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What is/was for dinner?
- Thread starter Gutwrench
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There is a new Afghan restaurant that has recently opened in DC, but not sure if I'll ever get downtown to eat at it....
Well, the spinach quiche was a bit disappointing....it was OK, but nothing exciting, nothing that I would immediately put on the grocery list to purchase again. If I were to do so, I'd definitely add probably a lot more garlic, more onion, a bit more cheese, something to just really kick up and bring more flavor to the dish. In any event it served its purpose, providing me a meal tonight and that's fine....
A couple of See's Chocolates from the box a friend gave me for Christmas made a nice dessert and ending to the meal.
Sorry, I should remember to explain what this means, as it is important in Italy but a mystery to many of us in other countries....
WHAT DOES DOP MEAN?
DOP is a strict labeling of food products in Italy and other European countries to preserve and protect regionally produced foods from less superior versions. Select foods from Italy and other countries are regulated by the government and organizational bodies to ensure:- They meet the highest of standards of quality,
- They are produced within certain regions that result in characteristics to ensure a consistent quality,
- The ingredients and products come from a specific location and/or family that has been approved and 'designated' by the government to produce such foods,
- Every element of the product is quality tested and tracked with serial numbers to confirm the exact origins, processing, and approval body of the product
WHY DID THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT DECIDE TO USE THE DOP DESIGNATION?
Impostors. It's really that simple. The popularity of Italian food around the world created replicas and low quality knock offs that impacted Italian food producers. Go to the grocery store and you'll see a huge selection of products labeled "Italian." Chances are good most of these products never came from Italy and most of them are subpar from the authentic version of the product.An example that is used is canned tomatoes (whole, crushed, sauce, etc.): in an American grocery store if one isn't paying attention they'll see a can with "SAN MARZANO" tomatoes in large letters on the label, and only if one looks closely does one see that the label actually states that the product is "San Marzano Style"tomatoes. And, yes, it does make a difference. San Marzano is in a specific region where the tomatoes have a particular unique character all their own and understandably the Italian farmers and food industry want to protect this. So, they affix the designation D.O.P., which guarantees the buyer that this can does indeed contain the genuine article, tomatoes right from the San Marzano region.
Another example comes along with Pizza, which also has an equally important designation when it comes to Margherita Pizza in particular.... In this situation, the pizza must have been prepared in a specific way using only a certain type of dough and including (of course!) D.O.P. San Marzano tomatoes as one of the essential ingredients. Only a few restaurants in any area within the US have the treasured and prized designation and permission to prepare and serve their Margherita Pizza in the strictly dictated approved Neapolitan way....
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This is an EU recognised guarantee of quality (along with proof that this product hails from the specific region where it says that product was produced, where the very naming of the region in the product is what will imply that the quality of this product is good, because that region is known for the quality of its production of this product - thus, naming the region is part of the recognition of quality, thus Parma or Toscana Ham, San Marzano tomatoes, etc) in Italian food production.
It actually means: Denominazione d’Origine Protetta (DOP), which translates as Protected Designation of Origin.
@Clix Pix has supplied further more details in her post.
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The lovely (albeit quite expensive) pea-protein-based products (Beyond, Impossible, et al.) are quite delicious!
Closest I've had to off-the-grill-burger
As a cooking product, they react to cooking is many ways quite dissimilar to regular flesh-based offerings.
For-example:
If you are interested in using such as a "ground-beef" substitute in your regular cooking (spaghetti, chili, etc.) approach your "brown-in-a-skillet" with high-heat, but don't let it go too long . . . extended high-heat cooking renders-it-down to a texture quite un-familar.
It sort of homogenizes the protein-molecules.
Not something which I can adequately describe with words. Things just end-up 'not-the-same'.
As a lipid-o-phyle (animal 'fat' seems quite important to my system), these Products just don't offer such benefits.
Of course, one of the primary reasons for using such Products is that they do *not* include such things (for many, obvious reasons).
If I cook them appropriately (and judiciously), I only notice that I am more energized, and (somehow) clear-er-of-thought the next day. I cannot sincerely say "entirely-satisfied", as I have decades of somatic-training that I cannot un-train with a single sitting
You have absolutely nothing to lose, MBAir2010, by experimenting and incorporating such . . . only you will know what sits-well with your experience.
