Dojo Cooking Thread

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Bison Tenderloin Steak Dinner

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Bison is so damn delicious, I love it! Much-healthier than beef as well!

As yesterday was Easter, had my parents and my sister over (they're all vaccinated, so they're good ) and we had a nice feast.

Made Tarozzi again as our appetizer; made it MUCH BETTER this time around:



Then the leg of lamb, both pre and post-cooking (I would've added many more carrots, but I only had 1 left... thought I had more!)






My plate: Wild Rice, Boiled Corn, A mix of Rapini (broccoli rabe) and Swiss Chard and my portion of the Leg of Lamb:



And for Dessert, Lombardian Dish #16, Colomba Pasquale. My moulds didn't come in, so I had to make a rudimentary one out of aluminum foil. It didn't sit properly during the leavening and, needless to say, it didn't retain the, "dove," shape, at all... But it's still delicious!

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Turkey lunch with sweet potato

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Aside from my weekend dishes (all the Lombardian ones), I eat healthy... but dude, you are THE HEALTHIEST EATER ON THE PLANET lol. It's awesome!

I'm not a fan of Brussels Sprouts; not a fan of cabbage in general (unless it is boiled to death and the stems are removed).

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Aside from my weekend dishes (all the Lombardian ones), I eat healthily... but dude, you are THE HEALTHIEST EATER ON THE PLANET lol. It's awesome!

I'm not a fan of Brussels Sprouts; not a fan of cabbage in general (unless it is boiled to death and the stems are removed).

LOL Thank you for the compliment! Ironically, I used to be overweight and did not like being fat so I decided to exercise more and eat better as I used to eat a lot of junk food. Then there's the fact that as someone who is approaching middle-age, it's better that I take care of myself now than later. As my Doctor told me, that unhealthy habits tend to affect you when you get older.

Also, I love Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts! The only vegetable I cannot stand is canned green beans due to how mushy they are. With all that being said, I think you are healthier than I am since you do jogging and boxing. All I do is walking and a bit of cardio.

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Shrimp Dinner

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

LOL Thank you for the compliment! Ironically, I used to be overweight and did not like being fat so I decided to exercise more and eat better as I used to eat a lot of junk food. Then there's the fact that as someone who is approaching middle-age, it's better that I take care of myself now than later. As my Doctor told me, that unhealthy habits tend to affect you when you get older.

Also, I love Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts! The only vegetable I cannot stand is canned green beans due to how mushy they are. With all that being said, I think you are healthier than I am since you do jogging and boxing. All I do is walking and a bit of cardio.

Thank you! But you consistently eat healthy; I only eat healthy, 4-5 days a week and the weekend is typically a, "do what you want," weekend (but I still never go overboard; if I have pop, it'll be one can for the whole weekend. If I have fried or fast food, it's for 1 meal, etc.)

And yes, I'm trying to get EVEN MORE steps in, because we have been having a little competition at work, through a step counter app, so I find myself trying to go for little walks here and there and doing extra things, like taking a needlessly-complicated route to my stairs and going up and down twice lol, just to get some extra steps in :)

I said it to my wife last night (for the millionth time lol), I have the BP and cholesterol levels of a teenager, despite being overweight; it's all my job and if I didn't sit for 8+ hours a day, I would definitely be slimmer (as I was able to maintain a weight of around 210 or so, when I worked at the local grocery store for 7+ years, as I was on my feet constantly for 8+ hours). I also ate worse back then too and didn't even get a ton of exercise, but the difference was the majority of my day, I was on my feet, zipping around. Now, the majority of my day, I sit and don't move

Job means everything!

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Turkey Lunch with Tumeric, Dragon Fruit, and Mango.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

My wife finished our kitchen backsplash on Saturday, so I couldn't cook for dinner (we ordered from a local Burger place that is PHENOMENAL, easily the best burgers I've ever eaten), but I was able to make some lamb last night!

