Whats cookin

That chicken looks great, Bill, bet it would go well with some tasty vegetable rice - mmm.

We're having roast leg of lamb, with fresh Rosemary, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, swede, carrot, and peas, and a thick, rich gravy.  Perfect comfort food for a chilly day.

My mom was born and raised in Liverpool - I lived there for 2 years back when I was 5 or so.  

That dinner sounds like what my mom would make on Sunday.  Kind of jealous

Monday night was pizza night to wrap up the weekend.

Top left- zucchini, red onion, pancetta, provolone and mozzarella.

Top right- wild mushrooms, mozzarella, white truffle oil, arugula.

Lower left- caramelized onions, pancetta, gorgonzola and walnuts.

Lower right- figs, prosciutto, garlic, arugula, balsamic vinegar.

and that's Misty in the far left corner.

Bill

Wow it's been a while since I looked in.

Pizza night again, this time in the kitchen.

#1 my own yellow onions, garden squash, arugula, dark leaf greens and squash blossoms. Plus prosciutto mozz and prov.

YUM!!

#2  My own tomatoes, dark leaf greens, green squash and arugula plus turkey pepperoni, salami, mushrooms and olives.

Bill

Pizza looks good GM.  We are living in an apartment in AZ with furniture by U-Haul, paper plates and very little cooking gear.  We will live this way until our house is done some time between Dec-Feb.

No excuse for not making nice food.  Olive oil/basil/garlic/lemon poached in parchment paper in the oven.  My wife made a zucchini, squash, onion and tomato dish that was really good.  A little bit of brown minute rice and boom - gourmet paper plate dining 

Chicken Chile Verde today

Ramen noodles ... beef flavor.

I would post a picture, but it would be like beating a dead horse.

We all know what cheap noodles look like.

Nice to see this up again. That'a good looking range there John.

Before:

After:

keavdog

Chicken Chile Verde today

 

 

Oh, that looks good!!  We have a chicken enchilada verde recipe we frequently use that's awesome, and looks a lot like that. 

Tonight?  Beef Vindaloo.  We cheat and use Neera's Vindaloo curry paste for starters.  It's good, relatively low in sodium, and we don't have to run the stove all day to make the curry.  Yes, it's traditionally done with lamb or chicken, but we prefer beef, specifically, flank steak.  Today, we're experimenting with 'baby red' potatoes, as russets and Yukons seem to not get fully-cooked, despite nearly 2 hours of cooking (they tend to have a bit of a crunch that my wife finds off-putting).  We usually have vindaloo about once a week, mainly because I do most of the cooking and I really like it.  

Last night it was Turkish beef with tomatoes and peppers based on a recipe from the Milk Street 'The World In a Skillet' recipe book, with our mods, of course.  We've liked several recipes from that book, and refer to it frequently.  

Gene Beaird

Pearland, Texas

Gene that all sounds pretty skilled. Pictures if you can.

I work in Salinas CA where the Hispanic food is prevalent and varied. My cooking skills are just ok so I get take out or eat in when I crave something like asian food.

Tonite is chicken parmesan. I will post pictures.

 Here, before the oven:

Bill

GMorrison

Gene that all sounds pretty skilled. Pictures if you can.

I work in Salinas CA where the Hispanic food is prevalent and varied. My cooking skills are just ok so I get take out or eat in when I crave something like asian food.

Tonite is chicken parmesan. I will post pictures.

 

Bill

 

 Grabbing take out is NOTHING to be ashamed of, especially if it's for something that takes a long time to make that you don't want to live without.  We're having Trinidadian doubles and roti wraps tonight from a local mom and pop Caribbean restaurant.  Their stuff is awesome, and we haven't quite mastered those dishes yet.  Not sure if we will, as their stuff is so good.  The restaurant is a bit of a hike now that they've moved, so we stop by after a trip to the other side of town.  There's also a great Indian place near them we'll hit up on occasion.  They make a great, albeit HOT, chicken vindaloo and other authentic dishes.  We've yet to get something we haven't liked with either place.

The vindaloo experiment worked!  Par boiling the potatoes in water with a couple of tablespoons of baking soda resulted in the texture we were looking for.  Browning them a bit before starting on the meat was also a plus.  Next step is to try this same method on russet potatoes.  

Yeah, I know, pictures or it didn't happen.  I'm usually too busy cooking and enjoying my evening 'Rita for that, but will try.  

