What are you eating Saturday Februady 5, 2022?

[msmofet]

Homemade Chicken à la King over rice and green beans.

 

[taxlady]

We ordered from a local "brasserie" (one of the terms we use for a pub, here in Quebec). DH is getting over a delicate tummy, so he ordered something that usually doesn't bother him when he's feeling that way, lasagna. I ordered the pig's knuckle with sauerkraut and a baked potato. That hit the spot, even though the kraut wasn't as good as they usually serve.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

We made all of our leftovers dissappear.

 

[buckytom]

We made all of our leftovers dissappear.

And got take-out?
j/k.

taxy, sauerkraut is a funny thing. My wife swears by "the cheaper it is, it's usually the better". I wasn't a believer until recently. I bought some artisnal sauerkraut from a farmers market in the city, and again some store made sauerkraut from an extremely popular Polish deli in Jersey (I would have said famous, but Poles don't like everyone knowing ther business, even if it's for a business). Both, and others, can't compare to the cheapo canned kraut from the local supermarket.

I have to say that I love BaTampte New Kraut, but it is meant to be eaten as is, not cooked. Eaten like on a hot dog, or sandwich.

 

[buckytom]

I finally got around to making my mom's pot roast using the elongated chuck roast.

It was good, and close to mom's, but I have to say that I prefer the rump or bottom round roast the way my mom always did. I found the chuck just slightly too fatty, and I particularly picked a piece that wasn't laden with big, white fat.

It was still good, though. Such a basic recipe that yields good, hearty food.

 

[Andy M.]

We had take-out Chinese tonight. Always a treat.

 

[buckytom]

We had take-out Chinese tonight. Always a treat.

What did you get? Analyzing Chinese takeout orders in America is akin to reading tea leaves. You can tell a lot about a person by what they order.

 

[Andy M.]

What did you get? Analyzing Chinese takeout orders in America is akin to reading tea leaves. You can tell a lot about a person by what they order.

When we do take-out we get mostly appetizers. Tonight we had wings, crab rangoon, egg rolls and pork lo mein.

 

[blissful]

Whole wheat toasted open faced hummus w/garlic and sliced tomatoes. Crustless pumpkin pie.

 

[pepperhead212]

I threw together an Indian dish tonight, as a one dish meal in the Instant Pot - fast to do, since I already had the spice mix made (enough left to do one more smaller batch). I soaked some dried eggplant and some dried tomatoes - the tomatoes I blended up smooth, as a base. I sautéed 2 small onions chopped up, followed by 3 large cloves garlic, minced, flowed by 3 tb of the sambar masala, to cook briefly, then the tomatoes went in - equal to about 3/4 lb, blended in about a cup of water. When this reduced to a thick sauce, I added 6 c water, 3/4 c whole mung beans, 1/2 c toor dal, and 3/4 c oat groats, plus a large carrot, diced up, and the drained eggplant. I salted this lightly (added more later) and covered it, and set it to 10 min. "manual", then let the pressure release naturally. While cooking this, I peeled and diced up my last 2 potatoes, and I thawed 1 lb of bottle gourd cubes in the MW, drained all the water out, and added this, along with 1/2 c masoor dal (red lentils), adjusted the salt, then simmered about 20 min. While this was cooking, I got the spices ready for the tarka, and chopped the cilantro. When it seemed ready, I prepared the tarka - mustard seed, cumin seed, 2 types of peppers, curry leaves, and asafoetida, in a tb of coconut oil. Added this, then the cilantro, and it was finished. It actually took less work time than it took to type this! lol

