Chufi

I know, I know. What can I say? I was a BIG fan of Dynasty when it first aired, and have so many great memories of watching it together with my friends. I now have the first 2 seasons on DVD and am going to watch them in a couple of mrathon sesssions with a friend who is also a fan. Ofcourse we want to eat while we're watching, preferably something appropriate. But even though I remember a lot of table and restaurant scenes, I don't really remember what they were eating.. if that was mentioned at all?? Besides Alexis' eternal caviar/grapefruit breakfast, that is. Does anyone have a better recollection, or some idea, for food to serve.. while watching Dynasty

so, here's what I did: 250 ml of heavy cream, 150 ml of milk, 150 ml of thick coconut milk, about 125 grams of sugar and 3 large eggyolks. I made the custard with the milk and cream and only added the coconut milk after the custard had cooled a bit. I swirled in the raspberries when the icecream was half frozen, but I should not have, I think it would have been better to serve the raspberry sauce on the side. the icecream was AMAZING, with a very faint coconut flavor but so rich and creamy and delicious. Next time I'll add some pureed banana maybe... or lime juice.

Shaya, that's an amazing dinner. And I'm glad everything worked out so well with your helper, and that you had time and energy to enjoy the evening and your guests. Congratulations!

I recently bought a new icecream maker (the Midas - it´s fantastic! no electricity, just pour your base in and 25 minutes later you have gorgeous icecream.) Anyway, after making regular vanilla and chocolate I want to experiment a bit. I want to make a vanilla icecream with raspberry coulis swirled through, and then I saw a tin of coconut milk in the cupboard, and wondered if I could use some of that instead of the milk and cream in the vanilla recipe? Will that work or does coconut milk freeze differently from milk/cream and will the texture be different?

I´m planning a dinner party where we will drink these wines: Pineau de Carentes for aperitif, I´d like to serve something small with that Chateau Carbonnieux Pessac Léognan 2000 Chateau Lynch Bages Pauillac 1993 Recioto della Valpolicella. Right now I´m thinking something with wild salmon for the white (what kind of sauce? creamy, which herbs?) and a rich oxtail daube for the red. I know Recioto is often paired with chocolate but I´d prefer something else.. if possible. Thanks, all help greatly appreciated. I´m looking for the best meal to serve with these wines.

I ended up grilling vegetables and doing a few other things, so the table had some Greek feta, kalamata olives, a grilled zucchini and mint salad, an eggplant salad that was a cross between caponata and babha ganoush (grilled eggplant, grilled onions, olive oil, garlic paste, baharat, pomegranate molasses) two grilled pepper salads, and some Israeli couscous with tomatoes, parsley, and lemon. (ETA: Afterward, my wife and I agreed that we missed the lamb kebabs.... sniff.) ← What I find interesting is the composition of this dinner. If I'm counting correctly, you had 4 salads, israeli couscous, olives and feta on the table - 7 different components. While I sometimes love this type of dinner, it can also feel less focused, and consequently less satisfying. I'm mentioning this because you say you missed the lamb kebabs, seems like you missed a focal point, all the other dishes seem more like side dishes. I sometimes feel that way after eating tapas: no doubt I'm full, but I can still feel I haven't really 'eaten'. For my vegetarian dinners (and I have a couple of them a week) I prefer just 2 or 3 dishes: a pasta, risotto, gratin, stew, frittata, or in summer a big salad that also has cheese or beans or potatoes or whatever, and then 1 or 2 side dishes. One of my current favorites is a green salad topped with potato croutons (tiny cubes of potato fried in oil until crisp) then topped wth a soft boiled or poached egg, served while the potatoes are still hot. The whole egg gives you that feeling of focus that a chopped up egg could not give you. With a good vegetable soup (any kind, vegetables and onions sweated in butter then pureed with stock, maybe add some cream for richness, some fresh herbs) and some good bread, you have a perfect dinner. eta: and fast too, as requested in your OP! eta another thing: I see your OP said NO SALAD , uhm just put the poached egg on some grilled vegetables, just as good

How did it all go? I'm dying to see some pictures

I made my first macarons this weekend. Since eGullet was down I could not look up the recipe i wanted to use, so instead I googled a bit and then used:this one I piped them too big, so 11 minutes of baking was not really enough.. they´re just a little bit too soft in the middle. But the flavor was surprisingly good (before I started I told my husband this project had a 97% chance of failure ) and I even got teeny tiny feet! The filling is an improvised buttercream with instant espresso , butter, some ground almonds and a splash of milk ... again, surprisingly tasty... pictures here on my Dutch blog

I'm planning a birthday dinner for a close friend. The idea is to give her a kind of giftcertificate which will list a couple of really great wines from our cellar, and a menu to go with the wines (or maybe, if i can't decide on the menu before the birthday, just say: gourmet dinner to match the wines). My friend loves good food and wine and eats out a lot. I cook for her and her partner often. I consider myself a good cook, but also a cheap one. Or should I say I'm careful with my budget? Anyway, even for dinnerparties, I tend to choose the more inexpensive meats and fishes, and no luxury ingredients. When I go shooping for food I'm just not wired that way to get the 'fancy'stuff. But I want this dinner to be fancy, and that got me thinking about what I consider 'fancy', luxurious food, the kind of food you cook for someone you really want to spoil, the kind of food that makes you go 'wow'. Lobster comes to mind, sweetbreads, and morels. Really good beef. After that, I'm stuck. What are your fancy foods? What would you cook for a dinner like this? Or maybe a better question is, what would you like someone else to cook for you that would make you feel very very special?

also, you might find pointers on those recipes in this blog French Laundry at Home, she´s been cooking everything from that book..

