Feeling very wiped out, so two packets of instant oatmeal.
So what's for dinner?
- Thread starter Sweetleaf
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Finally got around to making these last night, and they were excellent! I could perfect my potato cutting technique a bit, but they were uniform enough to work. I really like the way the stock permeates the potatoes as they cook in the oven, just a great texture and so much more flavorful than regular ol' roast potatoes. I will absolutely be doing this more often.
Next to the fantastic potatoes, we had the last of the wagyu steaks from the freezer. Obviously a lovely piece of meat, and hard to complain about, but I do think I like the way it comes out on our smoker/grill better than the indoor kitchen go-to of searing in a cast iron pan and finishing in the oven, which is how I did it last night. The smoking step just renders that fat more evenly through the whole steak, making every bite tender and juicy, whereas the pan-sear does leave some more noticeable sections of fat throughout. But still quite good. Top it all off with some sautéed mushrooms and a pan sauce of balsamic vinegar, stock and butter, and everyone's happy.
For tonight, we just picked up a nice looking piece of halibut (thank you Whole Foods gift cards
) and I plan to bake that up with a little orange infused olive oil and the hatch green chile powder my aunt sent me from New Mexico for Christmas. Paired with some roasted brussels sprouts and the few leftover potato hunks from last night. Better get started.Edit: Welp, scratch that. Husband says his tummy hurts, so fancy food will have to take a rain check. It'll be simple frozen margherita pizza with some sliced salami and olives to at least jazz it up a little bit, instead. It's one of those cauliflower crusts, which I have not been entirely sold on before, but I think this particular brand was not too bad.
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Lamb shank. I haven't yet decided which of my 5000 lamb shank recipes will get called into service, but I discovered (standing cunningly concealed right out out in the open on my "island") what's left of the good red wine my friend brought over for New Years Eve, so I'll probably make a classic red wine braise with plenty of garlic and thyme. And either mashed potatoes or pastina.
I don't know. But the friend who we were supposed to meet for lunch (with me catering lunch, for which I baked bread and cookies last night) had to cancel at the last minute, so today is now blessedly a go nowhere and see no one day, and that also gives me extra time to think about what to make for dinner.
I have made the momentous decision. It shall be a salad of cucumber, spring onion, feta, and the very first cherry tomatoes, plus the other half of the spag noodle egg pasta my partner made yesterday topped with sauteed oyster mushrooms (there's a couple of biggies growing on the log on the deck, just waiting to be picked) and freshly-dug garlic, plus some of the bread I baked last night. It'll be this week's vegetarian dinner night, all home-made/home-grown other than the feta, and easy to throw together.
Chicken yesterday, chicken tomorrow, didn't want chicken tonight. I bought a pack of ground beef on sale but I didn't want burgers. Didn't want tacos. A whole list of stuff I don't want but the only thing I did want is salad. I'm going to make burgers. Husband can have his on a bun but I'm going to chop mine up and have it on top of my salad instead.
I found a nice little chicken at the grocery the other day, so I'm roasting that, and will serve it with celery and onion dressing, gravy, and green beans with bacon lardons and maybe a bit of lemon zest.
Gosh, the house smells good right now.
Gosh, the house smells good right now.
Beef and veg soup, using whatever I could find in the garden/fridge/freezer, and cheesy bread, followed by cream cheese and blackberry pastry = Game Lunch with Chum. Actual dinner tonight will be leftovers or salad.
After having a religious experience using my pasta machine the other day, my partner found a secondhand set of all kinds of pasta-making gear, by the same brand as my machine (Atlas; it's top of the line). Another pasta machine, ravioli molds, various cutters and rollers, a gadget for filling and sealing cannelloni, an extruder for making macaroni and spiral pasta.... together, the lot brand new would've cost over a thousand dollars. It's all in mint condition, in its original boxes, about thirty years old. We got the whole set for about $175. I reckon it'll be terrific: I can freeze down batches of pasta for the times of year when we have no eggs to make pasta, it'll give me another quick meal option, and partner will do most of the hard yakka.
Partner is now reading up on the science of pasta, and how different ingredients/timing/water content/flour type affects the pasta dough, and has even started a lab notebook to track batches and outcomes. Because, yanno, that's what happens when you marry a scientist. I expect tomorrow will probably be full on pasta-making day, followed by experiments with additives and colourants.
