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Post by mickthecactus on May 5, 2020 6:40:28 GMT
A perfect lunch today: cucumber sandwich made from a just-bought, still warm baguette. Spread one side with super fresh unsalted butter & the other side with fresh ricotta, then tiled that side with angled slices of cucumber sprinkled with salt & pepper. I can go with that. Sounds delicious. Makes me look forward to the home grown cues.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 5, 2020 11:40:28 GMT
I made soup with a chicken cube, some chopped celery and a handful of vermicelli.
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Post by tod2 on May 5, 2020 15:36:51 GMT
Sounds like "Cup-O-Soup" with added veg. Celery would be a great improvement. We give all our guests some sachets of quick soup and also one pot noodles incase they get hungry later on in the evening and pizza deliveries are closed. If I can't find anything appealing in the fridge I start looking in my store cupboard for noodles and throw in some veg even if its frozen peas, which incidentally make a Ham & pea soup sachet quite delicious.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 27, 2020 18:21:21 GMT
I had a jar of rollmops for lunch, especially when I saw that the jar had expired in January. It passed the sniff test, and they were delicious as usual. The only reason it took so long to eat them was because they were in the back corner of the refrigerator.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 29, 2020 10:50:02 GMT
Today I had a big plate of kimchi and two sliced 100-year duck eggs with pickled ginger and fleur de sel.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 29, 2020 12:10:39 GMT
I had a bacon pitta bread.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 3, 2020 14:32:51 GMT
I made crab salad sandwiches for lunch. I would have made my usual tuna sandwiches, but I discovered that my stack of crab tins in the cupboard was now higher than my stack of tuna tins. This said, it must be admitted that tinned crab is rather tasteless and tuna makes a far better sandwich.
I also noticed, somewhat to my dismay, that if we were to go into total lockdown again and they closed the supermarkets this time, I might be the last person in my building not to die of starvation. Nobody should have so much food on hand.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 7, 2020 13:30:50 GMT
I had Spam for lunch yesterday (actually the Dutch Zwan) -- a true blast from the past. Actually it didn't taste bad, but I suspect that it was made from things that even the hot dog companies would reject.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 7, 2020 16:23:25 GMT
I don't think there is anything icky in Spam except for the stratospheric amount of salt. It's actually a fairly clever product, meant to deliver that ham experience cheaply & easily. It appears to have been embraced in preference to ham in many places.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 20, 2020 3:07:01 GMT
Nice lunch today ~ a grilled slice of eggplant on ciabatta with Oaxacan string cheese and arugula.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 23, 2020 14:10:42 GMT
I had macaroni and duck fat. Not bad.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 24, 2020 4:01:38 GMT
I had egg salad on wheat/sesame sourdough bread with a tomato/onion salad on the side.
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Post by tod2 on Sept 24, 2020 12:54:52 GMT
It's blazing hot outside so why the heck are we sitting down to a hot lunch!? Possibly because it's pretty cool inside and the aircon isn't even on.
Grilled sole in lemon butter and re-constructed shop bought potato bake. I stuck pre-cooked spinach in-between two layers of sliced potatoes in a cheese sauce. Grilled in the oven with the sole.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 8, 2020 18:10:34 GMT
Getting ready to serve myself lunch ~ vegetarian split pea soup with steamed white rice and a yogurt/onion/smoked chile relish on the side. The beverage is cold tamarind tea. Life is good.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 9, 2020 14:49:57 GMT
Nuffin.....the curry that I'm making for dinner is so labour intensive that I havent had time for lunch Which of course means that I can have some of the curry WOO HOO !
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2020 0:17:50 GMT
Yesterday I got some tuna and some sailfish fillets from a vendor who came up here from the coast. When I got them home, I flash fried the tuna in some olive oil with a little butter added. It was extremely boring. I don't know what kind of tuna it is, but it's not that dark red, beefy kind that I like. Today I battered the sailfish fillets and fried them in olive oil. Had them with some leftover cole slaw and baby potatoes. Much nicer than yesterday's lunch!
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Post by lagatta on Oct 22, 2020 5:23:35 GMT
Well, there's halal zwan.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 21, 2021 13:36:15 GMT
Toast and Ardennes pate.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 23, 2021 18:24:03 GMT
I used all of the green leaves and the stem of the cauliflower that I bought to make a soup that I blended with fresh goat cheese. Excellent.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 24, 2021 15:04:01 GMT
We have given up on lunch since being at home so much and rather have a late breakfast and early dinner. But I took the opportunity of the cooler weather to cook a leg of lamb over the coals on a turning spit for a Sunday lunch change. To go with the lamb I made really decadent roast potatoes in my airfryer and also served wilted cabbage, green peas and carrots.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 26, 2021 11:49:59 GMT
Instead of food, I had a large beer with 'amer bière' in it for lunch. Sometimes we need to break all of the rules after being good for a long time.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2021 21:32:13 GMT
For lunch I had calf kidney & it was delicious. I cut all the fatty connective parts out, then gave the cut-up kidney a quick bath in vinegar, with a water rinse. I left that to drain while I cut up half an onion & 1/4 of a golden bell pepper, which I then sauteed in a wok. Once that was nice & golden, I took it out of the wok with a slotted spoon. To the oil remaining in the pan I added a touch of chile-infused oil, some crumbled stock cube (roast ribs flavor), & a minced clove of garlic. Turned the flame back on & threw in the kidney, tossing it around until it was done to pink-center perfection, whereupon I put the onion & pepper back into the pan & stirred it into the meat until heated through. I let it rest off the flame for a couple of minutes while I checked on & tossed the potato*. I then turned the heat back on under the kidneys & added a splash of water, turning off the heat as soon as the water began to sizzle.
