Here's the subject of previous post about feeling like a shop lifter or drug smuggler.
I went into the store to get a chuck roast.. walked by the fancy meat counter where the butchers are.
Saw some nice USDA prime ribeye steaks for 20 some odd dollars a pound.
Well they look good but move on little one, stay focused.
I got my roast and headed back the other way.
Out in the packaged section there those darn steaks were again tempting me in a 2 pack.
But wait a minute let me see.
Low and behold they were marked USDA select.
Ya gotta be kidding me.
I wonder if they have singles.
All the USDA singles were what you would expect no marbling or fat.
Darn it.
I just gotta have these steaks you don't run across a deal like this every day.
Well I got them and cut my shopping short to make up the difference.
20 dollar a pound steaks for 12..49 a pound.
Someone messed up.
That's why I felt like a thief because just one of these exact same steaks marked prime was over 40 dollars.
And guess what the burn ban is lifted.

I made what I call a no-name Mexican dish - can't call it chili, since it has beans in it! I made it with three 8 oz containers of creminis, that I cooked separately, followed by 2 lbs of venison chorizo and 1 lb of pork chorizo I had frozen.

I started by cooking 3/4 c each of black and pinto beans just 5 min in the Instant Pot, with some baking soda, then drained it. While that was cooking, I got the sauce ready, toasting all the chiles and garlic in a skillet, then cooled those. Then I charred the green chiles, and removed the skin. I cut up and cleaned the bad spots out of all my "large" tomatoes, and got a little more than 20 oz. I put all these ingredients in the Vitamix, and blended smooth. After the beans were out of the VM, I put a large chopped onion and a couple tb of olive oil, and put it on sauté, and cooked until starting to brown some, then added a couple tb tomato paste, cooked a minute, then poured in the sauce, and rinsed out the VM with about a cup of water, and added that. I also put in some cumin, Mexican oregano, some freshly ground pepper, and a half of a pellet of Mexican chocolate, broken up, and stirred to melt. I left it in sauté mode, and put a splatter screen on, and let it boil away quickly, scraping occasionally. While that was happening, I cooked the mushrooms first, using the ATK method of steaming with a little water, then boiling off the water, and adding a small amount of oil, and browning the mushrooms over med-high heat. Once those were done, I started the 3 lbs of meat, which I didn't use all of, but about 1/4 of it I cooled and I'll probably freeze it for later use.

After that sauce was very thick, I put the beans into it, then about 3 c water, and salted to taste, and set the pot to Beans mode, for just 15 min, then let the pressure release naturally, while doing the other things. When opened, the beans were not quite done, which is what I wanted. I then put the mushrooms and about 3/4 of the cooked meat in, and set it in slow cooker/high, tasted for seasonings, and added about 1 1/2 tb of that salsa negra, which made it just right. I let it cook a little more than an hour, while cleaning up everything (!), then I mixed in about 3 tb of masa harina, to thicken, and flavor it, and let it cook another 20 minutes. Served with a little cheese, and some toasted corn tortillas. Absolute heaven!
3 guajillos, 10 moritas, and 10 cloves of garlic, cooling after toasting in a skillet. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Charring 6 green chiles, before steaming the skin and removing. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Charred chiles, ready to put the lid on, to steam the skin off. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

All of the peeled chiles and garlic, plus the dry chiles and a little over 20 oz of fresh tomatoes, ready to blend smooth in VM. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

1 1/2 lbs cooked creminis, plus 2 lbs venison chorizo and 1 lb pork chorizo, cooked together. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Nameless Mexican dish, with the pinto and black beans pressure cooked in the sauce, then the mushrooms and 2/3 of the meat added. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Something else needed in the dish, so I got a little bit of that salsa negra, I still have 1/2 c of. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

This 1 1/2 tb or so of the salsa negra added just the right amount of flavor to the dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About 3 tb masa harina, mixed with some of the liquid, ready to mix back in, and thicken it... almost done! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished no-name Mexican style chili dish. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished no-name Mexican dish, ready to eat. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I ended up not eating until way late yesterday I had to go turn my braise off and let it just sit in the oven as it cooled.
My ribeye steak was salted with additional black pepper on skewers in the refrigerator.
That was what I was going to cook outside and eat.
Well stuff happens.
I built a fire and just let it burn out.
I ended up eating my braised meat and barley instead.
The steak has been in the refrigerator all night on the skewers with salt and pepper on it.
The beef mushrooms and barley got really thick and stick to your ribs.
Ready for the freezer.
The steak turned a beautiful red color partially dried out and is ready for a hot fire outside.

Last night I made lamb chops, the porterhouse shaped ones, on the BGE. Rubbed the raw chops with fresh rosemary and crushed garlic prior to grilling. Served with mint jelly.

Sides of Baby potatoes in the air fryer and fresh asparagus cooked on a rack in a hot oven.

Made baba ganoush, the best I have yet made. What I have learned is first the eggplant should be thoroughly charred over direct flame and then brought off the direct flames to roast until very soft and collapsed.

Second, toasting sesame seeds in a skillet to make tahini is superior to buying the premade store bought tahini. The toasted sesame seeds mash up into a paste well enough in a mortar and pestle and fresh garlic can be added to the tahini paste and mashed together.

