The bread looks great, Jasdip! Did you bake it in a dutch oven?

Wow Iove the look of your bread Jasdip.

Thanks, ladies. I can't remember if my handle of the dutch oven is heatproof to 450° so I used my small oval roasting pan. Do you have the blue enamel roasting pans? The small one works perfectly. Heated the roasting pan, covered, then plopped the bread and parchment inside. Uncovered after 35 minutes to brown the top.

Home after my visit to middle son and his family. I was craving vegetables so made a clear vegetable soup and added a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Jasdip, I'm curious about the roasting pan you used for the bread. Is it a enamel coated cast iron roaster or something like this?

That's the one, in your link Shambo. I used the smallest size.

Thanks for the info, Jasdip. I think I finally might give the no knead bread technique a try. I've been hesitant for years because of fear of dropping a heavy & hot enameled cast iron dutch oven. It's hard enough when I make stew or braised short ribs with it. I simply couldn't imagine trying to toss dough into a hot dutch oven and then trying to get it out once it was baked. I've used those graniteware pans for years. They're much lighter and have convenient handles. Thanks.

Jasdip, your bread is beautiful! I never tried Jim Lahey's recipe, but have had success with the no-knead method in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. The loaves are free formed so need for a cast iron pot.

http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/01/01/no-knead-crusty-white-bread/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/no-knead-crusty-white-bread-recipe

Pics are years ago. That was the last of the batch.

https://peekaboo.smugmug.com/Food/Artisan-5-Minute-Bread/

neely, is that cucumber in your soup? and what made it purple (red cabbage, raddicchio?). I'm always looking for new soup ideas!

jasdip, your bread looks great and I'm actually shocked that you used that roasting pan successfully! If you have a romertopf, try it for bread!

Tonight we'll be having Chicken and Forty Cloves of Garlic for dinner, with mashed potatoes and probably broccoli. Haven't made it in forever! My garlic harvest was especially good this year and I'm trying a mix of three different varieties.

No not cucumber party- music just zucchini. The pink colour came from red cabbage. This was freshly made soup, not cooked very long. It had gone that bluey colour by the next morning.

My DH has his birthday on the 23rd Dec so we usually go out or cook something a little special. This year we had lobster tails cooked in butter, garlic and parsley. Scalloped potatoes and a rocket and pear salad. It was all good. Instead of a cake I made pavlova with mango raspberry and of course passionfruit pulp.

Shambo, many light weight oven safe pots with a lid will work. Nice if it has a heavier bottom than a thin stainless pasta pot, but we often use a deep sauce pot DH bought cheap at a Taget when he was working out of town and wanting to bake bread. It is enough just pulling out a hot pot, removing lid, dropping in the wet dough, then back into hot oven to bake. Practice with a cold oven, setting the pot on an empty stovetop burner using good oven gloves. With the dough on a cloth towel it can easily be lifted by the cloth ends and slid into the pot.

Good looking loaf! And soup, and wow... the lobster.

Going grocery shopping for the first time since July. Work on hiatus.. (DH has been doing all the shopping). Exciting to hit the seafood counter.

Thanks for the hints, sleevendog. I'm almost at the point where using the cast iron dutch oven for anything is too much. I'm near a TJ Maxx, so I bet I could find another stainless steel dutch oven specifically for baking and at a reasonable price.

Neely, your lobster meal looks beyond delicious. What a perfect meal!

Drooling over that lobster!

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Great meals, and lots more good eating in 2017!!! Merry Christmas, and I'm looking forward to more contributions and inspiration on the WFD thread.

Breaded pork chop, orzo with roasted vegetables and some jarred artichoke hearts, cut in chunks.

Orzo is such a good holiday side dish. Can be used with the pea and onion dish or any veg combination.

Good on you for that reminder about orzo Sleevendog. It's only since I joined the WFD thread that I've really appreciated using orzo. Now I use it a lot and like it...satisfyingly comfort food.

I made Tourtiere last nite for the first time. I described it to hubby and he thought it sounded good. It is.

I haven't posted to WFD recently. Nice to see that it is still so active. Some really wonderful looking meals.

