What's for Dinner?

[Boatboy24]

Chicken or ribs on the bullet? Your long range forecast looks pretty awesome for Saturday and Sunday, perfect smokin' weather. I saw some baby backs on sale Sunday at my local Giant.

I initially thought of an overnight pork butt Saturday night or some ribs on Sunday. But we'll be at a birthday party Sunday morning, then a local winery or two. I could do the butt on Friday night, I suppose and vac seal it for later use.

 

[Boatboy24]

Tonight I'm making chicken spiedini, whole grain linguine and sautéed green bean-e.

Washing it down with a 2014 Pinot Gris from King Estate in Oregon.

 

[ceeaton]

I initially thought of an overnight pork butt Saturday night or some ribs on Sunday. But we'll be at a birthday party Sunday morning, then a local winery or two. I could do the butt on Friday night, I suppose and vac seal it for later use.

A lot of times I'll smoke the butt, then put in the fridge and crock pot it on low all day for an easy meal, especially with the busy day you have Sunday. Then you just pull it when you get home for a quick meal. I've also made that work by grilling some boneless/skinless chicken thighs, then plopping them in the crock pot on low just before I leave for the bus stop. When my wife gets home she just has to make the sides and pull the thighs, and dinner is served. All the kids seem to love it, which is rare. Only meal loved more by all is ribs, otherwise they each have their favorite, meatloaf, quesadillas, hot sausages and plain old hot dogs (in order from oldest to youngest).

 

[geek]

Sancocho and white rice, yummy..!!

 

[Rodnboro]

OK, the weather is cooling off and that's got me craving some sort of comfort food. I was complaining to my wife last night that with sports, scouts, and other activities, I haven't cooked a 'real' meal in over two weeks. Those are the times that we usually sit down as a family and have a nice dinner together. As it turns out, we are free this Saturday night and we both agreed that we won't put anything on the calendar. Our oldest has a baseball game that day, but he'll be done by 2:30, giving me plenty of time to cook a nice meal for dinner. I tend to gravitate toward Italian, as it is relatively easy and everyone loves it. But I fear the family may be getting fatigued. So I'm looking for ideas. I do plan on making some fresh bread (another thing I've not done in quite a while). Otherwise, I'm all ears.

Maybe a rib roast slow smoked/cooked medium rare on the grill. We have started doing this every year now for Thanksgiving.

 

[Boatboy24]

Uh oh. The bread book is out.

 

[the_rayway]

Before my cold finally took over, I was able to enjoy the "All Kids Wedding Anniversary Supper" made by my parents last night:

Salad with roasted tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese, arugula, poppy seed dressing and pomegranate seeds
Escargot in garlic butter
Prime rib wrapped in bacon with Argentinian "salsa" and peppercorn sauce
Snow crab legs with lemon butter
Roasted brussels, potatoes, broccoli and parsnips with parmesan and herbs
Dessert: kahlua poached pears with cardamom whipped cream

They basically had to roll all of us out the door afterwards! My parents know how to put on a feast, and they really outdid themselves this time. It was an adults only night, no kidlings running around, and it was a wonderful time to catch up without all of the usual distractions.

 

[jgmann67]

Sausage and peppers for tonight.

Saw an electric smoker at the hardware store. Anyone have one? Thoughts?

 

[ceeaton]

Sausage and peppers for tonight.

Saw an electric smoker at the hardware store. Anyone have one? Thoughts?

Charcoal is always righteous. Electric is good for smoking fish and more delicate fare, plus I think there is a bit more control with it. But I like to live life and food dangerously.

Wanted to grill these over charcoal but ran out of time (story of my life). Skewered up some pork loin, onions, green peppers and pineapple chunks. Served over rice infused with some soy sauce.

Burnt the grill down after cooking for a good 15 minutes, can tell I was away last weekend, I usually do that after cooking any meal on the grill. Guess I could spend a few bucks for more grates since they are at least 14 years old and starting to bend downward in the middle.

 

[Boatboy24]

Sausage and peppers for tonight.

Saw an electric smoker at the hardware store. Anyone have one? Thoughts?

NOOOOOO!!!

Weber Smokey Mountain. If you're not in the mood to fork over ~$1,000 for a ceramic cooker, grab the Weber. It is a beast and turns out some great grub. At around $300, it is worth far, far more.

 

[jgmann67]

NOOOOOO!!!

Weber Smokey Mountain. If you're not in the mood to fork over ~$1,000 for a ceramic cooker, grab the Weber. It is a beast and turns out some great grub. At around $300, it is worth far, far more.

I'll check it out.

 

[Boatboy24]

Making a Beef Ragu, that sadly, will not be eaten tonight. I'm a little behind schedule and am missing the double oven we had in the old kitchen. Directions called for searing meat and sautéing veg before putting into a 350 degree oven for 3 hours. I wanted the oven to bake some bread. So after the initial searing and sautéing, I put everything in the crock pot on high. Thinking my cook time might be about the same. Not looking like that is going to work and we just ordered pizza.

Anyway, got some really great looking prime beef chuck yesterday for this. Lean and beautifully marbled and 'only' $7.99/lb. Expensive for chuck, but this stuff really did look great. Here's a few pics of what has happened so far. After the last photo, I added beef stock and San Marzano tomato, simmered for a few minutes and transferred everything to the crock pot.

 

[Boatboy24]

Bread is ready.

 

[ceeaton]

Bread is ready.

Looks just like the picture on the book cover, just not oriented the same way!

PS. A man can live on bread alone, as long as he has some good wine in the cellar.

 

[Boatboy24]

Looks just like the picture on the book cover, just not oriented the same way!

I can follow directions.

 

[GreginND]

I'm in Kogashima this week. It's hard to stay vegan here. So I'm relaxing my diet while I'm here.

How about some pork ramen?



Tempura and soba noodles.

 

[JohnT]

I have to laugh! You would think, that in this day and age, someone would figure out a way to secure the back of trucks traveling through NJ!

$5.99/pound for shell steak! Sunday dinner was been decided!

I started by baking 2 loaves of whole wheat bread and apple pie. I baked 2 nice potatoes, sautéed some mushrooms in brown butter, sautéed asparagus tips, and a nice handful of bag-o-salad with thousand island dressing!

Opened a bottle of my 2013 Chilean cab to go with it all.

 

[tonyt]

Tony,

Were you talking about one of these? Your link didn't work quite right!

Propane Weed Torch

Looks pretty cool!

Sorry I never answered you mike, I haven't been on here in months. Still making wine though. But yes mine is very similar to that and loads of fun, arg arg arg.

 

[geek]

Hey Tony.....long time...!!!

 

[Boatboy24]

Garlic shrimp with peanut-lime marinade, stir fry veg, and ramen noodles.