So what's for dinner tonight?

We have fresh wild salmon at our markets too, gads it is lovely.
I have a friend who lives on the Trinity, or about twenty feet away from it. They've just opened up the dams to revify the river...

I had dinner guests and they wanted German food, so
I cooked German food:

Roulades, spread with mustard, stuffed with cheese, bacon and a pickle. Side dish: potatoe dumplings and salad.

Dessert: Lemon poundcake topped with vanilla ice cream
and hot raspberries.

And now I need some Grappa to help me digest everything....

Your soup sound great, piff.

Roulades, is that rolled beef?

I had some homemade spinach pasta from the co-op. Sadly the pasta clung to itself like a frightened octopus. It was still good though. Then a salad of butter lettuce and a thin sliced, get ready, brussel sprout uncooked, and some italian parsley and some honeyroasted sunflower seeds and some sesame orange dressing. Not bad, not bad.
On the other hand, I'm still hungry.

I never thought of eating Brussel sprouts raw, but why not? Osso, you're a genius!

It's certainly better than boiling them to buggery, like my Grandma used to do!

Brussel sprouts and parsnips are about the only vegetables I don't care to eat. I made brussel sprouts for my daughters once and based on their reaction to them I told them I'd found the perfect 'punishment' for bad behavior - make 'em eat brussel sprouts!!!

Last night's dinner resulted from a visit to Whole Foods deli counter. K had sushi, M had a grilled cheese sandwich and a whole box of fresh blackberries, I had tuna Roman salad which is tuna, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, red pepper and red onion with mayo. YUM! I'll be having it again for lunch today.

I hated brussel sprouts and parsnips as a child. Have had brussel sprouts cooked without killing them only once since then, at someone's house, and I sort of liked them. Tried slicing them (or one, in a salad) one time, and genuinely liked it, so I do it once in a while now.
Parsnips are still awaiting an adult cooking effort on my part.

Osso- I'll have to try a Br. sprout sliced thin & raw. Did you leave it in a vinagrette for a while? I love sprouts when they are small and whole and steamed for a few minutes, then browned in butter ala Julia Child. A little bit of charring just makes them better.

Someone recommended that I try a roasted vegetable dish from Epicurous which featured parsnips, rutabagas and potatoes. It was really good but I haven't made it since and had the produce man help me pick everything. I honestly can't remember which is the rutabaga and which is the parsnip. (One is a big radish in purple & cream and the other looks like a white carrot, right?)

Jane -- What a feast! The pickle?? Is that traditional? I've never made rouladen. I'm wondering how you make it and your potato dumplings, too. Are both of those boiled/steamed in broth?


Tonight.... I dunno yet. More berries for dessert, that's for sure!

Tonight's dinner should be leftovers. Mr B is the leftover eater of the family and he's traveling this week so the chore is left to the rest of us. What I have is, two-week old pasta with pesto (better toss that one), roast pork left from Sunday, a bit of bok choi and mushrooms and a *ton* of mesculin greens picked on Friday that no one seems to be eating. Ok, salad and roast pork for the girls, I'll finish up the chinese veggies and help with the roast. I'll also include some greens with my tuna/swiss on ww sandwich for lunch. Sounds like a plan....

No, Swimpy, I just sliced it and put it in the salad..

and I've saved a recipe for roasted winter veggies that sounds just like that one. I think parsnips are white, but, duh, I don't know for sure..

That's right, osso. White 'carrots' that taste as opposite from a carrot as you can imagine.

A friend once offered me some vegetarian lasagna made with eggplant instead of noodles. I said sure, although I'm not overly fond of eggplant. I was managing to enjoy it all the same until I ran into the parsnip surprise. Yabba!!! what to do with a mouthful of eggplant that's just turned into eggplant/parsnip casserole???? I swallowed it whole and then proceeded to pick at it a bit before declaring myself full. I just can't eat parsnips.

Hopefully not turkey. I love turkey, but I hate to repeat meals night after night. We roasted a boneless turkey breast last night, and there was a lot leftover, so I took some for lunch. So, with any luck, pork chops tonight.

Rouladen are made with strips of thinly sliced beef (what butchers in America once refered to as "breakfast steaks," although they are no longer to be found in markets), which are then rolled up with a vegetable of some kind inside--traditionally, a pickle. As a lover of cucumbers and a purist, pickles disgust me. I have made wonderful rouladen using asparagus.


I'm hungry as hell . . . i'm so hungry, i could eat a frozen, raw dog . . .

No! not raw dog! <think of all the uncooked hair...>

Set, try a mexican market. They slice their beef really thin, it might work. Plus there's almost always a butcher on duty who can slice it any way you want it, unlike american supermarkets.

Parsips are really good cooked sliced or slivered and cooked in butter or roasted. They are sweeter than a carrot.

Piffka wrote:


Yes it is a traditional meal. I had the butcher slice me thin long
beef steaks. I put salt/pepper on one side and had the
other covered with mustard. Then I put a slice of swiss cheese,
bacon, and a large pickle one one end of the beef, rolled
it up and held it with a metal pin. I rolled the rouladen in flour
and gave them in a large frying pan with hot olive oil.
I browned them on all sides and reduced the heat and let
it cook for good 1,5 hours. I also add beef broth to it and
in the end tomato slices (for the sauce). That's it!

As for the potato dumplings, I am not as good as my mother, who makes them from scratch - I'll buy the potato powder,
add some water to it, make the dumplings and cook them
in hot saltwater for about 20 min.

had "rouladen" today. mrs. h found some thin slices of beef at A & P. the slices were rolled, filled with bacon, slice of onion and pickle slice (sorry, set, i know it brings up bad childhood memories.)
i was the appointed pickle slicer !
the rouladen were browned in a pan and simmered slowly in some veal stock (veal stock left over from bailey's and cleo's visit; they couldn't finish all the vealbroth mrs h had prepared for them for their kibble ; so we finished it !)
***almost forgot : the beef needed a good pounding to flatten and make it tender).
gravy was finished with plenty of sourcream.
had it for lunch today with "spaetzle" and fresh aspargus, also a side salad.

brussel sprouts : they are best after they have had a touch of frost . we like to buy some whole stalks from the farmer in late october; they seem to be at their prime at that time. mrs h always parboils them; it seems to take any bitterness out - also a little easier to digest ! (btw brussel sprouts are one vegetable that bailey and cleo are definetely NOT allowed to have. you wouldn't want to be in the same room with them after they've had brussel sprouts ! one of the funny things is that if they've had brussel sprouts - or a similar veggie - and have the anticipated "reaction" they look at us as if we are the offending party ! it's really funny - but only once !). hbg

ummmm, I only put one brussel sprout in that salad...