What's For Dinner?

Last week, tried a new casual dining place in Jackson that claims to be of Polish decent. So we had to give it a try. Ordered Pierogi Plate and Keilbasa Plate. The pierogi's tasted good, but had little, if anything, in common with actual ones from Poland. These were huge and thick dough, vs. small and light/thin dough of real ones. The sausage was pretty good and the sauerkraut was very good. But...we won't go back.

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Got a new Lodge combo pan. For $33 bucks we got this 2-piece set that is basically a small dutch oven, where the lid is also a skillet. First time using it. Ania made sweet potato, yam, carrot and parsnip "fries" that we roasted with some olive oil and then I picked a cheap and mediocre porterhouse from the local market (iirc it was $7.99lb). Put some Chef Paul's Meat Magic on it and seared in the pan. We properly waited for the big pan to get hot before putting the root veggies in and that pan seared wonderfully and didn't get dirty nor stick at all. Sadly I rushed the steak into the other pan and it wasn't hot...so it didn't sear and didn't clean well and stuck a bit. Damn, lesson learned...get these things hot, hot, hot before putting food into them. Meal was "okay". Actually repeating it tonight since we bought a two-pack of steaks and she had a huge amount of the veggies.

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That cap was sure mouth watering!

Burgers on the Kamado

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$8/lb for a porterhouse. I'm no longer alone on the cheap steak team here on F-chat!

$33 for anything from Lodge is a great deal. I like their stuff. The preseasoned cookware is pretty good as I tend to stink at seasoning cast iron. With proper care, it should last forever.

I do the "Dang, it's not hot enough!" boo boo often. I find the more hungry I am when cooking, the more likely I am to rush things.

Easy one skillet meal. Brown chicken breast chunks. Simmer in this stuff. About 25 min on low.
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They said it was spicy. After a few generous squirts of sriracha, they were right.
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Add some 5 minutes rice about 6 minutes from the end. Tasty enough, quick and no fuss.

T

 

I've started feeding my dog a raw diet. There is a turkey farm near my house with a deli for people food. They also sell frozen cubes of raw turkey and beef for dogs. While buying for the dog, I bought a turkey pot pie for myself. It was tasty, but the chicken pot pie Costco sells is better.

this place: https://jdfarms.ca/meals/

 

Raw poultry? Is that a good idea? I'm guessing dogs' guts are more tolerant of bad microbes than humans.

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Tomato sauce, as homemade as I can make it. Tomatoes, basil and oregano from the garden. Spices. Simmer. Since it was going on pizza, I didn't get too excited to strain out the pulp.

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Pizza light cheese, light sauce. Did it on the Big Green Egg. Stone was about 450 F. Next one - same toppings - got burnt a tad. Left it on too long. Stone was probably 600 F by then.

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The wild card pizza! Goat cheese, a little mozz, chicken (browned in olive oil, S&P, garlic powder), chard from the garden.

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As close to Neopolitan as I can manage. My cast iron "stone" was > 800 F. Two minutes. And, that may have been 30 sec too long!
Tasted good though.

T

 

Maybe we crossed paths... we've been at the bottom three you listed in the past month. Wish we had more time to travel. So much to see out there.

I'm also in the same boat as you - working on cutting back sugar and carbs. We almost never eat processed or prepared foods, sodas, etc so that's helped in the past, just need to do more. And bump up the exercise routine. Thought I was doing well by eating lots of bananas and fruit like pears. Turns out they're packed with carbs. So now lots of plain greek yogurt with blueberries or other berries.

 

Berries are your best bet to get some fruit and keep carbs low. I usually do a berry matcha smoothie for the wife and I in the morning. Usually keeps me full until lunch time.

On the veggie front, substitute turnips for potatoes.

Ditch bread, and buy low carb tortillas. We usually have something - typically leftovers - on a low carb tortilla for lunch.

T

 

Monday was Canada Day, had ribeye to grill, but opted to grill them last night. So Monday just had salad. I've ditched bread for tortilla's too. Tonight I'm not sure, probably just do salad. Missed the burger special at Triple O's yesterday. I'm craving a bacon cheeseburger, the craving might win out!

 

The craving won...….. But decided to do homemade burgers on the grill.

 

The only way to beat temptation is to give in to it...or so the old adage goes.

I smoked tri tip on the Ranch Kettle. Wife wanted a little more cooked and less smoked than last effort.

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Mostly pecan, and lump. Added oak later.

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I never smoked on the Ranch Kettle, so I kept futzing with my set up as I went along. I finally, settled on this. Foil to act as a direct heat shield, water pan to absorb some of the heat, and the tri tip on the indirect side of the fire.

Final product was smoked for 45 min & finished in oven until about 145 F. It was OK. A bit more done than I would have liked, but the wife was happy.

T

 

Happy treason day, you traitor peasants!!!!

