What did you cook today?

[XexoX]

Quite a delicious looking spread you got there Mr. Suburban. You could always quit your day job and become a caterer!

[ex1580]

Buffet Table
In addition to all the dishes described above, there was mac & cheese, quinoa salad, tomato & mushroom salad and potato salad . . . along with a big bowl of the weekly slaw.

That's it?

It looks like you had a lot of fun in the kitchen!

[trancher]

Dang, Ronnie. If I had to break a diet, this would be the meal(s)! Looks sublime!

You almost needed a bigger table, lol.

[trancher]

That's it?

It looks like you had a lot of fun in the kitchen!

I don't know where he gets all of his energy for cooking. Maybe this country boy (me) needs to go on the Suburban diet?!

[stevem627]

Well, Ronnie, that’s an incredible spread. It’s wonderful you put this much effort into feeding everyone!

How lucky (and FULL) is your family…great feast.

[ronnie_suburban]

Quite a delicious looking spread you got there Mr. Suburban. You could always quit your day job and become a caterer!

Thanks but I don't think I could work that hard on a regular basis!

That's it?

It looks like you had a lot of fun in the kitchen!

Yeah, it was a blast. I wouldn't do it if I didn't really enjoy it. It's my happy place.

Dang, Ronnie. If I had to break a diet, this would be the meal(s)! Looks sublime!

You almost needed a bigger table, lol.

Thanks! I was thrilled to just eat a little of everything, and have our guests scarf it down and take most of the rest home with them.

That's it?

It looks like you had a lot of fun in the kitchen!

I don't know where he gets all of his energy for cooking. Maybe this country boy (me) needs to go on the Suburban diet?!

LOL - energy for cooking is never a problem. It's the rest of things in life that require a bit more psyching myself up.

Well, Ronnie, that’s an incredible spread. It’s wonderful you put this much effort into feeding everyone!

How lucky (and FULL) is your family…great feast.

Thanks. I loved doing it and it seemed like everyone really appreciated it and had a good time.

Forgot to mention earlier that one of our guests brought a couple of great desserts -- a wonderful batch of chewy/crispy chocolate chip cookies and a luxe blueberry and blackberry cheesecake.

[Ut_ron]

Wow what a nice spread. Yummy

[Kekoa]

This teriyaki chicken was supposed to have fried rice with it, but oddly we didn't have eggs, so we did white rice and spiffed up the broccoli into a stir fry rather than just steaming to compensate for the lack of fried rice. The chicken was perfect.

[ronnie_suburban]

Had some unused dough leftover from the weekend. Figured another 'Grandma-style' pizza was a great way to use it up . . .


Grandma-Style Pizza w/Pepperoni & Onion
Dough: 100% King Arthur 00 flour, 65% hydration, 3% salt, 3% evoo, 1.5% diastatic malt powder, 0.75% sugar
Fermentation: Instant yeast, 4-day fridge ferment
Toppings: Hand-sliced pepperoni, mandoline-sliced red onion tossed in evoo
Cheeses: Sliced brick cheese, hand-grated whole milk mozzarella, hand-grated parmano blend
Sauce: Rao's Pizza Sauce (now available at Costco and I actually like it)
Other Stats: 750g of dough, 17 x12-inch anodized aluminum pan, ~24-minute bake @ 500F (20 minutes in the pan, 4 minutes directly on the stone)


Side View
There wasn't much rise left in this older, overloaded blob of dough but there was still enough to make it a success. Excellent frico, great flavor and a beautifully crispy bottom.

Happy Monday! (and a great Memorial Day, too)

[ronnie_suburban]

Inspired by Pink's in L.A. . . .


Burrito Dog, Mid-Assembly & Tanaka Blue #2 Nashiji Gyuto, 210mm
Flour tortilla, 'Merikan cheese, chili, bacon and Vienna Beef natural casing hot dogs.
Decided that I could convert some beans leftover from the weekend into chili. Added some tomato and some chili seasonings, then reduced it for a brief time on the stove. After that, the rest fell into place. Cooked the bacon, drained most of the rendered fat and cooked the hot dogs in what remained. After that, laid everything out on the tortilla, wrapped it as tightly as I could and heated the whole deal in the renderings until it had browned on all sides.


Plated Up
With a side of the chili-fied beans, some salsa and a really nice portion of steamed local asparagus with homemade dijon vinaigrette, courtesy of Mrs. Suburban, who wouldn't go anywhere near a concoction like this! The half I ate was delicious. At Pink's, the components are all much lower grade, which makes it fun in its own right. LOL but seriously, this was actually the highbrow version.

[ChefKnivesToGo]

Oh my, that looks good! Glad to see you're still working in some asparagus!

[ronnie_suburban]

Oh my, that looks good! Glad to see you're still working in some asparagus!

LOL, yeah. Doing my best to keep at least one foot grounded in reality these days. But that stuff, from a local SW Michigan farm (I forget their name) was something my son picked up for us at his local farmers market. It was the best asparagus I've had in a few years. I'll ask him the name of the farm again.

[ChefKnivesToGo]

Last night. Onions, spinach green peppers and shallots.

[Bensbites]

English muffins from tartine bread cookbook.

[trancher]

Those look great, Ben!

Your forum name would also do excellent double duty as the name of a bakery if you wanted to take it that far.

Thanks for sharing and happy Saturday!

[ex1580]

English muffins from tartine bread cookbook.
IMG_2544.jpeg
IMG_2545.jpeg

Those are some nice looking muffins! My kids were just asking me to make more so that might be coming up on the menu here soon.

[Bensbites]

Those look great, Ben!

Your forum name would also do excellent double duty as the name of a bakery if you wanted to take it that far.

Thanks for sharing and happy Saturday!

That’s kinda how it started. I had an idea for a whole business around a recipe of mine that everyone loves and I have never seen anything similar available. I had plans to bootstrap a business around this, but local ordinances prevented that. When people started asking me to rehandle kitchen knives, even make knives, well, the LLC was established.

[ronnie_suburban]

Figured out a great use for last week's leftover 'bark-etta" . . .


Breakfast Sandwich
Leftover, pan-seared bark-etta, 'Merikan cheese, runny egg, 'super' condiment and onions fried in the bark-etta renderings. Butter-griddled, store-bought onion roll. Was hoping to get an interior shot but once that yolk started running, there was no time to stop!

[ronnie_suburban]

Golden fried rice (aka cleaning out the fridge) . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama White #1 Damascus Gyuto, 240mm
Avocado oil, eggs, mung bean sprouts, knob onion tops/greens, soy sauce, carrot, leftover smoked beef rib, orphaned grocery charsiu, frozen peas, red bell pepper, 26-30 shrimp, white pepper, microplaned garlic, leftover jasmine rice and knob onion bottoms.

Just trying to clear out inventory. So, out with the old rice, smoked beef rib, stray chunk of charsiu, bell pepper, bean sprouts, knob onions and rest of our frozen shrimp.


Multi-Meat & Veg Fried Rice
A bit unusual compared to our usual take but I loved just using what we had. And I have to say that the smoked beef rib was a really nice component.

Happy Monday!

[Jeff B]

Looks fabulous as usual Ronnie! And another cheesy knife as usual too...