Jasdip, your Tourtiere looks perfect.

We had our traditional Tourtiere for dinner last night.

This year I made a quick puff pastry for the crust.

And I like mine with gravy.

Oh, it's so good to see you again Ann!

My picture looks so yellow, I took it in the kitchen, and it's obviously the lights. Anyway the pastry was perfect and the filling was delicious. It'll be something that I make each year. It's also excellent for freezing to enjoy a slice anytime.

Last night, Feast of the Seven Fishes. We're not Italian, so Dad never felt the need to make the fish to any one particular culture. I went simple:

Okay, not all the fish were eaten at the same time, but they got there within the same hours of waking!

Artemis, I love smelt. I've never seen them fresh, but years ago, I could get a big bag of frozen. They were always a favorite at my home when I was growing up, just floured and fried in olive oil. The frozen ones were large enough to have been cleaned. I don't like eating the really small ones with guts still attached.

Jasdip & Ann, your tourtierres have got me inspired. I make it regularly now ever since drooling over Ann's pictures for years. But I usually get around to it after Christmas.

And, Jasdip, I'd love some of your orzo dish. That was my favorite pasta when I was a kid, and it still is. My mom would make chicken or lamb braised in a tomato sauce seasoned with cinnamon & allspice. Then she'd cook the manestra (orzo) in the broth, sort of like risotto. We were only a family of three, but we could plow through almost a pound of orzo cooked at one meal.

Artemis, growing up my Grandpa loved breaded and fried smelts. I sure ate a lot of them as a kid.

Today I spatchcocked the bird. It took a long time to cook, far longer than it should have. The directions that I used said to cook it at 450 for 1/2 hour then at 350 for another 1/2 hour. The thermometer read 165 and more, but it was certainly not done (bloody etc). I had to put it back in for another 1/2-45 minutes cranked up. The sides were ready but the bird wasn't. It's just the 2 of us, so we were both fine with experimenting. I'm not convinced that the laborious cutting out the bone etc is worth it.

Dinner was turkey, roasted brussels sprouts, dressing baked in a casserole dish, WalnutCreek's decadent creamed onions and mashed white potatoes with a sweet potato.

Lovely to see those tourtières from Jasdip and AnnT. Those fish dishes look great artemis. And good on you for doing the boning of your turkey Jasdip it all looks good.

We tried a turducken for the first time. It was OK but would do our usual turkey breast roast next year.

I'm craving turkey now. Grocery stores should still have a few fresh turkeys. I'll buy one if I can find a small one to roast later this week.

We had roast duck for our Christmas dinner.

Leftovers!

The roast duck looks delicious Ann T .... so lovely to see your plates again. Jasdip your leftovers are perfect.

We had become 'fed up' with ham, so something fishy was suggested. I've mixed my Mediterranean countries, but I guess it doesn't really matter in the whole scheme of things.

Spaghetti marinara with large Aust tiger prawns and a Greek salad.

Wow, does that ever look good Neely!

neely, do you eat the prawns 'shell and all'? if not, how do you manage to gracefully peel them once they're mixed in with everything? I only ate shrimp 'shell and all' once, on Vietnamese shrimp toast... definitely an unpleasant texture for me. :)

Well really I don't present this dish like this for everyday. It was just because we had guests. We all (4) had two large garlic prawns on top. We put a bowl of hot water in the centre of the table for hand washing, cloth serviettes and a bowl for the shells. I have been to restaurants that put a bowl on the table for finger washing when whole prawns are involved or microwaved hot cloths are handed around. It is sort of fun peeling them at the table.

Oh, wow, I don't even know where to start! Fresh bread and lobster and shrimp and duck, I love 'em all. And I like smelt too, I remember Dad and my uncles would go smelt dipping and bring home buckets full. We'd decapitate them with scissors and clean them and have big family fish fries with sauce for dunking made of catsup and horseradish, like cocktail sauce. Yum.

Ann T, it is SO good to see you here again, and it just had to be that duck, didn't it? (grin) I swear I'm going to raise a dozen ducks for the freezer, it's one of my favorites.

