What's for Dinner, Tues., Jan. 9, 2018

[NJCher]

Lamb in red sauce over pasta.

Mesclun salad with shallots, cucumber, celery, and various other raw vegetables.

[Ohiogal]

1. Sound wonderful!

My hubby is making dinner tonight ... Pizza.

This should be interesting, he's not really too talented at cooking .... Say a prayer for me, LOL

[irisblue]

3. Is he making the dough?

Or just the sauce & toppings?
I do love 🍕

[PJMcK]

4. Frozen or ordered in?

(wink)

[Ohiogal]

5. Ha Ha

He's rolling dough as I speak. He bought raw dough from the bakery.

I'm like Crankshaft, I've got the fire dept. on speed dial, lol

[PJMcK]

6. I'm sure it'll be delicious!

But just to be safe, put the local ambulance on speed dial, too!

[Ohiogal]

7. LOL

[PJMcK]

14. How was the pizza?

I've been on pins and needles waiting to hear if all is well!

(wink)

[Hortensis]

8. My prayer is that my husband someday

surprises me this way. Bizarre but fun thought.

Enjoy.

[irisblue]

2. What is Red Sauce? I made Masoul Dahl last night

I think it gets better when it sits awhile.
Indian style spices, red lentils, shredded carrots, garnet sweet potatoes. Served over brown& white basmati rice, garlic naan, some coconut milk and a side salad.

[NJCher]

12. sauce made with tomatoes, using

lamb stock and adding ground lamb to make it like a ragu.

[Hortensis]

9. Chicken Mole from a favorite old friend's recipe.

As the oldest of 10 children whose parents worked in fields as pickers, she was cooking as soon as she was old enough to stand on a stool at the stove. She's born Hispanic American, no chocolate or other Central American ingredients, just a flavorful chicken gravy with cumin and chili powder.

[irisblue]

10. Share? Please

[japple]

11. That sounds like the sauce I make for enchildadas! My granny from Guadalupe Co. TX made her

chili with Gebhardts chili powder and everyone in the family used her recipe. I read that Gebhardts originated in New Braunfels. My Dad was born into a family of 10 children, sharecroppers, cotton farmers all. They had a struggle to survive during some of the lean years (esp. during drought), but they all made it through somehow. Most of them lived until their 70s or 80s except for the youngest who went to VietNam and died very young.

[Hortensis]

13. Sure, Irisblue. As it happens, Japple, like your granny

Last edited Wed Jan 10, 2018, 12:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Maria used Gebhardt's in California. This may be quite different from the recipe you're thinking of. If so, and your old family recipe's not a secret, I'd love to check that out also. The first part is actually my own chicken soup recipe, a bit more elaborate than Maria's, because it has a good flavor and I'll want to freeze any leftover broth for whatever. I do go generous with garlic, cumin, chili powder for this dish.

Maria's Chicken Mole

Chicken (I always use dark meat for flavor, but a mix would do of course)
Water to cover by an inch or so
Onion cut in half
Garlic, smashed
Celery, chunked
Bay leaf(s)
Thyme
Salt and pepper

Simmer the above ingredients until the chicken's done enough to pull off in chunks, 20-30 minutes for supermarket chicken, pulling out white meat if using as soon as cooked through to keep it moist. Skim off the foam that rises to the top early on (or leave it as it has no particular flavor and would never be seen in the gravy), but be sure to save the flavorful chicken fat as it will be needed later. Set the meat aside to cool, then pull apart into bite-size pieces.

Gravy:
Chicken fat (skimmed from chicken broth)
Onion, chopped fairly fine
Garlic, minced
Flour in roughly same amount as fat
Cumin seed, broken up a bit, to taste (think @ a tablespoon for 2-3 pounds chicken)
Chili powder, to taste
Chicken broth

To make the gravy, skim most of the chicken fat that's been rendered (full of flavor) into a fry pan and lightly saute the onion, garlic and spices to bring out the flavor. Sift in the flour, whisking quickly to avoid lumps, and stir over low-medium heat to cook the flour a bit, will be bubbly but not browned. Then whisk in the chicken broth and simmer until thickened. Continue cooking while adding more broth to the consistency desired. Taste and add more chili powder or other spices or salt as needed. (The amount of chili powder we like makes it a nice medium chili-red, not pale and not dark.) Then add in the chicken and serve over whatever you like.

Fwiw, unlike the "good ol' days" of making lots of gravy in order to stretch one chicken out over a few days, when people also normally worked off all calories each day, I make this with a lot of chicken so that the ratio of protein to the rich gravy is quite high. I also like to make a big pot at once because it freezes very nicely in baggies.

[Demsrule86]

15. Yum!

Any chance you could share the recipe?

Sorry saw recipe after I posted!

[Hortensis]

16. :) Comfort food yum.

[Demsrule86]

17. It sounds so delicious. Going to be at zero by Monday here in Ohio...going to make it then.

[Hortensis]

18. I've never been an adult in snow country, so my

memories are of playing and how beautiful the coldest day I was ever out in was, the air itself seeming to sparkle, and of course getting to stay home from school. Zero sounds wonderful.

[Demsrule86]

19. I actually like the seasons. I didn't like living in a hot climate...we lived in Georgia

for years. I don't mind the cold. Although this year is pushing it. We had snow on Christmas day. It was magical.

[Hortensis]

20. Glad to hear it. I'm spending my life in hot climates

because that's what my outdoorsman husband likes. I'd choose cold any day.

[Demsrule86]

21. How is everything? Back to normal?

[Hortensis]

22. Well, this is central Florida. 75 today but cold's

moving back down tonight. Ridiculous to whine at someone with that real winter up there, but this ancient mobile home isn't built for cold. I was barefoot on the patio just a while ago, but tomorrow I'll be inside in sweats working with my feet on books again to get them off the floor. Sigh. And I cut our bananas down this week. "Extreme weather events" are becoming too normal to fuss over keeping them alive, much less beautiful.

Hope you enjoy your winter wonderland in wonderful comfort.

[Demsrule86]

23. No, you are not whining. When I lived in GA...a cold snap was brutal as our homes

were not prepared for the cold...and neither were we! My pipes froze twice while I lived there.

[Hortensis]

24. And our slippers are thin. :)

That's almost an "of course," for the pipes of course. Ours froze about 3 different times before we started wintering in Florida, but for some mysterious reason we haven't been bothered since.

Happy snow.

[Demsrule86]

25. It is beautiful...sun is shining on the snow here in Ohio...but I think we are do for more.

Snow blower is broken (Cotter pin). Hubs is at the new Bedford Heights house (Cleveland) so the neighbor boy is shoveling my driveway. Sweet kid. I am going to sit by the fire and reread one of Barbara Michaels' (AKA Elizabeth Peters/real name Barbara Mertz) books. Maybe 'Ammie Come Home' ...great ghost story...with coffee with brandy and Irish Cream. I also like her Elizabeth Peters books...I love archeology and her most famous series is the Amelia Peabody is about egyptology in the 19th and early 20th century...they are mysteries...love mysteries and ghost stories. I read everything. I would read a cereal box if no books were available. I hope you have a great day.

[Hortensis]

26. "I would read a cereal box if no books were available."

Exactly the same here. Spent the day almost entirely inside reading, except for helping my husband make himself some ice cream and playing around with the "hey, Google" device our kids gave me for Christmas. "Hey, Google, play some Aretha Franklin."

Hope yours and everyone else's was just as pleasant. Including our friends in Hawaii once they recovered, assuming they have.