Weekend Cooking

Tomorrow night will be, of course and as always, pizza. I am thinking about an asparagus risotto on Sunday evening, since spring may finally return to Northern New Mexico this weekend, and maybe a lemon pie. I need to bake bread, and I am really craving those chocolate chile bar cookies I posted a while back.

However, maybe I should look through my list of "to try" recipes and do something a little more adventurous while I have the time. Hmm.

What are you doing this weekend?

[Robin Garr]

What are you doing this weekend?

See my response to your question about tonight!

See my response to your question about tonight!

LOL! Well, that's pretty much my approach to things too. The only thing I ever know in advance is Saturday night is pizza night. It's almost a rule.

Anytime I have done meal planning, I look at what I am "supposed" to eat and don't feel like having it. So I don't bother anymore.

Girlfriend, I'm so happy to see these posts from you ! You're obviously owed a relaxing weekend of playing in the kitchen, and I hope you really enjoy it !

I'm taking part in a bake-off on the sourdough forum, so I've made my first loaf of spelt bread (well half spelt, half white flour). It's looking good, but I still have to cut it. I might bake some butterscotch bars for the boys tomorrow. Tonight I think we'll have lentil soup - always a good way to use up all the leftover veggies before the big fruit market shop tomorrow morning. I'm sure something else will have to go into the oven tomorrow..hmm...

I have the preferment for a basic sourdough bread in the fridge right now. That means Sunday afternoon I should be baking bread.

Pretty big day of cooking here....Huge pork shoulder in the oven, with two pots of heirloom beans cooking away. I just finished roasting poblano peppers and red bell peppers for one of the pizzas tonight. Small pot of tomato sauce is going for the Margarita pizza. I need to get some mushrooms started for the truffled taleggio and mushrooms pizza.

I came in after an afternoon of landscaping (i.e. moving dirt from one hole to another, mostly), and decided quick and simple was the ticket for supper. So, out came the pound of ground bison we picked up on yesterday's grocery run. I fried up two 8-ounce burgers with steak seasonings and Lea & Perrins, added some cheddar and a toasted bun, and that was it. Washed it down with a 2004 Grenache. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I vertically roasted a chicken and roasted some vegetables to accompany it: potatoes, onions, carrots and asparagus. Plus I had my bread that was made with wild rice, brown rice, oatmeal and polenta. Yum.

Sunday I made Pot au Feu. Superb flavored soup, but a bit on the sweet side from all the root veggies. Lamb, beef short ribs and chicken leg/thigh all delicious.

Tonight I think we'll have lentil soup - always a good way to use up all the leftover veggies before the big fruit market shop tomorrow morning. I'm sure something else will have to go into the oven tomorrow..hmm...

"C", would you post your recipe for lentil soup. I love lentils, and my wife is not really even aware of them. So, I might just surprise her with a pot of lentil soup and see how well it does, or does not go over. TIA!

Bob, I posted it for Dave R a little while ago here.

It really is less a recipe and more a free for all - you can use pretty much any vegetables you have. We tend to cook it on Saturday nights, because we go to the fruit and veg market on Sunday morning, so Saturday night is "use up all the leftover vegetables" night.

I've also made it with all sorts of different lentils - brown (green) lentils are the standard, but I've tried red lentils (which cook in about 10 minutes, but have a very distinct "dahl" taste to them), puy lentils (which never go mushy) - as well as every sort of legume imaginable. Lately I've been cooking my beans in large batches and freezing them, but before that I'd use tinned beans and chick peas, and they were completely fine.

In terms of meat - I sometimes get a free ham bone or two, and that would always make it into the soup. My favourite to use is smoked ribs (we call them bacon bones). I'll also throw in any bits of sandwich meats we have left over (ham, turkey, proscuitto), and often I'll pick up a box of offcuts, and they'll go into the soup as well.

I hope you like it !