What's for Dinner?

[Megatron]

Also, on topic:

I have what will become soup in about 4-5 hours after I rip the bones out of the chicken. It's in the crock pot as we speak, with carrots and celery and onion and garlic and parsley and a habanero floating around in it. Good shit yo.

[S.Vashti]

I like iceberg. Good texture. I like other kinds of lettuce for their flavor. I prefer iceberg on my tacos.

Oh, and all dressings that gloop are awful and should not be eaten.

[Megatron]

I'm STILL eating on that soup.

It owns.

[lisarea]

We had beef and vegetable soup (made with pot roast liquor), and I just now put brownies in the oven. At TEN O CLOCK PM. They won't be ready until TEN THIRTY PM!

show spoiler

Andrew W.K. - Party Hard - YouTube

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[Qingdai]

I made this penne pasta thing chunks looked up, it had radicchio, lemon peel, lemon juice, onion, garlic and parsley with ground beef in it, I thought for sure it'd be as bitter as hell. It wasn't. WTF?

[Zehava]

Left over BBQ roast pork
Broccoli

And for desert.. pumpkin pie, minus the pumpkins (used a couple of baked sweet potatoes instead) and no pie crust. So basically sweet potato pie filling.

[Vivisectus]

yesterday he ordered fish and chips from the local chipper (blergh) because it was Halloween, so today I will make up for that by cooking Braised beef with a herb and red wine sauce, with potatoes dauphinois, sugar snap peas, and a carrot-and-parsnip mash.

The beef to be slowly braised in a herby stock with a good dash of red wine, and then sliced into steak-sized pieces and seared on the grill to add a smoky flavour.

[lisarea]

I made our first batch of green chili of the new season last night! We've got this stuff down now. We use just about exactly three bushels of roasted chiles a year, so we ran out of last year's just as the new season came in.

Last night's used slow roasted pulled pork, thickened stock, with just a little tomatoes and tomatillos. Thing is, my foot started hurting pretty bad and I was getting tired, so I ended up just sort of stopping and calling it done when I didn't feel like I could keep chopping stuff up. It needed a little salt, but other than that, it was good.

Also because I was tired, I just served it with rice.

Tonight, I'm going to Vivisectus' house for dinner.

[Anastasia Beaverhausen]

And I, meanwhile, will be raiding your fridge for leftover chili.

[Vivisectus]

No, she will be bringing that along when she comes for dinner

[lisarea]

Last night, I made Rotten Sumac Chicken with rice and salad with Terrible Yogurt Dressing.

I do not know how I missed that the chicken was bad, except that I had a cold a little over a week ago plus I get stuffy from allergies and whatnot, but this is not hands off chicken. First, I marinate it, then I dry and brown it in the pan. THEN, take it out, cool it a little, chop it up, and briefly marinate it again before recooking it. I did smell something a little off at some point, but I couldn't figure out what it was, so I put it down to my nose being weird.

And I didn't have the right stuff to make tzatziki, which is what I would normally make, so I just made a generic yogurt dressing for the salad, and it was pretty bad, too.

So we had herbed rice for dinner, basically.

Tonight, I'm making a non-rotten pot roast; then I'll go shopping for the stuff to make sumac chicken again Tuesday because that is pretty good when it's not rotten and terrible.

[Qingdai]

I made meatloaf the day before. My son liked it and ate it. I asked him if he wanted a meat loaf sandwich for lunch and he agreed. We talked about how to prepare such a sandwich to meet his expectations. He didn't eat it AND the teacher called to tell us to send more food for him for lunch. Parenting fail or child fail?

[S.Vashti]

Yesterday we had something new; wilted baby spinach with cauliflower, chickpeas, cashews, raisins in a tomato base with garam masala and turmeric. Over basmati rice. Good, and different. I should have used more spinach, though.

[curses]

This.

Combined with a potato for Mr Curses, a sweet potato for me, some hot sauce in that tomato sauce (made a slight substitution), and some blanched green beans.

[livius drusus]

Collard pesto. It's weird; I hate collards, but they make a fucking outstanding pesto.

