1494 replies to this topic

[Priscilla]

Last night I roasted a chicken, priming the pump with Lurpak butter, a cultured butter from Denmark that is sold at my local Persian market.  Chary about imported butter in general on account of the rancidity thing, but this was fresh and fragrant.  

Also roasted asparagus, beautiful organic asparagus from the guy at the farmer's market, among the best-tasting asparagus ever, we thought.  This seems to be a good year for asparagus.  During basting sessions I also basted the asparagus with the butter and rendering chicken fat.

Sourdough bread and apricot preserves and more of what remained in the chicken roasting pan.  Carved chicken served on a few leaves of lettuce sprinkled with tarragon vinegar.  Plenty of salt and pepper, from beginning to end.

I would dearly love to see this compendium get large and unwieldy!  Gives a person hope, doesn't it, in addition to making a person hungry, imagining all this cooking going on all around the world.  

Priscilla

[Malawry]

Saturday night, we ate out at a really good pizza place. We tried the pizza with garlic and cockles, and we shared another one with black olives, red onion and really good anchovies. Very good.

Sunday night I made a late, light dinner for my housemate and I: A wilted baby spinach salad with red onions, currants and balsamic vinaigrette, and some slices of baguette smeared with herbes de provence goat cheese and broiled. For dessert, we each had a shot of limoncello. Perfect.

Last night I ate a couple more of those broiled baguette slices smeared with cheese and a bowl of sugar smacks. It was late and I was tired and it was fast. I also ate a grapefruit.

[SobaAddict70]

hm let's see

Saturday -- lion's head meatballs (for non-Asian foodies, these are GIANT pork meatballs with water chestnuts and ginger, the way my grandma makes them), steamed rice, stir-fried broccoli with garlic and ginger; cabbage with fried onions, shredded coconut, raisins, and green chilies; and steamed tofu topped with warm honey for dessert.

Sunday -- sauerbraten; pickled red cabbage and onions; orzo cooked in chicken stock, and served with melted butter and minced fresh chives; apple strudel.

Last night -- asparagus quiche; green salad with a simple viniagrette; french bread; fruit and cheese.

Dunno about tonight -- I think a trip to Florent is in order...

[Wilfrid]

Sauerbraten.  Love it.  Did you "pickle" the beef yourself?

[lullyloo]

SobaAddict, do you mind sharing the recipe for Lion's Head meatballs?  They sound delish.  

[SobaAddict70]

Lion's Head Meatballs (serves 4)

Meatball ingredients:
3/4 pound ground pork
1 slice ginger, minced
1/2 c. water chestnuts, minced
2 scallions, cut into thin slices
1 egg, lightly beaten
Pinch of salt (less if desired)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon sherry
1 tablespoon light soy sauce (I use mushroom soy)
1/2 tablespoon arrowroot powder (or you can use cornstarch)
Pepper or white pepper to taste (or if you like them spicy, you can use crushed Szechuan peppercorns)

Stock ingredients:
1 cup chicken stock
1 pound bok choy, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tablespoons peanut oil for cooking
Other seasonings as desired (I use mushroom soy, 1 T. sugar, and some five-spice powder on occasion; star anise is good, if used sparingly)

1.  Place the ground pork in a bowl. Add the meatball ingredients and mix together with your hands, moving in one direction.  When the ingredients are blended, wet your hands slightly and form the pork mixture into 4 large meatballs.

2.  Heat wok and add the oil. Cook the meatballs on medium heat until they are golden brown. Drain the meatballs on paper towels.

3.  Heat the stock separately, adding soy sauce, sugar, or other seasonings if desired.

4.  Arrange the bok choy in a large pot (you could concievably use the same wok if you cleaned the wok beforehand, after cooking the meatballs) and place the meatballs on top.  Add the stock.  Simmer until cooked (1 to 1 1/2 hours).

Serves 4.

