Dinner! 2012

[C. sapidus]

Godalmighty, but I love Tom kha gai. Have never attempted it at home.

It is ridiculously easy to make if you have the ingredients. Don't tell anyone I said this, but it is even good if you have to substitute ginger for galangal. Different, but good. Um, so I hear.

[ScottyBoy]

Loooove Tom Kha Gai!

Paul - That is an awesome plate of food!

Tonight roommate started if off with some garlic crab. I made some maple roasted squab and a salad with pistachios, bacon, campagne vin and olive oil.

[lochaven]

Patrick: Wow, looks delicious

Kim: Always great to see these, as I've never made them.

[SobaAddict70]

Great dinners, all!

Roasted seedless grapes, with pancetta and parsley.

Grapes were tossed with olive oil and sea salt, then roasted at 400 F for 15 minutes.

I'll probably be making this again, and soon -- this time, with pancetta that's been sliced a little thicker. A riff on prosciutto with figs and/or melon; it works, in spades.

Salade parisienne, with sauce moutarde.

Clockwise from upper left: hard-cooked farm egg; roast chicken; roasted baby Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots and turnips, in duck fat; marinated olives.

[FrogPrincesse]

A deconstructed salade parisienne! How fun, and much more appetizing than the orginal.

I think I am going to steal this roasted grapes and pancetta idea. I have a slab of homemade pancetta that I need to use!

Tonight, we started with an appetizer shamelessly "borrowed" from Nancy Silverton (Mozza): slow-roasted tomatoes with burrata, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, with country levain bread.

Then we had pot-au-feu, leftovers from a giant batch (7 lb of meat including oxtail, flank steak, veal shank, and short ribs!) that I made this weekend.

[Kim Shook]

RRO – fabulous roast pig! How fantastic it would be to be able to find something like that here!

Rico – love the giant meatball. That’s how I like them.

Paul – gorgeous sear on those scallops.

Bruce – the soup looks delicious and sounds like something that I’d really like.

Scotty – nice roommate! I’ve always wondered about crab served that way in that sort of ‘high end’ dish. There is no other way to eat it but to get into it with your hands and that never seemed to go with the elegance of the dish. I know that you ate this at home, but do you find it awkward to ‘go at’ a dish with your hands when you are served this at a restaurant?

Stash – those grapes sound fantastic. That is something that I need to try.

Elise – what beautiful tomatoes! I can almost taste a mouthful of that bread and tomatoes and cheese!

Dinner last night:

Pot roast sandwiches on Cheddar-chive biscuits and the last (thank God) of the broccoli and cauliflower au gratin. I do like this pot roast recipe, but the sauce needs to be defatted. It was really noticeable in the sandwiches.

[ScottyBoy]

I guess you could shell out the lump crab and make sauce/puree/foams or whatever with the wine and garlic flavor and plate it fancy pants style but it just aint the same. I think that crab (especially the dungeness out here) is something you need to get into and work for. Get that garlic smell all over your fingers!

[rotuts]

C.s:

Id like to hear more about that Napa cab. with the fermented soybean paste. It looks deliciouis.

i havent used soybean paste much and guess ive been missing a lot!

brand choices?

[Keith_W]

In general there are Chinese and Japanese fermented soybean pastes. The Japanese varieties are Miso, and there are a number of types. Chinese soybean pastes may be "fu yee" (fermented white tofu, sometimes sold plain, sometimes with chilli) or "nam yee" (fermented red bean curd - is slightly sweet). Both types are pungent and powerful and not for the faint hearted. Chinese fermented tofu is much more powerful than Miso, which is subtle and mild by comparison.

[bmdaniel]

Bruce -

What is your Tom Ka Gai recipe?

Thanks in advance!

[avaserfi]

A little late, but:

monk fish / risotto milanese arancini / parmesan filata / crisped prosciutto / tomato-saffron fluid gel / pea puree.

[C. sapidus]

Thanks to all for the kind comments. Tom kha gai is one of those dishes that I rarely make the same way twice, but here is the general idea.

Start with roughly equal amounts of coconut milk and chicken stock. Simmer with sliced galangal, angle-cut lemongrass, and torn lime leaves. Add fish sauce, roasted chile paste, palm sugar or brown sugar, lemon juice or lime juice, and bite-sized chunks of chicken and continue simmering until the chicken is nearly done. Add sliced mushrooms and crushed Thai bird chiles and simmer until ready to serve.

The amount of fish sauce will depend on the saltiness of your brand, but try somewhere around a quarter-cup of fish sauce to 6 cups of soup. We probably use around 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, 1-3 tablespoons of roasted chile paste, and maybe a quarter cup of lemon juice or lime juice initially.

