What are you eating?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Meal planning for next week (part of menu) :

Buttermilk pork chops with lemon caper sauce, and a side of rice or orzo.

Braised Greek-style beans (green beans, tomatoes, potatoes and basil) with pan fried chicken breasts or thighs.

How did your meals turn out?

Chez moi, I made a couple of eggplant parmesans.  New recipe for me.  It's a Rachael Ray one...here:  https://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipes/italian-baked-eggplant-with-parmesan-melanzane-di-parmigiana-recipe-from-rachael-ray  Will heat it up (and melt the cheeses) a bit later...maybe a salad and some steamed broccoli to go with it?    A fair bit of work but listened to a concert on the radio whilst making it...and dishes are done...yippee! 

PD

[Brahmsian]

How did your meals turn out?

Not yet attempted. Hopefully later this week. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Not yet attempted. Hopefully later this week. 

Let us know how they turn out.  Reminds me that I bought some buttermilk to make a blue cheese dressing for salad; need to make that soon and figure out what else to do with the buttermilk! 

Pleased with how the eggplant Parmesan came out; friend who also received a pyrex dish of it enjoyed it too.  Had it with the broccoli and a nice mixed green salad, so pretty healthy meal....particularly as the eggplant wasn't breaded and fried but baked with a bit of garlicky olive oil applied to it instead.  I froze the leftover sauce (only used 2 vs. 3 eggplants) for another use.

Pd

[Brahmsian]

Pleased with how the eggplant Parmesan came out; friend who also received a pyrex dish of it enjoyed it too.  Had it with the broccoli and a nice mixed green salad, so pretty healthy meal....particularly as the eggplant wasn't breaded and fried but baked with a bit of garlicky olive oil applied to it instead.  I froze the leftover sauce (only used 2 vs. 3 eggplants) for another use.

Pd

Glad to hear it turned out. I don't have much experience with eggplant. What are the tricks to preparing it properly?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Glad to hear it turned out. I don't have much experience with eggplant. What are the tricks to preparing it properly?

This recipe called for salting the eggplant (after trimming off the ends and slicing it into approximately 1/4 thick slices--also trimming off 2 sides to make flat surfaces for slicing it).  She has you put a kitchen towel on a couple of sheet pans, putting the slices on it and then apply salt to them then wait between 30 minutes to an hour to draw out some of the moisture.  I did some of the slices this way, but to make a long story short, was running out of time so skipped this step with the second eggplant.  I really didn't see much difference myself.  You might find this article to be of interest...I did.  https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-salting-eggplant-a-thing

I'd like to try experimenting more with it myself.  Back in college days, a roommate shared a half of a baked, stuffed eggplant which she had made for a small dinner party which I remember enjoying.  Several years ago, I did discover the wondrous taste of homemade baba ghanoush...yum!    Very simple too.  The hardest thing for me was stirring the tahini sauce so that the oil was relatively incorporated back into the sesame paste. lol  I'd love to try grilling it someday too to see if I can taste much difference between that and oven roasting it.  I suspect very little difference (other than not heating up the kitchen) as you roast it whole and very little of the skin gets incorporated into the dish...though you do need to stab it in a few places so that it doesn't explode when cooking it.

Googling around a bit, I found this recipe....would love to try it!  https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/baked-stuffed-eggplant-italian-sausage

PD

[Brahmsian]

This recipe called for salting the eggplant (after trimming off the ends and slicing it into approximately 1/4 thick slices--also trimming off 2 sides to make flat surfaces for slicing it).  She has you put a kitchen towel on a couple of sheet pans, putting the slices on it and then apply salt to them then wait between 30 minutes to an hour to draw out some of the moisture.  I did some of the slices this way, but to make a long story short, was running out of time so skipped this step with the second eggplant.  I really didn't see much difference myself.  You might find this article to be of interest...I did.  https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-salting-eggplant-a-thing

I'd like to try experimenting more with it myself.  Back in college days, a roommate shared a half of a baked, stuffed eggplant which she had made for a small dinner party which I remember enjoying.  Several years ago, I did discover the wondrous taste of homemade baba ghanoush...yum!    Very simple too.  The hardest thing for me was stirring the tahini sauce so that the oil was relatively incorporated back into the sesame paste. lol  I'd love to try grilling it someday too to see if I can taste much difference between that and oven roasting it.  I suspect very little difference (other than not heating up the kitchen) as you roast it whole and very little of the skin gets incorporated into the dish...though you do need to stab it in a few places so that it doesn't explode when cooking it.

Googling around a bit, I found this recipe....would love to try it!  https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/baked-stuffed-eggplant-italian-sausage

PD

Excellent, thanks for those tips! Might even try that recipe you posted one day as you know I love Italian sausage. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Excellent, thanks for those tips! Might even try that recipe you posted one day as you know I love Italian sausage. 

I do love my vegetables and a number of vegetarian dishes that I've tried and/or made over the years; hard for me to totally give up meat, however, as I do so enjoy it!  Fish, chicken, etc. too.  I did also find an easy vegetarian stuffed eggplant recipe that looks tempting here:  https://www.themediterraneandish.com/vegetarian-stuffed-eggplant/

As much as I can easily spend hours cooking away, it's nice to have some quicker/less "hands on" recipes too! https://www.themediterraneandish.com/vegetarian-stuffed-eggplant/  And I normally have canned chickpeas and cous cous on hand too. 

PD

[DavidW]

I cooked a vegetarian korma.  I used a store bought jar of korma sauce.  It was very bland.  But then I added lime juice, ginger, curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder and mustard seeds and then it tasted much better.