Surprisingly, the frozen gourds still keep their shapes after the blanching, freezing and thawing, and cooking. And the dried eggplant the same - all this cooking would turn fresh EP to mush.
Tarka added to a vegetable curry. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cilantro added to the curry, just before serving. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished curry, with 3 dals, onion, carrots, bottle gourd, eggplant, and tomatoes, plus some oat groats. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I had left over sous vide top round, cooked medium rare. Threw it into a screaming hot CI frying pan to quickly sear the outside, and just warm the middle a bit. Seasoned with meat tenderizer (contains a lot of salt), and black pepper. Top round, even if cooked for 20 hours sous vide can still be tough, as it's very lean, and has a line of gristle running through it. The meat tenderizer helped. I also sliced red, orange, and yellow sweet peppers, and sautéed them in the pan juices. It was pretty tasty.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[buckytom]

I threw together an Indian dish tonight, as a one dish meal in the Instant Pot - fast to do, since I already had the spice mix made (enough left to do one more smaller batch). I soaked some dried eggplant and some dried tomatoes - the tomatoes I blended up smooth, as a base. I sautéed 2 small onions chopped up, followed by 3 large cloves garlic, minced, flowed by 3 tb of the sambar masala, to cook briefly, then the tomatoes went in - equal to about 3/4 lb, blended in about a cup of water. When this reduced to a thick sauce, I added 6 c water, 3/4 c whole mung beans, 1/2 c toor dal, and 3/4 c oat groats, plus a large carrot, diced up, and the drained eggplant. I salted this lightly (added more later) and covered it, and set it to 10 min. "manual", then let the pressure release naturally. While cooking this, I peeled and diced up my last 2 potatoes, and I thawed 1 lb of bottle gourd cubes in the MW, drained all the water out, and added this, along with 1/2 c masoor dal (red lentils), adjusted the salt, then simmered about 20 min. While this was cooking, I got the spices ready for the tarka, and chopped the cilantro. When it seemed ready, I prepared the tarka - mustard seed, cumin seed, 2 types of peppers, curry leaves, and asafoetida, in a tb of coconut oil. Added this, then the cilantro, and it was finished. It actually took less work time than it took to type this! lol

Surprisingly, the frozen gourds still keep their shapes after the blanching, freezing and thawing, and cooking. And the dried eggplant the same - all this cooking would turn fresh EP to mush.
Tarka added to a vegetable curry. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cilantro added to the curry, just before serving. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished curry, with 3 dals, onion, carrots, bottle gourd, eggplant, and tomatoes, plus some oat groats. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

pepp, I have to look up so many of the ingredients you use. It's good to know that one always has so much to learn. Are you of Southern Asian descent?

 

[Just Cooking]

After 3 days housebound, I cleared the snow off the car and we went out for burgers, fries and milkshakes.

Ross

 

[pepperhead212]

pepp, I have to look up so many of the ingredients you use. It's good to know that one always has so much to learn. Are you of Southern Asian descent?

No, bucky, but when I get into learning certain cuisines, I get sort of obsessive about it, and try to obtain everything I need for it! The first one was Chinese - the others weren't really around here back in the late 70s/early 80s. Even Chinatown in Philly was small, compared to today, so I'd make trips up to NYC, and stock up on all sorts of things - if you knew what neighborhood to go to, you could find anything there, and at cheap prices! In the late 80s the SE Asian markets opened up in Philly, near the Italian market, and that's when I started cooking Thai food, and years later, they suddenly stopped carrying the lime leaves, which are an essential ingredient in a lot of SE Asian dishes. This was due to a similar problem with Szechwan peppercorns - a citrus disease was being brought into the country on them, so they were no longer imported! So, I started growing them. Years later, curry leaves were also hard to find (they were also bringing in disease, as they are in the citrus family), so I started growing those, originally for Malaysian food. Eventually, I started making Indian food, when I learned that toasting the spices when making masalas gave them a different and delicious flavor! I never could stand Indian food in restaurants, or any of the store bought garam masala, as they always tasted like they had raw cinnamon sprinkled in them! There are a lot I spices, as well as other ingredients, I had to learn about, and acquire, and an Indian lady I know said that I had more spices than any Indian kitchen she has been in! I told her that's because they are only cooking the one way most of the time, but I'm always switching around.

And then there's that rack of dried peppers, in the basement, for Mexican food...