What's for Dinner?

[ceeaton]

Best BLT since early October last year...

 

[geek]

Pizza again [emoji4]

 

[Boatboy24]

Pizza again [emoji4]

Same here. Delivery.

 

[sour_grapes]

Same here, out at a pizza restaurant.

 

[geek]

Double down....at TGIF

 

[ibglowin]

We had a St. Patties day "dinner buffet" with our besties yesterday. They made the usual corned beef, cabbage and potatoes and we made a Guinness Lamb Stew with Vegetables using (for the most part) the Insta-Pot automated pressure cooker. We used a little over 3lbs of lamb shoulder that had to be de-boned but it is supposedly more tender than using a lamb shank or leg of lamb. The Insta-pot can also brown/sear meat but since we had so much we opted to brown the meat in a large cast iron skillet and then combined the veggies in as well as the beer and beef broth into the pot and then pressed the "Stew" button on the front and viola' instant stew in 35 minutes! Turned out amazing, our besties brought a Growler of "A Merkin Brown" (Brown Ale - American) from our local beer coop (Bathtub Row) that was flat out AMAZING and blew away the Guinness (bottle) beer in a side by side taste test. The Guinness tasted like water in comparison. Since Mrs. IB is not a beer lover I cracked the cap on a "Acrobat" Rose' of Pinot Noir that was excellent and paired very well. Also poured a little of the Sauv Blanc Rose' that had not been tried in a few months and it has gotten even better than the last bottle opened and held it's own very well against the Rose of PN. All in all an amazing evening with great friends and a beautiful sunset to boot.

Apologies for all this to Craig @ceeaton since I know he would have loved this meal and pairing of beers and wines. Hang in there Craig!

 

[geek]

Man, that stew looks really good.

 

[heatherd]

St. Patrick's Day is my husband's birthday, so I made reservations at Brian Boru, which is a local Irish restaurant. I knew the place would be crazy on St. Paddy's Day, but it was beyond crazy. They were mobbed, and our reservation for ten meant we were seated 45 minutes late. However the food was super good and the staff was truly doing their best. We had Irish beer, Irish food, and two kinds of birthday cake: vanilla with buttercream and dark chocolate cake with coconut filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. Yummy!!

 

[ibglowin]

Recipe here if anyone is interested.

It was fast, easy and excellent!

Man, that stew looks really good.

 

[ceeaton]

Apologies for all this to Craig @ceeaton since I know he would have loved this meal and pairing of beers and wines. Hang in there Craig!

I'd say you took my heart out with that meal but I know you aren't trying to have me committed to the sanitarium. First, I can't get the rest of the family to enjoy lamb, they think it is too heavy of a meat. We ate it every other week growing up, with dry roasted carrots, garlicy potatoes and a black, almost Guinness like gravy. Second, I have all of that beer in kegs just a few feet away and can't enjoy it for another 22 days. One of them has a Guinness clone with soured beer added for a bite. Well, at least I'm almost 1/2 way there.

Got up early since I don't drink anymore, made some bacon and put together another test crock pot meal. My wife has made this before but I can't remember if they kids liked it, so here we go. Cheeseburger soup (actually much thicker than most soups), with ground beef, carrots, celery, onion, potato in a sauce of melted cheese, half and half, chicken stock, seasoned with salt, pepper and basil. Smells pretty good. Plan on serving it with a salad and some...water or tea .

FYI: recipe is from 1997 Taste of Home Annual Recipes pg 37. You can find a similar recipe with a web search.

Edit: all ate and enjoyed except my 9 yr old daughter, she had a grilled Nittany Lion Frank (I think she's starting to resemble a hot dog). Next up, crock pot corned beef (fell off the truck sale at Giant, 50+% off).

 

[JohnT]

Keep it up. Your doing great!

 

[JohnT]

Did some cooking over the weekend.

On Saturday, I made chicken parm (yeah, yeah, I know the song) made with sauce I made from the tomatoes I processed last fall. YUM!

My sister in law was still staying with us. When the topic of dessert came up, I mentioned that I can make a good chocolate mousse. Being a chocoholic, my SIL would not hear any other choices.

For chocolate mousse, I whip some heavy cream (with a little sugar added), and fold in a mix of semi-sweet chocolate chips, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract that was tempered over a double boiler.

I ended up serving the mousse in wine glasses (at least I found a use for them during lent). Since I did not have a piping bag, I had to "spoon" the mouse into the glasses. They definitely tasted better then they looked.

On Sunday, I made a simple meal of chateaubriand with baked potatoes and salad.

Sorry, no pictures...

 

[sour_grapes]

Ohh, boy. DW has professional visitors in from out of town. We agreed to host a dinner party tomorrow (Wed.). She cast about the invitations, and when the tally came back, uhhh, everyone accepted. I am now tasked with dinner for 17 tomorrow.