I've got to remember to make my own burgers more often. In Canada restaurants think its illegal to serve medium rare hamburgers and I like them rare! So doing them at home was a real treat!

Decided to grab another ribeye while they are on sale. . I'll be grilling that tonight.

 

We got lucky and in between storms was able to grill. Flank steak, mushrooms, corn, and a leftover burger from a couple nights ago. Salad too. Didn’t cook the corn long enough. Everything else was perfect. Plenty of leftovers too.

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Happy 4th of July to my friends in the south. I made a traditional Canadian meal for us.

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Sent from my SM-G960W using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

That's a Texas sized flank steak! Cooked perfectly.
I like to microwave corn with the husk on, and then finish it off on the grill for a bit of char.

Chicken soft tacos, mainly so I could check out how my various pickling adventures turned out.

Pickled red onions - awesome!
Pickled jalapenos - think I got too aggressive in the seed/membrane removal, not much heat.
Pickled green tomatoes - those would have been better with a cold cut sandwich.
Pickled cucumbers - yummy. Since the wife announced she was not a fan, I threw in some
Cajun seasoning (has cayenne) and crushed red pepper into the brine. So, they have a nice bit of
heat to them.

The onions were ready in ~ 2 days. The pickles ~3 days, but I sliced them a tad thicker than I should have.
The green tomatoes took ~ 4 days, ~ 3 days for the jalapenos. Started with hot brine in all cases, and shaking
the container once per day.
T
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Nice...……… I'm going to try making poutine myself.

Tonight I'm having the second ribeye on the grill. Making a side of pesto linguine. Pesto looks very easy to make, I'm going to start making my own soon VS the Kirkland store bought.

 

Family with us for the week. Dinner tonight was Bryan Flannery’s dry aged California reserve “Jorge cut” bone-in ribeyes. These weight just over 2lbs each.

First pic is the mess o’beef we ordered for the week.
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Second pic is a close up of the ribeyes we cooked tonight.
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The grill holding all of the meal...barely. Cilantro-cumin corn and potatoes joined 3 Jorge’s.
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Cooked the beef to 120F and sliced off the bone. Dry aged yummiess ensued...accompanied by a decent Bordeaux. As you can see in the first pic, we ordered a bit of beef. We will repeat the Jorge dinner on Monday. Then I bought a few smaller ribeyes and Bryan threw in some sirloin tails for us to try. All of the non-Jorge's will go in the freezer for later in the summer.

If you love beef and you haven't ordered from Bryan (I've mention him before)...give it a try:

http://www.flannerybeef.com/

My favorite is the CA reserve ribeyes aged 30-45 days usually. Bryan is unarguably one of the most-knowledgeable and passionate beef purveyors in the country, and unarguably one of the nicest people you will ever know. Highly recommended. If you can't get Bryan on the phone, ask for his daughter Katie if you need any questions answered. Great people.

 

Forgot the dessert - Strawberry Shortcake has become our new tradition for July 4th (I know its long been associated with Independence Day, but we only started making it last year). Ania made the biscuits, while I concocted the strawberries and fresh made strawberry syrup and whipped cream. It was pretty darn good (and super easy to make).

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^Home run, AzIt! Reminds me. I should start defrosting a tomahawk from the freezer!
Used to make it with angel food cake, but then I discovered the biscuit version, and that's all she wrote.

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Chicken on the rotisserie. Always make 2 because the chow hound likes a little on her kibble. Bones in the fridge ready to make chicken stock, and enough leftovers for a couple more meals.

T

 

Very impressive! I’ve never done a full potato on the grill - how do you tell when they’re done? Stick them with a small knife?

We did blueberries and strawberries with whipped cream on the 4th. Cool and refreshing.

 

regarding the grilled potato's...well, we cheat

I microwave them for 5 minutes (really until they are pretty well cooked through) and then brush them with olive oil and salt and pepper and then onto the grill to crisp up and gain some color.

 

That is awesome. How long does it take to cook chicken that way?

 

I'm craving pizza. I've invited my parents who have my 10 year old nephew visiting over. I'll order the meat lovers special and a house special.

from this place: http://www.pizza24.ca/our-menu/#speciality-pizza

 

Thanks. It was about 2 hours in total with about 15 min of that being resting time. But, I tried to keep the temps relatively low this time, ca. 275 - 300 F, by not starting with much charcoal and then adding a few lumps every 15 - 30 F.

I've run the roti much hotter, 350 - 400 F, in the past and gotten done in about 1 hr 15 min.

BTW, Done = 165 F internal temp in the breast.

It's my favorite way to do whole chickens. I have charcoal baskets, so I can have it hot on the sides; the chicken then spins over indirect heat. You can also throw in a few wood chips into the charcoal baskets for a nice, not too heavy smoky flavor.

T

 

Fresh picked greens,, tomato in a salad. Love the veggies this time of the year
Scallops over stir fried chinese spinach with miso flavor

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

xo
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