So I had plans on making Lombardian Dish #17, but I took out the lamb chops, instead of the lamb shoulder... so I just made the chops (seared for about 3-5 minutes total, in a cast-iron skillet), which sat in Himalayan Pink Salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and mint, for about 2 1/2 hours. I still made polenta and it was significantly-better than the lst time I made it (I now know how to do it perfectly). Finished off with a cucumber salad on the side and this was a fine meal indeed.

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Chicken Lunch with Okra, Dragon Fruit, and Pomegranate.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

I like Dragonfruit; it's a bit bland, but I enjoy eating it and the seeds are a lot like Kiwi

A couple of things I have made here and there:

2 Fridays ago (don't know why I didn't post it), a bit of Rainbow Trout, with Zucchini and Jasmine Rice.




On Wednesday, made my Pumpkin Tortelli again:



This past Friday, made Shrimp Po' Boys; absolutely love this sandwich as it is super-tasty and satisfying. Had with a Cucumber Salad:




And last night, my wife and I made pizza (she did 75% of the work, though I had to mend a few things, here and there):



My wife (and I, again, though I helped much-less) also made Eclairs for Mother's Day, from scratch; I will provide pics, just don't have any now

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Trout is delicious and one of my favorite fish to eat next to sockeye salmon. Also, thank you for the pizza pictures as I am interested in making a healthy cauliflower-style pizza myself. Also, I may give that pumpkin tortellini recipe a try.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Not a problem!

If you know how to make fresh pasta (100% better than ANYTHING you can buy, bar none), it's a joy to eat and enjoy.

The filling is:

- Roasted Pumpkin; as needed
- 3 Amaretto cookies; crushed
- 1 egg; raw
- Grated Grana Padano cheese (or Parmiggiano); as needed (I don't use a lot as I'm not a fan of those types of hard cheeses)
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

Just blend that all together, until it is a homogenous, orangey-yellow mixture, then place about 1/2-1 tsp of the filling on your fresh pasta sheets, cut them in squares, fold and seal, then take the two outside ends and attach them, to make a hat-like piece of pasta.

That's it! Cook in boiling water for 2 minutes (if fresh) or 5 (if frozen) and then once they float, remove and drain. Grab a frying pan and melt a little bit of butter over medium heat (for one person, around a teaspoon or so, tablespoon at the absolute most) and then once it is melted, throw in some dried sage and after a couple more minutes, the pasta. Stir and toss with a wooden spoon for about 3 minutes at the most, then serve.

if you don't wish to use butter, you can use olive oil as a substitute, though it isn't the proper way to eat this lol.

Lombardy is on-par with Toronto, in terms of longitude, basically, so the climate is not conducive to growing olives, hence no olive oil is used in classic recipes.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Fired up the BBQ this weekend and got grilling!

On Saturday:



Pork Tenderloin and Zucchini kebobs (my wife's had onions on hers as well), with a bit of Jasmine Rice. I marinated the pork in a tablespoon of Char Siu sauce, Taijin Seasoning, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper and olive oil. This was the most-perfect I have ever cooked pork and it was super-delicious!

And last night:



Rotisseried a chicken for about 2 hours (and still could've gone longer), along with grilled Ataulfo Mango and a healty mix of cucumber, tomato, avocado, the mango that couldn't be grilled (the meat along the stone) and sliced tomatillo, that was grilled before cutting, mixed with olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

I rubbed the chicken with Pink Himalayan Salt, Taijin seasoning, pepper and Garlic Powder, plus a bit of lime juice injected into certain parts of the meat and man, was it ever delicious. The mango was phenomenal as well. There's enough chicken left over for other meals as well, so it was a great choice! I will be doing another one, probably in June or July

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Fired up the BBQ this weekend and got grilling!

On Saturday:

View attachment 11424

Pork Tenderloin and Zucchini kebobs (my wife's had onions on hers as well), with a bit of Jasmine Rice. I marinated the pork in a tablespoon of Char Siu sauce, Taijin Seasoning, Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper, and olive oil. This was the most perfect I have ever cooked pork and it was super-delicious!

