Perpetual "What's for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner Today" thread

Echus Cthulhu Mythos · Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:27 pm

It is a Monday evening! As I finish school like 2 hours early on Mondays I have time to make dinner. Usually it is bland. I thought I would make something interesting tonight. So I am making a curry. I love curry. Mmmm.

I can't be bothered typing out the recipe. It is too long, and I am lazy!

ChoChiyo · Post by **ChoChiyo** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 9:30 pm

It is Sunday night here. I haven't had supper and I am too lazy to make any now. Yet I am hungry.

So I'm thinking of all the things I would cook if I were not so damn lazy.

Right now, I'm thinking of fresh chocolate chip cookies, just out of the oven. And a tall cold glass of milk.

Siiiiigh.......

Post by **wolfspirit** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 2:52 pm

I made Barley Chicken Chili for lunch today (it is actually a quick chili, under 30 mionutes from start to finish). The chili, becasue it was quick, didn't have quite the blended flavors of the longer-simmering ones (like the usual I make, which simmers for 10-12 hours beofre the first serving, and will often simmer for over 24 hours).

This was also the first time I used corn in a chili, and I have made the note to add it for the future in my regular chili.

magicfan241

Post by **Darb** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:02 pm

Although many might disagree, I've found that you eventually pass a point of diminishing returns, with regards to simmering ... after which things can slowly get a bit too pasty, mushy and/or dry (if uncovered). For chili with ground meat, I prefer to simmer 60-180 mins. For cubed or diced red meats, figure on needing at least 90 mins to get fork tender, and as much as 120-180 to get fork tender for meat from tougher cuts. Longer than that depends on how pasty you like the texture ... after a while, diced meat will disintegrate into threads, whereas ground meat will hold up a little better.

Chili's not quite the same a ragout (pronounced 'ragu'), in which all day simmers are par for the course.

Post by **wolfspirit** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:09 pm

Brad wrote:Although many might disagree, I've found that you eventually pass a point of diminishing returns, with regards to simmering ... after which things can slowly get a bit too pasty, mushy and/or dry (if uncovered). For chili with ground meat, I prefer to simmer 60-180 mins. For cubed or diced red meats, figure on needing at least 90 mins to get fork tender, and as much as 120-180 to get fork tender for meat from tougher cuts. Longer than that depends on how pasty you like the texture ... after a while, diced meat will disintegrate into threads, whereas ground meat will hold up a little better.

Chili's not quite the same a ragout (pronounced 'ragu'), in which all day simmers are par for the course.

I use the ground variety of meat, and I use a crock-pot for the final simmer before serving.

While they may simmer for 24 hours, it is often on several occaisions. I make chili in the eqivelelnt of a large covered vat (my chili uses four of the larger varity of beans thatyou get at the supermarket, 4-5 pounds of ground beef, and tomatos, peppers, onions, and in the future will have corn). It takes a long time for things to get cooked the frist time around (often to the tune of 2-3 hours), and then it needs to simmer for a long time for get the flavors blended. Believe it or not, pieces will get frozen and then recooked in the crtock pot. Works well for when I don't have time to dice all sorts of vegetabables and the like.

If I made smaller batches of chili, I think I would simmer it less, because it would take less time to blend.

The "chili" I had for lunch, was not blended in terms of flavor, and you could readily distiguish when you got a piece of hot pepper. I prefer the peppers over the spices, so I need time for the flavors to leak out into the rest of the pot.

magicfan241

Post by **Darb** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:21 pm

I don't have a crock pot ATM ... but I may get one eventually.

I usually use dutch ovens for simmered stews and chilies - cast iron (I have a 5 qt but I wish it was 7) or heavy duty stainless steel (I have a 5 qt all clad, which is nice but a bit too small, and a 7 qt revereware, which is roomy, but suffers from being a thin-gauge POS ... I'd love to get an enamled cast iron pot of around 7 qts, but the best ones are French and I'm not buying French products ATM). I can get nice even heating by sitting a dutch oven in a slow oven (300-325F) for 2-3 hrs ... just stir occasionally and add water as needed.

