Last Night's Dinner

[Mikey]

Corvina - some call it Mexican sea bass. It's similar to sea bass in texture and flavor, but it's not really bass. Maybe I was lucky to get some before it was deported. A lot better than Chilean "sea bass" IMO. I marinate it for an hour or so in some homemade (with Good Seasons mix) Italian dressing made with wine vinegar and EVOO.

Japanese sweet potato - sliced in half with the cut half sprayed with some EVOO and baked with the cut side down. This creates a really nice semi-caramelized layer and a nice, moist interior. This was a little undercooked. I like it somewhat crustier but still excellent with a little butter.

Broccoli and romanesco - some people call it romanesco cauliflower, some call it romanesco broccoli. Supposedly a cross between broccoli and cauliflower, it's also been called fractal cauliflower or Fibonacci cauliflower. I'll let you figure out why. Tossed with a little Italian dressing and topped with some grated parm.

This is a nice, satisfying, reasonably healthy meal.



Oh yeah, Meyer lemon from our tree.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

That looks amazing.

[mvscal]

That's pretty much what a weeknight dinner looks like around here. Some fish, chicken or a pork chop with some veg or a salad. I have made a concerted effort into upping my salad game recently.

[Mikey]

I’ve posted some stuff here (some great, some just almost great) that involves a lot of prep either chopping, cooking or whatever else. Most of those result in something that I can freeze in containers for at least four or five quick meals later on.

For this one the sweet potato (if you’ve never tried a Japanese sweet potato you need to) took 40 minutes in the convection oven. Everything else was done during that 40 minute period including heating up the grill. Just enough time to finish the first glass of wine.

[mvscal]

Never seen or heard of a Japanese sweet potato. Maybe because I haven't been looking

There is just something about fish and potatoes. There are so many different combinations of the two in so many different cuisines across the world.

[Mikey]

Purple on the outside, almost white on the inside. Similar to an actual sweet potato and not like the orange watery stuff that they often call yams in grocery stores. Very dense and hard to cut through when raw but they cook up nice and soft not watery or overly sweet. All you need is a little butter. They’re charging $6.00 per pound for them at the farmers market but I get them for $1.99 at our local supermarket. Not an everyday staple but a nice addition to the starch rotation.

[Mikey]

This actually was tonight’s dinner.

Costco boneless chicken breast, sliced up into “tenders,” marinated in Good Seasons Italia made with EVOO and red wine vinegar, grilled on the cast iron plate in my Webber.

Lundberg Farms brown jasmine rice cooked with low sodium chicken bone broth from Costco and a little EVOO.

English peas and carrots, both fresh from the farmers market, tossed with a little butter.

It’s a pretty simple meal but everything was delicious and well complemented by the other parts. But the highlight was the English peas. Freshly picked and shelled, steamed for about four minutes and tossed with the carrots (steamed for seven minutes), some butter and a little salt. Nothing like frozen or canned peas, these are incredibly sweet and a little crunchy. I always pick some up when I see them at the farmers market because they’re not often available. Something you won’t find in any grocery stores.

[Mikey]

I pulled some homemade chili out of the freezer last night. Made with chunks of stewing beef, “cranberry” beans (similar to pintos), fresh Anaheim and pasilla chiles, corn masa flour and other standard stuff. Topped with some grated white cheddar, crema, local avos, cherry tomatoes and cilantro. Some crackers and apple slices on the side. A very tasty and healthy dinner.

[Mikey]

Just thought I’d throw this up here because it came out pretty good.

Grilled swordfish
Angel hair pasta with a locally made sauce that has tomato, pine nuts and Parmesan
Lacinato kale salad with avocados and cherry tomatoes

[Roach]

This is pretty ambitious for me



Lemon rice. Tzatziki. Ground beef, bell peppers and kale. Roasted chick peas.

Yum

[Mikey]

That looks really good. Looks like it took a lot more effort than my swordfish dinner.

I'm always trying to maximize flavor and presentation while minimizing effort. There's definitely a give and take.

[Mikey]

Couple of questions.

Do you roast the chickpeas yourself? How do you do that?

How do you make the lemon rice?

Very interested.

Is the other stuff like a stir fry?

[StrawMan]

I pulled some homemade chili out of the freezer last night. Made with chunks of stewing beef, “cranberry” beans (similar to pintos), fresh Anaheim and pasilla chiles, corn masa flour and other standard stuff. Topped with some grated white cheddar, crema, local avos, cherry tomatoes and cilantro. Some crackers and apple slices on the side. A very tasty and healthy dinner.

This looks incredible!

[StrawMan]

Just thought I’d throw this up here. . .

You want to bring more traffic to the Cooking Forum?

Seems like this might be counterproductive.

[Mikey]

Just thought I’d throw this up here. . .

You want to bring more traffic to the Cooking Forum?

Seems like this might be counterproductive.

Good point.

[mvscal]

This is pretty ambitious for me



Lemon rice. Tzatziki. Ground beef, bell peppers and kale. Roasted chick peas.

