WHAT'S FOR DINNER # 160 [OLD]

[PHREDDY]

For to many years I have invited many of my friends in the summer to my home for a nice evening of some food and drink....the day after it is always...WHAT IS FOR DINNER TONIGHT?..What do you normally do for dinner the next night?

[roxlet]

Let's bring the conversation here:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/864188

[LindaWhit]

I had all good intentions of "doing stuff" today. I am working (well, the oven is) on the 2nd batch of roasted tomatoes. One more to go. But that "other stuff" is still there. I'm going to blame it on a bum knee that's been bothering me for the past 3-4 days. I went out to get a knee brace, but bought one one size too small, so that's not even being used. And I don't have an Ace bandage to wrap it. I'll get a few things done, but nothing major. Definitely have to get the rest of the tomatoes done, as they'll go bad quickly if I don't.

Bought some plain sirloin tips yesterday at the butcher, so made a marinade of teriyaki sauce, olive oil, lemon juice garlic powder, dried minced onion, dried parsley, and Aleppo pepper and poured it over two large tips to marinate. They'll be done on a hot grill pan, and sides will be a baked potato with sour cream and chives, and a sauté of chunks of CSA zucchini, CSA onion, TJ's roasted corn, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried thyme.

[mamachef]

And dearie, that stuff will be there tomorrow too, so just let your knee heal and relax and feel better soon. Dinner sounds restorative. :)

[Dirtywextraolives]

I really like TJ's roasted corn also, very tasty & convenient.

[Dirtywextraolives]

Even after a gut busting lunch with the family, I had promised to make Korean for my youngest, who loves it. So we had bul gogi lettuce wraps, and a kitchen sink fried rice: shallots, scallions, garlic, linguica, kimchi, eggs, & edamame. It was tasty, but I like it when it's drowned in youku.

Tonight, I'm thinking crab cakes, since I have a can of crab to use. And going to check out the ahi on sale at my local store.

[kubasd]

youku? I'm not familiar with that.... if you could enlighten me, that'd be great :)

[Dirtywextraolives]

It's a Japanese seasoning, comprised of green chiles, yuzu, corn syrup, vinegar, MSG, salt pepper. Comes in a green tube and is a spicy tart paste to mix with your rice or top your lettuce rolls. I'm sure they use it on sushi like wasabi too.

[mariacarmen]

um wow, that sounds fantastic. gotta hit up Ranch 99 soon....

[mamachef]

Sunday dinner w/ the family seems to be turning into a regular event, and I'm loving it. Tonight, a little less casual than usual: plated appetizer of a grits cake, crumbed and sauteed 'til crispy, topped w/ a fried green tomato and then w/ garlic prawns and a few spoonfuls of garlic citrus butter. Moving onto the easy part since darling daughter's womaning the grill: Cornell chicken and Aidell's tomato/artichoke sausages; thick grilled onion and pepper slices, dressed w/ olive oil, s&p; salad of one type or another since #2 son's SO is bringing it, along with some French bread and a ripe Brie; and rice salad w/ diced veggies; whatever's in there that needs to not be in there before the CSA comes in tomorrow. :) Dessert's a peach pie, the recipe from The Queen of Irony, Nora Ephron. Darling Daughter's SO is going all mixologist on us, so they'll be drinking whatever he conjures up, and for us purists, white wine or beer.
Have a great safe week ahead, y'all. :)

[gingershelley]

Nice party mamachef! Enjoy the food and most of all - the company! First course sounds divine...

[mariacarmen]

love hearing about your sunday night dinners, MC! and LOVE that you're making a recipe of N.E.'s. and love your children and their S.O.s gathering around mama and her good eats.

[PHREDDY]

Family day....MIL, SIL, Kids about 12 or 14.....easy....early , hot dogs, red beans, then fresh tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil, evoo. Roasted cod and salmon, cauilflower with a white bechamel & cheddar, grilled zucchini and purple chinese eggplant....desert....sitting cutting and peeling fruit....hopefully someone brings some wine.

[mamachef]

Please, tell me someone brought you some wine. Or alcohol in any form. :) You deserve it.

[gingershelley]

Nice family party Phreddy! Hope you got your libations, sounds like thirst-making work!

[PHREDDY]

yes...but it is not about the libations...we do this a ll the time...I challenge them for the wine..predicated upon the meal I make...they brought a malbec, for the salad course and a pinot for the fish course...I cannot drink red....so the BIL and I had a glass of vodka with pinapple juice for the first course with buffalo mozz, peperoni, sliced thin, basil, evoo , red wine vineger, and some chopped tomato...all in all a great meal!!!!!

[linguafood]

The mackerels lost most of their skin to the grates, thanks to our house sitter not ever having cleaned the grill properly (and my man assuming the oil on the mackerels would suffice), but were tasty nonetheless. Our friend brought marinated chicken and homegrown jalapeños, which went on the grill as well and which were delish. The tomato salad with feta, red onions and parsley was nice -- perhaps some of the best tomatoes I've had this year.

Dessert was pistachio & sea salt ice cream and maple ice cream with candied PA bacon. Now, the bacon wasn't as candied or crispy as I expected it, but it was *really* good. Whoda thunk chewy bacon would work in ice cream? Not I. Tasted even better at 3 AM after drinks & fried noodles at our buddy's place :-)

The gig went really well -- I was surprised to see the band had set up outside, but the acoustics were surprisingly good: people from the hotel across the street actually came over to hear us play. Not bad after a 3 month hiatus sans any practice...

Tonight's dinner will be bone-in chicken breasts thrown on the grill after having marinated in something that will def include a green chili & coconut chutney hot sauce we bought at the farmer's market yesterday, with a side of corn on the cob and likely some more tomatoes.

No ice cream today. And a booze break is in order.

[mariacarmen]

ice creams sound divine - i love any sweet/salty combo. Congrats on two nights of good gig!!

[gingershelley]

I have yet to try Bacon-loaded ice cream. Perhaps you've pushed me over the edge Lingua! There is a local artisanal ice cream place near me that has it.

Food and the gig's sounds great. You must be good to be able to jump in with no practice after that much time away. Anything of your's on Utube?

[linguafood]

It really was good, despite the non-crunchiness of the bacon (which I had expected).

There's only 3 very old videos on youtube with just my keyboarder, but I sent you a msg on that other social not-so-much-food-related network with a link to my band page '-)

As for good.... I dunno. I believe our tagline for our CD will be 'even when they are wasted, they still sound pretty decent'.

That is the standard we strive to achieve.

[mariacarmen]

don't let her fool you. her voice is like smoked whiskey laced with honey. she's good. even though i've only heard her online. so far.

[linguafood]

aw, shucks, mc. that's very nice of you :-)

[kubasd]

Now my curiosity is piqued.... I want to hear! lol

[linguafood]

http://soundcloud.com/berlinblue-1

there ya go.

[Bacardi1]

My favorite organic vendor at the farmers market was overflowing with all sorts of lovely peppers that he was running a "special" on, so I picked up half a dozen really lovely brilliant scarlet sweet Italian frying peppers that I sauteed up in extra-virgin olive oil with some Vidalia onions. Ditto to 4 long links of fresh hot Italian chicken sausages. Served everything up on a loaf of toasted garlic bread along with ketchup, crushed red pepper flakes, & some shredded Parmesan cheese.

[Harters]

Upcoming .....pasta 'chi vruoccoli arriminata......a Sicilian dish from our current "cooking the books" book - Italian Regional Cookery, Valentina Harris, 1990.

A couple of sliced cloves of garlic, a couple of tinned sardines, tomato puree and a little water get a bit of a simmer for a few minutes. Small florets of cauliflower also get a few minutes simmer to soften a bit and are then mixed into the sardine mix. Raisins, pine kernels, and saffron are stirred in.

You now cook your pasta in the caulflower boiling water and stir this into the sardine/cauli mix. A couple of minutes tossing around should mean everythings nice and hot. Buon appetito.

[mariacarmen]

oooh sounds loverly...

[gingershelley]

Ooh! I have had a variant of that Sicilian dish - and loved it. Like the anchovy, raisins, tomato, fennel combo. Cauliflower in it sounds inspired...

I had it served with a short tubular pasta, followed by grilled swordfish (or similar) and grilled zuchini in vinegar and oil. This was down near Naples, years ago.

Will have to borrow that idea. Thanks Harters!

[Harters]

Sorry to disappoint, folks, but it was a bit underwhelming. It needed more ooomph - more raisins for sweetness, more sardines for fishy savouriness, the kick from red chilli.

For most of our "cooking the books" exercise, this would have seen the book heading for the charity but we regularly cook a chicken dish from it (and have for 20 years, so probably don't need the recipe now). Herself also recently cooked a foccacia recipe which was an absolute cracker (I turned it into a lunchtime ham & sundried tomato sandwich). So - the book gets a reprieve and goes back on the shelves.

Next up, we go from the island of Sicily to the island of Cyprus. Watch this space.

[mariacarmen]

haven't been in the kitchen for a few days, but made the Oldster a simple dinner tonight (one of his new faves) of grill-panned bockwurst sausages, sauteed onions, buttery garlic mashed taters, and a tomato salad. also roasted a chicken (ala the Thomas Keller method - which is our favorite) for future dinners for him.

Real cooking begins tomorrow, and if all goes well i'll post about it here and on the Julia Child's 100th birthday dinners thread - i'm going to tackle Julia's iconic boeuf à la Bourguignonne! I've made Craig Claiborne's before, never JC's. not sure about anything else yet - it's an all day project and i'll be getting a latish start. boyfriend will need to snack! wish me luck...

[LindaWhit]

I made it with friends in a supper club I used to be part of. It was heavenly! I got the lucky job of peeling all of the blanched onions, but it was *so* worth it. Enjoy!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Good luck! I made Julia's BalB last winter and it was wonderful.

