My Dad used to make us Chicken A La King by taking boiled chicken and rice and putting a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (undiluted) on top. We considered it a real treat.

Jonah

I like Mr. King's idea of using truffles in the recipe.

Ha! Last time I had chicken a la King, I was in Wisconsin, in a jail cell, with another inmate, and served dinner . . . along with carrot cake for dessert. I might want to eat it again, but perhaps under different conditions.

BR wrote:Ha! Last time I had chicken a la King, I was in Wisconsin, in a jail cell, with another inmate, and served dinner . . . along with carrot cake for dessert. I might want to eat it again, but perhaps under different conditions.

I'll bet the jailhouse version omitted the truffles.

BR wrote:Ha! Last time I had chicken a la King, I was in Wisconsin, in a jail cell, with another inmate, and served dinner . . . along with carrot cake for dessert. I might want to eat it again, but perhaps under different conditions.

Ugh. If I ever see another Quarter Pounder sans cheese I think I'll hurl.
Enough said.

stevez wrote:

BR wrote:Ha! Last time I had chicken a la King, I was in Wisconsin, in a jail cell, with another inmate, and served dinner . . . along with carrot cake for dessert. I might want to eat it again, but perhaps under different conditions.

I'll bet the jailhouse version omitted the truffles.

Well, this was before truffles were vogue, but even then, I don't recall them taking special requests. I mean, if it were up to me it would have been beer, brats and cheese!

I'm going all fancy for the next week thanks to some good luck hunting last weekend. Sorry for the crappy cellphone pics, but tonight was pheasant breast with grilled mushrooms and spaetzle:





Tomorrow night will likely be braised legs, or possibly deep fried legs.

Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Bacon
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009 ... -macaroni/

Served with Broccoli and Sauteed Escarole, and some red wine to clear out the arteries.

I've been getting "quick sale" steaks and/or chops from the neighborhood Dominick's. The steaks and chops that I have purchased have been very red and flavorful. I'm cooking a .49 lb rancher's reserve steak with whole wheat rotini and broccoli....miller beer and some cookies.

Boneless loin pork chops and stuffing (I had a LOT of leftover stuffing) - modified the recipe a bit since I didn't use boxed stuffing mix, but it turned out really well.
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/por ... ab5a8b31d2

This is what I made for dinner last night: Moroccan Chicken with Eggplant, Tomatoes and Almonds.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2004/ ... nd_almonds

And it's flippin' fantastic. I didn't bother with drumsticks and just used thighs, and tossed the almonds in with the spices to toast them slightly. I forgot to make rice, but it didn't need it.

A big pot of goulaschsuppe with plenty of caraway. Love it in this kind of weather!

Pan Fried Blowfish Tails and Pasta

No not that kind. The tails from northern pufferfish which are not poisonous. Popular in Long Island in the 70's I think these are ready to make a comeback. Watch them start popping up at places. They're called "Chicken Wings of the Sea" as there's a bone down the middle but the flesh rips right off. Pretty tame as far as flavor goes. Next time I'll toss them in butter and Buffalo sauce. Acquired at the seafood department in Restaurant Depot.


Tasty

It wasn't my dinner, but a banquet dinner of Colorado lamb rack last evening at The Casino Club.

I had accidentally bought too much tilapia from Dirk's and tossed some of it in leftover red chermoula before freezing. I let it thaw overnight in the fridge, then prepared this recipe http://www.food.com/recipe/tilapia-bake ... ous-471643 adding in some sliced preserved lemon, and using stock instead of (most of) the water. It really turned out well!

last night - spares, shrimps & hienies:



better look at those spares:



tips - ravaged:



tonight Im taking it easy... doing some crab enchiladas.

Steamed some extremely meaty artichokes for dinner along with some lemon/saffron aioli for dipping. Really great on a late warm spring evening.

Pan-seared halibut with salmoriglio sauce from the latest Fine Cooking:



I'd never heard of (and probably can't spell) the sauce, but it's just garlic, parsley, lemon, oregano, and olive oil-- even the kid was lapping it up.

Lovely halibut from GNR New England Seafood Company.

Cheers, Jen

AlekH wrote:Steamed some extremely meaty artichokes for dinner along with some lemon/saffron aioli for dipping. Really great on a late warm spring evening.

