The Foodie Report: What's for dinner?

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

What's for dinner?

It's 4:30 and my brain has officially switched into "what should I eat tonight?" mode. So here's my menu:

Roasted Asparagus and Portabella Mushrooms

Fried Egg with Parmesan Cheese

A hot oven, olive oil, good salt and fresh pepper are all you need for the veggies. And the egg takes next to no time... Just put it in a hot skillet (I prefer cast iron) and cook it to order, sprinkling the parmesan over in the last minute or so of cooking. You won't need any additional salt... I like mine over-hard, with slightly crispy edges. Very spring-y, super fast and tasty...

What are you having?

Labels: what's for dinner

9 Comments:

at 4:00 PM

WestEnder said...

What do you mean by "good salt?"

I'm still using plain old salt. I know kosher is the new black, but it's the same thing except bigger granules and-- I believe-- no iodide. Otherwise NaCl is NaCl.

I've heard sea salt has more flavor and this might be true because it has minerals besides NaCl. Same thing with the designer/variety salts.

Anyone tried different salts?

at 4:20 PM

Nicci King said...

By "good salt" I mean salt that doesn't have "free-flowing" agents because those added chemicals don't taste so great...

And, to be true, NaCl is NaCl. But there are distinctive differences between the many varieties of salt, particularly sea salt. The water from which the salt was evaporated varies, as does the taste and appearance of the salt as other minerals come into play... The way the salt is harvested also affects the flavor of the finished product.

I have tried and love HimalaSalt, a pink salt from (you guessed it) the Himalayas. It is amazing with chocolate. I made a chocolate-y bruschetta and sprinkled the pretty pink crystals just before serving. Divine...

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/foodie/2007/10/salt-to-taste.asp

at 7:33 PM

Amber said...

I read this entry AFTER dinner and here is what we had....

I bought some fresh corn at Biggs. It was 10 ears for $3. I did the math and just got 5 for $1.5 I finally decided to boil it tonight.

I had half a box of whole wheat angel hair pasta.

I then pulled out the staples: garlic, turkey sausage, green pepper and red pepper, carrots, and tomatoes and stir fried that with the corn in some olive oil and balsamic. I dumped in the cooked pasta and served in a bowl that I had put a bed of spinach leaves down in. It was yummy and tasted like summer if that makes any sense.

at 8:25 PM

Anonymous said...

I poached a pound of fresh wild salmon in some white wine half of onion, fennel bulb then removed salmon flaked it into a bowl with some panko, fresh lemon juice and zest, olive oil, grey salt ( yes there is a BIG difference!)Made mixture into patties... Pan fried with a little more Olive oil. Threw a couple of frozen nan in the oven from trader joes... slather the whole thing with a homemade tarter sauce of sour cream, mayo, capers, lemon, white pepper and celery seed.

at 10:16 PM

Nicci King said...

CinTwin/Anon: I'm coming to your houses for dinner... Both of those meals sound fab.

at 7:13 AM

Amber said...

I love salmon patties. I usually buy the canned salmon, but I think they would taste better if I poached my own. I bought some premade salmon patties from Biggs once and they were so dry.

Have you tried the Trader Joe's Thai style green beans in the frozen section? That is my new favorite product. Here is a website for Trader Joe fans:
http://www.traderjoesfan.com/

The site is not affiliated with the store, but you can find product reviews and good recipes.

at 9:37 AM

vudutu said...

We had leftovers, I worked in the yard, weeded the whole $#%@& garden and was pooped so we had cold chicken, roasted veggies we made Monday, I added a side of pickles. Delish, a keeper. We added kale to the usual roasted veg recipe, it always seems to vary a bit, we added it toward the end of the normal roasting. The Chicken recipe I found somewhere, not sure where, anyway it is on seriouseats, you will have to cut and paste as this is going to truncate.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/03/dinner-tonight-pan-roasted-chicken-with-olives-capers-and-vermouth-recipe.html

There is a difference in salt. I love sea salt, I am still working through a gift of coarse sea salt we got. I put the coarse salt in a mortar and work it down to a finer consistency. I put some into a small ramekin and keep on the counter near the stove. Then I take the rest and coarse grind pepper into the mortar about a I have a 50-50 mix and work it a little more, I put that in a small ramkin and keep on the table. Then it is always easily available, just grab a pinch.

FYI, did you know salt used to be used to treat wounds as it kills germs. The best way to clean your wood cutting board is to first scrape it with a flat metal utensil, I use one of those flat things you use to pick up chopped veggies off the cutting board. Then take coarse salt and half a lemon and scrub it, let it sit for a few hours, scrape off the salt ,wipe down and your good for another week or two.

at 10:59 AM

Rachel said...

I got home late last night, so we had a quickie dinner: Morningstar Farms grillers prime topped with grilled mushrooms and steamed green and yellow beans with carrots.

The grillers prime actually taste more like steak than veggie burgers. My husband eats his on a bun, but I eat it like steak with a little steak sauce.

The whole meal took about 10 minutes to fix in the microwave. Easy schmeezy.

at 12:11 PM

Stepfanie said...

Our dinner was a strange hodgepodge of produce I wanted to use up. (Wasting produce is a mortal sin in our house!) I roasted broccoli with sesame seeds, a drizzle of tamari, some olive oil, coriander, fresh ginger and cumin. Plus tofu sauteed with spinach and indian five-spice and half an avocado we needed to use. I love avocado in unexpected places. It's so rich and creamy.

Previous Posts

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

What's for dinner?

9 Comments: