Dinner! 2012

[Charcuterer]

On Sunday I browned off a 4 pound Chuck roast that I had rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. I sauteed carrots and celery in the rendered fat and then added 2 cups of wine and a 1/2 cup of chicken stock and reduced the whole thing to about a 1 1/2 cups of liquid. The whole thing was cooled and put in a large vac bag. It has been merrily bathing in a 133 degree I.C. since then.

I will take it out of the water bath this evening and drain off the liquid then re-seal the meat. Then Friday night I will put the meat back in to heat it while I combine the drippings and some crushed tomatoes with a touch of red wine vinegar for brightness and reduce it to a thick sauce. I plan on searing the meat a second time and serve slices of the meat and sauce over retrograded potatoes with some nice sauteed kale.

I will report back on how it came out and post some pictures.

[ScottyBoy]

I want that steak plate really bad night now Norm...

[FrogPrincesse]

The steak plate looks nice but it's Franci's veal tongue that really appeals to me.

Franci - what kind of herbs did you use? I want to say tarragon but the leaves look quite large in the picture.

[Franci]

The steak plate looks nice but it's Franci's veal tongue that really appeals to me.

Franci - what kind of herbs did you use? I want to say tarragon but the leaves look quite large in the picture.

Yes, it's tarragon. The sauce is shallots cooked in oil, a pinch of flour, a glass of white wine. Reduce. Add some cooking stock, Madeira and pouring cream reduce until nappant. Adjust seasoning. In the plate I added cornichons, capers and tarragon. Comes from Ripailles

[FrogPrincesse]

The steak plate looks nice but it's Franci's veal tongue that really appeals to me.

Franci - what kind of herbs did you use? I want to say tarragon but the leaves look quite large in the picture.

Yes, it's tarragon. The sauce is shallots cooked in oil, a pinch of flour, a glass of white wine. Reduce. Add some cooking stock, Madeira and pouring cream reduce until nappant. Adjust seasoning. In the plate I added cornichons, capers and tarragon. Comes from Ripailles

Thanks Franci, that sounds heavenly.

[ScottyBoy]

Looove tarragon.

[Anna N]

I know I can't compete with most of you but damn I do love looking at all your amazing accomplishments!

A catch up:

Bacon, cabbage and onion saute.

Chicken, onions and sweet potatoes cooked on The Griddler.

"Heroin wings" - chicken wings dipped in melted butter and then in parmesan cheese combined with dried oregano, dried parsley and paprika (I used smoked paprika).

Nigel Slater's Chicken curry.

Parmesan onions.

Potato, onion and leftover pork hash.

[C. sapidus]

"Heroin wings"

:laugh:

Nice meals!

Dejah – Holey moley, that’s a major league appetite!

Mrs. C made most of tonight's dinner, I just made the carrots and grilled the steak. Carrots were cubed, boiled, and then tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, cinnamon, paprika, and parsley. I thought they were delicious, but nobody else liked 'em.

[lochaven]

Anna -- Those onions look great.

C.s -- I bet those carrots were good!

[SobaAddict70]

so I decided on scallops instead of cod.

"Scallops, endive, leeks".

Each was sautéed separately in French butter. The scallops had a little salt sprinkled on top, then were set aside for 5 minutes -- before they had their turn in the pan.

Leftover pork with red curry sauce and jasmine rice for the rest of tonight's dinner.

Whitecliff Vineyards Traminette, 2010.

[dcarch]

SobaAddict70, beautiful scallops with endive and leeks.

C. sapidus, I like the way you made the carrots, and the steak is not bad either.

Anna N, are you talking about those dishes? I guess not, because I think those dishes look outstanding.

Franci, as always, delicious veal tongue.

Dejah, Don’t invite Kurt next time. But I can’t blame him for have a big second helping of the great roast.

Kim, yoummy Escarole and Bean Soup w/ Italian Sausage!

patrickamory, thanks for the step-by-step making of the Pozole rojo.

Prawncrackers, great display of fine meals. Especially the mutton shoulder.

Paul Bacino, fascinating Pimenton Infusion on a sous vide egg.

Keith_W, you inspired me to make a Valentine’s meal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Amazing gifts a dear friend sent me. Yesterday, I made the Venison Backstrap (tenderloin equivalent on a deer). The cut was from a young deer. I decided that the best way to enjoy it would be to do a Venison Wellington with morel mushroom sauce.

The venison was first sous vided at 125F for an hour, then put into the freezer for 30 minutes. After that, the Wellington process was put on the venison and immediately baked in the oven at 400F.

OK, the Venison was magnificently done to perfection, but part of the puff pastry was slightly undercooked. Which was not too bad. I didn’t want the venison to be over cooked.

The best venison I have ever had, extraordinary tender and flavorful with the morel mushroom sauce. Thank you my wonderful friend for this unique gastronomic extravaganza.

The Venison was served with another incredible gift from another generous friend; real wild rice (not farmed wild rice). The rice was cooked with duck liver and flavor with sauce from the venison. Need I tell you how wonderful it tasted? Thank you my generous friend, again and again!

I had “I Will Always Love You” playing in the background while dinner was served. Thank you Whitney for your wonderful gifts of music. You will always be my sweet heart.

dcarch

[FrogPrincesse]

I made him his favorite meal - he likes simple Italian comfort food.

Whole wheat penne with homemade sweet Italian sausage braised in a red wine and tomato sauce.

We also had an arugula salad with raspberries, toasted almonds, almond oil, and saba.

