What's For DINNER ...???

Bought a big bag of dated green peppers at my local store for 70 cents. Made a giant batch of stuffed peppers, half to freeze to give out to my sister. They have been on simmer for hours and are really tender. 

Phillipe's Pork Dip, Cole Slaw, 1/2 a dill pickle and then on the way home, a scoop of Baskin Robbins Rocky Road and a scoop of their strawberry cheesecake.

Dinner on the fly tonight between four solid hours of data entry and the monster trucks show. Went to http://georgiosgourmetpizza.com/ and had one Hawaiian and one pepperoni and sausage deluxe. They're kinda spendy, but ohmygod do they make fabulous pizza. And two slices with a drink is plenty for dinner!

  Just two photos from an earlier version of this same dinner...  as I was busy with the preparation for this evening's dinner.
Rack of Lamb (ribs) , w/ Oven-Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus.
Pan-seared the Lamb after dusting with some seasonings, then covered and continued to pan-fry the lamb to medium rare.
Heavy blanching the Stalks, then spread on cookie sheet and sprinkled Parmesean chees all over it, baked til cheese was browned (barely). Potatoes were good but didn't make the photos in our first try.
Here is the previous attempt at this combination. Turned out pretty good. Lamb was VERY tender and flavorful, and not gamey at all.
I love this combination...

The Lamb tastes every bit as good as it looks !!!

 

I'm thinking some good old spaghetti and meat balls, with some jug red wine!

Al, That looks great and I'm sure it tasted great .....
 
I had a 5lb Chicken, so I cut up into pieces to use some for fried chicken, wings and back for stock for soup and the other half breast for either Chicken Cordon Bleu or Chicken Kiev. NIce to be able to get 3 or 4 meals out of one Chicken........This is the buttermilk fried Chicken, nice and crunchy on the outside tender and juicy on the inside. My wife made Potato salad, garlic toast and baked beans, it doesn't get much better than that...................pnwc

I actually had time between shows to go across the street for a monster burger! 1/2 pound of ground beef, stuffed with bacon and real bleu cheese, topped with onion, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and an onion ring. Happy hour pricing is $6.00, add $1.00 for onion rings. The knife sticking out the top (sorry the picture is blurry, I was starving and in a hurry) is the standard size steak knife, and you can only see about 1/4 inch of the blade. Gastric nirvana!
 


Of course, now I'm in a food coma and I have another show to do, but I'll manage.

Since I've been snacking this afternoon on a good sized hunk of Brie Couronne on Australian Crackerthins (Mixed countries) I might have to skip dinner and finish the rest of the Brie.
 
Wish I had an apple and a good French roll.
 
 

Felix, did you get the meat sweats?

chefbuba


Felix, did you get the meat sweats?

The what? 

I never heard of them.
 
i ended up with a baked potato.

Lazy, yet still a home-cooked meal. Smothered pork chops served with a side of sweet peas (the rice is part of the pork chop recipe).
 

 
http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/smothered-pork-chops

I was extra lazy this evening.
 
I sauteed some diced onion with one diced piece of bacon.  Then I scrambled in one egg and mixed in the Rice-a-Roni Asian box.
 
It was that or a can of blackeyed peas.
 
 

PNWCHEF...the chicken looks good...was it fried or baked...???  If fried, what kind of oil...???
 
Last night was just a couple of kosher HN dinner franks...grilled...
 
I've been perfecting my grill timing...between rain & snow showers...whenever the rain or snow lets up, I ask myself "can I grill now"...???
 
This spring / summer I'll build some kind of vented enclosure for the grill, so I can grill in the winter time without wearing a parka...

 BR, It was fried in vegetable oil, I always use what ever is on hand. I bought an electric skillet with high sides, it make it nice to be able to cook a lot of pieces at one time.............
 
My wife came home with 2 lbs of Clams, fresh Italian bread, one of my favorite meals............

That's my kind of meal.  Those clams look nice and plump.
 
Not sure what I'm doing tonight, but I'm hungry now.

I just want to thank you all for the wonderful sounding meals, and the inspiration for my versions. Bob thinks I am a saint these days!

Now I really, really want clams. Instead, I was once again completely uninterested in cooking, so I made some preformed broccoli and cheddar stuffed chicken breasts, microwaved a box of frozen broccoli in cheese sauce, and heated up a jar of Harvard beets. Perhaps tomorrow I'll feel like cooking.

