Dinner! 2012

[patrickamory]

Fiddlehead ferns are GREAT! Time to get some from the market...

[C. sapidus]

b]Kouign Aman – Thanks for the kind words. Nice jiaozi!

dcarch – I have stir-fried a lot of chicken, but it never looked nearly that pretty.

Kim – I like assertive salads, and yours looks like it would fit the bill.

Beef panang, coconut rice, eternal cukes, unpictured salad. The curry made an excellent salad dressing.

[kayb]

Quite out of place amid such magnificent meals, but I've been hanging with the tried-and-true during a period when my energies have been focused everywhere but the kitchen.

Sous vide country style pork ribs, 48 hrs at 155F, topped with barbecue sauce and ready for the broiler:

With potato salad and baked beans:

[Emily_R]

Dcarch -- Just had to chime in today to say you've really been out-doing yourself lately!. Absolutely stunning pictures, and every one of them something I'd actually love to eat!

[ChrisTaylor]

At 8AM this morning I seasoned and seared some 'asado' ribs and then put them in a 70C oven for a few hours. I then wrapped them in foil, along with some truffle-infused olive oil and cranked the oven to 90C, then gave them a few more hours. In total: 10 hours, plus a hour-long rest in foil while the vegetables ticked away. The pan had a bit of grease in it from when I initially seared the ribs so I used that to roast the potatoes and parsnips.

Edited April 29, 2012 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[patrickamory]

Bruce, the beef penang looks stunning as always. Did you make the paste yourself? A penang curry is something I have yet to make - I'm not crazy about crushed peanuts, or anything that in any way approaches the flavor or aroma of peanut butter (whole peanuts I have no problem with).

[Kim Shook]

Bruce – thank you – I think that radishes are the Shook version of eternal cucumbers. We ALWAYS seem to have them, no matter what kind of salad I’m making. Even if I don’t do the whole lettuce, carrot, etc, etc. thing, I’ll still slice up radishes and cucumbers and give them a little pass of vinegar! I am making your Chaing Mai BBQ pork this week – Mr. Kim came home with some pork tenderloin and I have everything else in the pantry. Could you please give me some idea about ingredient amounts for the marinade?

I made some guacamole yesterday as a snack:

I guess it was a lazy day, because it ended up being dinner !

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Avocado for dinner here, too. Green salad with oil-packed tuna chunks, and cooled potato chunks, all topped with guacamole (and a dash of hot paprika on the potato side, for heat as much as looks). I swear that I didn't realize dinner was a happy face until I looked at the picture....

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, the beef penang looks stunning as always. Did you make the paste yourself? A penang curry is something I have yet to make - I'm not crazy about crushed peanuts, or anything that in any way approaches the flavor or aroma of peanut butter (whole peanuts I have no problem with).

Patrick – thank you! This was a quick meal, so we used our tub of Mae Ploy red curry paste. When I make the paste from scratch, I usually make something between the recipe in Thai Food and the recipe that Austin posted here a few years ago.

Speaking of Thai Food, Mr. Thompson suggests boiling the peanuts before making the paste – perhaps that would avoid your aversion to peanut butter. Otherwise, you could probably make a delicious Penang-like curry without peanuts – basically a very thick, salty, and sweet red curry with lots of Thai basil.

By the way, the Persian dishes that you have been posting look fantastic, but I don’t know enough about Persian cooking to comment intelligently.

. . . I am making your Chaing Mai BBQ pork this week – Mr. Kim came home with some pork tenderloin and I have everything else in the pantry. Could you please give me some idea about ingredient amounts for the marinade?

Sure! Marinade ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk

¼ cup fish sauce

6 garlic cloves, minced

6 cilantro roots (or stems), minced

2 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp white pepper

1 Tbsp ground coriander seed

Vietnamese chicken curry with sweet potatoes – this had that typically Vietnamese gentle-complex flavor. BSCT marinated with salt and curry powder; seared with minced shallot, garlic, and cayenne; simmered with chicken broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, onion, lemongrass, and ginger; and then garnished with scallions, cilantro, and Thai basil. Crusty baguette to soak up the delicious broth.

Asparagus and shiitake mushroom stir-fry – dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 8 hours and then stir-fried with fat asparagus and finished with a sauce of the mushroom soaking liquid, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Younger son took his usual token amount of vegetables, and then kept helping himself to more. Success!

[robirdstx]

Tonight we had

Grilled Chicken Fajitas on Homemade Flour Tortillas

[patrickamory]

The simplest dish imaginable - Marcella Hazan's pasta with tomato, onion and butter.

[FrogPrincesse]

Grilled Delmonico steak (with a little bit of goat milk butter), sugar snap peas, and shaved rutabagas with butter and black pepper.

It took a bit of time to slice the rutabagas (I used a vegetable peeler) but this was a good way to prepare them (recipe from Food & Wine).

I still have two more giant rutabagas from my CSA to use! Not sure what to do with them next. It's a good thing that they keep for a long time.

[Paul Bacino]

I have a vintage Cavatelli maker!!

Home-made Cavatelli in Arrabbiata Sauce

Shredded Beef Enchiladas

[EnriqueB]

Kouign Aman: nice frittata, believe I've never made one, have to try.

Avaserfi: beautiful as usual. Really want to try liquid nitrogen, though I'll start with dry ice next week.

Kim: thai-american fusion! Have to give a try to charring pineapples after seeing yours.

