What is/was for dinner?

[Scepticalscribe]

And I found my tube of anchovy paste.

Perfect with toasted pitta bread (and yes, for adding flavour to a dish) on mornings when nothing else seems to appeal. Or, is found in the fridge or store cupboard.

 

[D.T.]

And I found my tube of anchovy paste.

Perfect with toasted pita bread (and yes, for adding flavour to a dish) on mornings when nothing else seems to appeal. Or, is found in the fridge or store cupboard.

We needed some the other day, but couldn't find it, so we settled with a tube of soylent green.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

We needed some the other day, but couldn't find it, so we settled with a tube of soylent green.

On the topic of anchovies, canned and tinned and jarred anchovies, and anchovy paste, have either of you - @anika200 & @D.T. - ever come across a splendid product (very redolent of Gentleman's Clubs - have you ever read Around the World in Eighty Days - according to the book, Phileas Fogg's club, the Reform Club, served such stuff) that goes by the name of Gentlemen's Relish?

It is served in little jars and is....heavily influenced by the gustatory splendour of salted and preserved anchovies.

Sometimes, as with anchovy paste, I will serve this (and eat this) on toast.

Indeed, I have been known to mash actual anchovies into melting butter on toasted rye bread......yum.

 

[1042686]

Beans n rice.

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Citrus-chile Blue corn & white chocolate muffins. I baked them for breakfast but of course we ate them for dessert.

 

[LizKat]

My pan saute is pretty succulent (w/ bread crumbs), it's not a "breading" per se, but you're so right, it's such a delicious fish, it doesn't need much added. I do like the blackening I make, salt, pepper, chili, paprika, turmeric, cayenne, plus a little natural sugar to counteract the heat and add that nice finish as it slightly caramelizes.

When I do the latter, I use grape seed oil, as it has a higher smoke temp, let's me basically cook it in like 60 seconds on each side (smaller fillets like this can so easily be overcooked).

I use grapeseed oil for my Asian stir fries, same reason (and it's neutral re: taste).

 

[1042686]

I like grape seed oil for seasoning my cast iron.With it’s high smoke point, it carbonizes well creating a super thin & strong season. That said, it makes great wok oil too but is darn expensive per ounce so I shy away from it in preference for other cheaper high heat oils.

 

[daimos]

On the topic of anchovies, canned and tinned and jarred anchovies, and anchovy paste, have either of you - @anika200 & @D.T. - ever come across a splendid product (very redolent of Gentleman's Clubs - have you ever read Around the World in Eighty Days - according to the book, Phileas Fogg's club, the Reform Club, served such stuff) that goes by the name of Gentlemen's Relish?

It is served in little jars and is....heavily influenced by the gustatory splendour of salted and preserved anchovies.

Sometimes, as with anchovy paste, I will serve this (and eat this) on toast.

Indeed, I have been known to mash actual anchovies into melting butter on toasted rye bread......yum.

When i have steak, i use anchovy with vinegar. Better than the best steak sauce.

 

[LizKat]

For supper tonight, a little bit of a cold front passing through has convinced me to fall back on tried and true cool-evening summer fare: some commercial (Progresso w/ basil) tomato soup doctored with a shot of tabasco sauce and a little lime juice, plus a melted cheese sandwich on toasted rye bread: the cheese was leftover bits of this and that grated and tossed together. That and a simple salad of mixed lettuces w/ olive oil and vinegar dressing plus a few sliced kalamata olives seemed just about right.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

For supper tonight, a little bit of a cold front passing through has convinced me to fall back on tried and true cool-evening summer fare: some commercial (Progresso w/ basil) tomato soup doctored with a shot of tabasco sauce and a little lime juice, plus a melted cheese sandwich on toasted rye bread: the cheese was leftover bits of this and that grated and tossed together. That and a simple salad of mixed lettuces w/ olive oil and vinegar dressing plus a few sliced kalamata olives seemed just about right.

A deceptively simple, yet classic combination, and, for those reasons (classics are classics for a very good reason, - for they are tried, trusted, true and tested) your meal sounds absolutely delicious.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dinner comprised some of my goodies from the market, as I had paid a fleeting, flying visit to the recently re-opend farmers' market very early this morning - I was there by 8 a.m. when the market opened; ultra fresh free range, organic eggs, (sautéed), with mashed potato.

