Meal No. 832: Blackened Grilled Pork Chops

Meal No. 831: 'Bama Chicken

What some people may call poppy seed chicken was introduced to me as 'Bama chicken. And this time I didn't realize until it was already in the oven cooking that I'd forgotten the poppy seeds. Turned out that I didn't even have any anyway, but it was still good. This was Saturday night's quick meal before another movie night commenced.

Movie Night: Logan's Run

For what was likely the last perfect weather night for an outdoor movie, before the colder weather settles in, the Roediger Theatre kicked into motion last night with a screening of the 1976 futuristic classic Logan's Run. I hadn't seen it since it first came to TV in the late 1970s. The group was small but we all enjoyed the heck out of it.

The Outdoor Movie Set-Up

Meal No. 830: Fettucine Alfredo

Last night did not lend itself to any grand preparations, and I needed to reach for staples on hand in order to get supper on the table. Hence, fettucine alfredo with a thick goopy sauce that was hard to wipe out of my mustache.

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"Fettucine Alfredo," from The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker. New York: Scribner (2006), p. 327.

Meal No. 829: Blackened Grilled Tuna

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"Foolproof Grilled Tuna Steaks," by Andrew Janjigian, in Cook's Illustrated, May & June 2010, p. 12-13.

Luquire Family Stone Ground Grits, milled in Greenwood, SC, which is where my father was when he died in 1981, interestingly enough.

Meal No. 828: Cajun Spice-Rubbed Salmon

This past Tuesday night, I made a quick grocery run and saw a fine looking center-cut piece of salmon that called out to me. I gave it a good rub of Cajun spice and a slow bake in the oven before being paired with quinoa and sugar snap peas to make a superb supper.

10 Years of RoHo Living

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the day I closed on and took possession of the Roediger House. What a great place to call home, and what an awesome first decade living in this wonderful place.

Meal No. 827: Smothered Pork Chops with Onion-Thyme Gravy

Last night for another good small gathering of friends I fixed this delicious nouveaux classic: smothered braised pork chops with an onion-thyme gravy. This time around, I served it over brown rice and added some tasty seasoned green beans to the plates.

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"Smothered Pork Chops," by Erika Bruce. In Cook's Country, April/May 2011, p. 22-23. [View and print a pdf of the recipe by clicking on this link.]

Meal No. 826: Juicy Burgers on the Grill

For last night's movie night, a few of the 6th & Vine crew came over early and I grilled up some burgers. We scarfed them down enjoying the nice fall evening in the parking area beside the house.

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"Grilled Juicy Burgers," from Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks recipe magazine.

Movie Night: Evil Dead 3 (a/k/a Army of Darkness)

Oh, this fall is offering up some mighty fine weather for some Sunday evening movie nights. For the second week in a row, the Roediger Theatre kicked into entertainment mode and tonight's offering was the Bruce Campbell classic Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness. There was a good turn-out again and it was another great evening for an outdoor movie.

Meal No. 825: Glorious Beef and Mushroom Stir Fry

Back in June, I fetched from down home some of the items that are coming from my mother's estate, some of which is destined for Indiana. These have been stored in the front parlours since then, awaiting an opportunity for the time to claim them and toss them into a U-Haul.

Today was that day. 

It was not a hard packing job but it still pushed us into a later dinner, which I was so intent on getting prepped and on the table that I forgot (for the first time in a very, very long time) to take a photo of it. We went with beef, mushroom, and onion stir fry tonight. It was passable.

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"Glorious Beef with Mushrooms," in Wok Fast by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandison. Ten Speed Press, 2002, p. 87 (recipe) and p. 26-27 (marinade and sauce).

Meal No. 824: Biscuits and Gravy

The long drive home after a couple of days of work in Virginia pushed me over to the easy-meal side of the ledger. With my sausage's use-by date coming up fast, I figured biscuits-n-gravy would do me fine. And yes: that's a bottle of Xingu Brazilian black beer going alongside.

