What are you having for dinner? (wanna share your recipe?)

[whiteraven]

Well, the plan is roasted potatoes and asparagus. It's like a million degrees here, though, and the air is just dripping wet, so I'm not sure I want to cook.

Ok, that didn't work. I sat with my cat for a good long while then had to go out for awhile because I was just too sad. Ended up at McDonald's, where I never go. smh

 

[nursenurse]

Week 11 of the two week contract...tonight is our farewell potluck, we all leave on Wednesday. Been short staffed and crazy. Just pulling out no knead bread rolls, already made lemon brownies, and will be making a pesto shrimp dish with mushrooms and garlic.

 

[Mee]

Through quarantine we have restarted making our own yogurt but changed our method. We started using the contents of a probiotic capsule to milk. It makes a lovely mild yogurt , which strains to Greek yogurt quite quickly. I think we are making it maybe three times a week now? I had it tonight as a dressing for chopped salad ( I love yogurt as a salad dressing, or on jacket potatoes).

 

[MrMoonlight]

I'm just grilling hamburgers, baking potatoes and steaming broccoli. Salt and pepper is my only seasoning.

 

[The Albatross]

Portuguese style roasted cod (video but it's slow... bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes depending on desired doneness.

Serving with sour cream parsley & chive hash browns and broccoli.

 

[The Albatross]

Okay so I have like 3 pounds of broccoli … and mister had a tooth extraction so I had to hold off... but need another dish for this week to use it so...

Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Soup
6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 white onion, chopped
2 Tblsp olive or coconut oil
4 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper as desired
8 ounces or more chopped mushrooms
8 ounces or more of chopped broccoli
1 Tblsp thyme or lemon thyme (fresh chopped)
1 can coconut milk
1 can cream of either broccoli or mushroom
I use pureed tofu to thicken instead of flour
Lemongrass or lemon juice if desired to taste

DIRECTIONS

• In a stock pot, heat the oil and add the onion, cooking until translucent, then add the thyme and garlic.
• Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne pepper and thyme leaves, and immediately add the stock; stir.
• Bring stock to a boil, and add broccoli and mushrooms. Cover, lower heat to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10-15 or until broccoli becomes tender (depends on the size of the broccoli pieces).
• In a blender mix to smooth: tofu and paprika with the coconut milk. Stir into soup, and raise heat, stirring constantly. When soup comes to a simmer, if your soup is thick as you like it finish by adding the cream of mushroom or broccoli soup and removing from heat.

 

[The Albatross]

The Portuguese style roasted cod was a hit. Instead of using onion, I put sliced lemon in the bottom of the baking dish and used creole seasoning with pretty much the rest of the seasonings in the video. Thing is, cod is less expensive by the pound these days here than beef or pork. So I'm always on the hunt for new ways to prepare it.

 

[The Albatross]

Pasta with Chorizo and glazed carrots


The basic recipe for the chorizo dish... I like to use the small shells rather than penne.

• 1-1/4 cups uncooked penne pasta
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/3 pound uncooked chorizo or bulk spicy pork sausage
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/3 cup water-packed artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and quartered
• 1/3 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

 

[Friday]

Made some breakfast peppers for dinner (for the teenagers)

Cheat/Doctor’d Frozen Schtuff Version - Upend a bag of Jimmy Dean Skillet Meals, or O’Brian Diced Potatoes & Peppers into tops cut off -or cut in half- bell peppers, along with any meats, cheese, & egg. Since I had nothing in the freezer?

- Yukon Gold Potatoes, diced
- Red & Green bell peppers, finely diced
- (optional, jalapeños or other hot peppers also finely diced)
- Bell Peppers (any color) with the tops cut off / or cut in half lengthwise
- Shredded Cheese (optional)
- Breakfast sausage, browned & crumbled (optional)
- Bacon, cooked & crumbled (optional)
- Scrambled eggs (raw)
- salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350F 175C

- Decide if you want to serve whole peppers or half peppers, cut them how you want them, and lay them out on a cookie sheet.

