What did you make for dinner?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Just bought a bunch of suet from a really good butcher near me.  Rendering Tallow as we speak!

 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

ZOMG!!! 

If you have never had Cracklin's... You are missing out. 

... 

Rendered the suet - which, unlike bacon or beef fat is not wiggly or soft at all.  It's hard and waxy.  Totally did not expect that.  Used the slow cooker, which worked great for the rendering.  Strained it and then took the cracklins, tossed them into the skillet and added salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.  Finished in the oven for 20 mins and left to dry on a paper towel. 

Pop, crunch and melt in your mouth good! 

[kylieavery95]

On 6/10/2022 at 6:21 PM, tater said:

Seriously, make it, so easy, so incredibly good.

I believe you, man.

[StrandedonEarth]

All I made for dinner was a roast beef sandwich (spit-roasted in the air fryer yesterday), with lettuce and herb-and-spice havarti. I spent my morning/early afternoon hunting-gathering at Costco and a farm market, as well as picking up local native-caught/cleaned whole sockeyes, so we were too busy all afternoon/evening with cutting, seasoning and freezing salmon (in reusable silicone bags), making bread-and-butter pickles (mandolin was great for slicing those), and making yogurt. Finally time to sit down and watch reruns at 8pm (nothing else catching our eye after binging everything of interest)...

Edited August 15, 2022 by StrandedonEarth

[Pthigrivi]

Tonight was simple, local farmstand broc and cauliflower on basmati and sesame and ginger tofu.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[Piatzin]

I made scones

[tater]

Think we're gonna have green chile cheeseburgers tonight.

Thick burgers, medium rare, with freshly roasted green chile, and cheddar. Roasted Brussels Sprouts as a side.

[Spacescifi]

2 hours ago, tater said:

Think we're gonna have green chile cheeseburgers tonight.

Thick burgers, medium rare, with freshly roasted green chile, and cheddar. Roasted Brussels Sprouts as a side.

Better be sharp cheddar or I cannot fantasize about eating your tasty dinner.

 

Seriously... I don't know anyone eats any other type of cheddar.

 

Yeah.... I'm a wee bit biased.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Spacescifi

[tater]

Yes.

[StrandedonEarth]

Homemade potato wedges. Gonna have to put some cheese on them next time...

[TheSaint]

2 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Homemade potato wedges. Gonna have to put some cheese on them next time...

Last night for dinner we had a baked potato bar. Everyone got a great big baked potato and there was butter, cheese, bacon, sour cream, etc. It was outstanding.

[tater]

I made a sort of Chinese inspired dinner. Small portions, a few things. Salmon, with a ginger/soy glaze, pork belly with 5 spice seasoning, and broccoli rabe with garlic, and black bean chile sauce. And rice, obviously.

Totally made up on the fly, but decent.

[Pthigrivi]

Its harvest season yall! Fresh corn on the cob and sautéed greenbeans from the garden and bbq chicken drumsticks. 

[Wnajegon]

Ordered pizza

[adsii1970]

Well, it's not dinner time here yet... but my wife is having a few friends over. And when she does, I usually cook something they all enjoy. So, this month, as this is a monthly thing, I was asked to make my homemade buttermilk pancakes. So, for tonight's dinner, I am pulling out all the stops. There will be fresh, from scratch buttermilk pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, buttermilk biscuits (for those who do not like pancakes - and yes, they are homemade, too), and sausage gravy. 

[tater]

We opened a bottle of wine last night that was good, but sorta meh with the food we had, so the goal tonight was to have stew with red wine as a decent component of the liquid. Browned off meat, then added onions, and large chunks of carrots, (thyme, salt, pepper, bay leaf, etc) and put in the oven all day at very low temp. Meat is a mixture of "boneless ribs" (nearby meat trimmed, presumably), and short ribs (cause bones add a lot of goodness).

Done now, cooking some yukon gold potatoes to mash, will serve stew in a bowl next to mashed potatoes.

[tater]

Harira.

A Moroccan soup with lamb, chickpeas, and lentils.

[TheSaint]

1 hour ago, tater said:

Harira.

A Moroccan soup with lamb, chickpeas, and lentils.

Well. That's different. I made pizza. It is Saturday, after all.

[tater]

9 minutes ago, TheSaint said:

Well. That's different. I made pizza. It is Saturday, after all.

We have a family dinner almost every Sunday at my in-laws. 8 of us (sometimes more). They are 86 and 92—usually mom cooks, but my brother and sister in law, and my wife and I have taken turns making whole meals fairly often (otherwise a dish that goes with dinner each). We volunteered to do tomorrow, and my plan is to make a mostly Moroccan meal. We'll have a tagine of chicken with preserved lemon and olives (which is awesome), a carrot salad (with cumin and garlic), bread, dates, and a bunch of different olives as finger food. Saw the soup on a youtube video, and decided I'd make a bunch tonight for dinner—large bowls—and save the rest for a side Sunday. My wife was either gonna make honey cake (Jewish is middle eastern, right? —and her great grandfather was involved in Yiddish theater in Cairo, so she's got some connection), or some sort of brownie with tahini she was talking about.

