What I'm having for dinner. (2 Viewers)

salmon steaks on the charcoal bbq and pan fried swiss chard.

plenty of wine. continuing with the wine.
 
Medium shells ( macaroni ) with meat sauce that has anchovies. You won't believe how delicious it is.

The home made french bread was not good but better than sliced white bread.
 
We had another great barbecue on the balcony with sausages (the hot red ones), chicken and Grillfackeln from the local butcher.
I couldn't find a translation for Grillfackeln; it is meat wrapped round a stick.
It was delicious and I'll grow real fat.
*insert obese smiley*
 
The dogs know better than to beg. The cats stay out of the kitchen or else the corgi will get them-he is terrified of the 20 lb. cat but the cat doesn't know that yet.
 
I had these, white castle frozen cheeseburgers from wal-mart tonight, and I gotta say, they ain't bad!
 
honestly, never knew what a hot plate was? went shopping with my mom(a boys best friend is his mother...according to Norman Bates) on Monday..... Anyway, a hot plate makes some pretty good hard boiled eggs... Then, literally 2 days after I purchased the $30.00 hot plate, my landlord calls and says she has a free stove if I want it. I accepted....
 
i have been moving my shop around all day. i started last night. It i a lot of work moving 45 type cases, plus everything else that comes with it.

It is 3:15 here and I have not even eaten breakfast. I'm saving the space for tonight. I'm going to the all-you-can-eat Sushi bar. I can do some serious damage on a sushi bar, and at $15 for that much sushi, it is almost free.

Bill
 
I had some vegetarian currywurst tonight which really tasted awful. The sauce was much too sweet somehow. Still I gulped it down, because it was the only thing to eat around. Now I feel a bit sick.
 
I had chicken wings and noodles with a champignon/onion sauce, went very well together. An ice-cream before that.

Johannes, did the tofu pass the best before date? Hope you won't feed the bucket.
 
Damn, Bill; all-you-can-eat sushi for $15? What is it, raw pollack?

My favorite is eel (unagi) and avocado. That melts in your mouth. I had some today with my wife along with tuna w/ spicy mayo and a tuna tempura roll with avocado, cucumber and a brown glaze.

Dinner was my usual weekend fare of surf and turf. This time it was baby back ribs smothered with mustard/horseradish/tamarind/lime and egg noodles with lobster, broccoli and saffron cream sauce. That whole meal cost less than $20.
 
ugh we tried a new italian restaurant tonight - i haven't had pork in a few years so i was excited to order the chops, but they were tough as hell (i had a steak knife and i still had to saw through them), and served with really weird mashed potato and a salad covered in 'italian' mayonnaise. it was kind of pricey, too. on the upside, our waiter was a 65yr old italian.
 
A budget-friendly meal of Carnival brand hot dogs (surprisingly lower in sat. fat & cholesterol than "name" brands) and canned pork n' beans. And a banana for dessert.
 
Johannes, did the tofu pass the best before date? Hope you won't feed the bucket.

It should be alright. Expiry date was far ahead and I am still alive and not sick anymore. I think it was simply the sauce.

It's strange with these vegetarian products, some really taste crappy. You can't expect anyone to substitute meat with that. Or anything. Others are simply perfect, better than any meat I've ever eaten. Besides I never understood why you have to substitute meat anyway in form of a tofu-sausage or whatever. And that stuff is very expensive. Normally I won't buy it, but I won this crazy currywurst at some sort of tombola and, as I said, it was the only thing to eat around.
 
Johannes, I'm myself a vegetarian and rather agree with you about vegetarian products.

Tofu is one of the most disgusting things I've ever eaten. I once bought some curry flavored tofu steaks and it was as if I were eating some tasteless rubber. Then I tried again with a piece of tofu that I cooked in a frying pan with several herbs, spices and vegetables. Same result. I still have some in the fridge and only don't throw it because it is fuckin' expensive (and it can be eaten till February).

Have you ever tried quinoa? It's a grain from Bolivia which tastes a bit like hazelnut. I like to prepare it with brown lentils.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, I know quinoa and like it very much! It's good.

Most tofu is tasteless rubber but my supermarket has some, errm, what's the english word, "ramson" (?)-flavored tofu which is excellent. Like you I use to cut it into little pieces, fry it with some herbs, onion and mushrooms (and sometimes zucchini) and then put it on my pasta.
 
johannes, the way i cook tofu is:

1. buy EXTRA FIRM only
2. cut into bite-sized pieces
3. lay out on some paper towels, put more paper towels over top and then gently press the water out
4. lay out on a baking tray (single layer, so that each piece is spaced and not touching each other) in a 200 degree fahrenheit oven and bake for about an hour.
the tofu should still feel soft - not dried and shrivelled - and lightly golden.
5. marinate overnight in whatever you like (i usually do a stirfry so i put in diced sweet onions, soy sauce, mirin, lots of garlic, some vegetable stock and some sugar)
6. pan fry

squeezing out and baking off the excess water is REALLY important to avoid that gross tasteless waterlogged flavour tofu normally has.
 
That's quite some method, justine. Did you develop that by trial and error? I can imagine that this is going to be some wonderful tofu.

