SobaAddict70

Tapenade Eggplant caviar Spicy fruit chutney (for the cheese course) Red onion marmalade this is of course, subject to change pending market availability. all items to be prepared on Saturday. SA

If memory serves, and reading the post again, we had Dungeness crabs which are much larger than the ones that were served to us. OG has several crabs -- softshell ($7 per piece), king, Dungeness and regular crabs. Next time, get the Dungeness. Anyway, it was a good trip even if things didn''t all go exactly as planned... SA

remind me what's mitsuba? thx torakris, SA

In conversations by PM and also now that its cold weather, I've been meaning to try making a traditional chawanmushi, which is essentially a Japanese savory egg custard with various ingredients associated with cold weather/autumn, but I don't have a recipe for it or even an idea behind the necessary technique. I know that traditional chawanmushi calls for a dashi stock, and that it contains shrimp, matsutake mushrooms, gingko and possibly nori. A VERY California new age-y version I had in San Francisco a couple of years ago had kabocha squash, hijiki and carrot-ginger puree. I was wondering if anyone out there might have a recipe for a traditional version. Thanks. SA

Ah well, maybe they'll get back on track eventually. Another visit by yours truly may be necessary (for me anyway) before I form an opinion. It may have been an off night...perhaps? SA

I'll take good old braised lamb shanks anyday over "Irish stew". *does a Homer Simpson impression* Mmmm, lamb. Speaking of lamb, maybe its time to start a lamb thread, but first, dinner. (Nothing fancy here folks, just broiled chicken breasts, brown rice, steamed broccoli and green tea.) SA

Omelettes would have to be my specialtie de la maison. Or more specifically, stuffed omelettes. (A good omelette is hard to find.) I like plain omelettes -- plain being nothing but eggs, salt and pepper, and chopped fresh herbs. They're great, served with a glass of Evian, a baguette, and a nice green salad, simply dressed with lemon and EVOO, or a classic viniagrette. But they get even better, stuffed, and served at breakfast. Fillings range from any of the following: corned beef, caramelized onions and browned garlic; either Filipino or Mexican chorizo, avocado, sauteed sweet peppers; shredded cold cooked chicken or duck, stir-fried with minced browned garlic, minced ginger, scallions, Chinese black mushrooms and straw mushrooms; shredded cold cooked chicken or turkey, sauteed onions and roasted onion-chipotle salsa; roasted tomatoes and onions, cooked down in some Pomi tomatoes and combined with roasted garlic puree, chopped herbs and a little salt and pepper (add chopped fresh tomatoes towards the end of cooking, for a little taste/texture contrast) Sometimes I'll do simple fillings like just cheese, or spicy garlic/lemon potatoes, or spinach and cheese. Usually, I plate the omelette with home fries, or sweet potato home fries. Sometimes with toast and bananas sauteed in unsalted butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg. SA

Yeah, what Cooks said. And yeah, its definitely panko. They have entire vats of the stuff. Pretty filling, but then again, not for an elite e-gulleteer like...like...oh, I dunno. SA

I think anything that Jinmyo makes qualifies. SA

And the "hate spicy/hate garlicky/loathe peanut butter/dislike vegetables" kid (in other words, me) is now an omnivore. But now, I'm mildly lactose intolerant (milk is banned -- but not other dairy), and I loathe herring and gefilte fish with a passion. Go figure. SA

Sort of like knowing how to spell "Filipino", eh? SA

In NYC, there's this little dinky restaurant chain called "Daiki Sushi" which serves packaged sushi and sashimi, soba and udon noodles and other Japanese convenience foods (i.e., mochi wrapped around ice cream). Now, I'd never go there for sushi unless I were a dead blind man (or a blind dead man), as the sushi they serve is pretty disgusting. For me, the udon and soba are the main draw, good if I'm in a rush and want a quick lunch or snack. Their udon/soba is usually a bowl of either noodle in beef broth with either prawn, chicken, beef or vegetable tempura, a slice of surimi (fake crab), a scattering of scallions, a fistful of panko and a sprinkle of togarashi. Whenever I go there, I usually ask for a double fistful of panko. (This is one of my secret confessions, akin to being fond of Mrs. Dash. ) For the record, their vegetable tempura is a laughable patty of shredded vegetables packed together and bound with panko and binder. Daiki Sushi is the quasi-Japanese version of McDonald's but a helluva lot less scary. SA