[Brahmsian]

I cooked a vegetarian korma.  I used a store bought jar of korma sauce.  It was very bland.  But then I added lime juice, ginger, curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder and mustard seeds and then it tasted much better.

Ohhhhhhhh, a high quality vegetable korma is so delicious. But I do find them to be hit and miss when ordering from various Indian restaurants. Some can be very bland or too much on the sweet side for me. Making it myself has never proved satisfactory. 

[DavidW]

Ohhhhhhhh, a high quality vegetable korma is so delicious. But I do find them to be hit and miss when ordering from various Indian restaurants. Some can be very bland or too much on the sweet side for me. Making it myself has never proved satisfactory. 

I don't think I did a great job, it was more like serviceable.  But I wasn't in the mood for any kind of meat.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I cooked a vegetarian korma.  I used a store bought jar of korma sauce.  It was very bland.  But then I added lime juice, ginger, curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder and mustard seeds and then it tasted much better.

Must admit, most of the times that I've given in and purchased store-bought sauces, I've been disappointed..also with things like salad dressings.  They are convenient though.  What do you gents think of this recipe (just ran across) it in terms of how you think that it would taste.  The fact that the author says that it would work for the whole family leads me to believe that it might be a bit bland.  https://veganheaven.org/recipe/vegetable-korma/

PD

[Brahmsian]

Must admit, most of the times that I've given in and purchased store-bought sauces, I've been disappointed..also with things like salad dressings.  They are convenient though.  What do you gents think of this recipe (just ran across) it in terms of how you think that it would taste.  The fact that the author says that it would work for the whole family leads me to believe that it might be a bit bland.  https://veganheaven.org/recipe/vegetable-korma/

PD

Looks promising, probably worth a try and can always tweak the recipe to make it less bland if that is the initial result. Seems like a good base recipe.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Looks promising, probably worth a try and can always tweak the recipe to make it less bland if that is the initial result. Seems like a good base recipe.

Will look around a bit more.  It does seem pretty easy though.

Just made a couple of different dishes at the same time:  a chicken and onion quesadilla (for breakfast/brunch really).  I had a container of mushrooms that was in the use-it-or-lose-it stage, so...I made a quick cream of mushroom soup using some leftover chicken stock, some water, grabbed a few dried mushrooms that I had (soaked them in hot water)....some softened onion cooked with mushrooms and a few cloves of leftover roasted garlic.  Plunked it all into blender and then poured it into a pot, added some sprigs of fresh thyme, s&p, some water and cooked it over stovetop for a while.   It's now cooling.  Will add some light cream when I go to reheat it.

Dish duty in a bit....

PD

p.s. Enjoyed listening to a wonderful recording of Chopin's PC No. 2 whilst cooking too! 

[Brahmsian]

Will look around a bit more.  It does seem pretty easy though.

Just made a couple of different dishes at the same time:  a chicken and onion quesadilla (for breakfast/brunch really).  I had a container of mushrooms that was in the use-it-or-lose-it stage, so...I made a quick cream of mushroom soup using some leftover chicken stock, some water, grabbed a few dried mushrooms that I had (soaked them in hot water)....some softened onion cooked with mushrooms and a few cloves of leftover roasted garlic.  Plunked it all into blender and then poured it into a pot, added some sprigs of fresh thyme, s&p, some water and cooked it over stovetop for a while.   It's now cooling.  Will add some light cream when I go to reheat it.

Dish duty in a bit....

PD

p.s. Enjoyed listening to a wonderful recording of Chopin's PC No. 2 whilst cooking too! 

Ohhh, nothing quite as yummy as a homemade cream of mushroom soup! 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Ohhh, nothing quite as yummy as a homemade cream of mushroom soup! 

I was really happy with my last concoction (soup)..thanks to you inspiring me to make some (so much better than any boxed soup!).  This is a bit different than my last one.  It smells really good though.  I'll give it a taste when I go to heat it up and add the cream.  Handy to have those dried mushrooms on hand to give it a flavor boost.

KP duty is done too! 

PD

p.s.  Weather-wise here, it's overcast with snow in the future so another good reason for making soup. 

[Brahmsian]

Handy to have those dried mushrooms on hand to give it a flavor boost.

I should have dried mushrooms on hand.  I've heard it is a great flavour boost enhancer for soup (and for making soup stock/broth as well).

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I should have dried mushrooms on hand.  I've heard it is a great flavour boost enhancer for soup (and for making soup stock/broth as well).

I have a recipe for a pork bolognese which calls for dried porcini mushrooms..yummy!  It's a clever way of using leftover pork.

PD

[DavidW]

Must admit, most of the times that I've given in and purchased store-bought sauces, I've been disappointed..also with things like salad dressings.  They are convenient though.  What do you gents think of this recipe (just ran across) it in terms of how you think that it would taste.  The fact that the author says that it would work for the whole family leads me to believe that it might be a bit bland.  https://veganheaven.org/recipe/vegetable-korma/

PD

Looks great but cashews are expensive.  So even though store-bought sauce isn't great, it is way cheaper!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Looks great but cashews are expensive.  So even though store-bought sauce isn't great, it is way cheaper!

I wouldn't think that a half of a cup would be that bad cost-wise?  Granted nuts aren't cheap.  Do you have a co-op nearby?  Those are nice because you can buy exactly what you need.    And the recipe serves 4.  May I ask what sauce you purchased?

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Had a good laugh when I saw this: