So...whats for dinner?

Another kitchen session this afternoon making two meals of stuffed cabbage leaves for the freezer. The stuffing was ground turkey and ground lamb mixture with cooked brown rice and canned diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, s & p and cayenne Sauce was jarred Emeril's. It all started when I plucked a pretty Savoy cabbage from a produce shelf.

I also cooked a side dish for tonight. Okra and tomatoes. The okra is from Quatemala and looked nice in the package but it turned a purplish color as I cooked it. It tastes like okra.

Pan-seared catfish fillets for dinner with the okra and a salad.

Mommy - now I'm hungry for pork roast. I'll have to get busy & cook one before it gets any hotter here. I rarely turn on the oven once the A/C runs 24/7.

Minus I hear ya about the grocery store desert. We have a store here (Lowe's Foods) that has an herb type garden near the organic produce. You can snip just what you need. They weigh it by the ounce. Love it. Though the more popular ones, usually go fast.

Minus, I usually inject my pork or beef roasts with either wine or juice. I injected the pork roast I had made with apple juice before cooking it in the Crock-pot

Been a wild few days. My dear friend V. arrived and I am not that used to being with other human beings for so many hours a day! Food-wise, Friday we had swordfish on the grill, grilled vegetables, a large green salad, and a lovely loaf of French bread. I did an herbed goat cheese as well The leftover fish turned into a swordfish salad for lunch. Toasted up the second half of the bread and we nibbled on the sparse offerings. Olivia needs a 2-egg omelette going forward. She polishes off one egg and wants more! Last night we went out to dinner choosing the Summer Shack, a local fish restaurant so that V. could have something lobster, something fish, something alcoholic. They were "on" last night and she declared the Lobster Bisque to be excellent. Yesterday, I had to make more granola and then as a treat, I have some bagels. When everyone else FINALLY gets up, I will get to boiling and baking. The kid took one tray home and will be doing the same in her house. This week's guests are good people, so they have been offered bagels as well.

Weird snow storm yesterday, so the roads are slippery. Our guests left their car elsewhere in the city and took an Über home.

Pork loin is a bit bland for my taste, I prefer sirloin or butt roast too. I've used Carole's method of inserting green onion and garlic into slits and it's quite tasty.

I grow a pot of herbs indoors each winter pretty successfully. Except this year, I got a white fly infestation that did in the thyme, basil and Thai basil. Parsley and oregano were unscathed. I managed to limp through the winter with enough basil to get by.

Kids and grand dog are here. DDIL has a cold so I made her some homemade chicken soup. Otherwise we had a trio of salads - chicken, deviled ham and fruit, on homemade small brioche buns. Tonight is a top round of beef roast, horseradish cream, roasted potatoes, onions and asparagus, gruyere and scallion popovers and lemon meringue pie for dessert. The beef has been dry brining since yesterday.

I will be sanitizing everything after the kids because I am DONE WITH COLDS this year! I just hope I have enough antibodys to resist DDIL's.

For any newbies, this is soooooo worth sharing. Thanks!!! Special K

Put the eggs in a cold water & bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer for 15 minutes.
Pour off the hot water. Run cold water over the eggs for a couple of minutes
Then fill the pan w/cold water. Let sit about 10 minutes before pouring water off.
Put the lid on the pan and shake vigorously. Shells slide off.

Eric - how fun. Hope you have a great evening. I'm assuming you are NOT renting a limo - LOL.

Can you believe we're on page 997? In just three more pages, we'll hit 1000 pages of good posts around the kitchen table.

Nope....no limo.

I'm always glad to do this kind of thing. It brings back almost 40 year old memories of my hopes/dreams/idealism/concerns/goals.

I turned out OK and I was very much like them at age 17-18 and I believe they will turn out well too. I am the exact opposite of "the old farts" that think the "young generation will run the world to Hell."

Last night, the magic freezer offered us Anne Burrell's Lamb Shank braise which I served with some soft polenta. Tonight, we grilled one Costco loin flap strip. I made creamy and delicious mashed potatoes. I came pretty close to mimicking Jasper White's version. There was creme fraiche involved and it was pretty bloody good. Usually, we will do our rustic, as-little-fat-as-possible, but this is nice addition to the arsenal.

