Dinner! 2012

[ScottyBoy]

They're from a local japanese store. They have a sticker on the bottom when you buy that references Kotobuki, South San Francisco. Yeah people love. I like to do a little pork belly amuse in them sometimes because....it's the belly!

[robirdstx]

Club-style Sandwiches for dinner tonight!

Rotisserie Chicken Breast, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Romaine and Roma Tomato on Toasted Whole Wheat with Mayo

[pastameshugana]

Rotisserie Chicken Breast, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Romaine and Roma Tomato on Toasted Whole Wheat with Mayo

Beautiful!

[Norm Matthews]

Everyones dinners look great. Me? Ever have one of those days where things just don't go the way you want? Today was sort of like that.

I had not cooked in a while but wanted to try a couple things I had never made before. One, I saw stuffed clams in the store and decided to make some from fresh clams. I also saw an iceberg wedge salad from Thomas Keller. The kids made suggestions for sides and the menu was set. And at the last minute I decided to try a different version of cheese biscuits.

Then I realized that I misspelled spinach. I was telling myself it was NOT spelled spinache and trying not to add the e but did anyway and left off the 'h' I also misspelled Hollandaise. Drat.

After I made the stuffed clams, I realized there would not be enough for us so I got some frozen crab cakes and three more stuffed clams from the store. I am sorry to say the store bought ones were better than mine. But if those crab cakes are what they are supposed to taste like, then i can honestly say I don't care much for them.

Here is the lettuce salad with bacon, semi dried tomatoes with herbs, home made croutons and buttermilk dressing with mint and lemon juice. It was good but next time I'll put the dressing and toppings on some torn romaine leaves. Also pictured is the spinach.

I made Touch of Grace biscuits with more flour than called for and added cheese. I did that so they would hold a shape better. It baked longer than it said to but still didn't get done. After this picture was taken it went back in the oven for a while longer.

Son wanted asparagus with Hollandaise sauce. I made the sauce from a mix. First and last time I'll do that. It was tasteless.

Here is some of the crab and clam on a plate

And i forgot to serve the rice until we were almost done but here it is..

AND it turned out this was NOT the rice pilaf they had in mind when they asked me to make it.

All-in-all, I learned a few things to do differently next time... and which things for which will be no next time .

Edited October 8, 2012 by Norm Matthews (log)

[robirdstx]

Rotisserie Chicken Breast, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Romaine and Roma Tomato on Toasted Whole Wheat with Mayo

Beautiful!

Thank you!

[Keith_W]

Norm, your food and calligraphy is beautiful. I was wondering what type of pen you use?

[mm84321]

Chestnut cromesquis

Chestnut veloute with celery, bacon and foie gras

Scallops steamed in cabbage, foie gras, brioche sauce

[Norm Matthews]

Thank you. The pen is a jade green Sheaffer'S from the 1920's, a style described as Oversized Flat Top. Here is a picture of it.

[mmille24]

Scallop stuffed with foie gras? Did that work?

[Baron d'Apcher]

Scallops steamed in cabbage, foie gras, brioche sauce

Where do you procure your remarkable, wholesale looking seafood?

[Mjx]

Lovey post Mjx. That salmon , golden .

What brand were the beans?.

Succulent .

Thanks

The beans are La Doria, and they're pretty decent, although I'm surprised that an Italian firm produces baked beans, since sweetness in savoury foods isn't hugely popular (I'm guessing this is an export-only product).

[BeeZee]

Meatless Monday (actually, most days are meatless for me)...end of season eggplants from a co-worker's garden, baked with garlic/onion/green pepper. Ate it with some plain yogurt on top. Fresh eggplant is so sweet...sideways photo

[mm84321]

Scallop stuffed with foie gras? Did that work?

Technically? It worked. You use terrine, rather than raw, so there's no fat leaked when cooking. I suppose you could use a piece of precooked foie gras, as well. As far as taste, I thought it worked tremendously well. You have the delicate nature of the scallop, slightly briny, which contrasts well with the rich, and very smooth, flavor of the foie gras. The cabbage and brioche sauce ties it all together.

Where do you procure your remarkable, wholesale looking seafood?

I buy from the wholesaler in my area. I've built a nice relationship with the owners, so they don't mind getting me things when I ask.

[Franci]

Chestnut cromesquis

Chestnut veloute with celery, bacon and foie gras

Scallops steamed in cabbage, foie gras, brioche sauce

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! I already wanted to try the scallops and foie gras combination. I'll do a less refined version a la poele.

If we manage to move back to NY I wish I can build such a great net of suppliers. Fantastic.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Franci (log)

[Kim Shook]

Patrick – thank you! I think that chicken looks and sounds fantastic. Fish sauce is my new secret weapon. The onions look especially perfect – done just the way I like them.

Scotty – I like your piggie bowls, too and your amuse sounds incredible.

Mjx – lucky you with a share in a pig! We did that once with a cow when we lived in the country and I’ve never had better meat. Everything looks wonderful, but I especially noticed the gorgeous crisp skin on that roasted chicken. Care to share your method? I’d eat nothing but the skin if I could get mine to look like that. Everyone else in the family would have to make do with naked chicken.

robirdstx – I WANT that sandwich right now. So delicious looking.