I made room in the cupboard by finally heating up some prepared Indian dishes I bought at Costco.  I'll be throwing away the other packages or... leave them outside of my trash can so the homeless can also make faces.

Dinner...a real thick bone-in Noo Yawk steak...
 
I cook with the hood down for added baking action besides the direct and indirect flames...
 
The grill has 3 burners...I cook steaks in the middle with the flame up to sear, and down medium low to cook (the flame shields over the burners are called "flame tamers")...at the last minute I grease it with bbq sauce, and turn it a couple of times to put "flame on the sauce" to carmelize it some... the 2 side burners are going full blast to bring the temperature inside the hood up to 400* to 600* about 3 inches above the steak (kinda like getting a little flasher oven action going)
 

Yummy
 
I cook chicken and roasts slightly differently...after the quick sear the middle burner is shut off, leaving the 2 side burners to provide indirect heat for most of the cooking...and only turn the middle burner back on if I want to put flame to some bbq sauce at the last minute...
 
Sometimes I don't grease me vittles with bbq sauce, put rather serve it on the side...a really good hunk of roast beast can stand on it's own with only salt and pepper, and bbq sauce just sometimes gets in the way of the natural flavors...
 
I'm enjoying calibrating myself to this style of cooking...every way of cooking needs calibration, whether stove cooked, charcoal grilled, cowboy fire with open flame, or a gas grill...
 
This is the first winter in 14 years I've been able to grill outside between rain / snow storms...my previous method was oak downfall wood from my rancho and an open flame using a tripod cowboy chuck wagon type grill, but once the woodpile and fire pit gets wet at the beginning of winter, it was over until springtime...Now I can grill yummy stuff without regard to how wet the oak wod or fire pit is...as long as I have a long enough break in the weather I have the grill going at least 5 days a week since last June...
 
I see Grill Zone gas grills are are sale this week at True Value hardware stores in my area, possibly in your area also...

Finally felt like cooking. Probably because it was 80 degrees in the middle of March! Baked Parmesan-herb tilapia, with crab and asparagus salad on the side.
 

 
http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/baked-parmesan-herb-tilapia
http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/crab-and-asparagus-salad

That looks lovely!  A tuna salad sounds good tonight.

Spaghetti tonight...using my diabetic pasta substitute (tofu shirataki)
Caesar salad & garlic bread.

Oops!

I made fried potatoes with garlic, onions and Black's sausage from Texas( sent to me from a good friend) Bob loved it! I had a mortadella sandwich on a french roll.

Anne....I'll trade you my tofu pasta for the mortadella sand!

chefbuba


Anne....I'll trade you my tofu pasta for the mortadella sand!

What the heck is this the Chefbuba's Vegan post.................

Chef... how do you like the Shiritaki?  I've been wanting to try it.
 
I ended up sharing a can of black eyed peas heated up with jalapeno peppers and a half tsp of bacon fat, cottage cheese with canned pear halves and pickled beets.
 
Sounds weird but it's filling and each part tastes good by itself.  

mar, that is just weird.  We've been eating like mad the past couple of days, fish sandwich at Wholey's in Pittsburgh, lamb chops for dinner, bracciole and linguine for dinner the night before......YIKES.  Tonight I just want cottage cheese but I think it's going to be spinach and ricotta tortellini with a sauce made from my canned tomatoes. 

Good to hear the sausage was good, Annie. Someday you have to sit in their dining area and enjoy it sliced right out of the Smoker.

Think it's going to be an eggs night tonight.  Had an Angus dog at Der Weinerschnitzel for lunch and then fed the ducks at the park.  I even saw turtles!
 
I had to get out because we've been having STORM ALERT warnings all week.  Guess it might drizzle sometime this weekend.
 
Now I'm just tired and lazy.  I should make some soup...  AKA heat up can.

I grew up with all the food in our house was simple good food, homemade sloppy joes, a nice feeling of home..............yes my big mouth was able to bite into these, and finish both.......................

Yummy looking!
I tried something new.  Toad in the hole with just eggs.
What a waste of time!  I break it all up and mix it up and eat it as one.
 
But it was delicious.  My grandmother used to make me soft boiled eggs and break up toast in to it.  I've always loved it.
 
My mother gags at the idea of soft boiled eggs.  

