Dinner--or Dessert--Tonight

[Langue_doc]

Not quite dinner, but I took the plunge yesterday and baked the corn instead of husking, desilking, and then boiling. Tasty and painless. I had one for an appetizer yesterday, and the other for breakfast.

[sinenomine]

I found smoked bluefish salad at the local store and am pairing it with fresh greens; tasty, and I don't need to cook on a really hot day.

[ab_grp]

Spouse made a fantastic meatloaf last night.  It was very different from what I grew up with, and it took quite a while, so we ate pretty late, but it was definitely worth it.  Best I've ever had! I can't wait for leftovers.  I had not had meatloaf in a very long time.  He also made some yummy taco stuff with the remaining ground beef, and we have leftover steak from the night before, so I guess we will be eating a fair amount of beef for the next few days.  Fine with me!

[mamselle]

Mustard-maple-encroute chicken last night; finishing up curry leftovers for lunch today, who knows what tonight may bring??

Mmmmmm.....

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

SO made mac & cheese from scratch using rotini (since we didn't have any elbows). We also had broccoli and a green salad.

[hmaria1609]

SO made mac & cheese from scratch using rotini (since we didn't have any elbows). We also had broccoli and a green salad.

That works!

[Stockmann]

Thanks for the praise, folks. I might make chilaquiles again soon-isjh, we have the tortilla chips so the only real effort would be making the sauce.
We've done very simple cooking these past few days as Unrelenting Toddler has been ill, thankfully he's nearly fully well again. Between his illness and my last post, the only interesting cooking was lamb couscous - I lightly grilled the lamb (with a drizzle of oilive oil, salt and pepper) before adding it to chopped tomatoes (also grilled before chopping) and garlic frying in olive oil, with cumin and cinnamon, then added carrots, zucchini and water, and boiled it at low heat. The couscous itself I prepared with a drizzle of olive oil, cumin and a pinch of salt. Chickpeas were served separately.
The other interesting meal was when my (fully vaccinated) parents visited us the other day - they brought Japanese food from a restaurant, and a bottle of vinho verde (Portuguese greenish wine).

[ab_grp]

Stockmann, your cooking always sounds inspiring and delicious! We would love the lamb couscous.  It kind of sounds like a dish we've made before and enjoyed from one of the Mediterranean cookbooks.  I'm sure if I mention it to my husband he'll want to have that again soon! Sorry your toddler was ill, but I'm glad he's feeling better.

I have been craving shrimp scampi for a while, so we made that last night and also had leftovers for lunch today.  It had just a teeny tiny bit of butter in it.  So yummy! Steak, baked potato, brussels on the menu for tonight.  We decided to try baked potatoes with "premium gold" potatoes a few nights ago in case we weren't able to get our normal potatoes and needed a work around.  It wasn't a big success, unfortunately.  I guess those guys really are better for roasting.

Next weekend, we will do our anniversary celebration and have tentatively decided to each pick a recipe we have made and enjoy and a recipe or dish we want to try.  So it should be a fun couple of days of cooking (and eating)!

[secundem_artem]

Tried to make homemade mozzarella for the first time.  Ended up with what looked and tasted like an acrylic hockey puck.  So much for my planned caprese salad. 

A friend gave us some cardoons.  Made a gratin.  Way too much work for what it was.  Not a hit.

Ended up grilling a ribeye with some mushrooms.

[hmaria1609]

BBQ ribs and kielbasa with a side of cauliflower and broccoli

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

SO made chicken and dumplings from scratch. Not the healthiest thing to eat, but very comforting.

[ab_grp]

Speaking of not so healthy to eat, we made a knock off of Macaroni Grill's penne rustica last night.  Oh, it was so good.  And with that many calories and that much fat and cholesterol, we should probably never eat again, let alone have leftovers of it tonight.  For those unfamiliar, we made it with grilled chicken, shrimp, and pancetta in a super delicious gratinata sauce (this with a LOT of heavy cream, some garlic, dijon, dill, cayenne, rosemary, Marsala wine).  There's quite a bit of butter used in making the rustica part, plus some parmesan and extra parmesan, paprika, and pimientos on top.  It's a baked pasta dish and is really good! There are a couple versions of it online, so we'll probably try another at some point.  It takes a while to make because the cream has to reduce pretty slowly, but it was worth the wait.  Here's the recipe we used: https://www.food.com/recipe/romanos-macaroni-grill-penne-rustica-114360  Note this is for 15 servings! We made 8.  Also note (and I think this is true for a lot of recipe websites) if you adjust the servings in the website, it will adjust the ingredients list but not the text of the recipe instructions.  In this case, it did not adjust the amount of parmesan to add with the gratinata sauce.   Also note that some reviewers said that less cream and less butter could be used, but we were trying it pretty much as is the first time and just eyeballed it.

[hmaria1609]

ab_grp, There was a Macaroni Grill in our town but it went out of business last year. We went a few times over the years.

[ab_grp]

ab_grp, There was a Macaroni Grill in our town but it went out of business last year. We went a few times over the years.

There were a couple near where I used to live, mostly in mall areas.  I don't think there are any near to me here, except perhaps in the larger neighboring city.  Did you have any favorites there? I think the shrimp portofino was my favorite before the penne rustica.  Sorry to hear yours went out of business! I just looked up the two that I used to go to, and both of those are permanently closed, too.  Seems as though they filed for bankruptcy a few years back and closed many of their locations, though there are still some here and there (apparently not near here, though).  I had no idea!

[hmaria1609]

There were a couple near where I used to live, mostly in mall areas.  I don't think there are any near to me here, except perhaps in the larger neighboring city.  Did you have any favorites there? I think the shrimp portofino was my favorite before the penne rustica.  Sorry to hear yours went out of business! I just looked up the two that I used to go to, and both of those are permanently closed, too.  Seems as though they filed for bankruptcy a few years back and closed many of their locations, though there are still some here and there (apparently not near here, though).  I had no idea!

I liked the bread and olive olive as the free appetizer.  I may have had the penne rustica and any pasta dish with meat. 

I didn't realize Macaroni Grill had filed for bankruptcy--that explains why our local one was among the closed locations nationwide.