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

[Friday]

Mexican Street Corn - Elotes

- Unhusked Corn
- Lime Juice
- Mayo
- Tajin (or chili powder)
- Queso Fresco, Cotija, or vegan Parmesan
- Cilantro
- Epazote <<< I can’t always get this, so I skip it or add green onions (which are nothing like Epazote, they just add another herby-fresh note).
- Caramel Apple Skewers (short, thick, strong bamboo things)

Grill it
Shuck it
Stab it (wooden skewer for handle)
Char it
Squirt it (Lime Juice)
Slather it (Mayo)
Coat it.
Eat it.

 

[Friday]

I’m having a go at making hand pies.

((Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry is kosher & vegan, yay!))

- First up is pink peppercorn chicken w/ cranberries & vegan cream cheese.

Riffing on this >>> Chicken pithivier recipe

With (aside from the not-Brie thing) making EXTRA sure that the peppercorns are totally ground. They soak up nada, and biting into chunks of peppercorn? Ruins the whole dish, for me. Plus durn near cracked a tooth, the first time I made this. I was thinking of peppercorn berries, I think, which are all juicy when cooked. And I was sooooo wrong. Crunch, ow! Dagnabit! Nope! Grind it, not crush it. Check. Double check!

- Next up is a Philly cheesesteak sorta thing, with steak, peppers&onions&mushrooms, & a slice of Chao (wicked good vegan cheese) on each side of the puff pastry to limit the soggy.

 

[LuckiLee]

@Friday, do you soak your corn before grilling? Looks fabulous BTW. And you can never go wrong with meat pies. Or any kind of pie for that matter.

 

[Friday]

@Friday, do you soak your corn before grilling? Looks fabulous BTW. And you can never go wrong with meat pies. Or any kind of pie for that matter.

1) To keep the husks from charring? Nope! They’re moist enough the husks will dry out a bit, and char a bit, but no worries, they don’t catch fire. And are soooooo easy to shuck, after!!! All the silk stays with the husks, stead of clinging to the kernels. Quick 2 movements to rip off the husk, snap off the base, done.

2) In sugar/salt water after husking before cooking?

Depends if it’s honest to goodness Illinois / Midwest corn-corn (you know what I mean, first corn of the season is a meal all by itself!) …or if it’s the exported -to disagreeable states- fairly flavorless stuff, in line after the corn syrup, ethanol, feed lots, & pet food companies . ((I swear, it’s a sneaky f*ck you to blue states, flavor free corn. Backed up by zero evidence, just my own personal indignation in the supermarket. ))

- Serious corn, I just grill in it’s husks.

- ‘They call this corn?!? Dead cows are eating better than we are, people!” I’ll shuck & soak or boil first in sugar/salt water

 

[Freddyt]

I "kinda" shuck mine, carefully, just to get the silk off before it hits the grill. then cover it back up and go for it. If the husks char you get a nice smokey corn flavor that works well with the sweet.

If you are doing a BBQ you can do flavored butters for the corn too.

Latin Spiced Butter
8 Tablesoons butter (softened)
1 tsp Chili powder
1 Clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1.2 tsp grated lime zest.

Mix it up and roll it up like a sausage in plastic food wrap and you can keep it for a couple days in the fridge.

Chespeake Bay Butter
8 tablespoons unsalted softened butter
1 TSP hot sauce
1 TSP Old Bay seasoning
1 clove garlic minced

Mix it up and roll it up like a sausage in plastic food wrap and you can keep it for a couple days in the fridge.

Barbecue -Scallion Butter
8 tablespoons softened butter
2 tblspn. barbecue sauce
1 scallion minced

Mix it up and roll it up like a sausage in plastic food wrap and you can keep it for a couple days in the fridge.

 

[nursenurse]

I am waiting for corn season, I live close to the city borders so a short drive gets me out to the farms and the trucks/stands that pop up everywhere.. No one living with me to share on a daily basis, which is quite fine by me. Corn for a few stand alone meals is one of life’s guilty pleasures, and the season is too short to not indulge/

 

[Friday]

Chopped Salad

There are 10,000 versions of this salad. This just happens to be mine.