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 4:17 pm

Brad wrote:I'd love to get an enamled cast iron pot of around 7 qts, but the best ones are French and I'm not buying French products ATM).

ouch. or should I say "ayoye"

Post by **Darb** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 4:27 pm

And the last little piggie (who was experiencing bladder control problems) said "Oui ! Oui ! Oui !" all the way home.

Oh, don't get me started ... this is the tap room, not the soap box.

Post by **wolfspirit** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 4:52 pm

Brad wrote:I don't have a crock pot ATM ... but I may get one eventually.

I usually use dutch ovens for simmered stews and chilies - cast iron (I have a 5 qt but I wish it was 7) or heavy duty stainless steel (I have a 5 qt all clad, which is nice but a bit too small, and a 7 qt revereware, which is roomy, but suffers from being a thin-gauge POS ... I'd love to get an enamled cast iron pot of around 7 qts, but the best ones are French and I'm not buying French products ATM). I can get nice even heating by sitting a dutch oven in a slow oven (300-325F) for 2-3 hrs ... just stir occasionally and add water as needed.

Crock Pots are the best thing for people like me who have time to set dinner up at 4PM, but don't have time to eat it until 7PM. No steam escapes, so the food doesn't get dry, and it does not get hot enough so that the stuff turns to mush fast, if ever (I'm usign personal experiences here).

We use our crock pot for church luncheons (which you would go hog-wild at Brad, sooo many different varieties of food, and sooo much food in general. I'll have to post up a few recipies from the church cookbook when it comes out later this year). We also use it whenever we are bringing food that needs to travel and stay hot (because the crock pot itself is insultaing, at least a little bit, and we can just plug it in when we get to our destination).

magicfan241

Post by **Darb** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 5:18 pm

I usually prefer to cook things fresh, and in batch sizes that only last a few days, so a crock pot doesnt really fit my style of cooking. Still, it'd be fun to play with it ... for sunday type slo-cooking.

Post by **Darb** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 12:45 pm

Mmmmmmm .... hot wings today. Nice, and crispy too, with lots of hot sauce. (swoon)

Post by **Darb** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:53 pm

So, did anyone make lamb for Easter ?

I was originally planning to splurge and do 6-7 racks of lamb, but my inner miser rebelled at the expense ($12-25/lb, depending on quality and trim), and I opted for whole leg instead (currently $2-3/lb in my area, for med-quality 'choice' grade).

One of my favorite fast and easy ways to do a whole leg of lamb is to debone it, trim it (reserve shank for other use, then remove fell/fat, silverskin, and the lymph node on the inner thigh), butterfly it to 1.25 - 1.5" thickness, marinate it overnight, and then grill it over high for about 15-20 minutes (turning & rotating occasionally) until crispy on the outside, but still med-rare inside ... basting it generously towards the end with whatever oil you you have handy (preferrably one infused with mint, rosemary, or basil ... all of which go well with lamb). It's fast, easy, tastes great, feeds a lot of people, and cooking it makes for a nice show for guests to watch.

I did an 8.5 lb leg for my parents this past weekend - grilled it (along with a quarter pan of grilled marinated bi-color squash slices), put it in a hotel pan to rest while I drove (10 minutes) to their house, and then sliced the meat while the crescent rolls baked. Easy stuff.

p.s. I also love doing a stuffed boneless leg, but it's more of a production.

Aunflin · Post by **Aunflin** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:56 pm

You're making me hungry, Brad!

...I need to eat--I'm starving.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:19 pm

If it helps intensify the grumbling in your stomach, I marinated the lamb in an impromptu marinade of a large fistful of fresh mint leaves, and a northern indian themed spice blend lifted from a kebab recipe by madhur jaffrey ... whirred together into a pesto-like consistency.

Suffer

Post by **wolfspirit** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:06 pm

I had chicken nuggets for dinner!