I am making leg of lamb. I went to a little mom-and-pop source of halal meat today, and got a large leg. I butchered and prepped this tonight with a North African spice rub. I now realize that even this won't be enough. I am going tomorrow to get a half-leg from Trader Joe's, which I will prepare in a European mediterranean style. (Could there be two more disparate grocery sources?)

In the meantime, I have set up not one, but two temporary tables adjoining my dining room table, extending out to the living room. In addition to food, I also went and bought more: steak knives, cloth napkins, wineglasses, water glasses, a 10" carving knife, another water pitcher, another roasting rack, champagne, God knows what else...

Wish me luck!

 

[Johnd]

Ohh, boy. DW has professional visitors in from out of town. We agreed to host a dinner party tomorrow (Wed.). She cast about the invitations, and when the tally came back, uhhh, everyone accepted. I am now tasked with dinner for 17 tomorrow.

I am making leg of lamb. I went to a little mom-and-pop source of halal meat today, and got a large leg. I butchered and prepped this tonight with a North African spice rub. I now realize that even this won't be enough. I am going tomorrow to get a half-leg from Trader Joe's, which I will prepare in a European mediterranean style. (Could there be two more disparate grocery sources?)

In the meantime, I have set up not one, but two temporary tables adjoining my dining room table, extending out to the living room. In addition to food, I also went and bought more: steak knives, cloth napkins, wineglasses, water glasses, a 10" carving knife, another water pitcher, another roasting rack, champagne, God knows what else...

Wish me luck!

You don't need luck, you do it all the time, it's just scaled up a bit. Serve some appropriate wines along the way, it'll be a hit!

 

[JohnT]

You got this Paul!

What are you planning to serve with the lamb?

Remember to take pictures for all of us that are not lucky enough to be invited......

 

[ibglowin]

Dinner for 17 on a week night?

I am now tasked with dinner for 17 tomorrow.

 

[sour_grapes]

You don't need luck, you do it all the time, it's just scaled up a bit. Serve some appropriate wines along the way, it'll be a hit!

You got this Paul!

What are you planning to serve with the lamb?

Remember to take pictures for all of us that are not lucky enough to be invited......

Thanks, guys!

Beyond the "Alliance of the Lambs," I will be serving a dish of pearl cous-cous with LOTS of herbs and feta cheese, and a simple dish of braised lacinato kale, with bread and hummus and roasted garlic. The cous-cous dish is a recipe from the lovely cookbook Plenty.

 

[Sweetiepie]

That is too funny. My husband and son always tell me they want rack of lamb, when I ask them "What do you want for supper?" because it's the one thing we do not grow here on the farm, (besides seafood of course). It's their way of getting out of having to make a decision. I was going to surprise them and get rack of lamb (which isn't at our local grocery stores. Maybe Fargo has it but that is 3 hours away. Anyway I was going to order on line and wow the prices were crazy. I could buy a live calf for just a leg of a lamb. So I have never made it. So please do post pictures. They might find themselves with a photo of leg of lamb on their plates. Your supper sounds wonderful.

 

[sour_grapes]

That is too funny. My husband and son always tell me they want rack of lamb, when I ask them "What do you want for supper?" because it's the one thing we do not grow here on the farm, (besides seafood of course). It's their way of getting out of having to make a decision. I was going to surprise them and get rack of lamb (which isn't at our local grocery stores. Maybe Fargo has it but that is 3 hours away. Anyway I was going to order on line and wow the prices were crazy. I could buy a live calf for just a leg of a lamb. So I have never made it. So please do post pictures. They might find themselves with a photo of leg of lamb on their plates. Your supper sounds wonderful.

I LOVE rack of lamb, but you are right, it is very spendy. I typically see it for ~$17 or $18/lb here. Leg of lamb is much more reasonable. I paid $6.50/lb from the halal place, although it was more like $10 or $11 at a typical grocery store.

I just picked up the second leg (6.5 lbs) at my regular grocery store, but it was on sale due to being near its sell-by date. Got it for $6/lb!

BTW, I drove the Hi-Line this summer all the way from Oregon to Wisconsin. So, I probably went within a hundred yards of your abode! Beautiful drive.

 

[Sweetiepie]

Those prices are not so.... bad. When I looked a couple years ago to have it shipped to me, I think it was over $100 for one leg. I have never had it.

Most people do not think driving through ND is beautiful unless you go by the badlands. Most are bored almost to death. So that is very nice of you to say. I have lived here all my life and go nuts when I can't see for miles. I get claustrophobic. So many trees and people. How do you know what the weather will be like for the rest of the day when you can't see the horizon?