[gingershelley]

Luck! Can't wait to hear how it goes:)

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Foiled by our BBQ once again! This time because everywhere was sold out of lighter fluid and our fancy mesquite charcoal doesn't want to light any other way. So the broiler it is for two boneless ribeyes rubbed in salt, pepper and smoked paprika (gotta get the smoke in there somehow). They will be topped with crumbled gorgonzola and a sauteed mushroom-onion mix. Sides are baby red potatoes, halved, boiled and buttered, and a fruit salad of cantaloupe, apples and raspberries. Had a bit too much wine last night, so we'll just have sparkling water and lime to drink.

[ChristinaMason]

Damn, that all sounds excellent! My mouth watered.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

The fruit salad didn't go quite as well with everything else as I'd hoped, but the steak was just perfect! This is definitely one of my all time favourites.

[PHREDDY]

BBL....I do not use lighter fluid anymore. I went to Home Depot and bought a torch in the tool area with a small propane tank. I light my charcoal or wood with that. I think it is safer, because I do not like flammable liquids around the house. I also is this torch in the kitchen to brown my creme brûlée!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

You know, I've been considering buying a little torch so that come prickly pear season, I can safely burn off all of the pricklies without ruining any chopsticks or the top of my stove (or my fingers, which were badly damaged last year before I figured out that you can burn those suckers off). This might just solve my BBQ problem as well! Thanks for the tip!

[LindaWhit]

Today was spent doing some errand-running and taking care of some food Honey Do's. Tomorrow, I'll continue with one of the food Honey Do's as it'll be a two-day process, and hopefully get some of the House Honey Do's done.

Earlier this afternoon, I made some corn stock which is being cooled in the fridge and will be frozen for chicken corn chowder. Give that extra "corny" flavor. I'll got 7 cups of corn stock from this batch.

Just finished oven-roasting some of the extra tomatoes I split with a coworker from her CSA. The air in the condo is redolent with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, thyme and rosemary! After roasting, I'll pack the tomatoes up in ziplock bags and freeze them flat for use in the winter. This will be a two-day process, I've got so many of them!

Tomorrow, I have to find the pecans (do I still have some?) in the freezer to make pesto with the big bag of basil I got from my CSA, which I'll then freeze in an ice cube tray. I can't use pine nuts I can find locally, as they're usually inferior pine nuts from China or Russia, and those give me "pine mouth" - makes everything tastes like pine needles for the next few weeks. I like food too much to want everything to taste like pine needles. So I found a "Southern Pecan Pesto" recipe this week in the Boston Globe Food section, and I'll try that out with some of the bag of fresh basil I got from my CSA this week.

Tonight's dinner will be pork tenderloin. Made a quick marinade of olive oil, freshly squoze lime juice (about 1/4 cup), lime zest (about 2 tsp.), freshly minced garlic, salt, and maple syrup. I'll roast the pork tenderloin in the convection oven. The marinade will be boiled and reduced to drizzle over the sliced tenderloin.

Sides will be steamed green beans with toasted almonds and rice pilaf. Not sure about the afters. I have a nectarine; that could be sliced and drizzled with some aged balsamic, should I desire.

[mariacarmen]

busy busy busy! all sounds delish, Linda.

[gingershelley]

Sounds like a busy Sat. LW! Lot's of great summer food 'putting by' going on there, and dinner sounds good too. Your pantry will be happy when winter comes:)

[gingershelley]

Last night, on the hottest night of the summer here 94°- the thing to do was NOT cook; went to an AC'd local pub for a burger with a friend. Not the best burger, but did the trick, and the icy beer and the cool room were awesome.

Temp's back down in the 70's today, so tonight will be hosting a GF for rib steak, zucchini fritters (really little pancakes), tomato salad with avo and marinated red onion, plus grilled corn on the cob. Nice all-American farmer's market dinner for August.

Plan on making some nectarine ice cream this afternoon for afters.

[Dirtywextraolives]

With the high heat & humidity here all week, I didn't even bother to cook, except to boil some potatoes to make potato salad. So it's been cold chicken, green & potato salad, to which I added some pickled asparagus and a hefty dose of smoked paprika.

So last night, I marinated some chicken cutlets in evoo, fresh lemon juice, garlic, thyme, and a couple teaspoons of Dijon. Preheated the grill pan in the oven, then grilled them. Roasted asparagus in the oven, and made a side of some spaghetti. Made a Greek inspired salsa of small heirloom cherry tomatoes, olives & basil, and some feta. Heated up the kitchen, but it was worth it.

[linguafood]

Busy first weekend back home -- two gigs on consecutive nights. Last night's dinner was at our beloved Sichuan place, which was freaking fantastic. As usual.

Gig went surprisingly well, considering the 3 month break with no practice :-)

Tonight's gig is on the earlier side, so -- after a mellow afternoon luxuriating at the pool (and maybe finally working up a tan), it'll be an early dinner @casa lingua: two fairly large mackerels will go on the grill, just brushed with olive oil, lots of salt & pepper & oregano, served with homemeade horseradish cream and lots of lemon.

Side will likely be a tomato salad courtesy of the local farmer's market, also some fresh mozza, which unfortunately has the consistency of pizza cheese. Damn, do I miss my cheap-ass buffalo mozza available at any German supermarket. Maybe freeze briefly and grate over the mators.

Friends are coming over with "grillables and a side dish". How exciting!!!

White sangria to warm up those vocal chords.

[gingershelley]

Nice return to the states and SUN Lingua. All sounds tasty..... darn the memory of that yummy good cheese on the cheap! I would have been buying that all the time too.

The crummy 'fresh' mozz here in the standard supermarket is pretty bad as well. I sympathize, sigh.

[ChristinaMason]

I've had szekely goulash on the brain for a couple weeks now, despite the warm weather, so that's WFD tonight. I started with buttertart's recipe (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6340...) with cubed pork shoulder and added a green pepper that needed using, juniper berries, veg. broth, and deglazed the pan with the last of a bottle of white vermouth. That'll braise all day while we're exploring the wonders of the Mont. Co. agricultural fair.

Should be especially delicious after a day of looking at farm animals ;)!

[ChristinaMason]

This was delicious. I forgot to mention that I added a shallot and 3 bay leaves. Served the stew over potato pancakes with a dollop of sour cream...my Eastern European genes were pretty happy!

[mariacarmen]

that dish sounds wonderful.

[Berheenia]

WFD will be leftovers but breakfast was pretty good. I cut up leftover Italian sausage into coins and browned them in butter and poured over some eggs beaten up with ice chips and chives. When the omelet was almost ready a couple of handfulls (scant) of mild grated cheddar and it folded into a yummy omelet. We usually have breakfast at our local greasy spoon early Saturday for the ease of getting an early start to the errands plus we get to see friends and neighbors but we do make much better coffee and our omelets are more interesting. No home fries though, not that we need them.

[mariacarmen]

ice chips? elaborate, please?

[Berheenia]

Ice chips, or more precisely ice flakes, make the eggs fluffy. I used to add a few tablespoons of half and half but found I prefer ice chips. Sorry Julia.

[mariacarmen]

very interesting! thanks Berheenia.

[Harters]

We're braising a lamb shoulder in what I guess is an eclectic pan-European style, at least with the ingredients

Onions & garlic get a bit of a fry. Lamb gets a bit of brown and is then tossed with the onions and garlic - and Welsh sea salt , pepper, caraway seeds and hot pimenton. Everything goes into a casserole, along with shredded white and red cabbage, a tin of borlotti beans and a tin of cannellini, and a bottle of German lager (we're using Beck's cos it was on offer at the supermarket and herself quite likes it) and some stock. It'll potter along in the oven for around 3 hours and get eaten with some crusty bread.

There's strawberries and cream for afters

[kubasd]

Sounds good!! I love caraway seeds, interesting combo with the hot pimenton :) sorta Austro-Hungarian.

[jmcarthur8]

We went to a place on our downtown square and I had the special..smoked quail and wild mushroom ravioli with a light shiitaki cream sauce. I loved the flavor, though the raviolis were a bit firm for me. I think I may steam the leftovers to soften them up a bit for lunch Saturday. (Here's one instance where defense of the to-go box from the 'doggie bag' thread should make sense to any leftover-phobic food lover)

[LindaWhit]

That dinner sounds lovely!

[gingershelley]

I would have taken any leftovers from a meal like that. Sounds great.

[weezieduzzit]

Adobo was the plan but I had to try a recipe I found yesterday for low carb, grain free, gluten free pancakes that the people in the comments section of the blog said were really good..... ummm.... yeah, they're like fried cheesecake and I served them with just a touch of Cookie Butter from Trader Joes.

We will be having adobo either really late or tomorrow because these "pancakes" are really freaking good. They could easily be turned into some kind of dessert with the right filling... like the Cookie Butter, which is just amazing stuff.

[gingershelley]

Pancakes for dinner? What's not to love...

A link Weezie, to the 'fried cheesecake" please!

[GretchenS]

Weezie linked it over on another thread: http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/.... Looks intriguing!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Tonight I'm following Harters' lead above and pouring salad greens while someone else (in this case Trader Joe's) makes a lasagna. Also slicing and buttering some bread and pouring some wine. It's Friday, after all (and a beautifully stormy one at that)! Traffik (the original TV series, not the film adaptation) will be on the television, since we still haven't been able to bring ourselves to watch the last 3 episodes of Twin Peaks.

[mariacarmen]

hah - i'll beat that. Take-out pizza! well, we DID have to doctor it up some, and the BF went all out and made a salad FROM SCRATCH.

[Berheenia]

I'll never forget eating my first bagged salad- a Caesar made by Dole- I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! It's been part of WFD every Friday night since. The cook's night off - pizza, Chinese or hubby makes cheeseburgers. I still break down and toss the salad, which is still more often than not some kind of bagged caesar,

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I added some veggies and apple slices and pieces of smoked cheddar to the salad. But I used a bottled dressing that was only slightly doctored, and the whole thing took about five minutes, so it still felt like a night off!