To be honest, I don't think that I have ever had an exciting quiche; it is a dish that I prefer in theory, and, in my experience, the execution always falls far short of remotely exciting, even when freshly prepared.
Now, a (vegetarian) dish with eggs that I do find exciting - and one that goes beyond scrambled eggs, poached eggs, sautéed eggs, omelettes (all of which I like) - is shakshuka, which, when done properly, is not just tasty but approaches downright delicious.
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And, yes, when I was dating, an acid test of a potential suitor was if he accepted or rejected anchovies on pizza..... The man I married, bless his heart, definitely was an anchovy fan!
Lucky Woman!
I (seriously) dated a woman back in the early 90's, and She specifically stated that She did not like green olives.
As an experiment (I have a few recessive Rumpelstiltskin genes on the left three branches of my X), I decided to mince three, small green (brined) olives, and scatter them atop the bespoke pizza I cooked for us, that evening.
First questing at the dinner table was . . .
I cringe when I order a Caesar at a restaurant, and there is no anchovie to it....
No.Interesting assessment, that . . .
I was raised with the assumption that 'chili' was just a "beef+beans" thing.
Having walked a few times around the Big Block, seasoning and tomato(e)s have become my cusp-point.
I've used beef, pork, beef&pork, chicken, and Chili sin carne in so many variations.
I am appreciative that there are plant-based options readily available, now, but the application to "Chili" just doesn't rhyme, with me.
Using (and cooking-with) bog-standard "ground beef"--I find--just doesn't last more than a day, or so (in my exp.).
If I hold the leftovers for repeated consumption, it logorithmically tastes "bad" after two days.
If I prepare, freeze, (then later) thaw/re-heat; the same.
Pork seems to hold more staying-power.
All that being said, legumes seem quite important to my personal health&satisfaction.
A simple equation whose statistic seems best left to n=1
No plant based options, not for anything resembling chilli.
Likewise, no "bog standard" ground beef, for anything.
These days, I buy stuff from an artisan butcher (they raise, slaughter, and age their own meat) shin beef on the bone, or their own mince whenever I prepare chilli, who have a stall in the weekly farmers' market, phoning in advance to place an order if I wish to buy some less popular cuts (oxtail, shin of beef on the bone, pork belly, ham hocks, etc).
Nowadays, in general, I consume a lot less meat, (than when younger), which allows me to buy very good quality meat (never from a supermarket, instead, always from either a small, well-regarded local butcher, or the organic stall in the farmers' market) less often.
Shakshuka! YES!!! I only recently discovered this and it is delicious! So far I haven't done the full thing with the eggs and such, just tried out the sauce to see if I even liked it in the first place and now that I have quite enjoyed it I know I'll be doing more with it in the future, including attempting to prepare in the traditional way. Where has this wonderful sauce been all my life?
Yes, a Caesar Salad is not a Caesar Salad unless it includes the all-important anchovies! They are what really give the entire dish its unique and delightful flavor.Lucky Woman!
I (seriously) dated a woman back in the early 90's, and She specifically stated that She did not like green olives.
As an experiment (I have a few recessive Rumpelstiltskin genes on the left three branches of my X), I decided to mince three, small green (brined) olives, and scatter them atop the bespoke pizza I cooked for us, that evening.
First questing at the dinner table was . . .
I cringe when I order a Caesar at a restaurant, and there is no anchovie to it....
This is an incredible dish.
I, too, asked myself where this recipe has been all of my life, when I first read a recipe, and then, yes, had to try it out (once I realised that I had all of the ingredients to hand).
Okay, you need to concentrate, while preparing this dish, - this is not daydreaming cooking - but it is delicious, and this strikes me as the kind of palate of flavours that you would like, @Clix Pix.
Oh, Sister . . . ain't nothing to be sorry-about . . . if I was truly afraid of the ruler, I'd never look Teach in the eye
Ah! Like the "Rioja" hologram
*looks sideways into cabinet, and spies various bottles of balsamic that are not DOPE*
I admit to neither having tried (nor ever heard-about) a dry-red varietal that might attempt assume to challenge a decent Spanish-red, but are DOPE tomato(e)s from IT really that distinctive?
Yep, me three: an exciting quiche usually just doesn't happen. For whatever reason I guess I had expectations of tonight's meal that were to sadly go unrealized..... Been rather a while since I'd last had a quiche and so I'd forgotten the general blandness of it! There are times when maybe some blandness is welcome, but much of the time I really prefer a little more pizzazz in whatever I'm consuming.
