner, I'm not even hungry for dinner, lunch or anything else. I'm totally consumed with my tasks at hand. I have to space it out over a couple of days so my back doesn't quit on me. The one thing I'm obsessing about is finding a good recipe for a yogurt cake. I don't want a cake with 1/2 cup or yogurt, I'm hoping at least a cup so I can taste it. I think I found one in one of my old old cookbooks, The Good CookBook, from Time Life. I'm hoping to add a little bit of orange, with zest or a syrup.... Do not ask me why. I just get into these tangents and I MUST have a recipe that I've conjured up in my mind, then I go on a tangent searching for it. Silly huh?

[Chocolatechipkt]

Have you tried the Barefoot Contessa's yogurt cake? It's very good.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/in...

[megjp]

Well tonight we just had leftover stew, but last night I baked some tofu squares in mirin, charred some corn kernels in five-spice butter, and made hot and sour cabbage. I didn't have noodles about, and didn't really miss them. Quick, too!

[steve h.]

Lobsters.

They're pretty big (over 2.5 pounds each) so I'll use the Jasper White boiling timetable.

Some of the leftovers will go into Thursday's lobster bisque (the course that comes after Connecticut's bluepoint oysters on the half shell and just before the turkey, root vegetables, potatoes, cornbread and sausage stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc.). The rest will migrate into lobster rolls later in the week.

Lots of work remains on the house. I'm relieved that contractors will go away until Monday.

[JerryMe]

O..M..G.. I will deal w/ the contractors if I can eat at your house! Between the lobsters and the oysters?? Lobster rolls later? The contractors will have your place spic and span I promise!

[steve h.]

The oysters were huge and had a wonderful brine-like freshness to them. The bisque was superb.

[mokafeinomane]

A garlicky roasted chicken, brined overnight to keep it juicy, will be served with leftover gratineed root veggies (sweet potato, carrot, turnip, leek and cabbage) and gravy. A kind of pre-Thanksgiving feast, I'd guess. Not very light, but lots of veggies at least.

I'd like to make a batch of cookies for dessert, but I got no butter nor eggs... Any ideas ? I should look for vegan ideas, that would be a nice remplacement.

[jennymoon]

I haven't tried any of these, but these are the vegan cookie recipes that I had bookmarked:

http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/dessert/simple-cookie-recipe-vegan-vanilla-almond-sandies-150490
http://www.holycowvegan.net/2008/01/compassion-oatmeal-cookies.html
http://everybodylikessandwiches.com/2011/08/the-best-vegan-oatmeal-fruit-nut-cookies/
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/cookie-recipe-lifechanging-vegan-thumbprints-134691
http://wellfedeveryone.wordpress.com/...

This makes me realize that I need to start actually making some of these recipes that I bookmark!

[JungMann]

So many people recommend congee after oral surgery, I think they must be onto something. So for dinner tonight: arroz caldo, lugaw, Filipino penicillin. First you start out by sauteeing onion in olive oil until golden. If you feel like using the chicken fat afloat your chicken broth, why not? I know I probably will. Next go in minced garlic and spicy coins of ginger for some quick color along with a glug of fish sauce. Add the rice to toast, add the broth, plenty of black pepper and cook until soupy. Add your chicken and finish with scallions and garlic chips. A bit of saffron bloomed in olive oil with a twist of lemon would be wonderful drizzled on top, but I think I will settle for some lemon juice and chili oil instead.

[linguafood]

Bon appetit & gute Besserung.

[JungMann]

Danke!

[Harters]

Upcoming... a rather wacky sounding lasagne, where the pasta sheets are layered up with slices of ham, tomato sauce and sliced green olives and topped with an egg/cheese,yogurt sauce before baking. With salad.

[ChristinaMason]

Trying to picture this...hope the yogurt doesn't break in the oven!

[buttertart]

The egg might keep it from doing so.

[Harters]

It didnt. Dinner was OK but recipe isn't a keeper. Some ya win.......

[nomadchowwoman]

Last night I used up the last of the frozen lobster tails to make Lobster Cantonese. It was a trip down memory lane, especially for my mom: she always ordered it at our family's favorite Chinese place, long gone now, and my dad always encouraged her to because she liked it so much. So it made her happy though a little sad, too. (The recipe, which I found in a Penzey's catalog, makes a version that, with minor tinkering, tastes almost identical to one we used to have in the restaurant.) We ate it with rice and some steamed asparagus.

Tonight it was a late dinner of grilled cheese sadwiches--gruyere, thin sliced onion, whole wheat bread. I had mine with a cup of asparagus-leek soup, which I made today with some rapidly aging asparagus and leeks that were occupying far too much precious fridge real estate. DH chose to have his with a bowl of white bean and kale soup (delicious COTM recipe) that was FD on Saturday night. For dessert, satsuma-olive oil-pistachio cake made yesterday.

The consumption of copious calories has commenced.

[mariacarmen]

ummmm i would like that satsuma-olive-oil-pistachio cake recipe, if you please.

what a nice thing to do with your mom. ( :

[L.Nightshade]

I'm missing posts in my time-pressed reads, so thanks to mc for pointing this out. Ditto on the recipe request, that sounds like such a compelling combination!

[Chocolatechipkt]

Leftover Mexican quiche (crustless) and green beans ... making space in the fridge.

[steve h.]

Soup.
A reprise, not a reheat, of a recent bean/escarole/ham hock success (we had leftover beans, escarole and ham hocks - go figure). Crusty bread on the side. Beer for me, wine for Deb. NCIS on the panel, maybe Tony Bourdain's new show - I like Singapore.

[weezieduzzit]

I FINALLY found a store with decent looking escarole and can't wait to make this.

[steve h.]

Comfort food.

[Barbara76137]

Roasting a big pan of veggies since it is cold and rainy tonight. I'll probably just stuff some in a few flour tortillas tonight. The fresh herbs on my balcony seemed to have a sudden "growth spurt" the past week, so I'm taking advantage of that.

The veggies can then be lunch at work the next two days as well as a side on Thursday.

[BabsW]

Supper is 2 parathas stuffed with a filling made from cheese curds, a wee bit of sour cream and green onions, a big honkin' glass of red wine and a few more cheese curds.

[LindaWhit]

Well, not a whole lot accomplished today in the house, but hopefully it'll be tidy enough for the family on Thursday. I *did* do all of my Turkey Day food shopping, so at least that's out of the way.

The beau is coming up for dinner, so I'm going to pan-sear boneless center-cut pork chops in a hot pan, and then pour in my Mom's BBQ sauce and let them simmer for about 25 minutes or just until done. We'll have egg noodles and steamed green beans alongside.

And GO PATS!!!

Mom's Barbecue Sauce

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard - or more to taste

(I also added 1/2 tsp. ground ginger)

Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for about 5 minutes. After it's been cooled, it may be poured onto meat to marinate or just when meat is to be cooked.

For a thicker sauce, either cut back on water, lemon juice and vinegar, OR add some tomato paste.

[weezieduzzit]

Over the weekend I found out that the man will be coming home with a 19 pound turkey tonight (Costco is one of their accounts and I guess they are gifting everyone at his work a turkey.) Its thrown a wrench in my plans for the week- I was NOT planning on making another turkey, let alone for Thanksgiving and our freezer is not large enough for a 20 pound turkey so I'll have to cook it.

Soooooooooooooooooooo.... the chicken I thawed for tonight will be roasted but I'll use the meat to make and freeze some chicken pot pies in the cool 12 ounce ramekins I got that come with lids. I don't want poultry overload this week and they'll come in handy on a night I'm busy and we want some hot squishy comfort food.

Tonight will be czech gulas with bread dumplings, sauerkraut, roasted brussels sprouts and roasted carrots are sounding good, too.

I'll do something seafood or meatless tomorrow and Wednesday and then that damned turkey Thursday.

[GretchenS]

Or give it to the kitties!

[weezieduzzit]

The kitties (and the dog!) always get some. :)

[Barbara76137]

weezie, would you mind sharing your bread dumpling recipe?

Sorry about the poultry overload! My cat & I can get burnt out on a single rotisserie chicken :) Where did you get the ramekins? I think they would be something handy for me to have since I'm just cooking for myself. I could do all sorts of dishes for one and then freeze them in something I can pop in the oven.

[weezieduzzit]

Recipe? Hmmm..... I don't use those too often! Bread dumplings are easy- a loaf of day old bread with the crusts trimmed off cut into cubes, 2 beaten eggs, a cup of milk, maybe 2 or 3 cups of flour, a generous pinch of salt and a teaspoon of baking powder. I add the flour little by little to keep it from getting too dry but if it does you can just add a splash of milk until it feels right. Form into the size balls you want and boil them for about a half hour. (or more if you make them really large.) Super easy!

The ramekins are from Big Lots and were $2 each. I need to go back and get some of the small ones. We're having creme brulee for Thanksgiving dessert and all of my small ramekins are gone.

