What is/was for dinner?

[Certificate of Excellence]

It was pretty tasty I must say. My wife is not much for chicken “burgers” as a rule and she liked this rendition and took leftovers for lunch today. I had some for lunch today as well.

Today’s dinner was tacos and fruit salad. I wasn’t really hungry so I had a taco and a beer for dinner lol.

 

[anika200]

Gazpacho and a couple beers was my dinner last night, liquid diet.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Gazpacho and a couple beers was my dinner last night, liquid diet.

Sometimes, a liquid diet is exactly what is called for.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Spaghets & garlic toast was what’s for dinner tonight. One of the few eaten-by-everyone meals in regular rotation.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

It’s my oldest birthday and he wanted to try a stuff crust pizza, so we got one for the boys from Dominos. It came piping hot and had legitimate, built in cheese pull Anyhow, while they were busy seeing who could stretch the longest cheese pull, I threw together some chicken ravioli and pesto for a quick dinner. My wife made a grip of fantastic basil pesto from our garden yesterday so really all I had to do was boil water and float some premade raviolis for about 5 minutes lol.

It was very tasty

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Homemade ratatouille and locally sourced butcher's sausages (plus, fresh French bread) shall comprise dinner this evening.

 

[anika200]

Homemade ratatouille and locally sourced butcher's sausages (plus, fresh French bread) shall comprise dinner this evening.

Sounds great, it is ratatouille season yum, we are planning on making some this week. As I am thinking of your leftovers, you could make a ratatouille sausage sandwich tomorrow for lunch.
After edit:
Do not forget to throw some cheese on that sandwich, sounds odd but it is gonna make the whole thing amazing. Hmmm, I wonder what kind?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sounds great, it is ratatouille season yum, we are planning on making some this week. As I am thinking of your leftovers, you could make a ratatouille sausage sandwich tomorrow for lunch.

An excellent idea.

One can never have too much ratatouille, - it is a dish that I love - and I can strongly recommend a (freshly made) proper butcher's sausage (or two) with ratatouille; it is every bit as good as the more usual lamb cutlets, or chicken thighs, or fillet steak, which is what I would normally serve with ratatouile.

 

[anika200]

a (freshly made) proper butcher's sausage

Hmmm, I guess you mean a pork sausage? Maybe I need to enlighten myself but yes that is gonna be good. Actually, and I do not know why, but our usual habit is to only have ratatouille for the whole meal. Well I mean there will be some sides I guess bread being one and sometimes a salad.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hmmm, I guess you mean a pork sausage?

Yes.

Maybe I need to enlighten myself but yes that is gonna be good. Actually, and I do not know why, but our usual habit is to only have ratatouille for the whole meal. Well I mean there will be some sides I guess bread being one and sometimes a salad.

Yes, a proper butcher's (in other words, from a butcher, not from a supermarket) freshly made, pork sausage.

Sometimes, I will devour ratatouille by itself, sometimes, with a (poached, or sautéed) fillet of white-fleshed fish (cod, or something similar), sometimes, with white meat (chicken, or sausage, or lamb cutlet), and, a rare and special treat, with a small fillet steak (and sautéed or roasted, potatoes), and frequently, (but not this evening) served with a green salad.

It depends.

Bread (good quality, artisan, or baker's bread - I got mine in the French bakery) is an excellent accompaniment, and pasta has worked well, also.

I do so love ratatouille.

 

[anika200]

Yes, a proper butcher's (

Yes I am lucky enough to have one 5 minutes away by car and he makes all kinds of sausage which mostly is all amazing.

 

[BotchQue]

Babyback ribs with a gochujang glaze, ice-cold gazpacho (I love tomato season!) and grilled corn. Was going to have grilled peach with vanilla ice cream for dessert but (a) I was already stuffed, and (b) I thought I had some spiced rum but I was out.

Did I mention that I love tomato, sweetcorn and peach season?

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

So as is the appliance trend this summer, my grill with a full can of propane stopped working. No idea why exactly. It’s about 4 or 5 years old.

Oldest wanted grilled chicken & steak for his birthday dinner so that was the plan until my grill went kaput and decided to stop producing heat (maybe a bad regulator?). Anyways, Quick pivot was to finish the beef in the oven to a medium rare while puting together a quick lemon basil sautéed chicken tenderloin dish. My partially grilled/shriveled lol vegetables (zucchini, red onion slices and tri-bell peppers went into a quick sautéed veg side finished with some butter, balsamic & fresh sliced garlic. Luckily my wife had prepared a wonderful basil pesto gemelli pasta dish and the quac was done prior as well as my son’s cake request (a strawberry and vanilla marbled Minecraft cake lol. Luckily the grandmas and grandpas, nephews, aunts etc were all distracted by charcuterie and wine while we traversed this birthday party minefield lol

Went off without a hitch.

 

[anika200]

Did I mention that I love tomato, sweetcorn and peach season?

Yep its the best time of year for fresh food, we are having our first garden tomato sandwiches for lunch today.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Babyback ribs with a gochujang glaze, ice-cold gazpacho (I love tomato season!) and grilled corn. Was going to have grilled peach with vanilla ice cream for dessert but (a) I was already stuffed, and (b) I thought I had some spiced rum but I was out.

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Did I mention that I love tomato, sweetcorn and peach season?

That gazpacho looks absolutely mouth-watering.

Yep its the best time of year for fresh food, we are having our first garden tomato sandwiches for lunch today.

Yum.

Garden tomato sandwiches?

