Sunday Dinner thread

[veg-o-matic]

Where are you, Chuck? Asleep at the switch?
In anticipation of the weekly Sunday Dinner thread, I took a pic of last night's repast--baked potato soup. First time I ever made it and it came out really well. Keith's already talking about the next time I make it.
Served with a nice salad on the side to kind of take the curse off all the fat and cholesterol.
Note: chives were added after the photo shoot.

veg

 

[maytagbear]

Looks delicious!

A recipe, perhaps?

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[frigilux]

Looks great, Veg! It's my favorite version of potato soup. The baked potatoes add a nice rich, roasted flavor. The recipe I use also calls for a little bacon. Does yours?

 

[veg-o-matic]

The recipe

From cooks.com

4 lg. potatoes
1 stick butter
3/4 c. flour
1 1/2 qt. milk
4 green onions, chopped
1 c. sour cream
3/4 c. crisp, cooked, well drained and crumbled bacon bits
8 oz. shredded cheddar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake potatoes until fork tender (or bake in microwave save time). Melt butter in large saucepan or Dutch oven, add milk, then add flour slowly (to avoid lumping), whisk constantly.
Whisk in salt and pepper and simmer over low heat, stir constantly. Cut potatoes in half, scoop out meat and set aside. Chop half of skins discard rest. When milk is very hot, whisk in potatoes. Add onion and potato skins. Whisk well and add remaining ingredients. Reserve small amount of onion and bacon to garnish top of soup when ready to serve.

My changes:
I used regular chopped onions because the scallions at the market were nasty looking. I also added the flour to the butter/onion mixture, making a blonde roux. I think that comes out better than mixing the flour with the milk. The potatoes were pressure-cooked instead of baked, just to save time. This recipe seems to need a good amount of salt, despite the bacon and cheese.

veg

 

[frigilux]

Blonde Roux; I hear their new video is all over YouTube, Veg.

Thanks for the receipt (as they used to say in 1860)!

 

[mickeyd]

U 2 R 2 Funny--Veg, your soup makes me drool !

May I say that setting looks gay ?

Do you eat that soup next to a defibrillator?

I'm so jealous that you have a starched linen place-mat just like The Blue Nun's Bib

Smiling wildly,

mickey

 

[frontaloadotmy]

"This recipe seems to need a good amount of salt, despi

No problem for you, right. You just whack the block a few times and then stomp, stomp, stomp. Just like Baline Brand
Sea Salt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[perc-o-prince]

Where are you, Chuck? Asleep at the switch?

Yes, plain and simple!

Saturday was catch-as-catch-can since Rich wasn't feeling too well. Sunday was leftover rigatoni and sauce (w/ pork pieces).

Tonight, we had a stir fry of chicken, broccoli, and pineapple, over rice. 5-spice seasoning, ginger, onion powder, and black bean & garlic paste rounded out the flavors. Hopefully the pic comes through.

Baked potato soup sound good! There are so many different things I haven't tried making that we'd like to try!!

Rich cooks too, by the way, He just knows that I really like to do it so much that it's usually left to me! He makes SUCH a good polenta! We had friends over from Italy, and he made polenta to grill, and every speck was gone from the plate. That's a tribute to good cooking!

What did everyone else have? Are there any pictures of SuperBowl buffets that anyone shot?

Chuck

 

[appnut]

Are there any pictures of SuperBowl buffets that anyone shot

No pics. I was gonna have sausage balls, a baked pasta cassarole, and brownies. I only got the 1st & 3rd things made. Browned the meat for the pasta, but that was as far as it got.

 

[toggleswitch]

Bob, DO tell.
What are sausage balls?
(AHEM I HEARD THAT SNICKERING!)

 

[appnut]

Sausage Balls

3 cups of Bisquick
4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb. bulk sausage
1/2 cup milk
pasley flakes

Mix all together with hands. Form into 1" balls, place on cookie sheet. bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Bowl o' Red, coming up!

Yesterday the temperature was in the 20s with 40 MPH winds, so a good day for chili. I kind of made up the recipe as I went along but it came out pretty well. Rather than using ground beef, I used (you should pardon the expression) Chuck for its Rich flavor (Woohoo, a two-fer!)
Simmered all day in the Regal Poly Pot™, the house smelled really good!
veg

 

[mickeyd]

Veg, your Chili looks delicious and the table cloth is absol

The Chuck and Rick joke is hilarious. I'm sure they'll love it and once again Frontal will howl in pain that you out-cooked him. Please send him a bowl. ;'D

 

[perc-o-prince]

Ouch!

Veg,

That was 2/3 of a pun.... P U!!!!! Actually, quite clever!

I usually use both some ground meat and chunks of chuck, but I'm getting so that I'm leaving out the ground more often!

Did you do a little dash (I mean a dash) of cinnamon? You wouldn't believe the little sumpin' sumpin' it adds to the background!