Meal No. 823: Dizzy Pig Spiced Salmon

I gave the Dizzy Pig Raging River spice rub another go this evening, but I broiled and baked the salmon rather than grilling them. I'm not sure I'm sold on this rub: I got too much fennel seed taste and that's not one that I care for.

But I cooked the salmon pretty close to perfect for my tastes, and the quinoa and sugar snap peas went along with it just fine.

Meal No. 822: Pancakes

Monday was a welcome day at home and off the road but it's a blur to me because I had a whole mess of business-related tasks and paperwork to sort through. I went the simple supper route with some fresh hot griddled pancakes with real maple syrup and tall glasses of whole milk.

Meal No. 821: Six-Hour Chili

For Sunday night's meal, I got a few folks to come over early, prior to the movie night, and share in a big ol' pot of slow cooker chili and some of Granny Wilson's honey wheat cornbread. Yum.

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"Six-Hour Chili," from Williams-Sonoma.

First Movie Night of 2013: Race with the Devil

With perfect weather and a delightful group of friends and locals, the Roediger House very belatedly kicked off another summer fall movie season. The showing last night was the classic demonic horror/RV-chase Peter Fonda film from 1975: Race with the Devil. I remember watching and loving this one when I was a kid and it made it to TV in the late 1970s.

Folks seemed to enjoy themselves and they might have even liked the movie a little bit. The barest nip in the air by the time the movie was over was hardly sufficient to keep us from sitting around outside afterwards while the post-movie iTunes playlist played on.

I really do love those movie nights.

First Day of Fall 2013

To commemorate the first day of fall, September 22, 2013, I took an updated photo of the Roediger House, as seen from North Spring Street.

Meal No. 820: Brendan's Moroccan Bistro Chicken

Named in honor of the former 7th grade student who introduced me to it, tonight's dinner is called Brendan's Moroccan Bistro Chicken, and it's always a winner around the Roediger House. Tonight was no different. A nice mix of spices coating and flavoring a pile of chicken thighs, simmered at length in chicken broth with a cinnamon stick, and tonight served over brown rice as a one-bowl meal.

Meal No. 819: Skillet Beef Stroganoff

Another long but good week on the road, so the meal upon my return this Friday night had to be simple and filling. I'd like to have it be a bit more saucy, but the flavors were solid.

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"Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Dinner in a Skillet," by Emeril Lagasse. Found online at The Food Network.

Another Damn Cat

For the last few months, there's been another one of those yellow feral cats lurking around. It traipses through the back yard and, when Cyprus spots it, it makes her crazy, of course. Cyprus has chased her in the back yard a time or two, but she's also sort of tangled with her in the back corner of the lot. On that occasion, the cat held her ground and was pretty vicious-sounding.

In early September, I set out the Havahart® trap and baited it with some dry cat food. It took two nights to snag her, but now I can report that another wild yellow cat from the neighborhood has now fallen prey to my pest management schemes.

And she is one wild vixen, too. I don't have video of her initial rampage the first time I went out to the trap once she was in it, but I just about couldn't manage to hang on to it when she was hissing and jumping and slamming her body all around. All I was trying to do when I moved her that first time was make sure she wasn't cooked in the direct sunlight, until I could get her hauled to the Animal Control shelter on the following Monday morning.

Challah Bread Pudding with Kahlua Cream Sauce

Since my friend Sheryl's visit here recently coincided with the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah holiday, I made a round challah loaf. A huge round challah loaf. And got several uses out of it: a bread accompaniment to two meals, some delicious French toast, and this past weekend: bread pudding.

And not just some regular old bread pudding. This is not a typical dessert for me...this might be only my second attempt at bread pudding ever. I think what really made it was the Kahlua cream sauce on top.

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"Challah Bread Pudding with Kahlua Cream Sauce," from Tori Avey's The Skiksa in the Kitchen blog.

Red Velvet Cookies

Here is a new cookie recipe find, which was included in a recent issue of Cuisine at Home. This was their inaugural voyage from the RoHo kitchen and the reception was encouraging!