Norm – I second the compliment on the gorgeous handwriting! I’m a lefty and have the typical chicken scratch, so I’m deeply envious! Yes, I’ve had meals (actually WEEKS) like that. I read your entire post chuckling and shaking my head in sympathy! The food looked really good, though and the pilaf – even if it wasn’t what they had in mind - looked fantastic!

Last night’s dinner was James Briscione’s Sherry Shrimp and Grits:

Served with roasted asparagus. Jessica was here for dinner and all three of us loved the shrimp and grits. I used the slow cooker method of cooking the grits and they were absolutely perfect. I cannot imagine that I’ll ever use the regular method again – unless I need them faster than the two hours that the slow cooker takes.

[Steve Hiller]

Just something fun list night. A more refined version of an amuse I've done. Soft cooked quail egg, dried iberico ham, fried onion cream and chives.

How did you do the fried onion cream? Sounds great!

[ScottyBoy]

Oh just salted sliced white onions in a dry pan on low heat, get all the moisture out and when they start to brown a little add milk and blend/strain. Simple sweet and slightly caramel onion flavor.

[robirdstx]

robirdstx – I WANT that sandwich right now. So delicious looking...

Norm – I second the compliment on the gorgeous handwriting! I’m a lefty and have the typical chicken scratch, so I’m deeply envious!

Kim - thank you!

And Norm, I also love your Calligraphy. Like Kim, I am a lefty and always have smears on both the paper and my hand when writing with ink.

[Norm Matthews]

Thanks Kim and robirdstix. I am a retired art teacher and although I taught calligraphy, It was a different kind. I just recently started teaching myself in this particular style.

[Mjx]

Patrick – thank you! I think that chicken looks and sounds fantastic. Fish sauce is my new secret weapon. The onions look especially perfect – done just the way I like them.

Scotty – I like your piggie bowls, too and your amuse sounds incredible.

Mjx – lucky you with a share in a pig! We did that once with a cow when we lived in the country and I’ve never had better meat. Everything looks wonderful, but I especially noticed the gorgeous crisp skin on that roasted chicken. Care to share your method? I’d eat nothing but the skin if I could get mine to look like that. Everyone else in the family would have to make do with naked chicken.

robirdstx – I WANT that sandwich right now. So delicious looking.

Norm – I second the compliment on the gorgeous handwriting! I’m a lefty and have the typical chicken scratch, so I’m deeply envious! Yes, I’ve had meals (actually WEEKS) like that. I read your entire post chuckling and shaking my head in sympathy! The food looked really good, though and the pilaf – even if it wasn’t what they had in mind - looked fantastic!

Last night’s dinner was James Briscione’s Sherry Shrimp and Grits:

Served with roasted asparagus. Jessica was here for dinner and all three of us loved the shrimp and grits. I used the slow cooker method of cooking the grits and they were absolutely perfect. I cannot imagine that I’ll ever use the regular method again – unless I need them faster than the two hours that the slow cooker takes.

Thanks, Kim! Your shrimp look so delicious; I really miss good shrimp (I cannot understand how I live in a coastal town, yet finding decent shrimp is so difficult!).

The chicken was roasted according to the simplest and best roast chicken recipe I've yet found, from The Best Recipe (with a few very minor tweaks).

The recipe calls for buttering the chicken, and then seasoning it with salt and pepper. The chicken is not trussed.

My tweaks are all in the prep: I prefer olive oil to butter (butter does give better browning, however), and since I always brine the chicken, I actually don't salt the chicken after oiling it (the double salting gets too intense).

Also, instead of distributing the pepper over the chicken after oiling it, I mix the pepper right into the oil, and it all goes on at once.

The recipe recommends preheating the oven with the roasting pan and rack inside, for even browing of both sides, but following an incident that yielded spectacular burns, I no longer bother (also, the ovens here are all convection ovens, which helps avoid unevenness)

The roasting times are the same as the ones in the recipe: preheat the oven to 190C/375F, and roast the chicken 15 minutes on each side, then turn up the heat to 230C/450F, and roast the chicken on its back for 20 to 25 minutes (keep an eye on the chicken during this last step, if your oven runs hot).

The skin is amazingly crisp, and we often end up eating most of it while carving, so there's not much left by the time it's plated (we restrained ourselves, for the sake of better-looking pictures).

[nickrey]

Finally found some samphire.

Cooked up some Snapper and Scallops to go with it, served it with scalloped potato chips.

An alliterative dinner.

Edited October 10, 2012 by nickrey (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

The snapper looks like it's just cooked. Brilliant.

[mm84321]

An alliterative dinner.

You are missing salsify, sassafras and sarawak.

[rod rock]

It looks wonderful Nickrey!! Good combination with potato chips.

[patrickamory]

Mjx - interesting, I think I've had the best shrimp in my life in Denmark! All tiny coldwater shrimp though - no big Gulf-style beasties.