Chufi

I LOVE that picture! Doddie, you're showing us some great food. I can't get over that huge bag of minced garlic though! I thought I use a lot of garlic, but it would take me a loooong time to use that up. How long does it last in your kitchen? I'm saving your recipe for empanada dough. Mmm, lard pastry

Fantastic, Lorna & Henry! Everything looks beautiful and delicious. Now why didn't you have this going on when I was visiting Seattle in September? What does the name Caché mean?

clue: while across the street they were eating homemade tortillas ← ← That is correct! full of food, that movie

clue: while across the street they were eating homemade tortillas

Got another one... Turkey so heavy it cracks the Thanksgiving dinnertable in two.

Yes! we have a winner!

Oh, Doddie, how wonderful! I have a newly discovered interest in Korean food (remember my quest for jajang paste? I finally found it in Amsterdam!) and I can't wait to see a week of your cooking!

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood? ← No, sorry, new clue: the actor in this movie has been brought up in this thread a number of times for another role, where he has some pretty disgusting eating habits.

# 101 Cocoa meetings CLUE: they had many late night cocoa meetings, but when they meet for the last time, they drink tea

How about.. Cocoa meetings

Andrew and slkinsey are right, ofcourse, but.. sometimes you want risotto for dinner, but it's just a weeknight and not a multicourse affair. Our weekday dinners are usually 'put everything on the table at once' kind of dinners. So we often have risotto and then a salad, and the salad will have something substantial like smoked duck, or tuna, or eggs, or roasted vegetables. It should complement the flavor of the risotto ofcourse. And sometimes, Italian sacrilege, I do have risotto and other stuff on the same plate. With the creamyness of the rice I like 'dry' meat or fish - plain grilled salmon, veal escalopes, or even meatballs that are crispy on the outside. Tomato risotto (when there are good tomatoes, ofcourse) with grilled lambchops...

Ann, what's the glaze on your buns? I don't see that on the bread in the link. I think yours are much prettier

Doddie, the recipe is from Molly Stevens All about braising. I found a transciption online here in this blog. The parmesan was my addition, really good if you're eating this all by itself like we did. Enjoy!

Susan was the first to PM me and welcome me to eGullet when I joined, and her kindness then was exemplary for how she presented herself on all the forums. I know she wasn't officially the host of the Dinner!thread, but for a long time it felt like she was, with her beautiful pictures on every page of that thread. She inspired me more than once, and we inspired eachother (together with Megan Blocker in New York) to all make puff pastry for the first time. She did a great job with the foodblogs and I am sorry that neither of the 2 blogs I did, was organized by her. Good luck with everything Susan!

One of the nicest things about giving a Big Dinner is the leftovers. And I'm not talking about just the ready-made leftovers - nice though they are. But also the elements of the dinner that never made it to the dinner. The scrap of Gorgonzola, the half head of radicchio, the piece of fennel, the hanfuls of various nuts, the grated parm that didn't get finished, the balls of mozzarella (4 was enough - why did I buy 6?) etc. We've been eating them for days, combining and recombining the readymade and not readymade leftovers. The best ones: This is the braised escarole with beans from Molly Stevens All about Braising. I cannot praise this dish enough! Here it is 3 days after it was first made, by now it has been reheated a couple of times and the texture has suffered a bit, but not the flavor. It is truly amazing how a dish of greens&beans can taste so utterly wonderful. salad of radicchio, fennel, walnuts and gorgonzola. Verjuice/walnutoil/garlic vinaigrette. Croutons of some Really Old ciabatta.

First of all, Franci, that kruidkoek looks delicious! Notenkoek is a variation that is made here too, I never made it like that myself, but I think it will be great. Helen: I'd love to hear more about that book. The dish you describe (also known as 'blote kindertjes in het gras' or blote kindertjes/billetjes in het groen': naked little kids in the grass/ green') is a traditional dish from the province Brabant. I asked one of my friends, who is from Brabant, for childhood memories about it, and in the meantime I looked up some recipes for you. This dish is made with white beans and runner beans. In many recipes salted green beans and dried white beans are stipulated, I gather this was a winter staple made with preserved/dried vegetables. Salted runner beans are no longer readily available here, except in Surinamese shops. The dish is often described as a type of stamppot (mash), where the green and white beans are cooked together and then mashed, with the white beans acting as the starchy potato. However this does strike me as odd because when you mash the whole thing up, the white beans are no longer distinguishable, and then where did it get it's name? In one of my regional cookbooks the dish is described as a "kind of stamppot", where the two beans are cooked together but not mashed together. I've also seen a number of recipes online with potatoes added, but this seems to me a modern variation. Anyway, here's the recpe from the regional cookbook. Can't vouch for it, cause I've never made it, but it will give you an idea! 1 pound small white beans, soaked overnight 1 1/2 pounds runnerbeans, preferably salted, or fresh, slivered (note: the way the beans are cut is important to this dish: the beans have to look like grass. My grandmother had an oldfashioned vegetable mill like this, you would feed the beans into it and they came out in thin slivers - this is how runner beans were always served in my family. Failing a mill, just cut the beans on the bias in long thin grassy strips) salt & pepper big knob of butter smoked sausage, to serve Cook the white beans in plenty of water until done. Pour of excess cooking liquid, the beans should be moist but not swimming in liquid. Put the slivered green beans on top, and the sausage if serving that. Cover and cook together for about twenty minutes. Take out the sausage and cut it up. Season the beans with salt and pepper en mix them together gently, adding large knob of butter. Serve with the sausage.

For a party, we're opening some Priorat this weekend (don't have the bottles here, but if I remember correctly, 1996). We're not having them with dinner but with some little dishes (hey, it's a Spanish wine, let's call them tapas ) instead. I could use some suggestions for what to serve with this wine. I understand it's pretty bold-flavoured. Would spicy chorizo stand up to it, for instance? Other ideas?

This might be too easy... chalky tasting dessert

uhm, no, I won't let him

My Best Friends Wedding? ← YES!

I'm sorry, I forgot to report back Well, I had the best intentions, but sometimes life (in the form of panic while thinking about making lasagna for 17) gets in the way. So, the ragu I had made and frozen for the lasagna, ended up as baked penne with ragu! pics and full report here It was so much easier, maybe less impressive, but still very delicious. Thank you all for your suggestions, and I'm going to try out some of the tomato-less lasagnas mentioned here sometime, but for a smaller group of guests

a new one: VERY nervous chef sends a dish of beautifully rare pigeon breast out to a VIP customer. Customer's comments: "inventive... and creative"

Wow what a beautiful dinner Wendy! I especially like the leeks - they look so silky and juicy. Friday we had soupy chicken chili, with quesadillas and guacamole And yesterday was dinner for 17 as we celebrated my husband's birthday. Details here!

Thanks Dana! When I first met my husband, 13 years ago, there used to be about 12, and then as my friends became his friends, the guestlist expanded.. and then as it sometimes happens, over the years, people came and went.. the 'core' group is still the same as it has been for 20 years though, which is great, these dinners are a real tradition. My husband always insists on having a dinner, where guests actually sit down to eat, instead of a party. This does limit the number of people you can accomodate though.. 25 was definitely too much and even 17 is stretching it! You should start a thread about your birthday dinner for your husband, so we can cheer you on!

Ah Leung, thank you, again, for teaching me a little bit more about a cuisine that is so unfamiliar to me. Good luck with finding your fortune, and I hope your dream about flying a plane will come true!