After having a religious experience using my pasta machine the other day, my partner found a secondhand set of all kinds of pasta-making gear, by the same brand as my machine (Atlas; it's top of the line). Another pasta machine, ravioli molds, various cutters and rollers, a gadget for filling and sealing cannelloni, an extruder for making macaroni and spiral pasta.... together, the lot brand new would've cost over a thousand dollars. It's all in mint condition, in its original boxes, about thirty years old. We got the whole set for about $175. I reckon it'll be terrific: I can freeze down batches of pasta for the times of year when we have no eggs to make pasta, it'll give me another quick meal option, and partner will do most of the hard yakka.
Partner is now reading up on the science of pasta, and how different ingredients/timing/water content/flour type affects the pasta dough, and has even started a lab notebook to track batches and outcomes. Because, yanno, that's what happens when you marry a scientist. I expect tomorrow will probably be full on pasta-making day, followed by experiments with additives and colourants.
Kid2 pan fried chicken and made her Naan wraps. Learned a valuable lesson about making sure she has the ingredients she needs, how to substitute, and how to pivot when it doesn't work out.
I was wrong, in that waiting a day to get into making pasta didn't happen. We made pasta when we got home from Game Lunch, and had it for a late dinner. But that predicted tomorrow is now today, and I expect pasta making Part II will be happening. Entirely possible that when our pasta-addicted, food-scientist niece comes for lunch on Wednesday, Part III will ensue.
The scientifically perfected recipe that we followed yesterday did make for a very pliable, dense dough that was easy and clean to work with, and resulted in a beautiful, delicious, luxurious, almost decadent pasta that needed nothing but a sprinkle of Parmesan to be a complete meal. But it uses two eggs and four egg yolks.... at this rate, I'm going to end up with an awful lot of egg whites. Good thing they freeze well and, in bulk, can be used to make angel food cake.
This Italian sausage & skillet recipe, with leftover chai cookies bars for dessert. (I didn’t like the latter, but Spouse & The Kid do, so it wasn’t a waste.)
I have some small cartons of shelf stable milk. I'm thinking of making a bechamel cheese sauce. Half for potatoes sliced thin with the mandolin, half for cooked shell pasta. Add a ham steak. If not tonight, in a day or two.
I made a big pot of cabbage soup this morning, then got busy with errands and chores and ended up not having the soup for lunch, as intended.
My husband doesn't think soup is "enough" for dinner, so half of it went into the freezer, and the other half to the fridge for lunch tomorrow.
Long story short: Chinese take-out for dinner.
My husband doesn't think soup is "enough" for dinner, so half of it went into the freezer, and the other half to the fridge for lunch tomorrow.
Long story short: Chinese take-out for dinner.
I learned that scalloped potatoes can be cooked in the microwave. Which means I can make ahead in the "snack" lunch container that is freezer, dishwasher and microwave safe and cook when ready.
During first intermission of the streaming Anehaim Ducks v Carolina 'Canes NHL game, I got a basic bechimel with flour roux instead of my usual cornstarch slurry flavored with a strip of bacon, salt, pepper and garlic and a medium potato. With the bacon adding the fat, a roux makes more sense.
It'll go in the microwave when I'm ready to enjoy. Probably during the first intermission of the streaming Minnesota Wild v Vegas Golden Knights game. Without the mac'n'cheese. Still a mini-feast, in my opinion.
It'll go in the microwave when I'm ready to enjoy. Probably during the first intermission of the streaming Minnesota Wild v Vegas Golden Knights game. Without the mac'n'cheese. Still a mini-feast, in my opinion.
This was… adequate. If you held a gun to my head and told me to use one word to describe it, I’d go with... earnest? Tasted healthy. I didn’t go back for seconds. I’ll eat it as a leftover.
If I try again, I’ll add a lot more lemon juice. I think that would give it the jazz notes it needed.
That does look like a token amount of lemon juice for three pounds of sausages. I'd also leave the sausages in the pot and cook the vegetables with the meat still in so the flavors connect a bit more. Stir fried peppers on top of sausages cooked separately, well, "adequate" is generous!