That is, organic potatoes peeled and boiled & drained; I have saved the cooking water as I shall use it tomorrow when I prepare a chilli dish.

Then, a dash of double cream (organic), lots of butter, a little olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and plenty of finely chopped French onions and finely chopped parsley (also bought in the market today), all folded into the potatoes as they were mashed.

Easy. Tasty. Healthy. And everything fresh produce and organic.

 

[0388631]

The jarred anchovies are more usable. I used to buy them in the tins with the oil, but finding a glass jar small enough for them would always be a challenge. Some Spanish or Portuguese brand I pickup a few times a year. Sometimes I make a Caesar salad dressing the right way as a dip for pretzels. Love it.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The jarred anchovies are more usable. I used to buy them in the tins with the oil, but finding a glass jar small enough for them would always be a challenge. Some Spanish or Portuguese brand I pickup a few times a year. Sometimes I make a Caesar salad dressing the right way as a dip for pretzels. Love it.

Yes, the jarred anchovies are more usable, as you can simply seal the jar after extracting, or removing, three or four or five anchovies; they are also more expensive.

The tins are brilliant, but - unless, as you say, you can find an appropriate jar, (a nice, small, glass one, perhaps an empty anchovy jar.....) you are obliged to use the entire contents of the tin at once. (Although, given how much I love anchovies, that is less of a hardship than some may assume).

 

[1042686]

Boy, anchovies have their place as I love their umami glutamate boosting function but man to just eat them by themselves or as a primary flavor is too much for me. One needs to express subtlety & strategy when using them.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Boy, anchovies have their place as I love their umami glutamate boosting function but man to just eat them by themselves or as a primary flavor is too much for me. One needs to express subtlety & strategy when using them.

Subtlety and strategy (re anchovies) have their place - especially in fish broths/stews/casseroles/soups or a decent tomato sauce, but, mashed anchovies on hot buttered toast, (yum), or generously draped in a caesar salad, or adorning a potato salad in prodigal quantity......sigh.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Am preparing chilli con carne today: Actually, I have just spent most of the past three hours pottering around, and slowly preparing it.

Browned mince (organic, bought from the people who reared, slaughtered and aged the meat), in olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, brown sugar, oregano, hot (picante) pimentón, (hot, smoked Spanish paprika), chilli, a little Kecap Manis.

This was put into a copper casserole dish, with stock, (yesterday's cooking water from boiled potatoes, which I had kept, plus vegetable stock), and two dessertspoons of tomato puree.

While the meat was already in the oven, I sautéed two carrots and a rib of celery, (both organic) chopped, in olive oil, then added them to the casserole dish removing it from the oven briefly, before return it while I prepared the onions and garlic.

Next, four large onions (organic, chopped), were sautéed on a low heat, in olive oil, until somewhat translucent, and soft, to which I then added chopped and diced organic garlic (around a head and a half - roughly 14-16 cloves). Anchovies were also added - three or four - and allowed to dissolve into the olive oil mix to enhance the flavour further.

More ground cumin and ground coriander and hot smoked paprika were added, and sautéed. This lot were then added to the casserole dish with the meat and stock, which had been cooking for around an hour and a half.

Some sautéed (and seasoned, sea salt, black pepper, a little brown sugar) cherry tomatoes were also added to the casserole, as was a tin of Italian San Marzano tomatoes, - (and a further can of water, rinsing out the tomato tin) plus a tin of red kidney beans.

This was then returned to the oven, where it shall cheerfully cook for a further five hours or so.

Haven't yet decided what should be served with it, but rice is the usual classic accompaniment.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Basmati rice (and a small dish of creme fraiche) accompanied dinner, which was delicious.

There will be seconds tomorrow, when the flavour will have, if anything, improved further.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dinner was an old favourite: Pasta, with my own blue cheese sauce, and salad greens.

The sauce comprised three different blue cheeses (I had plenty to use up); Gorgonzola Dolcelatte, Stilton and some aged Cashel Blue, all melted over a low heat in a copper pan, to which I added a generous amount of organic double cream.

This was served with pasta (although gnocchi would also work well), and a salad of mixed greens, anointed by my own French/Italian dressing (olive oil, cider vinegar, a little Balsamic, sea salt, a little brown sugar, black pepper, and some French fig mustard).

 

[Gutwrench]

For supper tonight, a little bit of a cold front passing through...

