Whatcha Cooking today?

[Tormato]

I had some blackened zucchini, by accident.

[JRinPA]

Yeah that happens.

I was just down at one of the freezers, pulled out summer sausage, some gifted summer baloney, coarse venison for chili, two packs of pheasant legs...and I found another bag of poppers!
I defrosted the pheasant legs for the crock pot for slow cooker barbecue. Then found out that one pack is actually breasts, marked legs. So I'll make quesadillas instead with them. Went and found another pack of legs.

As soon as that was in the crockpot, poppers! I packed them in multiples of 7, that is about what I can take without regretting it. Most gallon bags have 21 or 28 in them. That first one was HOT!

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[karstopography]

Love me some poppers!

We seem to be on a beef kick. Tonight, it was meatloaf and asparagus. Fresh Asparagus are inexpensive currently.

[worth1]

I did a fast meatloaf with eggplant and sweet fried peppers in olive oil.
Flaked salt from the island of Cyprus.

Cooked the meatloaf just wrapped in aluminum foil.

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[pepperhead212]

I made a delicious dish tonight, using some of those greens I harvested last night, from the hydroponics. It's an Indian chickpea dish - Chana Saag - which I started last night by soaking them overnight in a baking soda solution, then cooking it in some salted water, in the Instant Pot, before starting the rest of the dish. Here's the recipe I based it on, making some changes.
One was the different greens - mostly those Russian kale, but also some bok choy leaves - all the small leaves forming on those bolting plants, I removed. I did the tarka at the end, with the ghee, which is definitely noticeable in the final dish, which is darker than the one in their pictures, due to the kale, and cooking longer than the spinach based one. I served it with a reheated naan, which I had frozen (I'll have to make more of those!).
https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/ch ... iner-90572

The onion, garlic, ginger, and greens, cooked and cooled, ready to blend smooth. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Smooth mix for the Chana Saga recipe. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The tarka, of garlic, Kashmiri peppers, and asafetida, cooked in ghee, added to the finished saag. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Chana Saag. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

This should prove to be interesting.
Thin shoulder steak.
Smoked hog jowl.
Homemade sauerkraut with carrots and cabbage.
Ground caraway seeds and real cinnamon.
Raisins.
Deli pickle.

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[JRinPA]

Yeah I'm paying attention.
Okay, what real cinnamon versus, fake cinnamon?

I just picked some overwintered spinach in the rain...making some tacos this afternoon.

[pepperhead212]

Real cinnamon, a.k.a. true cinnamon, or Ceylon cinnamon, or Sri Lankan cinnamon. Mexican cinnamon, or canela, is a version of this. Fake cinnamon is cassia, which is what you normally see as cinnamon. And Vietnamese cinnamon is stronger cassia, with a higher percentage of cinnamon oil. True cinnamon has a milder flavor, which doesn't overpower savory dishes that it's used in.

[worth1]

It's Rinderrouladen.

Next I caramelized some onions in EVOO with two slices of smoked hog jowl chopped up.
Added.....
Ground caraway seeds and star anise and black pepper.
Stirred around and added.
1 28 ounce can of red gold diced tomatoes.
1 28 ounce can of Cento tomato puree.
About a cup of raisins.
1/4 cup of burgundy wine.
1/8 cup of sugar.
Big splash of Worcestershire sauce.
6 ground cloves.
A goodly amount of real cinnamon probably 2 tablespoons.
A half cup of water to deglaze my browning skillet dumped in.
The rest of my homemade sauerkraut probably 1/4 cup or a little more.
1/2 stick of salted butter.

I hope I didn't miss anything.
This is not a tart tomato sauce and it isn't overwhelming sweet.
But it is absolutely delicious and nobody would know what the devil you put in it.
The meat is now completely submerged in said sauce to slowly braise for about 3 hours or so on low heat in the oven.
Probably around 250F.