[ScottyBoy]

Dude that wellington looks AMAZING!

[Franci]

Anna, can I come over for dinner? Everything looks lovely.

Soda, I have a soft spot for scallops.

Dcarch, beautiful, as always.

Yesterday night my husband was expecting marrow bones, which instead where soaking, so he was a little dissappointed he didn't find them for dinner. Thought I wasn't thinking of him, just on Valentine's day

My non Valentine's dinner: lamb ribs with tamarind glaze

And salad of fennel, tarragon (I had to use it for the previous day), pomegranate seeds, and sumac. Recipe from Ottolenghi's which paired very well with the lamb. Picture from files

finocchio melagrana ott di Francesca Spalluto, su Flickr

[robirdstx]

As I posted on the Valentine's Day topic, we had Pollo alla Calabrese for dinner last night. The dish is so simple and so good. The recipe is here.

I used chicken thighs, white potatoes, campari tomatoes, and white onion.

The house smelled so good while these were baking.

My plate. Yum!

[patrickamory]

Mmmmm, the pollo calabrese looks delicious robirdstx. I'm definitely going to give that a try.

And so does that beef wellington dcarch. Wow.

Last night I made a full Thai meal at the request of friends - I haven't been making it as much lately, partly out of laziness, partly out of ingredient issues (holy basil lasts 2 days, max, period, whatever you do! THOUGH if it's going in a stirfry, you can saute it and keep it in a ziplok in the fridge. For any other uses, everything is fruitless - covering, refrigerating, freezing, forget it - it just wilts and goes brown faster than any other herb I've ever used).

Not having any leftover pastes in the fridge, the whole meal all had to be made from scratch. Even with the help of the wetgrinder, I'd forgotten just how labor-intensive Thai meals are.

I served chicken pad prik king with snake beans and apple eggplants (pictured below), stir-fried minced beef with holy basil, and papaya salad with dried shrimp. All recipes from David Thompson. And jasmine rice. And nam pla prik - some people were a bit too generous with that

And for contrast, below it is a beef pad prik king I made a few weeks ago, maybe posted a version in the shutterbug thread. It's much more photogenic, but actually was nowhere near as good - harder to get the beef cooked just right (ribeye in this case) compared to chicken thigh meat. It also looks better with the big shiny leaves of Thai basil.. but tastes better with the small retiring leaves of holy basil...

[Anna N]

Both the Pollo alla Calabrese and the lamb ribs have me salivating.

Simple salad of shrimp, hearts of palm and radishes - light and refreshing and there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

[Shelby]

Pizza night

My husband wanted a slice of American cheese and hot sauce over his runny egg (I know...but...it really looked good)

Mine

Last night was homemade chicken wonton soup and sesame honey chicken

[Anna N]

No photo tonight but had a HUGE tri tip (almost 5lbs!) which I sv'd at 57C for about 4 hours. Seared, sliced on the bias and me and number 2 son enjoyed it on cheese buns with some sauteed mushrooms. Tender and tasty beyond belief and lots of leftovers for both of us.

[Norm Matthews]

EVERYONE'S dinners look really great. I had some strip steaks to use up and had some grilled ones the other day so I didn't want to do that again so soon. A friend mentioned Stroganoff and I thought that would be a good way to go but I didn't see any recipes I liked so I started with a James Beard basic cream soup as the basis for the sauce. I used beef stock and cream with egg yolks in an old fashioned glass Pyrex double boiler. I cooked the mushrooms, onions and cut up steak in butter, added some green peas on a whim and sour cream, then added it all to the cream base and served over noodles. I seasoned with salt and pepper. I think Adobo would be good next time.

Edited February 17, 2012 by Norm Matthews (log)

[SobaAddict70]

dcarch -- great idea and presentation, as usual

FP -- can you please PM me the recipe for the sausage?

Franci -- love the salad (the ribs look good too!, but I love the salad more)

patrick -- one of the reasons I almost never cook Asian is because of the daunting list of ingredients. you're a more patient man than I.

Anna -- looks like a simple and lovely plate of salad. I do love minimalist plates.

Shelby -- I've never heard of eggs on top of pizza. I'll have to try that some time...

Tagliatelle, with Marcella Hazan's Bolognese sauce from her "Essentials of Italian Cooking"

Mostly Marcella's recipe, with the addition of ground pork and the substitution of fennel in place of celery.

[ScottyBoy]

A vegan version of my signature desert. Chocolate cake, coconut cream salted caramel, soy-coconut coffee ice cream and peanut butter powder.

[FrogPrincesse]

FP -- can you please PM me the recipe for the sausage?

[...]

Tagliatelle, with Marcella Hazan's Bolognese sauce from her "Essentials of Italian Cooking"

Mostly Marcella's recipe, with the addition of ground pork and the substitution of fennel in place of celery.

I just sent you a message, it's the sweet Italian sausage recipe from Charcuterie with minor modifications.

Beautiful pasta dish by the way!

Everything on this thread always looks fantastic.

[Blether]

A vegan version of my signature desert...

Now that looks special.

[Dave Hatfield]

We had the Cassoulet I made over the last few days for dinner last night. There were 12 of us at table. This was our monthly wine tasting group & I'd decided to do something a bit special.

We were tasting Fronton which comes from between where we live & Toulouse. Turns out that its a nicer wine than I though and was perfect with the Cassoulet.

. Here's the finished Cassoulet.

You can find the complete recipe with pictures on my blog, address below.