Food What's For Dinner Tonight?

I made a huge pot of sauce (gravy) using BARILLA sauces, about 3 different kinds.
First I sauteed 1 pound of ground Beef mixed with 1/2 pound of ground Pork, drained that and then 2 mild sausages, mix it all together and let it simmer for about 2 hours...prolly have some thin spaghetti with it
Easy, not particularly GOURMET, but it freezes well in ziplocks for a quick meal any time....

 

Four roast sausages , Mashed potatoes with milk and butter. Baked onion.

Status report: the two sausages at the back of the oven are done ... nicely dark and crispy-skinned without being burnt. The two at the front of the oven seem cooked inside but are pale on the outside, so I am giving the caboodle another seven minutes, but with a reversed baking tray.

Then I reckon it will be .. what's that word I just learnt .. copacetic. yup

 

My older son and his best friend (juniors in h.s.) holding a couple good size lobsters that friend's dad bought back from Rhode Island and we had for dinner with some fresh grilled corn on the cob.

 

I think my wife is buying ocean trout fillets for dinner - I might throw them on the BBQ (and grill them), served with mashed potato (in the French style with way to much milk and butter - yum). There'll probably be something green on the plate - most likely broccoli from the garden.

 

Went with the easy choice - Corndogs and fries. Of course I need to go food shopping in the first place and my options are limited right now.

 

Lentils, red sauce and lots of curry powder. Yeah... I'm scraping the cupboards here.

 

Scraped the cupboard here too. I actually did have some semi interesting food, but I was in what I have to call a 'cupboard-scraping' mood. I felt vey bare and the dinner was going to reflect that.

I had some vacuum-packed gnocci, which I saw were a month away from their eat by date.
'boil 'em til they float' was the instruction. Not one of the buggers would float. Not one. It was Pity Party Food.

 

Pot roast in the crock pot with onions and mushrooms over egg noodles! Yum.

 

Shrimp & Veggie Stuffed Zucchini with Herbed Corn

 

Tonight we went out, but last night was Persian cuisine night at the Levite household.

Chicken Shirazi style:

Take 1 cut up chicken plus a couple of your favorite pieces (we like to ensure we have leftovers). Prepare and marinate as follows-- 4-6 hours minimum, overnight if possible:

First rub the chicken with advyeh (baharat, or even ras al hanout will do, in a pinch, if you can't put together advyeh), a little paprika, and some garlic. Place it into a plastic ziplock bag (or multiple ziplock bags, if you don't have a massive baggie), and squeeze in the juice of an orange (or two, if you like), add a splash of olive oil, and add in around a cup of dry red wine, 1/4 to 1/2 and onion, and a small bottle of pomegranate molasses. Smoosh everything around a bit, and chuck in the fridge for as long as you can.

After marinating, reserve the marinade liquid and the onion! Put the chicken in a couple of pans (you don't want to crowd them), and cook for around an hour at 365, turning after 20 minutes and after 40 minutes, basting them at the turns with the marinade liquid. Check them at the hour point, see how they are. If they're done, take them out and let them rest a few minutes. Otherwise, keep them going another few minutes until they finish off. While they're cooking, take the onion out of the marinade, and mince it up. In a small saucepot, sautee the onions until they start to get translucent, then cover them and let them sweat down a bit. When that's done, toss in a small spoonful of red currant jelly, and the marinade liquid, and let it cook down on a medium low heat, until it gets syrupy and glossy. Use as a sauce for the chicken.

Advyeh: (this is a rather rough estimate of measurements/proportions)

1/2 tsp cardamom
small pinch of clove
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
one palmful dried rose petals/buds
1/4 tsp cumin
1/3 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp mace
generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp freshly grated dried ginger, or 1/8 tsp freshly grated fresh ginger
1/8 tsp sesame seed
1/8 tsp salt

If you're patient, grind this up with a mortar and pestle. If not, whirl it up in a very clean coffee grinder. If you can't be bothered to make the advyeh, and you have no Persian market near you, the ready-to-go kind can be purchased here.

