Tonight's Dinner

[Mikey]

Grilled coho salmon and a wedge salad.

Salmon is wild caught and bought fresh at Costco a couple of months ago. I had too much so I froze a couple of pieces and thawed them out this afternoon. They freeze really well if you wrap the pieces tightly in saran wrap and then in a Ziplock.

I was inspired to get the salmon on tonight by a recipe in today's NYT for baked salmon with a brown sugar/Dijon mustard glaze. In the discussion there was a lot of disagreement about what proportions of Dijon and sugar to use, and cooking temperature and time in the oven. There were a few people who suggested that you need to cook it with the skin down, and not spray the foil with oil so the skin will stick. Then you can slide the delicious flesh right off and not worry about the skin.

I'm thinking WTF, I like the flavor of good salmon, especially with a nice crispy skin. And who needs a sweet glaze to cover the flavor up. I have a heavy cast iron skillet plate that I use on the gas grill. Lightly season the salmon fillets (tonight I used Bad Byron's Butt Rub). Heat the grill plate up really hot and cook the skin side down for about 2 1/2 minutes (depending on thickness), then flip it and cook the other side for 1 1/2 to 3 minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes. That's it. Serve with a couple of slices of freshly picked Meyer lemon. My wife likes a little tartar sauce. I like to add a little Sriracha.

I don't know if "wedge salad" is a thing in the rest of the US but it's gotten pretty popular in restaurants around here in the past few years. Usually it's a 1/4 wedge of an iceberg lettuce head, topped with blue cheese dressing, bacon bits, some halved cherry tomatoes and some blue cheese crumbles. My variation uses half of a head of baby romaine, bacon bits, avocado, chunks of a farmers market heirloom tomato called "pineapple" and blue cheese crumbles from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., about the best you can get. Every once in a while they carry the cheese at our local Costco for a ridiculously low price so I usually stock up on a few chunks. And, believe it or not, the best blue cheese dressing I've ever gotten at a grocery store is Bob's Big Boy Roquefort Dressing.

The bread is from Prager Brothers (a local bakery). It's a multi-grain sourdough, sliced and toasted.

This took 30 minutes from the first step (turning on the grill) to putting it on the table. Served with a 2020 Esprit de Tablas Blanc, from Tablas Creek Winery in Paso Robles.

https://tablascreek.com/wines/2020_espr ... blas_blanc

[HighPlainsGrifter]

This sounds great. Fully agree about not covering up the natural savory flavor with a heavy sugar glaze.

I have a bigass Texas style smoker at the shop. Every few weeks in the summer we'll have salmon as a crew. We like to coat the salmon in a seasoned butter and smoke it for about 45-60 minutes. Pull it and crisp the outside with a propane torch. Not one of those cute little butane thingies you see on Iron Chef. I have a man sized torch and it rocks at searing.

[Mikey]

Tonight:

Grilled halibut
Grilled Italian flat (Romano) beans
Brown jasmine rice
Cherry tomatoes

The halibut was almost fresh, picked up at Costco this morning.
The beans came from the farmers market. Blanched for two minutes, tossed with some EVOO and then grilled for a few minutes. Dressed with some lemon Dijon mustard vinaigrette and “everything” bagel seasoning.
I got the cherry tomatoes this morning at the farmers market, and they’re so sweet I added them as a complement to the beans, and a little added color.

Secret for grilling halibut: It’s very lean. Do NOT overcook. Slap a little butter on top as soon as it comes off the grill.

[Mikey]

This sounds great. Fully agree about not covering up the natural savory flavor with a heavy sugar glaze.

I have a bigass Texas style smoker at the shop. Every few weeks in the summer we'll have salmon as a crew. We like to coat the salmon in a seasoned butter and smoke it for about 45-60 minutes. Pull it and crisp the outside with a propane torch. Not one of those cute little butane thingies you see on Iron Chef. I have a man sized torch and it rocks at searing.

Smoked salmon is awesome. Every once in a while I’ll fill up the smoker with salmon, albacore and whatever other good fish is available. It’s a lot faster than a pork shoulder or ribs. I’ve even done smoked shrimp and scallops. Man that is some good stuff.

[Mikey]

OK this isn’t dinner, but lunch is looking pretty good.

I took last night’s leftover halibut and mixed it with some celery, celery seed and mayo. Put it on a slice of crusty bread from the farmers market, with a little Dijon mustard. The other half is arugula microgreens, tomato and avocado.

Watching some low interest NFL and counting down to Niners vs Cowgirls. Could be epoch.