- In a ziplock bag (or bowl) mix together all of your filling EXCEPT the egg... diced potatoes, minced peppers, shredded cheese, Cooked sausage or bacon.

- Spoon or pour filling into peppers. Press it down a bit, BT not too much or the egg won’t have anywhere to go.

- Slowly pour over the egg into the peppers... I usually do this in a few rounds, to let it soak/settle/soak/settle/work its way into all the nooks & crannies.

- Bake until a toothpick comes out clean / egg is set. Roughly half an hour. Depends on your pepper size

 

[Mee]

Those sound really good @Friday . Stuffed vegetables always seem like a treat food to me .

Easy supper here- pasta with artichokes from a jar, pine nuts and maybe Grilled peppers.

 

[Friday]

Thing is, cod is less expensive by the pound these days here than beef or pork.

That’s AWESOME. It’s feast or famine with fish, around here. Build up relationships with the fishermen & dockworkers & it’s pennies on the dollar straight off the boat, or if the tide’s right it’s free/costs a grand total of a can of catfood for shellfish... but buying in the store costs an arm & a leg. I can buy Norwegian salmon -flown over, never frozen; or smoked in Germany- for less than half what we pay here for local fish, and that same local fish is half again less expensive if I head to the Midwest or back east to visit friends and family. Crazy that we pay double to 4 times as much for fish pulled out of the water this morning half a mile down the road, than shipped by airfreight halfway around the world. Economics. Never fails to blow my mind.

***
You probably already do most or all of these, but just kicking ideas:

Unless I’m beer battering, or coconut beer battering... I don’t deep fry indoors, and it’s rare the weather is nice enough around here to deep fry outside... I usually grill/bbq cod (ling, rock, true) at steak temps (700 or so? The ‘can hold my hand for a second or two -max!- over the coals before having to snatch it away’) and get variety with salsas & sauces. Although, quite frankly, creole seasoning makes for badass fish tacos. Goes glorious “plain” with just some shredded cabbage & radish & cilantro... or loaded up creamy avocado sauce, &/or with red or green salsa, mango salsa, etc. ((it tripped me out the first time I ordered bagre/catfish south of the border and it was clearly seasoned by someone from Louisiana. Except it wasn’t. Whole coastal region used a creole style seasoning I strongly suspect travelled south during the French and Spanish wars. And, of course, creole seasoning means wicked good grilled po’boys, or served on top of/next to red beans & rice, black eyed peas, a bed of collard greens (or any kind of sautéed greens, really), or big ole chunks dropped in reheated gumbo just before serving. That’s an easy 2nd day thing... unfreeze some gumbo, heat it on the stove, take yesterday’s bbq cod out of the fridge and put it in bowls, and let the hot soup warm it up, whilst cooling nuclear hot gumbo down to eat-it-now temps.

Speaking of fish & soup (any clam chowder or cioppino loves cod)... if you’ve never miso-poached cod, you’re in for a treat! Especially as there are about a hundred variations once you’ve got your basic broth going... miso-lemon, miso-coconut milk/lime, chili paste (red or Thai green), plum sauce, kombu, teriyaki, South African smoke, Spanish smoked tomatoes/peppers, French herbs & lavender, topped with radish & microgreena, list doesn’t stop. Either served in a bowl with broth, or just cooked in it for delicate flavoring and served on its own.

My last Go-To is mostly for fish scraps & trimmings... Crabcake mix. :D (I hate salmon cake mix :wtf: but some people like that one, too.) Stir it up, Squash into cakes/burgers, sauté in a bit o’butter or olive oil. Voila.

Oh! Another great leftovers one is folding cod bites into hot artichoke dip, and serving wih toast. Sometimes I add capers If I remember, but I usually forget.

 

[The Albatross]

Will try the miso cod thing next time... I'm in KY though so no fresh seafood unless it's flown in to be had really.

The Chorizo pasta was a hit, I did though add two eggs and went heavier on the parm and added some Italian seasoning. Next time I'll add in some sliced black olives as it could do with a bit of salt.