Dinner! 2012

[Hassouni]

More Georgian food last night. In addition to the usual cucumber and tomato salad and some Teliani Valley Saperavi wine, I made tabaka, which is poussin spatchcocked and seared in a pan under a brick or other heavy weight (I used my Thai granite mortar inside a pot)

Also made BY FAR my best khachapuri yet, achieving the results by winging it, when using recipes failed me in the past. This one is Mingrelian-style, or megruli, which has cheese both inside and on top:

[Dejah]

A couple of nights ago, I made meatloaf for the second time ever! This was Chipotle Meatloaf and it was moist, spicy, and delicious.

Tonight, I sliced the leftovers, covered it with more sauce AND a mix of mozza, parmasan, and provolone cheese before sticking it under the broiler for a few minutes. It stayed moist, got spicier, and stringy...

The original recipe called for ground turkey, but I used lean ground beef.

[Prawncrackers]

The wife had some girlfriends come round last night so had to think about cooking something a little less dude than my usual stuff. This was the best I could do, a fig, goats cheese and red onion tart. Drizzled with some honey it made a nice starter to some fresh crab linguine that followed.

So back to the dude food! Nasi Lemak, Beef Cheef Rendang and Soft-shell crab. I didn't have any Ikan Bilis or peanuts but this still rocked:

Steak porn. First up a 5 week aged Dexter forerib that I trimmed before chargrilling. The trimmings will make a nice burger later. This was a top piece of beef, best of British, grass-fed, tender and deeply flavoursome:

More steak porn from a month or so ago. A White Park T-bone, another smashing breed of beef, again aged 5 weeks for optimum tenderness and flavour. Served with the last of the local asparagus and an heirloom tomato salad with Japanese style sesame dressing. We had a ponzu dipping sauce with this and ate the lot with chopsticks!

Edited August 4, 2012 by Prawncrackers (log)

[C. sapidus]

Prawn: Rendang AND soft-shelled crab in the same meal? My definition of heaven right there.

We have been doing a lot of quick summer cooking lately. Charcoal-grilled chicken, marinated with fish sauce, lime juice, black pepper, and oil. Not pictured – grilled yellow squash with the same marinade, and brown rice.

[rotuts]

Beef looks stunning! BTW, what does best of British mean? is it a particular cut?

[Prawncrackers]

Beef looks stunning! BTW, what does best of British mean? is it a particular cut?

Not at all! It's just a turn of phrase, meaning I don't think I could buy better British beef anywhere else - it is the best. I think the best British beef comes from great producers who specialise in slow growing heritage breeds such as White Park or Dexter, purely grass fed no grain finishing and carefully aged after slaughter. You have more famous British breeds like Angus or Hereford but my local butcher has a really good line in these specialty breeds. I suppose i wanted to really distinguish my British philosophy of good steak with that of the US and Japan where the grading system based on the amount of marbling is king.

Bruce, I knew you'd like the Nasi Lemak Here's something I think you'd like too. Steamed Lemon Sole with Lap Cheung and Shitake, Dried Fried Green Beans with Pork:

[Keith_W]

So back to the dude food! Nasi Lemak, Beef Cheef Rendang and Soft-shell crab. I didn't have any Ikan Bilis or peanuts but this still rocked:

Funny that, I cooked Nasi Lemak last week as well. Forgot to post pictures in this thread

Clockwise from rice: Sambal Tumis, Son-in-Law eggs, Ikan Bilis and peanuts, Kangkung Belacan, Beef Rendang, cucumber. Sambal Tumis is a fiery hot condiment that is made from dried chilli, tamarind puree, shallots, garlic, onion, and ikan bilis. I made my own and gave it a liberal dose of sugar. I found that sugar has an interesting effect on heat - it suppresses the heat long enough. As soon as the sweetness disappears, the fire begins. "Kangkung" is the Malaysian word for water spinach / water convulvulus. Here it is fried with a paste made from belacan (a type of dried shrimp paste - packed with umami and very powerful), dried prawns, chilli, and shallots.

There was also a curry chicken and a Sup Kambing (Malaysian mutton soup):

[C. sapidus]

Prawn – You are quite right, the steamed sole and dry-fried green beans would be right up my alley.

Keith - Very nice!