Well, yes...Oh, Sister . . . ain't nothing to be sorry-about . . . if I was truly afraid of the ruler, I'd never look Teach in the eye
Ah! Like the "Rioja" hologram
*looks sideways into cabinet, and spies various bottles of balsamic that are not DOPE*
Yes, San Marzano DOP tomatoes really are that distinctive.
Like Milano salami.
Pecorino Romano cheese.
Etc
Thank y'all.
I, somehow, cannot read this in any-other-way but "DOPE" 🤷♂️
Così è la vita.
The thing is, you can take the bland (but healthy) ingredients such as broccoli, or spinach, or cavolo nero, and, rather than putting them in a quiche, I have learned that jazzing them up with (lots of) stuff such as butter, olive oil, garlic, chilli, grated lemon zest (and lemon juice), grated nutmeg, anchovies.....any combination of the aforementioned....just seems to work an awful lot better.
I quite agree and sometime in January I'll definitely be taking the plunge to properly prepare and enjoy Shakshuka the way it is meant to be savored and appreciated..... Truly a delicious sauce which deserves to have the proper accompaniments to bring out its best and wonderful flavor!
And, @Clix Pix, another treat to look out for (and it is also fun, and delicious, but, yes, requires some concentration and time while preparing and cooking) is caponata, a Sicilian dish I love.
Actually, I have all of the ingredients to hand, thus, will probably prepare it over the coming days.
It is terrific with absolutely everything (lamb cutlets, chicken, steak...)
Actually, I have all of the ingredients to hand, thus, will probably prepare it over the coming days.
It is terrific with absolutely everything (lamb cutlets, chicken, steak...)
ok, I'm on-board with that on a Later Discovery. Thank you for Shakshuka!
What I'm really amazed-about (right now) is the possibility that the ME did not get introduced to tomato(e)s until the mid-16th C!
What a weird thought.
Curiously enough, I have not yet run across a D.O.P. Balsamic but am hoping one day to discover and able to purchase one with that prized D.O.P. designation on its label just to see how different or distinctive it really is compared to my favorite Balsamic vinegar..... Too lazy to get up go and look in the cabinet for its name, but its one which I've been buying for rather a while from Sur La Table, a shop in one of my local large malls.Oh, Sister . . . ain't nothing to be sorry-about . . . if I was truly afraid of the ruler, I'd never look Teach in the eye
Ah! Like the "Rioja" hologram
*looks sideways into cabinet, and spies various bottles of balsamic that are not DOPE*
I admit to neither having tried (nor ever heard-about) a dry-red varietal that might attempt assume to challenge a decent Spanish-red, but are DOPE tomato(e)s from IT really that distinctive?
I'd love to taste actual fresh D.O.P. San Marzano Tomatoes but I suspect the only way I could ever do that would be if I traveled to Italy. The older I am getting the less and less likely this is to happen, alas! In the US there are places which grow and market San Marzano tomatoes but of course they're planted and sprout and grow in the soil and environment of this country and not really coming from the Motherland in Italy (my guess is that the original seeds might have done so, though).....
San Marzano aside, we Americans do need to appreciate that here in this country we do grow some very tasty tomatoes, too, and there are nice sauces developed from them as well, especially in New Jersey. One of my favorite commercial sauces which taste surprisingly fresh are those made by Hoboken Farms in New Jersey, which started out as a small local business and now is quite the successful business because their sauces are so good. (Note to non-Americans reading this: the name "Hoboken Farms" is rather an in-joke, since the city of Hoboken, NJ, is quite definitely anything but rural, it's a densely-populated, large close-in suburb (just across the river) of New York City. No farms within miles....!)
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Oh, yes, oh, yes -- Caponata! Definitely a fan of that here although I tend to cheat rather than preparing it wholly from scratch. Something else I haven't enjoyed in rather a while, now that I am thinking about this..... Yes, I also need to add it and its components to the grocery list after I again review the list of ingredients..... For some reason Caponata is just a lovely, wonderful accompaniment to any winter meal, and you are quite right that it goes with so many things...... One time a year or so ago just for the heck of it I used it as a topping for pasta, and while it was pretty tasty that's probably not an experiment I will try again. Caponata deserves better treatment and greater honoring and appreciation than that!
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