SobaAddict70: More ideas to try, I've never made polenta, looks really great.

mm84321: Always left with an open mouth after seeing your creations.

Dcarch: Same comment as for mm84321, and I specially love your color combinations, wow!

C. sapidus: That panang makes me hungry.

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

And my dinners:

Spanish duck rice (not paella!): duck stock, green beans, garlic scapes, chicken thighs, chickpeas, tomato, "ñora" pepper meat, saffron, paprika. Topped with sous-vide duck breasts.

Roasted broccoli with soy and fish sauces, grated lemon rind, parmesan.

Sous-vide duck confit with pommes salardalaises, from Modernist Cuisine.

[patrickamory]

The homemade cavatelli look delicious.

Pasta e fagioli:

[deensiebat]

Asparagus pizza! Mozzarella, shaved asparagus tossed with olive oil and salt, hazelnuts, and fresh mint after the oven.

[Zeemanb]

Technically, I only "cooked" the toast, but one of the most satisfying meals in recent memory.

As local to the KC area as it gets.....Green Dirt Farms "bossa" cheese- Camembert style, and this particular one was goooooood and ripe (same farm that was recently on the No Reservations KC episode). Also some of our favorite Farm to Market "Grains Galore" bread, and some coppa and duck pate from our newest addition to the butchery scene- Local Pig. Local radishes and some coffee and chile infused honey I got from Local Pig while picking up the meat snacks.

My wife hates cheese that wafts across the room as it sits at room temp, I feel bad for her.....

[heidih]

Asparagus pizza! Mozzarella, shaved asparagus tossed with olive oil and salt, hazelnuts, and fresh mint after the oven.

Love the hazelnut addition!

[FrogPrincesse]

Technically, I only "cooked" the toast, but one of the most satisfying meals in recent memory.

As local to the KC area as it gets.....Green Dirt Farms "bossa" cheese- Camembert style, and this particular one was goooooood and ripe (same farm that was recently on the No Reservations KC episode). Also some of our favorite Farm to Market "Grains Galore" bread, and some coppa and duck pate from our newest addition to the butchery scene- Local Pig. Local radishes and some coffee and chile infused honey I got from Local Pig while picking up the meat snacks.

My wife hates cheese that wafts across the room as it sits at room temp, I feel bad for her.....

My kind of meal! Beautiful cheese. I can (almost) smell it from here.

[FrogPrincesse]

Grilled rutabaga with bourbon sausage and veal brats, sugar snap peas, mixed greens with homemade green goddess dressing, county leaving bread, honey garlic butter, and a couple of different mustards.

[Mjx]

The homemade cavatelli look delicious.

Pasta e fagioli:

Lovely, though it's making me mildly homesick. What recipe did you end up going with, in the end?

[Franci]

I have been away for a little bit and it's a nice way to start the day and see what people here have been cooking.

Robirdstx, I really liked your red Chile and Garlic Shrimp in Olive Oil.

Chris Taylor, beautiful Escoffier-themed dinner!

RRO scallops, seared in butter and glazed in yuzu marmalade...can I have that for breakfast?

Venetian-style calamari, served with herbs and polenta.

Adapted from this New York Times recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/dining/calamari-with-herbs-and-polenta-recipe.html?ref=dining

Leftover polenta will be repurposed for breakfast this weekend. Ever had poached eggs on top of polenta?

Lovely!

I've just spent the last 10 days in Venice. Sunday night dinner was softed shelled crabs (moeche) with polenta.

In Venice they really like their white polenta with fish.

I always have left over polenta with fried eggs. Love it.

Beautiful polenta with calamari, SobaAddict! I really like polenta but mine never comes out quite right. What kind of polenta do you use?

Tonight i made grilled corvina seabass with spicy lime soy sauce (recipe from Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen), served with sauteed rapini with garlic and chile (recipe from Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques).

For the fish, I used a couple of frozen fillets that I marinated for a couple of hours in soy, fish sauce, ginger, chives, lime juice, and peanut oil. Then I cooked them on the grill, basting with the marinade, and added fresh cilantro and lime at the end.

The rapini was blanched and sautéed in olive oil with shallots, garlic, thyme, and chile de arbol.

Really simple but full of flavor.

I'm sure I'd love your recipe for corvina, Frogprincess!

For the polenta. Why you don't like how your polenta turns out?

Everywhere you go they have a different preference for polenta and they like a different variety.

Blanquette de Veau with Crayfish and Tarragon

MM84321, your blanquette doesn't look very "white" to me but so much more appealing. Love the colors.

Stir fried chicken with black garlic

Beautiful

Asparagus and shiitake mushroom stir-fry – dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 8 hours and then stir-fried with fat asparagus and finished with a sauce of the mushroom soaking liquid, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Younger son took his usual token amount of vegetables, and then kept helping himself to more. Success!

Bruce, I live very much your asparagus, I need to try this, thanks

Edited May 1, 2012 by Franci (log)

[Honkman]

Pork and tomatillo stew with rice and lime-spiked sour cream

[robirdstx]

Inspired by the Sage Topic and my growing sage plant, dinner last night:

Boneless chicken breast cutlet topped with a spread of apricot preserves and tender fresh sage leaves,

wrapped in prosciutto and pan-fried in a bit of peanut oil.

DH declared the Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breast with Sage Leaves something he would get in a restaurant. I took that as a compliment!

[rotuts]

looks delicious. I bet that apricot addition made a very big difference. I plan to 'borrow' your idea.