Grilled Middle Eastern lamb rib chops, wheat berry salad, stuffed zucchini, and homemade pita bread. I like the lamb chops I made a couple of weeks ago that I picked up some more. I'm linking to the wheat berry salad recipe. The only substitution I made was pomegranate seeds instead of dried currants. I had them in the refrigerator and had to use them up. It's pretty tasty. I only used some of the ground beef I defrosted the other day for the chicken stuffing, and I also had some Campari tomatoes that were past their prime. I mixed them with some rice, allspice, and ras el-hanout, and stuffed some hollowed out zucchini. I braised them in tomato sauce. I made that yesterday, so just heating them up. Homemade pita. Okay, the Middle Eastern market is nine miles away. Between gas, tolls, and time, it would cost more for me to go buy them than to make some. So I made some. Came fine. https://www.freethepicnic.com/blog/2019/3/6/wheat-berry-salad
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Chicken Pizzaiolo - at least that's what my sister and I call it. It's a dish my mother made. It's chicken and potatoes, braised in tomato sauce, water, garlic, olive oil, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper - in a Pyrex baking dish (she always did). My sister and I started adding peas at the end of baking to make it a one-pot meal. Of course, some Italian bread to sop up some of the delicious sauce. A lot of memories in this dish.
Roasted stuffed chicken thighs, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, tomato salad, potato and green bean salad. Okay, I'm insane. I worked like hell today and we got a lot of shit knocked out for our business. At four o'clock, I decided to make a chicken dinner. I found some ground beef in the freezer from last year(!). I vacuum sealed it so it was perfectly fine. I had six chicken thighs And moo glue. I decided to take the bones out of the thighs and moo-glued them together. I had a bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing cubes in the pantry. I made stuffing from the meat, the cubes, celery, onion, and a bit the chicken stock I made from the bones. I laid the stuffing out on the thighs, rolled it up, and tied it up with string. I roasted it, and made a gravy from the remaining stock. I broke out a can of jellied cranberry sauce from the pantry also. Yeah, the jellied stuff. I like it. It was like early Thanksgiving. The chicken didn't look the way I wanted it to. It stayed together, ...
Flounder meunière, crab cakes, vegetable soup, and fennel gratin Finally back in my kitchen. It seems I've gained ten pounds in two weeks. A lot had to do with trying to finish up stuff in the refrigerator before we left, and then a lot of carbs while up north. I'm trying to get back to our schedule of chicken (3), fish (2), meat (1), and vegetarian (1) - (days per week). My supermarket had fresh flounder that they scaled, filleted, and skinned for me. I had an urge for soup after all the carbs. I made a big pot of vegetable soup, which included butternut squash, celery, carrots, onion, some chopped fennel tops, potatoes, turnip, tomatoes, romano beans, corn, spinach, and peas. Garnished with evoo, grated parmesan, pepper, and parsley. Very good, but I've got like two gallons of it. Crab cakes - I never used canned crab before, but I wanted to try it. It wasn't bad. They were a little dry, but that might have been my adjusting the proportions of my recipe, which cal...
Vegetarian night (early) - Zucchini and onion frittata, cauliflower gratin, and stuffed mini peppers. The zucchini was one we grew! Four ingredients make the most delicious frittata. Cauliflower gratin topped with panko that I made yesterday and had ready to go today. Also, a couple of the stuffed mini peppers that I made yesterday also. My partner said he doesn't miss animal flesh at all on vegetarian night!
Grilled prime NY strip steak with compound butter, corn on the cob, and creamed leeks topped with crispy fried onions. We are going out of town Wednesday, so I spent the day cooking. I have a lot of stuff that needs to be cooked before we leave. I made a cauliflower gratin that I'll heat up tomorrow. I had three pounds of campari tomatoes that I skinned, seeded, and cooked. I also had a bag of mini peppers that I needed to deal with. I do this to myself. The tomatoes were $1.49 for a 2 lb clamshell, and I got a bag of peppers for $.99. I ended up making Indian-inspired stuffed mini peppers The stuffing was sauteed onion, some of the tomatoes I cooked, garam masala, cumin, ginger garlic paste, bulgur, and queso fresco (I needed to also use up some cooked bulgur I had). They came out pretty damn good. I'll make them tomorrow - early vegetarian day.
Korean fried chicken, Thai eggplant salad, and Korean cucumber banchan (oi muchim). I haven't made Korean fried chicken in a dog's age and I had the urge. I stopped by the Korean market recently and there were like three restaurants in the strip mall selling chicken. It's been so long, I forgot which recipe I used, if I even used just one. I went with America's Test Kitchen; while not always authentic, it usually yields good results. The only change I made was to massage the wings with ginger-garlic paste, salt, and white pepper, and let it sit out for a while. The results were terrific. Since I was frying, I thought I'd try the eggplant recipe, which was on the ATK channel earlier today. It was really good, but it was a bit of a bother to fry the eggplant, then twice-fry the chicken. It was good though. I have a ton of Thai basil and mint, so it worked out well. The cucumber banchan was just the standard recipe (I used Persian cucumbers), but it paired well with th...