So anyway, the soup was make-ahead for Sunday. Was really good (I have some harissa, which is a Moroccan chili paste condiment, that we kept on the side to spice it up to taste).

[TheSaint]

4 minutes ago, tater said:

We have a family dinner almost every Sunday at my in-laws. 8 of us (sometimes more). They are 86 and 92—usually mom cooks, but my brother and sister in law, and my wife and I have taken turns making whole meals fairly often (otherwise a dish that goes with dinner each). We volunteered to do tomorrow, and my plan is to make a mostly Moroccan meal. We'll have a tagine of chicken with preserved lemon and olives (which is awesome), a carrot salad (with cumin and garlic), bread, dates, and a bunch of different olives as finger food. Saw the soup on a youtube video, and decided I'd make a bunch tonight for dinner—large bowls—and save the rest for a side Sunday. My wife was either gonna make honey cake (Jewish is middle eastern, right? —and her great grandfather was involved in Yiddish theater in Cairo, so she's got some connection), or some sort of brownie with tahini she was talking about.

So anyway, the soup was make-ahead for Sunday. Was really good (I have some harissa, which is a Moroccan chili paste condiment, that we kept on the side to spice it up to taste).

Jewish is absolutely Middle Eastern. Do not let anyone ever tell you it is not.

I had Moroccan food in Morocco when we pulled in to Tangier back in 1989. A whole gang of us ventured out of the port and found a restaurant. Sat on cushions on the floor around a big table. They carried out a big tray of couscous, chicken, and pita. It was lightyears ahead of eating on the boat, but that's about all I can say about it.

Best food I had on that Med run was in a little restaurant in Palau on Sardinia. We spent a lot of time pulled up along side the Orion, a submarine tender that was tied to a pier in La Maddelena, Italy, which was a rock off the coast of Sardinia. There was this little restaurant in Palau, St. Michel's. The owner was actually a retired American sailor. He had been stationed on the Orion, fell in love with the area, retired, moved there, married an Italian girl, and opened a restaurant. Best seafood I ever had. We would get off of the liberty barge on the pier in Palau, and there would be this line of fishermen on the pier. If you waited long enough, you could follow one of them up the street to one of the restaurants and watch him sell his catch to the cook at the back door. You would order a plate of steamed mussels and clams, and they'd be a big as your thumbnail. You'd go to jail for serving those in the United States. But, tender, like butter. Just amazing. Fresh calamari, caught fifteen minutes before they served it, right off the pier. Never had anything like that anywhere else in the world.

Apparently tomorrow is chicken marsala. Wife bought a big tub of mushrooms to support pizza production tonight, so tomorrow they go to chicken marsala. And possibly to omelettes tomorrow morning.

[Blufor878]

Didn't make anything per se. I reheated a Buc-ee's brisket sandwich and had a side of Cape Cod potato chips. It was good

For those who don't know, Buc-ee's is a gas station chain that's famous for its convenience stores, which are large enough to be almost supermarkets. They are originally from Texas but they have two locations in Florida now. It's a neat place. They also have all sorts of different snacks, and an icee selection that puts every other convenience store chain to shame (looking at you 7/11).

Our selection at home is relatively limited, but we cooked a bunch of stuff right before the hurricane hit. My dad cooked some meatballs and sausages in tomato sauce. I wish we could have made some pasta to go with it, but we didn't have the time, and we already had rice made (the stereotype is real*). What's funny is that the last time we had a major outage we were out of power for a couple days. This time everything, internet included, was on in less than 10-12 hours. Don't let the media make you freak out if you're watching from the sidelines (other states). Vast majority of us in Florida are ok: we're used to this...AND WE'RE CRAZY!!!

P.S.: Might make pasta tomorrow for the sausages and meatballs...

*if you don't know which stereotype I'm referring to, look at my profile pic and the "about me" under it.

[steve9728]

First time cook a dinner by myself for my parents:

Yuxiang shredded pork, Lettuce with Oyster Sauce (way more better than salad, trust me), Steamed Pork Ribs, Scrambled eggs with cucumber, mushroom soup, and a pot of rice

Dad: I can't say what you learned living alone in England, but you are a good cook!

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Anyone got an instant pot?  My old crock pot (that I just made a fantastic Biff Stew in) cracked and we've got one on order to replace it. 

 

Now, on to the Biff Stew (or as my daughter calls it, "Steak Soup");

Got 2 lbs of Chuck and seared both sides.  Important note - you don't want to just brown it... 

Coated the skillet with the tallow I rendered earlier.  Salted and peppered the beef after letting it sit for an hour in a bag with a 1/4 - 3/4 mix of soy to Worcester.  (just a drizzle, btw) Got the skillet good and hot and lightly browned 1/2 an onion and some garlic in a bit more tallow, tossed in a little red wine, removed the veggies (saved some of the liquid for use in the stew) and then let the beef cook until the liquid (fat) browned out and the edges of the meat got a good sear.  Set it aside. 