[knews9]

hello all. great post.  
saturday--drinks and hors d'ouerves (spelling!) turned into dinner--hummus, baba, olives, pita bread, champagne. getting drunk.  then broke out the duck pate and mini toasts, which we let the cat help us finish off.  finally, very drunk, went to a local rest and had moules frites, red wine.  
sunday--folks over for dinner--lobster ravioli in squid ink pasta (bought at fratelli bros) and tomato sauce made the old way all day sunday.  spinach/roasted beet salad w/ goat cheese, toasted pecans, and lemon juice/olive oil dressing. foccaccia-type bread from fratelli.  choc covered strawberries.  red wine we got duty free at charles de gaulle, can't recall the name.
monday--out to dinner
today--curried couscous w/ veg & feta

let's hear from the other amateurs!

[indiagirl]

Well, okay, I did groceries today so the kitchen is truly well stocked with fresh veggies.

Absolutely no idea what I am going to make for dinner yet but I've got plenty of inspiration
here.

I do want to add a further dimension to the thread - as we discuss the meals we cook,
could we talk about a little about the time it took to cook the food and perhaps a little
bit about our inspiration/constraints - flesh things out, give the images in my
head some dimension

[Jinmyo]

Smashed red potatoes with whole tiny cremini, spinach, rosemary, lotsa salt and cracked black pepper fried on low heat for hours in extra virgin olive oil until the uneven edges of the potatoes were densly crusty, served with a lash of hollandaise; smashed roasted chicken (served torn from the bones, arranged in a mound) with cumin and lemon; grilled peeled green asparagus, the peels fried crispy in butter as a garnish.

[AdamLawrence]

Sunday - roast leg of lamb, English Sunday lunch style, at my parents' house. Drank: two small glasses of some anonymous Aussie shiraz (driving a bit later). Monday - working late so fishcakes (not home-made: o tempora! O mores!), with purple sprouting broccoli from my organic vegetable box. Drank: Evian, then two pints of Dr Hexter's Wedding in the local (four doors down the street). Tuesday - had intended to make calf's liver and onion with a marsala reduction and fondue de poireaux (onions and leeks also from vegetable box) but couldn't face cooking after discovering drains blocked and spending an hour unblocking them, so had lamb jalfrezi, chapati and chana masala from local delivery service. Drank: two bottles of Budweiser Budvar (Czechvar to all you Americans). Tonight.... (drains permitting) the calf's liver and leeks. Will drink... good question. I fancy something really nice... perhaps Chateauneuf-du-Pape Chateau-Fortia '95.

Adam

[Wilfrid]

My Beloved and her friend cooked yesterday, so I came home assured of a meal of longaniza, rice and beans.  Longaniza (doubtless linguistically related to loukanika and various other sausages) is a long, skinny Dominican sausage made of coarsely ground pork and flavored with cilantro and lots of garlic.  When I came to serve myself, I discovered that other parties had enjoyed the longaniza to such a degree that only three chunks were left, each slightly under an inch long.  Yellow rice and pink beans were still available.  I had my revenge by preparing a nouvelle cuisine presentation:  the largest white plate I could find.  The three tiny pieces of sausage spaced well apart on one side of the plate, a spoonful of rice on the other side, and the bean liquid drizzled (yeah!) artistically around the edge.

Think I made my point.  Had to eat extra cheese to compensate.  At the last minute, realised there was no beer in the house, and couldn't be bothered to open wine. Drank iced whisky and soda.  Oh well...

[Jinmyo]

Potato gnocchi with a buttered mushroom sauce; cotechino with a tomato sauce; sauteed rapini with caramelized onion.

[helenas]

Smashed red potatoes with whole tiny cremini, spinach, rosemary, lotsa salt and cracked black pepper fried on low heat for hours in extra virgin olive oil until the uneven edges of the potatoes were densly crusty, served with a lash of hollandaise...

Jinmyo,
Can i beg you for more details? Please?

[Priscilla]

Cooked, from Richard Olney, braised lamb with unpeeled cloves of garlic.  I added mint and sage I found outside, sauce later forced through a sieve and returned to severely deglazed pan.

He Richard Olney was adamant about not ending up with too much sauce, no more than to coat each piece of lamb, and I followed him all the way there and concluded that he was correct in this.  Simple and good.  Quite homely.  The lamb was shoulder, cut into thick chops by the clueless but pleasant meat guy, good form for the long braise.