[nomadchowwoman]

I'm not going to lie either: probably 80-90% of the salads in this house are made from bagged (and washed) greens as I detest washing/spinning/drying salad greens more than just about any other kitchen chore. Since our climate isn't conducive to lettuce growing anyway, I don't feel that guilty about it. One of the booths at the FM usually has arugula, which they grow in a green house I believe--but they bring that pre-washed and dried.

[kubasd]

You know what they say about the best laid plans... Well, I was on LI visiting the new boyfriend, and bought some absolutely gorgeous tomatoes at a farm stand. I'd planned on making this beautiful (in my mind, how I pictured it) sauté of chunked tomatoes, snap peas, and mung bean sprouts with mushroom oyster sauce, tamari, rice wine vinegar, and chiles. I opened the bag of tomatoes today and it was FULL of fruit flies.... they were ALL ruined. So sad :( Back to the drawing board.

[twodales]

UGH! Ever since I had an infestation a few years back, they completely creep me out. I detest them. Some nice person had brought me a quart of strawberries they had picked. Trouble was, they were infested and for days I had hundreds of them in my house. I was like Elmer Fudd tracking down silly wabbits. Never again.

[kubasd]

Same here.... I immediately went out and bought some traps for them, put the bananas (already ripe) in the fridge, and rustled everything around in the kitchen to get them to leave their hiding spots. Then I was eating a bowl of cereal (yep, that's what I settled on.... creative, right?) and two landed on the inner edge of my bowl.... talk about freak out!!

[nomadchowwoman]

A tip from (I think) a Chow video that got rid of them in my kitchen once: stir a few drops each of dishwashing detergent and water out a small bowl/saucer of wine and put it on the counter; the flies go straiht for the concoction and drown. Not pretty--but effective.

[GretchenS]

WFD this week has mainly been reservations and what fun I have had! But tonight is a gorgeous rib-eye I have been dry-aging in the fridge for 3 days that I will grill over hardwood charcoal. To go with, either grilled baby bok choy or grilled caesar salad, I haven't decided which. And I will toast my nice co-worker's very nice wife who called to let me know that rib-eyes were on sale for $7 off on Tuesday at the place we both shop. :) Have a terrifc weekend everyone!

[LindaWhit]

Nice dinner, Gretchen - enjoy!

[MaryContrary]

We have Hatch chiles in the stores and I found sausages made with Hatch chiles, garlic and cheese. So a few of these will go on the grill, along with some corn on the cob. Will serve with a baked potato with butter and a bit of of the vegetable cream cheese and some onion.

[Harters]

We're off into the city for dinner - a Brazilian churrascaria which serves in the rodizio style. Yes, I know this all means that it's a posh name for an all you can stuff yourself with buffet.

Greed is good!

[mariacarmen]

hope you have yourselves a meatastic time, Harters!

[gingershelley]

Meat on skewers! Sounds great!

[LindaWhit]

Nom, nom, nom! Enjoy!

[letsindulge]

A pair of grilled boneless rib eyes with Maytag blue compound butter, and grilled in husk corn on the cob.

[gingershelley]

Very warm here, so tonight is a simple chopped salad; heart of romaine, marinated grilled chix breast in cubes, garbonzo's, thin strips of salami, kalamata olives, vine tomato, cut the long way (so it doesn't lose juice), then cubed. Sliced avocado, radish, and green onion garnish, a few garlic croutons up top as well.

Tossed all the main ingredients; chicken, tomato's olives, cukes with a bit of dressing for a few minutes to marinate, then added in the lettuce chiffonade and topped with garnish.

Served with sliced baguette smeared with leftover baba gannouj, it was a great dinner. Cold. NO oven here in 90° heat. Crunchy, cool and great.

Dessert is a sliced fresh ripe nectarine from farmer's market visit today, tossed in maple syrup and lemon juice. Will be pared with the last of the Earl Grey tea sorbet later and an almond cookie on the side.

Tomorrow, will make nectarine sorbet out of the bag of tasty ripe globes I bought today.

Yum! Keep cool!

[JungMann]

Definitely a dinner I could get into!

[mariacarmen]

wow, that salad sounds delish.

[gingershelley]

It was very good - hit the spot:)!

[wyogal]

I was thinking of going to a couple of block parties, but just not feeling it. Husband is going to one to play music with friends. I'm roasting some cherry tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, and will use it to top some leftover roasted red pepper mac-n-cheese.

[wyogal]

ix-nay on the acaroni-may.... not feeling that, either, so whipped up a dough and will make a simple pizza instead. The tomatoes and garlic are roasted, added a squirt of anchovy paste, some fresh oregano from the garden, and a dash of red pepper flakes. Will top with some shredded asiago/romano/parmesan blend.

[LindaWhit]

3 Frankentomatoes from my CSA yesterday (I weighed them on my postage meter at work - a total of 3.90 lbs!) went into a Fresh Tomato Sauce from Chez Pim.

http://chezpim.com/cook/fifteen-minutes

Unfortunately, my fresh tomato sauce was still too watery, but it *was* good. Minced garlic, slivered CSA basil (a whole bag full - pesto will definitely be made tomorrow night!), some salt, and tomatoes. Tossed with some spaghetti, some garlic bread on the side and dinnah was served.

[gingershelley]

Sounds good, Linda, but I think I am going to nickname you FrankenWhit:). For the breasts of chix, and now the tom's... You deserve a good nickname, for all you add here!

[LindaWhit]

I should have taken a picture of the Papa Frankentomato. I *was* humongous - about the size of a grapefruit.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Fancy organic hot dogs tonight, butterflied and done under the broiler with roasted green chiles and smoked cheddar melted on top. Honey dijon Kettle Chips on the side, and a small portion of Whole Foods' absurdly priced potato salad.

[gingershelley]

Sounds good; sometimes less cooking is great when it's HOT out! Nice combo:)

[megjp]

My sister and I made this ginger-mint sauced chicken and napa cabbage the other night with brown vermicelli (and half the meat, oops) and it was damn tasty: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/488486

Last night was Costco rotisserie chicken and rosalje. I want to go to Estonia.

Tonight was eggs poached in salsa atop tortilla chips. Estonia aside, I mostly now want to sleep but have to clean the bathroom and vacuum because I'm having company directly from work tomorrow.

But then I can wow said company with a clean apartment and something delicious made with the other zillion pounds of napa cabbage. Right? RIGHT?

[GretchenS]

RIGHT!!! :) That chicken and napa recipe looks great. Here is the link to the actual recipe, which you can do in the future by just clicking on the Permalink butten at the bottom right of the post you want to link to and then copy what is up in your browser. Sometimes you want to link a whole thread, sometimes just one post -- Permalink gives you the one post option. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4884...

[Harters]

My contribution to preparing tonght's dinner is to open a bag of salad and empty it into a bowl.

I shall need a bit of a sit down after the exertion.

Meanwhile, herself will be slaving over a hot stove making lasagne.

[LindaWhit]

You're such a taskmaster.

[PHREDDY]

John, of course you considered the bowl, wherein the bag was dumped, and then the appearance of said greens, after all you are a true foodie!

[Harters]

Phreddy - that's a very large virtual drink I owe you. There are few who recognise the craft skills necessary for satisfactory bag emptying.

[mariacarmen]

I hope Herself appreciated your efforts!

[MaryContrary]

And I'm sure Herself is appreciative that she didn't have to cut up 10 kinds of veggies for the salad, in addition to the lasagna. Ya did good.

[weezieduzzit]

For Julia's birthday we had Steak Diane and a simple side of asparagus.

I felt kinda bad earlier that I didn't have time to do something more involved (being a weeknight and all that...) but this was just perfect. It turned out beautifully and was just a really lovely dinner with the man. I had forgotten how quickly it goes together- it's actually a really do-able weeknight meal when you want to indulge a bit.

[mariacarmen]

My pesto was really good, but i needed to pair it with a protein for the BF because it's not dinner without meat, so i bought some boudin blanc from our corner fancy-pants store. Pan fried those, cut up some cherry toms for the pasta (egg noodles) and pesto, BF made a salad of romaine and some other stuff - et voila! Julia's famous arugula/walnut pesto with boudin blanc dinner! heh-heh-heh..... i didn't love the boudin blanc, it was a bit bland for my taste - it was not an inspired pairing, but i didn't want spicy Italian sausages, as that's all the BF ever buys. and i think next time i won't add the pasta water to my pesto'd pasta, as even though it made it nice and creamy, it took away from the flavor of the pesto. i would really love that pesto on a good slice of hearty craggy bread, toasted, with a poached egg on top. i have tons of pesto left over (even froze some), so maybe later this week.

[mamachef]

Dinner at chez vous always sounds so good, mc. No matter who's making it.
One note on the pasta suffering a small dilution in flavor? Next time, add a small handful of bruised basil to the pasta water. et voila, indeed. :)

[mariacarmen]

arugula, in this case! thanks for the tip.

[ChristinaMason]

Nothing fancy here tonight. I was working from home today and decided to challenge myself, Midwestern Iron Chef-style, to empty the fridge and pantry as much as possible. Available: half a bag of spinach, 2 broccoli crowns that had seen better days, half a white onion, 1/3 box of frozen peas, 1/2 box of orzo, 1 can of accidentally-purchased cream of chicken soup, 2 cheese ends, 1 slice of American cheese, 1/4 bag of panko, and some milk.

Casserole time! I sweated the onions in butter and wilted the spinach down with them and some granulated garlic. The pasta was par-cooked and the broccoli and peas blanched in the same pot. Cheese (aged Gouda and Irish cheddar) grated. Soup spooned. Milk poured. Stir, stir. Pepper, salt, seasoned salt...more pepper. Panko strewn. Canola sprayed.

