Eating Dinner With My Family

I had some lovely baby eggplant from my Front Porch Pickings basket, and while I would have loved some baba ganoush, I knew I would be the only one happy about that. I dug this out of my to try file; it was from Emeril and I got it off the food network site. It was a little work, mostly because of the chopping, but I think it was totally worth it!  I don't care for sausage, the boys don't care for eggplant, but we all devoured it. Even the baby girl ate well and that is impressive. It is totally rich, so all you can eat is about 2 shells, and I did tweak the recipe a bit based on how much eggplant I had, but it makes way more than 1/2 a box of pasta worth of shells.  If I had used the full amount of sausage and eggplant, I would have used an entire box of shell easy, but I would have needed a larger pan, or made it in two batches.  I really like this, and think I would be good without the sausage and more eggplant, or mushrooms in place of the sausage, or with veggie saus...

On the way back from dropping my boy and his friend at my MIL, we went through my pins on Pinterest, and my husband picked several recipes; this was one of them.  I did make some changes to the original recipe. Mostly because the jus left in the crockpot, while a good start, wasn't very flavorful. First i strained out the onions to use in the sandwich. After I removed the fat from the jus with a separator, I pot it in a pot and boiled it to reduce. I also added about a teaspoon of 'Better than Bouillon' mushroom base. Then when I took it off the heat, I added a splash more whiskey so it would still taste 'boozy' Boozy Slow-Cooker French Dips   2 Lb beef roast 3 Tbl dijon mustard salt and pepper to taste 1 beer of your choice  (we had Yuengling) 1 large yellow onion sliced 2 Tbl whiskey (I used Maker’s Mark) 2 Clove garlic smashed 1 Cup beef stock 2 french baguettes sliced in half and cut into sandwich-size 1 tsp better than bouillon mushroom base Pro...

Well this was very good, but as it required some online shopping for special ingredients and me begging sushi restaurants for the salmon roe I couldn't find in the grocery store, I'm betting most of you aren't going to want to try it because of that.  The smoked salmon and roe do make it a very fishy dish too, however, it was really great if you like that kind of thing. It is an Eric Ripert dish, and it looks more like artwork than food!  I used lime zest since I couldn't find fresh Yuzu, but I ordered the juice. I also couldn't find fresh chervil, so I used 3 parts parsley and 1 part tarragon.  We were split on whether this was a 4.5 or a 5. I decided that because of the issue acquiring ingredients, I'm going with the lower score. Salmon with Pea-Wasabi Puree and Yuzu   1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen peas, thawed 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon wasabi paste Fine sea salt Freshly ground white pepper 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons 1 t...

I saw an eggplant burger on 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate' and thought it sounded like a great idea. They gave you an idea if what was in it, but not the recipe. I decided for meatless Monday, I would take a stab at it. The result?  Tasty and fixable, but the "patty" was more like a paste and didn't stay together.  Even the boy, who is not a fan if eggplant, thought it tasty. His recommendation, which I think is brilliant, was to add some smokiness.  I think next time, I would mix in a drop or two if liquid smoke, but this time he added some smoked salt. I would also add garlic next time. What I'm not sure of is how to get it to retain its shape: more bread crumbs in the patty, breading the patty, more cheese in the patty (maybe even a cheese coating?) or possibly deep frying:)?  So while this tasted good, it is still a "fixable" recipe. Eggplant Veggie Burger 2 good size eggplants diced about 6 cups 2 scallion slice 1 tablespoon of olive oil ...

My daughter, looking over my shoulder as I try to decided tonight's dinner, sees green pea soup, and declares that's what she wants.  Ok then.   I really enjoyed it, and if you omit the optional creme fraiche, and cooked the leeks in oil, it would be vegan.   One thing to note, my beloved immersion blender failed me!  It didn't make the smooth purée I wanted and it flung a good portion all over the place.  Next time I will use the blender and make another dish to insure less soup flinging and a better consistency.  Also, I didn't read the recipe correctly at first and had dumped in the salt and 2 cups of low sodium broth before I realized that the store bought stuff needed to he diluted and as a result it was on the salty side. All in all a solid 4!  Maybe even a bit higher...  I'm not feeling great today and that might cloud my perception but I'm sticking with the 4, for now:) Green Pea Soup   1 Tbl unsalted butter 1 medium leek root ...

Well, I have found myself going to the grocery almost every day!  And, while I seem to spend more with that plan of attack, I waste less. Tonight's dinner is a perfect case in point. I had bought plain, full fat yogurt for the lassi I plan on making, but it only came in a huge portion. I used it for last night's shawarma, tonight's gyro and still have enough to make my lassi once the mango is perfectly ripe.   We liked tonight's dinner, but we all agreed it was only a 3.5.  To be fair, we all did think most people we know would rate it higher, but that was our impression.  It was pretty easy to make.  The only issue we had was that the chicken exuded a lot of liquid when cooking and it took longer to brown than we expected.  We also added shredded lettuce to the dish.  I found this on pinterest, and I'm not sure if the site it is from is a blogger or not, so I am erring on the side of caution and treating it like it is from a blogger and providing...

Don't let the length of the recipe daunt you!  It was less of a process than it appears, and even if it was difficult, it was pretty much worth it.  If I were to make any criticism of it at all was that the reduced braising liquid was still pretty runny and the sandwich was a huge dripping mess.  Correction a huge, dripping, tasty mess.  My husband wanted something crunchy in the sandwich, but that didn't stop him from having 2 ;).  We all agreed it was a solid 4 stars.  The only possibly difficult ingredient to procure is the pomegranate molasses.  If you can't find it locally, you can get it on line but I made my own.   I had made it for a Lebanese fried fish  ages ago, and finished it off tonight in this Shawarma.  The tahini sauce was wonderful and I am looking forward to having it on my sandwich at lunch tomorrow. Braised Lamb Shawarma For the lamb 4 bone-in lamb shoulder chops (about 10 -oz. each) 1 Tbs. vegetable oil mor...