What's for Dinner part 8.

[Maithanet]

3 minutes ago, wolverine said:

I like the slow cooker for convenience on things like that, especially for chicken parts.  Good if you can fry in a pan first to get some browning or back/broil/grill before eating if it isn't cooked till it falls apart I think.

Yeah, I just mostly can't be bothered with two forms of cooking though.  If I'm going to be grilling or broiling chicken, I want to be done with it, not putting it into a crock pot! 

This recipe was specifically chosen by me because it doesn't require doing that.  We'll see how it tastes!

[Maithanet]

Update on the crock pot garlic honey chicken.  The chicken was essentially shredded, so not frying first wasn't a problem.  The meal felt very like a Panda Express "Chicken with Broccoli" kind of meal, which is neither an insult nor the highest compliment.  It's possible I could make it better with some modifications. 

[Deedles]

On 5/7/2021 at 5:11 AM, Fragile Bird said:

Made a very simple Asparagus soup for my dinner. I bought a bunch of asparagus, trimmed the ends and sliced them into one inch pieces, softened some chopped onion and garlic in a Dutch oven, in olive oil and butter, added the asparagus then added most of a carton of chicken stock. Vegetable stock works fine as well, if you want the soup to be vegetarian. Added salt and pepper, brought it to a boil then simmered it for half an hour. Used my stick blender to blend it all. Ladled a bowl and grated Parmesan on top. Absolutely delicious!

The recipe calls for cream to be added but I couldn’t be bothered, and for the asparagus tips to be reserved and then boiled and added to the bowl you ladle up, but I gave that up after the first time I made the soup years ago. I might do it for a dinner party.

This sounds lovely, though I’m more likely to have for lunch than dinner. I’d been looking for a good home made soup that wasn’t either cauliflower, or butternut squash/sweet potato.

 

I never think my tomato or mushroom soups are worth the effort to do at home.

 

[Fragile Bird]

11 minutes ago, Deedles said:

This sounds lovely, though I’m more likely to have for lunch than dinner. I’d been looking for a good home made soup that wasn’t either cauliflower, or butternut squash/sweet potato.

 

I never think my tomato or mushroom soups are worth the effort to do at home.

 

I had dinner with friends in my bubble the other day. My friend's husband loves to make potato-leek soup, less fancy than vichyssoise, no cream in it and eaten hot. It's almost as easy to make as the asparagus soup, except you need to wash the leeks well and peel the potatoes. But after that, same thing, soften onions and garlic in butter and oil, add the potatoes and leeks and chicken or vegetable broth, cook for half an hour and then blend with your immersion blender. Make it as thin or thick as you want.   We had thick, crusty bread and a side salad, so it was enough for dinner.

[KingintheNorth4]

To celebrate my getting the second dose of the covid vaccine, I had a big chicken burrito from Taquerias Atotonilco.

[VigoTheCarpathian]

Smashburgers on pub buns - bacon crispy in the cast iron pan, the fat used to cook the burgers, with tillamook colby jack then melted on top as burgers finish. Tomato and lettuce and aforementioned bacon. Rosemary and garlic oven fries, sriracha and mayo for dipping.

[Fragile Bird]

I’ve tried a couple of new recipes this past week that turned out quite well. The first was tuna steaks marinated in a sauce made of maple syrup, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and olive oil.

The other two came from a Lidia Bastianich cookbook I bought a few years ago. She had a show on PBS called Lidia’s Italy. I love fennel, but I usually eat it raw in a salad. Recipe number one was Italian sausages cooked on a bed of sliced onions, fennel and crushed green olives, with white wine used as the liquid in the dish. She cooks it on the stove, I cooked it in the oven at 425 degrees. Very, very tasty and I’ll make it again. I made the second dish last night, a pasta sauce made of a combination I’d never think of, butternut squash and cauliflower. Soften a sliced onion and some chopped garlic in olive oil, then add equal amounts of diced squash and cauliflower, plus a couple of tablespoons of capers, add some water and cover, cook for three or four minutes, than add a can of crushed tomatoes and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper and pepperoncino flakes to taste. I only ate some of the sauce for my dinner last night, I cooked too late and couldn’t bother to make any pasta. But tonight I warmed up the sauce and cooked some noodles and the sauce with the noodles, plus some fresh Parmesan, was absolutely delish! Squash and cauliflower, who’d a thunk it? 

[Maithanet]

So I enjoy baking or grilling fish.  My wife loves shellfish but has complained that whenever I make fish, it feels too dry (not the same as overcooked), doubly so since I like to serve it with rice.  She wants her fish to be very saucey to make the rice more interesting.  Do people have any recommendations for what I should do?  I usually make salmon or tilapia, although I could find other fish I suppose.  But even when I cover it with a marinade, like salmon with a honey mustard sauce or tilapia with soy ginger, usually most of it cooks off by the time the fish is ready.  I could just add more sauce, but I worry about the fish cooking weird if part of it is submerged and part isn't. 

Thoughts? 

