What's for Dinner, Fri., May 21, 2021

[NJCher]

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Has tomatoes, diced, cucumber, green onions, grated carrots, and parsley.

Dessert: Vanilla mochis

Cold decaf tea to drink.

on edit: I have had to change my mind because I can't find the quinoa (I know there's a bag here somewhere!), so now I am making something similar only as stuffed zucchinis. Pretty much the same as above except with pine nut toasted couscous. I'm going to add extra toasted pine nuts because I love them so much.

[soothsayer]

1. Pork meatballs made with a panade (bread/milk paste) and sort of braised

Cucumbers in vinegar w/Splenda and a tiny amount of homemade mashed potatoes to pull it all together.

Red wine. Piece of chocolate.

[NJCher]

3. more info about panade

I've done that before but didn't know the name for it. I looked it up and I think others might find this as useful as I will:

Types of starches for panade:

Bread. Fresh, stale, wheat, day-old. Your meatball won’t mind.

Breadcrumbs. Homemade breadcrumbs, panko breadcrumbs.

Crackers or cracker crumbs.

Cooked rice. Gluten free panade.


Cooked potato or potato flakes. Also gluten-free.

Liquids for panade:

Milk.

Cream.

Yogurt.

Buttermilk.

Stock or broth.

Water.

The purpose of the panade is that it keeps the protein in the meat from shrinking and tightening during cooking.

Source: https://www.culinaryhill.com/how-to-make-a-panade/

[soothsayer]

4. I just learned that it had a name yesterday! And was so excited I had to make our old meatball thing

Totally works, they’re so tender. I never really understood why we put that milk/bread stuff in the meat before, only knew it was essential.

[trof]

2. Beef pot pie and a tossed salad. Merlot.

I made a sauce for the pie's innards.
Equal parts fajita sauce and yakitori sauce with a big dollop of horseradish.
Fusion cuisine?

[alfredo]

5. Home made pesto from my garden, spread on sesame crackers, then

Tilapia with Sumac.
A good Pinot Gris was employed to wash it all down.

You can find Sumac at Arab groceries. It’s magic.

[Cairycat]

6. We went out to eat in a local restaurant

we hadn't done that since March '20 (we've eaten in a couple restaurants while traveling, but at home we've only gotten takeout during the pandemic). But all three of us are fully immunized now, so it was a treat.

We went to a place here where they brew kombucha and also have a restaurant. The restaurant features local products and food and drink made with their kombucha. My husband had a Cuban sandwich and my son and I had kombucha burgers. These came with cucumbers pickled in kombucha, which reminded me of my mother's bread and butter pickles. They also have kombucha based cocktails. I had a wonderful Paloma with passion fruit-pear kombucha. It was obvious that care was taken to mitigate COVID exposure - masks at the door, good spacing between tables, plexiglass barriers at the long table. The ambience was nice and relaxing.

https://www.vervekombucha.com/menu/

[NJCher]

7. I looked that menu over

I am so envious that you have such a place to go to.

[MissMillie]

8. pizza

I cooked for Dad and Sis tonight, so kept things simple at home.

Our pizza was ham, onion, bell pepper and extra cheese.


Dad and Sis got a chicken meatloaf w/ mashed potatoes and gravy, sauteed yellow squash, and steamed broccoli.