Here it's been relatively crazy. We've had a pot of Mayacoba beans from last year's garden with Sol's zucchini pancakes, since I still have all that zucchini grated and in the freezer:

Another night Elery made a crescent roll dough filled with turkey, cheese and cranberry sauce, with collard greens and roasted butternut squash:

More squash, trying to use up the last of the garden's bounty, along with pork chops, home canned sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, all grown here on the farm:

A quicker version of fish, these were frozen fish sticks, found in the bottom of the freezer while we were cleaning it out preparing for this year's beef. I made some homemade tartar sauce, harvard beets and pan fried potatoes and they were.....edible. (grin)

Christmas dinner with Elerys family was slightly disappointing as I overcooked the rib roast due to a glitch with the instant read thermometer. I should have known better, I dislike gadgets and particularly dislike electronic gadgets, but I used it. I pushed the wrong button accidentally and got the "hold" reading three times before I realized something was wrong. I should have used the $5 dial type thermometer, it always works and I'm comfortable with it. But, at any rate, it was too late for the rib roast, and it was a lot closer to medium well than medium rare. It got eaten without complaints from anyone but me, but I wasn't happy. We had glazed ham, which was...well....glazed ham. (shrug)

It started like this:

and ended up like this. Yes, I know, that's just sad....

To top that off, the Yorkshire puddings were one of my epic fails. I've made popovers without problems and have made the Yorkshires once before. These, however, were hard little greasy pucks of dough that never rose and were definitely not hollow. I think maybe my pans weren't quite hot enough.....

However, we had lots of cookies and fudge, a cheesecake, pecan pie, Sol's Honey rolls, au gratin potaotes and a caesar salad, so no one went hungry.

On Sunday my family will have their Christmas meal. Yeah, I know it's New Year's Day, but that's the first day everyone could fit it in, LOL. So, I have another of those 7 rib roasts and I'll have another chance to actually made it right!

Annie

Oven-roasted turkey cutlets, steamed beans and roasted new potatoes with lemon zest.

A couple Christmas cookies for dessert- so naughty!

Mimi, that looks so healthy! Would you mind sharing how you do the turkey?

eld6161- happy to!

This is essentially what we call "mayo" turkey/chicken, which is basically Hellman's Parmesan-Crusted Chicken.

Take boneless, skinless chicken breasts/cutlets or turkey cutlets and pat dry with paper towels.

Arrange on a baking sheet (I cover the baking sheet with foil or parchment).

Salt and pepper the chicken or turkey.

Apply a coating (thinly or generously) of your favorite mayonnaise. I use Duke's Light.

Sprinkle with your choice of dried herbs. I use Herbes De Provence and Parisien Bonnes Herbes.

Sprinkle a mixture of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese over chicken or turkey.

Just before baking, give the cutlets a drizzle of olive oil, and bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 18-25 minutes, or until the internal temp. is 165 degrees and the tops are golden brown.

I often make the above roasted potatoes to go along with the Mayo Chicken/Turkey because they roast about the same amount of time that the meat bakes.

I've been craving mussels. Tried to buy them to cook in our AirBnB in Paris, couldn't manage to find any within reasonable schlepping distance. In Marseilles we didn't have a chance to find any. In Carpentras there were other things to eat. Finally had the chance in Barcelona. Bought 2 kg (4.4 lb) of fresh mussels for 11 euros at the Mercat de la Bouqueria off Rambla, carried them three miles to our AirBnB, bought an onion, chives, rice, coconut cream, lardons at the market by the apartment, and cooked up rice with coconut fat, lardons, chives, olive oil, salt and pimento powder (?), steamed the mussels, reduced the liquid, mixed in the rest of the coconut fat, and we ate mussels until we could eat no more. Finally the craving was sated. Yaay!

Yum, John, I love mussels, it sounds delicious.

Here we had pizza from Jet's. I'm not a fan of pizza, but Elery loves it and occasionally we have to cave in to his craving for greasy, chewy, cheesy pizza. I had a slice and was done with it, so now Elery has leftovers. He'll probably eat them for breakfast!