350F for 25 min, a few more minutes under the broiler.

Iowan husband? Overly pleased.

[roxlet]

And it's Christina Mason for the win! Very clever cooking!

[GretchenS]

Yes indeed, you scored a 10 of 10 on that one CM!

[ChristinaMason]

I only wish he were as sincerely enthusiastic about some of my forays into international cooking. He's a good sport, though.

[Berheenia]

Love
'1 can of accidentally-purchased cream of chicken soup'

every pantry needs a couple of these

[gingershelley]

Gold Medal CM!

[gingershelley]

So, on this auspicious day - Julia's 100'th Birth-day anniversary, I wanted to throw a party, but being mid-week, and very hot here - and 2 dinner events in the last 5 days, I demurred from having a function.

But wanting to honor the occasion, especially since recently reading the lovely book, "As Allways, Julia" a series of collected letters between Julia and Alice DeVoto that raced back and forth from Massachusetts to France and beyond while Julia was working on the book . Link; (http://www.amazon.com/As-Always-Julia-Letters-DeVoto/dp/product-description/B007F7QSES)

I felt I had to celebrate somehow, if perhaps quietly.

Settled on a nice 1/2 organic chicken I got at the market yesterday, marinated in LindaWhit's fine suggestion of a mustard/herb marinade. That, non-traditionally, is going on the grill instead of in the oven, but I believe the spirit of Julia would allow the modern unconventionality non-French cooking method, if she was here in the warm weather with me, on the West Coast she loved so much.

Finally decided on a side as well; Sauteed grated baby zucchini left from last weeks farmer's market forage, salted and squeezed, that will be mixed with garlic, baby spinach, and a finish of good French Normandy butter from the freezer, in her honor. Recipe here: http://fumblingfoodie.typepad.com/fum....

Leaving starch out of the equation, as I just don't care... a bit of baguette is all I need.

Dessert will be just a lovely, ripe peach. Nothing more needed.

Happy Birthday, to my favorite laughing, intrepid Giraffe of a lady chef:) Bon Appétite!

[LindaWhit]

I hope you enjoy your chicken as much as I did mine!

[gingershelley]

It was VERY good. a keeper:) Have the breast left for salad today and tomorrow, when in the 90°'s here :(

[Harters]

I wonder if Julia called the vegetable by its Italian name of "zucchini" , as generally used in America or by its French name of "courgette", as we also call it in the UK?

[GretchenS]

My 1965 edition of Mastering the Art (inherited from my mother) says zucchini, but that is not to say that is what she called it when speaking.

[Harters]

Zucchini it is, then. Thanks, Gretchen.

[Bacardi1]

On her shows (I've got all of them on dvd), she would give both names when introducing the vegetable - "zucchini" & "courgettes", or "eggplant" & "aubergine", etc., etc.

[gingershelley]

Actually, I read in the letter's in 'As Always, Julia' book, there was a discussion at some point between "les Trois Gourmet's" while working on the recipes for the book, that they were going to call all products by their American names in the manuscript to prevent confusion for the American home cook - so Zucchini it is!

[Harters]

Makes sense.

There's little that irritates me more about a recipe that I'm reading in a UK publication telling me to buy two eggplants, instead of aubergines.

[mariacarmen]

i wish our cookbooks used the french words too! so much prettier.

[mamachef]

Me too........"courgettes" and "aubergine" sound so much better, so much....nicer.

[mamachef]

Very, VERY nice, gs. Boy, when you get busy, you're no joke!

[gingershelley]

Thanks - it was easy, just a quick marinade, a grilling, and the veg saute. Glad yours turned out well:)

[roxlet]

Rack of lamb served with a mélange of white beans and artichokes, a new invention from the husband. I saw him go out to the garden for some rosemary, so I know it's got rosemary and garlic in it. Dinner should be any minute now.

[LindaWhit]

The rack of lamb AND the melange with rosemary and garlic both sound wonderful - please let us know how Mr. Roxlet's invention works out!

[roxlet]

It was very tasty, but he was unhappy with the texture since the canned beans he used seemed a bit mushy, and maybe he should have rinsed them more. This was made with canned artichoke hearts, which was all we had on hand in the vegetable department for some reason. I also suggested that he might want to "bam" them with some finely chopped parsley since the color was a little muted. I'd be happy to eat them anytime, though, since artichokes in any form are one of my favorite foods.

[gingershelley]

That sounds wonderfully Provencal, roxlet - and tasty:)

[jmcarthur8]

I soaked some black beans last night, and put them in the crockpot this morning with some bacon, turkey sausage, onion, garlic carrots and celery that I'd sauteed in a skillet. Added a little water to deglaze the skillet and some tomato puree, and a couple bay leaves.
It was good - but next time I'll do it with regular smoked sausage, not turkey. In spite of all the liquid, the turkey sausage felt 'dry'. I think some cumin would be good in it, too.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Early dinner of Thai red curry tonight, with chicken, carrot, yellow bell pepper and Mexican squash, served over jasmine rice. Taking the dog for a long walk by the river (read: dry river bed) after dinner and going apple picking in the park. So dessert will probably be apples fresh off the tree.

[linguafood]

To celebrate our return in HV, I was going to have a traditional 'murrcan dinner of steaks and salad w/blue cheese dressing.

Alas, the forecast calls for thunderstorms, so it's stove-top cheeborgerz and nuked CotC instead. Murrcan enough, if you ask me :-)

Good to be home.

[mariacarmen]

good to have you back!
nuked CotC? cottage cheese? do tell...

[linguafood]

Corn on the cob. My tastebuds usually suffer from jetlag, so dinner was kinda meh. For some reason, my man decided to cook the shit out of the burgers, so they were almost well-done. Waaaah. Thank goodness for ample amounts of mayo.

The corn was bland (to me) as well. Thank goodness for ample amounts of butter & salt.

[gingershelley]

Yeh to Mayo, butter and plenty of SALT! Julia would be proud as well :)

Salt and fat = flava!

[tzurriz]

New Orleans style BBQ shrimp with French bread for sopping. Yum. Yum.

[gingershelley]

LOVE those shrimps tzurriz! Have made several times from the orginal Mr. B's recipe since last having them in person in NOLA several years ago. Will take your inspiration and make those soon!

[Uncle Bob]

George Dickel...No.12
Boneless, Skinless. Grilled Shicken Breast.... Cooled, Sliced and placed on top of a Honkin Big Salad with all sorts and manner of' udder good stuff'....Covered with the "Mother Sauce of Mississippi"........
Chocolate 'Cream for D-Zert..........

[mamachef]

Not as erudite as usual, Uncabob!! Let's see, did you write this before, or after, that slug of Dickel? :)
Just joshin ya, feller.

[Bacardi1]

I turned the lovely organic Asian eggplants I bought at the farmers market Saturday into my favorite "Szechuan-Style Braised Eggplant" last night. Over rice of course.

[rabaja]

Last night it was duck breast, cooked in a cast iron pan on the grill outside. It smelled delicious while it was cooking and a good amount of yellow jackets thought so, too.
To go with, I made this salad:
http://www.ciaosamin.com/2012/08/summ...
which was quite tasty, and used up more vegetables from the garden.
We had the sliced breast and salad over egg tagliatelle, which didn't quite go, but filled a craving for pasta. I also left out the avocado at the last minute.
I haven't been grilling much of our corn this summer, but I plan to for the rest of the season. It added such a nice char to the dish, along with the grilled gypsy peppers and pradrons.

Tonight I'm craving mexican, a bean dish specifically, that I used to get in Sonoma. They called it Beans con Todo, but it's basically pintos, with some broth, over chopped romaine, with tomatoes, onions, cilantro, cheese and avocado. Grilled and diced chicken thighs on top.
Seems like a good summer dish I can make ahead and we can enjoy on the deck.

[Harters]

Happy new car to me
Happy new car to me
Happy new car, dear Harters
Happy new car to me

To celebrate? Well, not much I'm afraid.

A brown gloop lentil & vegetable curry, augmented with a supermarket lamb rogan josh, supermarket naan bread and homemade chutney (the tomato, lime & chilli calls to me)

[LindaWhit]

LOL! Enjoy the new "baby", Harters and Mrs.

[GretchenS]

Yay, congratulations are due for a second time in a week!!!

[linguafood]

Congratulations on the new wheels, H.

[PHREDDY]

guys love new cars...

gals love new cars too!

Who does not?

celebreate ?...YESSSSSSSS

Go to a drive in....or is that only an American thing?....

My new car came a week after my ex-wife passed away (June 7th)...but you know what?....she loved a new car more than I did!!!!!! So i did what my daughters wanted me to do....go to McDonalds and have a Fish filet on her!!!!!

I did!!!!! so you please....
Enjoy it!!!!!

[mariacarmen]

ohh, i love that story!

[PHREDDY]

Didn't really have the Filet of Fish 'on her'....just in her spirit

[gingershelley]

Oooh! Happy new car to you, Harters - what color?

The lamb and chutney sounds like a great celebration:)

[roxlet]

Drive safely, and sir! Easy on the gloop!

[mariacarmen]

the car is the celebration in itself! congrats!

[Harters]

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping to have years of fun in the new beast - driving to restaurants, searching out specialist food shops and the like. This is the first brand new car I've bought in around 20 years and it'll probably be the last - I'll go back to saving lots of money buying one just a few months old.

[MaryContrary]

But it's wonderful to have one at least every 20 years, right? Enjoy!

[mamachef]

Were you too excited to eat much, John, or is it that you were busted after you made the down? :) Congrats. on your new car!!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Went simple last night with nachos and beer. Nachos were a combo of blue corn and multigrain tortilla chips (on sale, slightly stale, but they crisped up nicely in the oven), topped with jack cheese, pinto beans, pickled jalapenos, sliced olives, tomato and red onion, with bottled salsa and homemade guacamole for dipping. Beer was some local pale ale. Cake for dessert: lavender pound cake with crabapple glaze. While we ate, we continued our mission to get me caught up on great television shows of the past, with a marathon of Twin Peaks.