Chicken bouillabaisse and roasted radishes. I had boneless skinless thighs and felt like making something different. What happens is I work from home, and a lot of the day I have the TV on tuned to cooking shows. Today, Jacques Pepin made c hicken bouillabaisse and I took that as my inspiration. I google the recipe, but it only used 1/4 tsp of herbes de Provence. I was looking for something with a little more punch. I added anise liqueur to the marinade, and didn't add the the aromatics. I wanted to cook them separately. I added lavender and bay leaves to the soup and I also have fresh herbs I'm growing in various places, so I made my own fresh herbes de Provence using the parsley, basil, tarragon, chives, oregano, thyme, and rosemary. I added lavender and bay leaves to the soup, and garnished with the fresh herbs, evoo, and oh, I also made a rouille. Delicious. The roasted radishes were also very good. I made the salad part with baby arugula rather than radish g...
Spaghetti puttanesca, swordfish, and fennel pizza. My partner went to "Dinner With Strangers." He's interested in getting out more and making new friends. We were friends with two other couples, but one of the couples died last year (yes, both of them). The other couple lives 25 miles away, and we've kinda slacked off on the friendship. It's hard without the other couple. My best friend of almost 30 years lives here in the same city. My partner doesn't have a BFF. We met 18 years ago at a MeetUp function where he was trying the same thing. Anyway, he went out to dinner and I cooked what I had on hand. UPDATE: He had dinner with five women in their late 50s. lol
Grilled NY strip, corn on the cob, and green bean salad. I was supposed to be making g rill ed NY strip, corn on the cob, and sauteed broccoli rabe. I cooked the broccoli rabe last week and thought it would be fine. It wasn't. Luckily I took it out of the refrigerator early and saw it went bad. I had green beans, and I was just going to boil them and have them with butter. But then I'd have to cook them at the last minute, so I opted to make a salad. I cooked the green beans, and added tomatoes and red onion. I made a vinaigrette with sherry vinegar, evoo, garlic, and Dijon mustard. Topped the salad with fresh basil, crumbled goat cheese, and crispy fried onions. Not the onions that come in a can. These come from Pakistan, and I got a big bag for like $3.00. Good stuff.
Swordfish stew, baba ganoush, pita, and pita chips. My partner doesn't feel well and doesn't feel like eating too much, so I'm making just this stew and some baba ganoush. The recipe called for one teaspoon of the spices, but that couldn't be right. I put in a tablespoon and then some more. Baba ganoush https://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/curied-swordfish-stew
I linked to the halibut recipe. I subbed tarragon for dill because it goes well with fish and I've been growing it (well, I grew the parsley and chives too). The bulgur salad had tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, yellow peppers, pomegranate seeds, feta, parsley, and dill. I made a dressing with sherry vinegar, pomegranate molasses, garlic, and evoo. My partner's favorite was actually the creamed leeks. I just wilted the leeks in some butter, then added some broth, heavy cream and romano cheese. I then topped it with crisp-fried onions (out of a bag that came from Pakistan) and chopped chives. It really was good. Panko-Herb Crusted Halibut Creamed Leeks
Roast chicken, cauliflower gratin, roasted eggplant, and peach pie for dessert. It's a half peach pie that I made in an eight-inch saute pan. Actually, they were nectarines. They've been fantastic this year, but I bought and they started getting soft, so I made a small pie. My partner also picked up a pint of Haagen Dazs. So, dessert for a few nights.
Grilled Greek chicken thighs, romano beans and carrots, and a Greek salad. Boneless, skinless thighs, pounded thin, and marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, oregano, parsley, cumin, salt, and pepper. I boiled the beans and car rots, and dressed with some Good Seasons Italian salad dressing. And the Greek Salad was just the basic cucumber, green bell pepper, feta cheese, red onion, and Kalamata olives.
NY Strip, fennel gratin, sauteed broccoli rabe (garlic, crushed red pepper), Caesar salad. Prime New York strip was on sale for $24.99/lb. I picked out two that were beautifully marbled. I vacuum-sealed one and my partner grilled it perfectly. Oh, and I topped the gratin with browned panko before baking it. For dessert, I had a perfectly-ripened nectarine the size of a softball. I embraced my inner daddy. Sitting on the couch with my grandma knife, I cut sections off the pit and shared them with my partner.
