Because it's summer, if you have a grill that's right where I would head. And I would be thinking Greek -basting with lemon and thyme and/or rosemary and olive oil, some crushed garlic. maybe finish with a citrusy marmalade and then thin some more out with white wine and serve on the side. or use a fruitier jam like current as a finish.
Pork stew meat, green chiles, hominy, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic,chicken stock, cumin, chilepowder, chipotles if you want more heat and a little more depth of flavor or heat. Dredge pork in flour...
Dried beans, rice, eggs, peanut butter, pasta were all life savers.
If I were going through the poor years now I would get one of those whole pork loins and cut it up into roasts, stew meat and chops and cut a few thin slices from the end and pound them out for pork tenderloin fritters. At 1.88 a lb. that's pretty economical. It also makes good ground pork but needs a little added fat.
I recently moved an old favorite post to my foodie blog from another site and reread it. It related our return to homier less ostentatious cooking to the rest of our life. Hence the title Everything I Ever Needed To Know I Learned Cooking Beef Shanks. It was a reminder that sometimes the lesser cut has a little more flavor and just needs a little slow cooking to bring out it's qualities. The question becomes what is the best? Filet Mignon or a slow cooked stew?
Of course the quality of ingredients is relative as well, (I recently paid 60$ for a bottle of olive oil) depending on their use but shortcomings can be overcome with a little love and understanding...I mean technique.
Martha did just put out her cooking school book. and the CIA has The Professional Chef (Amazon look in textbooks- as a matter of fact that is a good search to make for further choices)
I really like these though:
The Essential Cook by Conran ,Conrann andHopkinson.
Great encyclopedia of food up front. With wonderful pictures. Basics in there too plus a whole cookbooks worth of recipes at back with references to the other sections listed at the side.
The Way To Cook by Julia Child
This is not laid out conventionally but by technique and is meant to teach technique and then give you recipes using that technique.
Think Like A Chef by Tom Collicchio
Not just a recipes and techniques book but how to think like a chef putting together food combinations and combining them with technique.
Jaques Pepins Cooking Techniques
Cooking techniques by Jaques.
A plate of spaghetti in an alley eaten until you both get opposite ends of the same strand of spaghetti. Sorry I just love that scene from "Lady and the Tramp"
The most romantic meal I ever made was served on the balcony of my New Orleans apartment. It was just a roast chicken some pickled artichokes and some good bread. My little table wouldn't fit the food and our plates so it all went on one platter and we ate with our fingers. My advice: don't overplan. Cook with love. Keep it simple so that YOU are the best dish at the table. And just enjoy the company. Maybe even cook something that you always used to have when you were young and first married and probably less well off. Congrats and enjoy.
A spin off of Absolute vodka makes green tomato olives. I'm trying to find a recipe. I was served these at a big promotional event and loved them. If I could find a recipe I might not ever let my green cherry tomatoes ripen.
I just made a delicious pork tenderloin. Butterflied, spread with homemade apple butter and dijon mustard salt and pepper closed it back up and put it on the grill to cook verrrry slowly. I used to serve a variation of this, reducing cider by about 2/3s and glazing the pork with it and some mustard. I would add some greens to this as a side and if i was roasting the pork I would rinse them without drying and cook them beneath the pork and finish lightly with vinaigrette. Salad sounds nice but it's 90 degrees here.
@traveller: An Expat Patisserie?
France and England have small dining rooms in small towns with maybe a few rooms up above so people can spend the night. I would like to have the American version.
I thought this was going to be a hip hop related question about those cooky rappers.
corn meal waffle with blue cheese, figs, sauteed onion and panchetta
Pick a food theme like cajun, mexican, etc. Coordinate the music, decor and party favors with the theme. I particularly like cajun because it is easy to cook Jambalaya for the masses and is cheap if you skip the shrimp. Same with red beans and rice. and bread pudding for dessert. New Orleans themes also seem to tell people ahead of time that they are free to have fun. At Mardi Gras people have to earn beads maybe you could work up a way for people to bid or buy them. The advantage of a theme is that it lets people know what to expect- fund raising dinner sounds like rubber chicken and frozen veggies to me. Good Luck
take an apple cut it in half and sprinkle half with diazanone I'll tell you which half I want.
I always like to get Best Food Writing of ----(year) to find out what good books I've missed. I read Alice Water bio recently well written about what you expect her to be. and Carlo Patrini's book on slow food (both for an article) The Patrini book is pompous and facile considering that it is his reson d'etra for the slow food movement and I am having to force my way through it despite its being very small.Would have been better as a magazine article. I always enjoy Ruth Reichels writing. Hope it helps.
So what did you have?
I like to use the tiny bits left over to make tea. Fennel is so naturally sweet that you don't need to add anything. When I harvest fennel from the garden I cut the top off and dry it just for this purpose but you can make it from fresh. Include the larger stems and all and steep for a long while or simmer it for a bit before steeping.
many food banks take fresh foods as well as canned/boxed let your good fortune be someone else's as well.
All of these mayos can be found on amazon
I love sweet tea and think the south got it right on this one. I do often wonder how a culture so eager to sweeten everything else could have gone so wrong on cornbread though.
Well what am I supposed to mix my whiskey with? I guess I'll just have to drink it straight up- for health reasons of course.
Filling gaps is great but instead of caulk I would use expanding spray foam and extend the straw like attachment as far into each hole as possible. Steal wool is also helpfult but mice will chew through it over time. (Rats even chew through pipes) use the most course steel wool available and stuff it in before using the foam which will help lock it into place. (they will also tug it out if possible)
Thanks for your comments so far and I like joeqboo am surprised at the level of civility (nicely done folks). While this may seem like a quick and breezy question it also touches on what we think about our food. What does your answer reveal about the way you cook and your mindset while doing it? What does this question mean to those who can't afford the best ingredients? Can you be too "techniquey" and ruin the fun? Can you be too obsessed with purity of ingredients and become a little foodie fascist? (The whole Alice Waters controversy comes to mind)
So Fred down the street with a great grass fed steak and a hot grill can outdo Tom Valenti and a shortrib? How about if we give Fred fresh eggs and some veggies and maybe a free range chicken and give Charlie Trotter a carton of eggs from the grocers last week whatever is in the veggie bin of the fridge and a Tyson?
Lavender lemonade is also very good.How about pineapple sage?
I'm new here so maybe this has been discussed before repeatedly but it is always interesting to me to hear where people come down on each side of this question. Do great fresh flavorful ingredients trump technique or does technique win out by preparing food perfectly to bring out its best flavor?
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Making a Gateau de crepes would allow you to reduce the sugar considerably. This classic french cake made from layered crepes could get most all of its sweetness from a sugar free fruit spread between the crepes and still be glazed in chocolate. Raspberries or orange are commonly paired with chocolate. Don't forget that starch turns to sugar and still effects insulin levels so even with reduced sugar moderation is called for. Happy Birthday Mom!