[LindaWhit]

Great show, at least the first couple of seasons!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

I'm not usually a Lynch fan, but it's really good. Or at least it was until last night. The mystery has been solved, and yet the show just seems to keep going...

[LindaWhit]

Like mamachef, I'm making two dishes in tribute to Julia Child's 100th birthday today. Although my meal will be way less elaborate than mamachef's as it will be a quick put-together when I get home tonight from work, I will still enjoy it with a glass of wine as my toast to the wonderfulness that is Julia Child. Thanks also to PBS for putting her on the air for Americans to realize the national treasure she would become.

I made the mustard marinade for a Frankenchicken breast this morning, so it will have had 8 hours to ooze into the chicken before baking tonight. The flavors are all ones I like, so I know it'll be good.

http://tinyurl.com/Julias-Mustard-Marinade

As for the side dish, I'm going to try something completely off base for me - Baked Cucumbers - as I'll be getting more cukes in my CSA share today (and I get the ENTIRE week's half-share, as my coworker is on vacation!) I've read so much about these baked cukes, including even Julia's guests were wary of them when she first served them, but loved them. So they'll go into their vinegar bath when I get home tonight and bake as well.

http://tinyurl.com/Julias-Baked-Cucum...

Here's to Julia! ::::Clink!::::

[mamachef]

And to the Chowhounds who love her....Slainte!!

[mamachef]

Linda, these are so good you'll think you've gone completely insane. When I first saw the recipe, I thought, "this will NEVER work." But OMG - it not only worked but it was just delicious. Can't wait to hear your take on them.

[LindaWhit]

OK, talk to me, mamachef - what did I do wrong? I think it's a combination of the size of the slices of cuke *and* the amount of butter I used. Almost like when you roast potatoes, you don't want to have *too* much oil in the pan while they're roasting. I will definitely try this again to see if I can make this work, as I liked the flavors!

[mamachef]

Right - too much, no matter what JC says, sometimes really is too much. When the food being cooked just absorbs the oil..........yeah. Couple thoughts: those cukes, were they pretty big? The smaller, the less porous they'll be. You could also slice them just a little thicker. Give it one more shot. Just one.

[LindaWhit]

The cuke (singular) that I used was what I'd call average to average-large. Good to know on the porousness based on size. I will be trying them again, what with more CSA cukes in my fridge. :-)

[LindaWhit]

Review - the chicken was very good - and a simple way with easy, everyday ingredients. It will be used again.

As for the cukes - I used one very large cuke, and there probably wasn't as much cuke as there should have been for the rest of the ingredients in the baking process, i.e., too much butter, so the cuke pieces got too soft too fast. I think I probably cut them too small as well. But the flavor was nice, and I definitely see this working with zucchini, and since I got a large zucchini and more cukes with my CSA this week, it's a definite possibility of trying it out again! Either way - it was a nice Julia dinner tonight. :-)

[gingershelley]

LW, I wanted to toast Julia in some way today, but very warm here, and just coming of a dinner party last night - not as motivated as I wanted.

Borrowed your mustard marinade for a 1/2 an organic chicken, and will be roasting that (on the grill - my modern interpretation in Julia's fun-loving spirit).

Thanks for the idea! More lower in own post on dinner....

[JungMann]

Last night was a hearty summer salad of purslane and parsley leaves tossed with black olives, feta, red pepper, green tomatoes, red onions in a sherry vinegar and mint dressing. For proteins I tossed in a healthy amount of crisply fried morcilla and berbere dusted shrimp.

Tonight's dinner will be a Pakistani style omelet with zucchini and berheenia's bouranee baunjan which I made last night with christinamason's microwaved eggplant technique. I already know it's going to be terrific since I sneaked a taste as a midnight snack and swooned when I tried the combination of rich yogurt blending effortlessly with creamy eggplant and a nuanced tomato sauce. The recipe definitely needs no tweaks. A keeper for sure.

[mamachef]

Well, today being the occasion of that grand dame of cooking Julia Child's 100th birthday (had she lived on, of course..) I was inspired to create a menu consisting of butter-basted roast chicken. The chicken will be stuffed with cut lemons and shallots, and siding it are haricots verts w/ browned butter and sliced blanched almonds, and a rice pilaf with baby peas and carrots. To start, we're doing gougeres, champagne, and poached huge prawns for which I've made an herb mayonnaise (which finally emulsified and freakin' WORKED.) The appetizer is lentilles de Puy, cooked in chicken stock with salt, pepper, and a little diced pancetta; finished with fresh thyme and a squeeze of lemon. (My fave part of the entire meal - I've been picking at it since I stored it away, and even the skull-and-crossbones I labeled the dish with didn't stop me.) I thought seriously about making something for dessert, but things started happening and you know how all that goes...anyway, I did manage to pick up a "Summer Stone Fruits Tarte" from a local bakery with a French name, and also managed to convince a friend who owns a local restaurant to sell me a gateau Basquaise. Success!

[Harters]

Damn, but that sounds good. Very good.

[mamachef]

Why, thankee kind sir! Dinner will be taken outside this evening, weather permitting; on a screened porch if not. I forgot to mention that darling daughter's SO is bringing several white wines, one of which is a fairly old Cheval Blanc, so I'm pretty excited, but then again I'm no sommelier. :) And it sounds as if beerhenia will be joining us. Wish you and your lovely missus were too!!

[Berheenia]

Could I just have the gougeres, champagne, and poached huge prawns for which I've made an herb mayonnaise please? pretty please?? whole meal sounds fabulous.

[mamachef]

Honey, you can have anything, and as much of it, as you like. You'd be such a welcome guest. Dinner's at 8, but we're pretty loose on timing in these here parts, which means perhaps 7:30, or perhaps 8:30, but either way it will get done and it'll be good. All Hail the Queen, Queen Julia Child!

[gingershelley]

Hail to the Queen, and to her wonderful cooking 'servants' such as yourself! Sounds delish!

[mamachef]

LOL, gingershelley. I surely hope it is. If it was just me, it'd be just an omelette, but they wanted to come the minute they heard the magic words, "Julia Child." They instinctively knew (OK OK, they grew up on her.......along w/ Sesame Street.... :) that they might be getting something nice.

[gingershelley]

Thank goodness most of my foodie friends here in SEA know it's a bit hot for a Julia Celebration today, in the traditional sense. Going to a Julia B-day party Saturday, and still working on what to contribute.

Glad your reputation precedes you :) Have fun!

[nomadchowwoman]

Hail to the Queen indeed. You've honored her well.

[JungMann]

Superb menu!

[mamachef]

JungMann, you're MY menu-designing hero, so this is extra-special! :)

[mariacarmen]

Wow mc, doing Julia proud!

[mamachef]

Aw, thanks mc2!! It took a minute to come up with a feasible menu, because though my time's not as limited as some folks, I still had to figure it around my own schedule, which this week is a little tight. I'd started out waaaaaaay too fancy-schmancy, and had to change things, and pare down, and change again, and pare down due to unavailability and at any rate, this is what I came up with. I was trying to be really, really representational, and I hope I hit my marks. :) I'll report tomorrow. :)

[scubadoo97]

Wow, that all sounds fantastic.

[LindaWhit]

Superb, mamaC!

[chefathome]

What a lovely idea! It sounds as though you had a wonderful, wonderful meal.

[mamachef]

chefathome, it hasn't happened yet. But I'm still REALLY excited about that wine. :) Oh, and having company, and all. )

[GretchenS]

Clebrating in style, mc, everything sounds fabulous -- enjoy!

[mamachef]

You ALL are so nice and completely kind! Gretchen, the food is stylin' but the eaters won't really be. We should have all planned to dress up in shirtwaists or vintage cocktail dresses, like for a '50's birthday party........but this happened so fast, it'll be the usual: yoga pants, flip-flops and t-shirts. O, California!

[gingershelley]

Linda Nightwood, which many of you know from other threads, posted on FB a fabulous pic of her with a wonderful bracelet on, holding up a cocktail in Julia's honor for her dinner she is doing....

Sigh. I am with you mamachef; keeping it casual - like if she and Paul were just dining at home on the Marseilles posting. Simple, and convivial!

[twodales]

What a great idea! Hail Julia!

[MaryContrary]

A report, please? Impressed!

[mamachef]

Sure Mary! You don't EVER have to ask me twice to talk about myself!! :) Oh, and the food I make. :)
Dinner was really, really nice. The lentils were good - not the kids' favorite part of the meal, but certainly mine, so the leftovers are my good luck. But to back up: Probably the best gougeres I've made in a long time, and I wish I'd made a double batch, and the prawns were sweet and had a great texture. I wish the mayo had come out a bit better: my mayos tend to be either successful or totally not-, and this was right in the middle. I think next time I do something like this, I'll just roll out the old doctored-up Best Foods and save myself the trouble, since nobody used much anyway; the prawns were that good. And the entree, right down to the accompaniments, REALLY worked out well; especially the pan jus, which I squeezed some of that roasted lemon juice into at the end, with an extra tot of salt and pepper. Desserts were....okay. Just okay. Didn't love the crust on the tart, and the gateau was a little drier than I'd remembered. Next time, I'll just save the time from making the mayo and apply it towards making a clafoutis, or something. :) Oh, and the wine was GREAT, especially that white I wanted to get all up in my tummy so fast. Darling daughter's boyfriend seems to know what he's doing, which is a mega-bonus, since I'm ......challenged about wine pairings and suchlike. Not to the level of, "What's wrong w/ Boone's Farm," but not much past that. :)
The best part was, the food was good and the company was wonderful. Good times preparing it, serving it and eating it.....and wasn't that JC, in a nutshell?
Thanks for all the pre-dinner lovin', y'all - I was really looking forward to this one.