[Mikey]

No dinner to post from last night. Just grazed on leftovers and some cheese and crackers.

Tonight was grilled lamb chops, kale Caesar salad, hummus, and grilled chanterelle mushrooms. Also some flatbread, which isn’t in the picture.

This hummus is one of the easiest things to make, if you have a food processor, and it’s so much better than anything you can get in the store. Six ingredients: Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tahini (sesame seed paste) lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt.





Here’s the wine that went with it. A very nice Central Coast Syrah.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

So jealous.

My dinner is a big bag of Cheetos, some pecans, and two Monster drinks. I'm on midstream watch tonight. We have a new well pushing 600 barrels. Trucks will run 24 hours a day until the pressure comes down.

[Mikey]

I’ve had that kind of dinner countless times over the years.
Retirement has its benefits.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

Also mixed in some Brookside chocolates. The blueberry/acai ones. BTW does anyone care about acai in your part of the world or has that trend hit the downward slide? Seems like it's all goji berry these days.

[Mikey]

You see açaí around but it’s not much of a fad like it was a few years ago. Seems like more than a few actually. I eat a big pile of berries on cereal about every other day in the morning. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and even blueberries are available fresh almost year round. Add a sliced up banana and some raisins and I’ve got my fruit allotment for the day.


BTW, this stuff is da bomb. Whole grain, no added sugar.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

I like that Ezekiel nut bread. I've never had the cereal. I'm terrible about eating sugar. I tell myself if I exercise enough it doesn't matter how much sugar I eat. It's a lie but I want to believe it.

[Mikey]

My wife lives on the Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread. I personally don't like it all that much. But I do like the cereal, especially the one with almonds. I try to watch the sugar too. It's hard. I constantly read labels. I don't buy a lot of processed food but will almost always pass on anything with added sugar, if possible. So, when I do splurge on some gelato, or whatever, at least it's my choice. Some things are just ridiculous. Why would you need to add sugar to applesauce? Lucky for me, sourdough bread has no sugar added.

[Mikey]

Tonight’s dinner (actually last night):

Mikey’s can’t miss garlic baked chicken thighs
Baked Japanese sweet potatoes
Sautéed broccolini (also known as baby broccoli), topped with a little grated Parmesan

This is one of our "go-to" meals because it's pretty simple and inexpensive. Also the chicken is delicious and almost impossible to fuck up. I often use brown rice instead of the sweet potato. The veggie could be regular broccoli, steamed cabbage or a kale Caesar salad.






Step-by-step

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

For the chicken I usually use thighs with the bone and skin still on. You can use breasts too without changing anything. Put them skin side up in a glass baking dish (dark color preferably). Sprinkle in the following order.

1. Some kind of salty seasoning mix. Here I’m using Kinder’s Santa Maria mix. I’ve even used Lawry’s in the past. Doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.
2. Dried minced garlic.
3. (Optional) black garlic and truffle Parmesan mix.
4. Kraft grated Parmesan. It has to be Kraft in the green bottle because it makes a nice crust. The real Parmesan would just melt.
5. A sprinkle of smoked paprika.







When it’s ready, put it on a rack in the top half of the oven, along with the:

Japanese sweet potatoes. If you haven’t had these before they have a dark skin but almost white inside. A lot dryer than the orange yams. You spray them with some EVOO and the skin gets a little bit carmelized. Very delicious with some melted butter, S&P.



Bake the chicken and sweet potatoes together for 60 minutes at 400 degrees. If you use larger potatoes you may need to give them up to 80 or 90 minutes. The ones here are pretty small.



Broccolini, steamed for 5 minutes in a skillet, and then sauteed for a few minutes with some garlic slices.




Here's the chicken when it came out of the oven.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

Looks great. Glad to know it's good with breast meat. MrsHPG doesn't eat dark meat (easy does it, clones) at all...ever.

Why baby broccoli? I've never seen it for sale, let alone eaten it. Keep in mind I live in a food hellscape.

[Mikey]

Why baby broccoli? I've never seen it for sale, let alone eaten it. Keep in mind I live in a food hellscape.

They usually call it broccolini out here. You can get it in the grocery stores, usually in the “organic” section, but the regular broccoli is a lot more common. I go to a local farmers market every Saturday morning. It’s pretty large and open 52 weeks a year rain or shine. They might take Christmas off if it falls on a Saturday, but I’m not sure. I do about 80% of our produce shopping there and a lot of vendors carry the broccolini, not so much the stuff. Not sure if I prefer one or the other. The fat stuff is better just steamed. The skinnier lends itself more to sautéing or, even better, throw it on the grill for a little char.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

We enjoy roasted veggies under a broiler and big florets of mature broccoli is the family favorite. Toss in olive oil (anyone typing EVOO has no penis) and sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper. I like the peppercorn mix of white, black, and pink. Broil until the florets char slightly. Drizzle with black cherry fused olive oil and gnosh.

