Food

A different kind of salad

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Needing a break from Resident Evil Requiem before going another round with the Moaning Zombie and her horde 😅, I decided to try a different idea for lunch.

First, I roasted some zucchini and carrots and then got started on some prep for quarterly cleaning while those cooked. Just oblique cuts and tossed in olive oil and my choice of seasonings (Italian / garlic / salt / pepper) and give a quick roast until the edges are cripsy-licious and much of the moisture is gone.

Waiting for those to be done, I had quarter cherry tomatoes and sliced+shredded onion. This worked out to being about 1/2 the mixture with the zucchini and carrots each being another 1/4. Tossed with some finely sliced almonds, and a bit of sunflower / dried cranberries salad topper. Then layered a healthy doze of feta cheese on top after plating out and a dollop of hummus.

For me, this is a rather different type of meal–it’s simply not the style of cooking I grew up with. That said, I found it very delicious. I’m also pretty sure that it would be easily adapted, such as swapping nuts/seeds for grilled chicken as the fatty protein or adding chickpeas for enough extra protein/carbs to turn it into a dinner helping.

Plus as a bonus, since I had a pair of good-sized zucchini and a small bag of carrots, this used those up while they’re still good. While also providing leftovers for prepping future meals :).

Why did I never think of that

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As someone who usually does it with a spoon, I have to admit my reaction to seeing Jacques doing a vinaigrette with a jar makes me shout, “Why did I never think of that!”

In fact, this rather makes me wish I had jars in such a size.🤔 My Pyrexes are principally intended for food storage and reheating, so the plastic lids don’t lend themselves to making an emulsion this way. Hmmm….

In the words of Hannibal

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Tonight, I managed to execute some delicious and well planned mischief meal planning. One of today’s primary objectives was to make a trip to Sprouts Farmer’s market in search of fresh produce. In my neck of the woods, it’s often the best place to get fresh vegetables at the lowest prices, but also an inconvenient trip compared to my usual supermarket. Not exactly the best deals on meat, especially when you’re not overly crazy about the details. But, not wanting to make two trips, I opted to splurge a bit.

This lead to the perfect plan: pork chops in the oven, along with sprouts and carrots to roast. Meanwhile, prepared an onion and tossed a ribeye on the cast iron. I rather figured, if I was going to make sprouts and sliced carrots, then I may as well go ahead and make the pork. This thinking in turn, lead me to consider that if I had the smarts to chop the onion ahead of cooking the steak, I’d have those perfecto by the time the meat was done cooling off. I mean, the skillet is already greased and hot, so why the hell not take advantage?

Well, for some folks this plan might seem trivial but for me it’s more of a special occasion meets planning. See, I rarely bother to make a steak at home anymore. It’s usually too narrow a margin to get it right and fairly wasteful when cooking for one. It’s the kind of thing I’d cook more often if I had a grill outside, or more mouths to feed.

Left to my own devices, I also like to get most of the cooking done over the weekend, so I’ll prefer meals that don’t require rapt attention and generate leftovers. Steaks, done right, fit in the spectrum of “Don’t bother me, I’m cooking.” Not something I’d combine with making food for a couple days.

Three points of success made me happy: fresh roasted sprouts, which are freaking delicious; not messing up the steak; and the combination of oil and onions leading to my cast iron skillet being trivially cleaned afterwords.

I love it when a plan comes together.

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Buying a jar of Mayo for the first time in about ten years, I almost feel like I’ve violated a personal rule of some sort. On the other hand, I’m going with Turkey Salad as a plan, or is it an escuse 🤔

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Today largely went according to plan. Bird in the oven by early afternoon, with potatoes and casserole going in about the time it came out to rest.

Thanksgiving Dinner

I actually can’t remember the last time that I made turkey for Thanksgiving. Since the dogs were the only ones left who really enjoyed turkey, the past couple of years I’ve made lasagna. Something that my mother would consider sacrilege, but my grandmother might have been fine with, lol.

For me, it was largely a quiet day spent on the couch. A good contrast from my typical days off, where I’m chiefly in front of a computer all day. Although, I’ll admit that I was more interested in catching the end of I’m Mita, Your Housekeeper than the premiere of Stanger Things 5. Still, it was refreshing to actually relax for a change.

On the flip side, my health is mostly stable on the cold front. In so much as I’m probably 80% or more back to normal, mostly plagued by the nasal dregs rather than the sore throat. So, yay for not being sick on the actual holiday!

Coffee

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One of life’s simple pleasures is grinding coffee and brewing a cup. At least for me it is, and one that I often find delegated to special occasions because of all of the clean up; my grinder, actually stays pretty clean when not in use.

This morning’s plan? COFFEE!!! I’ve ground enough to fill my coffee can sufficiently to last until Monday. It’s also the first time that I’ve had coffee all week, thanks to being sick. Guess it’s the cross point between feeling better and fuck it, I’m making coffee.

Takikomi Gohan

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Experiments in the kitchen of late have generally revolved around Japanese food and techniques, specifically applications for dashi broth and miso paste.

Tonight’s dinner plan was pretty much a take on takikomi gohan, based on wondering what rice cooked in dashi would taste like. Honestly, I can say that there is only one problem with this entire concept—it smells awesome while the rice is cooking!

Like really, not only was the food delicious and uncomplicated to make…but it felt like driving with delicious food riding shotgun,you know where it smells so good that it’s almost a form of torture having to wait for it 😂.

Yes, I think it’s safe to say that the experiment was yummy 😋

The simple pleasures of coffee

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Today, I decided on a pleasure I haven’t been partaking of lately: freshly ground coffee. For the last few months, I’ve mainly ran the pour over with pre-ground coffee. One of the things I like about my Chemex, is I can actually use regular ol’ ground coffee out of the store and still get decent results. Grinding is optional, unlike my French press.

This morning on the other hand: beans, grinder, and the sweet, sweet joy of fresh coffee. Also, a Peruvian blend that I’ve never tried before 😀.

I personally find it calming to grind and brew coffee, but I also find that I so rarely do since swapping from the French press to the pour over as my main brewing method. The key reason that I swapped over was the convenience of the pour-over’s filters, it’s a lot easier than making sure none of the grounds go down the drain. Clean up is a breeze. Yet, ironically I also consider cleaning the coffee grinder part of the personal therapy of making coffee. It’s just a darn inconvenient part, when you really want some coffee in the morning, lol.

With a little help from my kitchen tools

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An idea occurred to me last night that I decided to try this morning: omelet in muffins.

I’m reminded of my mother telling me as a kid that her father managed to destroy several toasters trying to make homemade McMuffins when they came out in the early 1970s. Never really understood how you would do that, short of putting runny egg in the toaster. In my case, I simply put two whipped eggs in a greased tamagoyaki pan and only folded it over in half to finish before cutting that in half. Perhaps this is ironic considering that my grandfather was in the pacific theater during WWII, lol.

One muffin was made with a thick slice of snack-cheddar so that it would melt just enough to get soft and spongy enough to fill the crevices of the muffin and omelette, and the other with the available sandwich cheese at hand (a thin slice of Swiss). Kinda made me wish that I had bothered to grab some ham or pastrami while I was at it, but alas I did not.

Since I’ve been watching the sodium and cholesterol intake with my blood pressure, I’ve tried to avoid the temptation to take a Drive-Thru breakfast on the way to work over this past year. So I found this a rather nice breakfast, if rather large for me. Between the lack of ham and my disinclination to salt the shit out of my food, each probably represents half the sodium content of one McMuffin.