Nice - local artichokes?

BR wrote:

AlekH wrote:Steamed some extremely meaty artichokes for dinner along with some lemon/saffron aioli for dipping. Really great on a late warm spring evening.

Nice - local artichokes?

Doubtful, from the Halsted WF so most likely California.


Since we're still stuck with oven weather, I made a roasted carrot and cauliflower salad that I've been working on.

Veg are marinated in harissa, coriander, s&p, and olive oil, roasted at 425, and tossed with dice avocado, lemon juice, and shredded mint. It's a total mash-up of influences but really works. I've also used some of the purple holy basil that pops up on Argyle from time to time.

Rack of lamb again, this time with marrow crust and tempura squash blossoms.

I made a lovely zucchini and leek tart

Par-baked a tart shell (I used leftover pie crust dough)

Sauteed 2 leeks, then added 2 minced cloves garlic and 2 diced zucchini, salt, pepper, thyme, red pepper
Stirred together 2 eggs, 1 cup ricotta, 1 cup shredded parmesan, splash of milk

mixed veggies and egg stuff together, then spread into tart shell, and baked for 30 mins at 375F
let cool a little before slicing

Yummy!

Peach and blueberry tart for my visiting niece.

main course will be a big a$$ NY strip oven roasted and finished on the grill

I have always loved middle eastern food, but the restaurants usually only have Hummos/falafel/babaghannouj as the only option for vegetarians. Cookbooks are mostly geared towards meat centered recipes, too. But I do know that the Vegetarian foods of the middle east are a much wider spectrum. Having eaten at Massouleh and a fabulous Persian place in Madison WI, I know the variety of vegetarian food is fantastic, tasty and looks easily doable for someone like me who can cook Indian. Finally I bought 2 Vegetarian middle eastern cookbooks to help me. The first by Habeeb Salloum is more geared towards the what we usually think of as middle east. Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Gulf. Nice place to get ideas about these places. The other book by Arto der Haroutunian is more eclectic and had a LOT of recipes from Iran, Turkey, Armenia and the Caucuses along with the traditional middle east. Between the two they have a wide variety of cooking styles and I am really happy.

To get my middle eastern cookery started; I made a Ful Medames (Egyptian fava bean pottage) from Salloum's book and a Okra stew (Armenian) from Haroutunian's. They were simple but absolutely delicious. What I have figured out after many years is that when it comes to spicing; less in number of spices used, is more flavor. It makes whatever spices you use really shine and it has the added advantage of making all your dishes taste unique. Whereas before, I used spices indiscriminately and most of my food tasted alike since I was using the same spice combinations no matter what the recipes said. Well, live and learn. I am now looking forward to Eggplant and Chickpea heaven in the following weeks.

After my middle east binge is satisfied, I am going to cook a variety of South Indian. Although I am from south India, most of the food I make is TamBram. I got a new cookbook by the great Chandra Padmanabhan where she has collected a wide variety of recipes from all over south India. This means trying out Kerala, Andhra, Karnataka (especially Mangalore) versions of things I am used to. This is going to be the Summer of Victor!

cherry tomatoes from the garden in a tomato pie with pesto and fresh mozz. and pancetta

Ocean Perch filets with caper-tarragon relish and burnt eggplant and tomato-cucumber tahini salad adapted from Ottolenghi/Tamimi's Jerusalem, as tonight's Bachelor Chow.

milk braised pork loin with garlic and sage (from the current CI mag)

Tonight in celebration of July 4, I'm making

Grilled Bacon wrapped dates
Gazpacho
Grilled Kale
Grilled Bread w tomatoes
Grilled Shrimp
Cherry Pie

Bún Bò Nướng, Tôm - grilled marinated pork and shell-on shrimp, over a salad of romaine, multiple home-grown herbs, rice noodles, grape tomatoes, and cucumber, with a nuoc cham dressing with Thai chiles, also home-grown. Delicious.

Ha, sundevilpeg! I read Davis Lebovitz's post this morning about Bún bò and HAD to make it tonight!

Bo Bun by mamagotcha, on Flickr

(dang, it took me about 20 minutes to get this dinky photo up, and I can't seem to find a way to make it any bigger. grr! LTH hates my photos!)