The Cantina Cuisine – food talk, recipes and more

gah! how did the lemon get in there again?

hehe

in fairness.. i'd have been stood there all day not being able to make a decision

 

for my birthday, me and a friend went full tourist. first to the Shedd Aquarium where this weird stature greets you at the side entrance:



we promptly had a quick lunch (yes, i had rum for lunch) XD, with a tarragon chicken sammich:



then we looked at fish for hours (definitely could do it all day, though i forgot to take pictures until halfway through, so no dolphins, whales, or penguins, sorry!)








sorry the pictures are blurry, i have a crap camera and taking pictures through the glass is hard.

anyway, then we took a boat to Navy Pier





and had shaved ice with pomegranate boba:


and wandered around the pier:



and had dinner of clams in butter and garlic, which i was so excited to eat i forgot to photograph them ~ ha!





i did get a shot of my friend's entre, which was colossol white shrimp with gnoccetti and muchrooms:


there was also an amazing light and buttery calamari:



and of course pie and peach gelato for desert (which i also didn't get a picture of ~ oops!)

all-in-all a fabulous long day of delights! : D

 

I was in my home village this past week and a half. One thing I always try to have for breakfast there is scrapple (which the Pennsylvanians among you surely recognize). The best way to describe scrapple would probably be like this: if sausage is the meat that wasn't good enough to be a steak, scrapple is the meat that wasn't good enough to be a sausage.

Apparently it's more of a breaded mass over in the States - but here it's rather gelatinous and generously spiced with pepper, salt and chili powder. Most of its content comes from the pig parts that were stuck to the bone, and through the process of boiling it, these chunks of meat and fat come off. Essentially, it's peasant food meant to make use of every bit from the animal you just slaughtered, but it's so disgustingly delicious when you heat it up into a stew and add some boiled potatoes into the mix.

 

Mediterranean Chicken tonight for dinner- chicken with grape tomatoes, capers, and kalamata olives. We love this dish and did it a little different tonight, I grilled the chicken before adding to the dish

 

This looks absolutely amazing... Recipe please?

 

Pizza with fresh basil:

 

That Looks amazing, dude! :-D What's the white stuff? (Not chese, I assume, since you prefer vegan?) And the "sausages?"

I'm hungry now...

 

@RockyRoadHux and I also made some Pizza with extra fine crust- Italian Style:


As a base we used sugo all'arrabbiata- a spicy sauce made from garlic, tomatoes, and dried red chili peppers cooked in olive oil.


Puff pastry with spinach, gorgonzola cheese and a homemade variation of sauce hollandaise with white wine and lemon juice:

 

Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella and Gardein vegan Italian sausage.




Many vegan cheeses are close to indistinguishable from dairy cheese. Most people would never know vegan macaroni and cheese for instance was vegan if you didn't tell them. Mozzarella is a little harder to replicate because it doesn't quite melt and stretch the same way, but it still tastes good.

Most vegan sausage is great because they just flavor it with the same seasonings they would any other sausage.

I found a new vegan chorizo the other day that is one of the best things I've ever tasted. Working on a few things to make with it now.

 

@NinjaRen @RockyRoadHux I saw the pics of your pizza and realized I had red pepper flakes and forgot to use them, so I made another entire pizza for dinner. Not joking.

 

Looks delicious! So what's better- grilled chicken or to put the chicken in uncooked?

This is what made me think that you took the pizza out off the oven wayyy too early xD but yeah, here in Germany many frozen pizzas have plant-based cheese that does not melt like cheese does. It tastes very similar to mozzarella made from cow milk , I agree, but I can easily tell if it's buffalo mozzarella or not.

Those pepper flakes really give it a zing... : D

 

Today @NinjaRen and I (and Sourpuss) had a easy breezy raclette lunch:

 

Pizza with jalapeños from last night:




Some green beans I just made. Toss fresh green beans in a tiny bit of oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them in a pan and stick them in the oven for 30 mins or so, however well done you like them. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. I like sprinkling with sesame seeds too, but I don’t have any. I recommend silicone mats for baking anything. They work great.

 

that all looks amazing !!! (including Sourpuss )

 

Tofu egg and avocado biscuit with dill:

 

@Supreme Leader and I had lunch at this place called farmstead. I think you might have enjoyed this one too, @Rodney-2187 vegan falafel, grilled vegetables, leaf lettuces, beetroot hummus, loads of sweet potato (we ordered another one on the side) and avovado

 

I LOVE raclette.that cat looks like a Sith-cat.

 

The General and I were also at a Vietnamese restaurant near by our home.



It was something different but tasty!

 

Warning: Dont watch this thread when you are hungry especially when @RockyRoadHux and @NinjaRen kindly share their food experiences.