Meal No. 3685: Baked Herbed Chicken Thighs

Saturday a week ago, it was a delightful night of good food and fellowship with Amy and Gern and Kristen and Mookie. I was in the mood for a standard meat and two sides, so we had oven-baked herbed chicken thighs, roasted hoisin whole green beans, and red-skinned mashed potatoes with sour cream, chives, and bacon. It was a full enough plate with thighs bodacious enough that we each only needed one...but that's the key to partaking of more of those mashed potatoes, right?

Earlier that day, we got to witness the dismantling of the tower crane that had been central to the construction of the new Fourth and Green apartments, about a block from the house. Having been erected on another picture-perfect day, in early May 2023, I guess its 15-month tenure on the westside skyline has now ended.

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"Oven Baked Chicken Thighs," from Joanna Cismaru of JoCooks.com.

Meal No. 3684: Grilled Garlic Chicken Cheese Sandwiches

That recent evening of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches left me with an extra loaf of peasant bread, so Friday's meal was a strange twist on a classic griddled sandwich. With well-buttered slices laid down in the skillet, onto which I placed American cheese, the center layer this time was garlic-herbed pounded chicken breast cooked in the sous vide immersion circulator and sliced thin. More cheese on top of that, with a complementary buttered bread slice on top: this was a heartier grilled cheese and every bit as tasty as you might imagine. (And more of that bread was used for a most enjoyable batch of cinnamon toast later that evening.)

Meal No. 3683: Herbed Chicken Leg Quarters

Last Thursday night, it was a return to the sous vide to help abate the build-up of prepped foodstuffs in the freezer. This time I pulled out a pair of chicken leg quarters that I'd stored away from some recent value pak I'd purchased. With leftover smashed red potatoes with sour cream, chives, and bacon, and fresh-roasted broccoli florets, it was a fine feast for a weeknight, especially comforting after an unseasonable and chilly start to an August morning:

All this time at home during August, with plenty of opportunities to make fun things in my kitchen, has meant a serious loss of ground against the ever-present weight management battle. I've been skirting much too near, much too often, to the upper limit that I allow myself. So that Thursday, my punishment was what I'll call the "College Tour": an intense mid-day walk, starting from the house, and taking me through all five colleges/universities here in Winston-Salem (made possible because Wake Forest University has a downtown campus that I walk past or through all the time!). So yes: I walked past the WFU downtown campus and Medical Education complex; then it was out to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive so that I could walk through the campus of Winston-Salem State University; then I trudged down Rams Drive which ends at the back entrance to Salem College and Academy, which is a lovely shaded campus (and a sentimental journey as well, since I attended six weeks of Governor's School there in the Summer of 1982); then I headed south to traverse the campus of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; and from there I could swing slightly west after heading north to come through Carolina University (formerly Piedmont International University). It was 7.5 miles round trip, and I was a bit tuckered by the time I got back to the house.

Meal No. 3682: Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup

Tuesday a week ago, the homestead was graced with yet another delightful dinner and visit featuring the marvelous Kristen and her betrothed hanger-on Mookie. These dear friends are central to the warm vibes and happy times of the Roediger House (as are our other regular and favorite couple, Amy and Gern!). When they arrived, we gathered at the table to begin the evening with dinner, featuring ultimate cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on fresh-made peasant bread. It was all pretty darned satisfactory.

That was also National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day, and I thought I had just the recipe for the occasion. With a homemade all-butter crust, and a great full dose of chocolate flavor, this take on that dessert is less about the sticky corn syrup and more about an egg-and-sugar filling with all those pecan halves and their tasty crunch. My plan was for the pie portions to be generous, but lordy: sometimes when I make this the filling just does not set up. We still dug into it, but with spoons instead of forks. I wish I understood why I end up with this failure from time to time!

Let me add one other thing, taking us back to Monday, August 19. Marred only by a few minutes of half-hearted sprinkles late in the afternoon, it was a gorgeous late summer day and it concluded with the marvel of a Super Blue Moon rising over the city that night. With cool breezes, lots of cicadas, and wonderful temps, I lit a mess of citronella incense sticks (I've been buying these for years in bulk from TheDipper.com), brought out my Bose bluetooth speaker, and enjoyed the slow rise of that gorgeous moon. I was glad to rest a spell; that was a day when my evening stroll tallied 8.2 miles.

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"Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup," from Cook's Illustrated, November 1999. Recipe can also be found online at Cookography.com.