Yum

Hmm. Roasted chickpeas. I might have to look into that. Looks good.

[Roach]

Couple of questions.

Do you roast the chickpeas yourself? How do you do that?

How do you make the lemon rice?

Very interested.

Is the other stuff like a stir fry?

Start with dry chick peas and coat with oil. I used some cheap evo with a little salt and pepper. Single layer on tinfoil at 400f, toss them around after a few minutes, until crisp.

For rice I used chicken broth and half stick of butter with a fresh lemon squeezed in. Was going to do two but one was plenty. Usual 20 minute simmer.

Yes on the stir fry meat, kale and tomatoes. Juice from the tomatoes was just enough. Add oregano, then feta cheese on top at serving.

Woo woo

[mvscal]

When you say dry, do you mean uncooked dry, or cooked/canned and dried off?

[Mikey]

When you say dry, do you mean uncooked dry, or cooked/canned and dried off?

I was wondering the same thing but pretty sure it would be cooked or canned and then dried off. The other way would probably break a few teeth, but I could be wrong.

I’m thinking about experimenting with making kale chips and might throw some of these in the same oven.

[Roach]

When you say dry, do you mean uncooked dry, or cooked/canned and dried off?

Canned ready to eat, dried off. I just winged it on a lot of this so use your more advanced experience.

Oh the rice was some yellowish jasmine my wife got at the oriental market. It wasnt flavored but help trigger the idea to use lemon.

[Mikey]

This actually was tonight’s dinner. Nothing special or complicated but it came out really good. Grilled salmon (frozen Sockeye from Costco - sorry Dins if you’re out there anywhere), grilled asparagus with goat cheese, brown jasmine rice steamed with chicken broth. The rice takes an hour to cook. Everything else (including heating up the grill) was done in the meantime.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

Looks great. I have some king salmon in the freezer. Might grill some of that tonight.

I miss going to WINCO foods and buying Spike seasoning in bulk.

[Mikey]

I miss going to WINCO foods and buying Spike seasoning in bulk.

A guy at work put a jar (bottle?) of Spike on everybody's desk just before Christmas about ten years ago. I've been hooked ever since. Unfortunately he passed away a couple of years later, but I still think of the dude when I use it. It's become my go-to for a lot of things where you just want a sprinkle of saltiness plus a little extra. Eggs, avocado toast...

I've tried a lot of different seasoned salt and/or rub mixtures over the years. There are an infinite number of choices. Some people make their own, but what a pain in the ass. For a long time for me it was just Lawry's, which I use pretty rarely anymore though I still keep some around. I use a lot of "everything bagel" seasoning for some of the same stuff I use Spike for and some other things.

For grilling meats and fish, or baking chicken, I was using Butt Rub for a while (available at Costco):




For the past year or so I've been using a lot of this (also available at Costco):

[88BuckeyeGrad]

I use this one on a lot of stuff:


It was a "throw-in" when I bought some of their other products, which I think are excellent:

Replaces all prior red pepper flakes: https://www.flatironpepper.com/products/calabrian

Probably the most used seasoning in the casa: https://www.flatironpepper.com/products ... ey-green-2

And, when you really need to kill someone: https://www.flatironpepper.com/products ... el-my-face

[mvscal]

I miss going to WINCO foods and buying Spike seasoning in bulk.

A guy at work put a jar (bottle?) of Spike on everybody's desk just before Christmas about ten years ago. I've been hooked ever since. Unfortunately he passed away a couple of years later, but I still think of the dude when I use it. It's become my go-to for a lot of things where you just want a sprinkle of saltiness plus a little extra. Eggs, avocado toast...

I've tried a lot of different seasoned salt and/or rub mixtures over the years. There are an infinite number of choices. Some people make their own, but what a pain in the ass. For a long time for me it was just Lawry's, which I use pretty rarely anymore though I still keep some around. I use a lot of "everything bagel" seasoning for some of the same stuff I use Spike for and some other things.

For grilling meats and fish, or baking chicken, I was using Butt Rub for a while (available at Costco):




For the past year or so I've been using a lot of this (also available at Costco):

Yes, I make my own rub and, yes, it's far, far better than any of that crap and, no, it's not difficult. Since I dry brine everything, I don't want any additional salt in the rub. I just make one batch late spring/early summer and it lasts all season. My hog rub works on most everything. Oh and Santa Maria seasoning is just salt, pepper and granulated garlic.

[Mikey]

Yeah I know about the Santa Maria seasoning. This one isn’t exactly authentic because it’s got some other stuff but it tastes pretty good on a lot of things. I understand about making your own authentic salt free dry rub. But there are a lot of uses that don’t call for a salt free dry brine, like seasoning for baked chicken (needs some salt) or sprinkle on some fish just before grilling.

My wife used to work for General Dynamics in San Diego back in the 80s and 90s. Every year they had a crew from their Vandenberg facility come down towing their huge pit BBQs and fix a tri-tip feast for the entire facility and families. So, yeah, I’m familiar with the authentic stuff.