Jan asked for a “healthier” shepherd’s pie for dinner on a weeknight. By “healthier” she meant no lamb or beef and no white potatoes. I decided to use ground turkey as my meat and—since I still wanted a Russet potato topping—I would make a fifty-fifty topping with sweet potatoes.
Karl’s Ying and Yang Cottage Pie
Filed under California Fusion, Main Dishes, Potatoes, Poultry, Turkey, Weeknight
Jan and I have colds this week, so she asked for chicken soup for dinner. It is Meyer lemon season and I thought that a garlic lemon soup would be the thing to make. Jan was unsure about this, because she thought it would be too sour. My solution was to add a dollop of lemon curd to cut the citric acid.
Karl’s Meyer Lemon Chicken Soup
Filed under California Fusion, Chicken, Main Dishes, Poultry, Soups
Jan was visiting her graduate friends in Santa Barbara last weekend. She brought me back some chili salt. She suggested that using it to top corn meal crackers would be something to do.
Karl’s Corn Crackers with Chili Pepper Salt
and (on right) Flor de Sel
Filed under bread, California Fusion, Side Dishes, Vegetarian
It is my birthday feast and my first choice is always lamb. I could do the usual barbecued lamb, but I wanted something a bit different this year. I drifted toward a lamb curry.
Karl’s Mughal Gosht Dopiaza – Two Onion Lamb
Filed under Lamb, Main Dishes, Stews
I wanted a rice dish to go with my Mughal gosht dopiaza and saag paneer. Looking for Mughal rice dishes, the ones I found all seemed to be modern recipes that included tomatoes. Tomatoes would have been an uncommon ingredient in India in the 1500’s. Picking ingredients from several recipes, I created my own pulao, using spices that would have been common in the 16th Century Mughal Empire.
Karl’s Masoor dal Pulao – Red Lentil Rice
Filed under Rice, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian
Originally adapted from Sinful Curry
I wanted a vegetable dish for my birthday dinner to go with my Mughal lamb and rice dishes. My family really likes saag paneer, which has become my go-to dish for Indian meals. The only ingredient in modern Indian cuisine that would have been uncommon 500 years ago is tomatoes.
Karl’s Mughal Saag Paneer
Filed under Green Vegetables, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian
To go with the red lentil soup I was making for Jan’s friend, Jan asked me to make crackers. Her friend is allergic to dairy, so I could not make my usual butter crackers. I decided to change the spicing of my water crackers to match the soup by adding cumin.
Karl’s Cumin Water Crackers
Filed under bread, California Fusion, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian
Jan has spent this weekend visiting her graduate school friends in Santa Barbara. One of her friends is dropping her off, on her way to the North Bay. She requesting something for a quick snack, before she continues her journey.
Karl’s Red Lentil Soup
Filed under California Fusion, Side Dishes, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian, Weeknight
I made meat loaf recently and both Jan and Eilene complained that there was too much “loaf” and not enough “crusty bits.” To make up for this deficit, I decided to make mini-meatloaves. These would be small enough so that they would be all crusty end bits.
Karl’s Mini-Meatloaves
Filed under Beef, California Fusion, Main Dishes, Pork
The first dish I created on my own—rather than following a recipe—was a soup that Miriam called “Papa’s Fine Soup.” Some powdered lemon grass, chicken, snow peas, green onion, and udon noodles. While this soup has changed over time, it has been a comfort food in our house for almost 30 years.
Filed under California Fusion, Chicken, Main Dishes, Poultry, Soups
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Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 