Broccoli, cooked (through), at room temp, dressed with olive oil and vinegar and salt and pepper, large croutons with Lurpak butter and cheese melted over.

Priscilla

[helenas]

Jinmyo,
Please, help me to deconstruct your dish:
It sounds so simple, but...
Do you put all the ingredients together from start, although they have different cooking times? I know that mushrooms being cooked for a long at low temperature become truly delicious, but what about spinach? Is it to melt down completely? And potatoes, are they smashed as in mashed, or kind of cracked?
Thanks!

[stellabella]

I have one question for you people:  where do you find the time to prepare these incredible meals?  Or are you such old hands that you just throw them together willy-nilly?

As for me, cooking is a respite from normal daily activity, and part of the contract I've been forced to make with my wardrobe is that I skip supper some nights during the week--BUT I always eat a sensible breakfast and lunch.

Monday I passed on the slop served by the dining hall and had a small salad during an awards banquet at the college--those poor students--no wonder they love fast food.  I came home and ate a Kit Kat Chunky bar and drank a decaf cappucino on my porch as the sun set.

Tuesday I went to bed at 9, no supper.

Tonight I'm making a light supper, couscous salad with some vine-ripened tomatoes and sweet corn brought back by hubbie form Fla., as wel as steamed broccoli and snap peas, spinahc, green bell peppers and red onion--I'll dress the whole thing with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  Stellabouli.  I'm hoping to graze off it the rest of the week.

Tomorrow night my husband wants to cook pasta--he sautees veggies and adds oragnic sauce--he's not a particularly inspired cook, but he taught me how to bake with yeast and can tomatoes, so he has his strengths.

Friday my yoga teacher and I are duplicating the Indian meal we learned in our Indian cooking class Sunday:  pakoras, green chutney, moong dahl and broken wheat kichadi, kadhi, and besan burphi.  Can't wait!

Priscilla, I run my sponges and the sink stopper through the sink at least once a week or whenever I think it needs done.

[Heather]

Tuesday 16 April

Vegetarian version of pad thai (classic Thai noodle dish), based on the recipe in Terry Durack's fantastic cookbook "Noodle". If you fancy cooking Asian-style noodles at home, this book is a winner. Being a weeknight - we try to keep Monday-to-Friday cooking as healthy as possible - we added lots of extra julienne vegetables to the pad thai.

Wednesday 17 April

The most amazing home-made ravioli, from the freezer. My husband made it the other weekend. Even after cooking, the ravioli dough was bright yellow from the organic free-range eggs he used. (I recall someone in a home-made pasta thread being disturbed by their pasta going grey, post-cooking. Free-range organic eggs will likely rectify that problem.)

Ravioli filling was a pureed mixture of swiss brown mushrooms sauted with shallots and garlic, a few tiny, pitted, oil-preserved olives from a store that imports great Italian products, and some young goats cheese. There may have been something else in there. Parsley, perhaps?

Last night, simmered ravioli was tossed through hot olive oil, in which Grahame had fried anchovies, shallots and garlic. Served with freshly grated Parmesan and chopped parsley. Big salad of red capsicum, cucumber and tomato on the side.

[Jinmyo]

Helena, I boiled some red potatoes about the size of eggs. Drained them, ran cold water over them. Smashed them up into pieces with the heel of my hand. Got them going in a deep skillet with extra virgin olive oil (Cletos, from the home village of one of my grocers). I seasoned them well with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I flipped them several times, then turned them down to low for about 45 minutes. I brushed clean the cremini and added them during the last hour. I added some dry rosemary. Tossed everything around, added more oil. When I began deboning the roasted chicken I added baby spinach leaves and some fresh rosemary, toss, toss.

I arranged the potatoes in bowls, with a small ladle rapidly lashed a few ribbons of holandaisse over them.

That's it.

[SobaAddict70]

Well, I can only answer for myself, stellabella -- I do a lot of prep ahead of time.  You'd be surprised what a good return investment a mandoline, a crock pot and a stock pot can do for you.  For example, if I know I'm doing a dinner party, up to one week in advance I'll make a whole lot of stock (usually chicken; sometimes vegetable if there's die-hard vegetarians in the mix).  Otherwise I usually have about 1 or 2 quarts of stock in the freezer; everything else can be prepped in short order.