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"Red Velvet Cookies," in Cuisine at Home, September/October 2013, p. 46.

Meal No. 818: Grilled Leg of Lamb Dijon

Earlier in the summer, I tried out a recipe that I'd never taken notice of in one of my cookbooks, but I'm glad I finally stumbled across it. It's grilled leg of lamb with a rich and aromatic dijon marinade, and that's what Sunday night's small gathering at the Roediger House was willing to partake of.

Kamado Meal #20

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"Grilled Leg of Lamb Dijon," in The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, compiled and edited by Julie Fisher Gunter. Birmingham: Oxmoor House (2006), p. 254.

"Sweet Onion Corn Bake," by Jeanette Travis of Fort Worth, TX. Published in Taste of Home, April/May 2003, p. 37-38.

Meal No. 817: Filipino Chicken Adobo

The Saturday night meal for a small gathering:

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"Introducing Chicken Adobo," by Bryan Roof. In Cook's Illustrated, March & April 2012, p. 6-7.

Meal No. 816: Planked Asian Pork Tenderloin

This was dinner this past Thursday night, which was also a chance to catch up with Roediger House regular Ben Phillis and find out how the first few weeks of school have gone.

I really like the sauce with this plank-grilled pork tenderloin but I'd like it to get "done" faster than it does.

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"Planked Pork Tenderloin with Asian Style BBQ Sauce," from Fire & Flavor. Recipe on cedar grilling planks package insert.

"Grown-Up Mac-N-Cheese," by Ina Garten. Recipe from the FoodNetwork.com website.

Meal No. 815: Ultimate Cream of Tomato Soup and Pimento Cheese Paninis

On Wednesday night, I ended up making soup again, putting me on a two-day soup streak. Not that there's anything wrong with that, especially when it's this excellent recipe for cream of tomato soup.

That night I also put to its first use an impulse purchase (that was on a great sale) from Costco: a panini griller. The pimento cheese paninis were a-maz-ing.

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

"South Carolina-Style Pimento Cheese." Recipe worked out by me, based on Sharon's Palmetto Pimento Cheese.

Meal No. 814: Boursin Potato Soup

Still running a couple of days behind on the blog...this is the meal from this past Tuesday evening. It was good, as can be expected from my Cuisine at Home recipes, but not as good as my usual recipe (see this blog post).

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"Boursin Potato Soup with Bacon and Chives," in Cuisine at Home, Issue 101, September/October 2013, p 19.

Meal No. 813: Sambal Chicken Skewers

Here's a snapshot of Monday night's simple one-bowl dinner: sambal chicken skewers.

The last time I made this, it was delicious but way too incredibly hot. This time, I backed way off on the sambal oelek and the sriracha. I served it over probably my best pot of basmati rice to date and watched several episodes of Archer while wolfing it down.

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"Sambal Chicken Skewers," in Bon Appétit, July 2013, p. 69.

Meal No. 812: Grilled Shrimp with Spicy Garlic Paste over Angel Hair Alfredo

This past Sunday night, as the house returned to normal after all the weekend activity, I wanted a decent but different dinner that would not have too much muss and fuss about it. My trip to the Harris Teeter netted some peeled and deveined shrimp but I wasn't initially certain about the use I'd put them to. A visit to the recipes on the Cook's Illustrated website clarified things for me, although I'm not expecting this to be a repeater on the RoHo menu in the future.

This was grilled shrimp with a spicy garlic paste, which I decided to serve over angel hair pasta with an alfredo sauce. The pasta and alfredo were better than the shrimp, but it was still reasonably edible.

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"Garlic Shrimp with Spicy Garlic Paste," from Cook's Illustrated.com.

Meal No. 811: Challah French Toast

Prior to Sheryl's departure to head back home to California, we got to share one more meal. For Sunday morning brunch, I used some of the remaining challah loaf to make French toast, along with some good old Southern sausage balls.

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"French Toast," from King Arthur Flour online.