What's for Dinner?

[livius drusus]

No way, man. All you need is some fresh beets and a handful of pantry staples, so get on it.

Tonight I've got a bone-in pork loin to roast. I've never done one before, but I'm planning on browning it in a roasting pan stovetop, then putting it on a rack on a bed of rosemary, thyme and sage cuttings from garden. I'll make a Dijon and garlic glaze for the top. Mebbe make a sauce from the drippings.

I have a new fanceh meat thermometer to fire up, so this is going to be good times. Any advice from the pork aficionados would be very much appreciated.

[Master Taran]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I have a new fanceh meat thermometer to fire up, so this is going to be good times. Any advice from the pork aficionados would be very much appreciated.

That thermometer is great. I've had mine for over 10 years now.

[Demimonde]

Sweet! Piggy piggy time! Great buy on the thermometer. That sounds fantastic. I hope your virgin piggy roast voyage goes well!

[lisarea]

I have also given up cooking based on my failure to live up to the standards set by livius drusus.

As such, we are going to have some pizzas from the pizza store for dinner.

[viscousmemories]

Yes, it is because livius is such a great cook that I have resigned myself to eating every meal in restaurants for the past six weeks.



Except last night and the night before, when I actually cooked at home.

[Sock Puppet]

It's not the ingredients, or the prettiness. It's the carmelization and the deglazing and the skinning-after-boiling-reusing-water and the flay-hay-hayyyyven, all for the same dish. Makes my cooking processes wither to wrinkled flaccidity and crawl away to hide in shame.

[livius drusus]

Oh that. Really I made it more complicated than it had to be. You could easily boil the whole beets for 10 minutes in the pasta cooking water. Then all you have to do is fish them out with a slotted spoon, cool them and peel them.

You can also roast beets ahead of time and keep them in the fridge for later usage. If you make the pasta days later, just add some chicken or veggie broth to the pasta cooking water to provide a little of that stock-y richness.

[Janet]

I am collating a lasagna for tomorrow because I have tons of mozzarella and riccota left over from my tea last Sunday. For tonight I think I'll do chicken breast in a porcini cream sauce since I didn't use all the porcini or all the cream I bought for the tea.

[livius drusus]

Okay so the loin is currently loining in a 275 oven. It's smaller than I thought (a pound or so) and I'd like it to cook longer at lower to avoid dryness. The Berkshire hog farmers I bought it from kindly left the fat cap on so it's up top. The base of it is on a bed of fresh herbs on a rack. I've rubbed the sides and top with a shallot, garlic, olive oil and grainy Dijon paste. The thermometer probe is down through the thickest part, not touching bone or in a fat pocket.

I'm concerned that the thermometer reading is increasing so quickly. How fast should a 1 pound bone-in loin cook at 275?

[Zehava]

Tonight is Tortilla soup. Spur of the moment decision but it sounds good.

[Dingfod]

I baked Cajun spice tilapia filets along with some medium sized shrimp, with garlic butter sauce drizzled on it all. It was delicious. They both were probably farmed and likely bought at the evil big box store with the blue sign.

[viscousmemories]

I considered making tilapia, but in a fit of petulance I went and got it at a restaurant instead.

[Dingfod]

I bet it was still good.

[Ensign Steve]

Hamburger, pork chop, greens, green beans.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

I bet it was still good.

It was good alright, but since I got it at a Mexican restaurant there was a basket of chips, beans and rice along with the giant tilapia tacos slathered in some mayo-based sauce. In other words a few more calories than I needed.

[Qingdai]

Salad with tomato, cucumbers and avocado.
Too hot to cook.

[livius drusus]

The roast didn't go well, I'm afraid. The probe wasn't set right so I took the roast out of the oven too soon. I had to refire it after it had rested, so it came out dry. Flavorful, though. It'll make a fine sammich.

[viscousmemories]

[Demimonde]

Too bad liv! Next time will be better. Did you probe it too close to the bone?

[livius drusus]

I think so. It also went all the way through to the other side and I didn't make a second hole so the reading was probably hotter than it should have been.

[ChuckF]

I think I'm going to make a two-egg omelet tonight because I need to use up some eggs and cheese before I go. I wish I had some mushrooms or something, but I don't. I have some of those fake meat crumbles, maybe those will be ok on it.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

Too bad liv! Next time will be better. Did you probe it too close to the bone?

Originally Posted by livius drusus

I think so. It also went all the way through to the other side and I didn't make a second hole so the reading was probably hotter than it should have been.

But you guys did that on purpose, didn't you?

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

Chicken chili

This is not a repeat, I never did make it the other day, but I did tonight. As for how it's made, it's made the same way as my skillet chili con carne I've mentioned before, except I cut the chicken up into 1/2" cubes, then brown it in a hot skillet with olive oil. It's pretty good, but not good as with the beef.

[lisarea]

Well, I AM going to do a repeat. So there.

Don't feel like cooking, so leftover pizza, leftover turkey curry, or whatever.

I have to drive past a hamburger store later too. So that's a possibility if there's not enough sad things in the refrigerator.

[viscousmemories]

I had leftover whole wheat penne rigate with jarred tomato sauce.