Peasant Bread adapted from "My Mother's Peasant Bread," by Alexandra Stafford of AlexandraCooks.com. [07 November 2012 / Updated 06 January 2022]

"Chocolate Pecan Pie," a Jones Family favorite since at least 1980, if not before. Also known as "Blender Pie," the recipe came from the late Lib Keith, whose hair-cutting business at her house was where our hairs got clipped for quite a few years.

"All-Butter Pie Crust," from King Arthur Test Kitchen of King Arthur Baking. See also "Butter vs. Shortening: The Great Pie Crust Bake-Off," by PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking. [Published 23 November 2013]

Meal No. 3680: Filet Mignon and Smashed Red Potatoes

When I decided I was hungry for some steak Sunday a week ago, my mind entered a second irresistible track that took me once more into the sentimental recollections of a side item often ordered on my many visits to the now (mostly) defunct Darryl's restaurants: loaded smashed sour cream, bacon, and chive red potatoes. The steaks were pretty tasty, pulled from the freezer where they'd been stored away, already prepped and vacuum-sealed to be ready for the sous vide; then they were finished on a very hot grill outside. But those potatoes! Lord have mercy, one might be on a starch-and-dairy overload, pushing right up against that dangerous line where medical attention was barely averted. Almost more add-ins than the potatoes could carry but going for seconds like a programmed automaton, once they demonstrated their gustatory amazingness, was a mindless joy with a huge pay-off.

Meal No. 3679: Chicken Pot Pie with Cheddar Crust

Saturday a week ago found me on my knees in the kitchen, at the huge bottom freezer drawer, sorting and organizing and culling like a madman. It's mighty easy to let both the stored-away food accumulate but also to give the expiration monster too long a leash. A trashbag of no-good goods was unloaded and that took some pressure off from a space standpoint. It also highlighted an abundance of vacuum-sealed proteins that I need to begin using up, including a particular pair of chicken breasts that were dropped into the sous vide immersion circulator at mid-day. Then I set to work preparing a cheddar crust. That was followed by chopping the necessary vegetables and also cheating with a bag of frozen mixed ones. The skillet sauté and wine splash and herbing were lazily undertaken before broth and cream were added to make some worthy goop.

Just after 3:30 pm that afternoon, on a hot humid mixed-clouds day, I served up huge bowls of comforting goodness more suited to a fall weekend than a late summer one. And mighty fine it was anyway, with the bonus of extras to be shared with some neighbors on the street. "Pure sorcery," said one, after sampling it. After a two-and-a-half year absence, I was inclined to agree that something bewitching was afoot.

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"Chicken Potpie with Cheddar Crust," from Food Network Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 8 (October 2011), p. 132-133.

Meal No. 3678: Vegetable Plate

Friday night a week ago was once again a default choice when dinnertime rolled around: a plate of roasted vegetables so that I could use up what had been hanging around almost too long. That meant spiced roasted russets, cubed; herbed and seasoned asparagus spears, thin; and just a handful of remaining broccoli florets, also roasted but only with some salt and pepper to go with the avocado oil. I had to undertake quite a long stroll afterwards, because even vegetables can carry some bulk when consumed in too great a quantity.

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

Once again this year it worked well to observe National Lemon Meringue Pie day by making a dandy lemon meringue pie, nestled down into a homemade all-butter pie crust, topped with a high-flying meringue, given just enough golden-browning, and served up after a decent interval following supper on Thursday a week ago. This basic recipe is always a winner in my book.

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"Lemon Meringue Pie," based on a classic and common recipe.

"All-Butter Pie Crust," from King Arthur Test Kitchen of King Arthur Baking. See also "Butter vs. Shortening: The Great Pie Crust Bake-Off," by PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking. [Published 23 November 2013]

Meal No. 3677: Tomato & Corn Galette

A preceding grocery run had me thinking of a different use for a mess of Roma tomatoes but I figured Thursday a week ago I'd better do something with 'em before they went bad on me. A natural choice was a tomato and corn pie, although I chose to make it a galette instead so that the other pie crust could be used for dessert. It was imperfect, but still scrumptious, and I included my much-loved roasted broccoli (enhanced with a marvelous Shenandoah herb blend!) on the side. That Thursday was a bit humid but still a nice day and I found myself drawn to a bit of yard work. That supper was all the more suited to my appetite as a result.

