Whatcha Cooking today?

[bower]

Since my oversalted turkey experience, I'm convinced that your own body will react when oversalted, and caused everything to taste too salty the day after - at normal amounts of salt.
The real sodium issue is ultraprocessed food where the saltiness is hidden by a ton load of sugar and other things. For home cooking, salt to taste IMO a fair approach.
That looks like a lovely dinner.
I've been too busy to cook for a couple of weeks, so I guess my cooking and freezing marathon there awhile ago was timely.

[karstopography]

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Redfish on the half shell and squash casserole. I love it when the dinner is mostly made of something I caught and grew and even better when both are delicious.

I seasoned the redfish with fresh minced garlic and a little harissa paste. Harissa is a keeper condiment for this recipe.

Six yellow squash went into the casserole.

[worth1]

Been hitting the low notes recently when it comes to cooking and showing off fancy to me dishes.
Tonight I decided to make chilli spaghetti with my last can of Wolf Brand.
Lord only knows I like making chilli but having a can of chilli to warm up at a moments notice is really convenient.
It's like eating someone else's cooking.
Last night was beef stew.
Still sawing on the German chocolate cake.

Here's the chili spaghetti on steroids.
A big handful of spaghetti cooked.
A can of Wolf Brand chili.
A same size can of diced tomatoes.
A goodly chunk of monster cheese.
Olive oil.
Heat up chili
Cook spaghetti it was over 1 pound didn't measure.
Put hot chili over spaghetti in pan and add pasta water.
Add olive oil.
Add the juice from the diced tomatoes.
Mix a bit but don't go crazy.
Just lift up the pasta a bit so juice runs down.
Put diced tomatoes on top.
Put grated cheese on top of that.
Bake at 375 for around 20 minutes or so.
Let cool and serve.

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[worth1]

Thanks @Sue_CT
It's sort of a spaghetti casserole thing.
Cuts out in squares like lasagna.
Waiting for it to heat up covered in oven for leftovers tonight.

[worth1]

2 pounds of Italian meatballs my way.
1 pound ground chuck on sale.
1 pound mild Italian sausage.
A head of Italian parsley leaves finely chopped saving stalks for the sauce.
Half a huge white onion diced.
Garlic powder tablespoon.
Cumin tablespoon.
Fennel ground handful.
Star anise ground 4 stars.
Mexican oregano half handful.
Black pepper 2 tablespoons.
Salt teaspoon per pound of meat.
Powdered milk half a cup.
3 eggs one jumbo 2 large.
Homemade bread crumbs at least a cup of more.
Corn starch quarter to one third cup.
Dash of water.l probably half cup of less.
Naturally I didn't measure most of this but it's repeatable for me.
Mixed by hand until stiff and sticky.
Letting rest.
The raw stuff tastes really good.

[worth1]

I finely went out in the garage and broke out my 3 quart stainless kettle steamer basket combo contraption.
It's an old Tramontina that has a pasta strainer basket a steamer basket and a lid.
My other two stainless kettles are tied up at the moment one was too small anyway.
I'm making a pasta sauce with ground chuck in it.
Other ingredients are ..
Olive oil.
Slice of bacon.
Half a giant white onion finely chopped.
Stalk of celery finely chopped.
3 sweet colored peppers chopped.
Garlic paste..
Garlic powder.
Black pepper.
Italian parsley stalks finely chopped.
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes for chili.
That's what the can says they may be bigger chunks.
1 15 ounce can of tomato sauce.
1 28 ounce can of tomato puree.
Teaspoon of cumin.
Oregano Mexican.
Basil leaves dried.
Fennel seeds.
Teaspoon of Knorr beef bullion powder.
Dash of Worcester sauce.
Dash of A1 sauce.
Blue cheese.
Dash of lemon lime soda to kill the tartness of the tomatoes.
Water to thin out and cook back down.

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[pepperhead212]

Tonight I made a pasta dish to use up a lb of mushrooms, some more of that choy sum, and some of those very ripe tomatoes. I started with a quarter lb of bacon cut into 1/4" squares, and put it in the Instant Pot, on Sauté medium, and cooked, stirring occasionally, while cutting up a large onion, and I added this, when the bacon was about 3/4 browned, adding a little olive oil (less than a tb of bacon fat rendered), and cooked, while chopping up 6 small cloves of garlic, with about 3 tb of fresh rosemary and 4 tb of fresh sage. When onion was medium browned, I added the garlic and herbs, along with a generous 2 tsp of red miso, and cooked about a minute, stirring constantly, then turned it off, and deglazed the IP with about 1/4 c white vermouth. Then I poured in close to 30 oz of tomatoes, blended into a coarse purée, turned the IP back onto Sauté/medium, and let the sauce cook down, while cleaning, slicing, then cooking the mushrooms, then chopping up the choy sum and parsley. I added about 2 tsp soy, for the salt, and a generous tsp of black pepper, then about 2 tsp red wine vinegar (needed a little more acidity added to the tomatoes). I then added 3 1/2 c water, let it start simmering, then turned it off, stirred in the mushrooms and chopped choy sum stems, and 1 lb of medium shells, and stir to get all the shells under the sauce, seal the lid, set the IP at Manual/3 min., and when the 3 min is up, release the pressure quickly; when totally released, remove lid, and stir in the chopped leaves, stirring for a minute, until wilted, then stir in the parsley, and taste for seasoning. I served with a little grated Asiago on it.
Choy Sum leaves, to add last, after opening the IP, and stirred until wilted, followed by the parsley. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The tomatoes ready for the pasta, after adding the chopped choy sum stems and mushrooms. Chopped leaves go in last, to cook briefly. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished pasta mushroom dish, after stirring in the chopped choy sum leaves, and stirring about a minute, then stirring in the parsley. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished pasta dish, before grating a little Asiago on top. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Nothing spooky here, and the hot peppers and garlic probably kept some of those gremlins away.

