What is/was for dinner?

[Scepticalscribe]

Main dish for the menu for a virtual Mother’s Day with my parents, sister, and future in-laws: Shrimp Fra Diavlo.

Thanks to COVID we’re actually putting our new kitchen to use hahah.

What does Shrimp Fra Diavlo comprise of?

 

[0388631]

Sounds like it's cooked in some kind of arrabiata sauce.

 

[A.Goldberg]

What does Shrimp Fra Diavlo comprise of?

Basically shrimp in an arrabbiata sauce over pasta, I prefer linguini but angel hair or thin spaghetti are also common.

 

[0388631]

Linguini makes sense if it's a creamy citrus sauce or a lemon sauce thickened by some of the starch water cooked down. Depending on what you're cooking seafood wise, something like orechiette would be advisable. Cappelini over angel hair or spaghetti, too. Cappelini works best for a mix, such as scallops, shrimp, etc. in one dish.

You get a nice volume of pasta per twirl along with seafood and not overtly pasta like spaghetti would deliver which would be a bulky mess and angel hair would cause the individuals eating to overpick the pasta and it becomes more pasta than seafood, muting the flavor.

As you can see, having spent... lost track of the time, but I've made enough pasta and planned out and thought of scenarios in my head involving various pasta dishes.

Ribbon or ribbon-esque pasta are iffy to use because you need to be very careful. You'd never use papparddele for seafood, but a nice sauce tri-meat sauce. Wonderful. Also works with single "greasy" meats like rich cuts of lamb cooked down for hours.

 

[filippjd]

Frikadellen (small fried German burger patty) plus a bunch of microwaved veggies.

You can make about 5 Frikadellens from a pound (454 g) of meat and they are still tasty after a couple of days in the fridge. Recipes usually specify a wet crumbled Kaiser roll as an ingredient but I just use a piece of multigrain bread.

http://www.mygerman.recipes/recipe/frikadellen-meat-balls/

i loved to try German recipes and will try Frikadellen soon, thanks for sharing this. i recently tried milchschnitte and i must say it's very delicious and not only my children loved it but also my wife also. German recipes are awesome and i recommend every food lover to try.

 

[RootBeerMan]

Miso marinated steelhead trout? Sounds amazing, and what a brilliant idea. I've marinated tuna, and salmon in soya sauce.

How long do you marinate it for?

The recipe calls for about 30 minutes, but I've let it go a bit longer. It has rice vinegar in it so you don't want to go too long or it will cook the fish.

 

[Mellofello808]

Bouquet of Char siu, and kalbi marinated chicken thighs.

 

[RootBeerMan]

Grilled a flank steak last night that I had marinated in Moroccan spices (Ras Al Hanout), lemon juice, vegetable oil, cumin, paprika and salt, for 4 hours. As usual, it came out great and was soooo tasty! Just had baked potatoes for a side.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Dinner will be poached (organic, free range) eggs, served with roasted organic cherry tomatoes and steamed organic spinach, sautéed in butter and garlic.

 

[anika200]

Bouquet of Char siu, and kalbi marinated chicken thighs.

Keeping it real, I love it. Looking Delicious.

 

[LizKat]

Can't believe it's cold enough near mid-May that I still so often want hearty soups or veggie stews for lunch or supper (but it is, and I do).

So this afternoon I was pawing through a growing collection of recipes clipped from the bounty online for a spicy Moroccan tomato and chickpea stew... all the writeups were slightly different and all good, so not sure why I was making myself crazy for awhile over picking one and getting on with it.

Anyway I had got as far as having cooked up a fresh batch of dried chickpeas, then managed to plunk an onion and a few cloves of garlic onto the cutting board, then it was off to the recipes to home in on the spice combinations du jour. Right so that's when I went bonkers for half an hour before deciding.

All the recipes had cinnamon, cumin and coriander; some added paprika, or went for cayenne / red pepper flake, others also had cloves, black pepper, turmeric... I sometimes include not only garlic but grated ginger as well for the step after cooking up the onions, but that might be more an Indian than Moroccan choice. I'm still using canned tomatoes at this point, but the dish is wonderful for w/ fresh in season. If I have some fresh spinach leaves then I put a handful in at nearly the end of simmering down, otherwise like to garnish with parsley or cilantro.

Anyway tonight the spices I settled on were smoky Spanish paprika, cumin, coriander, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon and cayenne (not too much of that last or the cloves either). Those went into the pan after the onions and garlic had cooked for a bit, then finally the tomatoes and chickpeas (which latter had been cooked with a little salt once they started to soften). I used some fresh cilantro to garnish as I hadn't any spinach leaves to wilt into the dish at the end. Pretty tasty, served alongside some couscous. Made enough to freeze half and then fish it out for the next time this "spring" season serves up another chilly night.

 

[Mellofello808]

Friend gave us some homemade kim chi the other day. It is still fermenting, but gave it a try today with some Korean style zucchini pancakes.