[Larry of the Lawn]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:26 PM, DireWolfSpirit said:

So most of this area's restaraunts make breakfast burritos that are alarmingly lame.

 

Solution: I'm now an expert at making the most delicious breakfast burritos at home. It took me two attempts though, my first batch a couple weeks earlier were not primo.

This wknd I nailed it though, just the perfect mixture of ingredients, burrito fold perfect, browning perfect.

Just like the ones I could get when I lived in the Southwest. Have devoured two and they are muy bonita!!

Please share!

My old favorite used to be eggs, refried beans,.ham, cheese, sour cream and scallions.  

Now I mostly do veggie ones which end up being usually eggs, beans, salsa, cheese, and then either potatoes, or peppers and onions.  Sometimes I use cabbage too.

In the winter I freeze a bunch of them and then bring them into work, stick them on top of the propane heater and by morning coffee break have a nice warm breakfast burrito ready to go.

[KingintheNorth4]

Today I had a crispy cod sandwich with a side of fries from Red Lobster.

[Larry of the Lawn]

On 6/8/2021 at 2:29 PM, Maithanet said:

So I enjoy baking or grilling fish.  My wife loves shellfish but has complained that whenever I make fish, it feels too dry (not the same as overcooked), doubly so since I like to serve it with rice.  She wants her fish to be very saucey to make the rice more interesting.  Do people have any recommendations for what I should do?  I usually make salmon or tilapia, although I could find other fish I suppose.  But even when I cover it with a marinade, like salmon with a honey mustard sauce or tilapia with soy ginger, usually most of it cooks off by the time the fish is ready.  I could just add more sauce, but I worry about the fish cooking weird if part of it is submerged and part isn't. 

Thoughts? 

Maybe try grilling the fish with minimal seasoning (like maybe just some salt) and then preparing the sauce separately, then once it's done toss it lightly in the sauce and serve over the rice, with more sauce available there for anyone who wants more?  

A former gf used to make a fish curry that she prepared that way, although she usually cut the fish into chunks and seared it in a cast iron pan instead of grilling it.  

[wolverine]

On 5/6/2021 at 11:11 PM, L'oiseau français said:

Made a very simple Asparagus soup for my dinner. I bought a bunch of asparagus, trimmed the ends and sliced them into one inch pieces, softened some chopped onion and garlic in a Dutch oven, in olive oil and butter, added the asparagus then added most of a carton of chicken stock. Vegetable stock works fine as well, if you want the soup to be vegetarian. Added salt and pepper, brought it to a boil then simmered it for half an hour. Used my stick blender to blend it all. Ladled a bowl and grated Parmesan on top. Absolutely delicious!

The recipe calls for cream to be added but I couldn’t be bothered, and for the asparagus tips to be reserved and then boiled and added to the bowl you ladle up, but I gave that up after the first time I made the soup years ago. I might do it for a dinner party.

 

This sounds good.  I love making soups and don't think I have had asparagus soup before.  One of our favorites here is cabbage and sausage soup (then maybe ham and bean).  They are different every time depending on what I have laying around.  One of the great things about soup.

 

Venison fajitas last night.  Grilled pork tenderloin tonight and Brussels sprouts.

[wolverine]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:29 PM, Maithanet said:

So I enjoy baking or grilling fish.  My wife loves shellfish but has complained that whenever I make fish, it feels too dry (not the same as overcooked), doubly so since I like to serve it with rice.  She wants her fish to be very saucey to make the rice more interesting.  Do people have any recommendations for what I should do?  I usually make salmon or tilapia, although I could find other fish I suppose.  But even when I cover it with a marinade, like salmon with a honey mustard sauce or tilapia with soy ginger, usually most of it cooks off by the time the fish is ready.  I could just add more sauce, but I worry about the fish cooking weird if part of it is submerged and part isn't. 

Thoughts? 

I grill salmon quite a bit.  Soy ginger is a great flavor with salmon in my opinion.  I go directly on the grill surface all the time.  I don't know if your salmon is somehow too lean or something?  Very rarely too dry unless I do accidentaly overcook it.  You can always add a bit of sauce shortly before removing it from the grill too.

 

If baking tilapia I think butter is your friend IMO (almost like a scampi).  I have not noticed an issue with being partially submerged.  I often grill tilapia as well directly on the grill.  Just have to be very careful as I am sure you know it isn't a very firm fish.  Tilapia is sort of like chicken breast, can flavor however you want as it has minimal flavor itself.

 

I am certainly no expert on any of this...maybe one will weigh in.

[wolverine]

On 6/8/2021 at 3:07 PM, larrytheimp said:

Please share!

My old favorite used to be eggs, refried beans,.ham, cheese, sour cream and scallions.  

Now I mostly do veggie ones which end up being usually eggs, beans, salsa, cheese, and then either potatoes, or peppers and onions.  Sometimes I use cabbage too.

In the winter I freeze a bunch of them and then bring them into work, stick them on top of the propane heater and by morning coffee break have a nice warm breakfast burrito ready to go.