And last night:

View attachment 11426

Rotisseried a chicken for about 2 hours (and still could've gone longer), along with grilled Ataulfo Mango and a healthy mix of cucumber, tomato, avocado, the mango that couldn't be grilled (the meat along with the stone), and sliced tomatillo, that was grilled before cutting, mixed with olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper.

I rubbed the chicken with Pink Himalayan Salt, Taijin seasoning, pepper, and Garlic Powder, plus a bit of lime juice injected into certain parts of the meat, and man, was it ever delicious. The mango was phenomenal as well. There's enough chicken leftover for other meals as well, so it was a great choice! I will be doing another one, probably in June or July

I am honestly envious of you as I live in a small apartment and don't have any room for a barbecue pit. Everything you and your wife cooked up looks delicious. While I am not a fan of pork, I think I might try out that skewer recipe with either chicken or turkey breast.

On a side note, as this doesn't apply to cooking per se, but yesterday I ate my first bit of candy in about a year and the sweetness overwhelmed me. It's probably because my taste buds are so used to the subtle sweetness of fruit in comparison.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Trust me, I had the BBQ for a full year before I used it for the first time (last year) and I too was confined to non-BBQ residences, until we purchased our home in 2019; it's never too late to start!

And I will say, while you can't rotisserie a chicken on a skillet, you can absolutely make the pork (or in your case, chicken/turkey) on a cast iron skillet; it's very much the same vessel, just a different method, but things come out just as tasty!

At my first job (meat department at a grocery store), I was a kebob fiend and have probably made... ooh, I don't know, literally like 5,000 kebobs in my life (and at work, we cooked up maybe 200 of those 5,000 I made lol), so it's very easy; meat, your favourite veggies and either on skilled, in the oven or on a BBQ, it all works!

And I know what you mean about candy! I LOVE candy, but I've cut down to maybe a pound a month (spread over over days/weeks, of course), because it is just so bad for you.

But I'm not a huge sugary-sweet guy (I like sweetness, but like you, from fruit, veggies and the like; not so much sugar); I'm a sour candy guy and I go ape over it

Sour Jubes are my favourite candy on the planet. Love it. And I haven't had a sour jube since like January :'(

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Fired up the grill once more (Sunday) and made some Ribeyes, with Shrimp skewers and BBQ'd zucchini, done in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar:



Only thing on the steaks was a bit of Montreal Steak Spice (cracked pepper, kosher salt, fennel seeds and a couple of other herbs/spices) and I did the shrimp in a Char Siu sauce, with a touch of Soy Sauce thrown in as well.

On Saturday, we ate at my parents' and my dad made Vitello Tonnato (or Vitelle Tonée, if you're French), which is veal eye of round, boiled, then sliced thinly. Once setup as a ring around your plate (or however you wish to place the meat), you blend tuna, capers, parsley and lemon juice, then pour that mixture over and eat it cold. I LOVE this dish and it is a Piedmontese dish, which is the region right next to Lombardy:



Alongside was some healthy broccoli and beets

Yesterday morning (long weekend in Canada), I made pancakes from scratch and these turned out the best of any pancakes I've ever made... by far:



All were uniform size, shape, colour and doneness. Happy with myself :)

 

[Tsukuyomimagi99]

Fired up the grill once more (Sunday) and made some Ribeyes, with Shrimp skewers and BBQ'd zucchini, done in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar:

View attachment 11513

The only thing on the steaks was a bit of Montreal Steak Spice (cracked pepper, kosher salt, fennel seeds, and a couple of other herbs/spices) and I did the shrimp in a Char Siu sauce, with a touch of Soy Sauce thrown in as well.