Delicious already. Looking forward to what it will taste like in a week.

 

[jkcerda]

breakfast, made the beans from scratch

 

[Scepticalscribe]

A homemade Greek salad - I had everything I needed in the house; aged Feta cheese, lovely organic (and tart and tasty) tomatoes and organic cucumber; black olives; olive oil, onions, and pitta bread.

And I prepared a dressing of garlic (minced and further pureed in a pestle and mortar), Greek yogurt, a little double cream, balsamic glaze, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper, olive oil.

 

[Mellofello808]

A homemade Greek salad - I had everything I needed in the house; aged Feta cheese, lovely organic (and tart and tasty) tomatoes and organic cucumber; black olives; olive oil, onions, and pitta bread.

And I prepared a dressing of garlic (minced and further pureed in a pestle and mortar), Greek yogurt, a little double cream, balsamic glaze, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper, olive oil.

Reminding me how much I love Greek salads.

 

[LizKat]

So far I haven't a clue what's for supper so... I'm the target audience for this cartoon.

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[Scepticalscribe]

So far I haven't a clue what's for supper so... I'm the target audience for this cartoon.View attachment 914835

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Is there anything you crave?

I've had rare steak craving evenings, hot and sour Asian soup craving evenings, fish soup craving evenings, chicken or fish and rice dish craving evening, - and then, "check what is in the fridge and/or freezer and see if that can give rise to ideas or desire that one might wish to consume", - such as any pasta dish might adequately address, - or, is it just a "food is fuel" evening?

With the craving evenings, if I don't have the ingredients to hand, the next shopping trip will address that, and serve to give me something to look forward to on the culinary front.

 

[LizKat]

^^ Hah, yes I am always guided in the end by the mental list of what's to be used up, and meanwhile as you say, if disappointed by options on hand then some things get tacked on to a real list for shopping out in future.

But I can usually come up with something and not feel deprived. Tonight it was a bit chilly for wanting a salad although I do love a good Greek salad. Nothing in the fridge was really screaming "use it or lose it!!" so I opted for a couple of poached eggs put atop buttered toast torn to pieces, some salt, pepper, a side of wilted spinach and hot milk poured over all. Just right for this evening.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

^^ Hah, yes I am always guided in the end by the mental list of what's to be used up, and meanwhile as you say, if disappointed by options on hand then some things get tacked on to a real list for shopping out in future.

But I can usually come up with something and not feel deprived. Tonight it was a bit chilly for wanting a salad although I do love a good Greek salad. Nothing in the fridge was really screaming "use it or lose it!!" so I opted for a couple of poached eggs put atop buttered toast torn to pieces, some salt, pepper, a side of wilted spinach and hot milk poured over all. Just right for this evening.

Perfect.

Actually, poached eggs are perfect for such evenings - that dish (or fried eggs) tends to be what I prepare in such circumstances for myself.

In fact, I did exactly that - plus steamed spinach - a classic - two evenings ago - okay, roasted cherry tomatoes added a little tart extra, a je ne said quoi, to the dish.

 

[Gutwrench]

It was plain quesadillas last night. Flour tortillas with sharp cheddar, dollop of sour cream and salsa with a little cilantro then into a pan for a minute each side. It doesn’t get much simpler or tastier.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It was plain quesadillas last night. Flour tortillas with sharp cheddar, dollop of sour cream and salsa with a little cilantro then into a pan for a minute each side. It doesn’t get much simpler or tastier.

Exactly; something that is both simple to prepare and tasty to eat will win out every time.

 

[decafjava]

Well my dinner was chicken thighs roasted with veggies (carrots, zucchini, onions and mushrooms) lots of spices including some green spices from the Caucasus region (don't ask me what it is called I was told it's good for meat) and liberal amounts of lemon juice and olive oil covered in aluminium foil so it wouldn't dry out nor the vegetables burn.

It was very nice! I didn't want any starch with it or I might have added potatoes or made some rice.

 

[0388631]

It was plain quesadillas last night. Flour tortillas with sharp cheddar, dollop of sour cream and salsa with a little cilantro then into a pan for a minute each side. It doesn’t get much simpler or tastier.

Sharp cheddar may be too spicy for native Minnesotans.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Kept it simple this evening; organic eggs, sautéed in olive oil.

 

[D.T.]

So far I haven't a clue what's for supper so... I'm the target audience for this cartoon.

... sometimes, we get in a "I don't care" mood, where I don't want anything, but I'm still hungry, like shove anything in me and I'm good.

It was plain quesadillas last night. Flour tortillas with sharp cheddar, dollop of sour cream and salsa with a little cilantro then into a pan for a minute each side. It doesn’t get much simpler or tastier.

Yeah, we do quesadillas quite a bit, like you said, they're easy, quick, and they're a good way to clear out leftovers: Pulled pork left? Quesadilla. Ground turkey from Taco Wednesday? Quesadilla. Some random veggies? __Quesadilla__.