What's for Dinner?

[sour_grapes]

Oh, my. A lousy picture of a delightful meal. And I wasn't even drunk! Sigh.

It was hamburger night -- but first the veggies. I made a mixture of beans: green beans, purple beans, yellow beans, and broad beans (courtesy of a farmers' market). I sauteed them with some "fancy" onions (from the same market) and lots of EVOO, then braised with ho-made chicken stock, and a large tomato. I decided that this was kind of Mediterranean style, so went with fresh thyme, sage, and marjoram. Next, I had some Japanese-style eggplants, but went with a Mediterranean preparation: coat with EVOO, then grill both sides; meanwhile, gently sautee lots of garlic with lots of EVOO, then fold in a bunch of chopped Italian parsley and a little lemon juice. Mix the eggplants and the sauce, and let it sit.

Finally the burger. I used grass-fed beef (from a local farmer), and mixed it with a dollop of mayonnaise. Grilled it on a HOT grill, 3' a side. While that was resting (after seasoning with Montreal steak seasoning), I toasted the buns on the grill, then smothered them with truffle butter (pinch me) and fresh arugula. This was wonderful.

All washed down with a WE Eclipse Stag's Leap Merlot (39 mos. old). Can't complain!

 

[ceeaton]

Oh, my. A lousy picture of a delightful meal. And I wasn't even drunk! Sigh.

Maybe that's the problem, drink first, take pictures later!

 

[sour_grapes]

Okay, tonight's fare may seem a little familiar. Same ol', same ol', perhaps. Veggies were grilled zucchini (salt, EVOO); grilled corn-off-the-cob (garlic, butter, EVOO, and too much chipotle); swiss chard (sauteed, with onions, marjoram, coriander, and red pepper flakes, then braised in ho-made chicken stock). The protein was the usual laaaaaamb "shoulder" chops, dry-brined, then grilled to med. on a hot grill.

This was all washed down with a Columbia Crest 2010 H3 Merlot. This was another installation in my series of aging cheap wines. This wine was all that: smooth, right amount of tannins and oak, excellent flavor intensity, good nose and fruit, great mouthfeel. I think it would do well in a blind taste test.

 

[ibglowin]

Made "Father's Office" burgers tonight from the Wagyu hamburger meat. It tasted like budder! Definitely worth the splurge!

 

[Boatboy24]

Easy button. Still some electrical work left on the deck, but I moved the Performer back up tonight and did two of these. Good, but not as good as I'd hoped.

 

[ibglowin]

Maybe if you took it out of the package first......

Easy button. Still some electrical work left on the deck, but I moved the Performer back up tonight and did two of these. Good, but not as good as I'd hoped.

 

[Boatboy24]

Maybe if you took it out of the package first......

That would explain the plastic-y flavor.

 

[sour_grapes]

Made "Father's Office" burgers tonight from the Wagyu hamburger meat. It tasted like budder! Definitely worth the splurge!

View attachment 50323

Oh man that looks good! I had never heard of this -- now I must duplicate!

 

[ibglowin]

Oh man that looks good! I had never heard of this -- now I must duplicate!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-office-burger-3363588

 

[sour_grapes]

As you may have noticed, my wife and I like both our meat and our seafood rare. In particular, we eat salmon and tuna and other fish very rare.

Maybe a week ago, I saw this article in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...of-a-worm-in-his-food/?utm_term=.36bc61f98ee9 . It was about a diner that found a live, parasitic worm crawling out of his/her cod. I have never seen such a thing in my 54 years on Earth, so I didn't give it much thought, although, according to the article, it is not that rare a phenomenon.

This evening, we had grilled monkfish for dinner. I salted the monkfish and set it aside as I prepared everything else. I had cooked two of the side dishes (described below), before grabbing the monkfish to grill. Something caught my eye, viz., a 2" long, skinny, wriggling worm that worked its way to the surface of the filet. Hmmm.

I pulled it out and killed it; we decided to proceed, but to just make sure the fish was well-cooked. I grilled it for longer than I normally would have, until the interior was > 145 F.