My mom’s adds olives & bacon.
My sister adds avocado & bacon & omits tomatoes.
9,997 versions left!


- Iceberg lettuce cut into apx 1 cm squares

- Chooped Italian Dry Salami / Soppresata / Genovase or similar
- Chopped cooked/cold Chicken
- Shredded Mozzarella
^^^ Add roughly equal parts to ziplock bag & shake! Place in container for people to serve themselves, or on a plate based with lettuce, cover 1/4.

- Chopped Tomatoes (salt & pepper)
- Chopped Basil
- Chopped Green Onions
- Can of rinsed garbanzo beans / chick peas
^^^ Set out in individual containers for people to serve themselves, or on a plate based with lettuce, & 1/4 meat & cheese, create colorful lines to fill the other 1/4.

- Sherry Vinegarette (Sherry vinegar, Olive oil, salt & pepper = base Add shallots, fines herbs, etc., or nada). ….Or? Store bought Italian dressing. But it’s really the same durn thing.

The restaurant version of this salad is apx 2/3s lettuce to 1/3 topping.
My preferred ratio is in reverse!!!

 

[Friday]

Creamy Poblano Chicken Nachos

- Chicken thighs, roughly chopped
- Onion (apx 1/3 chicken volume), roughly chopped
- A couple cloves of garlic, minced
- Olive oil
- Salsa verde
- Creamy poblano sauce
- Tortilla Chips
- Pico de Gallo
- OPTIONAL : Preserved Poisonous Cow Juice (cheese )

Stirfry chicken with onion & garlic, until chicken temps at 180. Set off heat, and add salsa verde.

Nip naked chips into 350-400F oven to crisp up (few minutes)

Smother chips with chicken, creamy poblano sauce, and make colorful with pico.

Creamy Poblano Sauce
- Add your reserved charred/rinsed poblano pepper (minus stem) to a blender with cashew cream, lime juice, cilantro stems, salsa verde, salt, & pepper. Whirl until smooth. Drizzle over virtually anything.

Pico de Gallo.
- (Chopped or diced) tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeños, Serrano -or- green bell pepper for mild heat, fresh cilantro, lemon & lime juice, salt, and a rather alarming amount of fresh cracked black pepper. Let sit in a bow or ziplock to meld

OPTIONAL … Anyone not allergic to cheese? Please feel free to scatter a handful of pepper jack, or whatever, over chips before nipping into oven.

<<< NOTE: I’ve worked at a zillion restaurants who make their nachos this way; straight cheese over chips, melt in oven, top with chili and everything including the kitchen sink. It’s an annoying cheat, to save on food costs, increase up sales (Chili, bacon, jalapeños, etc.) and keep drunk people happy with crunchy food longer, (as melty cheese & chili does eventually soak into the chips) increasing drinks sales, as dry crunchy salty things? Need washing down.

f*ck. That. Noise.

Get a sauté pan out. Add about a cup of half & half and a giant handful of shredded cheese, over medHigh heat. Stir. For all of about 2 minutes. VOILA. Creamy, melty, ooey gooey cheese sauce. One better? Some salsa or Pico nipped in with the half & half. A thousand times better than Tostitos Queso in a jar. Feeling like beer cheese nachos? Add some strongly flavored beer to your cream, reduce it down for a few minutes until I t’s back to your half&half “wateryness” (technical term), then add cheese.

Beer cheese sauce, by the by? Turns any leftover beef from last night, into OMFG. 2 minutes worth of work, for a whole new dish. 10 minutes if you want to add a side of mushrooms. That’s my faaaaave kinda cooking: all the work was done yesterday!

 

[nursenurse]

Was requested to make halouskie, hakuski….whatever…cabbage and noodles or a spaetzle type dumpling…hated these when growing up, but who can say no to wee pillowy dumplings with fried cabbage and onions, and maybe a bit of bacon since I have some lovely chunks begging to be rendered in the freezer? My Dad used to say we (my brother and I) did not know what we were missing. More than 50 years later, I am going to try and find out….

 

[LuckiLee]

Sounds lovely, @nursenurse. You had me at "wee pillowy dumplings".