Dinner! 2012

[FrogPrincesse]

SobaAddict70 - Beautiful dishes. I need to put my hands on some samphires because I love their briny taste.

Your asparagus and poached egg dish is a classic dish that I want to make very soon, with duck eggs if I can find any.

[Paul Bacino]

Test run.. before the fresh ( real ) stuff hit us!! Frozen peas today

Radiatore with Smoked salmon and spring stuff ( asparagus slivers and peas )!! Waiting on the morels !!

Edited March 16, 2012 by Paul Bacino (log)

[ScottyBoy]

Yum. Spring can't come early enough!

[David Ross]

I'm big into brining, curing and preserving these days. One of my favorite cured meats is Duck Pastrami. It's technically not pastrami since it isn't smoked, it's more of a "corned" duck, but "Duck Pastrami" sounds better.

Duck "Pastrami," Melon, Mint, Olive Oil, Blood Orange Balsamic-

[David Ross]

Made a dinner from The French Laundry At Home with my girlfriend for my parents - first time really cooking from this book and it was really fun!

Dungeness Crab Salad with Cucumber Jelly and Frisee (used some arugula instead)

I live for Dungeness Crab. How beautiful, and I'm sure delicious.

[robirdstx]

Great looking meals everyone!

Our dinner tonight was Stacked Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

with a bowl of Drunken Beans on the side.

[Pilori]

Thanks, David!

How do you make your duck "pastrami"?

[ScottyBoy]

It's been done before but, it was good............very good.The Moderist Cuisine mac n' cheese.

For this one it was a 1/4 blue and 3/4 sharp cheddar cheese. It was everything I wanted it to be. The same texture when heated as the sauce in Stouffer's and when cooled the little jelly block I can have to keep in the fridge when I need.

Edited March 17, 2012 by ScottyBoy (log)

[David Ross]

Thanks, David!

How do you make your duck "pastrami"?

Start with some meaty, thick duck breasts. I prefer the Magret breast from a Moullard duck. They make more nice, wide slices when you make the pastrami. In this case, I found some frozen duck breasts that I thought would work well, but when I thawed them they were puny. The flavor was still great, but for presentation I prefer wider slices from a bigger breast.

Brine-

1/4 cup crushed juniper berries

1 tbsp. crushed Szechuan peppercorns

1 tbsp. crushed black peppercorns

3 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Kosher salt

2 bay leaves

Dash curing salt

2 large duck breasts

Place all the ingredients for the brine in a saucepan and heat to the boil. Let cool to room temperature. Pour the cooled brine into a Tupperware container and add the duck breasts. Cover and refrigerate. I like to let the duck sit in the brine for 2-3 days.

Remove the duck breasts from the brine. Make a spice rub from the same spices you used for the brine-juniper berries, Szechuan and black peppercorns, and bay leaves, ground together. Rub this spice mixture on the brined duck breasts.

Place the duck breasts on a rack over a cookie sheet and bake at a low oven, 225, for 45 minutes. (Sometimes I smoke/cook the duck breast in a smoker at the same temp/time).

Cool the duck breast, wrap and refrigerate for another couple of days before using. Slice as thin as possible before serving.

[patrickamory]

After owning it for a few months, I finally tackled a recipe from the Momofuku cookbook. This was noodles with ginger and scallion sauce.

First, the chopped scallions:

And the chopped ginger:

Combined with light soy sauce, sherry vinegar, oil and salt:

Taking a tip from Ruth Bourdain's article in the first issue of Lucky Peach, I got some packaged ramen noodles from the local Korean grocery, Han Ah Reum, and discarded the flavor and vegetable packets:

And the final dish, with some Vietnamese chili-garlic sauce. Incredibly easy to make. And I have extra ginger-scallion sauce in the fridge.

[David Ross]

Grilled Prawns with Shrimp Toast, Sweet and Sour Vinaigrette-

[ChrisTaylor]

The foie gras hamburger from the Au Pied de Cochon book.

[Shelby]

The foie gras hamburger from the Au Pied de Cochon book.

Oh. My. God.

[kryptos1]

First time doing SV and it turned out good. Learned a lot.

Tri-tip roast with a rub for a few hours:

Cut in half, then cold Smoked for 4 hours, the SV for 22 hours @ 140F:

The result (other half will get 30 hours):

[patrickamory]

I finally decided to make chicken with preserved lemons and olives in my tagine. I went out to buy Paul Wolfert's clay pot book but the bookstore was sold out of it, so I was forced to use a decidedly unhelpful rendition of the recipe on yummly.com.

I cut corners in several ways - did not stuff garlic and salt under the chicken skin to rid it of bitterness (I used a high quality chicken), and only marinated for three hours at room temp as opposed to overnight in the fridge. I also used preserved lemons from Kalustyan because my homemade ones won't be ready for another two weeks.

Still turned out great. I have to say this is a surprisingly time-consuming recipe compared to the times given - again, this may have been the layout of the recipe on the site (which I definitely don't recommend).

