I made Potage Parmentier yesterday for the first time; it’s just leeks and potatoes and water. Honestly, I felt so accomplished when it came out okay. I know what to do differently next time (less salt than Ms. Child recommended, and maybe cream instead of butter) and it truly was an awesome soup.
So that would be my recommendation for your leeks. Simplicity itself.
Dammit, I wish I’d thought of that a few years ago. When I was fresh out of college, I knew how to make 1) weiners and sauerkraut (dump both in a saucepan and heat), and 2) Dinty Moore beef stew from a can (dump in a saucepan and heat). But because I loved eating good food, and come from a long line (well, at least three generations) of great cooks, I started learning how to make it.
I lived in a wonderful apartment complex, where just about every weekend, we had dinners with maybe ten or twelve people, usually pretty balanced gender-wise. The guys would do the cooking, very seldom the girls. (Thinking back - why the hell didn’t this result in more gratuitous sex? :mad: )
A few years later, I have some gumbo or something going, and a girl I knew brings her car over with some problem or other. I fix her car, ask if she wants to stay for dinner. After the meal, she asks me to marry her. I don’t think she was 100% kidding.
Thai curry with chicken, over white rice. Very simple recipe, using curry paste and coconut milk. But very, very tasty.
I would have to look up the recipe (which i have at home, from having watched the episode over and over) but those chocolate chip cookies look an awful lot like Alton Brown’s Chewy CC Cookie recipe.
Which I have made repeatedly, and are delicious btw.
Fishy pie was good, with plenty left over for tomorrow dinner.
We finished off with icy cold watermelon from the fridge too. I feel happy now.
Sounds like a fun weekly thread to start! In the MMP, someone different starts one each week.
Tonight I’m fixing some bbq chicken legs, drumettes, and sausage. Along with coleslaw and baked beans. It finally quit raining, and I don’t care if it is in the 40’s - I’m grilling, dammit! 
Nope. And I’m not gay either! 
I do have a steady GF, though.
Well, I’ll list ours as I am relatively certain that no one else is having it: spek and hutspot.
See?
Spek is unsmoked bacon, cut about a quarter inch thick. Hutspot is mashed potatoes with carrots and onions mashed in.
It’s typical southern Dutch dinner at this time of year. Especially if you have kids.
I know it sounds weird but it’s quite good. And it sounds less weird when you know that the dutch also mash up curly endive with cheese and mashed potatoes in the spring.
I’ve made that one. It is really easy, and tastes great. I go with “lite” coconut milk, and thicken it with either a little cornstarch or (if I’m really in a low-carb mood) some ThickenThin. My grocery store even sells already-cut-up chicken breasts, so I don’t even have to touch the meat.
I even discovered recently that you can freeze rice, so I make a few batches at a time whenever I cook it. Just pop in the microwave when you don’t want to wait half an hour for the fresh stuff. I can’t tell the difference.
Hutspot sounds good. The bacon sounds good, too. And I think a weekly cooking thread would be fantastic.
I didn’t cook over the weekend, because we were staying with family, but I’m thinking about making some tortillas this afternoon, and having quesadillas or tacos for dinner. The tortillas you can buy around here are dreadful. My tortillas are about 500% better.
I’ve got some shredded chicken breast in the fridge. I might do refried black beans and rice if I feel enthusiastic. That can be a couple of dinners at least. Yum.
If I wanted to make a rolled cake filled with lime or lemon curd, could I make a plain sponge batter, and just bake it in a thin layer in a steep-sided cookie sheet? Or something?
Tonight is going to be pot roast (and mashed potatoes, and broccoli and crescent rolls). It’s been thawed since Saturday. I will get home about 3:00, so I’ll have it ready for dinner by 7:00 or so.
Why yes, yes you could. A jelly roll pan is 10X 15 inches and the sides need to be an inch high. I used a rectangular roasting pan, back when I had stuff.
Spek is right up there with chocolate for reasons to live in holland. But they don’t smoke pork much, indeed they do it so rarely that I am considering making/buying a smoker.
I’ve got some beef for stew, and no crockpot. Somebody want to post or link a basic beef-and-potato stew with no alcohol in it? My usual sherry-based recipe won’t work for my guests. Thanks.
My sister just gave us several more exotic spice blends from Penzey’s. We’ll have to play around with them in December.
My beef stew:
1 to 1-1/2 lbs stew meat
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tbs tomato paste
1-2 tbs flour
Bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 to 1-1/2 qt chicken broth or beef broth
2-3 carrots, chunked up (or 1/2 bag of baby carrots)
3-4 potatoes, chunked (I like to use reds)
Season the meat with salt and pepper. Brown (in two batches) in a little olive oil, or veg oil. Remove the meat, and brown the onions in the drippings until starting to soften. Add tomato paste, and saute a minute more. Add in the meat, and sprinkle with a couple of tbs flour. Stir until starting to brown and add broth to cover. Add seasonings, as well as salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, until broth starts to thicken. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 1-1/2 hrs, then add veggies, then cook another hour until veggies are done.
I made Turkey Chili yesterday. Today it is baked ham and escalloped potatoes. Yummy!
Dolores Reborn, thanks. I’ll give it a try (though I may add garlic and I may dredge the beef in the flour before browning).
I had spek in Italy. It was yummy.
We’re having medium rare steak, rice pilaf and sauteed green beans with carrots for dinner tonight.
Since we’ve been working straight through since Thanksgiving, last night, we finally got to cook our turkey. Hubby’s the cook in the family (he’s a certified Master Chef), and decided to have some fun. He broke the bird apart, and removed the bones from the thighs and marinated them in garlic, rosemary and extra virgin olive oil. The wings and drums, he just rubbed with oil, and the boneless breasts are sitting in the freezer. When he was ready to cook the turkey, he stuffed the thighs with goat cheese and sewed them closed. He roasted some beets and sweet potatoes at the same time. Meanwhile, he made chestnut stuffing, and a cranberry-orange relish. The turkey, beets and sweet potato were all done about the same time. So, dinner ended up being
Goat-cheese stuffed turkey thighs
Chestnut stuffing
Baked sweet potato with sour cream
Sliced beets with orange butter
Steamed asparagus
Cranberry-orange relish
We washed it down with a bottle of 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau.
Tonight, we use the drums and wings (barbecue style) with a honey-dill coleslaw. To start, he made a salad with baby spinach, diced beets (he roasted extra last night), mandarin oranges and sliced red onion, with an orange vinegrette. We still need to eat the banana cream pie he made saturday - we just haven’t had time yet
Olive
:smack: I forgot the garlic!
Whole wheat linguine and shrimp in pesto sauce. I’m eating solo tonight, so I wanted something relatively quick and easy that would still taste good.
Not half bad, actually. Went nicely with a spinach salad.