Saul at the mall today. Not from scratch but I got the bake right. Like Hawaiian rolls with crispy bits. And I blew out the icing with a big lump of cream cheese, a small pat of butter, and around half a teaspoon of sugar.



Someone went for seconds on these even though we had pizza for dinner earlier, I took that as a compliment.  

 

What a hearty looking meal.

 

I'm making a simple bubble n squeak recipe. Don't have any bacon but oh well. Hope it'll turn out good.


I goofed somewhere, it didn't stay firm like the pictures. It just fell apart. :/

 

Here’s an all-day project from the weekend that worked out pretty well. Cinnamon-spiced duck pierogies with a habanero blueberry sauce.

Roast a duck. Best technique is to spatchcock it, crosshatch the breasts, roast at 350F for about 2 hours. Shred the duck meat, mix in about 15% mashed potato to 85% duck, spices to your preference. The dough is a sour cream base. Once you’ve filled and sealed the pierogies, boil for 3 minutes, pat dry. Then either stick ‘em in the freezer for later, or fry ‘em in butter.

The sauce was a happy confluence of events. After roasting the duck, I saved the rendered fat and brought it to my friend who owns a brewery (he’s a fan of cooking). I told him about the plans for the sauce, bemoaning that my go-to blueberry juice was out of stock everywhere. “Blueberries? Hold on a sec.” He’d been brewing a beer with blueberries and had several pounds of them that were cooked and had been fermenting in one of the kettles.

Hooray for the barter system.

 

Well, thanks. They’re time-consuming, but pierogies aren’t difficult, and you can fill ‘em with pretty much whatever. Totally worth a try, and you end up with enough to feed a small army. This was the “thanks” container I brought to the brewery after he gave me the blueberries.

 

I'm making pumpkin cheesecake for thanksgiving tomorrow.

 

Turkey sammich: Square of Hawaiian rolls. Split the whole thing with a serrated knife and butter both sides. A layer of turkey, I usually add a dash of salt but this time I'm trying fried chicken seasoning from Frankenmuth. A layer of stuffing and spread mayo on the top of the bun.

 

I had an extra can of pumpkin left. Made cream cheese filled pumpkin bread with a brown sugar/pecan topping. It came out so fluffy.

 

Not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but we’ve got a bird, a squash, and a spiced fruit, so close enough. Most of our family’s in Japan this year, so we only had 3 people to cook for.

The squash was killer - rubbed down with soy sauce, salt, pepper, and ground mustard. Drizzled a little maple syrup on it, added a pat of butter, roasted for about a half hour. All the mustard-maple-soy-butter goo pooled in the squash, so poured that over the duck after searing.

Those clear-golden slices on top of the squash are Italian pear preserves with mustard. Don’t remember where I found ‘em, but they’re nuts. Sweet and super spicy.

The duck was done with a ginger/pear/green tea crust.

That left a skillet of ginger-pear duck fat and the aforementioned squash goo, so we threw a fresh pear in that delightful mess and sautéed it up. Good shit.

 

That meat looks so tender and well seasoned.

 

Leftover turkey sammiches are the single greatest achievement of mankind, and I will fight anyone who suggests otherwise. Bravo.

 

Gotta make the best of it, the cats weren't helping with the left overs until we realized they got a lot more interested in the turkey if we stopped giving them wet food.

We're keeping things simple the rest of the year. A small carver ham and potato salad for Christmas and steaks for New Years.

 

I'm going to try making pancit for the first time. It's a Phillipino dish with rice noodles, meat, veggies, and garlic.




Mmm it came out good

 

Yet another new word I have learnt. Thanks once again.

Back in my university days, I would make this dish with whatever was leftover in the fridge. It goes a long away on student wages.

 

baked christmas chocolate chip M&M cookies for the family christmas get together. Might have to get another pouch to make a couple more cookies

 

Finally finished my Christmas baking

 

As said in a prior thread: Sautéing octopus in a spiced wine and citrus brine, with garlic butter, assorted vegetables, and Agaricus Bisporus, or, rather, Portabello mushrooms.

Octopus and the above mushies are two of my favorite foods, but, of all the things I’ve cooked over the years, I’ve never actually prepared octopus myself, to my memory.

….We’ll see if this is delicious or a national disaster.

If it IS a disaster, I expect that TFW’s foodies will do the merciful, just thing, and summarily execute me for “poorly prepared octopus crimes”, which are a felony punishable by death in most reaches of the world.

 

An assortment of stuff from the last few weeks. Dialed in the squash a little more (with a tri-tip this time), made a boatload of mango & sirloin crostinis for a party, and pork belly tacos, because pork belly tacos.

Here’s hoping it all worked out, but fear not - If you ruin the octopus, we as a community are fully prepared to Old Yeller you behind the woodshed.

 

You’re still welcomed to Old Yeller me behind a shed, in all honesty, but the Octopus actually came out wonderfully! The mushrooms could’ve gone in maybe five minutes earlier, but, all in all, I’m fairly happy with how that dish came out, given that I’d never prepared Octopus in my life, prior to that. It was delicious. My family were horrified by the sight of food full of tentacles…. Which, works for me. More seafood for mwaaaahhhhhh