Currently, my chuck (boneless roast) is sitting in a Ziplock in the fridge marinating (stock, wine, onion, garlic, rosemary, worcestershire) until I throw it in the slow cooker tomorrow or Wednesday morning for dinner. It'll be my first time using a true slow cooker, but it isn't rocket science, is it? I'm planning on putting everything in the removable crock the night before, then into the fridge. In the AM (about 6) it'll go into the heat unit and sit on low for the next 11-12 hours. I'll do the celery under the roast like I usually do, and add the aromatics and herbs all around, with diced tomatoes and garlic on top. I'm planning on starting the liquid at about 1/2 way up the roast and checking it every few hours. Whaddya think?

Chuck

 

[maytagbear]

Slow cooking-

Chuck, you might want to decrease the amout of liquid you start with. In a slow cooker, there isn't a lot of evaporation. I start with no more than 2 cups of broth or whatever.....

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[perc-o-prince]

p.s.

LOVE the idea of corn chips as a garnish!!!!!!

Chuck

 

[perc-o-prince]

Thanks Lawrence!

The one recipe I saw called for about 2 cups, with the roast on top of the veggies. It just sounded like a bit low for something that's gonna be in there all day, but I also expected there to be some evaporation.

I'll let you know how it turns out. It'll be tomorrow if Rich decides to cancel his class tomorrow night because of the impending snow. Wednesday if he holds class!

Chuck

 

[hoover1060]

Liquid...

Chuck,
from my experience too, Lawrence is right on with the liquid.

My grocery store sells a veggie package called "soup mix" It consists of some celery, carrots, a onion, 1/2 a turnip, a parsnip, some fresh parsley and one red new potato.
I usually chop that and put it in the pot, along with maybe a clove or two of garlic, roughly chopped.
For liquid I use beef stock, I buy it in little 8-oz cartons. That is usually enough liquid. You could also add a splash of red wine too, just for a little zing...
Let us know how it turns out!

 

[veg-o-matic]

Chuck
Oh, so right about the liquid--that's way too much. And whatever you do, don't check it every few hours. The whole point of using a slow cooker is that it doesn't need any attention (which makes it perfect for a lazy slob such as myself!)
From what I remember reading the official Crock Pot instruction manual, the cardinal rules are:
<UL>
<LI>Vegetables on the bottom, meat on the top (watch it, Toggle!)</LI>
<LI>Don't add too much liquid.</LI>
<LI>Don't take off the lid unless absolutely necessary.</LI>
<LI>No more than 2/3 full. (This one might be for the pressure cooker.)</LI>
</UL>
I am proud to say that at some point, I have broken every one of these rules. (I'm a rebel and I'll never ever be any good.)

That you roast sure sounds delish, although I feel Rosemary is for remembrance, not cooking. You're bound to enjoy anything done in a Crock Pot. After all it "Cooks all day while the cook's away!"

veg

"2/3 of a pun..." Ouch!

 

[chachp]

Wow, that soup sounds and looks really good!

Unfortunately, I have IBS and it would probably send me into a fat induced coma of some kind. Wish I could eat it. I bet I could come up with a low fat version but I know it wouldn't taste nearly as good.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Hey,

I did start with about 2 cups of liquid, and did read that part about not opening it to check (yes, it was emphasized as a cardinal rule!!). I should have mentioned that mine has a glass lid.

Actually, I just checked it and had to remove the lid to take out about 2 cups of excess liquid that had gathered. I'll hang onto it in case I need to add. Otherwise, I'll simmer it down to add in the gravy!

So far so good!
Chuck
Here it is before it went in the fridge last night (yes, I know the taters are not under the meat.... Toggles.....):

 

[frigilux]

Looks delicious, Chuck! I'm also an advocate for putting potatoes and carrots around the edge of a slow-cooker; I do it all the time when I make beef stew.

You and Rich always have such great-looking meals. That's the way to live, I say!

 

[perc-o-prince]

Thanks, Frig!

OK, here's the report. Sorry for being tardy!

Carrots: overdone as expected.
Potatoes: done fine
Juice for gravy: delish
Roast: Rich said he likes it better when I do it in the oven! I'm guessing it has something to do with putting it on the grill and getting the outer crust before baking it. Lotsa flavor there!

I guess we'll try again another time. I think the next foray into slow-cookery will be chili since we don't have any in the freezer. And, Price Chopper has a sale on boneless chuck roasts: $1.99/lb!

Side note: read a bit in the boston Globe magazine where they discussed stew meat vs. cutting up your own chuck. The chef/author suggested the latter since the cubes sold as "stew beef" in the markets, according to butchers he or she spoke with, originate as ends from various cuts of beef. That means different flavors and textures. He or she (sex was unidentified)said that they cut up a chuck roast for their stew meat to get more uniform texture and the best flavor. I'm sure some of us have been doing that anyway!

I cut up sirlion tip strips for beef stroghanoff so I don't have to simmer the beef for a while to get it tender.

Chuck

 

[kenb]

Did you happen to brown the roast before you put it in the slow-cooker?