Dinner! 2012

[Norm Matthews]

kayb, if you just need a small smoker, a Weber kettle will work as both a small smoker and regular grill. The one I have is the smallest one that company makes (Horizon smokers)

[Paul Bacino]

You KNow I love a good RACK!!

[SobaAddict70]

Recent dinners...

Mesclun, heirloom tomatoes, wild turkey egg

The tomatoes were diced and tossed in a 1:1 mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and chives.

Penne with baby spinach, capers and heirloom tomatoes

Artichokes, with garlic, parsley, mint and chiles

Watercress and chickweed salad, with Greek yogurt and chive dressing

The dressing is 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt (Chobani is a good brand, or you can just strain plain, unflavored yogurt overnight in cheesecloth suspended over a bowl in the refrigerator), mixed with the juice of half a lemon, 1 tablespoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon chopped chives, a pinch each of sea salt and freshly milled black pepper. This recipe will make more than enough dressing for the salad; use leftover dressing for sandwiches, or as a topping for steamed vegetables, or a baked potato.

Tonight will be leftover pasta. I was planning on savory corn pancakes but I think that will be tomorrow's breakfast instead (or maybe sweetened corn pancakes, no offense to percyn's "egg rule". )

Edited May 13, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Dinner tonight was acorn squash baked with salt and pepper, maple syrup and butter. Cheeseburger had onion, mayo and a grilled deli bun. It is probably my imagination but since I moved to Kansas City, I think the hamburger tastes better.

[rarerollingobject]

Morcilla is not something I think I can source locally but that sure does look delicious. What do you think might make a good substitution?

I think you could use sausage meat, or maybe even just ground meat with something to bind..though the cooked morcilla was pretty crumbly anyway. The recipe I followed is here.

Still on a Spanishy kick, I made this recipe; scallops, broiled with chorizo and topped with crispy panko, lemon zest and parsley. And a little salad on top of mache dressed with sherry vinegar and mandarin olive oil.

[Paul Bacino]

So to complete the Dish

Double Lamb Chop on a bed of Keller Veal Stock Mushrooms topped with Serrano Mint Jelly!!

[avaserfi]

Avarserfi, I'm intrigued by the broccoli custard. It looks lovely. Did it taste as good as it looks?

The base is essentially broccoli and cream with a few spices to round out the flavors, so it almost tastes like an extremely rich cream of broccoli soup.

[mm84321]

mm, please enlighten me on the maquereaux au vin blanc. I'm not certain what I'm looking at (but it's lovely!)

OK. So, you take a mackerel and cook it by pouring hot white wine (Muscadet, in this case) over, and leaving to simmer for a little bit. Then you keep it in the fridge overnight. The next day, you crumble the flesh, mix with cooked potatoes, rice vinegar and cream to make little fritters, which are coated in sake kasu and deep fried. You use some of the cooking wine to make an aspic, which goes on the bottom of each plate. The rest of the cooking wine is used to cook the carrots, which are then wrapped in seaweed. The other mackerel is cured in salt for 10 minutes, then submerged in rice vinegar and sake. This you slice thinly over each carrot.

It is a very good dish. You just have to like mackerel.

[mm84321]

Turbot roasted in lobster butter

[C. sapidus]

PastaMeshugana – Thank you kindly, good sir

For Mother’s Day, Mrs. C requested seared tuna, so Vietnamese seemed appropriate.

Pan-seared tuna steaks – briefly marinated with lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and oil before searing on a cast-iron pan. Served with coconut rice

Ginger-line dipping sauce – grated ginger, lime juice, sugar, and fish sauce

Vegetable garnish plate – Red-leaf lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, and cilantro

[heidih]

Bruce - I just pulled some tuna steaks out of the freezer and was headed in the direction of curry, but your post has shifted my thinking and I will be doing something more simple and clean as you did above. I have 3 kinds of mint in the garden as well as other greens that would be good raw plus some lovely Kirby cukes and scallions in the fridge. I even have two very ripe limes off the tree from last season. Along with Rancho Gordo's evaporated cane sugar there will be a well rounded fish sauce based dip. Thank you for the inspiration

[rarerollingobject]

We all seem to be on fish..here, I cooked perch smeared in Dijon mustard and topped with panko and parsley, and samphire sauteed in butter and lemon. And a lightly-dressed green salad.

[Kim Shook]

Norm – your ribs are beautiful. They are one of the things that Mr. Kim hasn’t yet tried to smoke. I think that I’ll show him your picture!

Kay – I love the bacon wrapped chicken – what a great idea!

Stash – gorgeous meals! What does chickweed taste like?

