What's for dinner tonight?

Crab and Asparagus Soup (Mang Toy)

1.25 pound fresh asparagus
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots or onion
2 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon black pepper
10cups chicken broth
4 teaspoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
2 egg, well beaten
1 pound cooked lump crabmeat, or one 6-ounce can, drained (about 3/4 cup)
5 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

Trim the asparagus, breaking off and discarding the base of each stalk about here the bright green color fades. Cut each stalk crosswise diagonally into 1 inch pieces, but leave the beautiful tips intact. (You should have about 2 cups.)

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat for 1 minute, and then add the asparagus, shallots, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook until the shallots and garlic are fragrant and the asparagus is shiny and bright green, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water, stirring it to make a thin, smooth paste. Add it to the soup. Stir the soup well and drizzle in the beaten egg, letting it swirl to form lacy shreds in the hot broth. Add the crabmeat and stir well. Sprinkle in the green onion, remove the soup from the heat, and serve hot or warm.

I like to add some shrimp. I also substitute a small white onion for the shalot. Fine dice half and saute with the garlic and asparagus, then chunk the other half and ass with broth. YUM!

 

Creamy Pork Sauté

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 boneless pork loin (about 1 pound), cut into thin strips

2 stalks celery, sliced (about 1 cup)

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1/4 cup water

Hot cooked regular long-grain white rice

* Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until well browned, stirring often. Remove the pork from the skillet.

* Heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Add the celery, onion and thyme and cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring often.

* Stir the soup and water in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the pork to the skillet and cook until the pork is cooked through. Serve the pork mixture over the rice.

I feel like this tonight!

 

Saturday, I marinated my steaks in A1, Worcestershire, Tony's (along with garlic salt, onion powder, and a few others seasonings), and Bud Light Lime for a few hours and grilled them for about 3 minutes on each side.

I'd ran out of marinade and didn't know it so I threw some things together.

To my surprise, they were very tasty...

 

Greek salad and a flash cooked skirt steak.

 

Did you marinate the steak of pass the time with that beer?

Must be beef Monday. Do you put capers in your salad?

 

I am making an anti-pasta platter.

Meats:
Coppa
Soppressata
Prosciutto
Salami

Cheeses:
Brie
Aged chedder
Swiss
Creamy blue

Other:
Walnut bread
Sourdough (both toasted so crunchy)

Gherkins
Anchovies
Stuffed pepper with feta
olive mix
artichoke hearts
Olive tapenade
Chicken liver pâté

 

I took a fresh eggplant Purple with skin on and cut it into small cubes.

I cut up a Vidalia Onion the same way.

I diced up half a Red, Yellow, Orange and Red Pepper.

And I diced up small half a hot Hungarian Wax Pepper.

Added 4 cups diced Plumb Tomatos.

Fried all this in butter and olive oil.

Then added 1 inch cubes of uncooked chicken breast.

Added a a buch of fresh basil, oregano, tyme, parsley and 6 smashed and chopped garlic cloves.

Added a small can of crushed tomato.

Some Red Wine, Beer and a few Bay Leaves.

And stewed it for about 40 minutes.

Used it to top thin spaghetti....awesome!!

AboveAlpha

 

Summer treat for those who like this sort of thing

Finely sliced cucumber, onion, jalapeno to taste. A bit of fresh garlic.
Marinate with salt, fresh lime juice, cilantro to taste.
Serve with grilled fish, fresh bread, or whatever floats your boat.

 

I tried General Tso's Chicken but with Cashews mashed in a mortar and pestle rather than peanuts. Somewhat disappointing, I couldn't taste them at all and I have identified them (I think) as the Secret ingredient in Arthur Treacher's fish batter by taste. Or maybe I am wrong, the adventure continues

 

Cashews are mild flavored. Try dry roasting them, being careful not to burn, to bring out more flavor before using them in your recipes.

 

Although just saying this makes some people freak out.....in order to make Home Cooked or Stir Fryed Chinese Food you have to add MSG!!!

MSG....is high in Sodium as MSG stands for Monosodium Glutamate....but BELIEVE IT OR NOT...MSG IS AN ALL NATURAL PRODUCT!!

That's right!!

Made from Soy Bean's.

So unless you have Heart Issues....a little MSG is NOT going to kill you!!

AboveAlpha

 

Not to start an argument, but that is poppycock.

I make Chinese all the time, and I don't/won't own ANY MSG.

As a matter of fact, we're having Orange Chicken tonight, as requested by the 15 year old.

 

Never used MSG ever

 

Have a friend over for diner tonight.

The girls want to serve fish.

