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Last night was another boar ragu- this one with a healthy amount of red wine and paprika, which I thickened up a good deal after cooking in the instant pot. After 1 hour in the instant pot, it is tear apart tender.  I ate mine over butternut squash zoodles.  MK had his with basmati rice.  We had a side of roasted leek, poblano, bell pepper and broccoli. 

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22 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

Last night was another boar ragu- this one with a healthy amount of red wine and paprika, which I thickened up a good deal after cooking in the instant pot. After 1 hour in the instant pot, it is tear apart tender.  I ate mine over butternut squash zoodles.  MK had his with basmati rice.  We had a side of roasted leek, poblano, bell pepper and broccoli. 

boar? Where did you find boar? Sorry if I missed an earlier reference. 

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3 hours ago, Smita Nordwall said:

boar? Where did you find boar? Sorry if I missed an earlier reference. 

I have a friend that goes and hunts one every so many years.  They were cleaning out their chest freezer to make room for venison, and I was the recipient of a lot of boar from this past year. (When you grow up in the sticks and people know you like to cook, you end up being offered interesting things from time to time.  I also randonly take things from my Aunt's huge chest freezer, as is our policy, she doesn't get us Christmas presents, she stocks meat, speaking of this, I need to turn last year's beef liver into a pate...)

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7 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

, I need to turn last year's beef liver into a pate...)

OMG, What do I need to do to beg a taste? I had boar in Italy... it was a flavor I will never forget. Nor the smell of the small piece of boar sausage that slipped into the depths of our backpack for several days... 

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Last night we had a salad of romaine, Campari tomatoes, red bell pepper, chicken breast, and avocado with vinaigrette (Mine also had blue cheese.) There was also yet another discounted &pizza. I've taken to just selecting items for them on a whim. This had, among other things, chicken, chickpeas, mushroom truffle sauce, and arugula.

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16 hours ago, leleboo said:

I’d eat that. 

It was pretty good. Now that I've been eating these more, I realize that my initial dislike of them is that I usually order pizza for a meal and these don't seem that substantial. They're also not a traditional pizza, more like the Chipotle or Roti model applied to a slipper-shaped flatbread. . But, as part of a meal with other things, they work nicely as a course or supplement.

Last night was cream of wild rice soup, more of the salad, and tuna melts with provolone.

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Luckys, grocery chain that I love, had U8 scallops on sale for 9.99 a pound. They had been frozen, but when I opened them up, they smelled really sweet. I pan seared them with just salt and pepper, and served them on top of diced sautéed yellow squash. I drizzled over a sauce of lime, butter, garlic and hot chile powder.  A simple, high-protein, low-carb meal. 

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We've been working on cleaning out the pantry and freezer recently.  Looking at things to use up, I had red lentils, rice and some frozen stew beef.  I was in the mood for Ethiopian, so I made Ethiopian Beef Stew Key Wat with the lentil stew as suggested and served it over rice.  I did the beef in the Instant Pot and the lentils on the stove since lentils cook so quickly.  

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Last night we had beef tacos, made with shredded/chunked leftover pot roast and flour tortillas. I reheated the meat in a little of the "gravy" that accumulates in the foil packet during cooking. It was nice and moist. Toppings and accompaniments: shredded Napa cabbage, chopped tomatoes, grated pepper jack cheese, roasted poblano and jalapeno peppers, sour cream, black beans, and leftover rice pilaf with peas and corn.

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20 hours ago, DaveO said:

Last evening, roast chicken w/ potatoes, carrots, fennel, onions, and a side of sauteed  spinach.  Pretty yummy mostly as a result of stuffing the cavity with tasty spices and lemon.

I love stuffing a chicken cavity with lemons. Makes for an excellent flavor. 

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This week has been crazy.  I made shredded chicken in the instant pot earlier this week that we could have on salad or in wraps or etc. Tonight I managed to cook and we had chorizo tacos because chorizo was the only meat I had that wasn't frozen, except for the shredded chicken.  I also used the last of the tamales from before it got cold to make a base for posole, which will use up the last of the shredded chicken if I can remember to buy some hominy tomorrow. 