[MaryContrary]

Sure was JC. So glad the company was as great as the food!

[eight_inch_pestle]

A simple cheese and herb omelet with a big vegetable salad that sort of played off the classic French grated carrots. Mandolined some chioggia beets and carrots and sliced up a handful of sugar snap peas. Tossed together with honey, dijon, oil, lemon juice, and lots of the tarragon that is threatening to take over one of the raised beds.

[mariacarmen]

so my dinner was okaayyy, but not great. i let the BF grill pan the skirt steak - which had been rubbed with raw garlic and seasoned with s&p - and not that i would have done any better, but it was sliced very thin and even though we cooked it pretty quick, over high heat, it dried out a bit. but i loved the flavor over a bunch of arugula mixed with good olive oil, shaved parm regg, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. quick sauteed some cherry toms, too, and on the side was a tortilla de patatas with more arugula i made last night at the oldster's. came out rather, er, "rustic" looking. it tasted ok, though, with some smoked paprika/sherry aioli. i liked the addition of the arugula to the potatoes, but it did render the cake a bit juicier on the inside than usual. (despite appearances of its - er - rusticity.)

with another big portion of my arugula i made pesto tonight, for tomorrow's dinner. arugula pesto with toasted walnuts, and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. someone (here? another thread?) said arugula with walnuts would be too much bitter, but it's delicious.

[eight_inch_pestle]

That all looks wonderful, mc. The skirt steak, especially, is right up my alley. Nom nom nom.

Our arugula has gone buck wild. It's a flowering forest. Fortunately we don't mind the extra bite. I think some pesto is in our future as well. Thanks for the idea. Always forget about that.

[mariacarmen]

thanks EIP!

everyone is saying that arugula is going crazy this year - maybe that's why it made it so cheaply to my local mexi-mart? i bought the $1.99 two pound pack Sunday, and they had at least 6 other packs there, and this morning i walked by the same store and it was all gone. i'm thinking some smart local restauranteur snatched it all up.

[chefathome]

Ours was rather prolific this year as well. And yes, more pesto. Lots.

[gingershelley]

Looks good. I like the arugula salad bed under the steak.

I also make arugula pesto, but use almonds as I am not a fan of walnuts in pesto. But yours looks great!

[nomadchowwoman]

That. All. Looks. Divine.

[weezieduzzit]

The freezer is so full (unusual for us,) that I hadn't realized that we still have 2 lobster tails. They're thawing now and will be served with loaded mashed potatoes and quickly sauteed spinach with lemon garlic butter.

I had considered Thermidor but it's too hot to have something simmering on the stove. The shells will join the others in the freeze to enjoy on a (much) cooler day.

[twodales]

Spinach pasta lasagna tonight with asparagi on the side.

Covert Affairs on the tube in 15 minutes. Eyal Lavin, the Mossad spy returns tonight. Love that Oded Fehr!!!

[scubadoo97]

Cleaning out the fridge before heading out to Va.
Left over lamb chops were cut from the bone and sliced. Cucumbers were cubed and added to some left over lebneh along with some lemon juice and mint. Lettuce was shredded and it was all put together to resemble a gyro using left over naan

[steve h.]

Enjoy Va.
Give us a report when you get back.

[roxlet]

Last week I went to Tarry Market in White Plains, which is part of the Batali/Bastianich empire, and I bought some mushroom/ricotta salata triangular ravioli. I made a marinara sauce, some grilled chicken and a salad. The ravioli were fantastic -- I felt like I was eating in a Batali restaurant in my own house, and I am soooo looking forward to meeting a friend from out of town at Eatali. Tarry Market is like a mini Eataly.

[steve h.]

Very cool.
Saturday brunch at the Tarry Lodge followed by shopping at the market and the wine store is a tradition for us.
Eataly is mighty interesting. It took me some time to figure it out. I like it a lot now.

[chefathome]

Today was the perfect day for comfort food. The high was 17C and we had a welcome bit of rain. So, I made Finnish meatballs with lingonberry sauce; bay-infused rice, steamed broccoli and gluten-free double chocolate layer cake with chocolate buttercream (I have celiac). We sort of pigged out. Again.

[twodales]

I had Swedish meatballs (homemade) out of the freezer yesterday. Of course there was lingonberry sauce! Can't have Scan-da-who-vian meatballs without lingonberies. *wink*

[chefathome]

So true! They would NOT be the same, would they? ;)

[mamachef]

I get my fix at IKEA, along with shopping for dishtowels and the like. Not homemade, obviously, but prettttty excellent, especially w/ some ligonberries for extra-happy.

[chefathome]

Can you buy lingonberries at IKEA? Please say yes!

[Harters]

Never seen fresh lingonberries at an IKEA in the UK. Lingonberry sauce or jam, certainly.

[chefathome]

Then it is highly doubtful they are available at IKEA in Alberta. I get them from the Maritimes.

[twodales]

I think I remember seeing a tub of frozen lingonberries at IKEA around Christmas. Of course they sell the sauce/preserves all year round. I never buy cranberries anymore but always lingonberries instead. They are especially good on Swedish pancakes.

Also, Marcus Samuelsson does a nice duck in glogg sauce if you like these kinds of flavors. No lingonberries with the duck this time around though.

[chefathome]

Marcus does my kind of recipes. And yes, I do love those flavours. Will google the duck as it is one of my favourite things.

[mamachef]

Noooooo......so sorry. I should've been more clear. You can get the jam there, though.

[wyogal]

We have had Swedish meatballs my whole life, a tradition for Christmas Eve (along with lefse and lutefisk, but we haven't carried on the tradition of lutefisk, if we could help it! ha!) and I've never had ligonberry sauce. ever.

[GretchenS]

Yum!

[chefathome]

Oh, it was. I just love those meatballs. Only trouble is, they are a bit too addictive!

[Berheenia]

Curious what you sub for breadcrumbs in your Finnish meatballs. My Finnish MIL (long diseased) used to roll her meatballs in additional breadcrumbs before frying in butter. I haven't thought about these in years but they were really good.

[chefathome]

I use gluten-free bread heels (sometimes commercial, sometimes homemade) and soak in milk. What an excellent idea of rolling the balls into crumbs again before frying in butter! I don't do that but love the idea. I make these fairly regularly so will hopefully remember to do this next time.

[tzurriz]

I want saag paneer, samosas, chicken tiika Masala, Chutneys, rice, and naan

I made spaghetti with diner's choice of butter and parmesan (4 year old) fresh garden tomatoes sauteed with onion and
garlic (dh' selection), or pesto (3 year old's choice) Mama combined the pesto and tomatoes.

I still want paneer though.

[mamachef]

Aw, poor tzurriz. My dinner was Just What the Doctor Ordered. Ok, no actually it was samosas w/ tamarind and cilantro chutneys; butter chicken w/ rice, and saag paneer. omg, and you'll never gues who gave me the idea and hence the craving. :)

[tzurriz]

You are soooo evil.

[mamachef]

"What?" She replied innocently. "But I thought about you the entire time I was eating it!" (Also, that recipe went to gmail address....kept getting Demon (!) failure notices when I sent to the other, so I've got it wrong I think. Anyhoo, apparently it went thru to gmail, so check there, and get your chow on.

[steve h.]

Pasta (what's left in the blue box), leftover sauce, leftover meatballs, leftover Italian bread. I scraped off the last few sprinkles from the parmigiano reggiano rind. The coolerator is now officially empty. Deb and I will finish off a bottle of the house red. NCIS and the Yankees will compete for screen time.

We're ditching the heat and humidity of lower Farifield County tomorrow for the cooler environs of the Monterey Peninsula. It's car week: car shows, auctions, picnics, vintage races, the famous Pebble Beach concours, scenic drives. Northern California is pretty special this time of year.

See you good people down the road.

[LindaWhit]

steve, I hope you and Deb have a wonderful trip West!

[steve h.]

Thanks. Car week is a bit of a tradition with us.

[weezieduzzit]

Every week is car week at our house- and its always fun!

Have a great time, I bet you'll get to see some great stuff.

[steve h.]

Thanks. I'm a registered bidder at the RM auction so that makes me (potentially) dangerous.
Maybe we'll see you car guys out here next year.

[PHREDDY]

Steve H ...one place have never visited but would love to attend.... Im
Made my purchase this year so for me, my toy budget is do e for this year
Pebble Beach wood be only a visit, I have heard they have special menus for the week at many of the restaurants... have a great time.... Keep us posted

[mariacarmen]

enjoy! we're apparently almost the only ones in the country enjoying nice weather!

[roxlet]

My husband goes to the concours every year, except for this one. Too many other things going on...

[gingershelley]

Have a great time in NorCal Steve!

[Dirtywextraolives]

My very best friend's husband is there also, fun event. Yes, the weather there will be a welcome reprieve for you, enjoy our weather while you're here!

[GretchenS]

Had a great dinner tonight, courtesy of culinary karma. On Saturday I schlepped over to the Turkish market and picked up several big boxes of my (somewhat) new fave, maras peppers, so I could give some to family and friends. Among the recipients were my next-door neighbors (who recently gave me some mind-blowing single estate olive oil they brought back from vacation in Croatia). So he spent the better part of the last two days smoking a giant piece of hog which he seasoned with a rub using the maras peppers and then sauced with a vinegary sauce liberally laced with more maras pepper. A plate was delivered to me when I got home and it was sheer heaven, sided with some crisp bacon-grease-fried potatoes, pickled okra and salad dressed with some of that olive oil and some lemon juice. I love my neighbors....

[LindaWhit]

Wow, I would like your neighbors too! How does maras pepper compare to Aleppo pepper, Gretchen?

