Pasta
This became a garbage pasta. Not in that it was bad, but in that I used 3 partial packages of noodles, just to get rid of them. I had forgotten to take some sort of meat out of the freezer so I ended up using a whole pound of beef, I’ve been cutting my meat consumption in half. But it turns out that it was well over a pound of noodles (closer to 2), so it was probably a similar ratio. That being said, it turned out like it normally does. Pretty good.
Pork Burgers
These turned into lamb burgers. I was looking through the freezer drawer and wasn’t finding it and found a combo of half a pound of lamb and half a pound of mutton. Figured that’d work then went for it. I mixed them both together, probably not the point, and they pan seared up nice.
Kung Pao Chicken
I bought a bag of dried peppers at the Farmer’s Market a bit ago, the lady wasn’t sure I wanted them, and didn’t speak English so well, so I’m not sure what they were. So I am uncertain what dried peppers, but if they were the dried hot peppers that are supposed to be in the kung pow chicken. Or perhaps their age have weakened them (is that a thing for dried peppers?). Anyways, this was a bit of work, getting everything ready to go. I started the rice first as it was supposed to take about the time to cook that the recipe was supposed to made in. Then started things going. I got things prepped and went through the process. It was ok. I was expecting some heat, but there really wasn’t any, which is why I am so uncertain about the peppers.
I did remember having food like that with my father where we ended up both trying those hot peppers (and they are hot).
Anyways, ok, lots of active time, little in the way of breaks.
Chana Masala
This was simple to put together, as long as you have a food processor, I suppose. Some simple prep to make a dish that had a bit of heat (not to much) and some nice flavor to it, while still being vegetarian. I believe I described it as a warm hug. I served it with some naan.
Rioja-Style Potatoes with Chorizo and Peas
I was thinking I’d have to run to another store to get the Spanish style chorizo, but when looking for the pork, I found a package of D’Artagnan Spanish Style chorizo. It was on sale at my frequent grocery store (they don’t normally carry it), so i picked it up and tossed in the the freezer. And here my investment is paying off.
This turned out pretty good. I liked the sauce, and we used a bit of bread to sop it up. It was relatively easy to do.