Author Topic: The Lazy Gourmet (Read 83739 times)

Unorthodox · « **Reply #480 on:** December 28, 2018, 01:50:19 PM »

Our Holiday breakfasts were a hit.

Biscuits/gravy for my family christmas eve morning. (my gravy is kind of famous in my family) (eggs, bacon, etc on the side)
Crepe bar for hEt's family Christmas morning.

Both featured a smoked ham, my friend owns a bbq business and makes a fantastic rum smoked ham, and I do a simple rosemary marsalla sauce for it for savory crepes to those who want.
Also a breakfast 'casserole' from hEt's mom's collection of recipes (it's essentially bacon fried rice, but baked instead of fried).

hEt's grandmother come to Christmas breakfast. She doesn't get out much these days, but the temptation of Uno crepes is too much to pass up.

E_T · « **Reply #481 on:** December 28, 2018, 03:15:28 PM »

Oooooh, hEt's breakfast 'casserole' sounds wonderful... can't get ya'll to post the reciept??

Unorthodox · « **Reply #482 on:** December 28, 2018, 03:55:00 PM »

"Bacon rice"

6 cups cooked rice cold
1-2 lbs bacon
4-6 eggs, scrambled
1 bunch green onions chopped

________________________

2 Tbls bacon grease
4 Tbls soy sauce
1 Tbls worcestershire sauce
2 Tbls sugar
1 tsp Accent (msg)

Mix the latter, pour over the former in a casserole dish, mix it all up, bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

E_T · « **Reply #483 on:** December 29, 2018, 03:56:16 PM »

Sounds yummy, I'll definitely see about getting this done sometime.

The pictures, is that from multiples of the above receipt?

Unorthodox · « **Reply #484 on:** December 29, 2018, 07:43:45 PM »

Yeah triple recipe for the holiday meals. I prep it ahead so just the baking is needed before breakfast.

Rusty Edge · « **Reply #485 on:** January 23, 2019, 02:57:39 AM »

I tried to do an Asian lettuce cup thing tonight as an experiment. I fried some chicken breasts, then cut with a steak knife and pulled the pieces apart with two forks. Then I transferred it to a pan on med-low heat with some ginger/lime/sesame salad dressing/marinade.

I sauteed some baby shrimp, then added coconut aminos. It's a fermented coconut sap. Think sweet soy sauce.

I did some basamati rice in chicken broth in the instapot.

I grated a raw beet, which made a beautiful burgundy colored slaw, I sliced some red cabage, and grated some carrots. So there were three bowls of slaw to choose from to add to your lettuce cups, and 2 proteins. It looked beautiful. Next time I'll try for some yellow carrots or beets, too. Maybe a turnip or a parsnip.

My wife really liked the chicken and rice and said I could make it again, probably with water chestnuts, too. The lettuce cup approach was a little messy, and she'd rather just eat it with a fork, as she did for her second serving. I was thinking that the nieces like asian food, and this would probably work when they were over.

I ate all of the shrimp, put some leftover chicken and rice in the fridge, and had a salad from the remnants of the slaw and one of the lettuce heads.

Unorthodox · « **Reply #486 on:** January 23, 2019, 04:16:03 AM »

I had a rather great lazy week last week.

Doesn't start out lazy:

Chicken Cacciatore. The local grocer had these boneless/skinless massive chicken breasts on sale buying in bulk. So, I bought a bunch, and Monday made Chicken Cacciatore out of 9 of them in a giant roaster pan with a ton of peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

As that takes hours to finish in the oven, I made a nice side of fettuccine alfredo.

So, all the work now done...

This gave us leftovers Tuesday.

Wednesday I thinly sliced the rest of the breasts, separated out the veggies, and most of the broth, keeping some with the chicken.

I then used the broth as a base to make home made ramen broth (mixing with some fish sauce, soy, and wine), reheating the now sliced chicken as a topping. We froze a bunch of the ramen broth for later.

Thursday, hEt working, made french dips as a break from chicken.

Friday, used the sliced chicken and leftover alfredo to make a chicken alfredo bake.

Saturday I thinly sliced the veggies, mixed back in with the sliced chicken, and reheated the lot with some cilantro and lime to make Fajitas.

So, big meal Monday ended up feeding the family for the week, with 2 meals worth of ramen broth in the freezer to boot.

Rusty Edge · « **Reply #487 on:** January 23, 2019, 04:56:53 AM »

Quote from: Unorthodox on January 23, 2019, 04:16:03 AM

I had a rather great lazy week last week.