Shaya, I cannot help you with the recipes as I've never cooked them before (and would be scared to), all I can say is: if you can YES please bring in a helper, someone who´s not a guest at the table, someone to do the little things for you, clear the table do the dishes whatever.. I think that will let you keep your sanity and enjoy the evening!! Good luck and I can´t wait to see the results! (you could ask you helper to take the pics too.. you will probably be too busy )

Other news (it´s amazing how much news you can think of when you set your mind to it) is that the season´s new herring is in, and that in my humble opnion it´s the best in years. I´ve been eating a couple of them a week since the season started and I´ve never done that before.. I find myself craving herring at odd moments (and no I´m not pregnant). So don´t miss it!

I also think I forgot to mention my dinner at the French Cafe a couple of months ago.The French Cafe, just behind Albert Cuyp market. Traditional French food (great steak tartare!) oysters, duck and foie gras. Nice atmosphere, great service and food that is reliable and good. A sure bet for a nice evening out.

Good news: one of my favorite places for inexpensive, delicious Turkish food Orontes (Albert Cuypstraat 40) has opened a second restaurant on the Hugo de Grootplein. So far their webiste does not list the address or opening hours, but it's hard to miss on the roundabout which is de Hugo de Groot PLein (west of the Jordaan area, and you can reach it with tram 3). It's a bit rooomier than the Albert Cuyp one, with a very nice terrace outside for summer eating. The menu is exactly the same: great mezze (don't miss the octopus/dill salad) and beautiful grilled meats.

Hi Zora, thanks for waking me (and this thread) up. Looking at the thread one would think I didn't eat or buy any food in Amsterdam for months.. but I did, I've just been really lazy with the updates. I'm going to flip through my calendar, dig up some notes, and add some posts...

hate to sound dumb, but where can I find these?

yes, I know there are threads dedicated to each of those, but I will find myself in the predicament of having to deal with all 3 of them at once this summer, so I'm asking for some tips on where I should go.. on my own, on a Sunday night, beginning of August. Some place not too fancy, where I'll be comfortable on my own, good food obviously, and not too expensive (but I'm used to the euro so that helps). And if possible, not too far from Rue Mouffetard cause that's where I'll be staying'. Also I was thinking maybe I'd prefer a more elaborate meal at lunchtime and then a simple dinner in the evening, so tips for lunch are welcome too. Thanks!

they're back, and managed to eat very well. Loved Perry's, Seymour Burton and City Bakery. One day they went to Eisenbergs for breakfast, Shake Shack for lunch, and Grimaldi's for dinner.. they could not finish more than half of the pizza, had the rest wrapped up, and gave it to a homeless guy they met on the Brooklyn Bridge! Without my or eGullets help they found Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown, which they loved. They wanted to go to Bar Room at the Modern but when they got there (for lunch) they felt underdressed and a bit uncomfortable, so they did not go in. The market at Union Square was much appreciated for breads, fruit and snacks. Thanks all for the suggestions

I made a map in Google maps with all the recs and a Word file with all the restaurant details, based on the info on this thread. Well, they're in NY as I type this, and I just got a text message that they had dinner at Seymour Burton and loved it, fresh fava beans and fish and really good burgers and great beer! They really liked it, not touristy and they felt it was very NY (whatever that means when a tourist from Amsterdam says it ) I love it that even without me there, he's following eGullet directions

pasta with purslane, bacon, poached egg

Megan.. that is absolutely my favorite breakfast. And I wouldn't mind having it for dessert, too. it's 3 pm here and I had a big lunch and I'm supposed to be working and thanks to this thread, I am now contemplating making pancakes .. maybe I should make them for dinner!

Megan, such a treat to see your beautiful dinners again. I missed them!

we're having roasted green asparagus with a poached egg for lunch. Thanks for the inspiration!

Soba, you've inspired me to go to the farmers market tomorrow and get as much green stuff as I can find. btw prasantrin, your egg white floaties could be the result of a not so fresh egg. The older the egg, the runnier the whites, and the harder it is to poach. It can still be a perfectly good egg for eating, just not for poaching!

dear Prawncrackers, you are too kind as for the quiche: it was a simple crust, blind baked for 10 minutes. I sweated a small onion in some butter, mixed that with the cooked asparagus (minus the spears) and some boiled, lightly smoked ham. Put this into the crust. Mixed two eggs with 100 ml. of heavy cream, and to that added a little bit of parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper. I added chopped dill to the egg mix, which is the one thing I would do differently next time: when you pour the cream mixture on the asparagus, the dill sort of floats on top. Next time I would add the dill to the asparagus. Arrange the asparagus spears on top and bake!