What's for dinner?

[dewdropper]

I call this Susan’s Six Hour Tabbouleh, because my knife skills/speed are in the lowest percentile.  For a highly skilled cooks, a matter of a few minutes’ time.
 
This recipe is based on shopping at the Buford Hwy Farmer’s Market.
 
4 medium size tomatoes on the vine
3 bunches green onions
2 bunches mint
2 bunches parsley.  I used Italian flat leaf but the regular curly stuff works well, too.
3 lemons
1 ½ cup of Bob’s Red Mill Bulgur Wheat (available in organic foods section any grocery store)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
 
1.       Put 1 ½ cup bulgur in a bowl and add 2 cups water.   It will need to sit for a couple hours at least. Stir occasionally during that time.
2.       Dice tomatoes, green onions, mint and parsley. (this is the part that takes me an insane amount of time)
3.       Check bulgur and ‘mop up’ any water that has not soaked into the bulgur.
4.       Get a large bowl and put in the bulgur and all diced vegetation.
5.       Pour a generous amount of olive oil, more than you think necessary, and stir to combine.
6.       Juice a lemon and add it, as well as salt and pepper, being generous with the salt.
7.       Taste to see if sufficiently tangy.  Keep adding lemon juice and salt to taste. I used 3 small lemons and it worked well.
 
It always tastes better 2-3 days later.

[AndyBoy]

I made chili last night from ground turkey and it was very good on a cool night. Also Parker House rolls, a recipe from Saveur Magazine that was good but I may try another next time, they took much longer to cook than direction called for. I used the bread proofing setting on our new oven and it worked like a charm getting a really high rise from the dough.

[LizR]

I can vouch for the deliciousness of DDs tabbouleh, really lemony and green!

AndyBoy - I love parker house rolls but have not had any great home made ones. Let us know if you find a good recipe for home cooks.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

I can vouch for the deliciousness of DDs tabbouleh, really lemony and green!

AndyBoy - I love parker house rolls but have not had any great home made ones. Let us know if you find a good recipe for home cooks.

I am not Andy, but here is one I have used and tested though not in a while.  Feel free to change the yeast..

 
      Title: Parker House Rolls
 Categories: Breads
      Yield: 24 Rolls
 
      1    Yeast, compressed cube
           -or some amount of dry (2 pkgs will be plenty)
    1/4 c  Sugar
  1 3/4 ts Salt
    1/4 c  Shortening, melted
    3/4 c  Water, lukewarm
    3/4 c  Milk, scalded and cooled
  5 1/4 c  Flour or a little more
 
   Soften yeast in cooled milk.
   Add salt, shortening, sugar, and water.
   Add flour, a little at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
   Turn onto lightly floured board and knead until smooth.
   Cover with a warm, damp cloth.  Let rise until double in bulk.
   Roll to 1/3 inch thickness. Some directions say 1/2 inch.
   Cut in rounds 2 inches in diameter. I use 2 1/2 inch.
   Crease middle of each with dull edge of knife.
   Brush 1/2 lightly with butter
   Fold over, pressing together with palms. Or use spatula.
   Place close together in rows on well-oiled baking sheet.
   Cover and let rise until treble in bulk.
   Bake in hot oven (450=F8 F) 15-18 minutes. 24 rolls.
   For Whole Wheat Parker House Rolls: Substitute whole wheat flour for 1/2
  the white flour. Add sufficient white flour to make a dough just stiff
  enough to knead.
   The Household Searchlight ~ 1941
 
  Redone and tested 11/24/97

[AndyBoy]

We have had visitors for the last 2 weekends so it was nice to have a quiet house last night. I had this duck that was going to be on the menu for a meal but somehow got overlooked. I roasted it on the Egg for supper and at one point it hit close to 700º before I closed off the air flow and brought it down to less than 400º for the final cook. It was basted in soy sauce, maple syrup, five spice, garlic and ginger the last 30 minutes or so. The skin was so crisp you could strike a match on it.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Click on this for more Fresh Tuna Nicoise pictures


Recipe in Cooking Light August issue page 79. 

We have fresh tuna in the freezer from my trip out to San Diego in August, I am always trying to find a new and different way to prepare it, since we have a fair amount.  I saw a recipe in Cooking Light magazine that looked really interesting and had several layers of flavor and ingredients enough that it could/would be a complete meal.  There was plenty-O-tuna so I did NOT fix boiled eggs for two reasons, #1 is that I am not that fond of boiled eggs and #2 there was enough protein in the tuna that I/we didn't need it.  Here is a bit of the process and yes, this time I did include a picture of the finished/plated dinner.

