Whatcha Cooking today?

[karstopography]

Speaking of grass fed beef, I made hamburgers on the BGE with 85/15 grass fed beef last night. Toasted the sesame seed buns on the grill. Butter crunch lettuce leaves from the garden, store bought and sliced tomato (wish I put in a few fall tomato plants, the weather’s been about ideal), dill pickles, mayo and yellow mustard. Shredded mild cheddar melted onto the patties.

Tonight, the plan is chicken tikka masala. Tomorrow, tri tip. Found some prime tri tips for 5.99/# at HEB, took one home. Can’t really pass up on that deal.

[pepperhead212]

Tonight I made this Indian dish, to use up a bunch of that extra dill I trimmed a couple of nights ago. I have never seen recipes this size that used this much dill! It was really good, and it's only 2 servings, so there's a lot per serving. I saw several recipes, and one had 250 g, the other even more - 4-5 packed cups of leaves! I used the parts I liked from both recipes - one had some onion and tomatoes, the other had some usual tarka recipes, so I made sort of a hybrid. The tarka gave it the usual delicious flavor, plus the fried dal gave it a crunch. I made a type of multi-grain roti, with some ground up brown basmati and spelt, for some of the flours, plus some jowar and besan. Plus some garlic chives and cilantro, chopped up.

Shepu Bheji

1/2 c moong dal, soaked at least 30 min, then drained
250 g dill leaves, large stems removed, then chopped, rinsed, and drained
2 tb oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seed
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 tb channa dal
1 tsp urad dal
2-3 cloves garlic, minced with 2-3 Thai chilis
1 sprig curry leaves, stripped from the stem
1/8 tsp asafoetida
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
Salt to taste, about 1/2 tsp for me

A. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat, and add the mustard seed, cumin, and channa and urad dals, and swirl and stir until it begins to turn gold. Add garlic, chilies, asafoetida, and curry leaves, and stir about 30 sec. Add onions, mix well, and cook about 3-4 min, until translucent. Add tomatoes and turmeric and cook about 7-8 minutes, or until the oil begins to separate some.

B. Add the drained dal, mix well, and reduce heat to med-low. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Mix in the drained dill, cover, and cook another 3 minutes. Serve with some chapati or roti on the side.
250 g dill leaves, for the Shepu Bheji by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients for Shepu Bheji, lined up for cooking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

First ingredients starting to cook for the Shepu Bheji. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Up to adding the garlic for the Shepu Bheji. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finishing off the tomatoes, for the Shepu Bheji. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

First step of cooking the moong dal finished. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Dill added to the Shepu Bheji. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Shepu Bheji finished cooking. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Shepu Bheji, served with a multi-grain roti. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's the multi-grain roti I made. It was just about a third of a cup of brown basmati rice, ground to about a half cup of flour, plus a half cup of jowar, and a quarter cup of spelt flour, plus some chopped garlic chives and cilantro. A half tsp of kashmiri pepper, and a tsp of salt, plus a generous 1/3 c water. This was mixed up, rested, then made into 5 roti, flattened in a tortilla press, then cooked in a cast iron skillet.
Whole-grain roti, just starting to cook. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished whole-grain roti by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[karstopography]

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Chicken Tikka Masala.

[worth1]

4FE70C8F-A7EE-4176-BEBB-20541ADDE62D.jpeg
Chicken Tikka Masala.

Looks familiar.

[maxjohnson]

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[pepperhead212]