[JungMann]

Is your bread dumpling recipe the same for the fluffy type of knedliky one gets in Central Europe? I usually make the simpler, more rustic type of bread dumplings one finds in Southern Germany, but I would love to be able to make light, bready dumplings as well.

[weezieduzzit]

"Is your bread dumpling recipe the same for the fluffy type of knedliky one gets in Central Europe?"

Pretty much. A Hungarian cook at a hole in the wall restaurant in Prague taught me to make them (we were there at the end of the night when the family and employees were sitting down to eat and they were very friendly so we stayed and chatted for a long time.) I'd say they are half way between the kind you would make for chicken and dumplings and the heavier Bavarian ones (for the record, I'm a fan of ALL of them!)

The end result does depend on the bread you start with, how much flour you add and the amount of mixing/kneading. A lighter bread, less flour and less handling will make a fluffier dumpling so you can totally play with it until you get it to your liking.

[Barbara76137]

Thanks!! I remember the consistence from seeing my mother, grandmother and ex-mil make them so many times, so I'll just add flour a little at a time. They all made them about the size of a large baking potato, and then if I remember right they float on the surface when they are done. Is that correct. My mom even had a dumpling slicer which was like an oversize egg slicer, but my ex-mil used a thread, or 'tred' as she would say.

If Big Lots is open tomorrow, I want to get those ramekins.

[ChristinaMason]

gulas, mmm! is it paprikas week yet?

[mariacarmen]

it's getting close, right?? maybe after the thxgiving bird gala is over...

[weezieduzzit]

I must be off schedule again! :) I was out of capers by the tine it was capers week and now I'm early with the paprika.......

[Barbara76137]

I have a 42 oz. jar of capers in my fridge, so any week is capers week here!

[rabaja]

Wow, that was a good, long weekend. My scale said I've gained two lbs too, so it must have been a good eating one as well.
Friday night we had dinner with my parents (first time meeting for them and the boyfriend, it went well! Thanksgiving will be fun!), and I had a lovely mahi dish with brussel sprouts and bacon. Saturday night was several tacos from the local La Bamba truck, because standing in the rain waiting for $1.25 tacos for 20 minutes seemed like an ok idea at the time...
Last night I cooked. Not the promised cheeseburgers with homemade rolls and horseradish mayo that I'd promised, but some pretty decent bone-in chicken thighs baked over diced onions and cherry tomatoes with several glugs of oil and sherry vinegar, some cumin and mexican oregano. Acorn squash and steamed spinach served as generous sides.
A plate of cotswald cheese with crackers and spanish nut mix was a nice pre-dinner snack. Too many chocolate and cocoa covered almonds served as dessert. We opened two bottles of red. No wonder about those two pounds, huh?

[GretchenS]

But they sound like a fun two pounds indeed! And phew what a relief it went well with your parents and the new guy.

[rabaja]

Thanks GS! Yes, a very fun two pounds. Now to get back on track so I can enjoy more treats further into the holiday season.
Turkey stock is on the stove for Thursday's gravy (my Mother requested I bring this, and my neice wants teeny individual lemon meringue tartletts, good thing my work load is light this week), which is making the house smell lovely.
Dinner tonight is up in the air, some nice pho or broth with pastina is sounding good.
My parents seem to like the new guy quite a bit so far. I hope they like him as much after I tell them I'm spending Christmas in New Hampshire with his family! I figure they've had Christmas with me every year for 39 years, but I'm not sure they'll take comfort in that fact...

[GretchenS]

Probably not...

[mariacarmen]

wow... holidays with the beau's family already! that sounds serious...... your parents will no doubt miss the hell out of you but be happy you're happy.

[mariacarmen]

it sounds like you're having some well-deserved good times! glad to hear it.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Last night was mini racks of pork riblets, browned under the broiler and finished in the oven, marinated and baked in a bottled BBQ sauce fancied up with some lemongrass, ginger, soy and sriracha. Served with rice and string beans (the purple ones that turn green when you cook them).

Still have a ton of leftover pork that I may attempt to turn into bahn mi for dinner tonight, if I can get my hands on a cucumber. Or perhaps for lunch.

[roxlet]

Last night we had a friends and family birthday party for my son who turned 16 last Monday. He asked for chili, which works very well for the crowd, and which allowed my husband to take the pressure cooker I got him for his birthday out for a spin. He made two type of chili -- beef and black bean, but it was the black bean chili that was really fantastic. We had chips and guacamole to start, and for dessert, a triple layer coconut cake (Malgieri's coconut cake recipe X2), the epicurious double chocolate cake with cooked flour frosting and a Boston Cream Pie, which is the favorite of one of the guests whose birthday is today. Margaritas and ice cold Coronas made for a cheery crowd, and it was nice enough out for the kids to take their dishes to the porch and eat there. But wait, the birthday is not over yet! We head out to my SIL's house in San Diego tomorrow, and she has told us that she's planning a birthday celebration. That's the third one for this 16 year-old! Lucky kid.

[GretchenS]

Sounds like a great bday party!

[LindaWhit]

Sounds like a GREAT birthday celebration - good choice by the birthday boy!

[L.Nightshade]

It all sounds great! I love those extended birthdays.

[mariacarmen]

black bean chili sounds good - and i don't even like chili.

[GretchenS]

The crispy duck leg I made last night (recipe linked upthread) was a winner. I did a dry run on a non-sweet cranberry sauce to go with -- used just cranberries and equal parts 100% pomegranate juice and ruby port -- I hate hate hate sugar and was trying for a no-sugar version. That was too tart so I added a swig of cassis. For me that was perfect but I think for others I will use the pomegranate/ruby port combo together with some fresh-squeezed orange juice and a bit of orange rind. If it needs even more sweet, then I will use pom molasses. But the very tart stuff was yummy with my duck leg.

Tonight I have a gorgeous ham steak and will roast cubed sweet potato, brussels sprouts, carrots and shallots to go with. I am very excited: my oldster is off on a 3 week cruise so I had a weekend at home for a change and reclaimed my dining room table, whose surface had not seen the light of day for many a month, and polished it and am looking forward to eating my meals without towering piles of junk looming over me. It's the little things, ya know....

[ChristinaMason]

Last night was leftover jerk chicken sliced thinly and piled into a hollowed-out multigrain roll. Tonight will be grilled skirt steak that's been marinated in lime juice, pepper-onion-garlic puree (from my last batch of posole), soy sauce, and clementine juice. We'll have that with grilled peppers, onions, and pineapple and maybe a little polenta on the side.

[ChristinaMason]

oh man, that made a killer marinade. must repeat. we had the sliced steak over mixed greens previously tossed with red wine vinegar and olive oil, then topped with avocado, tomato, and salsa. looking forward to lunch leftovers.

[nomadchowwoman]

Yes, that sounds like a killer marinade, CM. Love the lime and clementine juice combo.

[ChristinaMason]

thank you, nmcw :) clementines are winter's most perfect fruit :)

[L.Nightshade]

I'm feeling very fortunate tonight. Mr. NS and I had a fun day in the kitchen, then we had our neighbors over for dinner, which made for a completely delightful evening. For the first course, I made artichoke flans with parmesan bechamel and tomato raisins. We then made three kinds of ravioli: shrimp in reduced broth; pumpkin in butter with hazelnuts and sage; and sausage and spinach in porcini sauce. The neighbors brought an extremely tasty apple-berry crisp and vanilla ice cream. Alongside we enjoyed sips of limoncello that we made in Italy. I had so much fun, I forgot to take pictures of anything but the first course!

[letsindulge]

Beef Sukiyaki for a rainy Sunday.

[rabaja]

That looks amazing! My kind of rainy day dinner.
Do you follow a recipe? Also, I see the veg kits at the Japanese market in the city, do you use those, or buy the veg you want?

[mariacarmen]

Goi cuon success! With Ina's blog showing me step by step, we made 6 pork spring rolls with red leaf lettuce, sliced cucumber, jalapenos, cilantro, green onion, mint & basil. also made a dipping sauce loosely based on hers, with hoisin, peanut butter and sriracha, a little water and fresh lime juice. The Boy's came out prettier than mine, but they all tasted good. we used the rice paper sheets with tapioca which i understand are easier to work with than the standard, and we didn't have one tear.

the stew was pork shoulder as described upthread. there was ginger in it too, which i think i forgot to post. i could only eat 2 of the rolls, they were really quite filling, even tho they're so light and healthy tasting. will definitely make them again.

[L.Nightshade]

Lovely mc! We've all been on a 'roll' lately, it seems!

[BabsW]

Those look great! I haven't been able to find rice paper wrappers on a regular basis - just the usual thicker wonton wrappers.

[steve h.]

nice.

[nomadchowwoman]

I'm intrigued by the rice paper wrappers w/tapioca--don't think I've ever seen them, but would make the rolls more often if the wrappers were easier to work with. Yours look lovely.

[L.Nightshade]

My wrappers are all tapioca, no rice, very easy to work with. (Photo upstream somewhere, you can see they look about the same.)

