So what's for dinner?

stormie said:

I.Will.Never.Attempt.To.Make.Pasta.Again. NEVER.

My mother used to make her own pasta for raviolis, fettucine, etc. She'd make it for a crowd even. I do remember her struggling with the machines (she had both electric and manual pasta machines). I remember it took her hours to make it. So. I began at three in the afternoon. Had three of my mother's cookbooks open. I followed one of the recipes exactly, but cross-referenced with the other two (some recipes are more detailed). An hour later I was ready to throw in the towel. It's getting the dough very thin that I found difficult.

I make my own pizza and calzone dough. But I will never ever ever again attempt this.

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I like to try to make my own pasta but also have issues getting it thin enough. In retaliation, I'm perfecting gnocchi. Still pasta, still homemade, but no cardstock-thin rolling required!

I've actually had pretty good luck making pasta, and I'm about as far away from being Italian, as cray, the battery. To be honest, all I've tried is spaghetti, linguini and angel hair. I found my little hand-cranked machine the other day and figured that once I got the chance to retire, I'd try to tackle that again.

I have a Kitchen Aid too, but don't own the pasta attachment. Anybody have any experience with that?

Right, we're attempting homemade pizza again. This time, I'm using Alton Brown's recipe for the dough and my homemade pesto. My pesto isn't bad, but I think I put too much salt into it this time, so I added a bit of lemon juice to hopefully cut it down.

MM--Stuffed bundles are round discs of pizza dough, filled with mozzarella and (take your pick) pepperoni or anchovies, sealed, then deep fried. Found the Italian name for it: Fagottini Ripieni.

Haggis said:

I've actually had pretty good luck making pasta, and I'm about as far away from being Italian, as cray, the battery. To be honest, all I've tried is spaghetti, linguini and angel hair. I found my little hand-cranked machine the other day and figured that once I got the chance to retire, I'd try to tackle that again.

I have a Kitchen Aid too, but don't own the pasta attachment. Anybody have any experience with that?

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How would those little paws crank the machine?

I make hand-made pasta once in a while, using the little piles of flour with a well of eggs in the middle, etc., and yeah, it's hit or miss for me to get the right consistency to work it through my hand cranked machine and have it not all stick together. It's messy, and we end up with pasta strands hanging all over the kitchen, but when it turns out well it's so good!

RedRajah said:

Right, we're attempting homemade pizza again. This time, I'm using Alton Brown's recipe for the dough and my homemade pesto. My pesto isn't bad, but I think I put too much salt into it this time, so I added a bit of lemon juice to hopefully cut it down.

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As an update, it tasted much better than my 1st attempt at dough, but man, we need to practice how to shape the dough afterwards!

We had mahi mahi, not really sauteed cause the heat was higher, but with olive oil. Seasoned with garlic powder, the juice of half a lemon, some Mexican blend seasoning I use, and a liberal splash of tequila. Chopped up like for fish tacos. Also rice, and a sautee of zucchini, yellow squash and onions.

All in all, it was quite tasty.

MM

Not really dinner, but I'm chomping down on a couple of pickled eggs tonight. I made them about a month ago and they're getting really...pickled. Awfully good, though.

Peanut butter (organic) and jelly (low sugar) sammiches (9-grain bread).

RedRajah said:

As an update, it tasted much better than my 1st attempt at dough, but man, we need to practice how to shape the dough afterwards!

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Flour the surface, flour a rolling pin (or large glass bottle), and roll it out. I tried too many times to use my hands and flunked. If you still have problems, let the dough rest for five minutes, then go back to it. Also, let it rest in the pan for five minutes, then press it to the edges, gently.

Oven roasted pork country ribs. Seasoned with salt and pepper only. 250 degrees for 2 hours, then up to 350 when I threw in a tray with asparagus seasoned with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Let that ride for 20 minutes. The asparagus was almost perfect. Almost crisp enough for me, almost soft enough for hubby. Hubby put BBQ sauce on his ribs.

MM

Cabbage soup. (Sweet & sour, with meatballs.) Good food for a bad-weather day.

Used my chopping muscles and made a veggie puree for curries: sweet potato, carrots, yellow and red bell peppers, onions, and summer squash. Seasoned with garlic, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and cayenne. Simmered in just enough water to cover until everything is soft, then pureed in a blender. Made about 6 cups this time. I use it as a base for curries, or thin it down and eat it as soup.

Tonight, I browned some boneless pork loin, added green beans out of the freezer, threw some of the puree and simmered until pork was cooked. I would have added cubed potato and served it over rice, but I was out of rice. So I tossed the cubed potatoes in olive oil and a little garam masala and roasted them until done, then put the curry over the potatoes. It was really good!

Meatloaf and cheesy hashbrowns. The hashbrowns are ready-made by a local grocery store but I mixed the meatloaf from (almost) scratch. Had to use French dressing since there isn't enough ketchup. SO GLAD I got the KitchenAid mixer with a dough hook. Made mixing the meatloaf too easy.

Kibbeh nayeh, baba ganoush, pita bread, and figgy pudding with brandy sauce.

What?

Roasted butternut squash w/pearl couscous, onions, toasted almonds and dried cranberries.

Homemade lentil soup, and a toasted open-faced sandwich with cheese, mushrooms and tomato.

We're expecting a blizzard here in NYC, so I've loaded the fridge and cupboards with more food than I can possibly eat. Everyone is invited over for the week, if you can get through the snow. I daresay I can feed you all.

The fam took a road trip to the Charlotte Ikea last Friday where I picked up a bag of meatballs, so today I made Swedish-style gravy with corn and mashed potatoes (gravy recipe from here). I don't cook often since I work nights M-Th, but this is one of the dishes my wife and daughter enjoy when I make it.

Have you tried that with lingenberry jelly? Soooo good.

Just put the three pork shoulder roasts in the oven to cook slowly over the next 18 hours or so. I am making Kulua pork for tomorrow night's dinner.

I’ll serve it on grits with a pineapple ginger sauce and with sides of kung pow Brussels sprouts, and a nice coleslaw.

ULTRAGOTHA said:

Have you tried that with lingenberry jelly? Soooo good.

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Yup, bought a jar of that as well. My daughter complained because she didn't have enough jam, on account of having eaten it straight up before she even touched the meatballs.

I am going to try a recipe for Italian meatloaf. I'll post if it's as good as it looks.

Snow soup. Followed by Snow salad. Grilled snow, with snow sauce. Snow Ice Cream for dessert.

'snow surprise that's your menu.