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Bruschetta. Going to be a new favourite. I absolutely did not know it was this easy and so few ingredients.

Fyi I love my bread extremely toasted.
oh yeah! That looks great. It would not be summertime if I didn't crank out a few batches of Ina Garten's "Whipped Feta Bruschetta" with just a couple modifications. You have to be careful though, that stuff is addictive like crack cocaine. In fact when a friend first turned me on to it, I told her, "this will now be known as Marina's Crack from now on."
 
rye bread croutons
Yes sir, you are talking my language. I find rye bread croutons also make an excellent garnish for curried butternut soup. During that US holiday we call Thanksgiving (I think Canada might do it too), many traditions make 'stuffing' outside of the turkey, referred to as 'dressing.' The last few years I've been using stale rye cubes, love it.
 
I fancied fish tacos tonight, Used tilapia, a lime/cabbage/scallion/chili slaw, homemade guac and store-bought salsa, on warmed flour tortillas. It was a quick and easy Friday meal to do after work. Now it is time to kick back with a margarita.
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So, I made homemade sushi for dinner. The salmon is not all straight lines as I have to cut the dark meat off next to the skin after I skin it. The tuna is yellow tail from the Gulf of Mexico so it is local. This is from Quality Seafood market in Austin Texas.

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Looks fantastic! Care to share the recipe?


I suck at typing recipes so bear with me. Total prep time, 15 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 400ºF.


4 large room temperature eggs, separated, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and 1/4 tsp salt set aside for the whites.



In a large saucier pan over medium heat, I put 4 Tbsp butter, 4 Tbsp flour and make a light roux, then add a cup and a half of cold whole milk, whisking constantly over medium high heat until thickened. Add salt and pepper to season, a hefty dash of cayenne pepper, and a very small amount of freshly ground nutmeg. Add a little over a cup of grated cheese of your choice, I used applewood smoked gouda. stir it in and put the lid on so that the heat softens and melts the cheese. Set it aside and let it cool off before incorporating the egg yolks. I added about 2-3 Tbsp very finely minced chives, and tasted for seasoning before adding the egg yolks.


In either one big ramekin or a few small ones, butter them and put a bunch of finely grated parmesan or pecorino romano (I used pecorino) and coat all the sides.


Put the 4 egg whites into a bowl with the 1/4 tsp salt and start beating, when it starts to create a coarse foam add the cream of tartar. Aim for stiff but not dry peaks.


Put about 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the saucier pan with the béchamel, stir it to incorporate it without worrying about knocking down the foam too much, you're just lightening the mix. Scrape that entire mixture now back into the bowl of beaten egg whites and gently fold to incorporate. Pour it into the ramekin, top with an even dusting of very finely grated parmesan cheese and bake for 25 minutes or till deeply browned on top. The baking times vary drastically depending on ramekin size. The smaller individual sized ones take much less time, like 15 minutes


I'm only angry that I forgot to put extra minced chives on the top after it came out of the oven, just for visual appeal and presentation.


Some recipes suggest smoked paprika. I have some, but didn't use any. The very subtle smoke on the cheese really complimented the chives. I'm not a fan of eggy tasting things unless I'm actually eating scrambled or fried eggs, so these two flavors really did great things for the taste. It was simply, elegant and yet, was reminiscent of classic bacon and eggs, just more etherial!

Serves 3
 
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Looks good to me especially if you add some tomatoes and peppers. I eat flank steak all the time. We call it fajitas. I like to tenderize it and grill it then slice it.
Thanks! I wanted to try and keep it simple. Som hot peppers would have been a great addition. The salsa was only mildly spicy.
I marinated the flank steak over night in a mix of lemon, lime and orange juice along with chipotle in adobo, brown suger and spices. Cooked it on the Weber kettle over charcoal. The beef came out awesome.
 
Occasionally the children have other things going on and we have what you might call a 'stay at home date night.' Tonight was such an occasion, so I whipped up a little beef tenderloin over a red wine demi glace, with Swiss chard under a disk of ramp butter, and roasted yellow taters, for the win. pics of the resting beef and chard, and the plate
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Chicken stock about to get under way.
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For chicken stock, I used to call it a day after five hours or so. But I came across Chef John's recipe, which calls for twelve hours, and decided to give that a try.

This is it, after eight hours. I ended up letting it simmer (a very low simmer) for ten hours all up. It turned into a beautifully clear and very tasty stock. I'd say it's pretty much the best lot I've made so far. I used 1.0 kg chicken carcasses, 0.5 kg chicken necks, and 0.3 kg chicken wing tips, topped with just over 3 l of water. Plus the usual onion, celery, carrot, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, and thyme.
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I stopped at the corner store on the way home to get some milk and remembered that there was no plan for dinner. I picked up 0.5 kg of boneless and skinless chicken thighs because "there is always something nice to be made with chicken."

When I got home, I rummaged through the fridge and didn't find all that much. Some left-over tomato compote from the other day, a brown paper bag with a handful of completely desiccated Swiss mushrooms that were forgotten for a few weeks in the veggie drawer, and a few Brussel sprouts.

Not a problem. Chop the chicken into one-inch pieces. Make a marinade with some lemon juice, white whine vinegar, olive oil, plenty of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, Herbes de Provence, marjoram, Dijon mustard, and and a pinch of cumin. Marinade for an hour.

Fry the chicken pieces with olive oil in a skillet until lightly browned. Remove the chicken and add one chopped onion; sautée until translucent and add two or three cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. Then add the mushrooms, halved Brussel sprouts, some dried oregano, and sautée some more until there is a bit of colour.

Add one cup of washed and drained Basmati rice and fry gently for a few minutes to coat it with the oil. Add half a litre of yesterday's chicken stock, nestle the chicken pieces into the rice, and top with the left-over tomato compote. Heat on the stove top until just simmering, then put a lid on and stick the whole thing into a 175 ºC (350 ºF) oven.

Leave in the oven with the lid on for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, turn the temperature down to 140 ºC (285 ºF) and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley, sea salt flakes, and black pepper.

It turned out seriously nice. There basically isn't much that can go wrong with a dish such as this. It'll work with whatever leftovers are kicking around—chicken, pork, beef, ham, or bits of sausage. Similarly with the veggies—bell peppers, beans, peas, squash, tomato, spinach, whatever strikes your fancy :)
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Had some wonderful steaks over the last weekend.

porterhouse cooked reverse searing method in the oven(internal temperature of 55-56 celsius) and finished on the grill.
 

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Very simple but one of my favorites, linguine with clam sauce, and extra clams of course
 

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