[JerryMe]

Hash from leftovers, which I've never eaten or made before. Finely chopped leftover beef, chopped onions, diced potatoes fried up in some oil and then some scrambled eggs thrown in to finish. Sriracha for me and ketchup for them and quite tasty. I have to admit this may make it back onto the menu.

[sunflwrsdh]

Ok, so i have abdicated my "kitchen throne" to my recently retired husband, who is an excellent cook. His complete retirement is recent, only a couple of months, and most of the first month we were travelling, so this sharing of the "head chef" duties hasn't been an issue. But now.....he does most of the grocery shopping, and meal planning and cooking, which is great, but I miss my part in all of that. I am confident we will work it all out, but in the meantime, I am pretty much relegated to cooking on the weekends ( and of course, major holidays! So I am doing Thanksgiving, naturally.) and having to explain why I need certain ingredients, wnen he shops. It will take some getting used to. Tonight's wfd was tacos, with beef he ground, and taco seasoning he made, whole wheat tortillas, and cheese ( at least I grated the cheddar:) and baked Spanish Rice, from an old recipe in a Good Housekeeping Cookbook, which turned out wonderfully. Leftover gingerbread, or chocolate chunk cookies for dessert.

[LindaWhit]

Enjoy the figuring out, sunflwr. I'm sure you'll both work it out - perhaps trade off for each other on being executive chef and sous chef (a.k.a. "Kitchen Bitch" - meaning helping with the mise en place preparation, at least). :-)

[mariacarmen]

sunflwr - enjoy a little of the break, and do trade-offs like LW said. my bf's schedule is much more flexible than mine, being self-employed as he is, so he usually cooks during the week, but if i get an idea on any given work day, i'll tell him i want to cook, and then weekends i do the cooking usually. but it's really nice to come home from a long day of work and have a good meal prepared for you! it helps that the bf knows how to cook, as it sounds like your hubby does.

[ChristinaMason]

Last night I made the chicken diable that several others have raved about. Not one to leave a good thing alone, I added a splash of soy sauce, ground black pepper, onion powder, and a good pinch of red pepper flake. DH made lots of appreciative noises, so it's going on the repeat list. I served the chicken thighs over steamed wild rice pilaf cooked in chicken broth and tossed with peas. Delish. Leftovers will go into multigrain bakery rolls for lunches.

[scubadoo97]

"DH made lots of appreciative noises"
_____________________________________

Cracking me up CM. Sounds like a keeper recipe

[GretchenS]

I have a duck leg in the oven getting crispy using this recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy... It smells heavenly as does the super rich turkey broth (from necks and wings) I have been simmering all afternoon for use on Thursday. I think I am going to sort of skillet roast some brussels sprouts, carrot and parsnip in some of the rendered duck fat since the oven temp is too low for roasting them. Not sure how that will work but worth a try... Seems like it will go well with the crispy duck leg.

[mariacarmen]

pork two ways tonight. Inspired by Ina, am trying my hand at Goi Cuon with boiled pork shoulder, which is in the pot now with some onion, garlic and salt. innards will be red leaf lettuce, basil, cilantro and mint, and cucumber for crunch - no bean sprouts at my meximart this a.m. skipping the noodles.

In the slow cooker i have the rest of the pork shoulder melting with dark soy, brown sugar, a shitload of whole crushed garlic, granulated garlic, toasted hot chili flakes, sesame oil, and a ton of scallions. oh, and a tbls of maggi sauce. oh and some sliced up cabbage i had laying around. smells divine. that'll go over some jasmine rice.

also have a couple of fat poblanos roasting in the oven. to what end, i know not yet. probably not for tonight's dinner tho.

[BabsW]

That all sounds amazing! How was it?

[megjp]

I'm just finishing up cooking tonight, and the apartment smells delicious.

- Roasted baby bok choi with garlic, soon to be drizzled with a lemon-tarragon-mirin sauce that seemed so interesting I had to try it
- Roasted carrots tossed with Japanese curry powder (nb. it is delicious but I don't vouch for the authenticity, having little experience with the cuisine)
- Warm soba noodles, finished with toasted sesame oil

[Harters]

Hi (or molo, as we say in Xhosa)

Only been back home for a few hours so am defrosting some freezer brown gloop. Looks like chilli.

[GretchenS]

Welcome back Harters! Hope your trip was fabulous!

[Harters]

Too fab for words. The herd of elephants passing either side of the jeep was a high spot.
As was seeing all the different sorts of antelope - both on the hoof and on the plate.

[mariacarmen]

sounds absolutely amazing. always been a dream of mine. welcome back indeed, enjoy the chili glop! and if they were worthwhile, a few words on any meals you had in the bush?

[Harters]

Well, mc, have to say that after three weeks of hotel and restaurant food, I'm looking forward to being back in the kitchen.

Generally, food was not that inspirimg - but I don't think SA is a foody destination, as such. The cuisine of much of what was on offer was very firmly set in north European styles - food you'd regularly come across in restaurants across, for instance, the UK, Belgium or Ireland. There would be some goodly use of local ingredients - game is plentiful and I did eat various types of antelope. However, the style it's cooked in was very familiar to me - exactly the sort of dishes that we'd just use British venison for.

I've got restaurant reviews to write but they'll be a few days, and if youre interested, please check out the Africa board later in the week.

John

[mariacarmen]

will do, and thanks, Harters. Bet you're glad to get back in the kitchen.

[roxlet]

I suppose that SA is a bit like Egypt, which is also not a foodie destination. Come on, Africa! get with it!

[ChristinaMason]

Welcome back, Harters! We missed you and look forward to your meals.

[LindaWhit]

Welcome back, Harters! Get some rest - cannot wait to hear more about of your travels and dining when you're able. :-)

[Harters]

I did manage to get a bit of kitchen time whilst away. One of the trip highlights was a "cooking safari" trip we took in Cape Town. It was a visit to the Cape Malay neighbourhood of the Bo Kaap. Cape Malays were originally slaves brought by the Dutch from Malayia but the community is now generally regarded as being wider, including folk, generally Islamic, coming from the Indian sub continent. We did a walk round the area, visiting a spice shop and the local mosque. But the main focus was a visit to someone's home where we helped cook the meal - and then ate it , of course. It started with samosas (samoosas, as they have it) and "chilli bites", followed by chicken curry, roti (they call them rooti) and sambal. All to be eaten with your hands.

Here's the recipe for the sambal, which you eat with the curry:

1 large tomato
1 large onion
4 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 green chillies
Coriander leaves

Mix vinegar & sugar. Skin and deseed tomato. Finely chop tomato, chilli & onion. Chop coriander. Mix everything together.

[buttertart]

That sounds fun and delicious. Glad it was as you would hope it to be! Look forward to the reviews.

[mariacarmen]

i love sambal in a jar, glad to have a recipe to make it myself.

[linguafood]

I bought a 1 lb. d'Artagnan duck breast for tonight, and I am rather nervous about ruining it (at $15 that would be a shame).

I've never made duck breast before, and it can be so good -- crunchy-crispy skin, juicy & tender duck meat.... I think I'll flip if it turns out badly.

I'll do a search on the HC board and also be looking around on the interwebz for pointers and consult JOC, but I'll happily accept any hints here (or in a separate thread).

I figure you score the skin, pan-sear skin down over med-hi heat to render the fat, then finish in the oven?

Sides are TBD, I feel like a starch is in order -- perhaps purtators? Hoping to make a nice pan sauce with port and fig preserve. Veggie side that's great with duck? Hmmmmmm.

[GretchenS]

linguafood, yes, score the skin in a diamond pattern, making sure you don't cut into the flesh. Then start skin side down in a cold skillet on medium low heat. As fat renders out gradually increase the heat a bit (not higher than medium though) until you have rendered essentially all the fat out and you have gorgeous mahogany brown crispy skin. I pour off or spoon off the fat a couple times during this process. When it's ready, flip and cook a minute or two then take out of the pan, cover lightly with foil and put in a 250 oven for about 5 minutes to rest and finish cooking. This is a combination of methods I have gleaned from the wonderful cooks on this board over the years and it's my go to -- I make duck breast fairly often as it is one thing my father reliably likes. A quick sauce to make in the drippings: 1 tsp pomegranta molasses or honey, 2 T ruby port, 2 T balsamic, 2 T white wine vinegar, boil, use enough butter to mount. Sometimes I supreme an orange and squeeze the juice from the membranes into the sauce and alternate orange supremes and duck slices, then drizzle the sauce over. If I were ever making it for someone other than my father, I think green peppercorns would be good in the sauce. I just looked back up and saw you already have a great-sounding sauce....

[linguafood]

OMG! GretchenS to the rescue! Thanks for all that. I would never have started the duck off in a cold skillet, so this is interesting!

I guess I don't need to add any cooking fat to that duck breast, eh? It'll cook in its own fat almost like a confit.... god i cannot wait till dinner.

I will report! Fingers crossed!

[mariacarmen]

i wanna hear all about that duck too! i've never made duck breast myself either.