Annie

Annie, I think cold, leftover pizza makes a great breakfast. I'm always happy when we show some restraint and have a couple of homemade pizza slices leftover because I know my husband will gobble them up for his breakfast the next morning.

Mimi, I do something similar with chicken and fish. You reminded me that I've wanted to give Duke's mayo a try for quite a while. It doesn't contain any sweetener, so it would be quite different from the other brands I've purchased. I checked out its sodium content, and it's only 5 mg sodium per tbsp more than the brand I now buy. So I ordered a couple of jars on Amazon and am looking forward to finally giving it a try.

Happy New Year's Eve, soon to be 2017!!

Garlic and rosemary roast rack of pork, napa cabbage and lardons and ras el hanout butternut squash.

Side salad of baby greens with a Banyul's vinaigrette.

Wegman's ice cream later ;-0

Good cooking going on over the holiday time. Love pork, butternutand cabbage mimipadv and the turkey cutlet meal is something we would like.

Annie, hope you are happier with your next beef roast and I have made Yorkshires that turned out like that... they were eaten. Love all the squash meals.

John Liu your mussels sound great.

New Years Eve tuna salad and may I take this time to wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

That's what we call Tuna Salad Salad ;-)

DH and I enjoy that a couple times a month. It's very satisfying. Must the all that protein in the tuna.

Love this fish plate....do tell where you purchased. I have a glass one form my Grandmother collection but your white one is lovely and modern and my style.

Mimi, your pork looks perfect.

Neely, I love the look of your tuna salad. So refreshing.

Annie, I'm so sorry about your yorkshires. Mine have never flubbed like that. As mentioned, maybe the batter was too cold.

We had spaghetti and meatballs yesterday for New Years, and my goal was to have the more "fancy" dinner today. I'm not a clam virgin any longer. I never cook seafood, and today was my first foray cooking clams. I just try not to think of them being alive :-(

This is a Portuguese dish, and one that I wanted to christen our new Lodge cast iron skillet, one of or presents to ourselves.

Chicken, sausage, potatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, onions, clams and kale. I used baby kale, and added some white wine for additional flavour. Sopped up with homemade rolls and it's truly a keeper.

omg, that looks fantastic, jasdip!!! I'll have to try that! any particular recipe you used?

BF is sick so I was trying to suggest things that might sound good for dinner... he chose macaroni & cheese, so I just went searching for a good recipe. I found this one from the NY Times and it looked fantastic when it just went into the oven.

jasdip, you have no idea how good that dish looks on a day when it's been raw, cold and raining all day long!

We're doing mac and cheese, too ;-) Plus, Campbell's Tomato soup.

Sometimes, it hits the spot.

We so wanted clams for the holiday 7Fishes. No such luck or they were sold out. Last year they were fresh and abundant. Maybe next week....

Looks so good!

Yes, Jasdip, that dish looks wonderful!

We're cooking up some huge beautiful wild-caught shrimp tonight! Can't wait!

Happy New Year to WFD'rs and all here at the Cooking forum.

Jasdip... just Yum.

New Year's Day we went for a duck. DH cooked and he did a really great job. He stayed in the kitchen and basted every 15 minutes. He also found a can of chestnut purée in the pantry (unsweetened) and made a stuffing which was also good. Instead of trying to make an orange sauce, he just made a little orange salad.

Leftover duck became a salad the next day

And then duck pancakes the next. It was a large duck Lol.

Neely, I laughed at your comment about it being a large duck (hence the numerous meals).

Thanks for all the good comments on my meal, it means a lot! I have to learn not to take pictures in the kitchen as the pictures turn out yellow.

Party_Music, it's a recipe from Chuck's Day Off, a FoodNetwork Canadian chef. It's a Portuguese dish, and I used jarred roasted red peppers and also added some white wine at the end.

Portuguese Chicken

Thanks, jasdip! This must be my year for Portuguese food because several recipes have been mentioned by friends and family since Jan 1. lol!

I had intended to make steak fajitas for dinner last night, but switched and made Korean Beef with broccoli instead. :)

This one is starting to load slowly with all the delicious food pictures, so I'm off to start a new thread!

Happy New Year!

Annie