What did you cook or eat today? (October 2025)

Double QPC. Or as they call it in Europe - the Royale.

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Y'all seem to eat a lot of beets in that part of the world while they're kind of a rarity around here. I've got a can of sliced ones and I'll try that sammy tomorrow on toasted white bread? How do you fix it? They're pretty wet coming out of a can. I usually buy fresh and roast and save canned goods for power outages etc.
If you can find fresh ones, they are wonderful roasted. One of my favorite uses.

What did you cook or eat today (March 2025)

You can use red beets for the above, but the red bleeds and turns everything pink.

Not sure if you have a Whole Foods or Fresh Market near, but they usually have them even if regular groceries don't. They are also easy to grow, just need some soil depth like carrots do.
 
Guanciale, right? And Pecorino Romano?
Otherwise you may get a visit from some uninvited gentlemen in dark suits...:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Pretty sure not guanciale, way too much reddish part, as guanciale is mostly fat.

Went to Italian market last week to pick up guanciale for 1 of my leek recipes I'll probably make tomorrow. They have changed the way they sell it and moved it from where they had it before. Freaked me out, thought they had stopped carrying it. They started cutting it in huge chunks in store and had it in the fresh meat case, instead of prepackaged small chunks. So, now I've got guanciale for 3, maybe 4 meals.
 
Guanciale, right? And Pecorino Romano?
Otherwise you may get a visit from some uninvited gentlemen in dark suits...:laugh::laugh::laugh:
I can't find guanciale, locally, not even at the butcher shops. Pancetta is the next best thing I can source, but the local grocery stores usually don't carry it, so I need to run over to the little Italian grocery store in the next town. I didn't feel like making a special trip, so I used irregular bacon ends. I also subbed Parmigiano Reggiano for this one. It's kind of like when I make a French dish that calls for fresh chirvel, which doesn't exist here, so I use fresh parsley instead (though I recently scored some dried chervil that I can use now, too).

It's funny, I had never heard of carbonara until my teenager was over in Italy this Spring on a college trip and fell in love with it. He brought back Pecorino Romano (among other Italian foods) and requested that I make it for him, which I've done a few times now. He came home from college for the weekend last evening and loved it.
 
I smoked a breakfast fatty for brunch this morning. It's made with spicy breakfast sausage rolled out flat across a bacon weave that is topped with a mixture of salt & pepper-seasoned scrambled eggs, sauteed onions and peppers, and shredded cheese. Then it's rolled up and covered in more seasoning before going onto the smoker for about an hour and forty-five at 275F. For the last 10 minutes or so, you crank the heat to 425F to crisp the bacon a little. It's done when the inside is 160-180F. The nice thing is that you can prep this the night before and keep it in the fridge overnight in plastic wrap, then just throw it on the smoker when you wake up in the morning. Good stuff.
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If you can find fresh ones, they are wonderful roasted. One of my favorite uses.

What did you cook or eat today (March 2025)

You can use red beets for the above, but the red bleeds and turns everything pink.

Not sure if you have a Whole Foods or Fresh Market near, but they usually have them even if regular groceries don't. They are also easy to grow, just need some soil depth like carrots do.

I can find fresh ones easy enough. My garden always seems to have a longer list of what I want to plant than I've got soil ready to go. I just keep adding another 100 square feet every year...
 
What I cooked and what I ate are two different things!

What I cooked: scrumptious thick lamb chops fresh from the butchers, pressure cooked until the meat fell off the bone (and on to the floor)...

What I ate: a quick carrot and coriander soup I knocked up instead of the lamb chops...

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