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Post by tod2 on Jul 27, 2021 10:47:04 GMT
I could go for those plates of deliciousness!
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 30, 2021 17:00:02 GMT
From the garden. Part of tonight’s salad.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 30, 2021 18:23:49 GMT
I made a Greek salad, mostly cucumber, tomato and red onion with feta, but also a few other additions.
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Post by mich64 on Jul 30, 2021 18:48:30 GMT
I am going to put some chicken leg/thigh pieces in the oven. Not sure if I will toss them in a coating or just sprinkle with paprika. I will make a simple salad, just romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato and onion with salt, pepper and olive oil. It is quite cool here today, when I woke up this morning it was 13C! it has warmed up barely to 18C so it will heat up the house a bit!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 30, 2021 19:33:14 GMT
It is just as cool in Paris, too. Sometimes I think that it is the calendar that makes me crave salad anyway.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 1, 2021 10:48:34 GMT
Today Sunday dinner will be mostly vegetables as our garden goes into overdrive. It has forced us to buy a small chest freezer to cope with the quantity. We gives heaps away but have decided to freeze our own veg because there will come a time when things taper off during the hot summer. I already have a one half freezer section with my big fridge, and another upright freezer. Mostly filled with meal portions for the gardener etc. To go with the cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, turnips, new potatoes and my first "Spitzkool" or in English, "Pointed head"cabbage , which looks a lot like Savoy cabbage, will be a steak and kidney pie.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 1, 2021 16:17:07 GMT
I made a salad with boiled potatoes, Chinese seaweed, green onions and grated carrots. The Chinese seaweed came with a package of seasoning, and I also added a bit of Filipino banana chilli sauce. It could have been a tarrible mistake, but the end result was remarkably good.
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Post by mich64 on Aug 1, 2021 21:18:16 GMT
That sounds delicious Kerouac!
For the wedding reception dinner last night I thought the caterer (my friend's restaurant) did a wonderful job adding Carribean inflences into the meal. The groom is from Dominica and has been missing home since COVID19 prevented his family from coming to Canada for the wedding. At the last minute, they added a pineapple chicken dish and a fish dish I wish I had tried, even the salad had a Carribean twist so they explained as I quickly moved through the buffet line. Unfortunately I was not paying enough attention as I can not remember the details of what kind of fish or what they added to the salad, I was still a bit damp and chilled from sitting out in the rain for the wedding ceremony.
What I did have was a deliciously spiced side of vegetables, green curry rice with fresh peas, baby potatoes, ceasar salad, pineapple chicken and a slice of prime rib of beef. For dessert was a phyllo pastry filled with a hazlenut choclate cream, blueberries, strawberries and topped with fresh whipped cream.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 1, 2021 22:14:38 GMT
What a fancy, innovative, and undoubtedly delicious meal your friend produced, Mich!
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Post by mich64 on Aug 2, 2021 17:28:14 GMT
Indeed Bixa, it was a cultural mixture.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 3, 2021 12:10:07 GMT
Last night I grilled some fresh fish and served up our new potatoes with it.
Tonight we are having beef curry and rice. Made this morning alongside another pot of stewing mutton pieces for my sons family. Did you hear that Kerouac? MUTTON pieces! To me the only difference to lamb was the leg meat was darker than lamb but I detected no different smell whilst cooking. I added carrots and baby potatoes to the pot and various secret ingredients resulting in a lovely mahogany stew. No pale Irish stew for me! I'm also delivering some plain boiled white rice, roasted sweet pumpkin known in South Africa as "Soet pampoen" - It is New Zealand Blue roasted in butter and sugar only. For greens they are getting steamed broccoli fron the garden.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 12, 2021 17:03:42 GMT
I had not really made plans for dinner but once I entered the kitchen I was overwhelmed by a desire for crêpes aux pommes de terre (potato pancakes). The potatoes were beginning to germinate, so it was the perfect time to use them. I peeled them, added a big onion, grated them in the food processor and mixed them in a bowl with sea salt, pepper, 2 eggs and corn starch. The result was excellent. I was brought up to consider this to be the main dish of a meal, so nothing else was necessary although my grandmother would have correctly added a green salad.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 13, 2021 7:15:56 GMT
Isn't it nice when you are in control of your dining desires Kerouac! Being the cook in my house I often go with what I would like for dinner - but mostly what we both can eat without complaint. Last night was just my desire but suited Mr.Tod very well. I bought 2 whole beef fillets as my grandsons are here on Mid-term break. I cut one in half for us and the rest went to the gannets.