Billy.... Those are some fine looking sloppy joes!

Tonight I did corned beef boiled dinner. A couple of days early, but I'm working about 36 hours straight starting Saturday night, and I didn't want to start it with a huge plate of cabbage.
 

 
http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/corned-beef-boiled-dinner

Oh, Mar, I love a soft boiled egg( or three) Dad used to make them perfectly.........and I do them pretty well myself!

Mar, soft boiled or 3 min egg, thanks for tomorrows breakfast idea. are we still on for chix, or have you thought of a better idea ........Bill

Felix, looks great

Bill...  chicken is great.  What's the date?
 
Has anyone here perfected the clean removal of the top part of the soft boilded eggshell?
 
I bought the scissor type and it laughs at me.
 
I bought the type that has a point that you turn around the egg and that doesn't work.
 
I spent a small fortune on a piston pull thing that I saw one of the TV chefs use and I think you need 2 or 3 people to help while you pull the piston.
 
I've always wanted to serve some sort of egg appitizer in the actual eggshell, but first I have to have a dozen perfect shells.   Perfect means the top edge is perfectly round without any chips.  There has to be a way!

http://www.world-cuisine.com/store/index.cfm/c494

http://www.molecularrecip...ld-cuisine-egg-topper/

I made Sloppy Joes the other night, I was really on my way back to a nostalgic trip back in time. I grew up with American Chop Suey ad it's the perfect comfort food for a rainy gloomy day. I was looking through the internet today to see if this has changed any for my earlier days in Connecticut. I saw this picture and thought, wow, it has changed and for the better. We all look for things to so with hamburger, this is the perfect meal to fill up a family. It also works well to kick it up a notch with some spicy Italian or Cajun sausage...........This isn't my recipe or pictures, I though you guys may enjoy this idea........... I think they did a great job making an old favorite New England dish look like it could be served in a fine dining restaurant...........pnwc


 
 
 

mar52


Bill...  chicken is great.  What's the date?

Has anyone here perfected the clean removal of the top part of the soft boilded eggshell?

I bought the scissor type and it laughs at me.

I bought the type that has a point that you turn around the egg and that doesn't work.

I spent a small fortune on a piston pull thing that I saw one of the TV chefs use and I think you need 2 or 3 people to help while you pull the piston.

I've always wanted to serve some sort of egg appitizer in the actual eggshell, but first I have to have a dozen perfect shells.   Perfect means the top edge is perfectly round without any chips.  There has to be a way!

Chainsaw?

PNWCHEF, great looking Sloppy Joe's, Chili grind ground beef?

pnwchef, I'll see your American Chop Suey and raise you a Johnny Marzetti.
 
Fact is, growing up in Connecticut I never heard of American chop suey. I did eat chow mein sandwiches, though, at Nickel Charlies in New Haven. When I got to Ohio I learned of Johnny Marzetti, named for the brother of the woman who owned Marzetti's, a Columbus restaurant (same family as Marzetti dressings). Oh, Johnny Marzetti is the same as American chop suey.

Forget about the American chop suey and the Johnny Marzetti, whatever that is, I'll take the lobster that's attached to those claws in the photo!!!!  Time to call Commercial Lobster in Boston for a couple of 3-pounders.

I got to have sushi finally! Three different kinds of roll, with green tea. And the best part is I got to eat it outside in the sunshine.
 

Felix, the sushi looks delicious.  I'm due for some.
 
I took my mother out to dinner.  We went to The Main Course
 
http://themaincourse.biz/
 
It's right around the corner from where my mother lives and they serve wonderful European dishes.
 
Sorry for the quality of the pictures.  I'm learning my new Iphone AND I had to snap the pictures before my mother stuck in her fork.
 
I had the Stuffed Cabbage which was stuffed with ground turkey mixed with rice.  I usually hate stuffed things that are mixed with rice, but these were delicious.  They were served in a wonderful sweet and sour sauce.  They were very light.
 

 
My mother had the lamb shank.  She would have liked a sauce over them... which it had.  (She liked my sauce)
 

 
I highly recommend this restaurant if in the Century City area of Los Angeles.   The rolled cabbage was $12.95 and the lamb shank was $14.95.  If you wanted a cup of soup or a small salad it was an extra $2.50.