Regards,

Gene Beaird,

Pearland, Texas

I have tried and tried to do a really good carne asada  - nothing compares to the local taco shops.  I had the best taco shop 5 minutes away in San Diego (and there are hundreds) and I found a good one here in Goodyear, AZ since I moved - Senior Taco.  So ya, I'm  100% down with take out for the right stuff.

Saturday night we made pizzas in the house.

Fresh figs came in at the market, and my pear tree bore some fruit.

Fig, blue cheese, prosciutto, walnuts, garlic and oil.

Pear, blue cheese, prosciutto, walnuts, garlic and oil.

Both could use a little caramelized red onion. Next time.

Bill

That looks good.  I love pineapple and jalpeno pizza, I bet that fig pizza is good, too.  That reminds me, I really need to get the fig we sprouted from the one my Dad had so we can enjoy them again.  It made the sweetest figs ever.  Just having trouble figuring out where to put it.  I'd put it in the back yard so the pups can help control the treerat (squirrel) population, but am afraid the pups would enjoy rolling in fallen figs when the get ripe, and after they get ripe...  

Regards,

Gene Beaird

Pearland, Texas

Pork loin stuffed with figs! I'm like you. My fig tree is still in it's 24" box.

I keep changing my mind abt where to put it because it will last way past me and I don't want the next residents (daughter) to have a problem.

Bill

We LOVE Muffuletas!  We were doing it the 'authentic' way with a sliced mufuleta loaf and pressing it under some weight (we usually use a large chromium ore stone and a large wave-rounded piece of granite), but were having trouble getting good loaves since we didn't order them from Central Grocery in NO.  

We then discovered an America's Test Kitchen recipe for what they called the 'Garbage Muffuleta', which uses store-bought pizza dough.  You lay the pizza dough out on your work bench and roll it thin, then layer your meats/cheeses/salad on top and roll it into a large roll.  That, and a modified olive salad recipe, and we have this about once a month.

Here it is just after cooling a while:

Yes, that's harvest gold linoleum counter tops.  Our house was built in the '70's.  'Vintage' but functional.  

Tonite:  Tacos, and again, we cheat at the recipe!! 

Regards,

Gene Beaird,

Pearland, Texas

So do you bake it after assembly? That looks great.

I went to a sammie place here at the Presidio that everyone raved about. Tried to describe a muffaletta, got as far as tapenade.

"What's that?".

That's the thing about a pizza/ calzone. You can take any combination of ingredients from another dish you like and make it a pie. Even PBJ if you do it right. 

Bill

Hey Crash - did you happen to take the knife skills course at Sur-La-Table?  I recognize the cutting board and Shun knife.  And yes please on that baked sandwhich!

Tonight was a cashew chicken that we added broccoli and celery to.

GMorrison

So do you bake it after assembly? That looks great.

I went to a sammie place here at the Presidio that everyone raved about. Tried to describe a muffaletta, got as far as tapenade.

"What's that?".

That's the thing about a pizza/ calzone. You can take any combination of ingredients from another dish you like and make it a pie. Even PBJ if you do it right. 

Bill

 

Yes, you put the 'stuffing' on about 2/3 of the rolled out dough, then roll it in a tight roll, 'glue' the ends and seam with an egg wash, then brush the egg wash in the whole roll, sprinkle sesame seeds and bake for ~40 minutes.  Let cool to the melted cheese isn't thermonuclear and enjoy.  

The tampanade is also known as an 'olive salad', but if you said that to answer their question, their skulls would probably explode. 

John, no, but we have purchased several items from Sur-La-Table, including the knives and other things necessary to run a well-supplied kitchen.  That is my second-favorite cutting board, the fav being a black plastic unit that has rubber ends.  Stays put, isn't too flexible, and isn't too slippery, which the board in the picture is.  All my knife skills are OJT.  :-)

Regards,

Gene Beaird,

Pearland, Texas

Sharp eyes John. I bought that same knife at S-L-T.

Great cashew dish there. 

Bill

My wife and I have taken several courses a SLT.  They are really fun.  The first one was a knife skill class and the cost of the course covered a Shun knife so we have two.  You can send them to Shun and they will recondition the blade - great service and a great knife.

Blistered shashito peppers and a sesame oil & soy dipping sauce appetizers last night.

Tonight we did Hungarian stuffed cabbage roles

Sooooo good

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/geoffrey-zakarian/hungarian-style-stuffed-cabbage-5618474

keavdog

Blistered shashito peppers and a sesame oil & soy dipping sauce appetizers last night.

 

 

Interesting.  Might have to look that up!

Regards,

Gene Beaird,

Pearland, Texas