[Mikey]

Last night:

Grilled swordfish
Porcini mushroom risotto
Kale Caesar salad

[Biggie]

MrsHPG doesn't eat dark meat (easy does it, clones) at all...ever.

No enchiladas or nothin’?

[HighPlainsGrifter]

MrsHPG doesn't eat dark meat (easy does it, clones) at all...ever.

No enchiladas or nothin’?

Stolen meat doesn't count.

[Mikey]

This was last night. I took some of the soup I made here:

http://www.theoneboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=53300

out of the freezer and heated it in the microwave. About 12 minutes total to reheat and put the other stuff together.




Sorry,HPG, if the lighting is too perfect for your down home redneck sensibility. I just use the same place on the kitchen counter every time. I actually thought the lighting was a little dim causing the wonderful colors incorporated in my fine culinary art to get kind of washed out. I am, to be honest though, somewhat proud of my ability to rotate a photograph by 90 degrees when called for.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

Excellent work on the lighting. It looks wonderful. Very refreshing.

[Biggie]

What the fuck happened to the wine? Is this a Milton family picnic or something?

[Biggie]

Aaahh just read the post more carefully-refreshing. HAHAHAHAHA!! Fucking RACK HPG.

[Mikey]

Excellent work on the lighting. It looks wonderful. Very refreshing.

Nice work. You even got the shadows.

[HighPlainsGrifter]

Aaahh just read the post more carefully-refreshing. HAHAHAHAHA!! Fucking RACK HPG.

I'm happy you saw it. I doubt anyone else knows what we're giggling about.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

So many good meals here. Rando thoughts.

For lamb, Mrs. 88 won’t eat it unless it is medium (I would eat it still twitching). We have found a compromise. I get a lamb rack and “lollipop” the ribs. Hers are the “thin” ones and mine are the fatties. The thin ones also get trimmed of fat (and flavor).

I grill them on a flat iron plate with fresh rosemary and garlic. They get plucked when a probe thermometer on the bone of the thin ones reaches 135F.

We serve them with steamed asparagus and hashies and cream. The latter is made by combining grated boiled russet potatoes with butter, flour, cream, diced onion, chicken broth, salt and pepper and baking the goop in a casserole dish (Gruyère on top at the end).

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Wedge salads are the bomb. Big fans here. We substitute panchetta for bacon at times, and use diced local tomatoes when they are not shitty (often they are shitty). Crumbled Danish blue cheese is our “go to”, with Marzetti’s blue cheese dressing as a gooey drizzle.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

We do not get good salmon very often in SWFL. I can buy frozen wild caught salmon now and then. We usually prepare it on cedar planks, and top it with a citrus mixture of diced orange, jalapeños, tomatoes, cilantro, salt and pepper.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Chicken thighs. Big fan. We rub them with Karjos Easispice Jerk Seasoning (Amazon) and put them in the fridge for a at least a day. They get grilled Jamaica style (kind of blackened). We like to serve them with cilantro lime rice and roasted Parmesan acorn squash slices.

[Mikey]

So many good meals here. Rando thoughts.

For lamb, Mrs. 88 won’t eat it unless it is medium (I would eat it still twitching). We have found a compromise. I get a lamb rack and “lollipop” the ribs. Hers are the “thin” ones and mine are the fatties. The thin ones also get trimmed of fat (and flavor).

I grill them on a flat iron plate with fresh rosemary and garlic. They get plucked when a probe thermometer on the bone of the thin ones reaches 135F.

We serve them with steamed asparagus and hashies and cream. The latter is made by combining grated boiled russet potatoes with butter, flour, cream, diced onion, chicken broth, salt and pepper and baking the goop in a casserole dish (Gruyère on top at the end).

Yeah I love those rack of lamb ribs. I usually get the loin chops because they're pretty cheap at Costco (maybe $6.99 or $7.99 per lb?) and really hard to fuck up. Nice thing about lamb is that it rocks whether still purple (as long as there's a good char on the outside) or burned almost to a crisp. I usually get a few more of the chops than I need and sometimes cheat by cutting one open. But basically 5 minutes per side and you're good. I like occasionally doing a butterflied leg of lamb roast. Cooked on indirect heat on the grill. Some of it's really thick and some not at all, so you get a good mixture of rare, medium and shoe leather. And of course you need plenty of garlic, rosemary, EVOO and salt rubbed on the outside before cooking.