I made another one dish pasta meal today in the Instant Pot. This was an Italian style dish, for which I thawed some Italian sausage I had found in my refrigerator freezer; not where I usually keep it, but still good, since it was vacuum sealed. I also got several red bells, which are good in this type of dish. I added seasonings to the sausage, as always! Some of the garlic, sage, and rosemary, that went into the sauce, went into the sage, along with 1/2 tb of wine vinegar - a favorite addition of mine, learned from Mexican chorizo. I cooked that first, on high sauté, then removed, and made the sauce, starting on medium sauté, cooking a chopped onion, adding a large chopped red bell pepper. After about 8 minutes, I added 2 large minced cloves of garlic, and about 2 tsp each minced sage and rosemary (another tsp of each went into the meat), and 2 tb tomato paste, which I cooked until it was totally mixed up, and starting to stick. 1/2 c dry verouth was used to deglaze, then a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes was added, plus 2 fresh bay leaves. Then I covered it, set to 10 minutes on manual, then released quickly, when finished. I then returned the sausage to the pot, about 3 tb chopped parsley, plus 3 c water, I rinsed the can out with. Added a little salt (didn't really need much, with the sausage and canned tomatoes), and 1 lb dry pasta - I used small shell, this time - and mixed well. Then covered, sealed, and set to manual 5 minutes. When done, I stirred in about 3 tb minced basils - about 1/4 of it Thai basil, to add some more anise flavor. Then I served it with grated pecorino. Absolutely delicious, and easy, as well!
Sweet Italian sausage, cooked on high saute, in the Instant Pot, for a pasta dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Onion and red bell pepper, cooked in olive oil, on medium saute mode, in IP. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Sauce with a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, added to the sauteed seasonings, and cooked 10 minutes in high, then released quickly. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Basils being added to the cooked pasta dish - a little steamy, since it was just added! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Instant Pot pasta, just after mixing in the basils. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Instant Pot pasta, ready to eat! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Yep almost like mom used to make.
Refried beans and Mexican rice waiting in the isles.
Easy melt cheese onions ground chuck yellow corn tortillas heated up in la Victoria enchilada sauce.
Oven heated to 350.
Took about 45 minutes to get everything ready.
I felt like Mexican food.

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[worth1]

Plato loco.

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[pepperhead212]

Some friends got a deer yesterday, and gave me a good amount of it again, and cleaned it last night, then cooked the liver this morning, making my usual chipotle sauce, that I originally cooked chicken livers in, and later, beef and pork livers, as well. I cooked it under pressure for 5 minutes, releasing after 10 minutes, and the small piece I tried was tough, which I expected, but also a lot of liquid cooked out. I didn't want to waste it, and there was not enough liver for the amount of sauce, so I cooked about 12 oz of ground venison, to mix with it, and it turned out great.

The sauce, after I fried it, and thickened it greatly, I mixed with the liver and liquid, then added it to the browned meat in the Instant Pot. Then I cooked it on slow cook high, for 3 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, and it thickened nicely, plus tenderized the liver. I took it back over to my friend's house, plus some corn tortillas, which I heated on the open flame on my range (my favorite way of doing this, since it blackens them some), and we finished off all 20 of them! The son (this was his first muzzle loader deer, and he was thrilled about it!) cooked some of the deer in a slow cooker with some seasonings, to make some "pulled venison", but we had to just eat a little of it - the tacos and some veggies totally filled us up. Tomorrow, we'll try some more - I'll have to take even more tortillas!
Chipotle sauce started - the can of tomatoes, blended with garlic cloves, moritas, canned chipotles, then added to the the pan of browned onions. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The chipotle sauce, fried just over 9 minutes, with 2 tb salsa negra added, for more flavor. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cleaned venison liver, cooked in IP for 5 minutes, pressure released after 10 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Venison liver, plus 12 oz ground venison, browned, and mixed with the liver and chipotle sauce, cooked 3 1/2 hrs, on slow cook high. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The father liked the chipotle sauce so much that he told me I'd have to teach him to do it. After I rattled off the recipe, and method to him, he went "Hmmmmm...I think I'll let you keep do it."

[worth1]

Heating up some frozen homemade tamales i found in the freezer.
I hope they're still good.
The coins rattle to let you know you're not out of water.

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[worth1]

This means a giant bag of pre-made tamale filling is still good.
Nothing off about the taste.
Ghost pepper tamale.
This thing is huge.

