Dinner tonight

[robot_parade]

What are you having for dinner tonight?

This will be fun. Post what you're having for dinner tonight, linking to a recipe if you have one and feel like it.

The Parade family is having:

Roast chicken. I don't have a recipe, but I:

o Take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before putting it in the oven. That way it isn't cold inside, and has of a temperature difference before it's cooked.
o Rinse + pat dry the chicken. Really dry. It's supposed to roast, not steam.
o Cut a few slits in the skin, and put minced garlic, rosemary, pepper, and about 1 kosher tsp salt under the skin wherever I can reach.
o Sprinkle another tsp of salt on the skin, and some pepper.
o Truss the bird.
o Let the oven heat to 450, with my big cast iron skillet inside.
o Put the bird in (I put it on a wire ring inside the aforementioned skillet)
o Check on it in about 45 minutes.

Usually takes about 45 minutes or so to cook, and results in crisp skin, and yummy birdey goodness.

We're also having these, which I've never made before but sound ~*really*~ good:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2...-oh-yeah-baby/

And probably mashed potatoes. Mmmm..taters.

What about you?

[Cynthetiq]

tonight i will make thai beef with mint

Thai Stir-Fried Beef with Mint
From: melcue@is.rice.edu (Melissa Elaine Cue)
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1993 19:05:54 GMT


(NUE GRA PAO)

This is a rich, hearty dish with plenty of typical Thai flavors.
Any kind of beef may be used, but flank steak works particularly
well because it is easy to cut it across the grain, which helps
keep the meat from falling apart during stir-frying and produces
a tender result. Be sure to serve plenty of rice, because it
helps moderate the hot chilies without detracting from the
flavor. You may reduce the number of chilies by up to one half,
but traditionally this dish should have a rich, hot chili flavor.

Serves 4 to 6

1 pound flank steak

14 (2 ounces) finely chopped Serrano chilies
1/4 cup (2 ounces) finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely chopped yellow onion

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup water (more if needed in Step 5)
1/2 cup loosely packed mint or basil leaves

Green lettuce leaves

1. Slice the beef across the grain into strips 1/4 inch thick
and 2 to 3 inches long. Set aside.

2. Pound or grind the chilies, garlic, and onion to a coarse
paste in a mortar or blender. If you use a blender you may need
to add the oil to aid in grinding.

3. Heat a wok, add the oil, and swirl it over the surface of the
pan. (Do not add more oil if you have ground the chilies, onion,
and garlic in oil.) Add the paste from Step 2 and stir-fry until
it is light golden.

4. Add the beef and stir-fry until it is a uniform tan color,
but do not overcook it.

5. Add the fish sauce, sugar, water, and mint (or basil) leaves.
More water may be added if the sauce is too dry. There should be
about 1/2 to 3/4 cup sauce, depending on how much water you
added.

Ahead of time note: The dish may be prepared a day in advance to
this point. To do so, proceed through Step 5, omitting the mint
or basil leaves. When you are ready to serve, heat the mixture
and add the leaves. If the meat has absorbed the liquid, add
just enough warm water to bring it back to the original
consistency.

6. Arrange a single layer of lettuce leaves in a serving bowl
and put the beef mixture over them. Serve the beef immediately
or keep it warm while preparing other dishes.

7. Serve with rice.

I use ground beef and slice the garlic into slices so that they are more whole than minced.

[Jetée]

http://recipecircus.com/recipes/AMEE...Chicharon.html

Recipe Introduction

Pork Cracklings



List of Ingredients

2 lbs. pork rind, cut into 1-inch squares
3 cups water
1 tbsp. salt
1 cup vegetable or corn oil




Instructions

1. Boil cut pork rind in water and salt for 30 minutes.
2. On an oven pan, spread the cooked pork rind and bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours.
3. Set aside and let cool.
4. Deep fry rinds in a skillet in hot oil over high heat until they puff up.

Associated culture of food: A traditional Spanish dish, which can be found in all the Americas, Southeast Asia(Philippines, Malaysia), and the Western range of Spain.

Serving suggestion: The dish is usually served with steamed white rice and/or steamed white corn.

Description from Marketmania

Few foods conjure up visions of lethal arterial blockage like chicharon, lechon skin and lechon kawali. All a variation of a porcine theme, the concept of taking the skin of a pig, the immediate underlying thick layer or wiggly fat, several more layers of “meat” between more fat then frying this all up in even more fat is just too much! Or is it? Most Filipinos are “hard-wired” from birth to have a craving for chicharon, those spectacular pork cracklings or rind that the Spaniards probably introduced to us when they discovered all the great wild boar running around the rain forests of the archipelago. The stuff is pure evil (as my daughter would say) but just too good to pass up. I have always been content buying my chicharon at the nearest grocery or lately from dedicated chicharon manufacturers like Lapid’s or Chicharittos but for my own benefit and the benefit of Marketmanila readers I tried to make chicharon from scratch for the first time…with brilliant heart attack material results!

[spindles]

Well, we are going to make pizza tonight - we use the dough recipe from one of the Jamie Oliver books - and by we, I mean my wife and children

Usual toppings - tomato paste, ham, olives, salami, capsicum (red bell pepper), mushrooms, maybe some eggplant and zucchini and cheese!

edit - here is *a* Jamie Oliver pizza base recipe - not sure if this is the one in the book we have:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._17300,00.html