Mar, looks great I love Stuffed Kapusta, Holubky, Golabki, no matter how you say it, they are great. I grew up with these, never with a sweet and sour sauce. I always made them layered in a baking dish covered with diced tomatoes and the outer leaves of the cabbage. This helps them steam in the backing dish and makes a nice tomato base sauce........ I have seen a lot of recipes that call for a swwet and sour type sauce.
 
We will be in LA the first week of April.............Bill

Terrific!  Every night is fine except for the 6th which is Passover.

The corned beef is in the pot and the Guiness is in the fridge!!

Michael Hoffman


pnwchef, I'll see your American Chop Suey and raise you a Johnny Marzetti.

Fact is, growing up in Connecticut I never heard of American chop suey. I did eat chow mein sandwiches, though, at Nickel Charlies in New Haven. When I got to Ohio I learned of Johnny Marzetti, named for the brother of the woman who owned Marzetti's, a Columbus restaurant (same family as Marzetti dressings). Oh, Johnny Marzetti is the same as American chop suey.

Michael, we didn't call it American Chop Suey in BPT, we called it Goulash. I know the people on this site know it as American Chop Suey. I know this isn't the real Hungarian style but thats what we called it.....................It was cheap to make and you can feed a family on a big pot of it...........

Well, now I'm thoroughly confused. The two things I think of as American Chop Suey and Goulash are not even remotely the same dish.

pnwchef

Michael Hoffman


pnwchef, I'll see your American Chop Suey and raise you a Johnny Marzetti.

Fact is, growing up in Connecticut I never heard of American chop suey. I did eat chow mein sandwiches, though, at Nickel Charlies in New Haven. When I got to Ohio I learned of Johnny Marzetti, named for the brother of the woman who owned Marzetti's, a Columbus restaurant (same family as Marzetti dressings). Oh, Johnny Marzetti is the same as American chop suey.

Michael, we didn't call it American Chop Suey in BPT, we called it Goulash. I know the people on this site know it as American Chop Suey. I know this isn't the real Hungarian style but thats what we called it.....................It was cheap to make and you can feed a family on a big pot of it...........

Thanks. I remember goulash I'd forgotten all about it.

A friend of mine has invited me to his Catholic church for a St. Patrick's day event.  It is sorta pricey but it is something for Roz and Sundancer to do.  I think it includes bar, food, snacks, gambling and so on???  I do not know but what the heck.  I will be leaving in about a hour.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

You above forgot slumgullion.  I made a skillet full, brought it to work for lunch and the older (90) year old woman that lived behind the store called my mish mash... slumgullion.
 
Here's my dinner.  I wish there was a way to tell how fatty a corned beef is going to be prior to purchase.  It did't stop me!
 

Gotta have some fat on a corned beef....

 Mar,First of all, this Irish American grew up eating corned beef and cabbage using ketchup. When you have a Corned beef on Rye you use a nice spicy deli mustard. Corned beef hash is also eaten with ketchup.
 
Slumgullion, WOW, thats a new one on me, so is Mish Mash. Although I could see myself yelling anyone want some more Mish Mash.
 
Felix, if you google Goulash you will see many pictures/recipes with ground beef in a tomato base sauce with elbow macaroni. If you Google Hungarian Goulash, you will see chunks of beef stewed for many house in a Paprika based heavy sauce over egg noodles.

mar52 - Your picture looks like what we grew up calling New England boiled dinner, used to love it.  Smothered cabbage is a big thing in these parts, but I prefer it just barely cooked with butter, salt and pepper. 

I also like the cabbage barely cooked so I quarter it, smear a little butter on the cut sides and microwave it for a couple of minutes. 
 
I found that I didn't like everything tasting the same when I boiled them all together.  The carrots and potatoes cooked with the corned beef.

pnwchef

 Felix, if you google Goulash you will see many pictures/recipes with ground beef in a tomato base sauce with elbow macaroni. If you Google Hungarian Goulash, you will see chunks of beef stewed for many house in a Paprika based heavy sauce over egg noodles.

That's what I think of as goulash, in both instances. What threw me was the American Chop Suey thing, which in my world has no ground beef (it's cubed steak), or tomato anything.
 
Tonight's dinner was catering, as I'm doing a show. Prime rib, mashed potatoes with garlic and parsley, broccoli with pine nuts, salad bar, cheese and homemade bagel chips, corn chowder, salmon, shrimp, and for dessert, espresso parfait.