A couple of recent dinners - salad:

Scampi-style Surimi, turnip greens and creamed Swiss chard:

Saturday night – a tiny little (2.5 lb.) prime rib roast:

With roast potatoes, creamed Swiss chard and sautéed mushrooms:

Mother’s Day I hosted what we called a brunch, but ended up serving it later than lunch would have been. So I’ll post it here – before meal nibbles:

Nuts, cheese biscuits and kale chips. The kale chips were weird, but good:

Egg, ham, cheese and hash brown casserole:

Sweet Piggies (just pigs in a blanket with a sweet, buttery baked on sauce):

Old time eG’ers will remember our dear Racheld who used to post here. Her son made these when we visited them a couple of years ago. They are positively addictive. My eency-weency little niece said with some surprise, “I ate SEVEN!”

Carolina Grits Souffle:

Green salad and mixed berries w/ mint:

Served with a dressing choice of a Dijon vinaigrette or a sweeter one made with pineapple and apple juices.

Jacque Pepin’s Gougères:

I did these with Cheddar and chives. Every time I make gougères, I wonder why I don’t do them more often. They are so easy and astonishingly delicious!

Dessert was roasted strawberry coconut milk ice cream and Dream cookies (a shortbread-type cooky that is our official family cooky):

[Norm Matthews]

I used my new smoker again today. Last night I took a small piece of pork shoulder and seasoned it with a rub, rolled and tied it and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. Today I smoked it for 6 hours. This is half of it. I gave the other half to my back yard neighbors.

[pastameshugana]

Kim - I think every family should have an 'official' family cookie! Sounds wonderful! Great looking meal btw.

[kayb]

mm, please enlighten me on the maquereaux au vin blanc. I'm not certain what I'm looking at (but it's lovely!)

OK. So, you take a mackerel and cook it by pouring hot white wine (Muscadet, in this case) over, and leaving to simmer for a little bit. Then you keep it in the fridge overnight. The next day, you crumble the flesh, mix with cooked potatoes, rice vinegar and cream to make little fritters, which are coated in sake kasu and deep fried. You use some of the cooking wine to make an aspic, which goes on the bottom of each plate. The rest of the cooking wine is used to cook the carrots, which are then wrapped in seaweed. The other mackerel is cured in salt for 10 minutes, then submerged in rice vinegar and sake. This you slice thinly over each carrot.

It is a very good dish. You just have to like mackerel.

Fascinating! I may have to try this. I don't know that I've ever HAD fresh mackerel. Can you do it with other fish?

[ScottyBoy]

My poor roommate is sick so the poor thing gets some chicken soup...

[Hassouni]

Wow, that's a hell of a clear stock!

[ScottyBoy]

Good old quick egg white raft.

[Shelby]

My poor roommate is sick so the poor thing gets some chicken soup...

I need to get some of that shape pasta. I forget about it and it's great in soup. *cough cough* I might be coming down with something, too......*hint hint*

[ScottyBoy]

Since he's whining like a little kid he gets little kiddie pasta

[avaserfi]

Geoduck risotto

[Honkman]

avaserfi - great looking dish as always but I am curious about the plate you were using for the dish. Do you have a photo of the plate and where did you buy it ? It might look like one I am trying to find for some time

[FrogPrincesse]

I saw this beautiful roasted chicken with caramelized shallots on Kerry and Anna's excellent foodblog yesterday (here), and felt compelled to try it right away.

It was delicious and required very little prep (excluding the fact that I started with a whole chicken and that my butchering skills are still approximative... but I am working on it).

Recipe by David Lebovitz.

[mm84321]

mm, please enlighten me on the maquereaux au vin blanc. I'm not certain what I'm looking at (but it's lovely!)

OK. So, you take a mackerel and cook it by pouring hot white wine (Muscadet, in this case) over, and leaving to simmer for a little bit. Then you keep it in the fridge overnight. The next day, you crumble the flesh, mix with cooked potatoes, rice vinegar and cream to make little fritters, which are coated in sake kasu and deep fried. You use some of the cooking wine to make an aspic, which goes on the bottom of each plate. The rest of the cooking wine is used to cook the carrots, which are then wrapped in seaweed. The other mackerel is cured in salt for 10 minutes, then submerged in rice vinegar and sake. This you slice thinly over each carrot.

It is a very good dish. You just have to like mackerel.

Fascinating! I may have to try this. I don't know that I've ever HAD fresh mackerel. Can you do it with other fish?

I'm not certain that other fish would work quite as well as mackerel in this particular recipe. It's a pretty unique taste. That's not to say you can't substitute another oily fish. Herring might work. Someone on here may be able to give a better recommendation.