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On 11/12/2019 at 10:52 AM, DaveO said:

Last evening, roast chicken w/ potatoes, carrots, fennel, onions, and a side of sauteed  spinach.  Pretty yummy mostly as a result of stuffing the cavity with tasty spices and lemon.

I love stuffing a chicken cavity with lemons. Makes for an excellent flavor. 

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Lemon and Honey Chicken
Baked potatoes
Pugilese bread and butter

The chicken was a 2012 recipe from the Post. It also involves haricots verts, olives, and tomatoes. It's basically a one-pan meal, but the beans get blanched in water before adding. I don't believe I've ever made this before. It was quite good, better than I was expecting. It called for thighs and drumsticks, but I used thighs and whole legs.

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Leftover lemon fettuccine with chicken added
Wilted spinach with cottage cheese and Parmesan
Roasted delicata squash with cherry tomatoes and cremini mushrooms

I put halved cherry tomatoes and whole mushrooms in the center of squash slices. They looked really cool that way, but the mushrooms shrank too much to remain in the hole after cooking.

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Posole: I had roasted the last of my garden tomatillos with garlic, onion, poblano and serrano peppers to make salsa.  But as it hadn't been eaten up, I pureed it, then added chicken stock and brought that to a boil.  I had a large container of shredded chicken from the instant pot that we hadn't finished, as well.  I broke up, and toasted off a can of hominy in the oven, then added it to the broth, and then added the chicken.  After about 20 minutes, I added a healthy portion of cilantro paste (somehow the paste doesn't have the same reaction on the tongue as eating the cut up leaves and stems, which is good).  It was very good.  It was a bit of a riff on the Chris Morroco Bon Appetit recipe. 

Served with saltine crackers- classy all the way.

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The past couple of nights have been largely things from the freezer and pantry.

Thursday, it was two chicken legs and some pork ribs that I defrosted and reheated in the oven. I also made a side dish of red quinoa I pulled out of the freezer with the remnants of a couple of bags of frozen peas and corn. We had more of the green bean salad along with this.

Last night I decided to make stuffing to go with sliced cooked pork tenderloin I'd found during the previous day's excavation. I'd also roasted a couple dozen chestnuts I'd bought at Eastern Market a while ago that I really needed to use before they got too old. Unfortunately, some old rye bread I'd pulled out to use for my anticipated stuffing had gotten too freezer burned to be used, so I stopped at TJ's and bought a box of cornbread stuffing mix. It had been a long time since I'd bought boxed stuffing but this was certainly the right time of year to need to look for it!

Back at home, I unwrapped the pork and discovered it was only 3 small slices -- very well wrapped, though, which is why it looked like more. I heated them quickly in a cast iron skillet to refresh them and put some color on them and cut them into pieces. The cooled pieces of pork went into my stuffing, along with the chopped chestnuts and some sweet and spicy pecans I'd also picked up at the store. I also added parsley and I heated it all up as a casserole. Being mixed in with all of the moist ingredients also kept the pork from being too dry after three rounds of cooking.

We had this with more of the green bean salad and more of the quinoa and vegetables, which I spiced up this time around with some minced habanero pepper.

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After a couple of nights of leftovers, I cooked again last night.

Radicchio and iceberg salad, cucumber, red bell pepper, tomato, dried cranberries, sweet and spicy pecans; honey - mustard vinaigrette
Beef chili with beans; shredded cheddar and creme fraiche to serve
TJ's sourdough bread and butter

I used the chili as a vessel for a lot of items I had to use up in the refrigerator: an open can of beer, one lonely tomatillo, an aged red bell pepper, 1 1 /2 chipotles and their adobo, a handful of chickpeas (supplementing the kidney beans I used for the most part). The other liquid was a can of tomato sauce and part of a box of beef stock (the rest of which now sits in the fridge...). I tinkered with spicing, using a mix of premade chili powder, some ancho powder and some chipotle powder as well, rounded out with a sprinkling of cayenne and black pepper. There was also half of a large fresh jalapeno in there, a white onion, and a fat clove of garlic. It simmered a good long time, and the flavor and the heat were just right. I'm sure I'll never make chili exactly this way again but it was quite good

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Back to leftovers. More salad, building on what was left from the previous night: additional radicchio and iceberg, tomatoes, and bacon. Leftover gruyere and potato frittata from the freezer, and 7 grain lentil blend from an expired Whole Foods packet. The grains tasted a little flat. Some hot sauce might have helped, but oh well. Otherwise, fine. And more sourdough bread and butter.

