Whatcha Cooking today?

[pepperhead212]

This was more of a late lunch, but I'll probably have another bowl later, too! It is the first dish I make every season, when I start getting enough cherry tomatoes, and I had more than enough on the counter today that were ripe.

It's that lentil salad I make many times every season, that also has a habanero, though for the first ones I have to use frozen ones in, as they don't ripen until late July/early August. Had to use two frozen, but when fresh off the plant, only one is needed! The original recipe only called for 2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes, but I eventually increased that to 5 cups! That's the ingredient that I have to wait for.
Another ingredient from the garden is the garlic chives, but those are around long before the tomatoes show up!
Here's that first batch of lentil salad I look forward to every season! 7-7 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

I bought 12 giant chicken legs for a pinch over 5 dollars.
Going to have fried Hot Legs.
As opposed to hot wings.
They're soaking in a salt brine for about an hour.

[Sue_CT]

Worth I WANT SOME! I have been trying to eat healthier, but I miss my butter, my hamburgers, bacon, etc. Crispy chicken skin with buttery hot sauce sounds AWESOME!

[worth1]

Worth I WANT SOME! I have been trying to eat healthier, but I miss my butter, my hamburgers, bacon, etc. Crispy chicken skin with buttery hot sauce sounds AWESOME!

Wings are out for me.
They used to be cheaper than dirt thus the popularity of said hot wing.
Not understanding the continued popularity of them.
Not logical at all.

[worth1]

I also bought 2 beef kidneys and two packs of beef livers.
They went in the freezer for a future sausage.
I need to get some beef suet and beef sweet breads to mix in.
It'll be a really fine grind old school sausage.

[Sue_CT]

I prefer the leg "wings" anyway. But the cost of chicken is so high righ now. Pork is the white meat of choice for a budget around here right now. Seems to be on sale more than any chicken.

[worth1]

@Sue_CT
Legs were $1.09 a pound.

[worth1]

Chicken frying with a mixture of habanero sauce Gochujang buttermilk egg wash flipped in 1/3 corn starch and 2/3 flour.
Next a sauce made with my homemade habanero oil butter and my homemade orange/habanero spread.
The stuff I made using orange rind habanero and sugar cooked down into a spread and blended.
Flavor profiles are sweet orange buttery oily and habanero hot.
That's a 10 inch deep fry skillet so you can see how big the legs are.
I taste tested the sauce and it needed more habanero sauce.

[Sue_CT]

Not in Connecticut they aren't, lol!

[worth1]

The legs hit the spot and much more.
Waiting for mouth to cool off..
They were dipped in blue cheese dressing

[Sue_CT]

Actually not as bad here as other types of chicken. I just checked, 1.59/lb. Bone in split chicken breast is 3.59/lb. Saw a package of 4 split chicken breasts, so 2 whole breasts split in half was over 15.00.

[karstopography]

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This hammered copper top gets quite hot on a sunny July day. A project I did during the early Covid hunkering down. I did it because I didn’t ever want to have to refinish the wood top. Plus, I used hundreds of copper nails and it felt good beating those into the wood. Who knew it would be a great surface to sun dry peppers on? I gave my dehydrator to the cowgirl daughter. I hate those noisy, electricity hogging things anyway.

[worth1]

It's Fry-day night and taking full advantage of it.
Fried chicken leg fried yeller squash fried fish fried taters.
Fried i tell ya.

[worth1]

I had a cucumber and was eating on half a seedless watermelon.
Decided to combine the two to make a cucumber watermelon Agua Fresca.
Ingredients were simple.
One big peeled cucumber.
And a little under half a seedless watermelon.
Put watermelon chunks in blender and liquefied.
Poured most out and added cucumber chunks.
Salt lime juice sugar was added to original mix to taste.
Mixed everything up and it made a half gallon.
Letting everything settle and the foam dissappear.
Going to take awhile.

[worth1]

Cucumber watermelon Agua Fresca with a good healthy shot of Valentina black label hot sauce and cucumber spears.
Not as strange as you might think.

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[pepperhead212]

Earlier today, I had a craving for Mexican, so I made something using those tomatoes I had to trim the bad parts out of - ended up being 3 cups of them in the Vitamix, to which I added about a half cup of those garlic scapes, and 3 canned chipotles and 3 dried moritas. I blended this for 3 minutes or more, 'til it was steaming, then poured into the Instant Pot. Set it to sauté/high, and cooked it down to a very thick sauce, stirring frequently, while dicing up one of the bottle gourds, and those two sambar cucumbers. These smelled and tasted like any other cukes, but are often cooked, in Indian dishes. This was over 3 cups of vegetables, which I added to the IP, now turned off. Then I added 3 c water, and a scant cup of grits, to which I added about 1/4 c masa harina, to get that flavor. I added about 1½ tb of dark soy, for that umami flavor, and the salt, mixed well, and simmered about 30 min. on slow cook/high, to cook the grits and vegetables, stirring a few times. I stirred in about 3/4 c of that "taco style" cheese from Aldi, and that was it. A delicious Mexican tasting mash, and amazingly, those vegetables still had a bite to them, after cooking over 30 minutes! A summer squash cooked like that would disappear.

Here's what was leftover:
Leftover chipotle grits dish, with diced bottle gourd and cucumber. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Yesterday I had twice fried chicken legs slathered with wishbone blue cheese dressing and Valentina black label hot sauce.
Needed a beach towel to wipe my mouth and face.

Later that night it was a PB&J sandwich.
Plus several cucumber spears to snack on during a movie.
I really like the pickling cucumbers when they are fresh small and super crunchy.
Growing up in the summer it seems I was always eating a cucumber fresh from the garden.

[worth1]

Broke out the mandolin and making potato chips and squash chips.
They look extra brown because that's the way i like them.
I'll pick every over fried potato chip out of a bag and eat it because it's my favorite.

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[karstopography]

Rack of St. Louis cut spare ribs on the BGE. HEB had a deal. Split a whole 6# chicken and have that slid in next to the ribs in the vertical rack. BGE savory pecan seasoning on the ribs, BGE classic steakhouse on the chicken. Hickory chunk for the smoke. Cooking for three people for two nights and lunch tomorrow unless someone else shows up for dinner tonight then will have enough for them. Wife will make some pinto beans and cucumber/tomato salad.

Got the BGE going for the ribs, might as well fill it up with the chicken.

[karstopography]

An Aji Cristal pepper Warsaw Mule. Sobieski 100% Rye Polish Vodka, what a value, 2/3 the price of inferior Titos vodka!, Gosling ginger beer, lime juice, fresh spearmint, sliced and muddled Aji Cristal pepper.

The polish rye vodka has a clean, delicious sharp bite that is perfect for the Moscow, scratch that, Warsaw part. The Aji Cristal has a clean, fruity bite with some kick of heat that pairs great with ginger.