[linguafood]

Well, it came out almost perfectly! I say almost cuz I would have liked the skin to be even crispier, but let's not forget I wasn't deep-frying it :-)

I started it off just like GretchenS proposed, in a cold pan which I eventually cranked up to 4 or so (my 'medium heat). I rendered a nice amount of duck fat to be used for my breakfast needs or frying up things.

I then put a digital thermometer in the breast and put it in the oven, skin down. The oven was still at 375˚ b/c I was roasting taters & Brussels sprouts, but I figured it wouldn't matter.

Sautéed a finely diced shallot in the remaining duck fat, deglazed with port, added the fig preserve and a little sploosh of cream freeeeeeeeeesh.

Took the breast out at 125˚F and let it sit about 5 minutes while plating.

Yes, my plating skills need work :-D but the breast was perfectly rare-med rare! It was rather mild meat for duck, tho, which was a bit of a bummer.

Also ended up completely oversalting the arugula, so that went in the trash.

Definitely making this again. $15 for a bit over a pound is no steal, but no way in hell do you get that much duck breast in a resto for $7.50 a pop. At least that's how I'm justifying it!

[ChristinaMason]

Sorry about the arugula, but that looks like a win overall!

[mariacarmen]

plating-schmating - that duck looks scrumptious!

my girlfriend made duck breast for a dinner party last week, and she bought some for really cheap - i forget now how much, but something ridiculously cheap - at a chinese market. Someone told her that all the duck sold that isn't a name brand (D'artagnan) all comes from the same place (wherever that is). So, he said that if you buy it at Whole Foods or at the chinese grocery store, it's the same producer, but way cheaper at the chinese mart. that's here, anyway, don't know about other parts of the country. Hers was delicious, too, and assertively duck flavored. But your post, and her experience, make me want to try it soon. The fig preserve thing sounds amazing. My friend made it with this lentil & bacon/date mash that was to die for. Just Saturday, i was passing by a food truck, and i bought a potato salad that was made with sweet potatoes, chipotle vinaigrette and cranberries - really wonderful, and something else i think would go well with duck breast.

and those sprouts look mouthwatering....

[buttertart]

Duck is cheapest in Chinatown here too (NYC), but I haven't seen the breasts sold separately - they sell the legs frozen for a pittance. The one time I made a duck breast it was massive - from a moulard duck - and quite gamy, lingua might have liked it better than I did. Look for a moulard next time.
That salad is intriguing, mc2!

[L.Nightshade]

Your duck looks and sounds wonderful. I love the fig and duck combo. Well done!

[GretchenS]

lingua that looks AWESOME!! So glad it worked for you!

[linguafood]

It made me very happy! I was so worried about the breast being over- or underdone, but it was *just* right. Thanks Gretchen, this will definitely be made again!

[nomadchowwoman]

Beautiful. All of it.

[megjp]

I had to make most of last night's dinner ahead, because we had a ballet to attend at 7:30 and I had a lunch date that I knew would run late.

I roasted some beets in the morning and left them on the counter until serving at room temperature with chicken thighs and quickly sauteed spinach. Now, for those of you who use a slow cooker, I advise you to put 4-6 bone-in chicken thighs in a crock with 3/4C. each brown sugar (I use demerara) and cider vinegar, 4-5 smashed cloves of garlic, 2-3 Tbsp. soy or tamari sauce, and a few good grinds of pepper. Add chicken stock if needed until thighs are half-submerged, and let it go at least 4 hours. (If you're able, start skin-side down and flip over after an hour -- this results in a beautiful colour to the skin once all is said and done. This can be accomplished by marinating skin-down the night before, then flipping to cook.) I have done this maybe a dozen times over the past couple of years, and never had a fail.

Tonight.. well, I have half a block of firm tofu, some baby bok choi, and some carrots to use up. Methinks something Asian is in order.

[mariacarmen]

i'm going to try that chicken soon.

[megjp]

It's a great "oh crap, dinner tonight..." thing. I'm especially fond of it with skin-on roasted potatoes tossed with fresh dill, and something leafy and sharp like endive.

[LindaWhit]

That chicken sounds very good and very easy, meg - thanks!

[buttertart]

I've been trying to knock myself out of a rut so we've had a few new to us in one way or another dinners lately. Friday had some cooked breaded veal cutlet, and thought it could use some jazzing up, so "veal parm"-ed it up (have never made and seldom eat vp). Cooked three sliced garlic cloves in a tb or so of olive oil, added a pint of halved grape tomatoes and some salt and pepper, cooked them a bit over highish heat. Scooched them to the sides of the pan, lay in the veal, covered each with slices of fresh mozz, covered the pan until the mozz melted somewhat. Served with the tomatoes over and an arugula salad, wishing for fresh basil, but you can't have everything.
Last night was superb bratwurst from a German butcher somewhere in northern NJ (a gift from a German colleague, a sweetie, I don't know exactly where she got them), with potatoes cut in 1/8 in slices and fried in butter, fresh applesauce, cottage cheese mixed with scallions and s&p (out of buttermilk, would normally add a bit), and sauerkraut cooked in some of the sausage drippings with caraway seeds. First sausages I've had in ages that I truly enjoyed.
Tonight a veal stew that I will force myself to use a recipe for instead of winging it the way I usually do. Any favorites out there?

[buttertart]

Veal stew is from Jean Anderson's "Falling off the Bone", Stufatino, p. 89. Looks and smells wonderful. Pizza caccia nanza and arugula salad with.

[ChristinaMason]

I was wondering what you ended up making. How did it turn out?

[buttertart]

Fabulous, among the best stews I've ever done. You cook 3 strips of bacon cut into 1/4 in pieces (in a tb of oil and of butter, I added the butter after the meat was browned and before the onions and din't use oil), brown the veal shoulder cut in 1 inch chunks in that, take it out and add a large onion, thinly sliced, a bay leaf, a bit of rosemary (didn't because we don't like it), 3 large garlic cloves smashed, brown that, add back the meat plus 2 c chicken or veg stock (I used water + a Knorr cube), 1 1/2 c white wine (I used M&R dry vermouth), 3 tb tomato paste, and s&p (didn't need salt because of the broth cube).
Bring to a simmer and this is where it gets interesting - you cook it *uncovered* over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces by about half (to the consistency of thin gravy) and the meat is tender. I have only seen that done with Greek stifado (come to think of it, the names are similar - this is apparently a Florentine dish).
Serve it with the bacon over top and minced Italian parsley, which I know I have but couldn't find. Delicious in that plush, sticky veal stew way.

[ChristinaMason]

Mmmm, that sounds wonderful. Great write-up :)

[buttertart]

Pics too! Too bad the stew looks so prison-foody. IRL it was a nice and burnished brownish red. The pizza caccia nanza is on the baking sheet.

[roxlet]

Mmmm. Sounds delicious.

[nomadchowwoman]

That sounds delicious.

[vafarmwife]

Nothing exciting today for Sunday lunch since we had our friends and neighbors Thanksgiving meal last Sunday. Just ham biscuits, hashbrown casserole, roasted cauliflower and broccoli. Applesauce raisin spice cake for dessert.

[buttertart]

Nothing exciting? Sounds divine.

[mariacarmen]

what's in that hashbrown casserole, VAFW?

[vafarmwife]

Oh the usual suspects- bag of southern style has brown potatoes, 1 stick butter, chopped onion, sour cream, shredded cheese, and don't flame me- a can of cream of chicken soup. Yes I'm a white trash cook LOL

[mariacarmen]

love it! reminds me of something i used to do with cream of mushroom soup and potatoes and cheese and green onions - i served it at my first dinner party!

[mcel215]

Since late June, no pizza for me. Finally made this tonight. It was so good. Spread lots of home made pesto on the dough, fresh mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. All sprinkled with lots of parm cheese and a drizzle of olive oil! It was so so good.

[mariacarmen]

wow, that looks delicious. all those tomatoes... yum.

[ChristinaMason]

Agree. That looks really delicious.

[L.Nightshade]

I've almost missed entire threads here. Just busy, I guess. In preparation for an Italian dinner tomorrow night, and the upcoming holiday, I've gone into fridge cleanout mode. Leftover pork, zucchini, apple/prune/vinegar/spice sauce, sriracha, and peanuts, plus a few shrimp and fresh herbs, went into summer rolls. Odd combo, but fresh and fun.

[suburban_mom]

Cioppino - saffron, fennel, Pernod, onions, shrimp, scallops, clams, crab, mahi, tomatoes, wine, seafood stock - YUM. Served with slices of sourdough bread to soak up the super tasty broth.

[Barbara76137]

Where are you???? and WHY DIDN'T YOU INVITE ME???? Cioppino is one of my favorite holiday dishes, either for Christmas eve or New year's.

[suburban_mom]

I'm in Minnesota and it cost us a gazillion dollars to make the meal but it was so worth it. My husband was having a serious seafood craving. It was probably equal in price to what we would have spent for a nice seafood meal out and we have leftovers.