For example, the sauerbraten required marinating four days in advance, so I started that last Thursday.  The steamed tofu with honey (one of the simplest desserts you could possibly have -- its just tofu and honey; perfect for vegetarians who don't eat eggs) took about 15 minutes.  The lion's head meatballs, I made the day before, and just finished cooking them Saturday evening.  Much of what goes on in my kitchen is manageable if you can divide up your time in bite-sized pieces.

[PaulaJ]

I enjoy this thread because it gives me some 'do-able' ideas!
 This week was roast beef with another night of roast beef open face sandwiches.
  Chicken curry w. condiments and rice........
  This am I dedicated to trying to replicate Paris's [raspberry] macaroons...which we enjoyed w. grilled loin lamb chops,
israeli couscous [a frist try...I made it too soggy] and oven roasted ratatouille. Tomorrow is cold poached salmon w. a watercress mayo sauce.
  We don't do so well w. leftovers around here. I enjoy the fried rice and omelettes.........but not my spouse.  
   I am in the process of marinating some short ribs with the idea of serving them on Sat or Sun.

[Jinmyo]

Mashed sweet potato with a brunoise of red bell pepper, butter toasted cumin, ancho, and oregano; chili of mushrooms and black beans with lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, coriander and multi-coloured Thai bird chiles; warm salad of dandelion greens, artichoke hearts and radish slices with chevré in a white wine dressing.

[col klink]

Last night I made Penne a la Vodka except that I used the rest of my deli bacon instead of pancetta and added carmelized onions and four large cloves of garlic. Next time I'll try it without the vodka to see the difference.

Last Saturday I smoked up some short ribs (my first experience with 'em) and I was pretty surprised. They smoked for 3 1/2 hours but I they could've gone longer. Next time I won't use my Jamaican Jerk sauce marinade as it overpowered any smoke flavor. I think there's plenty of potential since the meat is pretty tender and there's plenty of fat to render.

[Wilfrid]

I was back at the shad roe again last night (it freezes very well, by the way).  This time I tried something new.  I separated the two lobes, sauteed them lightly, then removed the membrane from one of them.  I stirred the eggs into a simple pasta sauce (tomato, onion, garlic, oregano).  It probably would have been fine to skip the sauteeing and just cook the eggs in the sauce from raw.  I thought the resulting sauce would coat pasta very nicely.  As it happens, I was wrong, and the grainy sauce tended to separate from the spaghetti and collect at the bottom of the dish.  Tasted fine, but not a creation of genius on this occasion.  My Beloved ate the other lobe, simply sauteed with a squeeze of lemon, and she had the better dish.

[Adam_Balic]

I made a bastardized version of a Goan fish curry using some Cod (which I have never tasted before in its fresh form). Was quite good, but I made the mistake of serving it with brown basmati rice, which was the wrong taste and texture.

[Priscilla]

Col Klink, short ribs seem ideally suited to smoking.  Course I am thinking this just now because you introduced the concept.  But I already think about short ribs in general, don't I?

Wilfrid, you've mentioned Nero Wolfe, but I can't remember if you investigated his (well, Fritz's) shad roe preparations or not.  Also, I know he's unfashionable, but Craig Claiborne, RIP,  wrote quite a bit about shad roe.  His series  Craig Claiborne's Favorites, collections of his NYT columns, is interesting historically, and just, how you say, chockablock, with useful information.  I like all his books.

Stellabella, that is just what I do, run the sponge thingy and the drain stopper through the dishwasher when they appear to need it.  I think Martha Bitch Genius would support us in this, although in so saying perhaps I am just projecting a craving for validation from an Unattainable Celebrity.

Jinmyo, the flavor profiles of your meals are absolutely mind-blowing--and make perfect sense.  I can think about them all day long.

Priscilla

[Wilfrid]

Priscilla, I use Nero Wolfe's (or Fritz's) shad roe recipes more often than any others.  And Jaybee has started a thread on the new series in the General section.