I have an ironclad rule: you are technically a guest until you've been over my place for a meal more than three times. then, you can do whatever you want within reason. otherwise, stay out of my way. SA

May I suggest for future reference, getting a couple of vegetarian cookbooks. They'll help you in your menu planning should this situation arise again. A good starting point, although this is not a veggie cookbook per se, is "Chez Panisse Vegetables". I'm sure other posters can recommend a few more. Along the lines of a dinner menu, here are a couple of guidelines: Make all soups and sauces with vegetable based stock if possible. Try to make the same dish for all three people, this way you won't have to overreach yourself and it won't be too much work involved. (I am of course assuming your veggie friends are lacto-ovo veggies, since those are the most common of all vegetarians, in this case, all you would have to do would cut out any dairy.) I am generally not a fan of tofu/seitan/gluten dishes, as I find them cheap backouts for vegetarian cooking. They may be effective, but they're too easy to sacrifice taste for utility. -------- Roasted Winter Root Vegetable Soup with Apple Butter (this is a take on your original idea with a few twists. its basically roasted carrots, turnips, and parsnips, along with a potato for added body. you could add maybe some roasted onions and/or garlic for sweetness. the apple butter would be a garnish to the soup -- just apples, honey, nutmeg and/or cinnamon cooked down to a sort of chunky applesauce) Wilted Endive and Watercress Salad with Shaved Fennel, Pears, Crispy Shallots, Pecans and Roasted Garlic-Tahini Viniagrette (wilt endive and watercress in a heated saute pan with some EVOO; divide among salad plates, toss with shaved or thinly sliced fennel bulb, julienned or thinly sliced pears, crisp fried shallots; viniagrette is pureed roasted garlic, EVOO, lemon juice, kosher salt, pepper, and tahini) Tagliatelle with Caramelized Onions, Wild Mushrooms, and Herbs [Fried Breadcrumbs] (this is simply caramelized onions in EVOO, along with sliced cremini, shittake, and oyster mushrooms, and either rosemary or oregano. maybe a pinch of red pepper flakes or imported Hungarian paprika for character. fried breadcrumbs = stale bread from a loaf of Italian bread, fried in EVOO, with some minced garlic and a peperoncini, and minced Italian parsley. use in place of cheese.) Orange Sabayon with Crystallized Ginger and Rosewater. (just a sabayon custard sauce, over mandarin or navel orange segments that have been briefly macerated in a rosewater-infused simple syrup and topped with chopped crystallized ginger (or maybe candied violets)) ------ maybe do a chawanmushi -- savory Japanese egg custard with nori, gingko nuts or chestnuts, shitaake, enoki or matsutake mushrooms (sub. Chinese black mushrooms). or a savory flan with caramelized shallots, leeks and herbs. another dessert idea: roasted bananas, spiked with rum, nutmeg and white pepper, served with vanilla ice cream. (chopped honey roasted walnuts on top) SA

Couscous with 1) takeout Chinese chicken and black bean sauce, and 2) tuna/anchovy marinara sauce (basically your standard Pomi tomatoes cooked down until its a thick jammy substance, along with 1 can of Starkist tuna, a couple of anchovy fillets, some EVOO, some caramelized onions, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a little kosher salt, a little dried oregano, and a little cracked black pepper). Green tea, fruit. ------------ I didn't feel like schlepping outside to get pasta, and I had a pot of leftover couscous from over the weekend, so I figured one starch is as good as another. This was couscous cooked with half chicken stock and half water, with a little OO. Not all of my dinners equal a dislike of Con-Agra. SA

