I made some gravalax recently. Basically you take raw salmon and bury it in a big ole pile of rock salt, sugar, and various spices. Let it sit in the fridge 48 hours give or take. Then unbury, rinse, pat dry and eat in the various ways you might eat smoked salmon. On WASA crakers or bagels with cream cheese or tomatos or avacado slices. Toped with fresh dill or capers or a sliver of sweet onion.
Plenty of different recipes for this on the net.
Mostly it just draws an amazing amount of water out of the salmon and really firms it up. Kinda like a mild cold smoked salmon.
The salmon should be frozen to reduce the risk of parasites. Recipes call from anywhere from more sugar and less salt to more salt and less sugar. I went with 50/50 as a start.
Interesting process and certainly easy enough to do.
Last night we had a great big pile of ribs on the grill. I love ribs but it reminded me that when splurging, I’d really best go for the baby back ones. Steamed broccoli and had some beet salad on the side.
Lunch yesterday was delightful garlic basil chicken with a ton of chili oil and red pepper flakes alongside steamed broccoli, bok choy and carrots.
That gravalax idea sounds great. One of these days I’m gonna do it.
When I was a kid, I looooved Dinty Moore canned beef stew. I still long after the flavors, but I’m pretty sure if I opened one of those cans now, you’d hear my snobby gasps of disgust from three states over.
So on Monday I had the day off and tried making my own stew. The more I researched, the longer the process took, but eventually I did this:
Bought a beef bone and roasted it for an hour.
Boiled it in water with salt, pepper, bay leaves, celery, carrots, and onions for two hours.
Strained the broth and set aside.
Dredged a couple pounds of stew beef in flour and browned it well in oil. Took out of the Dutch oven and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Cooked two onions and four cloves garlic in the leftover fat.
Added a cup of wine and two quarts of broth along with the beef.
Added four unpeeled rough-cut carrots, and four yellow potatoes.
Simmered for two hours.
By the time it was done, the broth had reduced to a rich gravy, and it was the best freakin’ stew I’ve ever had in my life. Served it with homemade honey bread for a mighty fine fall dinner.
Last night, I roasted some brussels sprouts in maple syrup, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and served them aside a little strip steak that I grilled on my George Foreman.
Tonight, I’m going to make a pizza with whatever toppings I can scrounge out of the fridge.
It’s crisp and windy and 52 degrees out. Last night I made Gluhwein and it was perfect for the chilly night.
Tonight’s dinner will be roast turkey breast with a roasted butternut squash melange I adapted from a Splendid Table recipe. Cube the squash, mix with chunked onions, garlic cloves, and spinach. Mix with olive oil, a touch of brown sugar, and red pepper flakes, then roast on a preheated pan. Cannot wait!
Last night, I made a yuge pot of chicken noodle soup, and a very lovely beer bread. Tonight, the soup has morphed into a pot pie, plus baked apples and homemade biscuits.
I think the babies taste better (make of this what you will!) and you’re certainly right, they are more forgiving.
My goal this winter is to do more re-make of leftovers. Instead of eating the same thing night after night as leftovers, I’m going to try and do what Alice does: re-purpose the leftovers into a different thing the next day. It requires little effort but it’s well worth it, and it’ll get my creative juices flowing.
I think most people prefer baby backs–at least they are marketed and priced like a premium product (yay for me! Keep those spares under two bucks a pound, please, sometimes a buck fifty.) I think of baby backs as more like pork loin, and spares more like pork shoulder in terms of flavor and texture.
Tonight - Quiche - with diced ham and Swiss cheese. Actually made two of them (just as easy making two as making one) and froze one and baked the other.
BTW, for newbies - making a quiche is about the easiest, and fastest thing you can make, assuming you have all the ingredients!
Tortellini with alfredo sauce the other night - plus some garlic bread.
Actually, it’s more like $2.49/lb regular where I shop and $1.99/lb when on sale. I think I flashed back about three years when $2/lb and $1.49/lb were my prices, and you could find pork shoulder at under a buck a pound.
Yep, meat prices have really skyrocketed the last few years. Friday’s “deal of the week” at Whole Foods tomorrow is $9/lb 2" thick vegetarian fed NY Strip steaks (normally 17/lb). I’m making the quick stop there tomorrow but it occurred to me that the same steak used to retail for that a few years ago.
Dinner tonight was single-dom amalgamation of a greek yogurt, free appetizers at a happy hour event, loose leaf tea and a chocolate and vanilla custard croissant.
My husband is still sick and requested “hotpot”, by which we mean, stuff boiled in broth and dished up as soup. I used my usual combination with nothing original–chicken, mushrooms, carrots, green onions, ginger, lo mein noodles, and frozen potstickers boiled in Knorr Chicken Powder broth. We add soy sauce, sriracha, and sa cha to our own bowls. The baby throws noodles on the floor.
Last night was a “South Indian Shrimp Curry, Different Style” which was basically my way of using up tomatoes and kadipatta that I had in the fridge while convincing my husband that I was making an actual dish rather than some made up mish mash. It tasted different than I expected but very good. My husband is picky and though it was a nice break from my regular Konkani style shrimp curry.
Tonight we’ll be heading to my in-laws home and my sister-in-law is Jain so we’ll be having some delicious veggie Gujarati food. Unfortunately I’m off carbs til the wedding is done so I dunno, I’ll be eating everything with a spoon while the rest of them gobble down her ridiculously thin chapatis. :mad:
Teriyaki pork tenderloin (I somehow never bought or ate pork tenderloin!) - baked and sliced. Served with leftover rice, with butter, soy sauce, and sliced scallions. Baked sweet potatoes would be good, too, maybe another flavor of tenderloin. (we do things simple around here).
