What's Cooking?

[Deadstream]

On December 20, 2017 at 5:57 PM, ness said:

just never been a fan of chickpeas for starters.

Same here, just blaa.    I have had some hummus I enjoyed and I'm sure that some will be at the Christmas Party's.  Just stay away from my Brussel Sprouts

[Johnsfolly]

On ‎12‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 4:57 PM, ness said:

just never been a fan of chickpeas for starters

I do find that it is hard to work them into an entrée. So I typically just use them for starters ! been running around doing the Xmas shopping, light viewing, etc. So not much homemade dishes lately. For one the more memorable "prepared" dishes, I did brown some diced chicken breast and onions then used Patak's Jalfrezi curry simmering sauce. Served with rice. Turned out to be a decent meal.

[ness]

Baby brother did a 45-day dry-aged 6-bone prime rib the other night for a party. Dang. 

[Johnsfolly]

Just now, ness said:

Baby brother did a 45-day dry-aged 6-bone prime rib the other night for a party. Dang. 

I'd give that a double DANG!! That looks fantastic!

[MOPanfisher]

Dang is right I am not showing that to anyone until after they eat tonight dirty T shirt skillet dinner.  A pound of rough cut bacon, a couple carrots run across the scary slicer thing, half a head of cabbage, half a bell pepper, a small onion, some garlic, a few capers and a variety of spices I found.  Cooking away in a cast iron skillet while my son and his girlfriend watch Princess Bride, good times.  Apparently it smells good cooking, I cannot smell or taste anything at the moment, but my brain knows what it is supposed to taste like.

[MOPanfisher]

Sure wish I had taken a moment for a pic of tonights supper.  Wife was busy at church doing prep work for big christmas dinner, so I decided to fix her and her friend some supper.  Some small taters cut in half and seasoned then baked in oven, smash them flat and sprinkle a little parm cheese on them.  Also had thawed out 3 small sections of venison backstrap, brought them to room temp, salt, pepper and a little garlic powder, bacon grease, and a hot skillet, gave them a few minutes of sear on each side then put it all in bowls to take down to them.  Pulled out a cutting board and sharp knife (very rare in most chirch kitchens), and began to bias slice some of the most beautifully cooked backstrap ever, dead rare in middle (looked a lot like BilletHead's duck), super tender and oh my so good.  Her friend had never had venison that was tender before, between them they cleaned it all up.  Can't imagine anyone other than a vegan turning up their nose at it.  Right now I have 6 turkey halves soaking in a brine to go on the smoker tomorrow over night, for a low slow smoke for the big dinner.  Let's see those rib roasts and christmas goodies awaiting their turn at Christmas glory.

[ness]

Chicken and dumplings today. Tasty!

[ness]

...Not from scratch. Rotisserie chicken and Reemes frozen dumplings. But...dismantled the chicken, discarded the skin, cut out the back and deboned the thighs, legs and the rest. Tossed all the bones into a stock pot with an onion, some celery, carrots, peppercorns, bay leaves and let simmer for a couple hours.  Then cooked the noodles, adjusted seasoning and added back in the chicken. Broth was outstanding. 

Been experimenting with ciders a lot lately, and have zeroed in on a few that I like. All on the dry side. Last night was Crispin's Browns Lane -- very dry, billed as an English-style. Really tasty -- just can't do the really sweet ones. Crispin Original, Samuel Smith's Organic and JK's Scrumpy are all good too.  

[Johnsfolly]

We had a similar cooking experience yesterday. My Betterhalf started with chicken legs in our dutch oven and browned the chicken, added water and cooked until cooked through. She removed the chicken and let cool. She then added onion, carrot, and celery into the "stock". Once the vegetables were tender, she blended them with an immersion blender. I cut up a buttercup squash, garlic, and some celery (including some of the inner leaves). I cooked the squash, garlic, and celery in a skillet to get a little color on the squash and start them cooking. We pulled the chicken from the bones and added the squash, celery, and chicken back into the soup base. I added some prepared chicken stock and seasoned the soup. Back in the skillet I added a little butter and cooked a rice and quinoa mixture. Once browned I added some water and a little chicken stock to the rice and boiled it for about 10 minutes. I added the rice to the soup. Cooked the soup until the squash and rice were cooked through.

[Johnsfolly]

One of the joys of Christmas is the cookies we leave out for Santa. Coconut macroons with 60% cocoa dark chocolate ganache. (yes we are a Santa household!)