What was the last meal you cooked?

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Replies

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    I made hack's cassoulet because I had a confit goose leg taking up space in the freezer. Have decided that cassoulet is essentially dutch pea soup (ie a casserole of beans, salty meat and alliums) with more airs and graces because it is french. After looking at a couple of recipes online went with this simplified technique.

    Soak white beans overnight. Discard water and boil with aromatics such as crushed garlic cloves, thyme, celery. In the meantime in a large casserole brown the skin of goose or duck confit (if you happen to have confit, but otherwise brown raw chicken thighs). Put the poultry aside, removing bones if using confit when cool. Brown some sausages and chop cooled sausages in coarse chunks. Put sausages aside and brown some chopped bacon. Toss in a minced onion and several cloves of minced garlic. Most recipes call for a little tomato paste which I didn't have so I squirted in some ketchup for sweetness. If you have any leftover gravy or wine lying around toss that in too. When beans are almost done drain, remove aromatics and stir into the casserole dish with the reserved meat.

    Tonight I will add chicken stock to barely reach the top of the bean mix and bake another two hours in the oven with bread crumbs on top. If breadcrumbs are over browning, stir them into the bean mixture and top with a new layer of bread crumbs. Serve with a green salad. Leftovers freeze well.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Today I made fusilli pasta(spirals) with mushrooms and zucchini in a sauce of EVOO and white wine, freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano on top.
  • RCPV
    RCPV Posts: 342 Member
    Today I made fusilli pasta(spirals) with mushrooms and zucchini in a sauce of EVOO and white wine, freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano on top.

    Yummy! Simple, but so good. :)
  • k8eekins
    k8eekins Posts: 2,264 Member
    My birthday today. I made broccoletti (broccoli di rape) with whole wheat pasta (Molisana-stone ground whole wheat) and EVOO just poured on top at the end. I also had an orange and a piece of cake.
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Happy Birthday!!!
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    RCPV wrote: »
    Happy Birthday, Snowflake954! I'm glad you added the cake. Life is too short not to eat cake on your birthday!

    Belated Happy Birthday to you @snowflake954 ... Wishing you many more years of good eats, good health, happiness and love!
  • GreenValli
    GreenValli Posts: 1,054 Member
    Made Chicken Gumbo Soup for dinner last night with a salad. The gumbo recipe made a lot and is low calories without the sausage. Tasted even better when I had some for lunch today with a burrito.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Today Sunday special--Funghi porcini ravioli (store bought, not made by hand), sauce of EVOO, chopped cherry tomatoes, green peas, garlic, broth and wine--topped off with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Then a friend gave us fresh buffalo milk mozzarella from Battipaglia (Famous for buffalo mozzarella). This is a town south of Naples on the way to Caserta. We also had a small cream pie topped with wild strawberries for desert. There were 6 of us and 2 babies.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Basmatic rice with a sauce of chickpeas, EVOO, garlic, rosemary, and tomatoes.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,272 Member
    Back in NJ from more than a week visiting family in Ottawa, Canada. Tonight's (Monday) dinner: baked chicken, roasted root veg (carrots, parsnips, beets) and side tom/cuke salad. MFP thinks the plate is about 719cal, 68g protein, 20g fat, 55g carb. Running out of counter space making 6 or 7 loaves of bread of three types for a large family party tomorrow - this boule loaf in the background (shaped by baking in a cast-iron skillet) is savory: rosemary/garlic/sesame flavored. The other two types are honey whole wheat and white (unbleached) cranberry (which will all be typical loaf-shaped). Happy Holidays, all!

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  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    For Christmas Eve: spaghetti with teline (a very small, sweeter clam), the sauce is EVOO, a piece of peperoncino, garlic, broth and white wine. Grilled shrimp, smoked cheese ball, and green beans. Mandarine oranges (traditional from my husband's childhood), and panettone.
  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,272 Member
    "'Tis the season to be carb-loading, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!"

    Sure, not "meals" be per se, but meal accompaniments and gifts. Busy Monday back from visiting family in Canada to prep some wholesome breads to go with other gifts at parties for the next day or two. Eight loaves today join three others made and given prior to our trip, so rather than "Eleven Lords a-Leaping" it's "Eleven Loaves a-Baking." In any case, Happy Holidays to you all; may this season be full of joy with your families and friends, and full of healthful eating. It has been a pleasure sharing some of my cooking adventures with you all this past year, and I have appreciated the various bits of advice you've given me.

    Clockwise from lower left corner: artisan white boule-shaped savory loaf (rosemary/garlic/sesame), honey whole wheat boule loaf with Christmas fruit and almonds (yes, that radioactive fluorescent fruitcake fruit - don't judge me, I'm making an attempt to recreate my youth on a lark in a yeast bread not a cake, LOL), two pairs of artisan white with cranberries, two loaves of honey whole wheat. Basic bread recipe is simple: flour, yeast, salt (moderate), water. I've added various flavors: local honey, cranberries, almond, wheat germ, and, of course, that candied fruit in one case. Typically more protein/less calories than commercial breads.