[curses]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Collard pesto.

[livius drusus]

CALM DOWN.

[curses]

I thought collards were only good for stinking up the kitchen during winter holidays.

[livius drusus]

That is their primary function, but mashed up with toasted pecans, fresh garlic, green olives, parmesan and olive oil, they become downright tolerable, even tasty.

[curses]

So none of the bitterness? I suppose most of that comes from cooking them all damn week before serving, but it's still an association that I have with most greens.

That reads like a southern spin on pesto, though, with the greens and pecans. And we all know that southern food is a gift unto the world. Therefore collard pesto must be good.

[livius drusus]

No bitterness whatsoever. It is a southern spin on pesto and as is right and proper, it's distinctly funkier than the smooth and sweet basil original.

[Vivisectus]

Cheap and cheerful Tesco Fish Pie Mix Chowder.

Carrots, onions, potatoes and celery.
Reduced-fat cooking cream or plain ole cream
Bay leaf, 1 thereof
Thyme, large pinch
Nam Plaa, 1 teaspoon
Tesco Cheap-o fish pie mix: Salmon, smoked coley or haddock, cod... but any fish that does not flake too soon works. Make sure to get at least 25% smoked fish for the smokey flavour.
Fish stock
Cream, reduced-fat cooking cream, or such.

Dice up all your veg nice and small and soften. Once translucent, add fish-stock, herbs and cream, then simmer until soft. Add a touch of nam plaa for extra fishyness. Chuck in the fish at the last moment, and simmer until the fish is just cooked. Don't forget to season.

Serve with some croutons and a french roll. Super-easy, pretty quick to cook, and it looks and tastes like you have done fancy cooking.

Tomorrow: Shepherds Pie with proper lamb mince, thyme, and creamy mashed potatoes crusted with parmezan cheese.

[livius drusus]

Ooh! That is highly relevant to my interests. Please to post detailed instructions.

[Vivisectus]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Ooh! That is highly relevant to my interests. Please to post detailed instructions.

It is a lovely week-day meal. Also, it is not really pie, but it could be if you want to make it that way. Just leave the mash out, and blind-bake a pie crust in a round pie-tin, put the filling in, cover with a layer of pastry, brush with egg to give it a nice sheen and don't forget to make the obligatory decorative air-holes in the top.

I make it with a crispy mash topping, like yea:

In a nice big pot,

1: get 1 onion and 2-3 carrots. Finely chop the onion, and either whizz the carrot in a blender or grate it with a fine grater until it is really small.
2: Soften the veg a little bit. It won't take long as the carrot is so finely chopped.
3: Add lamb-mince, 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour, and stir carefully to make sure it gets mixed in. Brown the mince. The flour will bind the fat from the mince, so you do not get runny stuff at the bottom. I hate that in all mince sauces. If you don't mind, leave it out.
4: Make some lamb stock, double strength. Add a little in to give it the consistency of a fairly solid bolognese sauce - not too runny.
5: Add 2 TS thyme and one of rosemary. Simmer until the mince is done.
6: Add 2 TS Worcestershire sauce, and 3 TS of tomato paste. Actually, ignore all these measurements and add them to taste. You are looking to have a clear thyme flavour in the lamb, and the Worcestershire sauce is there to keep it from being too bland. Also season it to taste with salt and pepper.
7: Add a few handfuls of frozen peas.

Put all this in an over dish and flatten it out. Then the mash:

Boil potatoes, and add 2 eggyolks, a handful of grated parmesan and some cream, and salt and pepper. Mash well until soft enough to spread over the mince in the oven dish, but don't make it too creamy. Spread evenly, and then use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on top of it. Finally top it off with a generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Bake this in the over until the top is crispy golden-brown.

Serve with a leafy salad topped with toasted pine-nuts, parmesan flakes, and an olive-oil and vinegar dressing on the side.

[S.Vashti]

I did a good spin on typical tuna casserole-the kind with the cream of mushroom binder.

Use alfredo sauce instead.