As with many Thai dishes, the secret is the final adjustment of hot, sour, salty, and sweet flavors. Adjust until it tastes great to you.

Potential variations abound. Some recipes call for putting the citrus juice and roasted chile paste in the serving bowls, and then topping with the soup. You can add some of the coconut milk, or the lemon juice or lime juice, at the end to preserve the fresh flavor and aroma. Chunks of fish or shellfish can replace the chicken. Garnishing with cilantro or fresh lime leaves adds another aromatic kick.

We grow a potted lime tree so it is easy to harvest fresh lime leaves whenever needed.

Kim – Thank you. I continue to gaze longingly at your biscuits.

rotus – Thank you also! The Napa cabbage stir-fry is simple. Mash up several cloves of garlic in a mortar and stir-fry briefly over medium-high heat. Add sliced Napa cabbage, stir-fry for a minute or so, and then simmer for another minute or so with a few tablespoons of chicken stock and a little palm / brown sugar. Add a tablespoon or two of fermented soybean paste, stir-fry another minute or two, and then serve.

We use Healthy Boy brand fermented soybean paste (dtow jiow, tao jiew, etc.), but Kasma Loha-Unchit’s brand recommendations (click) are highly trustworthy. Fermented soybean paste is salty, beany, satisfying goodness on vegetables.

[Kim Shook]

avaserfi – absolutely beautiful and what's more, it all sounds delicious.

Bruce – another batch for you below – these didn’t rise as much as the last batch.

Breakfast for dinner tonight:

Sausage gravy and biscuits, scrambled eggs and fried potatoes and onions. By request of Jessica.

[robirdstx]

My sage bush had gotten really leggy and needed to be cut back, and since it had some nice new growth, the sage leaves from the trimmings made an appearance at dinner tonight.

Garlic and Sage Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Pasta with Crispy Sage Leaves

[harrysnapperorgans]

I made a chicken pot pie - broke my pie dish so I cooked it in a old frying pan.

I thought I'd try roasting the chicken first and it was great, the nuggets of chicken are seriously tasty.

My son Joel (age 4) helped so the whole thing took way too long, but we both had lots of fun.

[ScottyBoy]

avaserfi - Want!

Along with everything else in this thread.

It's dangerous to open this at 12am when you're hungry...

[Paul Bacino]

robirdstx-- Love crispy herb stuff!!

ScottyBoy-- It's dangerous to open this at 12am when you're hungry... or for me 6 AM. ( oh the Crab looks Fab )

Kim Shook-- Nice

avaserfi-- Beautiful dish!! What did you drink with it?

harrysnapperorgans-- I made pot pie last week too, great work.

Jmahl-- I don't do lamb much ( Yikes ), but that looks like something to make.

Rico -- Nice Basta Dish

Edited March 7, 2012 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Rico]

Kim, the cruelest thing I could have possibly done to myself right now is look at those biscuits and gravy. I am not really a breakfaster, but I love, love biscuits and gravy, especially when it's sausage gravy. It is my meal of choice when getting to choose breakfast, and that looks like some kind of wonderful.

And ScottyBoy, I'm going to make a push for you to revive the egci courses so you can teach us all ... something. I don't care what it is, but your dishes all seem to be made, presented, and photographed with a masterful hand.

[mm84321]

Cucumber marinated in yogurt and curry

Lobster with turnips and honey

Lobster broth

Lobster with mushrooms, garbanzo beans, onions and bordelaise vinaigrette

Salad and cheese.

Edited March 7, 2012 by mm84321 (log)

[ScottyBoy]

Dangit, always cooking the lobster. Might need to pick one up today...

[avaserfi]

avaserfi-- Beautiful dish!! What did you drink with it?

I can't quite remember the brand, but it was a nice Italian pinot gris. I know it was a fairly dry white wine

[lochaven]

Simple dinner from a couple of evenings ago. Shrimp night, that cocktail is one of my all time favorites (Non-alcoholic). Manhattan is the other.

Mise, also added grated horseradish.

Shrimp Cocktail.

The Grill.

Edited March 8, 2012 by lochaven (log)

[ScottyBoy]

Interesting, so it's like a cold shrimpy soup instead of the dip thing.

[lochaven]

Exactly -- cold shrimpy soup...couldn't have described it better. I also added plenty of chopped cilantro, as I am on the cilantro side. These come in all forms in Mexico and now in most places here and go by the name of Campechanas. They can be a mixture of seafood, oysters or shrimp and all are very good.

They are perfect on a hot summer evening for pool parties. Just serve well chilled in non-glass cups as appetizers with beer. I've also done this with gazpacho.

[ScottyBoy]

A very broken down simple gazpacho is one of my signature dishes in the summer with heirlooms. I'm gonna pair it with shrimp this summer, thanks for the inspiration!