Yum; no shop bought (imported) tomato will ever come close; yesterday, I bought a small bag of paper cherry tomatoes (which I had filled myself) from the person who had grown them.

The only reason that the bag was small is that the tomatoes had almost run out by the time I arrived at that particular stall.

 

[anika200]

Garden tomato sandwiches?

Yes, some kind of soft white bread (lightly toasted or not), spread each piece with a good Mayonnaise, add two thick slices of fresh garden tomato right off the vine. Now these next steps are optional, sprinkle the tomato slices with celery salt and also add a good layer of crispy lettuce. Assemble and eat!

This is it from tonight, made some pretzel buns today so we used those.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yes, some kind of soft white bread (lightly toasted or not), spread each piece with a good Mayonnaise, add two thick slices of fresh garden tomato right off the vine. Now these next steps are optional, sprinkle the tomato slices with celery salt and also add a good layer of crispy lettuce. Assemble and eat!

Finely chopped chives, or finely chopped scallions (French onions) would also work well with tomatoes; agreed, the addition of salt is non-negotiable.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I love growing tomatoes but eating raw tomatoes are not my thing. I am a fan of a James Beard onion sandwich and their variants.

Delicious.

 

[WriteNow]

The talk of ratatouille reminds me of how my mother made that every summer when were drowning in garden zucchini. I think her recipe was probably a "keep it simple" recipe, not a "make it ideally" recipe, but I always enjoyed it. I might try making some this summer...if I get overcome my Lazy Inner Sloth long enough...

And I'm envious of those who have garden fresh tomatoes now.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I love growing tomatoes but eating raw tomatoes are not my thing. I am a fan of a James Beard onion sandwich and their variants.

Delicious.

Raw tomatoes (but tomatoes that are seasonal flavoursome, and locally grown), tomatoes that have met, married and mated with the sun, - in other words, have been introduced to heat - sprinkled with salt, and drizzled with olive oil, (or a little mayonnaise) - to which, perhaps, chopped chives and finely shredded parsley have been added, are one of life's great treats in the middle of summer.

Yes, they can be roasted, sautéed, grilled, but, in summer, in season, they don't necessarily need that.

 

[WriteNow]

Raw tomatoes (but tomatoes that are seasonal flavoursome, and locally grown), tomatoes that have met, married and mated with the sun, - in other words, have been introduced to heat

And also tomatoes flavors vary with variety, which makes a difference for me of how much I like a tomato. I've grown some tomatoes in the past that I ate, but really had nothing to recommend them except "better than the grocery store."

Another memroy from when I was young: one summer, we got some extras out of someone's garden. I can't remember the tomatoes now, but I have to think it was a revelalation after years of nothing but grocery store tomatoes. The definite revelation were the baby pototoes. I was not a real fan of potatoes back then, but those things were wonderful.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Raw tomatoes (but tomatoes that are seasonal flavoursome, and locally grown), tomatoes that have met, married and mated with the sun, - in other words, have been introduced to heat - sprinkled with salt, and drizzled with olive oil, (or a little mayonnaise) - to which, perhaps, chopped chives and finely shredded parsley have been added, are one of life's great treats in the middle of summer.

Yes, they can be roasted, sautéed, grilled, but, in summer, in season, they don't necessarily need that.

I acknowledge this fully. As a young kiddo, say 3 or 4ish, I got into my grandpas tomato garden and plucked a bunch of green tomatoes. As punishment I had to eat one. I have never liked raw tomatoes since. I appreciate them, grow them, feed them to my family in an assortment of different delicious summertime tomato Salads all summer long, but they just gross me out lol. I know that sounds crazy but it is the way I’m wired. Maybe one day but that day is not today.

I love reading everyone talk about how they love fresh, summertime tomatoes this and that though. Keep em coming.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

And also tomatoes flavors vary with variety, which makes a difference for me of how much I like a tomato. I've grown some tomatoes in the past that I ate, but really had nothing to recommend them except "better than the grocery store."

Another memroy from when I was young: one summer, we got some extras out of someone's garden. I can't remember the tomatoes now, but I have to think it was a revelalation after years of nothing but grocery store tomatoes. The definite revelation were the baby pototoes. I was not a real fan of potatoes back then, but those things were wonderful.

I’m growing a decent sized potato bed this year (Yukon golds). I am excited to harvest them this fall. Not much beats a fresh potato.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The other thing about locally sourced, or grown, raw, seasonal, summer tomatoes is how they go with almost everything.

As a salad (drizzled with olive oil and dotted with salt, and perhaps finely chopped parsley and chives/scallions), or, as a salad with finely diced cucumber (olive oil, salt, black pepper), or - and this may sound strange, but it works really well, and is an amazing explosion of glorious summer colour on the table (and in the dish, bowl, or plate) diced, or chopped, or sliced, fresh tomatoes served with apricots, peaches/nectarines, and, perhaps, mango, drizzled (very lightly) with a little olive oil, and anointed with some sea salt (and perhaps, a little black pepper).

This is a refreshing and tasty salad that again, goes with absolutely everything (it is especially brilliant with chicken).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dinner comprised basic, but tasty, ingredients.

Scrambled eggs (three free range, organic, eggs, scrambled slowly, in butter); plus, in a different pan, butcher's sausages, and butcher's back bacon, (both bought from the organic butcher's stall in the farmers' market - they raise, slaughter and then age whatever they sell), sautéed slowly, in a mix of olive oil and butter.

To this lot, was added, when the bacon and sausages were almost done, a dish of seasoned (locally sourced) chopped cherry tomatoes, which were also sautéed slowly.

Very tasty.