 

So when I have leftover chili I make a form of Huevos rancheros.  I don't think that is really what I am making but it is fucking delicious,

I make a cheese quesadilla and top it with the chili, cheese, salsa verde, onions, sour cream and a couple fried eggs.  If I really go all in crispy fried tater tots make this even more awesome. 

[BigFatCoward]

6 hours ago, wolverine said:

 

This sounds good.  I love making soups and don't think I have had asparagus soup before.  One of our favorites here is cabbage and sausage soup (then maybe ham and bean).  They are different every time depending on what I have laying around.  One of the great things about soup.

 

Venison fajitas last night.  Grilled pork tenderloin tonight and Brussels sprouts.

Soups are amazing when done right, but I cannot understand people who think it's a meal. Soup is a warm up. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

See "Last purchased" thread.

Barbecued ribs marinated with sauces, onions and serrenoes, corncob and potato salad sides. Chardonnay and a White Russian to bring in the fireworks.

It's especially pleasing to actually be able to celebrate the 4th again after covid pretty well dissapeared the holiday for us last summer/bummer.

[Fragile Bird]

On 7/3/2021 at 5:41 PM, BigFatCoward said:

Soups are amazing when done right, but I cannot understand people who think it's a meal. Soup is a warm up. 

Well, little grasshopper, wait until you get old!

And speaking of soup, I made another one. We've had a lot of rain and a lot of heat here lately, and boy oh boy, the lettuce my SiL planted just shot up. I had been asking her when she was going to eat some of it and as far as I can tell she hasn't picked any of it. So what do you do when you have too much lettuce - make lettuce soup!

Actually, Potage St. Germain, which is really a pea and lettuce soup. I wish I had peas in the garden as well, though I'd probably want to eat them as they are, fresh peas are glorious. In any event, on the weekend I picked a head of green leaf lettuce to use for the soup, another really easy soup to make. Chop up an onion (or two, mine was largish), soften in a couple of tablespoons of butter, add five cups of chicken stock and a potato that you've peeled and diced, cook until soft, add 4 cups of peas (I use frozen sweetlets) and your chopped up lettuce. The recipe I used says two cups of lettuce, but I ignored that and just added all the lettuce I had, probably about four cups. Cook until tender, add salt and pepper to taste, and the recipe called for chervil, which I do not have in my stock of herbs. I used Herbes de Provence, which worked beautifully. The recipe also calls for some cream to be added, but the soup really doesn't need it. But it did need more chicken stock, to thin it out a bit. Blend it until smooth. I first tried using my wand blender, but peas really need a stronger piece of equipment for a smoother soup. My ancient Cuisinart stick blender finally died a while ago and I picked up a cheap model to use until I see a sale on a good one, and of course I haven't been looking at all.

And then today I decided to make another batch using red leaf lettuce. This soup has turned out even better, I don't know if that's because of the lettuce or because I used a slightly larger potato or slightly more chicken stock. In any event, I have five 16 ounce containers (not quite full) which are now in the fridge and will go in my freezer tomorrow.

There are lots of recipes on line, but here's the one I used as a guide:  https://www.ricardocuisine.com/en/recipes/5739-st-germain-soup-fresh-pea-soup

[Inkdaub]

Qdoba

[Maithanet]

On 7/3/2021 at 10:52 AM, wolverine said:

I grill salmon quite a bit.  Soy ginger is a great flavor with salmon in my opinion.  I go directly on the grill surface all the time.  I don't know if your salmon is somehow too lean or something?  Very rarely too dry unless I do accidentaly overcook it.  You can always add a bit of sauce shortly before removing it from the grill too.

I baked salmon last night with a very heavy helping of honey soy ginger sauce that I whipped up.  I kept some in reserve and put it on top of the fish after cooking.  That might have been overdoing it, but it was definitely saucey enough to flavor the rice and my wife liked that.  So I'm making some progress.

[DireWolfSpirit]

^^^I always dose my salmon in ginger powder.

On 7/5/2021 at 11:56 PM, L'oiseau français said:

And then today I decided to make another batch using red leaf lettuce.

I love soup, that recipe sounds interesting just seems like cabbage instead of the leaf lettuce would be my preference there.

So today we ate at the steakhouse down here in Milwaukee. Got the surf n turf combo. Steak was decent medium rare.

Issue I had was with the overpriced "margarita" I was served while waiting at the bar to be seated. It was supposed to be a frozen lime margarita with the salt rim and lime wedge. They bought the drink I really wasn't paying too great of attention because I'm looking at all the sports on the screens, hostess comes to seat us, we grab our drinks and head to our table. Pretty routine right.

Well once seated I set my drink at the table and it happens to be right next to a drink brochure with a delicious lime margarita, salted and lime wedges just like the overpriced thing I just paid for at bar.......except wait a minute, my drink looks nothing like that thing!

 The waitress arrives and I point out the pink glass of something (on the rocks (no wedge) they salted the rim) and I asked what she thought I had received.

She agreed it was no lime margarita, I'm guessing the pink color was a big clue.

Long story short, she brought me a delicious frothy, limey, salty rita, dinner is saved!

Of course I tipped her handsomely.