Only it wouldn't work for me because of the time and overnight factor. Everything I cook mustn't take longer than 20-25 minutes, otherwise the psychological obstacle is to big and I'd rather order a pizza. I am supposed to be some sort of trained cook or something (which is ridiculous enough in itself) and hated every single second in school, work and every related field. So after school was over I vowed to never cook again in my life.

I couldn't stand through that but 20-25 minutes is all I can give in.
 
my experiences with tofu have been less than successful, but I'll give justine's method a go. might teak the marinade a bit. except the 'lots of garlic.' love me some garlic. eat raw cloves, I do.
 
johannes, i feel the same way about cooking as you - except that 5-7mins is usually my limit. thank god for summer and salads. the tofu method is something i discovered online, because when i first bought tofu i literally had no idea what to do with it. the more dry it is, the more meaty and tasty it is (and the less water it holds the more marinade it'll soak up). but you don't want to over bake it because it will get pretty tough.

you can also skip the oven and just dry-fry it in the pan - it's quicker but then you have to stand over it. i like the oven because you can set the timer and leave it.

another thing: when i cook, i cook A LOT so that i only have to do it maybe 2 or 3 times a week at the most.
 
Justine - I'll try that prep method tonight and cook it tomorrow.

Johannes - A well-organized hour or two in the kitchen can save A LOT of time the rest of the week. I am The King of Aluminum Foil-Covered-Ready-To-Heat-Dishes-Waiting-In-The Fridge. Join me in my kingdom.
 
yeah i just spent an hour or so making pasta for jordan's lunches this week, plus coleslaw and potato salad for dinners, so i pretty much won't have to do any cooking at all for the next 7 days.
 
Nice. I made a big pot of rice, cooked a little macaroni/pasta and waited on that tofu marinade. I used everything but the mirin, but it should work great, I'm sure. Vidalia onions were on sale today and I used those. But now - the scent of Vadalias - makes me want to cook a pot of chili....Mmmmm... must resist...
 
That baking trick worked out well for the tofu. Good texture - moist but not mushy. The marinade was delicious.

I see last night I was so excited about those onions that I spelled "Vidalia" two different ways. I lose it in the kitchen sometimes...
 
I used to be a vegetarian until the smell of a summer barbecue made me go back to meat. I still enjoy tofu a lot and I have never bought an imitation of a sausage or a Schnitzel, so I don't know about these things, but the tofu blocks you can buy at an Asia-Supermarket are rather cheap. You can fish fresh tofu blocks out of the water or get a packed one from the fridge for 1 Euro-1,50, depending on the weight.
The only way I ever make tofu is to cut it into small pieces (the size of mini snickers), throw it into a wok with a 70/30 mix of dark soy sauce and vegetable oil and fry the tofu (like French fries, though not in a wok).
Of course that's part of cooking a rice or a noodle wok meal and the vegetables, soy beans and perhaps bamboo sprouts have to get into the wok when the tofu's done.

Wait, I've forgotten I have another pseudo Asian way to make tofu when I'm very hungry and not in the mood to spend too many time in the kitchen.
You cut it into the mini snickers size, fry it in a pan with oil, add some soy beans, sambal and pour soy sauce over it. I know that isn't very different, but then you wrap the oily tofu with soy beans into Arabian bread and that gives a fine taste. You can easily tear a slice of Arabian bread in two halfs, because they're made for it, to take a whole slice gives the tofu-lahmacun too much the taste of bread.
That's for when it has to go fast and I don't want to cut vegetables because I'd starve in those 20 minutes.
 
I cut the tofu in cubes, pour olive oil over, with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, fish sauce, lots of garlic, chopped onions, chili powder or sambal and let it sit until the next day. I cook brown rice in advance as well. I fry the tofu without the marinade in a wok, with more onions, grated carrots, sometimes with mashed beans and some tomato paste. I roll rice , beans, tofu mixture in a tortilla with grated cheese, put it in a hot oven, eat them with sour cream or yogurt, or cream avocado. You can even eat them cold later .
 
that's a good idea, actually, since i was just coming here to ask if anyone has good potato salad or coleslaw recipes.
 
Oh, potato anything - I've got ideas and I've probably tried it a few times. A good cole slaw is tough to find - but easy to make. I'm all for a recipe thread.

One thing though - I never measure anything (except for water/rice ratios). I was an organic chemist for 8 years and had to measure everything down to the micro-xyz. So, when I learned to cook about 25 years ago, I vowed to just add "the right amount" of everything. It took a great deal of trial and error, and it's still evolving.
 
I think the cook at my corner taqueria said to himself: "Boy I sure hope somebody orders the enchiladas verde today ! I am in just the right mood to create the perfect plate of roast chicken rolled up in corn tortillas, smothered in salsa verde and melted chihuahua cheese, with rice and beans on the side. Let me work my magic ! And it was outstanding, especially after a 22-mile bike ride.
 
Skillet-fried chicken parmesan here. And so far... I haven't fucked it up. But there's still a few minutes left for that to happen. Like the fact that I just realized I have no pasta with it.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top