[Mikey]

We do not get good salmon very often in SWFL. I can buy frozen wild caught salmon now and then. We usually prepare it on cedar planks, and top it with a citrus mixture of diced orange, jalapeños, tomatoes, cilantro, salt and pepper.

We cam almost always get frozen wild caught fillets at Costco. When they carry it "fresh" (don't ask Dinsdale) I usually get one big fillet, which is at least twice as much as we need for a single meal. So I tightly wrap the rest in some saran wrap and freeze it. You can hardly tell the difference in the finished product.

Never done cedar planks. Will have to try that one of these days. Usually just directly pan grilled on a heavy cast iron griddle that I put in the Weber.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Cedar planks are crazy easy. Soak them in water for a while (we put them in the sink and weigh them down with glasses filled with water). Then you lay the fish skin side down on the plank and place on the grill, lid closed. Usually about 30 minutes with a hood temp in the low 300F’s. It takes a while for the wood to heat up and start to char and smoke. The smoke is great on the fish. We do use a citrus topper. Some people reuse the planks. We just burn them in the fireplace.

[Rootbeer]

What the fuck happened to the wine? Is this a Milton family picnic or something?

I forgot we called it the Milton family! Bwahahhahaaa!

Good memories.

[Mikey]

We’ve been trying to limit our intake of red meat, and mostly save it for going out. But last night I broke down and grilled some steaks. Nothing beats a good steak, baked potato with the works, and a Caesar salad. Mrs Mikey prefers filet mignon but I’ll always go for a good NY strip, so last night I got one of each and grilled them up. This is my prime New Yorker, topped with some chanterelle mushrooms sautéed on the cast iron grill plate on the Weber, baked potato and salad. You can never have too many chives BTW.




This is the wine that went with it, a great Central Coast Rhône style blend.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

That looks great. We were on OBX all weekend. Lots of bar food, with a splash of seafood. Looking to get back in the kitchen soon.

My brother-in-law called to tell me he made Nate Rateliff’s green chili tonight. Now I can’t get it out of my mind. Could be on the horizon.

[Mikey]

That’s in North Carolina, right? Looks like a fun place. I’ve never been anywhere near there. Closest I’ve been is a few meetings in Research Triangle Park when I worked for the EPA. I did have a project in Tightassville, FL once. I guess that’s not very close but it’s the same ocean.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Titassville is fun AF when NASA has a big launch.

OBX is cool. We went off season, which is way better. In the summer it is way too crowded. Typical Atlantic beach. Barely surfable waves and lots of wind.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Tonight’s dinner was veal schnitzel with sauerkraut and spaetzel with pork gravy. Bought two veal scallopini portions and coated them with corn starch, egg wash (bit of milk) and bread crumbs. Got to let them dry for a while on a rack.

Spaetzel is just egg, half shell of water and flour + salt and pepper. Needs the consistency of bead dough. It gets lopped off, small dollops at a time, into a pot of boiling water. Got to keep the knife wet to get good cuts.

Veal is cooked on steel pan with butter. Takes only a couple of minutes each side.

Sauerkraut and gravy are just heat ups.

[Roach]

Quick and simple lentil soup for tonight, inspired by some awesome sourdough bread my daughter made. Trying red lentils this time, supposedly much better and cook faster.



Basic deal, sauté carrots, celery and onion, add garlic. When all brown and caramelized, add the lentils and liquid, I used broth. For one cup lentils it took 4 cups liquid. Held one back until the end to make sure. Add corn, diced tomatoes and what ever the hell else you want. I used a little cumin and cilantro. Plus a bit of cayenne or other hot. Scrape the pan bottom to get all the veggie dregs incorporated.

Bring to boil, then simmer. Lentils were done in 25 minutes. The other types I have use take longer up to 45 minutes.

This pic shows almost done, the lentils need to suck up a bit more moisture.



Squeeze a little lemon and maybe a dab of sour cream. It was pretty great, but I would probably stick to one of the brown varieties.

Predicting that leftovers will be even better tomorrow.

[Mikey]

Predicting that leftovers will be even better tomorrow.

This looks great. That “holy trinity” of onions, celery and carrots is the basis of a whole lot of good stuff. Nice thing about this kind of meal is that you can freeze single portions (or however many people you need to feed) and pull it out anytime you want. I have some concoctions that will feed us once or twice a week for a month. With the beans they’re sometimes better heated up later than the first time around.