What did you cook today?

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ronnie_suburban
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

A dinner well-suited for a really hot night . . .

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Tomato-Cucumber-Feta Salad & Kurosaki Fujin VG10 Gyuto, 210mm
Really tasty salad. Even thought the tomatoes we're getting in our CSA aren't very good yet (the early outdoor tomatoes aren't as tasty as the greenhouse tomatoes we were getting before them), they take to doctoring quite nicely. We dressed this with evoo, red wine vinegar, a small, microplaned clove of garlic and some basil from our garden (also s&p).

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Hanger Steak
Beefy, juicy and tender. Cooked direct, then indirect over lump charcoal, to about 123F.

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Plated Up
With homemade potato salad, instant-potted esquites (corn also not quite there yet but improved over last week), tomato-cuke-feta salad and some low-grade andouille that I grilled because it was a pretty small hanger for three people.

Even though the sun had dropped behind the trees, it was sweltering out by the grill. I'm glad we kept it to a minimum amount of effort tonight and used no more than the instant pot inside the house. It was too hot for any other heat-producing appliances.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by bruin »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 7:48 pm A dinner well-suited for a really hot night . .

Looks great. Love the steak (and knife!) especially
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

Every night about halfway through supper I think "DAMN, I forgot to take pictures for Ronnie!" :geek:

I'm one of those people that can't walk and chew gum. When I'm cooking I'm totally concentrated on that and not pictures. I put my phone on the counter one afternoon to remember to take pictures while cooking. I kept moving it out of my way and STILL DIDN'T take the first picture! :roll: :oops:
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Altadan
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Altadan »

Food for hot weather indeed!

This Saturday we had some friends over, so I thought I might go ahead and give the mock tender another go, this time without both pan-searing it and oven-blasting it for the first 15 minutes. Turned out much better this time!
IMG_20200725_095625045.jpg
Mock-tender dry-roast, served medium

Normally I'd serve pots & sweeties and call it a day, but with this keto experiment still going on here some creativity was in need. My mothers provençal upbringing gave me an idea, and oven roasted veggies were the order of the day, all dazzled with herb de provence (sauf le marjoram). Who knew cabbage could be so tasty?
IMG_20200725_124820175 (1).jpg
legume au provençal; cabbage, toms, zucchini, pots & sweet-pots

On a very different note, the next day we had a mix-up with meal-planning, so the first-time meat pie was cooked and subsequently refrigerated only to be eaten cold today. It was absolutely delicious 😋 that keto-pie-dough, the Italian style ground beef with tomato paste, and then a topping of cottage and mild yellow cheese... Mmm...
IMG_20200727_173935905.jpg
I'll tell you something about this keto regime, though: I like how it makes me try new recipes. I like how I'm much less "munchy" throughout the day (due to all the fat/cream/butter intake, no doubt!), And I'm fine with shedding about 5lbs in just over a week. All that being said, I find myself cutting a lot less, and all work and no play makes jack a full boy. Over and out
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

Wow, looks awesome Dan!
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Jeff B wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:17 pm Wow, looks awesome Dan!
Agreed. Especially this . . .
Altadan wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:48 pm . . . so the first-time meat pie was cooked and subsequently refrigerated only to be eaten cold today. It was absolutely delicious 😋 that keto-pie-dough, the Italian style ground beef with tomato paste, and then a topping of cottage and mild yellow cheese... Mmm...
Do you have a recipe or some approximate proportions you can share (especially for the dough)? Thanks!
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by gladius »

I chuckled because like JeffB, I too placed my phone on the counter and kept moving it but I did remember to snap a pic. The Kato came back in rotation which I used to prep today's lunch salad.

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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by TheLegalRazor »

St. Louis ribs, cooked slowly at low temperature in a closed grill.

20200727_203139.jpg
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Altadan »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:42 pm
Do you have a recipe or some approximate proportions you can share (especially for the dough)? Thanks!
I'll pm you the whole thing so you can try, tweak, and take over 😎
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Altadan wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:29 am
ronnie_suburban wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:42 pm
Do you have a recipe or some approximate proportions you can share (especially for the dough)? Thanks!
I'll pm you the whole thing so you can try, tweak, and take over 😎
LOL - thanks. Don't know about taking over but if you send it, I'll cook it! :lol:
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Altadan »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 11:03 am
Altadan wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:29 am
ronnie_suburban wrote: Mon Jul 27, 2020 3:42 pm
Do you have a recipe or some approximate proportions you can share (especially for the dough)? Thanks!
I'll pm you the whole thing so you can try, tweak, and take over 😎
LOL - thanks. Don't know about taking over but if you send it, I'll cook it! :lol:
Please excuse me! after "try" and "tweak" I just couldn't resist the urge to alliterate... :roll: :mrgreen: Please forgive me! :lol:



I had a second go at the Italian style meatballs.
They're as tasty as they are simple.
Meatballs_1_.jpeg
Ground beef+egg+s&p+herbs (this time w/o cheese) frying in the EVOO
Meatballs_2_.jpeg
Add some peeled-diced toms, cherry toms yellow+red, and shrooms of choice
Meatballs_3_.jpeg
Butter-fry spinach with s&p and add in to the mix
Meatballs_4_.jpeg
Break some fresh mozzarella over it, and serve
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Altadan wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:36 pm I had a second go at the Italian style meatballs.
They're as tasty as they are simple . . .