Peeled red potatoes, chopped into 1" cubes.  Several large carrots, peeled and chopped into 3/4" chunks.  Dumped a whole box of beef broth into the slow cooker with the taters and carrots, 1tbsp of Worcester, 2 Bay leaves, a sprig of rosemary, a good pinch of dried thyme, 1tbsp of Cholula, 1/2 of a jalapeño, diced, the onion and garlic (adding a little more unbrowned garlic an onion, b/c I like strong flavor), 3 tbsp tomato paste and a can of diced tomatoes and a little oregano.  Cut up the chuck into 1" squares and added it.  Let it cook for 6 hours. Stirred it a few times during the day. 

About 1/2 hour before serving I half cooked a bag of frozen green beans and added them to the stew (wanted them crisp, not soggy). Poured in a good dose of red wine for flavor. Just before dinner, mixed 1 tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp chickpea flour with cold water to make the thickener.  Stirred that in and turned off the heat. 

Also made biscuits. 

Thought there would be leftovers for days... 

Nope. 

 

 

[TheSaint]

On 10/16/2022 at 10:46 AM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Anyone got an instant pot? 

Yes, we've had one for years, and my wife swears by it. In fact, she just made turkey stock in it last night, it's sitting on the counter waiting for her to strain it.

On 10/16/2022 at 10:46 AM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

My old crock pot (that I just made a fantastic Biff Stew in) cracked and we've got one on order to replace it. 

 

Now, on to the Biff Stew (or as my daughter calls it, "Steak Soup");

Got 2 lbs of Chuck and seared both sides.  Important note - you don't want to just brown it... 

Coated the skillet with the tallow I rendered earlier.  Salted and peppered the beef after letting it sit for an hour in a bag with a 1/4 - 3/4 mix of soy to Worcester.  (just a drizzle, btw) Got the skillet good and hot and lightly browned 1/2 an onion and some garlic in a bit more tallow, tossed in a little red wine, removed the veggies (saved some of the liquid for use in the stew) and then let the beef cook until the liquid (fat) browned out and the edges of the meat got a good sear.  Set it aside. 

Peeled red potatoes, chopped into 1" cubes.  Several large carrots, peeled and chopped into 3/4" chunks.  Dumped a whole box of beef broth into the slow cooker with the taters and carrots, 1tbsp of Worcester, 2 Bay leaves, a sprig of rosemary, a good pinch of dried thyme, 1tbsp of Cholula, 1/2 of a jalapeño, diced, the onion and garlic (adding a little more unbrowned garlic an onion, b/c I like strong flavor), 3 tbsp tomato paste and a can of diced tomatoes and a little oregano.  Cut up the chuck into 1" squares and added it.  Let it cook for 6 hours. Stirred it a few times during the day. 

About 1/2 hour before serving I half cooked a bag of frozen green beans and added them to the stew (wanted them crisp, not soggy). Poured in a good dose of red wine for flavor. Just before dinner, mixed 1 tbsp corn starch, 2 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp chickpea flour with cold water to make the thickener.  Stirred that in and turned off the heat. 

Also made biscuits. 

Thought there would be leftovers for days... 

Nope.

We made turkey last night. It's getting to be turkey season and we realized that we haven't made as many turkeys this year as we have in the past, so we still have three birds sitting in the bottom of the chest freezer from last year. So we figured we'd clear a couple of them out before they go on sale around Thanksgiving again. (Assuming they do go on sale this year. Who knows with the way things are going right now....) 19 pound bird, defrosted it last week, butterflied it and covered it with a salt and spice rub on Saturday, let it sit in the refrigerator for a few days to dry out and marinate, then popped it in the oven yesterday, it was done in a couple of hours. Made some mashed potatoes and a salad, whipped up gravy from the drippings. So good.

[KSK]

We've thought about getting an instant pot many a time but so far, our three crockpots have refused to break and getting a fourth, similar pot, seems excessive. OK, more excessive.

Anyway - we made this a couple of weeks back and it's gone on The List.

1.5 lbs of chicken breasts
16 oz jar of salsa (we've started experimenting with two smaller jars, one smoky or hot, one regular)
15 oz can of black beans
1/2 lb frozen or canned corn
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper if you want a bit more kick. We haven't bothered so far.
2 cloves minced garlic
black pepper to taste

To make. Arrange raw chicken breasts in bottom of crock pot. Drain canned ingredients and pour over top. Throw in everything else. Stir. Cook on low for 8 hours. Turn off crockpot, shred chicken with a fork.

Not as fancy (or likely as tasty!) as Biff Stew but it also takes about five minutes to prepare, including rooting around in the cupboards for all the stuff.

Serve with - well whatever you like. Rice and green vegetables, tortilla wraps and sour cream, stuff it in a baked potato. It's all good.