Weeknight meals

[mnoble485]

That looks great Colonel, we recently had our grandkids move in with us (similar age) and would love the recipe to try on them. Right now all I’ve figured out is that unfortunately chicken tenders rule. The youngest doesn’t even like PB&J. This will be a learning experience for al of us.

Mike

[ColonelJLloyd]

Thanks, Mike. I'm a terrible teacher so I would suggest (as I often do when asked about specific recipes or concepts) to check out Serious Eats for a thorough explanation. Here's their carbonara article. https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/...ce-recipe.html

This is all about decent ingredients and the technique of tempering the eggs slowly enough to prevent the proteins from setting. The article above suggests using a double boiler. What I usually do is just sit my SS bowl of eggs/Parm over the drained pasta that I've returned to the pot or pan while stirring it to increase the temperature before introducing it directly to the pasta. Remember to reserve some pasta water; I pour some off into a coffee mug before draining the pasta in a colander.

For two adults and two small kids I make maybe 9-10 ounces of dried pasta and use one whole egg plus two yolks, a handful of grated Parm, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and maybe 6-7 slices of thick cut bacon. Jowl bacon is great if you have it and you can even substitute crisped country ham pieces or even prosciutto (you just want the end product to be in smallish pieces). Use the reserved pasta water to loosen up your sauce a bit. If you use bacon you'll probably want to remove some of the fat. You can always add some back or just finish with more olive oil in the bowl. Top with a little more Parm and black pepper. And rough chopped parsley is rarely a bad idea.

Most everyone has gotten a little careless or cooked on unfamiliar equipment and scrambled that sauce, but it's not the end of the world when it happens and it'll inform your next attempt. Good luck!

Generally speaking with the kids, it's helpful for them in terms of what they'll eat if you can involve them to some degree even if it is just helping set the table and plate up the food.

[rwsaunders]

Mike...a dash or two or three of Sriracha sauce addresses a lot of kid's eating and nutritional needs...

[rwsaunders]

My youngest is home for the semester and Mrs. RW is working hard to wean him from college life, fried egg dinners.

[guido]

The festival of lentils continues. Back to spain, this time with the tiny black lentils, yellow finn potatoes, tomatoes, different alliums and added dino kale in the final 10 minutes. Lots of garlic, thyme, rosemary, saffron, pementon and two home grown cayenne peppers.

[Matthew Strongin]

You're killing me. That lentil dish looks amazing.

[guido]

You're killing me. That lentil dish looks amazing.

I'm so glad you like it. I have never done all that much with them till recently and it has been a real eye opener. All of the protein offered by beans with lighter favors that work in a lot of contexts in super fast cooking times.

Each of these variations were inspired by this NYT food section recipe that unfortunately is behind the paywall now:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...s-and-potatoes

But it has been ripped off here:

https://www.diningandcooking.com/225...-and-potatoes/

More ideas here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/d...l-recipes.html

[caleb]

Christmas leftovers last night using an old Julia Child recipe via Sam Sifton:





And the leftover leftovers immediately became stock for ramen this week:

[caleb]

Christmas leftovers continue. My wife has had a hankering for breakfast kimbap lately, so we did a dry run tonight with leftover Christmas ham.

[dgaddis]

Fajitas! Quick, tasty, and pretty healthy.

[rwsaunders]

Still soup season here.

[rydesteel]

While not exactly a weeknight meal, it was a lovely weekend Brunch. What do you do with the stale home made bread? Make French Toast :>).

[rydesteel]

Remembered my Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared" this time, for you Mando fan's "This is the Way" going to try a 20 hour rise tonight. Yumm.

[rwsaunders]

Shredded Mediterranean chicken with vegetables, chick peas and trenne pasta supported by a couple of freshly sliced pieces of biga bread...had to have a pale ale while I was at it.

[spopepro]

This one felt like kind of a big deal. We used to have a tradition of “sashimi Tuesday*” when life and work was normal. I’d make a stop at the Japanese market on the way home from the office and it was totally a thing for us. Pandemic wrecked a lot of our routines of course but this week was the first time since this shit began that both of us were back at work (I’ve been in the office 2 days a week for a while, but my partner had her first day back in a theater since feb 2020). Felt really, really good to be back.

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*admittedly, sometimes in the past sashimi Tuesday was sashimi Thursday or even on rare occasion sashimi Wednesday, but it is now sashimi Tuesday and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

[rydesteel]

Springtime is here and Dads Asparagus is coming up. He dropped off a grocery sack full on Wed while I was in IA City. felt well enough last night to cook some on the grill with a small NY Strip. Deb made some risotto and trimmed the asparagus, Olive oil, Fresh lemon juice and some black pepper grilled till tender. Honestly we could have skipped the steak. Most of the time when you see asparagus this big its woody and tough, this is sweet and tender cooked slow it almost takes on a meaty texture. Some of these plants are 20 years old or more we've been picking from the same patch as long as i can remember. Rhubarb is next, he guards that a little more so I'll need to go get my own if i want some of it ;>).

[rydesteel]

Resurrecting an old Thread with a couple ideas, Made Bun Thit Nuong Cha Giao the other day and it was wonderful.

Tonight I made a favorite of ours with a twist, it's an old Bon Appetit recipe for Shrimp, Spinach and Basil Risotto that we used to make fairly regularly then Deb developed a Shrimp Allergy :>(. Made it with Broken Scallops tonight and it was Delicious! Taking the recipe to my Fish Monger they like to post pictures of meals their customers have made.

[rwsaunders]

Mrs. RW served up a batch of one of her signature dishes this weekend, her version of Mediterranean chicken. That’s an indication around this home that Summer is around the corner.

[mnoble485]

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Found a simple recipe. Put cast iron in cool oven, heat both to 450 and place breast skin side down for 15 min. Flip for additional 15 min. Let rest and enjoy.
Marinaded for 2 hours prior.

So easy, so good.

Mike

[rydesteel]

Had a taste for Thai tonight. sticky Rice with a dry pepper dipping sauce, Papaya Salad, and Laarb (Laab, Lahb) with chicken. Mostly made from memory of what it tasted like when I had it at Restaurant's. Yumm! BTW if you can find the dried pepper shown it's outstanding...just remember you can always add more, but you can't take it back :>)