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Pulled together and based on the following evolving recipe history:

• "Tomato Pie," from the Swamp Rabbit Café in Greenville, SC.
• "Tomato and Corn Pie," from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. [Published 27 August 2009]
• "Tomato and Corn Pie," by Maggie Ruggiero in Gourmet, August 2009, p. 42-43. [Published Online 15 July 2009]

"All-Butter Pie Crust," from King Arthur Test Kitchen of King Arthur Baking. See also "Butter vs. Shortening: The Great Pie Crust Bake-Off," by PJ Hamel of King Arthur Baking. [Published 23 November 2013]

Meal No. 3676: Spicy Chicken Salad Grilled Wraps

Wednesday of last week was a glorious summer day in Winston-Salem and outside time was kept to a maximum. The main meal occurred mid-day, with a plan for making it pretty easy. I grabbed fresh rosemary and thyme from the kitchen garden, sliced a lemon, and prepped a fresh chicken breast with herbs and seasonings. All that went into a vacuum-sealed food storage bag to be ready to drop late morning into the sous vide immersion circulator. In the meantime, I prepped a dressing, including tasty additions like thinly-sliced roasted red peppers, chives, gochujang, a bit of honey, and dependable Duke's mayo as a base. When the chicken was done, I finely diced it, added in Mexican cheese, put hefty scoops onto an oversized burrito wrap, and put it together as best I could. Less than 10 minutes on a hot grill and we had spicy chicken salad grilled wraps for a filling lunch. Not my usual fare but once again fairly good!

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This meal was a combination of two Roediger House original recipes: "Grilled Spicy Chicken Wrap" and "Chicken Salad Melt."

Key Lime Pie Bars

Oh, tasty tangy sweet and tart key lime pie bars: how did I misplace your glorious goodness? I'm glad I found my way back to you for a dessert offering on a rainy grey Tuesday evening, in part because I was drawn to offer something light and refreshing as the evening's closer. My preference is to substitute Biscoff cookies for the graham cracker crust, which seems the winning move; I also added some vanilla bean paste to bring out more of the whipped topping's potential to please. What resulted was an unambiguous sense of satisfaction, as we were once again pretty happy with the end product.

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Adapted from "Key Lime Pie Bars," from Christina Marsigliese of ScientificallySweet.com. [Published 17 July 2023 / Modified 28 May 2024]

Meal No. 3675: Beef & Cheddar Melts

National Filet Mignon Day occurred last Tuesday, but instead of a traditional steak plate with understandable sides, I wanted to make sure I put my recently-made burger buns to use. I whipped up the beef and cheddar melts sauce that morning when I transferred the vacuum-sealed prepped filet from the freezer to the sous vide immersion circulator; one can tell that I went a bit overboard when coming up with that recipe:

Early afternoon, when the beef was ready, I sliced it and set up the buttered-griddled buns to receive the caramelized onions and cheese slices, tossed it all back on the grill for a suitable melting time, and brought that sauce to bear on the whole situation. These were marvelous, as one might hope.

Meal No. 3674: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salads

With a portion of creamy Caesar dressing waiting to be used up, and fresh chicken breasts ready to be pounded and nicely herbed, I fired up the grill mid-day last Monday and, in short order, had terrific plain salads of Romaine lettuce, roasted sunflower seeds, that delicious dressing, and perfectly-cooked grilled chicken atop it all.

This served well the day's nutritional needs: my weigh-ins in the preceding days had been most concerning!

Also, let me add that Meal No. 3681 occurred today, another Romaine salad, but this time using the recent beef-and-cheddar melts sauce that's sort of a combination between Thousand Island and Russian dressings. An herbed chicken breast straight from the freezer, and then fresh from the sous vide, served as the protein this afternoon.

Brown Butter Walnut White Chocolate Blondies

Last Sunday night's fun gathering of the marvelous crew of most regulars ended on a sweet note, with brown butter walnut white chocolate blondies, served with the last of the recent batch of vanilla bean ice cream, and drizzled with a fresh take on butterscotch sauce. It was quite a dish once it was all plated up, and them bowls were pretty clean by the time we were done with our business.

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Based on "Brown Butter Blondies," from Anita Parris Soule of Wild Thistle Kitchen.

