Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking Wonder what the poor folks are eatin' tonight?

An indian evening last night.

tandoori chicken - my own secret spice blend

home made garlic and coriander naan bread

rustic salad of tomatos, cucumber and scallion, drenched in lemon juice

a sharp mint riata.



Did enough chicken for 2 days, making chicken tikka masala tonight, served with basmati rice and the remainder of the riata.

Your menu sounds yummy, schlack! There is an Indian restaurant near me that serves food like this. I love to go there. Unfortunately Mr. Scoutgal does not like Indian food-except for garlic naan. So I usually go with a friend, or my sister.

I make that salad all the time at home! I cut cherry tomatoes in half, and I thick slice and quarter the cucumber. A little sprinkle of kosher salt and cracked pepper is delicious on it!

Uh...yeah. I have a summer kitchen equipped with an oven, a couple of rotisseries, and the Big Green Egg. The BGE is all the way outside, the rest is inside a screened porch.
I fry and bake inside mostly and cook most of the meat outside. Truth is it's too hot to cook outdoors this time of year. Without air conditioning I'd never use anything but the George Foreman grill indoors.

Pie crusts are a bit of a challenge in the summer though.

Mmmmm... we had Greger sliders tonight, grilled on the Cobb ten briquet grill. Pretzel slider buns, cheddar, fresh picked lettuce, pickles and condiments. The Jack Russells were on enhanced mooch watch and Vinnie the Cat was ready for fisticuffs over the leftovers.

The grill aroma is still wafting in the window as I sip a Beefeater and Q-tonic and watch those entertaining Englishmen on Top Gear.

I hope they were as good as I promised...

Yas, they were!

Got company - daughter and her new hubby, plus grandson Zarko. Had a little cookout last night, something we call trail fajitas cooked over a campfire. The recipe and cooking method hearken back to when my girlfriend and I traveled to Copper Canyon in Mexico, to get married. We signed up for a 10 day package that included stays at the Sierra Lodge located at the 8000' elevation of the rim, and a sister hotel (built like a 3-d MC Esher painting) located in downtown Batopilas.

There were many guided hikes, which usually included a lunch of trail fajitas, as described below.

The cook had brought along containers filled with pork loin slices marinated in olive oil with jalapenos (whole and chopped), cilantro, beer, and soy sauce. A campfire was built and the pork marinade slopped into a large homemade wok (a farming disc with the hole welded up) where it boiled and sizzled until almost all of the juice was gone. As it browned, more beer was added (Tecate in a can) causing the pan to deglaze and to make a caramel-colored sauce. Just before that juice was gone, tortillas were placed and turned over the meat, put in the hands of the hungry hikers, and filled with fajita makings. It was socially required to also eat at least one of the whole jalapenos.

Mmmm, mmmm, good!

Here's a pan cooking in the back yard over the Bucket O' Fire (an invention of mine...) using pinyon pine.

Pizza from scratch!

Got a present of a pizza stone from one of the brothers and put it to good use.

Previous nights pasta sauce* on dough topped with roasted veg**, salami and peperoni.... mozarella on her side none on mine.

excellent, will make again

*tomato, onion, bacon, sweet red pepper, fresh basil, fresh parsley oregano, balsamic vinegar, tonnes of garlic and black pepper.

**onion, zuchinni, eggplant, red pepper, carrots, (olive oilt, balsamic, soy, Oregano)

Excellet crispy outer rim, but a bit doughy in the middle. Used slightly too much toppings and will seperate the dough into 2 pizzas next time.

Very pleased with 1st attempt - it will fit nicely into my weekday recipies.

bit of effort making the dough, but well worth it.

You have to preheat a pizza stone for a very long time (EG. an hour), to get it all up to temperature right through to the center. It has to be able to transfer a lot of heat very quickly, and it can't do that if only the outer few millimeters are hot.

Sometimes I want a really thick high-rise crust, so I'll cook the pizza skin without topping until it is firm and slightly brown. Then I add all the sauce, toppings, cheese, etc. and put it back in the oven until that all browns and sizzles. Comes out rather like french bread pizza.