[nomadchowwoman]

That's` the right perspective, imo. When I calculate what we spent eating out last week (and mostly mediocre), we could feast like royalty at home and still save money.

[steve h.]

Sounds great.

[suburban_mom]

Texas - K State on the panel. Not happy with the current score. We ate during halftime.

[Chocolatechipkt]

So far it's been a glass of wine, a few bites of spinach-artichoke dip at a party ... not sure what else. A friend and I indulged with many delicious, made-to-order dumplings for lunch, and I'm only just now feeling kinda hungry.

[powella]

Thanks for the inspiration, 'hounds! I am having a difficult time thinking of a menu plan for those pre-Thanksgiving night dinners, what with so much planning for the day itself going on in my mind. Tonight we enjoyed hazelnut-mushroom-tempeh "burgers", with green beans and pickled beets on the side. They aren't the most photogenic burgers but they are the tastiest homemade veggie burger recipe I have found- a Didi Emmons recipe.

[Terrie H.]

Tonight will be chicken roasted with lemons, olives, garlic and herbs with Yukon gold wedges thrown for the heck of it. I also have the last of the season Romano green beans on a bare simmer with olive oil and more garlic for that long-cooked, old style beany goodness.

[ChristinaMason]

Yum! Sign me up!

[LindaWhit]

Last night's dinner was 3 glasses of wine at a large group gathering of a local blog I participate on. Or maybe 4. I can't remember. An Advil chaser this morning. :-) But I had a great time, meeting some new folks, and catching up with other longer-time friends.

Tonight will be Cashew Chicken for me, the beau, and the beau's daughter (who I've met, but just before he and I started dating). We'll have rice to serve it over, and a salad alongside.

Cashew Chicken

1 pound boneless chicken, cut into 1-inch strips
3/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 green onions, cut-up
3 large carrots, cleaned and sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 cup cashews
Hot cooked rice

Combine juice, soy sauce, honey, cornstarch and seasonings. Heat 1 tablespoon oil until it begins to smoke. Stir-fry vegetables for several minutes until the onions become fragrant. Set aside.

Remove from skillet, heat another tablespoon of oil until smoking and stir-fry chicken strips until browned and tender. Add cooked vegetables, cashews and sauce mix. Continue cooking until sauce bubbles and thickens. Serve over hot rice.

[nomadchowwoman]

Hope you all have a lovely evening and Beau's Daughter knows how lucky she is to score a fantastic cook in this deal (not to mention the Cashew Chicken).

[mariacarmen]

"Last night's dinner was 3 glasses of wine at a large group gathering of a local blog I participate on. Or maybe 4. I can't remember. An Advil chaser this morning."

Linda, you are my kinda gal. That cashew chicken sounds really good - ima gonna have to try that.

[scubadoo97]

Last nights dinner was chicken with garlic pasta and Thai basil. Not the same garlic pasta mentioned up thread. Just pasta with a lot of sauteed garlic

[mariacarmen]

Tonight a girlfriend is bringing over duck fat from her dinner party last week and we'll cook up some diced potatoes and eat those caramel-ly bad boys atop a lyonnaise salad - eggy, bacony, ducky, mmmmm. think i'll make goat cheese toasts to go alongside.

[LindaWhit]

Holy moly - that sounds WONDERFUL! Enjoy, mc!

[nomadchowwoman]

Oh to have a friend to bring me duckfat! A friend indeed!

[mariacarmen]

here's a pic. we started out with salty dry cured olives and paper thin slices of prosciutto drizzled with evoo and a grind or two of black pepper. then on to the main attraction - Le Salade Lyonnaise! unfortunately, in two of my local "fancier" stores (aka, not latino-marts) i could not find frisee, so i subbed in arugula, which worked out very well - not as hearty texture-wise but love that peppery bite. the potatoes were ducky and fabulous. i made a very lemony dijon/shallot vinaigrette which, i have to say, was pretty delicious. we had a bowl (as you can see) of leftover taters, which we ate after, sans salade, with just drizzles of the dressing. all went very well with a chilled pink sparkler (Cristalino, from Spain). i think i'm going to have to replay this meal tomorrow night for the boy, as he was out and it wouldn't have held up well, so i left him with some doctored up tagliarini and meatballs from Lucca Ravioli.

AND, i baked! a simple banana bread for the boy because we had squishy bananas. i added a bunch of finely chopped almonds, and a splash of almond extract for more of that almond joy. super moist. he's warned me there may not be any left by morning.

[L.Nightshade]

You know how to live mc! Sounds wonderful.
Lucca on Valencia? He's not suffering! I miss Lucca!

[mariacarmen]

that's the place! did you live here before? it's a block away from me - and i do know how lucky i am...

[L.Nightshade]

Most of my adult life I lived in SF, many neighborhoods, some time living on Fair Oaks at 24th, also lived in Project Artaud. I need to come back and visit some time soon! Yes you are lucky!

[mariacarmen]

wow - i have actually performed in the Artaud complex! i live at 21st btw Valencia & Mission. yes, come visit!

[mcel215]

Yum, Maria~

[sunflwrsdh]

Sounds awesome! The banana and almond dessert is especially inspired:)

[roxlet]

Very nice additions to the banana bread, mc. I love the almonds idea.

[mariacarmen]

Thx, ladies!

[nomadchowwoman]

That salad looks amazing. (And I love that pink Cristalino sparkly too.)

[mariacarmen]

thx! and, i know! the Cristalino is only $8.99!

[chef chicklet]

That salad looks incredibly delicious!!!

[mariacarmen]

thx!

[letsindulge]

I must say that I'm really liking that more pictures are being posted. Visuals are SO nice.

[sunflwrsdh]

My husband made a wonderful chicken parm. And angel hair with marinara, and green salad and garlic croissants. Yum:)

[steve h.]

Leftovers.
Leftover beef short ribs that were braised in red wine and leftover gorgonzola polenta.
House red to wash things down. Maybe some Count Basie beamed to the new sound rig in the family room.

[twodales]

Sounds Heavenly.

[nomadchowwoman]

Too much eating out this past week--and almost all of it disappointing.

But last night I made chicken-mushroom ragout, the recipe for which steveh so kindly posted on the previous WFD thread--and all I can say is Wow, that is one delicious dish (chicken thighs, browned and braised w/ shallots, mushrooms, white wine, then finished with a little sour cream and parsley), not hard to put together at all. I recommend it highly. I served it with egg noodles and a salad of arugula, beets, satsumas, red onion, feta, vinaigrette, and toasted pistachios. So nice to have a satisfying meal at home.

For tonight, with a few guests, osso buco is braising in the oven. That will be served with a simple risotto milanese and two salads--beets and asparagus w/orange vinaigrette and a simple arugula w/radishes, shaved parmesan, and a garlicky vinaigrette. I'll set out some nut, olives, and pears to munch on before dinner. And I'm making a lemon souffle pudding (from Gordon Hamersley's cookbook) for dessert.

And it looks like I am going to have to try LW's chicken diable very soon (but probably after Big Bird Day). And those Vietnamese garlic noodles also sound like a must-do.

So many recipes, so little time . . .

[steve h.]

Glad to have been of service.

[nomadchowwoman]

Believe me, it is now in the permanent rotation.

[nomadchowwoman]

Believe me--that one is going into the permanent rotation.

[LindaWhit]

Chicken mushroom ragout AND osso buco AND Risotto Milanese AND the two salads - everything sounds wonderful!

[linguafood]

A good friend of ours is coming over tonight, and he's decided he's making chicken tacos for us!

So all I have to do, thankfully, is make a nice salad on the side... perhaps with some crema or crumbled Mexican cheese on top to match? Any suggestions? Never used either >gasp<

[nomadchowwoman]

Crumbled Mexican cheese (the one that is sort of feta-esque) is really good in salad.

[ChristinaMason]

<(the one that is sort of feta-esque) >

cotija? :)

[nomadchowwoman]

Yes, that's the one I was trying to think of! TY, CM.

[onceadaylily]

It's cold and windy here, and so I've changed the menu for tonight. Tacos just don't seem to fit the bill when the windows are rattling in their frames. I've been craving French onion soup, but the Better than Bouillon No-Beef is nowhere to be found, so I'm going have to throw some other stuff at it. Lots of slow-cooked onions, some diced mushrooms, celery and carrot, roasted garlic, red wine, no-chicken base, and a little worcestershire, garnished with fried sage. Garlic cheese bread that is more mozzarella than bread will be served with.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

My boyfriend has a late night tonight and we won't be eating until around 10. When he gets home, however, we will have pork riblets braised in apple juice-ginger-garlic. And cabbage rolls stuffed with wild rice, bacon and preserved lemon (I think -- I'm still working on that one). Probably a glass or two of wine.

[JungMann]

Curried buttermilk soup was delicious, but the taste of curry leaves didn't quite agree with me in my post-surgical state and I need a bit more protein so I've gone with a black bean soup with less aggressive seasonings. I sauteed bits of an end of prosciutto with onions and garlic, and for spices: cumin, coriander, paprika, oregano, Aleppo pepper and orange peel. When all was aromatic and inviting, I added the black beans and chicken stock. Simmer, puree and 20 minutes later a protein-rich soup to get one on the mend.