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[pepperhead212]

This wasn't dinner today, but something I made to take to some friend's house tomorrow, using 2 lbs of that venison they gave me. I made this when it first came out in Cooks Illustrated, Mar/Apr 21, and they loved it, so I doubled this batch. I only took one bite of it, tasting for salt...you wouldn't believe how difficult that is, with all this aroma!
Ingredients for the venison keema, except for the meat. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Whole spices for the keema, frying briefly in oil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Onions added to the spice oil, and cooked about 10 minutes to brown some. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Venison added to the onions, ready to brown the meat. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ground spices, added to the browned meat. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Tomatoes added to the browned meat, ready to add the yogurt. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Keema, with tomatoes, yogurt, and salt stirred in, ready to simmer 18 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished venison keema. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I texted the son this photo, and he said he'd be making some Indian flatbread, and something else to have with it, but he's not sure what.

[worth1]

Monday night was fried fish and French fries.
Cooked some Lima beans for tonight.

[pepperhead212]

Tonight I was over helping my friends out again, and I came home and got some of the things I needed for the electric work, and threw together a Szechwan based dish, with over 4 qts of those greens from the garden, thrown in at the end (and shrinking greatly, of course), with some cooked turkey, from TG, and took it back to their place, and when we were ready, I tossed them with a lb of wide rice noodles I let soak at room temperature for over an hour - they're Indian, but never used rice noodles, and couldn't believe how easy they were to use! The son of wants to get a wok now, as I told him that was the best thing to cook them in, as well well as many other things.

[worth1]

Mackerel patties.

[karstopography]

Last night, Blackened redfish. I make the spice blend instead of buying a premixed version. Lots of herbs and spices go into Paul Prudhomme’s original recipe. Dried Oregano leaves, dried thyme, red pepper (cayenne), paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper.

The idea is to get the cast iron skillet about as hot as possible. You can imagine all those spices and unsalted butter will produce some, a ton, of smoke. That’s why I do the cook outside on the big green egg. I have a dedicated cast iron skillet for the BGE. I heat it to around 600-650 degrees. The BGE will go higher to 700 or beyond, but it’s not necessary to go that high.

The fish cooks in 4 minutes or less at these temperatures, 2 minutes per side. The fish won’t even try to stick to the cast iron at those temperatures. It comes out so moist, flaky and delicious. I use the mid-section of a smaller slot redfish. Fish fillet needs to be no more than 3/4” thick, but shoot for 1/2”. The redfish loin is too thick without splitting into 2 pieces. I gave the loins to my folks, along with the speckled trout. I’ve never tried to blacken speckled trout. I doubt it would work as well. Speckled Trout doesn’t have the fat content and texture needed. Pompano, redfish and tilefish are generally listed as appropriate to Paul Prudhomme’s recipe.

Paul Prudhomme so popularized blackened redfish back in the last century it led to a rapid depletion of the wild redfish stocks, which then led to a movement among recreational fishermen for the banning of commercial redfish (and other species) harvest in Texas, the permanent ban ultimately happened. Had Chef Prudhomme not come along, we might still have a commercial fishery for wild redfish in Texas. So I doubly thank Chef Prudhomme, may he Rest in Peace, for his delicious dish and his perhaps unintentional consequence of kicked out the commercial fisherman away from Redfish here in Texas and many other states.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

For some reason I have the hankering for grilled carrots, so I finally decided to get some Rainbow Carrots

https://lifewaykefir.com/rainbow-carrot ... spotlight/

Anyone have a recipe/marinade?

The Gotch

[worth1]

For some reason I have the hankering for grilled carrots, so I finally decided to get some Rainbow Carrots

https://lifewaykefir.com/rainbow-carrot ... spotlight/

Anyone have a recipe/marinade?

The Gotch

A good dark beer like a bock, stout or porter and a pinch of brown sugar.
Of course cook the carrots in it.

[Sue_CT]

That sounds interesting, Worth

[worth1]

That sounds interesting, Worth

Karroten in bier gedunstate.
The first three are easy the 4th not so much.
Gedunstate means steamed in German.