Foodies BS Thread.

My grill.... Weber Genisis 300 with the Off Road pkg.











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So, the wife is out of town, and I'm on a strict budget while she's gone. Of course, I'm taking the time she's away to make all the stuff I like that she doesn't!

Anyhow, I'm at the grocery store today...and in the course of my shopping, I notice that if I can spend LESS than my allowed amount on food, I can easily shift that extra money into beer without her knowing!

Of course, I'm not a ramen-noodle kind of guy any more, so I've still gots to have some darn good kibble on my plate. Hrmm.

I take a tour around the store, and find some items:

ON SALE. Big harvest this week, manager bought too much. Selling to clear it out.



Also on sale: Those steamer bagged frozen veggie sides things. $2.39 buy one, get one. Cha-ching! Lets make a plan...



Flour, a single beaten egg, some panko bread crumbs...salt, pepper, old bay...

Start by separating the fish into pieces that'll cook faster and more evenly.



Then, make sure I set them up like they'll go in the pan. Season. Both sides.



Dredge flour, dunk egg, roll crumbs. The supervisor assures me I'm doing OK on my own so far...



A couple pats of unsalted sweet cream butter into my trusty nonstick...medium-high heat, get it just to foaming...



Slap 'em in. Tight fit. Almost too tight. If I wasn't hungry I'd prolly go to a bigger pan.



Three minutes a side. Flip once. Plate with the freshly nuked side of taters, green beans, mushrooms.



The best of all worlds.




Cost: $3.11 for the fish, $1.20 for the side. Two meals for less than $5...I have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

 

This one took me four previous tries (that something went wrong on, to be fixed in the next try) to get right. Here's #5, and the winner!

I usually make this in the summer, when the fresh Vidalia onions start arriving on the trucks from Georgia.



Ingredients:

*4 or 5 sweet onions (combination with a red thrown in for flavor is fine) about 4ish pounds
*3 tablespoons butter
*1 teaspoon salt
*1-2 cups white wine
*10 ounces canned beef consume
*20 ounces beef broth (home-made is best, otherwise use low sodium/no fat)
*Herbs: thyme, bay leaf, parsley, maybe some basil…to taste.
*bread
*salt/pepper to taste
*Splash of flavor…cognac, vinaigrette, etc. Optional.
*cheese of choice…Fontina, Gruyere, Mozz if you don’t mind strings…

Directions:


Rough chop your onions into half-moons, on the smallish side so they don’t hang off the spoon. Set your electric skillet for 350 degrees.



Melt three tablespoons of butter. Once that is coating the skillet bottom, enter the onions. Add a big handful, then sprinkle a wee bit of salt over the pile. Add another big handful, another pinch of salt. Repeat till the skillet is FULL. (You can do this on a stovetop in a big ol’ cast iron, if you don’t have an electric…medium-low heat and let it sit on the fire for a good five minutes to get warmed up)



Let this sit for at LEAST an hour. Resist the urge to stir for half an hour, if not longer, and no more than once every 15 minutes. Some of them will start to burn. LET THEM. You want a deep, mahogany color and complete caramelization. According to my timers, it took my skillet 1 hour & 40 minutes to make this:



At about an hour ten is when I really started getting the color and aroma that told me enough water had cooked out to start melting the sugars. Plan enough time accordingly.

…

Add just enough white wine to cover the bottom of the skillet (mine is a little under two cups…if you have a smaller skillet, use a little less) and crank the heat to its highest setting. Reduce for 5-10 minutes or until your wine reduces to a syrup consistency. When you pour it in, use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the yummy bits of fond on the bottom of the pan. If there aren’t any, you’re doing it wrong.



Now, the liquids:
Add the consume and the broth. Add the bouquet garnique (herbs), stir it all together, and cover. Drop the heat to simmer for about 15-20 minutes.



Now, any oven-proof bowl will work here. I don’t have the ‘classic’ crocks, though they are available in many places. I’m cheap. Sue me.

Punch out some rounds of whatever bread you like…large country-style white works nicely if you snag a loaf from the bakery. But almost anything will work here…make sure you de-crust the edges! Have your oven broiler on full-boar and pop the bread about 6 inches from the element for about 30 seconds. Don’t go anywhere, these burn FAST.



Stir and season your soup to taste. Salt (prolly not needed, but you never know), pepper. Some like a bright splash of cognac for taste. Remove the bouquet/bay leaf:


Add soup to bowl, stopping about half an inch from the top. Put bread browned side DOWN into the bowl. Add cheese of choice (I have Fontina here) and pop this under the broiler 1-2 minutes…don’t go anywhere, we want to MELT the cheese, not brown it much!



Time elapsed: Two hours. The taste: Priceless.



Now, some quick notes:

Yes, I know I didn't de-crust the bread in the pic. I ran out and had to use some cheap sandwich bread for the shot after a cataclysmic failure yesterday.

Also, I know the bowl isn't full enough of soup when I put the bread on top and added the cheese for the pic. My dad called from up north just as I was finishing up and I hurried through that last part

The flavor is AMAZING though. Pleasant mouth feel without being too thick, full flavor, great sweetness from the onions. I'm gonna go with four Vidalias and two large hot reds next time for a little more heat and a little less sweet.

 

That soup looks awesome!

 

^^^X2 I am hungry. I had an omelette this morning, tuna sandwich for dinner and lunch was a banana and an orange. Starving!!! Can't wait for monday to be over.....

 

That would make some serious guacamole....... Where are the chips and limes ???

 

going to have to try this one out!!!

 

i cant build a fond on non stick. i do french onion soup all the time. i cook the onions in the oven in my cast iron dutch oven. stirring onions for that long isnt a good time for me. try vermouth as the booze. it is great in that soup.

i get lazy at the end. i never do the bread raft or the cheese. i am not a huge cheese eater. great job xaks.

 

I never cut one of these before. It wasn't hard but I feel pretty accomplished for some reason haha.

 

Looks good,....

 

Wow, some really good looking foodies on here lately.
Good job everyone!

I have decided to try something that I had never made before - meatloaf on the grill. I am not a huge meatloaf fan, but this came out great.

Turkey bacon and mozzerella cheese weave on top.




Three cheese garlic bread to go with it.

 

mmm meatloaf kinda reminded me of the bacon bomb explosion!

 

Meatloaf is terribly under-rated in my opinion. However, when done badly (which is most of the time) it truly should be a crime against humanity.

When done right, it is AWESOME. I usually use the crockpot and let it cook low, slow and wet that way.

 

That looks great Ferdie!! ^^^

 

meatloaf is one of my favorite foods. probably because it is so closely related to a burger. damn.

 

My dinner choice for tonite: BBQ keilbasa, red beans and rice and veg medley...

 

Nice Dennis! ^^^

 

I'll try to post a cooked pic later, depends if I can control my hunger!

 

damn..that is a clean stovetop!!