Break some fresh mozzarella over it, and serve
These look great, Dan. Love the fresh mozzarella at the end. Nice stuff!
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

I've been making Yogurt & Turmeric-Marinated Chicken for so long, we actually call it yellow chicken because when my son was little, that's what he called it. Well, now that he's 23, he still calls it that and says that it's his favorite of my grilled chicken tricks. :D

It actually ended up being a yellow dinner kind of night . . .

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Shallots & Konosuke HD2 Petty, 120mm, ebony
Prepping the shallots for rice.

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Grilling Indirect
I put this on pretty wet, right from the cold, 24-hour marinade ziploc. So, even though it was a hot fire and a still night, it took closer to 25 minutes than the usual 20.

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Plated Up
The chicken crisped up nicely. With Rice-A-Phoney (basmati rice, sauteed shallots & garlic, butter-toasted orzo, touch of turmeric) and leftover bacony broccoli. Overall, a tasty and easy dinner.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

That is my kinda meal right there!
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Altadan wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:36 pm
ronnie_suburban wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 11:03 am
Altadan wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:29 am

I'll pm you the whole thing so you can try, tweak, and take over 😎
LOL - thanks. Don't know about taking over but if you send it, I'll cook it! :lol:
Please excuse me! after "try" and "tweak" I just couldn't resist the urge to alliterate... :roll: :mrgreen: Please forgive me! :lol:
Hahaha . . . no forgiveness needed. Thank you, for sending over the recipe. This was a fun project . . .

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Dough Mise
Not my usual arsenal but at least I had the sesame seeds on hand. ;) A friend who bakes gave me the flours. Some of each of these, plus some water, salt, baking powder and an egg went into the food processor until the dough came together in a "ball." The recipe calls for 1T of psyllium husk powder, so I gave that item a quick buzz in the spice grinder before I measured and incorporated it.

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Rolling The Dough
After the dough formed, I cheated a bit by rolling it out on a piece of parchment paper that I'd cut out to fit the inside of my springform pan. I cannot remember where I got this little dual roller but I've had it for at least 25 years and it's quite useful. The beveled side is especially convenient in round pans.

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Placing The Dough
Once I rolled the dough out, I picked up the entire round of parchment paper and placed it in the pan. And from there I tried to even the dough out in the pan, doing my best to create an edge. The dough probably would have benefited from 30-60 minutes in the fridge before rolling.

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Docking The Dough
A few pokes with a fork are suggested before blind-baking the dough for 10-15 minutes.

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Blind-Baked Dough
Even though I baked it for 15 minutes, as you can see, the color didn't change much.

Next, it was on to the filling . . .

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Onions & Konosuke HD2 Western, 210mm
I bought this knife used from salemj and that man takes care of his knifes. This was so sharp, it repeatedly stuck in the grains of my board.

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Basil & Bob Kramer Chef Knife
After last week's cilantro 'puree' debacle, I put an edge on this rocker and the basil cut into nice, dry pieces. Basil is not actually in the recipe but our plants are thriving and it seemed appropriate enough to include some.

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Ground Beef
~2 pounds of Step 1, 80/20 from WF. My butcher does better but WF is much closer to home. :D

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Beef Cooking
The recipe says to saute the onions and garlic first but I thought it made more sense to sear the beef first and cook the onions and garlic once some fat had rendered out.

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Tomato Paste
I used the end of a can I'd opened a few days ago. Not sure if it was more or less than the 4T the recipe called for but I think it was close. To this, per the recipe, I eventually added a bit of water, oregano, salt and pepper.

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Filling Cooked
I let it simmer for about 15 minutes until most of the moisture had cooked down. After that, I added the basil.

Now, on to the topping . . .

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Cheeses
Recipe calls for about 200g of grated cheese and 225g of cottage cheese mixed together. I know there was some fontinella in my grated cheese blend but the rest were unmarked in my fridge, so exactly what I grated up will forever remain a mystery. 8-)

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Building The Pie
First, the beef mixture went on top of the par-baked crust in the springform pan. I packed it loosely but evenly. My crust didn't have much of an edge and I was concerned that once this was baked and unringed, it would collapse in an instant beef avalanche.

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Building The Pie
Next, the cheese mixture went on top of the beef. Again, I packed evenly and not too firmly. Then, into the oven at 350F for 30-40 minutes.

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Baked Keto Meat Pie
I let this bake for about 35 minutes, after which I switched to broil for about 4 minutes to brown the top.

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Unringed Keto Meat Pie
This was quite a dramatic moment because unexpectedly, the pie held together beautifully. I probably should have greased the inside of the ring because it stuck a bit to the topping. I was able to release it by carefully circling with a paring knife.

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Pie's Edge
Structural integrity? Check! :lol: Rendered fat? Yeah, we've got that, too!