He's talking about my signature. PM me and I'll fill you in on the details. Damon Wayans was one of the stars of "In Living Color" which was a comedy show a la Saturday Night Live on Fox TV, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Jim Carrey is another alumnus of that show, which unfortunately is not being produced any more. Wayans was famous for several sketches, a few of which were stereotypically gay, but tastefully done. (The Book Review character comes to mind -- "Hated it!"). SA

heh, well maybe now we can challenge Kim (j/k) on trying some of the beet salads as presented by Alice in her Chez Panisse Vegetables hey, maybe borscht is a new thing! seriously, glad it worked out for you. maybe beet ice cream is next? SA

Well (*puts hands on his hips*), a FLAMBEED Orange Gully wouldn't sound quite right, now would it? Neither would an Orange Foster Gully. But not everyone or everything can be Damon Wayans. SA

Loufood, what...no wine? Seriously, what do the students drink to accompany all that delish food? SA

...your collection can never be big enough. I like to go out to Astoria and Jackson Heights to get all my Indian spices cheaply and in bulk. When I was living in Astoria, there was a store two blocks from my apartment, on the corner of Broadway and 36th Street that sold stuff like black mustard seeds, turmeric and cardamom powder in bulk, and really cheaply too. I sort of miss living in that neighborhood, and also the store as well. Now, whenever my supplies run low, I just hop on the subway and jet over to JH and stock up. Anything non-Indian, I get from the local supermarkets -- but if its zataar or sumac, then its a trip to Sahadi's (I tend to visit Queens more often than Brooklyn, just because of distance and travel time). A food emporium run by an ex-boyfriend of mine, located in the Upper East Side in the low 80s gets me stuff like imported Hungarian paprika (both powder and peppers). Do you let your spices sit in your cabinet, or do you replenish your stock with new sources? Do you have an extensive spice pantry? (This applies to herbs too.) Raise your hand if you grow or have your own personal windowsill herb garden. (Our window space is extremely limited, but that's one of my dreams -- nothing like freshly torn basil or just-snipped watercress/mint gracing your table.) Where do you go for spices and herbs? Discuss. SA

Eggplant omelette (Filipino style), steamed rice, bagoong/garlic paste; bitter melon with black bean sauce (ampalaya con carne). Green tea, fruit. Midnight snack: steamed red bean paste buns, topped with black sesame seeds. SA ------- Notes: 1. Ampalaya is an acquired taste and isn't for everyone. Ampalaya con carne is really bitter melon and beef with black bean sauce, although the amount of beef in the dish is pretty much close to negligible. The beef is first marinated in a mixture of light soy, ginger, cornstarch and sesame oil, then later stir-fried with the bitter melon, garlic and sliced onions. A sauce of black beans, a minimal amount of light soy, along with ginger, cornstarch, and water forms the basis of this dish. 1a. Another dish with ampalaya that I sometimes make (and that I consider a good primer to bitter melon) is ampalaya salad, served cold: bitter melon (which has been salted first to remove any lingering bitterness), shrimp (either cooked or dried), chopped tomatoes and onions, salted duck eggs and a viniagrette -- usually distilled vinegar, sugar, EVOO, salt and cracked black pepper; sometimes a spritz of lime or sampalok (tamarind) juice. The salad is much better if allowed to sit for a short period of time -- about half an hour or an hour. 2. The bean paste buns were bought from a store in Chinatown. I'm not culinarily adept enough to make real bean buns from scratch.

speaking of veggies, has anyone ever had rutabagas, and what can do with them? (besides act as wannabe turnips) danke, SA

Kim, even if you're not sold on the beets, the beet GREENS are absolutely wonderful, stewed with garlic and caramelized onions, a dash of red pepper flakes and crisp-fried or rendered pancetta, and served as a pasta sauce with either penne or other similar shaped pasta. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. They taste nothing at all like dirt. SA

But will roasting intensify the stringiness? As celery is really cellulose and water, will it taste like....boiled plant cells and boiled water? SA

And you cannot convince me that celery is a vegetable because the truth is that its only good for three things: tuna salad, pot roast and as a base for either chicken soup/stock or in a mirepoix. Ok, more than three things. At least the leaves are useful -- in things like minestrone and osso buco. But I'll never eat it in a salad or by itself if I can help it. Not even if its stuffed with cream cheese and topped with caviar. heheheh Ok, time to go to bed, with visions of sugarplum coated celery stalks dancing in my head.... SA