Weeknight meals

[dgaddis]

Chicken breasts from the other night in the carbon steel pan.



Last night's dinner. Sous vide the strip, but put it on the grill to sear before the grill/coals were hot enough, so it got a little over cooked. I was disappointed in myself. Sweet potatoes were cooked in the instant pot then mashed with butter and cinnamon, broccoli was roasted in the oven with some olive oil and salt and pepper.

Our little lady LOVES sweet potatoes. LOVES THEM.

[mnoble485]

They hate when I babysit...universal fear of all Supers as you know, Mike. Fortunately I’ve worked with this Super since 1991 and we’ve been through quite a number of projects together and share a common understanding of the skills and tenacity needed in managing a large project. He and his wife took a long overdue trip to Aruba and I get stuck with snowy Pittsburgh, watching the signal crews erect a 4-intersection traffic signal that essentially wraps up the project. My key duties are to supply coffee and donuts to the crews and to act like I know what I’m talking about in terms of deer hunting and venison processing, as we are currently in deer season and the opening day of buck hunting (rifle) started on Sunday. Hard to believe that we have crews on site.

For me, it's not so much they will find something wrong but that they will go out in the field and change sequences or get with my subcontractors and argue about trivial things. A good PM is worth their weight in gold and a good PM/Super team is a thing to behold. He must have trained you well!:).

Florida deer are small so all of my guys are in Georgia!

Mike

[rwsaunders]

Christmas dinner...Mrs. RW's version of Beef Wellington.

[dgaddis]

Some stuff from this week.

Thyme, honey, salt, pepper, olive oil.


Lemon zest, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil.


Last night we had the asparagus, sous vide a pork tenderloin, and roasted potatoes. Baby girl had two helpings of pork and asparagus, then some peach slices and a cookie for dessert. Girl eats!

[DJB]

[QUOTE=dgaddis;979915]Chicken breasts from the other night in the carbon steel pan.

I was disappointed in myself.

You are not the only one Dustin- I expect so much more from you.

DJ

[rwsaunders]

Shredded chicken tostados with tomatoes, lettuce, avocados and a little lime juice...

[dgaddis]

Tilapia with a crispy crunchy topping (lemon juice, panko bread crumbs, salt, pepper, dill, olive oil) with lemon pepper roasted broccoli.

[dgaddis]

First recipe out of the Milk Street cookbook we recently picked up. Turkish 'meatballs' (you smash them into patties) with a lime/yogurt/tahini sauce that's quite good as well. These would make awesome burgers, tho I'm not sure what else I'd want to put on there for toppings. Some pita bread and roasted broccoli on the side.

[dgaddis]

Another Milk Street recipe, another one to hang onto. Spiced pork tenderloin. Paprika, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper. Cook it in a pan, then put it in some lemon juice and minced garlic, drizzle some olive oil and and sprinkle with fresh oregano. Very good. Put it over some cilantro-lime jasmine rice and some steamed veggies on the side.

I wanna try this as a rub on a smoked butt for pulled pork.

[Tom]

Lat night was a Milk Street recipe, too. Perecca's bakery frozen pizza dough thawed out, left on the counter for a few hours and then stretched very thin , blue cheese, reconstituted figs and prosciutto blasted in a 500 degree oven until all perfect and drizzled with 35% balsamic.

* Perecca's is the local bakery that makes bread from salt, water, yeast and flour. Some day I'm going to go down there with a pair of powerful binoculars and find out what flour they use. It certainly isn't normal. Its the best store bought bread I've ever had anywhere. Their ovens are coal fired and they say they haven't been cold in 50 years.

[dgaddis]

3rd and final Milk Street recipe night for the week last night. Za'atar chicken cutlets topped with parsley 'salad' with cracked yukon gold potatoes (also from Milk Street) and roasted asparagus.

The chicken was off the chain good, but next time I'll use arugula instead of parsley for the salad. I couldn't find the pomegranate molasses so instead I took some pomegranate juice and reduced it down to a syrup, and it's really good.

The potatoes were alright but not really worth the effort, simple EVO/salt/pepper roasting is easier and better IMO. I liked 'cracking' them tho, and I want to try roasting them that way. Lots of surface area for browning and probably a touch faster than taking the time to half or quarter them.

The toddler's morning diaper change is always a fun sensory experience after she has asparagus for dinner LOL. Every time I walk in her room and think "what is that smel...oh, right, we had asparagus last night" She loves the stuff though!

[guido]

A nicely varied plate: Wild rice, roasted butternut squash, roasted cauliflower and braised dino kale.

[Tom]

Another Milk Street recipe tonight linguine with a beef sauce that has cumin paprika cinnamon garlic onions and tomatoes and if it tastes like it smells while cooking oh boy. Feta and mint to finish it.

[Tom]

More on the prep. Toasting dried coconut, fennel, cardamom, coriander, pepper and poppy seeds in a dry skillet to make chicken curry with tomatoes, another Milk Street recipe. I could do that all day long.

[rwsaunders]

For the past month or so, I've been on the road logging some heavy miles and it is nice to be home and whipping up some simple food with Mrs. RW.

[guido]

Mussels with canned home grown tomato-saffron sauce...

[Octave]

Mussels with canned home grown tomato-saffron sauce...

Sorry if this is a dumb question but is the saffron home-grown, too? We are planning a thorough spice garden at the moment and if you're growing saffron, I'd love to pick your brain a bit.

[guido]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but is the saffron home-grown, too? We are planning a thorough spice garden at the moment and if you're growing saffron, I'd love to pick your brain a bit.

Oh I wish! I still need to get the expensive Spanish stuff... One can certainly grow crocus flowers in the US but I'm not sure of they are the right type. You would need to grow a huge quantity to make a worthwhile harvest. But that wouldn't be a bad thing...

The google found this...

Grow Your Own Saffron! | Gardens Alive!

[Octave]

Oh I wish! I still need to get the expensive Spanish stuff... One can certainly grow crocus flowers in the US but I'm not sure of they are the right type. You would need to grow a huge quantity to make a worthwhile harvest. But that wouldn't be a bad thing...

The google found this...

Grow Your Own Saffron! | Gardens Alive!

Thanks! It's grown here and I've spent time on a couple of local farms. It is very labor intensive indeed, but the price is insane. Around here it tends to go for >5eu/gram if you're in a standard European market/shop, closer to 3eu/gram if you're in the smaller markets in the quartiers populated by N African immigrants. When traveling in Turkey a couple of years ago it was going for 1.4eu/gram, direct from Iran. The markup is wild.

I think our new farm won't be very well situated to grow saffron, but maybe we'll try a handful of plants in the greenhouse just to see :)

[htwoopup]

I have gotten bored with the new doctor-directed diet of only animal protein and fat, so I searched far and wide for a recipe that is made only with ingredients I can eat and a small amount of going rogue on the peanuts and vegetables because they were cooked with the rest (which is a maybe ok/ maybe no no).

A very poor picture/ presentation but a one pan Crunchy Chicken Satay...

Satay by Jon Mandel, on Flickr

Thankfully it tasted far better than it looks in the photo.