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  • ThinnerLiz
    ThinnerLiz Posts: 55 Member
    I'm eating it now. An egg-white omelette made with some crisp bacon, a bit of shredded cheese, a tablespoon of brown rice, and red bell pepper. (Teaspoon of refined coconut oil in a non-stick pan)
    With a clementine and coffee with a splash of whole milk.
  • FatToFitChaser
    FatToFitChaser Posts: 192 Member
    I made some some chicken with gravy and some white rice .
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    We do Christmas dinner on Boxing day when we have friends come around because there is no public transit on Christmas in London. I am doing the Serious Eats Dickensian goose.
    https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/12/roast-goose-and-gravy-recipe.html
    Have made a little start with dousing skin with a few kettle fulls of boiling water in the same way you tighten skin for peking duck. Have removed the wishbone and browned that in goose fat removed from cavity along with wing tips, neck, heart and giblets and started the stock for gravy. The bird is drying off in the fridge now. Tomorrow will make stuffing for cooking separately in a casserole dish as I read it can get too greasy baked in the cavity. Another job for tomorrow is pricking the bird all over to help fat render off. Will also make a pate with the liver to serve as a starter. And I need to dry brine the bird tomorrow.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Not a meal, but on the theme of bread from yesterday, Indian roti.

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  • mjbnj0001
    mjbnj0001 Posts: 1,272 Member
    Traditional-type (for us) Christmas roast dinner: oven roasted beef, mashed yellow turnip (some might call them swedes or rutabagas), sauteed green beans, sauteed crimini mushrooms, mushroom beef gravy, side salad (not shown); on the plate is also one of the onion quarters used to trivet the beef while cooking and some horseradish. MFP macro computations on this are a bit difficult (I'm guessing fat approximations [butter, mostly] will probably throw the calcs off somewhat); the plate is about 886 cal, 46g protein, 53g ft, 55g carb. Counting some Christmas treats today, this has been a total departure from "The Plan." Oh well, will need to ensure the whole year-end holiday season doesn't follow this trend.

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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    We do traditional Xmas dinner on Boxing Day when friends can make it round. There is no public transportation at all in London on Xmas day. Hacks Peking duck is a meal that can be put together in 20 minutes. Good thing as I needed to do lots of prep for Boxing Day dinner on Xmas day.

    In the morning or the night before score skin of duck breasts without cutting into meat. You want fat to escape, not juices. Dry brine skin side by sprinkling with a mixture of 3 parts salt with one part baking powder. Take out ready made frozen Peking pancakes from the freezer. If you are not close to an Asian supermarket you can use soft flour tortilla shells.

    When you want to eat air fry duck breasts 15 minutes. Chop up some cucumber and green onion, microwave pancakes for a minute in the meantime.

    If you don’t have an air fryer lie duck breast skin side down in a cold frying pan. Flatten with a second pan and add weight with a kettle of water or a tin of beans. Turn up heat to medium high so that fat renders in the slowly warming pan. Breasts are medium rare when internal temperature is 135F to 145F. Ours got to 155F so medium well.

    Rest the duck 5 minutes before slicing so that temperature and juice distribution evens out in the meat.

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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    I forgot to say mix up some hoisin sauce with soy to tone down sweetness. These are roll your own Chinese tacos. Put a little of the hoisin, duck and veg in the pancake and roll it up.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Risotto with cream, shrimp, teline (small clams leftover from Christmas Eve), EVOO, vegetable broth, white wine and arborio rice.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
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    The star of the show is actually the latkes, not the cranberry applesauce. But yes, latkes, cranberry sauce, and roasted yellow beets. That I had enough oil to fry them was unexpected.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Pasta with chopped smoked salmon, cream, EVOO, zucchini in fairly small pieces (I throw it in the boiling water with the pasta 5 min before the pasta is al dente), freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
  • RCPV
    RCPV Posts: 342 Member
    Pasta with chopped smoked salmon, cream, EVOO, zucchini in fairly small pieces (I throw it in the boiling water with the pasta 5 min before the pasta is al dente), freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

    Are you a chef, because you eat absolutely THE best meals? Your descriptions leave me drooling.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    Dinner was a collaboration. Hubby made green curry of aubergine and white fish. i made pomelo salad and rice.
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  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    RCPV wrote: »
    Pasta with chopped smoked salmon, cream, EVOO, zucchini in fairly small pieces (I throw it in the boiling water with the pasta 5 min before the pasta is al dente), freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

    Are you a chef, because you eat absolutely THE best meals? Your descriptions leave me drooling.

    I'm a Minnesota farm girl who became an interior designer, met my Italian husband on the beach in Mexico, married him 33 yrs ago, had 3 sons who are now grown, but eat at home. I always liked cooking, because my Mom didn't, and I have 5 brothers so I cooked a lot of meals for them. In Italy, I learned to cook from 3 little old Italian widows. I'm tall and blonde--so it was pretty funny. I learned the Italian way, Mediterranean diet and all. I cook everyday during the week lunch and dinner, just dinner Fridays and Saturdays (my husband loves pizza and so we go out Friday and Saturday nights). I usually make pasta or risotto for lunch with salad, fruit, and desert. I make a protein for dinner with vegetables, soup, fruit and desert. Everyone is thin. This is my life. Thanks for the compliment. :)
  • leil31
    leil31 Posts: 23 Member
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  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Whole wheat pasta (La Molisana--stone ground, 4 generations) with broccoletti (broccoli rape), simpley dressed with EVOO.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    After the labour intensive cooking around Xmas I am a little kitchen fatigued. Today was an almost no cook dinner. Some squash soup we pulled out of the freezer was the starter. Spaghetti aglio olio is made in the 8-10 minutes between throwing the pasta in the boiling water and when it needs to drain. There is even time to make tomato salad while the pasta is cooking, if you keep some vinaigrette in the fridge.
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