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Pumpkin mac and cheese with broccoli mixed in
Skillet casserole of greens, rice, and chicken

Nothing with Thanksgiving leftovers last night but lots of carbs. I don't usually make a meal with substantial amounts of both rice and pasta, but I was trying to utilize bits and pieces of things that needed to be used: the last of the pumpkin puree from when I made the pumpkin bread; excess cooked broccoli; milk that had expired; chicken breasts that came out too dry when cooked for a recipe; greens that weren't in as great shape as I thought when I bought them; miscellaneous bits of onion, garlic, and celery left from other recipes; and the remaining homemade chicken stock I had defrosted to make something for Thanksgiving.

Both dishes came out well. I put the sliced chicken breasts into the skillet near the end of the rice cooking time and buried them in there so they heated and stayed moist. I think the chicken was actually more moist than the first time around.

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Last night was turkey meatball soup and a stir-fry of tofu, onion, snow peas, yellow and green bell pepper, cremini mushrooms, and rice noodles.

Tonight was a napa cabbage slaw and a bunch of leftovers: pumpkin mac and cheese; roasted cauliflower; turnip puree; and, chicken, greens, and rice.

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Wednesday night: Veal tongue w/house fermented sauerkraut, dijon mustard, sauteed local potato, red nappa cabbage in soy dressing

Thursday night: Tacos: Radicchio & guanciale, or enoki & king mushroom; onion, guanciale; fontina & asiago, avocado, red onion & cilantro  home fermented hot sauces. Homemade Japanese soy cured pickles.

Friday night: Miso soup w/tofu, enoki & king mushrooms, green onion, bamboo shoot, hon dashi

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Lunch

Finnonchiona {from Olympia Provisions and Porcini}
Burrata {not the one we used at the Grotto but one I can buy at Restaurant Depot that is not bad}
Baguette
'Nduja
Oven Roasted Tomato from Divina {these are the ones that went on our Burrata.
Sunnyside hakurei turnips & French breakfast radish
Olive oil

Dinner:

Bottle Ridge Carignane Buchignani Ranch 2009

Roseda Top Butt Sirloin marinated in rosemary, olive oil, spice rub, garlic, rosemary
Corno di Toro yellow pepper {last week's farmers market haul, I don't remember from who}
Bok Choi {farm at sunnyside: tiny grilled till charred dipped in sesame oil, tomati & water}
Baugette

I understand a Boulevardier is about to materialize... I think I have a nice genie looking over me. Old Grandad, 1/2 Luxardo Maraschino, 1/2 Suze, Dolin Dry, bitters of some sort but we decide after the drink is built and tasted. Bitter Truth lemon & Peychaud's Whiskey Barrel bitters. Totally evens out the sweet edge and brings a bottom to the drink. 

 

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Dinner:

Vegetarian Soup {shio-koji fermented yogurt whey from lebne making}, red beans, black beans, turnip greens, leek, carrot, potato, all local, garlic, herbs, spice rub, water.

Martini w/Bombay Sapphire 2 oz, 1.5 oz Dolin Dry, 2 dashes Paychauds & 2 squeezes Bitterman Orange Citrate Bitters. Olives.

Ortiz Tuna salad with veganaise, capers, olives on baguette. 

Popcorn coming up.

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Last night, the best dinner I've had since France (where, in the course of ten days, I went to 3 Michelin 1-stars, 1 Michelin 2-star, and 2 Michelin 3-stars (one of which was supposedly "the best restaurant in the world," and on the final night out, I had the single greatest meal of my entire life):

Crown Roast of Berkshire Pork Ribs with Homemade Stuffing:

Ribs.jpg

It's impossible to capture the subtlety, nuances, and waves of flavor in this world-class dish - Michelin 2-star by any possible measure, and one of the very greatest home-cooked meals I've had in my lifetime. Thanks, DIShGo - you continually amaze me.

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