*I cut a potato into very small dice, put that into a pan, drizzled on olive oil & sprinkled it with salt. Set the pan into the center of the airfryer, put the heat to 450 & let it cook while I made the kidneys. In about 12 minutes the little dice were golden & crisp.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 5, 2021 13:03:31 GMT
Kidneys aren't often seen in the butchers display window and if there are some they are usually lamb kidneys. I haven't bought any for years which means I have not made a steak and kidney pudding in quite awhile!
Your kidney lunch sounds too divine Bixa!
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2021 16:24:38 GMT
Thanks, Tod! The downtown butchers have more varied innards than the ones in my local market. I asked if there was any liver or kidneys & they went into a fridge & brought out four kidneys, of which I took three. I say they were from calves, but that's a guess, as I just chose the smaller, lighter-colored ones. I must have guessed right, as they were tender after minimal cooking.
I have quite a bit of the raw ones left, all cut up & ready to go -- maybe some kind of take-off on steak & kidney pie, perhaps a shepherd's pie version.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2021 17:31:43 GMT
Oh, look at this, Tod ~ I googled "leek and kidney recipes" since I also have a nice leek. Oddly, what I mostly got were hits for leek and kidney beans, which to me does not seem like a marriage made in heaven. The single leek and kidney recipe I found does look like a winner, though: app.ckbk.com/recipe/worl10873c06s001r010/sauteed-kidneys-with-leeks-gin-and-cream-on-pastaEditing because when I went back to it, they did that coy thing of making me sign up to get "three recipes a month". Wow -- so many! [img title="::rolleyes:: " style="max-width:100%;" src="::rolleyes:: Well, daunted I was not. Here is the recipe: © 2003 Peter Gordon. All rights reserved
Sautéed Kidneys with Leeks, Gin, & Cream on Pasta
In my opinion, veal kidneys make a nicer meal than lambs’ kidneys, bat they aren’t so readily available. However, if you do have them, just cut the walnut-sized pieces off the main ‘flump’ and use as for lambs’ kidneys.
15 lambs’ kidneys, peeled 200 g(6 ½ oz) pasta or gnocchi 1 tablespoon light oil 60 g(2 oz) butter 1 medium leek, washed and finely sliced 180 ml(6 fl oz) cream 6 tablespoons gin salt and pepper
First clean the kidneys. Hold one between your fingers on a chopping board with the white gristle facing up. Using a sharp knife, cut down, avoiding gristle. This will give you two flattish kidney-shaped halves, one with gristle attached. Cut gristle out using the point of a sharp knife. Do the same for remainder, to give you 30 kidney halves.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook pasta. Drain, toss with oil and keep warm.
Heat a large frying pan and add half the butter. Cook until almost nut-brown, then add kidneys, cut-side down, and fry 30 seconds. Turn over, fry another 20 seconds, then tip into a bowl with their juices. Keep the pan hot and add remaining butter and when it’s melted add the leek and cook until wilted and beginning to colour. Add cream and gin and boil to reduce, adding kidneys once it begins to boil. Cook until kidneys are just losing their pinkness. Check seasoning and spoon over pasta while still hot.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 6, 2021 7:54:59 GMT
I'd like to try that recipe but may just swop the gin for brandy.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 6, 2021 13:20:47 GMT
I made it last night, even though I didn't have nearly enough cream & had to use vodka instead of gin. It was good, even so, and made me wonder why I don't cook leeks more often.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 6, 2021 14:03:11 GMT
Kidneys in France are sold cleaned already, perhaps because we eat a lot more of them than in many other countries.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 6, 2021 22:01:17 GMT
I imagine if they were promoted more & also if sold already cleaned, maybe they'd become a regular part of the diet elsewhere. It seems like many people have never been exposed to innards*, or maybe only beef liver, about which they elaborately gag & generally act like bratty children. *link takes you to the anyport "Organs and offal" thread
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 18, 2021 4:32:38 GMT
I got taken to lunch today & it was divine. We went to a place that I think has been discovered by foodies, so I was on high alert for pretentious crap. It's a smallish menu, which can be a good sign & we weren't the least disappointed. We started with guacamole with chapulines. The guacamole had plenty of flavor and its smoothness was pleasantly surprising foil for the crunch & distinct flavor of the grasshoppers. We also shared something that had been wrapped in corn leaves & cooked directly in the fire. It came to the table in an unglazed clay dish with the embers still glowing. It was chicken and pork cooked with cracked corn. It looked like a piled of mashed brown beans, but once in the mouth the textures and flavors somehow came through deliciously and individually. My companion had a bowl of one of the soupier moles which came with a whole chilhuacle in it. I had grilled dorado atop a flavorful bed of rice with vegetables, which I couldn't finish, maybe due to the two appetizers and two excellent micheladas. Nice lunch!
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