Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Got up around 7. Pork shoulders are an all day thing.

Corn and tomato salad is done.

Carolina vinegar slaw is done.

Pickled shrimp is done. Peeling 4 pounds of medium shrimp takes a long time! Having a mandolin makes quick work for thinly slicing the fennel and onion, though.

Pork shoulders are smoking and just getting to the temperature plateau. Been rock solid at 225 F all day. This time I am just mopping with good quality (100%) apple juice.

Yet another load of dishes in the dishwasher with more waiting on deck.

The heavy lifting is over and now I can relax a bit.

Two more people were added to the guest list, so I am going to put some andouille and Texas beef sausage on in a few hours and let them warm up with the pork.

I'll be heading out to First Magnitude to get some growlers filled a bit later. The only problem is that frig space is at a premium.

 

Pork shoulders are over the temperature plateau and will be done very soon. I tasted a tiny bit from under the bark and it was juicy and so good.

Everyone has taken off to my MIL's house with everything but the meat.

 

They took all the beer. :^(

 

Most of the visitors are now gone. Tonight is mostly leftovers.

What surprised me was how little pulled pork was left after Sunday dinner. There were 12 people and one was a vegetarian who didn't eat any and 8 lbs disappeared leaving just enough for one sandwich the next day. I did notice that when some folks went back for seconds (and thirds), they skipped the bun and went to piling up meat, sauce, and slaw on the plate.

We had a lot of leftover buns.

 

At Cedar Key for the weekend so I am cooking clams, of course.

I am making a Thai style spicy clam dish with coconut milk to serve over rice.

Serving myself, my wife, my MIL, and a SIL. My younger son has no idea what he is missing and is baking chicken tenders and fries. LOL.

We might stop by the folks that sold us the clams to get some scallops tomorrow. The seas scallops looked awesome, but pricey. The bay scallops looked big for bay scallops and looked great as well. I already know what I will prepared with each kind. I like to pan sear big scallops with spice oil and serve over a bed of arugula. I like to saute bay scallops in white wine and butter. Sometimes as a stand-alone and sometimes over thin pasta.

And I will have to find an ATM as they are cash only.

 

Used up some things I had taking up space in the frig.

When I cooked grouper the other night it was my wife that went to the seafood shop. I was either going to make grouper with a macadamia nut topping or I was going to cook a whole red snapper with and olive/caper/tomato/new potato topping. The later is a Veracruz style of cooking snapper and is awesome. So I bought ingredients to make either one. The grouper looked better and wasn't that much more expensive. At least that was her story.

So I had leftover blanched and skinned roma tomatoes (I used a bunch for making the corn and tomato salad) and some really nice olives I ws planning on using on the red snapper.

Tonight I sauteed red onion and garlic in olive oil with oregano and crushed red pepper (I threw in a few fennel seeds as well) and then added diced tomatoes. The tomatoes were a combination of Hunts in a can and the ones I had left over. Added to the mix were about a cup each of sliced kalamata olives and sliced castelvetrano olives (green Sicilian olives). I know that olives can sit in the frig for a long time, but I was wanting some. I allowed that to cook under a low simmer for a long time and then added about 1.5 cups of grated Parmesan cheese. Then I stirred in orecchiette (a shell pasta) cooked al dente.

 

Will be having a weird dinner tonight.

I have lots of family in town that wants veggie risotto, making dinner for a friend that is terminally sick that would not want that, making dinner for a different friend that just got his accelerated MBA degree and graduated today and is a carnivore, and trying to replicate (or do better than) a carrot bisque that my 22 year old son had at Cedar Key.

Good thing that my spouse will be carrying some of this cooking load. I have been working on the carrot bisque. Properly caramelizing onions takes a long time.

I just hope this all gets done before 6 PM. If I have my way I will be switching back and forth between the Gator basketball game and the Lady Gator Regional Final in volleyball. And if it was up to me I would be attending the Lady Gator volleyball match, but I don't think that is in the cards. I have this feeling that I will be in the kitchen instead.

 

OK.

It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to caramelize the onions to my taste. Doing this right takes longer than most recipes say. Now cooking down the onions. carrots, et al, to the right consistency and that is taking longer than expected.

So no way I am going to the O'Dome/Exactech Center for the volley ball match.

Please forgive me. I try to be a good Gator.

 

Tonight is meatloaf, collard greens, and broccoli cornbread. Comfort food work a chilly night.

 

And tonight is leftovers.

That meatloaf sandwich for lunch was pretty good.

 

Cooking two beer can chickens (kosher salt, paprika, thyme rub) and already made a double batch of dirty rice using ground turkey. The only beer I had was Goose Island IPA and it was a bit of a shame to use that for cooking chicken, but I was too lazy to go out to a gas station to get a couple of PBRs. Half is going to a friend's house as he is really sick and his family is stressed out and could use all the help I can give. The other half is going to my MIL's house where I am expecting that there will be some sides made.

And they want me to bring the wine. Of course.

 

Tonight is bay scallops in a mornay sauce and broiled and pasta in a Bolognese sauce as a side. I enjoy making the sauces. Also a simple salad.