[GretchenS]

LW, to me it seems a bit fruitier and smokier and generally a bit more interesting than Aleppo pepper.

[chefathome]

Sold. I am going to find me some maras pepper. I've used Aleppo lots but never maras. What is it like compared with cubeb pepper?

[GretchenS]

Never had cubeb pepper, neer even heard of it as far as I can recall. Color me intrigued.

[chefathome]

It is very interesting - I have only found it once but I still have some left. They are long peppers and the flavour is difficult to describe. You must try them if you can find them.

[LindaWhit]

Hmm...."smokier" - not sure how that would sit with me. But I do like the fruitier part. Might have to try and find some.

P.S. Let me know via Email the local store? I'm always up for a food road trip. :-)

[GretchenS]

Turkuaz Market, right across from (former) Super 88, Allston. http://www.eturkuaz.com/

[LindaWhit]

Oh pooh. Allston is a bit more of a food road trip than I want to make! LOL And not as easy for me to get to. I wonder if Formaggio Kitchen carries it?

[GretchenS]

worth a call.... or they might have urfa peppers, which are a big Ana Sortun favorite, iirc.

[Berheenia]

Russo's has a lot of different peppers.

[LindaWhit]

I've never been. That probably requires a food road trip. Except my CSA overflows, so I'll have to wait. :-)

[mariacarmen]

oh man, can i move to the house on the other side of them?

[GretchenS]

mc, wish you would move into the house on the other side of me instead! I think you would like it here other than the snow...

[wyogal]

Mac-n-cheese: boiled pasta (not fully, as it goes in a sauce in the oven) with sliced kielbasa (helps to de-fat it, already have enough fat in this!), drained it. Made a basic white sauce, added cheddar, parmesan (yes, from the green jar), half a jar of roasted red peppers (pureed), some dried onion, garlic powder, and a squirt of dijon mustard. Mixed it altogether, put it in the oven and partway through, added a topping of butter and panko.
mmmmmmm.

[kubasd]

Sounds wonderful!! I like the idea of adding in the roasted peppers, I bet it adds a lovely smoky sweetness!

[staughton]

If everyone's gone and there's a ton of leftovers, that's what I'd be having. I'm not a food-waster. Or did you mean the same people are all still at your house and it's time to make something new? Since you might have done something labor-intensive or impressive the first night, I say take it EASY on the second night. Pizza/Grilling + a big salad, etc. I made one of my favorite summer meals tonight and it's very easy, if a little Hatfield-McCoyish... I'm lucky in that I'm living near a lot of farms right now, so everything is very fresh. Also, this is something my 90 year old mother would make throughout the summer, and it's definitely from her Depression era childhood, which was spent on a farm in VA. And since Mom is who I was cooking for tonight..., we had:

corn on the cob
green beans (or limas), simmered slow with a sliver of smoked hog jowl
sliced yellow squash and onions, also simmered slow
sliced tomatoes (raw)

That's it. It's perfect for a summer supper. You can make it vegan if you skip the hog jowl(!)--which I usually do.

[tiffeecanoe]

Panang Curry tonight... cheating with some what I hope will be excellent red curry paste that I picked up at the local Asian market. We'll have a salad too, as usual. Thinking of creating some gingery vinaigrette as I have an abundance of fresh ginger.

[twodales]

Love Panang curry.

[MaryContrary]

Hey, Group! Missed you guys! Having a confrontational relationship with my laptop (not to mention the second new printer in a month), and been limiting my computer time to "stuff that has to get done", so I don't give up in despair.

Anyway, pork spareribs, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob we froze late this spring and a tom/cuke/avo salad with a dash of s/p and fresh lime juice.

[ChristinaMason]

Late to reply, but we missed your posts, too! Welcome back...hope your IT is cooperating.

[gingershelley]

Sunday was just leftovers from Sat.'s fab dinner - RT fish and ratatouille. The fish was even better after sitting in the orange and olive oil overnight.

Last night was a pizza with creamy ricotta, kale pesto base. Toppings of baby yellow squash, mushrooms and some thinly sliced wine salami, and a nice lemony Caesar salad on the side.

Tonight, the Frenchman is coming over for dinner, and to fix my clogged disposal (been functioning without it and it's sink for over a week now - yuck!).

It's very warm here, so would love a salad dinner, but he doesn't go for such things very well....

So, thinking I will make pork tonnato (pork loin thinly sliced, and served cold with tonnato sauce), and serve with the rest of the ratatouille.

In order to not fix what's not broken - more grilled nectarines and the last of the tea sorbet for dessert.

Off to the store for pork and nectarines so I can cook them before it heats up!

Happy Julia's 100th Birthday all!

[mariacarmen]

it's Julia's birthday tomorrow, right? hmmmm maybe i want to cook something special for that....

ove tonnato.... had it the first time in a little teensy-weensy hill-top town between Milano and Torino...

[gingershelley]

I might do something Julia-ish tomorrow myself, but it is going to be 90° tomorrow, so might not be motivated to cook.

Since I am serving pate to start tonight, and ratatouille, I consider that my jump on the birthday:)

[gingershelley]

So I must report this sillyness from last night's dinner with the (still beloved, if not in-loved) Frenchman...

So, after a starter of my country pate and a glass of rosé while he fixed my disposal (in only 10 minutes, without a mess!), and a first course of caprese salad, I grilled lamb chops marinated in red wine, garlic and rosemary.

Served with more steamed baby Ozette potatoes and the last of the ratatouille - which still was amazing in my book!

He proceeds to not like the ratatouille, as it is NOT WET ENOUGH. Sigh. Apparently, what myself and those who have tasted and commented on, and the info I looked up, that is exactly the problem with it often in France. Wet, watery and not flavorful enough. Cultural expectations on a plate! Funny...:)

It was a nice combo - grilled lamb and vegetable melangé - in my book. Perhaps it is just fine to be out from under 'traditional' expectations these days.

I stand by my farmer's market RAT. Humph. One of the best things I have made this summer, IMO, So THERE France.

Julia is an American, and I think, might side with my modern interpretation to improve on a classic.

[GretchenS]

That really is quite hilarious! "Cultural expectations on a plate" is I think the perfect description/explanation. And it does sound like a truly great combo. I do feel that Julia would approve...

[Harters]

Dinner comes from our "cooking the books" exercise - currently "Catalan Cuisine" Colman Andrews, 1997. The dish is called Llobarro al Forn - baked seabass.

Thin slices of potato are blanched for a couple of minutes and then go in the bottom of a baking dish, to which you've already added a slick of olive oil. The fish goes on top. Andrews says you don't have to restrict yourself to seabass - so we didnt and bought swordfish instead.

A couple of halved tomatoes go in between the fish fillets. The top now gets a drizzle of oil. A mox of garlic, parsley, spring onions, rosemary and thyme are finely chopped and sprinkled over and, finally a drizzle of lemon juice. It bakes for around 25 minutes.

The recipe only calls for a little potato - 250g for a serving for four people. So we need a bit of carb here. That's going to come in the form of the pastry from a bought vegetable tart.

It's a rare lovely evening so dinner will be on the patio. Sound system will be blasting out the Clash - so that'll be the neighbours well pissed off.

[LindaWhit]