[megjp]

Hey, speaking of pureed beans, something like this always makes me feel better: http://christiescorner.com/2010/10/08...

You don't have to leave any chickpeas whole if you can't chew properly. I find some blitzed beans add body to vegetable soups like carrot, too, broken down so they lend texture but aren't discernibly beans.

Get well!

[onceadaylily]

Yes, be careful of anything too acidic or spicy after that type of surgery, JM. I was caught off-guard by tomato sauce after one of my own procedures. I love tomatoes, and it felt like a betrayal. I have black bean soup on the menu for a do-ahead this weekend. It's one of those soups that holds up, and is so beautifully adaptable. I hope you heal well and soon.

[JungMann]

I learned my lesson after having my foul mudammes squirted with an errant lemon. I nearly passed out from the pain. Typically I would use lime juice, but channeling my Andalusian forebears and a bit of the Seville orange in mariacarmen's kitchen, I thought this might be a safer better. And I have to admit that this all the flavor of a really good soup with the warm but restrained flavors of Aleppo pepper and orange rind doing a lot to make this 20-min meal taste unexpectedly refined. I may make this my new black bean prep for the rest of the winter.

[mariacarmen]

the orange peel in that soup really intrigues me!

[steve h.]

Split pea soup.
It's getting cold here in southern New England.

[megjp]

I made tofu and leeks, with soba noodles.

I started with an idea on tofufortwo.net found when googling my mostly empty fridge ingredients, but through preference or necessity adapted it tonight: unmeasured amts. of mirin + rice wine vinegar, not sherry; tamari for most of the soy sauce and in a reduced quantity; minced garlic in a smaller amount of peanut oil first; and toasted sesame seeds and a squirt of sriracha to top. Although I thought I knew exactly how this would taste and was looking at it as merely a late Thursday dinner for one, I was pleasantly surprised. Oh, plus it was ready in 20 minutes -- now I can do a chore AND go have a drink with a friend! :)

[BabsW]

Dinner tonight is leftovers and maybe a knackwurst. I'm leaving tomorrow for a road trip so I want to get through the stuff we've cooked this week.

I am thinking of simmering the knackwurst in beer with onions, sauerkraut, apples and mustard, but tbh I am sort of pissed off now and not really in the mood for cooking, so chances are I may just have a bagel for dinner while I feed the kids leftovers. I can freeze the knackwurst for another time.

The beer is definitely on the menu, knackwurst or not.

:D

[BabsW]

I ended up with the knackwurst and caramelized onions and mustard and a bowl of loaded baked potato soup.

[scubadoo97]

Babs, that looks really nice.

[ChristinaMason]

Tonight will be broiled b/s chicken thighs (which marinated in jerk seasoning paste, lime juice, and olive oil), broiled pineapple slices, and probably buttermilk mashed redskin potatoes (although we have some leftover mac and cheese that could stand in in a pinch). Maybe a quick romaine salad if I'm feeling enterprising.

[raisa]

Minute steak, cooked pink and juicy, with buttery mashed potato and mushrooms sauteed with garlic. A salad made with home made mayo.

[letsindulge]

Goat Cheese Ravioli w/ Roasted Brussel Sprouts & Mushroom Medley

[mcel215]

Yum ~

[BabsW]

I love, love LOVE roasted Brussels sprouts, with lots of salt. :9

[L.Nightshade]

I haven't read much of this thread, but when I reloaded the page this came up mid-screen. What a great sounding dish! We're huge ravioli fans, and I love what you did here.

[sunflwrsdh]

Mall food court "Chinese", unfortunately, and watching my grandchildren enjoy the bouncy house, after 5-y-o granddaughter's Wednesday night dance/gymnastics class. Sometimes it just can't be about the food:)

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Lasagna tonight, entirely homemade (except for the cheese). A layer of fresh beef Italian sausage, sauteed with mushrooms (I used Rulman's recipe from Charcuterie for the sausage spicing), a layer of sweet potato-ricotta filling I had leftover in the freezer from filling ravioli a while back, fresh pasta sheets and the usual marinara and mozarella.

It took frickin' forever to put everything together, but I made a second lasagna for the freezer as well, and made a bunch of raviolis with the leftover pasta dough and filling, so I think it was worth the effort.

[suburban_mom]

Yum!

[ChristinaMason]

that sounds wonderful. i love that it's all homemade!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Thank you -- it turned out pretty great. Something about the spicy sausage layer and the sweet potato layer worked really well together. My boyfriend was still raving about it this morning. :)

[rabaja]

I marinating some nice tuna steaks in Annie's Shitake Sesame dressing, which will then be seared on the stove and served with sauteed spinach and sticky asian brown rice.

This is the second time I've had this dish, thanks to the new man, but tonight I am insisting on rice as I am in need of comfort.

[Barbara76137]

Horrible eggplant parm tonight, I just can't seem to cook anything right now. At least it was pretty cheap. All of the ingredients were bought on sale and I was using up stuff in the fridge.

[megjp]

I did it, I finally made LindaWhit's now-famous chicken diable! (With some sauteed garlicky spinach and skillet-fried potato slices instead of some kinda beets that were abandoned to a later-than-expected arrival home and looming errands.)

SUPER glad I tried this, and the man was surreptitiously drinking leftover sauce by the spoonful when he went to put dishes in the sink. Do-it-in-my-sleep easy, definitely a repeat dish; I used boneless thighs at a slightly higher heat for the same amount of time as in WFD#115, and while they could have benefitted from slower cooking, they were stlil finger licking good.

[LindaWhit]

LOL! on the drinking of the sauce! It *is* good, isn't it? Glad you both liked it.

[ChristinaMason]

OK, good, I have that recipe in my "to make soon" list. Thanks for reporting back :)

[suburban_mom]

Shaking beef over arugula for me and DH, over rice for kids. Sugar snap peas. I was going to make garlic noodles but we had lots of rice from earlier this week so I used that instead and I'm glad. The shaking beef is very assertive and I thing garlic noodles would have been too over powering. Garlic noodles will make it on the menu soon.

[linguafood]

They're much less overpowering than one would think. Garlicky, yes, but not in that sharp, raw way. It's a very mellow garlic high.

[suburban_mom]

Thanks for the info. I have the garlic noodle ingredients so I think they will make next week's menu. They might be a good thing to serve after Thanksgiving.

[buttertart]

Have some nice leeks and doufu, and a gorgeous bunch of cilantro, so mapo doufu and tiger salad it is. The magnificent if tardy Fuchsia D's recipe.

[linguafood]

What -- nobody cooking today? It seems awfully quiet here for Wednesday night... I should shut up, though, given that I've eaten out the last two nights (Greek & Sichuan, respectively).

Tonight @casa lingua: pan-fried haddock filet with mustard cream sauce, sautéed leaf spinach with garlic & a hint of nutmeg and baby arugula salad with lemon dressing.

Dessert (!!!! which we basically never have, but today was so goddamn gray and dreary, I felt like some brightness in the house, flavor and color-wise) is a fruit salad: honeycrisp apple, red pear, pomegranate, kiwi, banana, grapefruit, maybe some toasted walnuts, I haven't decided.

Another silly episode of AHS on the tube, very likely the last one we'll watch.

[mariacarmen]

just you, me and babs!

AHS?
your dinner sounds so healthy! and that fruit salad - mmm. i'm hooked on those honeycrisps.

[linguafood]

Well -- if it's just us.... American Horror Story. The pilot was really great, but it's been going steadily downhill ever since.

As far as dinner goes, I've been craving fish & spinach (love that combo). It's been a fairly meat-heavy last few days.

[gembellina]

That fish sounds great, I keep meaning to cook fish but I always miss the fishmonger. Must try harder. Maybe a nice lemon sole for Sunday's early tea...

My mum raved about the first ep of American Horror Story, said it was really scary!

[linguafood]

Damn. I undercooked the haddock a bit (I'd rather err on under than overcooking, but still... grrrrr), and I wasn't too impressed with my mustard sauce.

Also, for some reason my vinaigrette (lemon oil & champagne vinegar) 'broke' when I added salt & coarse ground pepper. I could absolutely NOT get it to emulsify again.... what gives?

I hate it when I have great plans for a dinner -- great expectations more like it -- and then it just doesn't live up to them.

[BabsW]

Oh, I love a nice piece of haddock., and the mustard cream sauce sounds wonderful!

[onceadaylily]

Pizza got delayed until tonight. I was pulling everything out for the dough yesterday, but had forgotten that I was out of eggs. Not in a salad mood, so roasted broccoli to go with. Damn, I miss fish--that mustard sauce sounds so good to me right now.

