What's for dinner?

[Jenise]

Here, if my UPS delivery comes in time for me to escape to the store for ingredients, it will be Egyptian Paella.

What, you will want to know, is that? Well, this morning I got up and watched a Travel Channel program I've never seen before but DVR'd yesterday called Floyd on the Mediterranean. The host, Floyd, is a convivial English gent who smoked a hookah and visited a few mummies in Cairo, then sailed to Asswan, and in both places got someone to lend him a kitchen where he made some local foods. He claimed the Egyptians had been making open, shallow-panned rice dishes similar to paella for centuries, and he then made one. More toward Indian than Spanish, the dish contained "excessive", as he put it, quantities of finely diced onion (maybe a cup and a half), garlic, (three, maybe four, heaping tablespoons), cardamom seed, cumin seed, diced green and red chiles, rice and chicken broth, then once it was close to done in another pan he sauteed first shrimp, then fresh mango slices, and dumped each into the rice with handfuls of fresh cilantro.

I must have this.

Wow, was that Keith Floyd? He's always been a favorite of mine.

Dinner will be created from whatever looks good at the grocery store tonight. If I actually get there. Otherwise, it will be eggs. Again.

I'm in the "going to store" group. I'm hoping to get salmon and maybe some veggies to go with. Store says it's wild alaskan for $7.99/lb. If that doesn't look good who knows. We had a mixed grill of skirt steak and chicken last night and spaghetti and meatballs the night before. I try to keep our dinners interesting and not serve the same main ingredient on consecutive nights. Tomorrow we eat out...again.

[Robin Garr]

Still way too early to decide over here, too. Heck, it's only 3 p.m.!

Probably something simple and light, though. We did one big review dinner Wednesday and have another coming up tomorrow night, so self-defense calls for something like a simple pasta dish or omelet or something.

I am going to make a brined pork chop that is grilled and finished with a drizzle of "tradizionale" balsamic vinegar.

Dinner will be chez Claude and David. She's French, he's not, and together they create some interesting menus. She says it's going to be an Italian chicken dish. I offered to bring something, so she asked me to bring sauteed apples with walnuts, as accompaniment for her "chocolate cake, but it's dry." I already don't like this idea, but I'll bring the apples, caramelized. (This should be a tarte tatin, but oh well.) It will be a chance for me to bring along some of my older Italian wines that need to be opened.

[Jenise]

The apples and chocolate cake sounds wierd to me, too, Ines, but I know that dinner with Claude and David is always interesting so we shall not worry. Hey, you're home? Your phone's about to ring--that will be me.

I ended up with a pork loin rib end roast. Not sure what to do with it. I figure maybe roast it to about 145 deg. Should I stuff it somehow. I have some feta, blue cheese, frozen spinach, pine nuts, bread crumbs, onions, garlic, etc. Should I sear it first? Any ideas?

Dinner will be Parsi Dhansak (dal and vegetables).

[Jenise]

I ended up with a pork loin rib end roast. Not sure what to do with it. I figure maybe roast it to about 145 deg. Should I stuff it somehow. I have some feta, blue cheese, frozen spinach, pine nuts, bread crumbs, onions, garlic, etc. Should I sear it first? Any ideas?

Linda, ever stuff it with garlic? Make a lot of slits, stuff slices of garlic into them, rub (and I mean rub, work it in!) the roast all over with more garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, or a combination of good dried herbs. Put the roast whole into a ziploc bag so the flavorings can't get away and let marinate for a few hours, then roast away.

Dinner ? Goodness, it's 9.35am here, Saturday morning !

But I have just pulled 8 loaves of sourdough out of the oven, so it'll probably be bread related. One of the loaves is stuffed with last night's mexican mince concoction (nothing mexican about it, apart from the fact that the spice mix I used had the word "Mexican" in it). Waiting for it to cool so I can cut it - if this works, it could open a new world of stuffed loaves...

Hmmm...still have some leftover mince, maybe I'll make Uncle Robin's meatloaf.

I found a some nice looking swordfish steaks, so I marinated them in white wine, tomato and capers for a few hours and then fried them and added the "marinade" as sauce. I don't know how sophisticated such a simple dish, but I thought it rather tasty.

I ended up with a pork loin rib end roast. Not sure what to do with it. I figure maybe roast it to about 145 deg. Should I stuff it somehow. I have some feta, blue cheese, frozen spinach, pine nuts, bread crumbs, onions, garlic, etc. Should I sear it first? Any ideas?

Linda, ever stuff it with garlic? Make a lot of slits, stuff slices of garlic into them, rub (and I mean rub, work it in!) the roast all over with more garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, or a combination of good dried herbs. Put the roast whole into a ziploc bag so the flavorings can't get away and let marinate for a few hours, then roast away.

Thanks Jenise. I put a couple cloves of garlic into slits, coated with EVOO, rubbed with S&P and dried oregano. Now roasting at 350 F. I didn't have the time to marinate so we'll see what we get.

Chinese take-out here - busy day.

I'm with Howie. Wife and one daughter have colds, wife needs to start a dessert for a dinner party tomorrow night, the weather is cold, windy and wet, and I'm feeling lazy. I think we'll be doing takeout ramen from a nearby Japanese place.

Jenise, aha! Finally, a Paella my husband would like because he's "not wild about Saffron." (Can you hear the music?) I may have to "cook like an Egyptian." (Wow, I'm in a weird mood. Maybe the new format has me giddy!) The mango sounds interesting... a little bit of sweetness. Hmm.

Tonight we are having Chicken Thighs with Oranges, Olives and Sherry. I think I may have posted the recipe a while back. It's chilly here today, so it'll be a warm and cozy dish for tonight.

Last night it was Sicilian Sfincione and salad; tonight it's fried chicken, mashed taters and some kind of vege.

Comfort food on a lousy winter night.

Swiss steak and scalloped potatoes with a Malbec.

I'm smelling it cooking right now...

Lentil soup. Bread. Salad.
I'm also thawing out some shrimp, but I haven't decided how I'll work them into the meal.
I think I'll sautee them in garlic oil and then sprinkle bread crumbs over them while they're cooking.
So it's settled. Lentil soup. Bread. Shrimp in garlic breadcrumb sauce. Then salad.

Thanks for making me focus.

[Robin Garr]

Probably something simple and light, though.

Ended up simple, if not too light.

I took the last of the (frozen) sliced eye of the standing rib from Christmas and cut it into cubes - not that much meat, about 10-12 ounces total - and warmed it through with some sauteed onions in a little leftover broth from last night's short ribs, with plenty of black and red pepper and a good shake of Spanish smoked paprika. thickened the sauce with arrowroot and plated it on top of a couple of good-size potato and onion pancakes, with fresh spinach on the side.

It was a fine thing to do with leftover beef, and it went very nicely with a Swanson 2003 Merlot from California Wine Club/Charlie Olken's Connoisseurs' Series.

Well, mine didn't involve the store or even much thought. Kind of a 'southern' version of quesadillas---leftover pot roast and collards (from my New Year's Day party), sauteed onions with a combo of cheeses. Not bad...Washing it down currently with a '05 Clos du Caillou VV CdR

Stir-fried quorn and long beans with rice noodles. Thai-ish flavorings and mighty hot. Anchor Christmas ale to calm the fire.

By the time I got home from work, I was too pooped to do anything but make a toasted cheese sandwich, and follow it with an apple. It's Year-End close at an SEC company, and nerves are frayed this day.