I win!

and mozzerilla(sp) sticks. Lots of them cheesy sticks. 4 pound bag= $6. Lots of cheese consumption.

yeah.

high class dinner tonight!

magicfan241

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:19 am

Gee, and here I felt lazy because I made my kids tandoori chicken, but then was too lazy to make a side dish, so we just had fresh pineapple, strawberries, kiwi and banana with it.

Aunflin · Post by **Aunflin** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:08 pm

Brad wrote:If it helps intensify the grumbling in your stomach, I marinated the lamb in an impromptu marinade of a large fistful of fresh mint leaves, and a northern indian themed spice blend lifted from a kebab recipe by madhur jaffrey ... whirred together into a pesto-like consistency.

Suffer

:drool:

Yep, that despriction intensifies the grumbling--quite a lot!

/me needs to start taking the time to eat at work--rather than working 9-12 hours with only a five minute smoke break here and there...

Post by **Darb** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:56 pm

I did grilled pork chops yesturday for a family BBQ, using aidells's book. I posted the recipe here.

Post by **Kvetch** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:02 pm

Brad will be proud of me: I just cooked my first completely made up dish (rather than making one based around a recipe I've been shown/taken from a book).

It was sort of groundnut chop with no chop, and no groundnut either.

Basically, I made a stew from onion, leek, carrot, potato, red lentils and beans (pintos??), plus stock, soy sauce, garlic, chilli pepper, Henderson's Relish and flour, then reduced it heavily to a thick consistency, and ate it over basmati rice (cooked in the microwave, since I don't have a pot small enough to cook it in properly - it came out OK).

It was absolutely delicious - and I made enough of the sauce that I now have a frozen bagful for another meal - if it defrosts well, of course.

Sean Whitton · Post by **Sean Whitton** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 4:54 pm

Kvetch wrote:Brad will be proud of me: I just cooked my first completely made up dish.

We need a :jawdrop: emoticon!

Post by **Kvetch** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:14 pm

violetblue · Post by **violetblue** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:55 am

Kvetch wrote:Brad will be proud of me: I just cooked my first completely made up dish (rather than making one based around a recipe I've been shown/taken from a book).

It was sort of groundnut chop with no chop, and no groundnut either.

Basically, I made a stew from onion, leek, carrot, potato, red lentils and beans (pintos??), plus stock, soy sauce, garlic, chilli pepper, Henderson's Relish and flour, then reduced it heavily to a thick consistency, and ate it over basmati rice (cooked in the microwave, since I don't have a pot small enough to cook it in properly - it came out OK).

It was absolutely delicious - and I made enough of the sauce that I now have a frozen bagful for another meal - if it defrosts well, of course.

Wow, I see Kvetch is feeding himself well at school. Sounds good, I like lentils. I prefer jasmine over basmati, though. Have you found you've had much time to cook?

I joke that I eat like a squirrel for lunch. I usually eat dried fruit with nuts and maybe some Goldfish (the cracker, not the aquatic version). I have been a lazy cook lately. No elaborate dinners. Although I am going to make my kicka-- Shrimp Jambalaya tonight for dinner.

Sean Whitton · Post by **Sean Whitton** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 12:14 pm

Xyrael wrote:
Kvetch wrote:Brad will be proud of me: I just cooked my first completely made up dish.
We need a :jawdrop: emoticon!

Isn't that a tongue sticking out? I mean like this:

This is post 667 - I'm not evil! edit: 671

tollbaby · Post by **tollbaby** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:07 pm

I don't think he was trying to show you the emoticon... I think he was commenting on your reply.

Yay Kvetch. Dunno about Brad, but I'm proud of you

mrdude · Post by **mrdude** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 1:00 am

Just made some awesome hot and sour soup! I love this stuff, this is the second batch I've made with this recipe. I am a little upset though, it doesn't have the punch I want, I need more hot, sour is fine. Right now I just throw in some tabasco. I'll have to play with the recipe some, wich is a scary thought.

Any suggestions of what I might add? I was thinking some simple dried red pepper ground up, since I have a lot. I am not to experienced with asian dishes, although I love them, and atempt to make them as much as I can.