Whatcha Cooking today?

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

Little Potato Company (a WESconsin company!) Fresh Creamer Blushing Belle spuds supplied me with a rare opportunity to grill 'em; that there green you's see is courtesy of freshly cut Dill.

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And Parmesan Garlic (last year's crop stragglers) Crusted Salmon

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Mmmmmmmmm!

The Gotch

[karstopography]

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Suyo long cucumber in Mexican Crema, plus dill.

[worth1]

@karstopography
What happened to the picanha?

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@karstopography; recipe for those delightful lookin' Cukes?

They're rollin' in at the Jardín del Gotch (just picked another ~15 inch/38cm beauty this morning!) and that sure looks yummy!

The Gotch

[karstopography]

@worth1 I made the picanha one day, Thursday maybe. I bought three and froze two. HEB had choice picanha for $5 something a pound. No photo of the picanha, but it turned out tasty.

@Cornelius_Gotchberg that was a couple suyo long cucumbers sliced almost paper thin, sharp knife necessary. Dressing was mexican sour cream and dill leaf, salt and pepper. Mexican Crema is somehow different than Daisy sour cream, more creamy or something, but the dear wife loves it and I do also. When she made this with regular sour cream, she’d add a touch of vinegar, but omits that step with the Mexican crema.

[karstopography]

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Lunch, Free range Ganado Texas eggs (daughter’s) made into egg salad. Burman’s mayo (who knew that cheap Aldi brand was so tasty) handful of Aldi spanish pimento stuffed green olives chopped up and added to the eggs and mayo. White wonder tomato on the side. I like these white tomatoes, white wonder and great white, they are not really white, and will grow them again.

[worth1]

Speed cooked blackeyed peas and tenderloin of squash cooked medium rare.

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[pepperhead212]

I made something in my Instant Pot today - an Indian dish similar to that Chole Masala I made a while back, using that same spice mix I made then. I first made up a mix of 1/3 c each of toor dal, mung dal, and masoor dal, plus 1/2 c whole oat groats. I just cooked this in 4 1/2 c water, and 1/2 tb salt - seasoning came later - for 13 min, and let the pressure release naturally. While that cooked, I got all the other ingredients ready. When the pressure was released, I removed the dal mix into a bowl. Then used the IP to sauté the onions in 2 tb coconut oil, followed by the peppers, for several minutes, until softened. Then I cooked the garlic, ginger, and chili mix about a minute, with 3 tb of the chole masala spice mix, then I added the tomatoes - a generous 2 c chopped up - and 3/4 tsp turmeric. I cooked this on sauté/low, until very thick, stirring frequently. Then I stirred in all the vegetables, and 1/2 c water, brought it to a boil, hit "off", then slow cook/high, covered, and simmered about 25 minutes. Then, I stirred in the dal mix, a little more water, and 3/4 tsp garam masala, and let it cook while I prepared the tarka. For this I heated 1 tb coconut oil over a medium heat, adding the tsp each of mustard seed and cumin seed, and when it started crackling, the pepper pieces, and after 30 sec or so, 12 curry leaves, and 1/2 tsp asafoetida, and after 20 sec or so, scraped it into the IP, mixed it in, and served it with some cilantro. Tomorrow I'll take some over to my friend's house, with a couple of chutneys I know they love. And she always has some flatbreads!
5 days worth of okra, to put in an Indian dish I threw together. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Onions, and the minced up ginger, garlic, and green chili pepper. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Diced up bottle gourd, to cook with the okra. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About 2 cups of sweet peppers, to add to the veggies. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About 2 cups of tomatoes, to be chopped up fine, for the sauce. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bottle Gourd and okra, stirred into the seasoned tomato sauce, to be simmered about 25 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The cooked dal and oat mix, stirred into the vegetables. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Seasonings for the tarka, mustard seed and cumin seed, kashmiri chili, and asafetida with cumin leaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Stirring the tarka in, to temper the dish, and cook a few minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished vegetable subzi, made with some of the chole masala, 3 dals, and some oat groats. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Got this wild idea on the way home from work.
I had some Alfredo sauce and vermicelli.
Can of carrots.
A squash.
Just cooked the squash in the pasta and skimmed it off at my preferred doneness of about 6 minutes.
Second time this week I think I didn't eat meat.

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[worth1]

Fish and chips con okra Texas style.

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[worth1]

Since I found some homemade sweet Italian sausage I'm having it with spaghetti and tomato sauce made with tomato puree.

[worth1]

Never got around to the spaghetti.
Instead after all my work making sausage.
Picking peppers.
And fermenting cucumbers.
I decided to enjoy it.
Plus there are sweet onion slices and some horseradish.

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[karstopography]

Chicken Paprikash. Read that along with Goulash, Chicken Paprikash is a National dish of Hungary.

We loved it. I used about 4 tablespoons of the paprika I made a week ago, one whole, cut up 4# chicken (smallest I could find), onion, garlic, one red Avjarski pepper, three small Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes, chicken broth, sour cream, cream, a little flour.