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Slice & Salad
This was really tasty. The family loved it, too. Next time, I'll probably eliminate the coconut flour and make up the difference with additional almond flour. I thought the slight but noticeable coconut aroma it brought to the dish was a bit distracting. Considering all the other flavors here, it seemed out of place. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. I really enjoyed cooking out of my comfort zone. Thank you Dan, for posting about this one. I may have gone up a level today. :geek:
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Altadan »

YES!

Going up a level, as you say, is what I've been feeling throughout this experiment in regime-change :D

All these past two weeks I've been wearing a long-face for having cooking out of my (Mediterranean, balanced, oiled) comfort zone (and straight into my wife's Helvetic, buttered, creamy one! :P)

Beautiful step by step presentation. Hats off! :ugeek:
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Altadan wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:41 am All these past two weeks I've been wearing a long-face for having cooking out of my (Mediterranean, balanced, oiled) comfort zone (and straight into my wife's Helvetic, buttered, creamy one! :P)
Yeah, keto/low-carb cooking can really feel counter-intuitive, so I can imagine this has been an abrupt transition for you. Even for me, a card-carrying Hedonista, there was a moment of involuntary elbow lock when I was heaping that nearly-a-pound-of-cheese mixture on top of the two pounds of beef in the springform pan. The dish is, not surprisingly, really filling. The version of the recipe you shared was for a 6-portion pie. Going in, I was considering doubling it. Wow, am I glad I didn't! The three of us shared half the pie and each had a salad. I was so full, I didn't even have a cookie later in the evening! :D
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Kalaeb »

What is in your cheese mixture.? Looks good, going to have to try that for the fan.

(I told my wife I needed a Kramer to cook it)
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Kalaeb wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:37 pm What is in your cheese mixture.? Looks good, going to have to try that for the fan.

(I told my wife I needed a Kramer to cook it)
Haha! :lol: . . . let us know how that negotiation goes! On the cheese, I'm not entirely sure. I had a bunch of unlabeled nuggets in the fridge and I just kept grating until I got to 225g. There was definitely some fontinella in there and maybe some emmental, too. The recipe doesn't call for anything specific, so I'd say just use whatever you like and have on hand. Considering the flavor set, something parmesan or asiago-like might work well. The grated cheese gets mixed with 200g of cottage cheese to form the topping.

I'm not sure but I think I backed into another keto-friendly dinner tonight, though this one required fewer steps than last night's Keto Meat Pie . . .

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Golden Oyster Mushrooms
I was very fortunate to get ahold of some beautiful, locally-foraged golden oyster mushrooms.

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Sauteed Golden Oyster Mushrooms
This was super quick . . . brief, high heat in evoo/butter with one tiny clove of crushed garlic, salt and pepper. They were ready in moments, with a delicious, meaty flavor.

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Hanger Steaks & Little Baby Zucchinis
I'm still gearing up to make LaVieestBelle's Zucchini-summer squash-scallion pancakes but these little guys were just too cute to do anything but cook them whole.

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Little Baby Zucchinis
Evoo, salt and pepper . . . grilled for about 10 minutes, covered, on the indirect side. Definitely a lazy prep but it worked out nicely. They were tender and a bit sweet but not mushy at all.

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Hanger Steak & Moritaka AS Gyuto, 210mm
A 10-minute rest and then on to slicing.

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Plated Up
Hanger Steak, Baby Zucchini and Golden Oyster Mushrooms.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Altadan »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:26 pm
I'm not sure but I think I backed into another keto-friendly dinner tonight, though this one required fewer steps than last night's Keto Meat Pie . . .

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Sauteed Golden Oyster Mushrooms
This was super quick . . . brief, high heat in evoo/butter with one tiny clove of crushed garlic, salt and pepper. They were ready in moments, with a delicious, meaty flavor.
I think we hit the same wave here, Ronnie. This looks almost identical to what I cooked for lunch yesterday. Depending on what you'd consider "local," I had some white oyster shrooms from about... 30 miles away ;) I've never dealt with such, and I'm a real novice (not even) when it comes to mushrooms. I figured I may as well throw them in the pan following the eye-of-rib steaklettes I made. Turned out yum! Got it's fat, butter, salt and pepper direct from the pan (with a dullup of water to helpo release stuff), and wow. But no photos :roll:

The other night I had still more beef to cook through, yet another mock tender, but this time a slow cooked braise.
IMG_20200730_174633749.jpg
Garam masala mock tender

I mixed my own spices with abandon, added some evoo and heated up in pan before pouring the stuff direct on the meat. The recipe was designed for an 8hour slow-cooker, on nothing but a bed of onions. I opted for a Dutch oven, extra onion, and some cherry toms, just to add liquid.
Into the oven at 130C for four hours, and.... Voila.
IMG_20200730_175838841 (1).jpg
Shredded and flavorful

Both meat and onion took in the spice-mix very well.
IMG_20200730_182135873.jpg
Keto friendly tortillas

Courtesy of wife. Turned out great. Ronnie, you might wanna try these too 😎😎 she did comment that those did take some more work.
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld
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