Last night my gf pulled out all the stops and made a delicious catfish curry. Served with coleslaw I made. Vodka and grapefruit soda drinks, we shared a baked apple after.
I have some very primo string beans I bought at a farmstand, and I’m brainstorming what protein to serve with them.
I’m thinking lamb chops. And to go with them, some roasted fingerling potatoes with shallots.
Our neighbors have great string beans for a short time each year. I’ve tried many different approaches with the air fryer. I’ve also done some sous vide, once with quartered cherry tomatoes and red pepper flakes.
I like to cook them whole, chill them, and then toss them with diced tomatoes and raw red onion slivers. I dress them with good olive oil and a squirt of lemon juice. Chopped basil too, if I have any.
Cool! I do something similar (cook–chill–dress) with eggplant rounds.
That’s pretty much the way we do pork chops these days. We used to grill them, but pan fried in garlic herb butter is so much tastier.
Saturday was a soba noodle/tofu/chili dish that I love. Last night we went to Cane Russo and had a delicious pizza. Tonight will be soba noodle leftovers.
I actually sear them in the pan for a few minutes per side, then bake in a 375F oven until done to my liking. In the photo above it had just come out of the oven. That’s the great thing about cast iron; it can go straight from stovetop to oven.
Last night we had a different pizza, which my gf was patterning after a BLT Sandwich.
We diced and cooked some extra thick cut smoked turkey bacon. On a pizza shell we brushed garlic infused olive oil, the placed the bacon, then basil/arugula, then diced tomatoes, then grated Parmesan and provolone.
Very good pizza. Served with coleslaw.
… no crushed almond slivers?
Dinner for me tonight is an oddball blend: I had planned (and looked forward to making) Thai chicken spring rolls.
As I was leaving work, my manager gifted me some leftover spaghetti.
Some days I barely eat, but that’s not the problem tonight!
Refrigerator pickle appetizer (thinly sliced radishes, sweet peppers, onions).
Stuffed salmon. I used salmon fillets and made crabmeat stuffing. Side of faux mashed potatoes (cauliflower). Vodka to drink.
Whenever I make stuffed flounder/salmon/tilapia I always ponder how much better the fish and stuffing end up if cooked separately. Last night my salmon was a tiny bit overdone in order for the crabmeat stuffing to be perfect.
Yesterday was one of those days. My gf texted me that she did not feel like cooking, so the kitchen was all mine. So, I stopped at the farm market and bought whatever caught my eye. Which turned out to be plums (from their trees) and poblano peppers they grew which were absolutely beautiful. Then I went home and wondered what I could do with my stuff.
The plums were very nice. I ate one. Thought about various desserts I could make (almost made plum tarts), but was just spinning my wheels. I ended up making a savory plum chutney with the plums, red wine vinegar, hot peppers, mustard, etc. Simmered a long time then used the stick blender to smooth things out. Then simmered some more. It was stunning, a royal purple from the skins. But I had no immediate use for it, so it is still in the refrigerator. Maybe tomorrow I’ll grill some turkey and use it on that.
The poblanos I halved and seeded. I roasted some cubed eggplant, let it cool, added breadcrumbs, egg, (no rice because rice is an evil deadly carb, which explains why China is an arid wasteland devoid of people), grated Parmesan, seasonings, diced tomatoes, onions, etc Put on a glove and mixed it all together, then stuffed the peppers.
Then I made a simple tomato sauce and put the stuffed peppers and sauce in a dish and baked it at 350 for an hour. Damn, it was good! I thought I made enough for dinner and a lunch or two, but we managed to eat it all.
I picked up a ham and salami sub with provolone from the little country store close to todays set up for a festival. It was very good!
I’ve been on an eggplant kick lately. Yesterday at the farm market I bought some Chinese eggplant (which they started growing two years ago after my prodding).
I grilled the eggplants along with some Italian marinaded turkey breast tenderloins (is turkey breast tenderloin a specific muscle?).
Served my savory plum chutney with the turkey and got rave reviews from my gf.
Baked apples for dessert, Pinot Grigio to drink.
Last night, potato pancakes with sour cream, then, six spicy Buffalo chicken wings. A bit of a variation of wings and fries.
As I noted in my ravings in the air fryer thread, frozen wings come out just perfect in the air fryer, even when using my impromptu method of laying a small piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the basket to avoid cleanup. It’s just important to know that when using parchment, since there’s no airflow directly onto the wings from the bottom, to completely turn them over with tongs at the halfway point. 17 minutes total, no preheating, turn over at 8:30, and perfect wings – way better than a regular oven, in half the time! I’m afraid I may become addicted to wings, and they’re not particularly healthy. There are about half a dozen varieties in this particular brand. I find I can stuff more of them in the freezer if I take them out of the excessively large boxes and just store the bags.
When I make both fries and wings at the same time, I won’t use parchment and just shake the basket one or two times.
The potato pancakes, interestingly, are better done in the microwave than the air fryer, but part of that is my personal preference to have them soft rather than crunchy. Also, they’re quite dense, so don’t really get overly soft in the microwave. In fact, if you’re not careful the microwave will start crisping the edges.
My potato pancake “trick” is to collect all the liquid you drain out of the shredded potatoes, decant the water and save the starch to add back.
Maybe everyone does this, but I think it really helps.
Well, my potato pancake trick, as is my wont with many things, is to buy them ready-made! 
So I gots to deal with what I gots and figure out the best way to reheat them. They’re freshly store-made and actually very good, with lots of egg and onion. They’re only frozen because I freeze them, since they don’t keep more than a few days.
Last night was Swedish meatballs, with (not pictured) mashed potatoes and a green salad. Basically a higher quality version of a meal from IKEA.
Tonight I’m going to make a burger prepared the way I mentioned over in this thread. And I’ll probably make corn on the cob with it.
Last night I roasted the heck out of some Brussel sprouts, sweet peppers, and onions. Made mashed potatoes and put shredded turkey in gravy over them. Almost like thanksgiving.
How do you remove the water?
May I ask where? (I’m sure it’s something hyper-local, but I am curious.)