Beer battered crappie
Home made french fries
Fresh tomatoes with mozz and olive oil
Slaw W/ vinaigrette dressing
Apple cobbler

 

Grilled steak, baked potato, mushrooms, fresh salad with homegrown tomatoes.

 

SEE!! LOL!!!

Just like I said....the moment I mention MSG everyone is going to be FREAKING OUT!!!

The fact is that MSG is a natural product and if used in moderation is not a Health Issue!!

MSG specifically chemically awakens a Human Beings taste buds and that is why it is used with Veggie Stir Fry as the flavor's you can derive from a small amount of MSG use cannot be reproduced by anything else.

I am a HUGE Health Nut and as I stated....unless a person has an allergy to it or must limit Sodium intake...there is nothing wrong with adding MSG for stirfry.

AboveAlpha

- - - Updated - - -

MSG should be used primarily with Vegetable Stir Fry's such as Chicken or Shrimp with mixed Chinese Vegetables or Brocolli with Shrimp or Chicken.

AboveAlpha

 

That's so true. I'm rediscovering how much I enjoy msg.

 

Well okay, but I am hypertensive and may be allergic too. I know it makes me feel unpleasantly odd.

I use a salt called No Salt, which is potassium chloride with no ill effects. I have heard of a substance called Monopotassium glutamate, I am currently looking for it in specialty stores since regular stores don't seem to have it. Are there any sorts of cuisines that call for it specifically?

 

And this comes with it's own defibrillator. Great for barbecues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LDsk75q2Xw

 

I would be careful with introducing any extra Potassium into one's diet as there are a lot of Drug Interactions.

MSG is high in Sodium and a person who has Congestive Heart Failure is not someone who should be eating MSG or any extra Sodium and there are some people who are alergic to it and some people get headaches mostly from HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE!!!

But if you are a Healthy person like I am....adding MSG is fine and the ONLY time I would use it is in Chinese Vegetable and Meat or Shrimp Stirfry.

If you have a good gas oven and you can get a Wok very hot what I do is have everything ready as I have in bowls some very fresh and dense Broccoli that is cut into flourettes and cut so that the stems are cut.

I also have white rice already cooked and I have small amounts of Baby Corn, Fresh Snow Pea's, Bamboo Shoots, Thin sliced carrot that have a zig zag trim pattern lengthwise upon the carrot, straw mushrooms, water chestnuts.....and there is two ways to do this as I grow the Snow Pea's and the rest I buy either Can's or Bags of frozen Chinese Veggies and just pull out a small amount of each from each bag from the freezer and thaw them.

I also use Bok Choy and cut this into thick but short lengths of 3 inches.

In the Wok I add the Broccoli to a cup of chicken broth and I boil it until still very green but slightly tender....I pull this out and add in Penut Oil, Pealed raw shrimp and chunks of raw chicken breast and fry this in the peanut oil and add a small amount of MSG and white pepper.

I cook the shrimp only for about 60 seconds on super high heat and add in freshly chopped garlic and 1 crushed dried Cayanne Pepper.

I then add all the other Vegetables and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of MSG and add about 2/3 of a cup of a miture of shrimp broth with chicken broth with about 1/2 a teaspoon of Corn Starch mixed in and cover and stir for another 1 minute at super high temps.

This is for a white sause so I don't add Hoisen.

The water in the vegetables comes out at such high temps and within a total of 3 minutes the dish is cooked and ready to be served atop white rice.

AboveAlpha

 

Cuban Spiced Pork Tenderloin

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/4 cup orange juice, fresh
1/4 cup grapefruit juice, fresh
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Using thin knife, trim silver skin from tenderloin. Mix orange juice, grapefruit juice, cilantro, cumin, oregano, garlic, salt, and hot pepper in gallon-sized zip-top plastic bag. Add pork, close, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Meanwhile, make Rice and Black Bean Salad.

Prepare outdoor grill for direct medium-hot grilling. For a gas grill, preheat grill on high. Adjust temperature to 400°F. For a charcoal grill, build fire and let burn until coals are covered with white ash. Spread coals and let burn for 15-20 minutes.

Lightly oil cooking grate. Remove pork from marinade, drain briefly, but do not scrape off solids. Place on grill and cover grill. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned and instant-read thermometer inserted in center of pork reads 145 degrees Fahrenheit, about 20-27 minutes. Transfer to carving board and let stand 3-5 minutes. Cut on slight diagonal and serve with rice and black bean salad.

Making it again tonight!

 

Texas chili in a bread bowl with a side of potato salad. Not fancy, but still good.

 

So I have to decide. Do I go to your house or the neighbors? My recipe for the perfect Cuban cuisine.

 

I paired it up with Cilantro Lime Rice and grilled Asparagus. YUM!