I made a Steak Diane sauce by sautéing some shallots , garlic and mushrooms. after seasoning with Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce, and flambe'd it in brandy, I added a wack of cream and let it thicken. I got my solid iron grill out and cooked the fillet whole until nicely brown, then cut it into thick medalions for a quick seal on each side. They were perfectly rare still. A simple side of home cut potato wedges and fresh green beans met the steak on my plate. The sauce was awesome.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 14, 2021 11:26:20 GMT
spicy marinated raw beef salad
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 14, 2021 11:29:00 GMT
smoked trout, lump eggs, tzatziki, cucumbers, red onions
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 14, 2021 18:36:32 GMT
You had 2 meals tonight?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 14, 2021 19:04:07 GMT
Time zones.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 15, 2021 9:32:11 GMT
Last night was fish night. I pan-fried two enormous East Coast soles in butter and olive oil. I simply cut them in half so they would fit in the pan, then pressed cornflour all over them which gave them a nice crust. There is a difference between East Coast and West Coast soles here. The West coast ones seem more watery if I can explain it that way. Maybe the flesh is not so compact. Dunno.
Today I have a lamb stew on the go. The butcher man sliced me three thick leg slices but I kept one back for a grilled chop on the BBQ another time. I'm trying very hard not to have so many leftover meals. I have been presented with a lovely very green baby cabbage, a small broccoli head and some turnips. I have put the turnips in with the stew - also in are carrots and potatoes.
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Post by lagatta on Aug 15, 2021 13:37:16 GMT
Sounds lovely (and I find it very interesting to learn about the differences between your faraway seas and oceans).
My latest "convalescent" food gift (don't worry; I'm much better, just friends concerned about the importance of good nutrition) is 500g of haché de canard (duck mince/ground lamb ... though if it were actually ground it would be soup). Small duckballs or layered with onions etc beneath potatoes - or something else?
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 16, 2021 17:35:40 GMT
Amongs other things my version of ratatouille.
Olive oil and butter, chopped onion, sliced courgettes and pepper, tinned chopped tomatoes, a couple of pinches of sugar and salt and pepper, Worcester sauce and balsamic vinegar. Oh, and a few shakes of Tabasco.
Simmered for 2 hours.
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Post by bjd on Aug 16, 2021 18:43:04 GMT
I made ratatouille on Saturday. No butter but several kinds of peppers, onion, zucchini and tomatoes fried in olive oil. I grilled eggplant on the side along with some small peppers because not everyone likes eggplant. Salt, pepper and herbes de Provence. Less than an hour cooking because everyone was hungry.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 17, 2021 8:04:15 GMT
a couple of pinches of sugar I was glad to see somebody else also adds sugar - when necessary - to their cooking. I find it imperative to add sugar when tomatoes are involved. This is usually in the form of palm sugar but occassionally I am in too much of a hurry to go digging through my store cupboard to find it, so just add normal white sugar. Last night I made Tabbouleh for the first time. It was very nice but I wouldn't say it is a salad/side dish I would want to make over and over again. I used bulgur wheat as the basis. Although there are many many versions of this salad dish I stuck to the original version. To go with this salad I grilled some lovely hake fillets already prepared by the fish company that froze them.
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Post by bjd on Aug 17, 2021 8:10:01 GMT
I always add a bit of sugar when I make tomato sauce from scratch.
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 17, 2021 9:49:41 GMT
I stuck to the original version. Which original version is that Tod?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 17, 2021 10:51:23 GMT
That can lead to a debate from Rabat to Beirut.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 17, 2021 11:07:00 GMT
No debate as all as the recipes I've read tell me that Lebanese tabbouleh is the original but - then you do get the variations from Moroccon, Syrian, Arabic and Greek tabbouleh. Since I have never made it before I went for what the recipe called "Middle-Eastern Tabbouleh". That includes everybody right? !! feed-your-sole.com/middle-eastern-tabbouleh-salad/
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Post by onlyMark on Aug 17, 2021 11:42:32 GMT
That's the style I'm used to and do.
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Post by bjd on Aug 17, 2021 15:41:54 GMT
I confess I don't like that version of tabbouleh -- too much parsley. It feels like eating grass.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 17, 2021 15:54:57 GMT
We had a marmitte du pecheur yestetday. Not a bouillabaisse, nitva soupe de poisson, something unbetween. A soupe de poisson, refined twice, with new fishes inside. Or so i thought i understood. Just fantastic anyway.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 17, 2021 15:56:00 GMT
I agree with bjd, but of course it is a question of habit. In the eastern Mediterranean, taboulé is often a small side dish served alongside all sorts of greasy fried items, so that is totally appropriate. In the western Mediterranean, the version with much more couscous is not quite a main dish, but it is a much bigger part of the meal. It also has plenty of mint and lemon in it, which some of us find preferable to chomping down on chopped parsley.
French versions are even more modified, because you can get shrimp or chicken taboulé at the supermarket, and this is generally quite sufficient for lunch when you work in an office.
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