I want to tweak the recipe a little more, but I’m on the right track.

Celebrating my constitutional right to grill.

Real Texas BBQ the old school way.
Eggplant now with oil inside foil.

A few comments and some pictures.
The eggplant was for a salsa I made and several people loved but couldn't put their finger on the flavor.
One I suspect didn't even know what an eggplant was.
It also had fresh garden chard in it as well.
This chunky salsa will be my vegetable to go with my steak after I heat it up.

Everything cooked on the grill high or low.
Steak was high smoked with hardly any heat just mesquite smoked mixed with clean air for a really long time.
I took it off and let it cool down under foil for a really long time.
Then I built the fire back up and gave it a good cooking on the outside.
Still nice and pink in the middle but needs salt.

Exceptionally crispy (home-made bread crumbs!) Parmesan Crusted Salmon: The Gotch

I've never tried chalupas until now; we got Mission chalupas bread and stuffed it with already cooked hamburger, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream. Toasted for a few minutes in the fry pan with butter they turned out incredibly tasty- crisp on the outside and tender inside. I need to learn to make the bread part from scratch.

I made something with that Mexican chili dish and 3 corn tortillas, toasted on the open flame. I just put a layer of the first tortilla, then a little bit of the shredded cheese, then another tortilla, some chili and cheese, and the last tortilla, and some cheese. Then I microwaved it 7½ minutes on level 3. A favorite thing of mine to do with leftover Mexican type dishes.

I turned my beef barley stuff into a curry.
Wasn't hard to do with proper spices.
The red stuff on top is the chili powder from India.
On a bed of basmati rice.

I found out what to do with a small pichania steak.
I cut the fat off and cooked it until the fat was renderd out and was crispy.
Sliced the meat up really thin and put it in the soy sauce.
Cooked onions and peppers in the oil with other stuff and added leftover basmati rice.
At the very end tossed the meat in and stirred up.
Not over cooked.
It was melt in your mouth tender I could have ate it raw.
As matter of fact I did with a couple of pieces.

Ramen noodles.
I put a kettle of other food to warm up.
Got involved in something and it all stuck to the bottom.

I got me somathemthere yellertaters steweninbudder wit yeller hominy.

All kidding aside the hominy yellow potatoes came out unbelievably delicious.
Recipe if you want to try it.
1 30 ounce can of golden or white hominy water and all.
About 2 cups of diced Yukon Gold potatoes skin on.
1 stick of unsalted butter.
1 tablespoon of Knorr chicken bullion powder.
A pinch of fresh nutmeg.
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper.
Set on stove and let slowly simmer with lid on for a bit then take lid off and simmer the moisture out until thick.
Serve.
You won't be sorry but it takes awhile to cook.

Cornmeal battered flounder and redfish deep fried in peanut oil. Fried Breaded okra. Fried hush puppies.

I’m frying the Croaker, scaled, scored and whole, head off, gutted and gilled. I’m looking forward to eating the crispy fried tail of the croaker.

Homemade Tartar sauce to accompany the fish.

Been a long time since we had a fish fry. Got company coming over to enjoy the feast.

I'm going to have to be more careful abbreviating my frozen food.
I thought SS meant spaghetti sauce.
It was some sort of squash tomato sauce and macaroni shells.
Not to worry I wouldn't have saved it if I didn't like it.

OMG, Worth, I would eat cardboard if it had a whole stick of butter on it.

A couple days ago, when I trimmed all those kaffir lime tree branches, I knew I had to cook some Thai curry! Yesterday I got busy in my workshop too late, so I had to do it today! I had about 3/4 c red curry paste left in the freezer, and my last 3 c of curry milk in the pantry. I cooked some thighs for the chicken (chicken breast just doesn't work for me, in Thai curries), and got that ready early. Later, I got the veggies ready, some of the last from the garden - eggplants, long beans, okra, one of the two onions, and a few of the mild peppers, cut into chunks. The okra and onions I cooked first, then the eggplant, long beans, peppers, and Swiss chard stalks went in, for 10 minutes. Then I removed the li.e leaves, and stirred in the chicken, to warm up, followed by the Thai basil. I served this on a mix of jasmine rice, and some millet - something I mix with jasmine rice, so I'm not eating just starch. I cook them together in the IP, but put the millet in early, to soak 15 min or so, while fixing other other things, then add the jasmine rice, and set it in "rice" mode, which pressure cooks on low, for 12 min. I set that when I added the okra and onions to the curry, and they were ready a little early. The millet has little flavor, and the jasmine is still strong here.
The Thai curry started, with the curry paste cooked in a small amount of the coconut milk, until separated, then mixed with the milk. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The second batch of vegetables added, after cooking the okra and chunks of onions first. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooked chicken, added last, just to heat through, before adding the Thai basil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

50/50 jasmine rice and millet, which I add for the nutrients, and the flavor of the jasmine rice remains in the front. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished batch of the Thai curry, with chicken, eggplant, okra, peppers , long beans, onions, and stalks from Swiss chard. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Eggplant fried to absolute creamy deliciousness.
Eggplant soaked in salted water.
Put in egg wash.
Put in flour.
Back in egg wash.
Flipped in panko bread crumbs.
Only seasoning is salt.