"The Best Butterscotch Sauce," from Barry C. Parsons of RockRecipes.com. [Published 29 March 2018]

Meal No. 3673: Slow Cooker Cuban Lechón Asado

A gathering of the core Roediger House crew is always going to be an outstanding evening, and last Sunday night was no exception. Once we'd made our plans, I took happy note of its coincidence with a nice sale on Boston Butt pork shoulders, because I think we've all come to rather enjoy opportunities for Cuban lechón asado, with a simply-assembled slow cooker approach for the pork itself. All the other things are where the time investment comes in, but it's so easy to spread across the whole day the various components that bring this feast together. The lime sauce, the lime crema, and the Mexican coleslaw base, for instance, can be mixed up in the morning. The Mexican chipotle barbecue sauce is a mid-day endeavor.

I can knock out the burger buns mid-afternoon so that they've had time to cool before setting up the full buffet for dinner service. Shredding the pork and saucing it for its final couple of hours leaves plenty of time to finish the coleslaw before folks begin arriving. It ends up being a fantastic meal to please all palates, which seemed again to be the case as we ended that previous weekend on a high note.

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"Slow Cooker Cuban Lechón Asado," from Cory Fernandez of TheKitchn.com. [Published 10 December 2022]

"Beautiful Burger Buns," from Ellen "Moomie" Dorsey of King Arthur Baking. See also the accompanying blog post, "Burger Buns with a Beautiful Backstory," by PJ Hamel. [Published 28 June 2021]

"Mexican Chipotle Street Taco BBQ Sauce," a Roediger House original recipe. [First Made 08 May 2023]

"Cilantro Lime Sauce," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime. [Published 04 September 2019]. This time I also incorporated some Mexican Crema (recipe noted below).

Mexican Coleslaw assembled using:

• Base Recipe: "Mexican Coleslaw," from Christin Mahrlig of SpicySouthernKitchen.com. [Published 08 August 2017]
• "Mexican Crema," from Elaine Benoit of DishesDelish.com. [Published 28 April 2022]
• "Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime. [Published 29 April 2019]
• Seasoning Mix: "Homemade Chili and Taco Seasoning," from Jamie Lothridge of MyBakingAddiction.com. [Published 03 February 2011]

Meal No. 3672: Beef Crunchwraps

I've been blessed lately with some insomnia, I guess, awaking around 1 am and not getting back to sleep until after 5 am. Sometimes I lie there and scroll through my phone; sometimes I get up and sit by the fireside reading; every once in a while I'll use those overnight wee hours to get my walk in. (That's what happened last Saturday morning: a 3-mile downtown stroll starting at about 3:30 am when it was clear I was not going to get back to sleep.) Anyway: it was scrolling on a previous night of sleeplessness that brought me to an Instagram post about beef crunchwraps. I'd made seasoned taco beef earlier in the week and set it aside for this very purpose. On Saturday, I set up a batch of Mexican crema, and then I also made a jalapeño quesadilla sauce. I'd already diced tomato and onion and had some chopped romaine as well. As dinnertime approached, I undertook my maiden voyage with crunchwrap assembly, to then pan-sear in a hot skillet. Lacking in technique but still coming through with a helluva result, that was a mighty pile of goodness that I have no regrets about whatsoever.

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Adapted from "Beef Crunchwrap," from Maciej Zurawski of Grillin' with Dad. [Published 16 May 2024]

Taco-Style Meat based on "Crispy Beef Tacos," by Hilah Johnson. From HilahCooking.com. [Published 10 April 2012]

"Fajita Seasoning Mix," from ForTheMommas.com. [Published 20 February 2012] Adapted from "Fajita Seasoning Mix Recipe" on Food.com.

"Mexican Crema," from Elaine Benoit of DishesDelish.com. [Published 28 April 2022]

"Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce," from Alexa Blay of Key to My Lime. [Published 29 April 2019]

Meal No. 3671: Sausage Potato Onion Hash

As the week wrapped up last Friday, with the weather being almost totally clear after Tropical Storm Debby passed over, I rolled up on dinnertime with a simple plan for a basic meal that's what I reach for when I've got a certain set of ingredients that need to be used: hot Italian sausage, cooked and crumbled; spiced Yukon gold potatoes, cubed and roasted; and sweetly caramlized diced onion. All this gets rolled together in the skillet into a marvelous hash, comforting in its feel and flavors, and seemingly never quite enough in that first bowl that's served up.

Peach Cobbler and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Desserts are hard for me to quit, so even though dinner last Thursday was more than delicious and filling, I still had to make a little something-something. I'd already churned a fresh batch of vanilla bean ice cream, and it was a cinch to throw together a small dish of peach cobbler. It was a lovely bowl of not-too-sweet goodness!