[JungMann]

Quiet night here as I am recovering from oral surgery. Oh well, at least I can thin up before Thanksgiving. Either way, in preparation for a textureless week I turned the buttermilk I had been saving for pie into a curried buttermilk soup. Normally I would stud the soup with fluffy chickpea fritters, however with my roommate's baguette-a-day habit leaving me with plenty of leftover bread, I thought semmelknoedel would be more economical. And indeed it was along with some avocado ice cream made over the weekend. All told I, no texture, but still a significant improvement over the boxed mashed potatoes and chocolate ice cream recommended by a doctor who didn't realize he was talking to a CHer.

[mariacarmen]

sorry to hear JM - quite a challenge, but it sounds like you're up to it. i made a lot of soft scrambled eggs for the BF when he had his dental woes. for your palate, maybe soft scrambled eggs with a puree of ginger, scallions, soy, sriracha?

[JungMann]

I made chawanmushi for lunch with a bit of chopped shrimp and scallions, but my jaw is locking so I think I'm more limited than I assumed. Peanut butter seemed like a good back up, but it left me smacking my mouth like a pleased puppy for a good 15 minutes. I'm going to try making a cream of spinach soup later to add a little more nutrition to my protein intake.

[LindaWhit]

JM, what about a milkshake with an egg or two in it? That's what Mom always made us kids when we got braces on our teeth.

Just *DO NOT* use a straw to drink it - if you've had extractions, you don't want to loosen anything and start bleeding again.

[scubadoo97]

Just as long as they aren't raw.

My mom use to put a raw egg in milkshakes when we were kids but raw eggs are not digested as well as cooked eggs and may inhibit the absorption of other nutrients. Still some body builders are still convinced eating raw eggs is a good thing but the data suggests otherwise.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/128/1...

[LindaWhit]

Umm, how else would you use eggs in a milkshake but put them in raw and blend it up? They were always raw when Mom made them for us. And we survived. I can't quite even imagine using cooked eggs in a milkshake. :-/

[scubadoo97]

Not really suggesting using cooked eggs just the avoidance of raw eggs since there is not only a risk of food borne illness but the fact that they interfere with absorption of nutrients. E.g. a milkshake without egg added

[BabsW]

If I recall correctly, I lived on milkshakes and applesauce when I had my wisdom teeth out, oh, 20 years ago. Now I'd probably add root vegetable purees and creamy pureed soups to that list.

Hope you're mouth heals soon, but I have to say, this made me laugh:

"but still a significant improvement over the boxed mashed potatoes and chocolate ice cream recommended by a doctor who didn't realize he was talking to a CHer."

:)

[twodales]

Ditto on the Chowhound comment
. Would have enjoyed see the look on your face when he said that! Heh! Heh! Heh!

I hope you are quickly mended Jung Mann!

[LindaWhit]

Hope it heals quickly, JM!

[mariacarmen]

What's for Potluck? It'll be a night of cooking for me, in and around watching Top Chef, of course. Will make the now-weekly meatloaf for the oldster, and then I have two dishes to prepare for our office Thxgiving potluck lunch tomorrow. They bring in a full turkey dinner and we all bring in sides. Why anyone wants to eat a huge Thxgiving dinner a week before they're going to do it again is beyond me, but, since our family is probably not going to do anything this year (still not in the holiday celebrating mood), it won't be so bad for me.

anyways..... i'm going to try out this Jamie Oliver recipe:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/r...
looks great, don't it? i love leeks. thinking of adding in some gruyere to the mix. also need to "translate" those measurements before i go shopping tonight.

and then a sliced beet, avocado, goat cheese, chive and pine nut salad with a lemon dijon dressing.

[BabsW]

That does look great -I love leeks and gruyere together.

I made something similar a few years ago for Christmas Eve, though I used croutons on top. Yum. :)

[BabsW]

Today I am attempting Thomas Keller's French onion soup since I spent all day Monday making beef stock. The onions are into the first hour of cooking down and already the house smells great.

I think I'm most excited about getting to use my little stoneware soup crocks though.

[BabsW]

Totally worth the long cooking time!

[linguafood]

OMG. That cheese.....

[BabsW]

Thanks! I used Emmenthaler, yum.

Sadly, my broiler is suspect. It's one of those broilers that sits below the oven by the floor because it's a gas oven and frankly I hate it down there. I'm afraid that all of the cat hair that surely has made its way far down underneath the stove would combust if I lit up the broiler, so I don't chance it. Stupid, huh? *sigh* My dream kitchen will have a salamander. haha

Anyway, I just stuck it in the oven at 400F. even though the cheese didn't brown up, it melted perfectly.

[weezieduzzit]

Broiler or not its beautiful and that soup is sooooooo yummy! As steveh said not long ago on one of these threads, Keller knows soup.

[BabsW]

He certainly does. It's incredible how you can get that depth of flavor through the application of low heat and a lot of time - of course, good ingredients probably don't hurt, either. :)

I bet it would still taste phenomenal with commercially made stock from a carton. I ate some of those caramelized onions that I reserved for other uses, probably mujadara, and they were just unbelievably flavorful.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Tonight is kielbasa cooked in caramelized apple juice, saurkraut, warm baguette with butter and a slaw based on the Chow shaved brussels sprout salad, only with the sprouts replaced by grated cabbage and apples, the pinenuts replaced by salted sunflower seeds, the lemon zest replaced by preserved lemon (which I found on my back porch this morning, generously gifted by a neighbour!), and the egg and parmesan left out entirely.

We may have, uh, already finished the wine that would have been served with dinner.

[suburban_mom]

Sausage, onion and pepper sandwiches with melted provolone. Salad on the side.

[sunflwrsdh]

My husband surprised me with a rump roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted carrots and his home made bread. I am blessed:)

[sunflwrsdh]

My husband surprised me with a beautiful dinner of round roast, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots and his hom made wheat bread. I am blessed!

[Chocolatechipkt]

Thanksgiving meatballs in a tomato sauce with spaghetti
(turkey meatballs made with cornbread, dried cranberries, onions and sage)

[onceadaylily]

Last night I dreamed that I had forgotten that I was keeping pantry overflow items in a different place, and when I looked, there was everything I needed. I was clearly more upset with delaying the market trip until Wednesday than I thought. It was so vivid that I actually checked my pantry this morning for canned tomatoes. Stupid dream.

The only thing I'm going to be able to scrap up for dinner is pizza. I have enough diced tomatoes in the fridge to make a tiny batch of marinara, so one pizza will be the boy's favorite: marinara, cheese, jalapeno, banana peppers, soyrizo, and onions. The other pizza will be garlic OO, wilted spinach, a lemony ricotta, mozzarella, roasted olives and artichoke hearts, thinly sliced roasted red pepper, and Aleppo.

I cannot shake the feeling that I have canned tomatoes *somewhere* around here.

[kentuckycook]

Long time lurker- first time poster!

Dinner tonight is a potato artichoke gratin loosely based off smitten kitchen's recipe. Basically involves layering potatoes and artichokes with cheese that i need to get rid of (tonight its feta, gruyere, and a bit of fresh mozz on top).

Smother all of this is a sauce of half & half, sour cream, and carmelized onions and bake. Light it is not, but definitely delicious.

This served with some leftover turkey & a salad to make up for the sinfulness :)

[LindaWhit]

Welcome to the dinner table, kentuckycook! Hmmm...I'm trying to figure out a nickname for you - maybe KC? As in KC and the Sunshine Band? Tee hee!

[mariacarmen]

yes, welcome, KC! that dish sounds awesome.

[sunflwrsdh]

Another welcome, and your gratin does sound great!

[roxlet]

Welcome to WFD, kentuckycook! That gratin sounds fantastic.

[nomadchowwoman]

So happy to have you joining in the fun, kc.

[BabsW]

I'm making my roast chicken stuffed with lemon and herbs, and then since I am in stock-making mode, I'll be making stock from the roasted carcass.

For sides, I was thinking about a puree made from roasted parsnips and roasted garlic, probably for myself, and the quinoa and rice pilaf that my kids love so much - they're not big on potatoes, so any starchy side is usually going to be rice or some sort of noodle/pasta.

I'll need some other vegetable item - we've been doing a lot of sauteed mushrooms and onions lately - and then a green salad

[linguafood]

Mmmmmmmroast chicken w/lemon & herbs. One of my favorite preps.

[BabsW]

Mine too. I keep saying I'll try another recipe, but this one never fails me and it is always just so tasty.

I swear, it's the cat's favorite thing that I cook too. He stands RIGHT THERE next to me as I carve, hoping for scraps... which he gets. hah I learned not to leave the kitchen while the chicken is resting. ;-)

[linguafood]

i learned the hard way not to leave the garbage can out if there are any raw chicken (or other) meat trimmings in it. Ick.

You'd think the dude never gets fed the way he scavenges when he gets the chance.

[BabsW]

I know!Whenever I do a big meat dish that involves carcasses and bones, I create a separate trash bag that goes outside to the covered can immediately. He's only a 10-pound cat, but he can still knock over a trash can. Also, every morning when I come out, the cat is FRANTIC, and his dish isn't even empty.