[Heather]

Thursday 18 April

Stir-fried broccoli, leafy Asian greens, spring onions and tofu, in blackbean sauce (salted black beans, soy, oyster sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic). Mine served with leftover brown rice, my husband's with leftover white rice. Fast, easy, not too much mess to clean up, although choice was mostly dictated by what we had left in the fridge. Saturday being shopping day, supplies tend to be running low by Thursday.

[Jim Dixon]

Stellabella....It is time-consuming, but I also make some things on the weekend or in the evening after that night’s dinner so I’ll have something to work with the next. I also enjoy the craft aspect of cooking, so I don’t see it as a chore to spend an hour or so or doing vegetable prep...and that’s what usually takes the most time, but it’s a big part of making food that tastes good.

A couple of nights this week I just ate toasted bread (Como from Grand Central Bakery) rubbed with garlic and spread with slightly mashed borlotti beans and chopped cavolo nero ( and lots of olive oil, natch)...everything but the bread was already cooked.

I make a batch of beans every week and keep them around for stuff like this or just eating. An article in Saveur last year about fagioli in fiasco, the Tuscan method of cooking beans in a wine flask on the dying embers of the bread-baking fire, inspired my basic bean technique...in a pyrex bowl or other non-metallic baking dish put one part beans to 2.5 parts water (this ratio seems to always work, altho’ if the beans are young it will be soupy, and if they are old they may dry out on top a bit), add a couple garlic cloves, fresh sage if you have it, salt, and a good shot of olive oil. Cover with foil and bake at 150-200 (my old gas oven isn’t too accurate, but I shoot for less than boiling) for a few hours. When you smell the garlic, check the beans, stir if it seems like a good idea...cook until done.

(The non-metallic aspect grew out of a crusty old Italian quoted in the article as saying something like ‘beans cooked in a metal pot aren’t worth eating.’)

Cavolo nero is sold as Lacinato kale and has become my default green. I wash it, cut in chiffonade (stack and cut into thin strips...this means you can leave the stalk on, which in bigger chunks is a little distracting), and add to a sauteed onion (in olive oil). The water still on the leaves is usually enough, but a little more may be necessary. Cover, cook until done.

Bruschetta topped with the beans/greens combo can be enough for dinner if I have Haagen Dasz for later.

Last night I made a pasta sauce out of a few other leftovers. I had a coarse puree of sweet red peppers cooked with a bit of onion and celery and some tomato sauce made from a puree of tomatoes from last year’s garden (defrosted) mixed with canned tomato paste. I reduced the tomato sauce (it was kind of thin) with a cup or so of tempranillo, added a couple of anchovies, a handful of oil-cured olives (these had been lurking in the fridge for a few weeks, twice revived by adding oil and baking a bit...this time I splashed a bit of water in the bowl and microwaved a few seconds to soften up, then squeezed out pits and chopped), hot red pepper, and salt-packed capers. I tossed this with orichiette and ate it with a turkey sausage flavored with black olives.

I like these kind of meals, but have a hard time replicating them. Having those bits of leftovers available does cut down the time it takes to get something on the table, though.

Jim

[Malawry]

Last night, I made some pita sammiches. Whole wheat pita brushed with olive oil and cooked on a griddle till browned, filled with a mixture of chickpeas, pintos and kidneys. The beans were marinating in a homemade vinaigrette in the fridge...we ate all three kinds of beans over the course of the past week, and we chucked all bean leftovers into the marinade at my housemate's excellent suggestion. I picked up some "Wallaby" cheese at the farm market last weekend, so I added a few slices of that to my sammich. Also a smear of Maille mustard, some shredded carrot, diced red pepper, and green leaf lettuce. I ate it with a bunch of olives. Followed it up with lemon sorbet. Good eating for hot weather.

[Jinmyo]

Smallish sirloin roast, done in a cast-iron skillet on stove top and then into the oven. Came out as rare as desired, which is very. Thin slices rolled around a smear of fresh grated horseradish, capers, and roasted garlic. Yorkshire puddings. Mashers with caramelized onion. Sauteed ramps with citron (yuzu, actually).