Olivia will get some lamb tomorrow. My mother is coming (again) and we will do a family meal at a local fish restaurant. Lot of fish lately. Good thing, I like fish, eh?

*susan*

I just don't seem to have any luck with Special's method with my ultra fresh eggs. I have complete success using the pressure cooker with those.

Finally came up with a brandy cream sauce recipe that I think is OK for leftover pork. Or leftover beef steak strips too. I've tried this numerous ways trying to match a taste of a brandy cream veal dish in a restaurant, but I often need something just for leftover meat. Nothing earth shaking but I'm proud of myself since I just don't often cook w/o a recipe. This is two small portions for one person, served on noodles.

Melt 1/4 c or more butter. Saute garlic & maybe shallots (I didn't have any). Add small amount thickener - flour & water (I guess you could use cornstarch). When bubbly add 1/3 cup beef broth. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. I added drained bottled mushrooms at this point since I didn't have fresh or I would have sauteed earlier Add already cooked, leftover meat. Add 1/3 cup brandy, boil & reduce - simmer a bit. Add 1/3 cup heavy cream. Simmer 12 +/- minutes until flavors blend & volume is reduced a bit.

Susan, I've never tried Jasper White's mashed potatoes (nor his recipe—heck, even when I wasn't actively low-carb I generally stayed away from spuds), but I'd bet they were pretty close to Jöel Robuchon's pommes purees (I recall reading the only ingredients are potatoes, salt to taste, and an obscene amount of butter). I've had them twice, both times in Vegas (at Robuchon's eponymous restaurant and his more casual Atelier), and they were luscious and (deceptively) seemingly light as a feather. When I've had to make mashed potatoes for a crowd, I generally go rustic (including some of the skins) and chunky with milk & a lot less butter, or on occasion switch to Yukon Golds, chicken broth & skim milk. Oprah Winfrey used to have a restaurant here called The Eccentric, and the most popular thing on the menu was “Oprah's Mashed Potatoes." The recipe included horseradish cream, finely minced green onions and bacon. Those were the days, when whatever our dietary indulgences were we could work them off in a few sessions at the gym.

Tonight, I did Greek-style whitefish. (Fresh Lake Superior fillets on special at WF yesterday). Put a 4-6-oz fillet skin side down on one half of a circle of parchment paper that's been dotted with olive oil. Sprinkle with a little kosher or sea salt. Lay tomato slices on it to cover, then add a layer of fresh basil leaves, a layer of thinly sliced green bell pepper (the red one in the fridge had definitely crossed the Rubicon), and top with sprigs of fresh tarragon, flat leaf parsley, chives and rosemary. Add another few dots of olive oil and fold and seal the packet into a tight semicircle. Cut a few slits in the top of the paper for steam to vent. Nuke on full power for 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate, carefully open the parchment and slide the whole shebang off the parchment (or not, if not putting any side dishes alongside it) and on to the plate. Squeeze fresh lemon wedge(s) to taste. The recipe is a mashup of the way a Greek/Italian seafood restaurant in Floral Park, Queens (a couple of blocks from the Nassau County line) called Pisces II (no idea as to “Pisces I") made bluefish or branzino, and the late NYC Mayor Ed Koch's personal chef used to make him salmon after his heart attack.

As an appetizer, I made a slaw out of thinly sliced red onion, fennel bulb, and finely minced fennel fronds. I tossed it with 3 capfuls of blood orange olive oil and 1 capful of lemon white “balsamic" (I use the term loosely) vinegar, a dusting of sweet paprika, a dash of cayenne, and a couple of grinds of sea salt.

HH, congrats on SC winning the NCAA women’s basketball championship (though condolences re: the men’s semis). Pat Summit is no doubt smiling down from wherever she is in the universe. But I bet Pontiac Peggy (relocated to Spokane) is pumped about Gonzaga facing off against UNC tomorrow.