Kermani style rice:

Take 1/4 of a sweet yellow onion, and 1-2 large shallots, and mince them well. Get them sauteeing in a saucepot, in around 1-2 tsp of olive oil, until translucent. Then cover and let them sweat a bit. Using a vegetable or fruit peeler, carefully peel off the zest of around half a lemon, and drop it in when the onions are cooked down some. Add around 1/4 cup of dry white wine, and let that cook off until almost all the liquid is gone. Add in a few twists of cracked black pepper, a sprinkle of paprika, around 1/4 tsp cardamom, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp mace, and 1/8 tsp saffron threads, mix it up, and then add in 1 cup basmati rice. Stir it up, and add in around 1/8 tsp turmeric, and let it cook for a minute. Then add in 1 cup water, 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth, and 1/3 cup dry white wine, and mix well. Add in a couple of handfuls of zereshk (barberries) and a handful of roasted, unsalted pistachios, and bring to boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, reduce to low and simmer until rice is done. It should be golden, and somewhere between fluffy and creamy.

Isfahandi style squash:

Take around 2-3 cups cubed butternut squash (skinned, of course), and steam them in the microwave until they are mostly, but not entirely, cooked (say 5-7 minutes, checking at around 4 minutes).
Take 1 small sugar pumpkin, cut in half and seeded, and bake until it is tender (say 45 minutes at 350), splashing a little white wine in the bottom of the pan. When it is done, remove, allow to cool enough to handle, and scrape out of skin.
Take around 1/2 a cup of roasted, unsalted almonds, and run them through the food processor until they are ground very, very fine, almost like a flour.
Using a grater, grate off the zest of around 1/2 an orange.
In a medium sized pot, get 2-3 tbsp of finely diced garlic sauteeing in around 2 tsp of vegetable oil. Add in around 1 tsp freshly grated fresh ginger. After it's cooked a little, add in the butternut squash, along with 1/4 cup semi-dry white wine and 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth, and let cook over medium to medium-high heat until the liquid is mostly evaporated, and the squash is well cooked. Add in the pumpkin, and 1/4 tsp cardamom, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp mace, 1/4 tsp ground star anise, 1/8 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp coriander, along with a small pinch of aleppo chile pepper, and mix well. Add in the almond flour, ad the orange zest, and mix well. Add in 1/4 cup date molasses, and mix well. If the mixture is too stiff or gluey, add in a dash of semi-sweet white wine, and let cook over very low heat for a few minutes.

Serve the chicken over the rice, with a little of the sauce, and a bit of the squash next to it, garnished with some fresh pomegranate seeds. Available on the table should also be a dish of thinly sliced Persian (very small) cucumbers, tomatoes, and sweet onion, dusted with a little mixture of finely chopped cilantro, fresh tarragon, and fresh mint.

 

I picked up a beautiful duck at the Farm Market yesterday.
This evening said duck will get to know orange glaze in a most intimate way.
To be served with the season's first butternut squash. I will probably cube that and oven roast it.

 

I'm going to cook some dolphin I caught yesterday. I think we are going to bake it sealed in foil with lemon slices, onion, butter, and salt/pepper. I'm thinking maybe sauteed squash to go with it.

 

Tonight is the store variety family size chicken alfredo. Good stuff especially for store bought.

 

Fatality - Flawless Victory

 

half-day red sauce... tomatoes, roasted garlic, leeks, onion, yellow peppers slowed cooked, stove-top with herbs. Then blended with the immersion blender, mixed with pan-seared mushrooms, roasted garlic and onions, and 1/8 lb extra-lean ground beef, a hot italian and a sweet italian sausage. Atop delicious whole-wheat, carb-smart angel hair.

With a Hoegarten and a slice of still-warm banana bread with salted butter for dessert.