The marinated chicken with the grated onion, saffron and herbs added, ready to go in the tagine:

And the final dish, ready to serve:

[Paul Bacino]

ScottyBoy-- very nice " Mac and Cheese "

Interesting.. that.. this is one time when you see pasta labeled a Macaroni -- My grand mother always called " all types of pasta " as " macaroni ' as opposed to spaghetti or pasta .

Thanks BRO

PB

[Paul Bacino]

COLD SMOKED SALMON

I'm just miss the four leaf parsley!! I need a bit-o-luck

[kayb]

It has been two weeks since I read this topic (or any other one). So many marvelous meals, and I’m so very glad I went back to the last posts I read and started forward so I wouldn’t miss anything, because? Roasted grapes? SobaAddict, that has got to be the most wonderful idea I’ve ever heard in my life. (The Salad Parisienne looks pretty marvelous, as well.

MM, the lobster looks lovely, but I’m intrigued by the cucumbers marinated in yogurt and curry. Details? I love a cucumber…

Bruce, as a confirmed aficionado of smoked pork butt, I cringed a little at the idea of putting it in chili…and then I thought about it and decided it’d probably be pretty doggoned good. What was the verdict?

Elise – love the idea of wrapping salmon in Parma ham! How long and at what temp did you cook?

David – thanks for the duck pastrami Rx. I’ll be trying that one of these days.

So many other gorgeous meals, if I tried to post half the ones I wanted to try (which would be, well, all of them) I’d be writing all day. I've been on the road a lot for the past two weeks, and haven't cooked much at all, but I did take time out of one trip to stop by Craig's Barbecue on U.S. Highway 70, a tried-and-true barbecue joint in the middle of the Arkansas Delta, where I had a sliced pork plate.

The meat is spicy, and very smoky. It's also dry and chewy, a different style from the pulled pork you see in most other Delta 'cue joints. Beneath the onion and pickle slice is a scoop of a creamy, mayonnaisey, quite sweet slaw. The beans have more bell pepper than I'd like, but any bell pepper is more than I'd like.

Craig's is just about as legendary as Jones Barbecue in Marianna, Arkansas, which recently won a James Beard Foundation "American Classics" award. And yes, that's wonderful barbecue too.

I finished off dinner with a slice of egg custard pie from the Pie Shop, across the highway from Craig's.

You don't have a picture because, full from barbecue, beans and slaw, I planned on taking it home with me for a snack. I made it about 10 miles, and ate it straight from its styrofoam container with the included plastic fork, while driving down Interstate 40 at 75 mph. Couldn't wait.

[Shelby]

Kay, I just love that Pie Shop picture.

In honor of St. Pat's Day, I made beef corned beef from the grocery store (we usually corn our own venison, but we thought we would be out of town for St. Pat's, so we didn't start one). I halved it and did one half in beef broth NOT using the icky spice packet that comes with the roast and instead using pickling spice that I have. The other half I did in apple cider because I read online it was the way to go. I didn't taste much difference, though. Only thing I did was wash 2 crock pots instead of one lol.

I also made the most delicious rye bread ever. I used the recipe from King Arthur Flour. It uses, among other ingredients, dried potatoes and pickle juice. I was really impressed. In fact, I just hacked off another slice, heated it up, drenched it in butter and ate it.

Sorry for the bad pictures, I was too lazy to get out the camera and used my phone instead.

[Norm Matthews]

It's the day after St. Patrick's day with leftover homemade corned beef and boiled potatoes. Of course its Rueben sandwiches with pumpernickle bread and potato salad. This was last years picture. this year we are packing for a move and I didn't take pictures but we had the same thing.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Norm Matthews (log)

[patrickamory]

Wow, yummy corned beef sandwiches everyone.

Shelby, could you post the King Arthur Flour rye bread recipe? Sounds intriguing.

kayb both the barbecue and the pie shop look incredible.

[Shelby]

Wow, yummy corned beef sandwiches everyone.

Shelby, could you post the King Arthur Flour rye bread recipe? Sounds intriguing.

kayb both the barbecue and the pie shop look incredible.

I'd be happy to

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sandwich-rye-bread-recipe

[mm84321]

Crab Salad with Pickled Daikon Radish and Viola Flowers

Lobster Poached with Carrots and Vadouvan Granola

Rabbit Fantasy with Bacon and Mustard

[C. sapidus]

Shelby and Norm, I would happily tuck into either of those Reubens (although I must give extra points for homemade rye bread).

kayb – Smoked pork in chilli turned out pretty well, although it doesn’t top pulled pork with home-made BBQ sauce.

mm84321 – Those are very pretty plates. What do viola flowers taste like?

Tonight, a simple grilled meal from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. We used the same marinade on the chicken and zucchini – lime juice, fish sauce, black pepper, sugar, salt, and oil. Store-bought bread for starch. Mrs. C and I enjoyed the balmy evening while tending the grill.

Grilled chicken

Grilled zucchini

Nuoc cham dipping sauce – lime juice, fish sauce, bird chiles, garlic, sugar, and water

[mm84321]

mm84321 – Those are very pretty plates. What do viola flowers taste like?

Thanks! They have a very distinct taste. A little bit like cucumber, with a very subtle minty-ness. I love them.