It's a rare lovely evenign so dinner will be on the patio. Sound system will be blasting out the Clash - so that'll be the neighbours well pissed off.
~~~~~~~~~~
Nothing more to say but :-) :-) :-).

[PHREDDY]

John , again congratulations on yours and the Mrs. milestone....I have made a silmilar reciepe for cod or seabass for many years...the only difference I see it that I have always used cherry tomatoes, cut in half...being that, I cook at a relatively high temperature of 375 degrees so that the potatoes crisp up at the edges, I also use red potatoes, and cook it in an ovenproof glass pan.

Swordfish sounds great and will have to try that...

[Harters]

Yep, this also gets cooked at a high temperature, Phreddy - 200C which, I think must be near your 375F - possibly even a tad higher. Cherry tomatoes sound a good enhancement - I find they're usually a sweeter, more concentrated flavour to "ordinary" supermarket toms that we get here.

[mariacarmen]

Lovely fish and the Clash - what a great combo!

[GretchenS]

Belated happy anniversary to you and the Mrs, you sure had some good eats down south, really enjoyed your reviews. I have no sweet tooth but still wanted both the raspberry and blackberry desserts you described.

The fish sounds great and the music even better!!!

[gingershelley]

Nice sounding dinner Harters, and SO glad you can get outside for al fresco dining for a change.

Like the music and pissed off neighbors!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Patio eating is the best! Fish and the Clash makes it that much better!

[twodales]

Harters must have sent that Brit weather over to us: 61 outside. Sooooooo Ribs and bakers tonight, a raw choux de Bruxelles salad on the side made with some shredded/shaved Brussels sprouts, walnut oil, (orange oil is nice too), fresh dill, pistachios (or walnuts), lemon zest, scads of parmesan, and a bit of orange zest too. One of my new faves.

[JerryMe]

Dinner tonite is potstickers and I have a quiche in the oven (altho it's 115 out) for dinner tomorrow and lunch. Yea me! Have been living off of cheese and crackers and gatorade.

[megjp]

Polenta with sundried and fresh tomatoes, thyme-and-balsamic sauteed criminis, pesto drizzled over. I was feeling down today and wanted comfort -- mission accompli! :)

[roxlet]

Tonight was smoke roasted salmon with beurre blanc and corn salad. The beurre blanc with the corn salad actually were delicious together, though initially I had my doubts. I tried cooking the corn in the microwave with the husks on, and although the corn did not drop out once the end was cut, it was a simple way to cook it, particularly since I didn't really want to turn on the store. I used the first couple of jalapeños from our garden, and they were so lovely and spicy. So much better than the run of the mill ones we get from our market. For dessert, my son had some of the peach swirl ice cream I made from Jenni's book, and I had some fresh figs from my fig tree. It's absolutely going to be a bumper crop this year. I've never had figs before September before. Some like it hot, and my fig tree sure does!

[mariacarmen]

i could see where the corn would be good with the beurre blanc - buttered corn! i'm agreeing with you on the store-bought jalapenos - they've lost their heat! they're like biting into a bell pepper now.

[scubadoo97]

That menu is right in my wheelhouse. Yumm

[nomadchowwoman]

Interesting about the corn--I was visiting friends in CO last week , and twice we had Olathe corn; both times I tried the husks & silk-on microwave technique. And not one of those cobs slid out as they do on the videos. Although was a little red-faced after touting the "miraculous" microwave technique and having it fail--twice!--it was, however, really easy to remove the husks and silk, and the corn was delicious and not overcooked. So I'll continue to microwave corn when I can get some halfway decent stuff.
Your meal sounds great, btw--not surprised at all that beurre blanc and corn would make for a happy marriage.

[Uncle Bob]

Supper tonight.........

Bourbon....
Salmon "Crow Ketts"
"Mock Shoe"..........
Mustard Greens........
Two or three 'Musgoes'............
Chock-O-Let 'Cream.....

[steve h.]

so, what "musgo"?

[JungMann]

How do you make your crow ketts? Mine left something to be desired even though I put a good N'Awlins trinity in there.

[Uncle Bob]

Pretty much a seat-o-da-pants formula tonight.......

1 Can Salmon.....
1 Lg Can Tuna..........
Copious Amounts of Vidalia Onion...
2 Unseeded Jalapenos diced.......
Lotsa course grid black pepper......
Tbls or so of your Uncle's World Famous C~C Seasoning.. plus a shot of Old Bay, and a pinch of Oregano tonight.
2 Yard Eggs.......
A Handful of Ritz Crackers run under a rolling pin.
A cap full of Wooster Sauce...and A small splash of white wine.....

Fry in Smokin Hot P-nut oil.....and about 2 fingers of a good bourbon sets the stage nicely.

Fun & Enjoy!

[JungMann]

Definitely missing out on the Old Bay and C~C seasoning, but Ritz crackers are probably the thing that I left out that would most taste like home.

[tzurriz]

It is cool and rainy in Chicago today, so we are having shrimp and sausage gumbo tonight. The smell of it simmering is already making me hungry.

[Berheenia]

I would so like cool and rainy. Trying to get enthusiastic about WFD in the humidity or chilly AC. Neither appeals. Hoping a glass of wine will inspire.

[tzurriz]

And my gumbo turned into a disaster. I've never made bad gumbo before but this turned out to be awful. /pout. Luckily we had brownies and ice cream. Brownie Ala mode for dinner tonight at our house.

Oh, and if you are ever wondering: I found the one recipe where duck fat does not work.
Blech.

[mariacarmen]

oh, sad!
you just reminded me i have duck fat in the fridge.

[tiffeecanoe]

I have a corn stock on the stove right now and will be making a corn chowder to go with some grilled pork chops and some sort of salad. Maybe lettuce, maybe cucumber and tomato. We'll see what I'm feeling in a couple of hours. :)

[wyogal]

I got some kind of steak out of the freezer, will probably put it in the slow cooker with some beef stock. I have fiddle lessons from 5-8 at the house, so need something that is easy and can eat in between lessons. Not sure if i have any noodles, will have to check.....
edit, adding: so, as I was browning the meat I thought, duh, potatoes. I Had some left from farmer's market, so put them in, along with some little carrots I wanted to use up, along with the beef stock and some dried onion. Dinner is done. ta-da.
I might make some dinner rolls.

[rabaja]

After two weeks away, followed by two weeks of cooking at a new job for a family in the city , I am once again back at my own stove.
it felt good to be back and last night I made a largish batch of ratatouille with all of the vegetables from our very own garden. This was pretty gratifying, and the eggplants were particularly beautiful. I guess being away for a month was all the garden needed to start producing. Hard to believe we'll be pulling it all out in a month or two to make way for winter vegetables. In the mean time, it is everything squash, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and basil. I think I may even be able to harvest my first coriander seeds this week too, which makes me happy.
To go with, I dug out the brown sugar-cumin rub I fell in love with last summer and gave some bone-in chicken thighs a good massage. Corn on the cob was our starch.
Cooking for some gluten-free, no garlic, no onion, no egg folks has opened my mind up to many new recipes this month, and am I ever glad we don't have such dietary restrictions here at home, but I did discover some great new recipes.
Tonight, it looks like mussels and sea bass are the ingredients on-hand, but darn it, I am craving an old-fashioned beef burger.

[mariacarmen]

at one of our local meximarts i found 2 pounds of wild arugula, already washed, for $1.99! the BF said what are we going to do with all that arugula?? i said pesto, fritattas, salad, etc. I'll take a pound of it to my sister's tonight and get started on something.

[PHREDDY]

What you don't know is that BF is one of us... a real foodie..si or no? I say...arugla, chopped mushrooms,chopped red peppers,chopped red onion, chopped celery, chopped wallnuts and a nice dijon mustard vinegarette!...then if you have some nice thin chuletta de carne...frito con panko on top of the salad.., some good sour dough baguette, a glass of white chard...que mas?

[mariacarmen]

ay, si! i've always known that! he can and does outdo me in the kitchen often.

i'm thinking, for tomorrow night at least, skirt steak, rubbed with garlic, quick seared in the grill pan, butter and lemon over the top when done, hot steak atop the arugula, which will be dressed with good olive oil, lemon, shavings of parm reg, like the chopped walnuts idea, toasted, and then some potato something on the side - papas fritas. all the juices from the steak on everything!

but sorry Phreddy, no glass of chard, no how! I'm a sauv b gal.

[gingershelley]

Sounds great MC, and I am with you on the sauv b too (just say NO to oaky chard)!

[mariacarmen]

right, gs, because i WILL drink a french unoaked chard anyday!

[gingershelley]

A woman of taste and discernment for sure ;) ...

[JungMann]

I'm having all this trouble finding plain old verdolagas at my meximart and here you're getting wild arugula. Color me jealous.

[mariacarmen]

it surprised the hell out of me, JM.

[Berheenia]

On vacation I had terrific scrambled eggs with arugula, portobellos and smoked cheddar. Don't know if it was "wild" or not.

[mariacarmen]

yum.

[PHREDDY]

I am at home today...just could not go to the office and see all the people...even though i am the boss...they have to understand that even the boss gets sick...have pork ribs in the oven for tomorrow....am par cooking them at 200 degrees for 3 hours and then will finish them off on the grill tomorrow ....what kind of sauce? Vinegar or sugar based? Please give me some advice. I think i will make baked potato skins, garlic mashed and brocolli to accompany the main.
PS...tonight is meat balls, with sausage with penne rigati, a dash of heavy cream, fresh basil and grated parmigiano regiano, some garlic toast, a salad of some greens, roasted red peppers, black olives, garden tomatoes, dressed with an anchovies/mustard vinegarte, and a glass of some red to wash it all down....

[LindaWhit]

I usually like a molasses or maple syrup and ketchup base BBQ sauce. It gets tang from vinegar added to the BBQ sauce, but also a hint of sweetness from the molasses/maple syrup. Ginger is a good addition as well.

[PHREDDY]

Well there is a vinegar based sauce that has no sugar that I have used....ketchup, paprika, salt, cumin, allepo, a dash of schircca, some powered garlic, some onion powder and white pepper.....cooked down with some white wine.....until it is semi thick.....pour half on the ribs...save the rest for latter...i am not too sure this will work with this crowd...some younger people involved...do you think I should add some honey or brown sugar?

[LindaWhit]

Can you split the recipe - make some with brown sugar and some ribs with your vinegar-based only sauce, sans sweetener?

[PHREDDY]

You know I have that sweet sauce,,,,,but it is totally different flavor ...more of a barbecue sauce,,,I think my sauce above is a bit more sophisticated...listen you are from the NE...we are "dumb" when it comes to barbecue...not like those real barbecue persons...not that I can make barbecue like them..so I hope they will say ..wow this is great!!!!

[LindaWhit]

The mop you use is a matter of taste. For ribs, I'd prefer a BBQ sauce-like mop. But I also say go with what you know and like, and hopefully they'll like it as much as you do.

[PHREDDY]

I took your suggestion ;; made my vinegar based sauce and took some and added some brown sugar and honey. Really not too bad. They loved both, the young ones too!

[LindaWhit]

Most excellent.

[PHREDDY]

:-))

[gourmanda]

We love this Pig Pickin' Barbeque sauce....the recipe dresses an entire pig though ;)

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Pork/P...

I recommend that you refrain from sticking your nose over the pot to inhale the aroma...you'll get a snootful of vinegar. But it's divine on ribs. Your dinner tonight sounds wonderful. Enjoy your day off!

[PHREDDY]

I will try to interpolate and reduce the the amount of sauce...this is similar to one I make...but I am always looking for something new...thanks...

[njmarshall55]

Any preference between fresh grated or dried ginger in this application?

[LindaWhit]

Always fresh-grated.

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Well, dinner or diner, I think I've got a plan for tonight. We're going to take another stab at the BBQ, assuming there is no rain (and with this beautiful, clear day, I have no reason to think that we'll fail). Once again, chicken leg quarters have been limed and S&Ped, this time with a dash of cayenne sauce. I'm thinking that a chili-lime macaroni salad will go nicely on the side, and some grilled strips of zucchini. Probably either more cantaloupe, cherries or some of each for dessert.

[LindaWhit]

Phreddy - perhaps you can fix your subject line to read "What's for Dinner" instead of Diner - it'll help with future searches on Chowhound. (CH gives you about an hour to make corrections.)

[PHREDDY]

thanks LW....ju got it! sorry..didn't realize it....at home working and should be in the office....shame on me...but then again I am the boss....