Would next time just use chicken thighs and drumsticks. Wings are wasted in this type of recipe. Breasts are so thick. But, Wonderful deep flavors created in the sauce, chicken gets first browned then braised in the sautéed onions, tomatoes, garlic, pepper, paprika and broth. Sour cream, cream, and flour gets added in to thicken the sauce at the ends.

We served it over noodles. Evidently, in Hungary, it is a special spaetzle they use.

So glad I made paprika.

[JRinPA]

Just finishing up the second smoker load of summer sausage. Cooling down while I wait.
Rhubarb Ice Milk

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[worth1]

I forgot to show a picture of the sausage cooking in a skillet.
The grease is from the taste test patties.

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[worth1]

Getting around to making my spaghetti sauce.
Browned onion in oil.
Added fresh crushed garlic.
Ground up in the molcajete.
Mexican oregano.
Cumin.
Fennel.
Added.
Marjoram.
Allspice.
Paprika.
Turmeric.
Freshly ground black pepper.
Freshly ground chili de Arbol.

Let everything toast in the hot oil.
Added homemade sweet Italian sausage.
Tomato puree.
Rhine wine.
Worcestershire sauce.
A1 Sauce.
Tomato bullion powder for the needed salt.
Letting simmer.
Will add fresh home grown basil at the end.
Flavor is fantastic.
I don't measure with instruments but it always comes out the same.

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[karstopography]

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Speckled trout, Sand trout and an Atlantic Croaker all caught Saturday in Drum Bay, on artificial lures and flies. First okra of the year, didn’t plant it until mid May. True Thai Jasmine rice Aldi sells. Amazing.

Eat lower on the food chain is good it is said, especially when we are talking about fish. Dinner was scrumptious.

[pepperhead212]

I haven't cooked anything here for a few days, except boiling water for iced tea, and steamed a couple of veggies in the MW. It's just been too hot!

Today I had a couple more bowls of that gazpacho, for lunch, then in the late afternoon, and then I made a salad later on, with some cooked barley, some diced tomatoes and cucumbers, a very small clove of garlic, mashed, and minced with a generous amount of basil and a jalapeño pepper, some diced feta cheese, and some snipped garlic chives. The dressing was some white rice vinegar and a fairly strong EVOO, salt, and a generous amount of black pepper.

I found the frozen (!) barley when I was putting some things in the freezer a couple of days ago, and it was about 2 c, left from a bunch I had cooked a couple of months ago, and it froze well - just thawed it, rinsed it well, and drained. I halved the cucumber, scooped out the seeds, and diced it - ended up being about half the volume of the tomatoes, that I kept adding, until it looked right! I used a large Amish Gold Slicer, which is a fairly fleshy tomato, and a smaller Brandyboy F2, a fairly fleshy one, too, and the best tasting! I diced up 4 green grapes, adding them one at a time, until it looked about right. Then I stirred in the other ingredients. Absolutely delicious, and 2 bowls left for tomorrow!

The feta was a new (to me) variety I got from Aldi, and it was good, but mild, because it's a cow's milk cheese - has a buttery flavor, which would be good in a pasta, where the feta is the main flavor, but it isn't noticed as much here. I used to use one from Trader Joe's, but I haven't been there in a LONG time! So another, even stronger brand I get at Shop-Rite - Dodoni - and that's what I usually put in these salads I make in the summertime.

Amish Gold Slicers, to dice up for salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Barley, tomato, cucumber, and feta salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Feta cheese from Aldi, used in salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[karstopography]

Made Chicago dogs last night, Martha Stewart’s Recipe. Buns get brushed with butter and sprinkled with poppy seeds and put in the oven, really just warmed up. The hot dogs get put into hot water to warm up. Once everything is hot, the dog gets put in the bun, a pickle spear goes on one side, two tomato slices, half moons, get put on the other side, then sweet relish, then mustard, then pepperocini, then chopped onion, then finally, a dash of celery salt.

Had three of the four kids at dinner, plus a DIL. Doesn’t seem they had partaken of Chicago dogs in the past, but they liked them very much.

Had fourteen buns, 8 pepperidge farm top sliced, 6 Aldi brioche. Had fourteen dogs, 8 Nathan’s and 6 Hebrew National.

I had one of each. My palate isn’t sensitive enough to tell the difference between the two dogs or buns other than the brioche bun was very buttery. I did end up putting a few slices of an orange ripe Aji Cristal on one of the hot dogs.

Tomato slices were big beef and Paul Robeson. I think the Hot Dog makers do batch labeling as the sodium on the packages doesn’t match an online search of the sodium on a label in either case. So they must make a run, measure the sodium, then print the labels. Neither Hebrew National nor Nathan’s label on the packages I bought match an online version of the exact same product. Nathan’s had dropped their sodium level on this label compared to the one I found online and Hebrew National’s was up.

If I’m ever in Chicago again and there’s a street cart selling hot dogs, I’m getting a Chicago dog.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday I did a stirfry side dish using the snake beans, a few mushrooms that needed using and stuff from the garden; the first six green beans, a small yellow squash, scallions, garlic and one TAM jalapeno. I added soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil. It was quite tasty. The snake beans are those inch long pieces that look like asparagus.



Next time I will marinate, stirfry and add some pork to the mix to make it a main dish.