A good time to break out a quilt...if I had one. 😡

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A good time to break out a quilt...if I had one. 😡

I'm not sure that attempting to guilt @LizKat into making a quilt is quite the approach to take, here.

Perhaps the muse might be more receptive to other approaches.

Re dinner, (always on my mind - Mother was the same, whereas my father, who was most partial to his whiskey and wine - and that was something we shared - was a rather picky eater), am debating the old classic of bacon and eggs (possibly with tomatoes), or a dish of roasted root & summer vegetables.

 

[Gutwrench]

I'm not sure that attempting to guilt @LizKat into making a quilt is quite the approach to take, here.

Perhaps the muse might be more receptive to other approaches.

Re dinner, (always on my mind - Mother was the same, whereas my father, who was most partial to his whiskey and wine - that we shared - was a rather picky eater), am debating the old classic of bacon and eggs (possibly with tomatoes), or a dish of roasted root & summer vegetables.

True, it hasn’t work for the last nine years. 😞

 

[LizKat]

True, it hasn’t work for the last nine years. 😞

But the century is still (relatively) young... even if the guiltless quilter is not! And there are even a few kids of siblings still waiting for a quilt. Nothing fazes me any more. What I get done I get done and the rest of it is why we have reminder apps and to-do lists.

(Whoever first said that "time exists to keep everything from happening all at once" was absolutely correct.)

For supper tonight I'm hedging my bets and again it's about a pattern of rollercoaster temperatures outside. Cooking some potatoes and I'll make them into a cold potato salad tomorrow but may add a few to some vegetable soup tonight if the weather drops off cold again after a promised thunderstorm later this evening. Either way the smell of potatoes on the boil always makes me ravenously hungry for some reason, even in hot weather. Must be recollections of plenty of past dinners supported by that lowly but lovely ingredient. One of my favorite meals is just some poached chicken with broccoli, carrots and potatoes on the side, all with simple seasonings and a little butter.

 

[1042686]

Hmm last week I smoked a 9rib - cleaned er up, brined for 6hr, rub n smoke for 2hrs n change. The rub was my go-to pork rub & is dead simple:

Blob of Salt
Dab of Brown Sugar
Pinch of Paprika
Dash of Garlic pow
Portion of Onion pow
Spoon of Black pepper

Smoked some Yukon golds n finished those once smoked with some butter & fresh chive & a fresh young cabbage slaw.

Easy breezy. Should’ve taken picks but Yanno whatevs.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

But the century is still (relatively) young... even if the guiltless quilter is not! And there are even a few kids of siblings still waiting for a quilt. Nothing fazes me any more. What I get done I get done and the rest of it is why we have reminder apps and to-do lists.

(Whoever first said that "time exists to keep everything from happening all at once" was absolutely correct.)

For supper tonight I'm hedging my bets and again it's about a pattern of rollercoaster temperatures outside. Cooking some potatoes and I'll make them into a cold potato salad tomorrow but may add a few to some vegetable soup tonight if the weather drops off cold again after a promised thunderstorm later this evening. Either way the smell of potatoes on the boil always makes me ravenously hungry for some reason, even in hot weather. Must be recollections of plenty of past dinners supported by that lowly but lovely ingredient. One of my favorite meals is just some poached chicken with broccoli, carrots and potatoes on the side, all with simple seasonings and a little butter.

And chicken broth made from the stock that good quality chicken has been poached in.....yum.

My sister-in-law, who is German, has a lovely recipe courtesy of her parents, who had fled from the East to what was then known as West Germany shortly before the Wall went up, which is a version of a lovely chicken broth, warming, and soothing, and tasty and healthy, a dish which her family always knew as "Jewish penicillin".

 

[1042686]

Another fast n easy dinner I do/did for dinner last week was country soufflé & salad - Easy breezy.

Also knocked out some Carne adovada that was served with some calabacitas & into big fatboy burritos.

Also knocked out some quick Calabasa tacos for Taco Tuesday

and because tacos are awesome, because pizza Friday was getting tired, we did crunchy beef taco Friday instead.

Y Spanish rice norteno style. With life as hectic as it is, we meal prep a lot. About a month ago I did a big ginormous pot of bolognese for the freezer to go into all sorts of delicious things.

I love food.

 

[Gutwrench]

I have been bored with the same ribs so mixed it up with a slightly different rub and used hickory. While a lot of pull back on the bone suggests it might be a touch overdone I don’t think so....but maybe I’m biased.