Hell, my kids can be the same way, you'd think I had them on rations of moldy bread and dusty water. Last night, they literally tore the chicken to pieces lol

[suburban_mom]

I made LindaWhit's Chicken Diable recipe that she posted in the last WFD thread. Definitely a keeper. I used skinned chicken legs and a tablespoon of curry. Served with basmati rice and sautéed green beans that were leftovers.

[LindaWhit]

Nice - not afraid of the curry! I went much milder than I usually do, as I wasn't sure how the beau would receive it. I was assured I could use more "next time". The "next time" was the verbal thumbs up to the actual thumbs up. :-)

[Barbara76137]

I was in a horrible mood over the weekend, so the great pizza dough and sausage I took out of my freezer Saturday afternoon just sat there. I needed to make some pizzas tonight, but they turned out really "puffy". I thought I had punched down the dough but after I worked it into 4 small pizzas, topped with sauce, sausage and freshly grated cheese, they still seemed way too thick.

Any suggestions as to what I did wrong?

[mcel215]

Hmmm, Barbara,

My dough used to be thick too, until my Italian friend told me to take a little olive oil and wipe a bowl with it. Then said to place the ball of dough in it for the day, punch it down and stretch it really thin. I am not too familiar with overworked dough, but this could be the case.

Sorry about your bad mood.

[megjp]

Tonight was just some fun little quinoa pasta tossed with smushed avocado, finely chopped green peppers, quartered grape tomatoes, lemon, S&P, cayenne, and chopped walnut pieces. Oh yes, and some nutritional yeast to make it cheesesque.

Tomorrow night won't be much more ambitious because the man has a class and I'll be working late: reheated vegetable-beef stew from Friday and some leek confit spread on bread. (Incidentally, I find that leeks done this way make an excellent and subtle alternative to red pizza sauce!)

[ChristinaMason]

If I remembered to plug in the Crock Pot: lima bean and ham stew with the usual Simon & Garfunkel herbs

If I forgot: takeout

It's been a long day!

[mariacarmen]

the usual Simon & Garfunkel herbs - love it. i don't think i've ever used all 4 at the same time!

[ChristinaMason]

Truth be told, it was only parsley and rosemary with some marjoram and bay leaf :)

[roxlet]

That's funny -- my husband frequently makes what he calls 'Scarborough Fair Chicken.'

[onceadaylily]

Market trip tomorrow *crosses fingers*, so tonight it will just have to be soyrizo and scrambled eggs, with pepper jack cheese, cilantro crema, salsa, and toasted corn tortillas. I have corn in the freezer, and might make a batch of fried corn to go with. We also have leftover black bean and lentil stew (which turned out really well), and will start with small bowls of that.

Or we get takeout. I've been craving falafel all day.

[Berheenia]

Had a lovely weekend away to celebrate be married to a veteran and now have 3 lbs. of 95% lean hamburg to cook up - we are trying to shed a few inches of waistline. Planning to make Skinny Kitchen spinach meatballs, a lower fat version of spanish rice for stuffed peppers and "something else" - probably chili. The lean meat makes a lousy burger or I would just form patties and freeze.
I should have had this done by now but when I learned the Patriots had won (about time) stayed on the couch and watched it on the DVR.

[sunflwrsdh]

We had skinny kitchen spinach meatballs and sauce over angel hair tonight, with a green salad. That is a wonderful recipe...inexpensive, healthy and low fat!

[River19]

Today – chicken cacciatore with some nice thighs I bought over angel hair pasta
Tues – homemade kale and white bean soup
Wed – Stew beef cooked low and slow with merlot, onions, shrooms and Worcestershire sauce, served over smashed taters
Thursday - Baked Pork chops (cut myself to 1.25” thick), roasted cauliflower and side salad
Fri – Leftover soup as a quick meal as we leave for our cabin each Friday night……..

Also baked some homemade bread this morning, nice and crusty for the cacciatore and soup……….

[roxlet]

Tonight will be carnitas, a request from my son who is 16 today. I will also make his a birthday cake. Probably a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for a change from the usual chocolate cake!

[LindaWhit]

A very happy birthday to 16yo son, roxlet!

As for me - half the meatloaf and all of the mashed potatoes went home with the beau, so I'll make some more mashed to have with *my* remaining meatloaf and the carrots/peas/corn mixture I didn't give to the beau. :-)

[nomadchowwoman]

I'm sure the Beau doesn't mindpainting over all that darned ivy if he gets care packages to take home.

[LindaWhit]

I didn't have to twist his arm to take the meatloaf and taters care package. :-)

[nomadchowwoman]

Birthday wishes to your son, roxlet. Guarantee of another great dinner at your house.

[roxlet]

Thanks, Linda and ncw.

[Barbara76137]

happy birthday to your son!

[roxlet]

Thank you! The celebration will resume on Sunday when we will have a bunch ofnfriendsand family over for guacamole, chili, margaritas (adults only, lol), and birthday cake. It's like the old calendars that always marked 'Lincoln's birthday' on one date, and 'Lincoln's birthday observed.'. This will be the observation.

[mcel215]

Happy b'day to your 16 yr old son roxlet. :)

[ChristinaMason]

Thanks for starting a new thread, lingua. Last night was lobster ravioli (purchased last time we were in Philly) with a vodka sauce DH whipped up. It was very good.

[Cherylptw]

Baked turkey wings, pan cooked cabbage with pork jowl, black eyed peas, candied yams, cornbread and dessert is lemon lime pound cake

[linguafood]

Whoa. That garlic noodles recipe is a keeper! Can't wait to make it again with shrimp & snow peas or such. The broc worked nicely, the pork & chicken unfortunately were a bit on the dry side. Meh.

[suburban_mom]

Too funny, that noodle recipe is on my meal plan this week. Glad to hear it is good.

[mariacarmen]

you will love them.

[mariacarmen]

oops, forgot my pic. you can't tell from the pic but the pork was really juicy.

[gembellina]

Ok, if it's garlic noodle week I'm in!

[mcel215]

Where can I find the garlic noodle recipe? Thanks.

[linguafood]

Here ya go: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/...

[buttertart]

Dang that sounds good. Do I have to buy the European Maggi or will an Asian-manufactured one do? What else do you use it in?

[linguafood]

Just checked -- the teensy bottle I have says "Made in China". I'm not really sure if there's a difference in flavor, being that I used to despise Maggi, as it was a common condiment (!) in German diner-type / low-brow restos for the longest time, and I just found it utterly revolting.

The key is to use it sparingly. It gives great depth/umami to beef marinades for stir-frys, or to add to mushroom sautés. I also use a splash in my "heavenly tofu" sauce.

[buttertart]

Thanks. I was just thinking about your heavenly tofu recipe. Care to link or repost? And speaking of good old DE, think it'll be Kasseler and kraut tonight bei uns. Good cold-night eats.

[mcel215]

Thanks ~

[weezieduzzit]

I am FINALLY going to make the biryani, aloo gobi and chana masala that I've been planning on making forever it seems. I've bought the cauliflower so it has to happen- you know how fast it goes bad!

Haven't decided if there will be chicken involved or not.

[weezieduzzit]

Ooooooooooo! I also have 3/4 a bottle of red wine, a bowl full of sekel pears and vanilla ice cream in the freezer. Sounds like poached pears for dessert!

[mariacarmen]

i think i'm going to try those garlic noodles tonight, with a seared and 5-spiced pork tenderloin atop.

i made a pork tenderloin for the oldster over the weekend that turned out uber-tender/juicy. just a quick sear in oil and butter, and then braise in water, more butter, milk and a touch of maggi sauce, thanks to lingua, for pan sauce. fried sliced onions potatoes on the side, tomato and onion salad.Dad LOVED it. it's so rare to get a rave out of him.

[linguafood]

yeah, tenderloin may be the way to go. loin is so freaking dry, it's tough not to overcook.

welcome to the world of maggi, newb :-)

[mariacarmen]

ok, time to show my ignorance..... i didn't know there was a loin AND a tenderloin!

[linguafood]

well, the tenderloin is the filet, right? more expensive than just your _pedestrian_ (hahaha) loin, and not as dry. much easier to cook med-rare than loin chops.

[mariacarmen]

i know nothing about cuts of meat. ok, gotcha. i did make the pork tenderloin, AND THOSE NOODLES! to die for, so creamy and garlicky and buttery. they tasted just like the ones i've had in various vietnamese restos.

the tenderloin i sliced into medallions, about 3/4 inch thick, tossed them in a mixture of ground coriander seeds, ground cumin seeds, chinese 5 spice, s&p, seared them, then braised very quickly in a beef broth with sliced ginger. they were perfectly pink and tender and juicy. i find that it's much easier to control the doneness when they're in medallions.

alongside was a slaw of honeycrisp apples, bok choy, cabbage, shallots, cilantro, in a rice wine vinaigrette.

but OH THOSE NOODLES.... my sister originally posted that recipe on FB, but thanks, lingua, for reminding me about them.