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"Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler," by Patty Catalano on TheKitchn.com. [Published 06 August 2024]

"Vanilla Bean Ice Cream," by Charlotte Rutledge of King Arthur Baking.

Meal No. 3670: Beef Bourguignon

Last Thursday's stalled journey of Tropical Storm Debby made it a sequestered-inside day. While the brief power outage earlier that day might have been a caution, I still undertook a long-cooking meal to bring comfort to the unsettling weather: beef bourguignon. Silky and glorious, all that was needed was a full enough bowl and sufficient light remaining to see how to dig into it.

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"Beef Bourguignon (Julia Child Recipe)," from Karina Carrel of CafeDelites.com. [Published 18 February 2018]

Debby Had Her Days

This past Thursday, the rains and winds of what was left of Hurricane Debby ambled across the Piedmont Triad in a lazy plodding fashion. Having recharged a bit over the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, refueled for the massive moisture dump it took on us, it was a long ending to the week for this guy who struggles with the grey and drear.

Scarlett, however, just held forth in her much-loved spot at the big window in the pool table area, once day broke. On the other hand, the insomnia of an old man granted me the privilege of watching this massive rain event roll in around 3:30 am Thursday morning, while some guy in a rain slicker was harvesting scrap metal in the dark from the construction dumpster in the gravel lot next door.

Quite a lot of water dripped from the still-unsolved second-floor ceiling leaks (most likely culprits are the 3rd floor dormer window and the failing gutters along the roofline), and catch-tubs had to be emptied more than once.

Still, the lucky stars deserve their tally, since it was in fact only rain (by the buckets) and some wind (gusts up to 25-30 mph?). It wasn’t broadly destructive in the immediate vicinity. Although lots of dead limbs and branches littered the driveway and yard, the trees and shrubs here were still standing, and life inside the Roediger House proceeded with limited mild inconvenience. Our power went out at just before 10 am but was restored before 10:30 am; the internet was gone by first thing Thursday morning, but it too was up and available when the power came back on. It is fortunate that this is a household of readers.

It’s all relative, I know: worse here than farther west and not nearly what people on the coastline had to deal with.

Meal No. 3669: Sous Vide Chicken Souvlaki

The grilled chicken stored away in the freezer for a few days, and the sous vide immersion circulator to bring it back to life; a couple of flatbreads in the cabinet; the rest of that delicious tzatziki sauce still hanging around in the fridge; the last of the tomatoes and additional hearts of romaine I'd bought waiting to be utilized; and always plenty of onion to dice...it wasn't hard to have a second round of souvlaki on Wednesday night as the city braced itself for whatever the remnants of Hurricane Debbie were to bring us.

That morning I grabbed this photo of the calm before this storm, showing that it was a mostly grey day although we welcomed the break in the heat and appreciated the gentle advance breezes:

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Based on "Chicken Souvlaki and Greek Salad with Tzatziki Sauce," from the blog of Kitchen Art: The Store for Cooks (West Lafayette, IN). [Published 25 June 2015]

Meal No. 3668: Mushroom & Swiss Burgers

There was a time in my life when eating at restaurants was a more regular thing, and at those sit-down American fare chains the go-to for quite a while was mushroom and Swiss burgers. Something about how they're made in restaurant kitchens always struck all the right notes with me, but I recognize that I might regularly come up short in replicating it on the homefront. Tuesday evening's attempt at mushroom and Swiss burgers came close, though: excellent grilled seasoned burgers, almost too much Swiss cheese, and Madeira mushrooms in the perfect amount to satisfy—plus the extra step that I rarely undertake of buttering and grilling the buns as well. It was almost too much to finish off by dinner's end...but within me resides fortitude that rose mightily to the occasion.

The blog tells me I've made these only a handful of times, beginning in early 2017 with a burger bar set-up that featured three different kinds of burgers, including mushroom and Swiss. Then, it was once a year (Meal No. 1937 in 2017, Meal No. 2063 in 2018, Meal No. 2430 in 2019, and Meal No. 2692 in 2020), followed by a four-year pause. I really must do better!

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"Juicy Burgers," originally from Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks recipe magazine, July 2003, p. 52-53. After Pillsbury was purchased in 2001 by General Mills, home of Betty Crocker (founded in 1921, mind you!), it basically ceased to exist as a company and lives on just as a brand. I guess that's why a Pillsbury cookbook recipe from 2003 is now only found on the Betty Crocker website.