Doesn't start out lazy:

Chicken Cacciatore. The local grocer had these boneless/skinless massive chicken breasts on sale buying in bulk. So, I bought a bunch, and Monday made Chicken Cacciatore out of 9 of them in a giant roaster pan with a ton of peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

As that takes hours to finish in the oven, I made a nice side of fettuccine alfredo.

So, all the work now done...

This gave us leftovers Tuesday.

Wednesday I thinly sliced the rest of the breasts, separated out the veggies, and most of the broth, keeping some with the chicken.

I then used the broth as a base to make home made ramen broth (mixing with some fish sauce, soy, and wine), reheating the now sliced chicken as a topping. We froze a bunch of the ramen broth for later.

Thursday, hEt working, made french dips as a break from chicken.

Friday, used the sliced chicken and leftover alfredo to make a chicken alfredo bake.

Saturday I thinly sliced the veggies, mixed back in with the sliced chicken, and reheated the lot with some cilantro and lime to make Fajitas.

So, big meal Monday ended up feeding the family for the week, with 2 meals worth of ramen broth in the freezer to boot.

Awesome. I love doing something like that. My wife rarely eats leftovers, so it's usually up to me and the dog to do it.

Unorthodox · « **Reply #488 on:** January 23, 2019, 02:11:13 PM »

I think it's all about how you prepare the leftovers.

I don't particularly like things reheated in the microwave for instance. The good part about braised chicken especially (cacciatore is a braised meal for the uninitiated) is it's still very moist and workable. So, I have a well seasoned precooked chicken to work with. All subsequent meals were reheated either on the stove top or oven. Mixing up the flavors through the week makes it not feel like leftovers as well.

Anyhow, surprisingly easy Thai Red Curry beef:

Red Thai Curry paste:
1 large red bell pepper
4-5 green onions cleaned, ends removed
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 red chilis (adjust to taste, or use your favorite pepper sauce)
4 cloves garlic
2 T ginger (I keep a minced ginger mix on hand, not sure how much that is fresh)

Throw all that in the food processor and make a paste.

Thinly slice sirloins, season with black pepper, and brown in some sesame oil.
Add about equal parts soy sauce and fish sauce, just enough to coat all the steak.
Let that simmer and thicken just a bit, then add any veggies you're wanting and the red thai paste. Saute mixture until veggies cooked.
Add some cream (or coconut milk) to desired texture of the sauce, serve with rice.

Caveat:

I learned red/green thai cooking from a native. I understand most of american restaurants have them backwards. Red is supposed to be relatively mild and let the sweet prevail, green is supposed to be earthy and hot according to my teacher.

It just took me years to get my family to where they were comfortable with something like this as a meal.

Elok · « **Reply #489 on:** January 24, 2019, 01:31:34 PM »

We just use the Mae Ploy pastes--their green is indeed hotter than their red.

Since you brought up bacon, I'd like to add that it goes great with mac & cheese as well; I cooked bacon bits in the saucepan before starting the roux--I'd have subbed bacon grease for butter if I had a good way to measure it, but our tablespoons are plastic--and it added a smoky note that went very well with the cheddar.

Unorthodox · « **Reply #490 on:** January 24, 2019, 02:28:18 PM »

Quote from: Elok on January 24, 2019, 01:31:34 PM

We just use the Mae Ploy pastes--their green is indeed hotter than their red.

Since you brought up bacon, I'd like to add that it goes great with mac & cheese as well; I cooked bacon bits in the saucepan before starting the roux--I'd have subbed bacon grease for butter if I had a good way to measure it, but our tablespoons are plastic--and it added a smoky note that went very well with the cheddar.

Been playing with the cheeses in my mac n cheese, and 2 weeks back or so did one with white cheddar, parmesean and a super sharp provolone.

That provolone was a fantastic addition taste wise, but difficult/time consuming to properly melt in.

Elok · « **Reply #491 on:** January 25, 2019, 01:54:40 AM »

I haven't tried provolone. I have tried mozz, and the results were so gooey as to be borderline terrifying. Now I add a sprinkling of shredded mozz to any white sauce I want to goop up.

Buster's Uncle · « **Reply #492 on:** January 25, 2019, 02:28:09 AM »

I'm afraid that mozzarella's main attribute as a pizza topping, commercially - it's not a bad tasting cheese, but stores definitely use it over all the alternatives for the meltiness.