So, with that introduction, here was our meal: Salad with arugula and green and red lettuces, with a dressing of EVOO, lemon, thyme, and white balsamic vinegar. We had artichokes that were steamed until soft, then grilled for some char, served with butter, garlic, and lemon. Simple red potatoes cooked on the grill. Finally, the monkfish filet, grilled until 145F, served with an awesome compote of chopped olives, preserved lemon, tarragon, thyme,cilantro, capers, EVOO, and lemon juice. This was quite lovely, and made up for any "overdoneness" in the fish or random wriggling worms.

 

[Johnd]

One of my buddies sold his company for a pretty hefty sum, bought a big house with a 25 acre farm and is raising Wagyu cows. Might be buying half of a young cow this spring, said he didn’t need the whole thing. Definitely will get some ground beef made.

 

[ceeaton]

WIfe texted that the youngest was still avoiding solid food (new braces, teeth are sore), oldest that is still at home going out to get her senior pictures taken, and my wife didn't necessarily want pizza and suggested some cubano sandwiches, which was fine with me. I knew I needed some rolls, swiss cheese and some flat or waffle cut pickles. Stopped at the local Giant and when I went to check out was informed that the debit and credit options weren't working at the time and the line at the one ATM in the store was rather long. So I begrudgingly put my spoils back on the shelves and left the store. My wife eventually picked up the necessary ingredients, though I was thawing some ground lamb to make some greek lamb burgers (maybe Sunday). So no pizza night (gosh, darned) but the alternative was pretty good.



Served with a six pack of nondescript cold beer. It's Fryday!

 

[geek]

yummy.....

 

[ceeaton]

Making some gyro meat (americanized version), had to take some and grill it up for a "pre taste". Haven't made the pocketless pitas or tzatziki sauce yet, so served on a potato sub roll left over from cubanos last night. 2/3 ground lamb, 1/3 80/20 ground beef. Lot's of garlic, rosemary, oregano, some salt & pepper, cumin, onion and more garlic. Then I added some garlic so I could taste it. After cooling the loaf of meat, I'll fry it up as needed for sandwiches (tomorrow dinner for me, I'm being abandoned, family going for a cook out, I'm staying home to do chores (drinking)).

The garlic is staring to come out of the pores in my skin, so I think I got enough in there.

 

[geek]

Heading to the store to get me some of this....what daya think [emoji4]

 

[ibglowin]

And the Pollo Asado is in the bag! (for tomorrow afternoon)



https://keviniscooking.com/how-to-make-pollo-asado/

 

[ibglowin]

Porterhouse is a T-Bone with a NY Strip on one side and beef tenderloin attached to the other side. That would be the best cut of the three IMHO.

Heading to the store to get me some of this....what daya think [emoji4]

 

[ceeaton]

And the Pollo Asado is in the bag! (for tomorrow afternoon)



https://keviniscooking.com/how-to-make-pollo-asado/

Is that a whole chicken cut up in there (the ziploc bag), or do you like using certain parts (I'd lean towards boneless thighs around these parts)? Thanks for posting that recipe, looks fantastic.

Waiting for the downpour to stop. Doing some salmon for my 13 yr old son's birthday dinner request. Luckily I got more propane so I don't necessarily have to fire up the charcoal grill if I feel lazy.

 

[ibglowin]

Today I found some split breast (with the skins and rib bones) and snagged a nice family pack. I imagine you could use anything really. I was initially thinking about cutting up a whole chicken spatchcock style into two halves but wasn't sure it would fit into a gallon zip lock.

This is Mrs IB favorite so bonus points for me if you know what I mean.

 

[ceeaton]

... but wasn't sure it would fit into a gallon zip lock.

This is Mrs IB favorite so bonus points for me if you know what I mean.

They make 2 gallon ziplocs, all but the largest of spatchcock chickens will fit in them. Unfortunately there are like 5 or 6 bags in the pack.

Serve it with her favorite wine. Good luck tonight.