What's For Dinner Tonight: Episode 2021 – A New Hope

Filipino food: chicken and pork skewers, fried tilapia, and shrimp pancit.

Due to a visit to my favourite little deli as I was in the area today anyway, there is lots of great stuff for dinner for the next few days – cabbage rolls in tomato sauce, latkes (potato pancakes) with sour cream, onion buns, Montreal smoked meat, and for tonight, a chicken Caesar wrap with Caesar salad dressing. For the longer term, I also got two jars of their wonderful garlic pasta sauce and a tray of their yummy meatballs in tomato sauce which I put in the freezer.

I envy the ex-wife who lives right in the neighbourhood, as they’re quite a fair distance from me, but I usually end up with quite a bounty of food whenever I drop in. Most of their stuff is superb quality – the onion buns are incredible, and when toasted and buttered and piled with Montreal smoked meat and Dijon mustard, make amazing sandwiches!

I was going to do a redux of the brown rice and asparagus risotto, but the wife stuffed herself with a jumbo hotdog at lunch. So we’re going to cut up a small baguette and have some soft cheese and sliced sausage and pickled olives on it.

AKA “beenie weenie” A fav of mine.

Tonight will be the last of the easter ham with a salad and some biscuits. I cheated and bought Trader Joe’s whomp biscuits. They are surprisingly good. "Specially if you melt a bit of butter, add in some seasoned salt and brush the tops as they are coming out of the oven.

Tonight is was finely ground pork wrapped in an edible sheath, served on a demi-baguette and seasoned with moutarde jaune and cornichons doux.

Fancy! No sauce tomate or des oignons?

I tried a new recipe, “Garlic Parmesan Melting Cabbage”. It was good. I substituted Boursin cheese for the cream cheese and probably added too much parmesan. It came out overly salty, though, so I’ll follow the recipe closer next time.

Mai non, monsieur! I prefer my chien chaud as god intended!

Last night was Ethiopian mixed vegetarian platter.

Looking forward to chicken curry tomorrow night! I mentioned before that there’s spicy marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts at the local supermarket that are so deeply marinated that they emit a powerful but beautiful curry-like aroma when baked. They come in aluminum trays that you just pop in the oven – nothing easier! I got a couple of them recently and just took one out of the freezer for tomorrow.

I’m going to roast the chicken breasts for half the recommended time, take one out, and finish roasting the second one while I slice the first one and pop it into a pot of spicy vindaloo curry sauce with a dash of extra water. Then simmer for at least 20 minutes to finish cooking and blend the flavours but ensuring that the chicken is not overdone, and serve over a plate of Ben’s Original white rice, sprinkled with green onions and served with naan bread buttered with garlic butter.

Tomorrow will be a good day for it as the spring weather will be warm enough to throw open doors and windows to ventilate the lingering stench of curry. Curry: so tasty, yet so stinky!

The fully cooked chicken breast will be for ramen the next day!

Tonight was chicken in mango curry sauce with rice, and chocolate banana cake for dessert. There’s enough left over for lunch tomorrow.

Dinner tonight turned out just as I’d hoped – the chicken finished cooking in the curry sauce, which was so hot that I was on fire for about an hour afterwards – but in a good way – extreme spice releases feel-good endorphins. And I’m feeling pretty good right now, though some of it may be due to Caears with a high vodka content! :wink:

For tomorrow, there is leftover rice and curry, and a whole spicy chicken breast, some of which may be had with curry and some with ramen noodles. The chicken would also make a terrific sandwich in my last remaining onion bun … decisions, decisions … !

Salad: diced cucumber, tomato, and red onion, lots of fresh dill, and chickpeas. Dressed with oil, lemon juice, salt, and honey. Topped with some cubed cheddar and crumbled matzo.

A careful investigation of the fridge has confirmed that, with the addition of a few more pieces of chicken from the other marinated chicken breast, there is enough left-over curry and rice to constitute a full dinner. The remainder of the chicken will be perfect for ramen tomorrow.

Tonight’s dinner will be immediately followed by an ice cream sandwich – and this is important, because I know from last night that the curry will set my mouth on fire! :grin:

Ok, this is a slight cheat on the theme of the thread, as this was lunch and not dinner. But it will be dinner sometime in the next few days as I made a ton.

I did a home-made “chicken shawarma” (which is about the spices and serving more than the meat preparation, which is actually what shawarma describes).

Boneless skinless chicken thighs marinated overnight in yogurt, olive oil, salt, and a spice blend of: equal parts coriander, turmeric, and cumin, with varying lesser amounts of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne, and cardamom.

Roasted the chicken in the oven, then chopped it into small pieces.

Served in a basic flour tortilla with shredded iceberg lettuce and a garlic/yogurt/mayo sauce as well as a ketchup/hotsauce blend.

I had two of them for lunch today- so good!

Tonight is chicken cordon bleu and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

As I mentioned in the Ramen thread, I just took possession of a bunch of smoked meats finished by my father in law last night - some ribs, a bunch of cheap brined corned beef briskets (that I washed, drained on racks, and covered with a dry rub of brown sugar, smoked paprika, hot paprika, cayenne and all the fresh ground pepper my arms could stand) and some pork tenderloin.

I just sliced some of the brisket thin, and piled it on a portion of store bought ciabatta, topped with red onions, and briefly toasted in my air fryer (I’m sadly out of any Swiss or gruyere, which will be corrected tomorrow). Because I was craving them, I indulged myself in some air fryer onion rings, and almost wish I kept food-service baskets with parchment paper for serving.

I’m going to regret the extra grease and higher fat beef tomorrow, but tonight I feast like a 20-something.

We cheated and stopped for take-out BBQ. Brisket, ribs and homemade slaw and mac salad. Fresh strawberries from the farm stand for dessert.

Half/half cheapo and fancy-schmancy for me tonight.

One of those inexpensive frozen stuffed chicken boobies (Kiev tonight).

… and then there’s … omg …

This stuff is ridiculously not-cheap, and I still might sell my soul for more.

I could happily sell someone else’s soul to try their demi-glaze; I haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure it would be worth the fiery torment in hell based just on their broth jars.

I had chicken tenders and french fries from Buc-ees. First time getting food there but won’t be the last.

Tonight was Chicken Kiev and some vanilla ice cream for later.