Broiled salmon has become a go to weekday dish when I need a fast meal for the family. Salmon can be canvas to express yourself—its strong flavor is complimented by a wide variety of possible herbs, spices and glazes. Frequently, I start with a glaze of one of my fruit jams—lemon or orange marmalade—but today I chose to use savory. Savory is an herb similar to sage.
Karl’s Broiled Savory Salmon
Filed under Main Dishes
Wife Jan has asked me to make cornbread. In and of itself cornbread is not a meal, it does though pair very well with chili. Since cornbread is a starch, I wanted to make a straight, bean-less chili con carne, but Jan said she like beans in her chili, so I added about half as many as I would usually add to a bean chili.
Karl’s Chili con Carne with Beans
Filed under Beef, Main Dishes, Sauces and Spices
I am frequently stumped by the idea “What am I making for dinner?” Over the isolation, I have often settled for the tried and true recipes that I know my family likes, but over time even these pall. In these cases I go to the internet and search, “Ideas for dinner”—especially the hits that say things like, “Fifty recipes for a quick dinner.” I rapidly go through the pictures and recipe names going, “No, no, no, possibly, no, etc,” until I find something that “rings my bell.”
Karl’s Israeli Couscous with Lemon Garlic Shrimp
Filed under Main Dishes, Shrimp
Kofta is a general Middle Eastern to Indian term for grilled ground meat—usually mixed with other things. You may form the meat mixture into balls, loafs or stuff it into something—leaves, vegetables, whatever. What you flavor/add to the meat, and what you do with it then, is limited only by your own imagination. Koobideh is the Persian name for kofta made with beef or lamb, although I have frequently known it to be made from beef and lamb in the local Persian restaurants. Today, wife Jan asked for koobideh meat balls with rice for dinner. The traditional Persian accompaniment to the meat is steamed rice, called chelow.
Karl’s Chelow Koobideh with Mint Yogurt
Filed under Beef, Lamb, Main Dishes
Covid19 has restricted my buying habits to a great extent—I can no longer shop multiple ethnic stores to get just the right ingredients. As a result, I have been making mostly “old favorites” that have easily obtained ingredients. This dish has become an almost weekly meal in my house—and not just because it takes only about ten minutes to put on the table. This dish is not so much a recipe, but an assembly of ingredients—the only “cooking” required is a few minutes in the microwave to soften the pita bread and to warm up the falafel balls.
Karl’s Trader Joe’s Falafels
Filed under Main Dishes, Vegan
This Sunday’s Mercury News food section had a recipe for lobster spaghetti. As my followers may know, I cannot make any recipe as written—I have to add my own twists. Italian food with no onion—“Inconceivable!!!!”
Karl’s Lobster Linguini
Note: I have not posted any recipes in months. Some have used this time productively—for example my wife who has just written her 11th book. Part of my hiatus was due to the difficulty of shopping these days. The major reason, however, was that my kids—in concern for my mental health during a time of Covid—convinced me to play Dragon Age and Skyrim. It has taken me months to resurface—but their plan did work in the sense that those months just flew by. When I finally tried to post something new, I found that WordPress had taken away my “classic editor” and replaced it with a blank screen where all of the controls were hidden in long drop-down menus. It took me a while to recover from the shock. Continue reading
Filed under Main Dishes, Pasta, Seafood
In the past, I have railed against “add can one to can two” recipes. Given the current Covid crisis, I find I must change my opinion on this subject. When you cannot go out shopping every day for fresh food, all you may have are a couple of cans of foods. Needs must!
Karl’s Crisis Tortilla Soup
Filed under Main Dishes, Soups, Vegetarian
Daughter Miriam is on an elimination diet and can only eat protein and leafy greens—no seeds (including black pepper), nuts, or root vegetables. Added to the problem she has with the Allium family—garlic and onions—this is proving quite the culinary challenge. For Sunday dinner, I am making a soup with several greens—kale, escarole, and watercress—leaf herbs—such as thyme and summer savory—and poached chicken.
Karl’s Super Food Soup with Chicken
Filed under Chicken, Main Dishes, Soups
Earlier this week I made beef and spinach hand pies. I ran out of filling and I was left with two lumps of dough. Thinking quickly I shredded some slices of ham and grated some cheese to fill the last two pies. Wife Jan asked me to make more, but not willing to make these pies exactly the same I decided to add some green onion.
Karl’s Ham and Cheese Hand Pies
For breakfast stick a poached egg in the hole
Filed under Main Dishes
I have not posted in a while, between company and other commitments, I found I could cook or write about cooking. I love stuffed breads—a meal in a handy bread pocket, whether you call them samsa, pasties, samosa, or bierock—the major difference between all of these pocket breads is the type of starch that you use to wrap around the savory filling. These filling delights also have a second advantage in that—with one preparation—you can feed a family of three for several meals.
Karl’s Beef and Spinach Hand Pies
Filed under Beef, Main Dishes
karllueck
Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 