Here is the final step and the quickest, one day I am going to learn how to do this and be behind the camera at the same time.  Yes the tuna got a slight bit overcooked but just barely, it was still wonderful and I would do this recipe again.



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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Sometimes simple is just so, so good.

Last night I wanted fried peppers and sausage sortof/kinda like my grandmother made 'em.  So I grilled some nice fresh hot Italian sausage on the Big Green Egg and then slowly sautéed the peppers (and onions) and later added the sliced up sausage and a handful of seeded Kalamata olives.  I had some Leftover fingerling potatoes and resisted mashing them to serve on their own in the bowl with the peppers and sausage.  I only salted the potatoes.

Here is the sausage, cooked over a low fire until golden.



Here is a look at the pan full of goodies



And here is a shallow bowlful of goodness.



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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

I went for the lean........................     fixing some pork chop-things tonight that seem to be cut out of the loin.  Along with them some sweet potatoes, a new (or an old) recipe for Brussels sprouts and a pearl onion and Gala apple sauce. 

This dinner fashioned after a Cooking Light recipe..     Sept. 2012  Page 72.

I like this book now that they have settled on a format.   I certainly like the index of recipes in the back of the magazine so that I can quickly find them see if one applies to what I have in my larder.

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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

I caved in to a LO slaw and some good Cajun Roast Beef sandwiches.   I might put that Chipotle Ghouda on them or perhaps the Horseradish Cheddar.

I am anxious to give this a try. 

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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

It is a stew/soup kinda day with a bit of sleet showing up on our deck at about 4:30pm.  So I made a stew, sure I jacked it around a bit but this is the script.   I did swim a Habanero through the beef, and jacked up the amount of both Bay and Thyme.  I do it the stupid old way cooking the beef in it's own juices and wine and in another pot I sweat/cook the vegetables until they are perfect to marry and add the mushrooms, the flour slurry and the last bit of seasoning adjustment before service.  I will have some nice bread for sopping ready when this is finished. 

I didn't add the smoked bacon rinds that I have in back-up, but I feel sure it will be full of flavor. 


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[dewdropper]

If your address ever gets out, there will be some hungry folks wandering around like the "Walking Dead" outside your home.  I can get a sort of synesthesia of reading your words/imagining how delicious this stew would be.  New Orleans is a mere 15 days from now; am watching Treme religiously and cannot wait to get there!  Thank you, Mike, you are one awesome guy!

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Okay, I am in over my head.   I bought some nice 6" long frozen squid bodies at Super H. Mart a while back and thawed two of them to have for dinner one night this week. Well one thing and another and I didn't get around to fixing them (but I had no real ideas what to do with them anyhow)... So tonight, and this may NOT be for dinner tonight, I used my induction burner set to 120º and filled a pan with water (a shallow pan), added three lemongrass stalks cut in the Cuisinart at 1mm thickness a bit of salt, a half dozen garlic cloves tossed into the Cuisinart along with one of those Peruvian Rocoto peppers.  I set the timer on 40 minutes guessing that a low temperature approach might tenderize them for later eating (I might have to re-freeze them).  I slit them open and gently cross-hatched one side of them so they wouldn't curl but that didn't work at all, they are kindof curled up in my lidded 30 year old Stainless Steel Saute pan with about 20 minutes left of the 40 I started.   

How do any of you fix/cook/prepare those beautiful tender squid bodies that are available to us and are relatively inexpensive?

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[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

Soft flour tortillas wrapped around some pork and vegetables. 


Some nice very thinly sliced-cooked on the Big Green Egg-pork chunks (whatever Country style means)..

Some seriously doctored refried beans, a big onion, red pepper contingency, and the juice of a whole orange (large) and the pulp of a VERY ripe persimmon will heat the meat.  I have flour tortillas and cilantro on the ready. 

I stepped up the cumin (toasted and ground tonight), in both the refried beans and the orange juice syrup that I'll heat up the meat.

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[Jmolinari]

In the life of a 2 kid household, (one of which goes to bed at like 6pm!?) i've really learned to love my pressure cooker.
Yesterday was caramelized pumpking risotto, cooked in 7 minutes. Never am i going back to the standard method. Every grain was perfect.
Also made a pork and poblano stew in 30 minutes in the cooker for tonights dinner.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

In the life of a 2 kid household, (one of which goes to bed at like 6pm!?) i've really learned to love my pressure cooker.
Yesterday was caramelized pumpking risotto, cooked in 7 minutes. Never am i going back to the standard method. Every grain was perfect.
Also made a pork and poblano stew in 30 minutes in the cooker for tonights dinner.

Give us a bit of instruction on that pressure cooker risotto, it looks and sounds great..

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