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[JRinPA]

Deer tacos, meat fried off in tallow. I think I have pretty much perfected that mix. Topped with fresh spinach. Sharp cheddar and monterrey jack. Salsa from the big cook few years back - still great. Flour tortilla in same oil as poppers - can taste some heat in that oil now.

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[worth1]

The beef rolls came out excellent.
You could cut it with a fork and chew it with your lips.
The tomato gravy was a real winner as well.

[Sue_CT]

Pizza. White pizza with Broccoli Rabe, Prosciutto and Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese as the main ingredients, also “extreme garlic” olive oil, freshly grated Parmesan, and Mozzarella.

[JRinPA]

Ahh, now I want to make pizza. Made strombolis last week, pizzas the week before. But I have pastrami and rye screaming to made into reubens...

Hey has any tried this...I forget the name, it is an orange bottled sauce that has "dragon fruit" in it. Some Tic Tok craze thing. I bought it a couple months ago at $1.25 tree just to see what it was. It is a little spicy, but it was not terrible on the last reubens. I kept it on the side, of course.

Reubens or pizza, hmm.

[Sue_CT]

I bought some deli corned beef to make sandwiches on rye toast with sauerkraut and made two. Not a single bottle of Russian dressing left in the store but they were still delicious! I did those first and moved on to pizza, lol. I have been really bad lately, lol. Started getting on the treadmill twice a day so I can indulge and at least not gain any weight even if I haven’t lost much either. Can’t keep eating like this though. Still nice to take a bit of a break and indulge a bit.

[worth1]

Using the Aebleskiver pan to make Kartoffelpuffers again.
These will have the sauce I made for the rinderrouladen put on them.
Each hole takes a heaping packed 1/4 measuring cup to fill humped up.

They fried on the stove top and are now in the oven at 375F.
At 15 minutes I turned the oven on broil for another 5 minutes on lower rack to help crisp up the top.
That didn't work so I removed them.
Then flipped and pressed back into the moulds and back in the oven.
This is because it's more even heat than the glass top stove.

Lots of tedious things to do but I enjoy it.
Here they are.
Perfect potato balls about 2 1/8th in diameter.
No stick and the cast iron will be wiped out with a paper towel and hung back up.

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[worth1]

Here's everything together ready to eat.
Cilantro for garnish.

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[JRinPA]

That is pretty funny Sue. I didn't have time to make dough so I went with reubans. I use Boyer Towne Inn Russian dressing, which is a local Russian dressing. That is probably $6 a pint now. Might have been $6 last time, and it is almost empty. So this tik tok stuff is called "Pink" sauce, though I would call it orange or salmon. I again put some of each on the side, really not too bad. I guess, to me, it tastes like a Russian dressing with some horseradish in it? Clearly that is not what it is made from, first ingredient is "dragon fruit puree", but that is sort of the taste I get, like a good dressing ruined with a groundy heat.

I have one Reuben left over, for a few minutes yet.

Here is a pic of my house pastrami. Very low fat. Dressings make up for that.

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A reheated Reuban tops most fresh sandwiches! Pink Sauce on top. Russian on the bottom.

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[Sue_CT]

That looks delicious! Tonight I just finished 2, yes 2, grilled salmon tacos. Homemade tortilla, cilantro lime rice and salmon grilled with a cilantro flavored olive on top of the rice, then drizzled with a little jalapeño olive oil for a little kick, and cilantro lime creama. I tried the Costco brand creama but honestly, I really prefer my homemade. Yummy.

[Tormato]

I think that I'll stay out of the kitchen for awhile. First it was the burnt zucchini...

Today I made meatloaf. It takes one hour total time to bake, 50 minutes of just the meatloaf, then brush on the ketchup/brown sugar glaze, and 10 more minutes in the oven until done. I added the glaze at the half hour mark, put it back in the oven and rechecked the time. Pulled it out of the oven, tried to wipe all of the glaze off with paper towels...

At least it's better than several years ago, when I cut my hand, then started cooking with the other hand, burned that other hand...

[AKgardener]

Cuban sandwiches