I put together what turned out to be a vegan dish (not on purpose), all the way up to the grated Asiago cheese I topped it with, before eating it. It's a one dish Instant Pot dish, I started out like many, cooking on Sauté medium a diced onion (about 1¼ c) in some EVOO - about 3 tb - about 5 min, plus 2 diced green bell peppers, added as I cut them up, and about 2 tb minced garlic, about 1/2 tsp ground cloves, a half tsp ground bay leaves, a generous tsp of Syrian oregano, a generous tsp of cayenne, a tb of smoked paprika, plus 2 tb tomato paste, and this was stirred a little more than a minute, before adding 24 oz of coarsely puréed tomatoes, and stirred until deglazed, then let it cook down, while cutting up the other veggies (I actually started this by soaking about 3/4 lb worth of the dried eggplant, in hot water). I added just under 1/2 c pearled barley (end of the jar), and 1¼ c red chori beans (a type of cowpea), and 4 c water, added some soy sauce, until almost salty enough, added the drained eggplant, then put the lid on, and set to Manual/18 min, and let the pressure release naturally.

I cut up the last of this year's okra - about 1¼ c, cut into about 1/2" pieces. Meanwhile, I cut up the end of the okra into 1/2-3/4" pieces, and the leaves of the choy sum and some Swiss chard, then cut the stems of both into about ¼" pieces.

When the pressure is released, remove the lid, stir in the okra, greens leaves and stems, replace lid, set for Manual/3 min - more cooking before, and when releasing pressure. I tasted for seasoning, adding a little more salt, and a generous half tsp of freshly ground black pepper. I served it with some grated Asiago cheese.
Unnamed one dish meal, a Creole type dish, I put together using a few things left from the garden. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

After cooking the sauce, with some barley and red chori beans, these are the cut up okra, and some of the greens, to mix in, and pressure cook 3 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish, before topping with a little Asiago cheese. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[karstopography]

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With an abundance of yellow squash the struggle becomes what to do with the surplus.

Parmesan sprinkled over squash coins baked in a 425° oven is yummy.

[worth1]

I have no idea but I'm not eating any cake, that's for sure.
Probably a baked potato.

[Julianna]

I made a couple of stir fries today. Mostly just bok choy, mushrooms, baby corn, and onion but with differing sauces. Packed for weekly lunches.

[karstopography]

Baked redfish and yellow squash.

[pepperhead212]

Not a dinner (had some leftovers, as usual), but a side dish, which will probably probably make this my new favorite greens - Wu Choy, this variety "Dark Horse". It is supposed to be hardy to 14° F, and flavor is supposed to improve when the temperature gets from 41-23° F. Since it has been quite cool some nights, and the plants are getting large, I harvested the outer leaves from 3 plants, to get 30 leaves and small stalks, which I cut off, then cut the stalks into 1/2" pieces, and the leaves into about 1' pieces. I stir-fried them in just a couple tsp of oil, starting with the stalks, and after a minute added the leaves, and about a tb of fish sauce (probably should have used 2 tsp, as this was a little much salt), after 30 sec or so, then I added about 2 tb nam prik pao, stir-fried it another 30 sec, and that was it! There was no bitterness at all, like with some similar greens, like tatsoi, and had great flavor. I might plant some in my hydroponics, if I have room.

First wu choy harvested this fall, 30 leaves from just 3 plants, leaving a lot of each plant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



Starting to SF the chopped up wu choy stems, about 2 minutes, before adding the chopped leaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



Adding the wu choy leaves, about 3 quarts chopped up. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



The wu choy leaves, after cooking only about 30 seconds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



Adding about 2 tb nam prik pao, before stir frying another 30 seconds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr



Finished wu choy, as a side dish, with great flavor, and no bitterness at all. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

I ended up having a baked potato and some canned green beans cooked with bacon.

[worth1]

8 piece leg thighs for 10 dollars KFC and my own potatoes and green beans.
I had 3 pieces of chicken so I have leftovers.