On Saturday, we ate at my parents', and my dad made Vitello Tonnato (or Vitelle Tonée, if you're French), which is a veal eye of round, boiled, then sliced thinly. Once set up as a ring around your plate (or however you wish to place the meat), you blend tuna, capers, parsley, and lemon juice, then pour that mixture over and eat it cold. I LOVE this dish and it is a Piedmontese dish, which is the region right next to Lombardy:

View attachment 11515

Alongside was some healthy broccoli and beets

Yesterday morning (long weekend in Canada), I made pancakes from scratch and these turned out the best of any pancakes I've ever made... by far:

View attachment 11518

All were uniform size, shape, color, and doneness. Happy with myself :)

If I ever end up rich, I might hire you to be my chef. Though I would require you to cook only extremely healthy meals. Everything you make looks delicious, and you are a far superior cook to me.

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Trust me, I can cook even healthier; I'm making a salad tonight of romaine lettuce, smoked salmon, tuna (skipjack, as my wife cannot eat Yellowfin at this current time. Skipjack is the healthiest variety), avocado, salt, pepper, olive oil and a splash of vinegar.

We eat it twice (sometimes 3 times) a week, every week, without fail.

For lunch on Friday, I'm making a bean salad consisting of 5 different beans, an entire carrot (grated), an entire stalk of celery (chopped), a few chives, tuna, bocconcini, ginger, chia seeds, flax seed, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The whole thing is about 500 calories and is loaded to the teeth with nutrients, with the only real fat coming from the olive oil (of which not much is used).

I think I would get a kick out of being a private chef and would do my absolute best!

And if I ever win the lottery, I'll fly you up to Canada and cook for you!

 

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Some dishes from the past 2 weeks!



Homemade beef burgers. They shrunk on me QUITE a bit, but you still had a decent bite. I top mine with ketchup, mustard, guacamole (homemade), a hot sauce of sorts, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and pickle (homemade as well). When I think about it, wiith the size of the bun, meat maybe made up 15% of the actual bite lol. That was 2 Sundays ago.



And the same thing, but with chicken thighs; I made one deep-fried and the other grilled (the pic is the deep-fried one). I remembered why I don't buy thighs, when I was cleaning them; they have SO MUCH damn fat and they are a PITA to clean and prep for cooking. I will stick to breast going forward. In this guy, I omitted the ketchup and mustard, added a sundried tomato and Beechhouse sauce (despite what it looks like, it is NOT a mayonnaise-based sauce; it is a concoction by a local burger place and they gave us extra. It's garlic-based, with finely-minced carrot and something green in it. If there is anything dairy in it, it would be yogurt, but it sure doesn't taste like it lol). Quite delicious.



Homemade (not by us) pork sausages and homemade (not by us lol) Lamb Spiedini. Both are made in-house by my wife's uncle (who owns a butcher shop). The sausages lost a ton of fat, so they weren't greasy or full of nasty chunks (like most store-bought sausages are) and the spiedini were absolutely delicious; just put a bit of Montreal Steak Spice on them.




And Lombardian dish #17, Luccio alla Mantovana (Pike, Mantuan-Style). I caught 2 pike last weekend and made the smaller of the two, for my wife and I. Basically, you get a huge roasting pot, fill it with water, chop up some carrot, celery, onion and parsley, the add some salt and white wine and let that cook for 45 minutes-an hour. Then you take your pike (cleaned and scaled, of course) and dunk it in, to cook for 30-45 minutes. Once done, you let it sit for another 10 minutes (at least) and then remove the pike, peel the skin off and break the meat into smaller pieces, removing any and all bones. Once that's done, you make a sauce, of butter (not much, about a tbsp. at the most), minced anchovies, minced garlic and minced parsley, plus salt and pepper to taste. Mix that well and then pour over the pike, allowing to sit for at least an hour, but up to a day. While it's sitting, make polenta lol. This was SO DELICIOUS, it would be a hit at parties as a first course. Despite being a smaller pike (1.47 pounds. We don't keep anything under 1.25 pounds or above 4 pounds), there was a ton of meat left over, so I have it for lunch today as well .

Nothing like catching your own meat (the Pike), growing your own vegetables (parsley and garlic) and then putting them together to make something wonderful