Grilled ribeye salad with tomato, avocado, and escarole, tossed with a dressing of olive oil, lime, garlic, and chipotle. I meant to top with crumbled feta cheese, but was distracted by the Olympics. The yellow beefsteak tomato from our garden was remarkably meaty and delicious – I wish I remembered which cultivar I planted.

Cowboy beans with bacon, garlic, tomato, pickled jalapenos, and cilantro.

[SobaAddict70]

Tomato and stone fruit salad, with Spanish chorizo and prosciutto crudo

Spaghetti with Charentais melon

Adapted from a recipe by Giuliano Hazan: http://giulianohazan.com/blog/spaghetti-with-melon-a-luscious-summer-pasta/

[Mr Holloway]

Love this thread

Great meals everyone

Picked up a nice brisket

Needed some spacers(empties) to make it fit

22 hours later, point removed from the flat

After a rest, she was tender

Brisket pizza tonight

Shane

[SobaAddict70]

I do love chicken pr0n, C. sapidus.

for tonight:

Leftovers, but there were these...

Tomato and herb salad

Shiro plum tart -- with a pâte sucrée base, lemon curd and Shiro plums that were macerated with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon allspice and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

[SobaAddict70]

Dear me, between the pâte sucrée and the lemon curd, I must have used 14 tablespoons of butter today.

[rod rock]

This herb salad looks wonderful SobaAddict70!

[Mr Holloway]

Some brisket leftovers

Fries

Brisket and gravy

Some cheese

And an egg

This was tasty

Next was brisket pizza

This worked well too

Shane

[MikeHartnett]

Nasi Lemak from Plenty: coconut rice with homemade sambal, okra, fried shallots. Unbelievably good.

[SobaAddict70]

thanks rod rock, but it's technically not an herb salad since the proportions are way off.

tonight:

Celery braised in butter, wine and herbs

Tomato and crispy sourdough bread salad, with Spanish chorizo, almonds and a poached farm egg

This consists of: sourdough bread (crisped in the oven at 350 F for 5 minutes); Sungold cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes; scallions, toasted almonds, golden raisins, Spanish chorizo, sea salt, white wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, mint and a poached farm egg.

Sort of a riff on panzanella, and the Zuni Cafe chicken and warm bread salad.

I'm doing several versions of "tomato salad" this week, for people who have a glut of tomatoes and need ideas on what to do with them. Recipes on the blog.

In addition, I'm formulating ideas for an "all-tomato" dinner that I'm going to blog about a few weeks from now once the main tomato harvest occurs, sometime in mid- to late September. Right now, we're looking at 3 to 4 courses, each of which will feature tomatoes, including dessert.

Edited August 7, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[rarerollingobject]

Nasi Lemak from Plenty: coconut rice with homemade sambal, okra, fried shallots. Unbelievably good.

Love the Ottolenghi-ing!

I found good sized calamari tentacles at the fish shop for AUD$8 a kilo! Pretty good, I thought.

Grilled them up with lemon, garlic, olive oil and chilli.

[rotuts]

delicious looking calamari how long did you grill them. high heat? were they tender? Ill try this soon.

[Keith_W]

Beautiful looking meals, everyone!

Last night's dinner - a mushroom risotto, made in a Hotmix Pro (lent to me by eGulleteer annachan). The garnish was deep fried enoki mushroom.

Tonight's dinner - fried chicken, as per Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home.

[lebek]

Tonight: Beef tenderloin on a bed of red wine-braised onions (from Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook) w/ Swiss chard, girolles, crushed potatoes and a Bordelaise sauce. Beef was par-frozen, flash-seared, then slow-cooked in an oven (as per http://www.nytimes.c...ining.html?_r=1).

Edited August 7, 2012 by lebek (log)

[Mr Holloway]

Very very nice Lebek

Welcome to the best food thread you will find

Some extremely talented people here

Looks like you will fit right in

Shane

[ScottyBoy]

Yea that's the kind of hardy meal I could dive into!

[Douglas]

I made SobaAddict70s spaghetti con granchio e pomodoro:

Edited August 7, 2012 by Douglas (log)

[dcarch]

I am just totally overwhelmed by all these beautifully plated delicious dishes so skillfully photographed!

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A few of recent dishes.

Pulled pork and chayote, brown rice.

Pan fried Live tilapia with roasted elephant garlic, topped with fish roe.

Sous vide pork leg on celery

dcarch

[chefmd]

Borscht with home made creme fraiche. Turns out water heater closet in the new condo holds perfect temperature for making creme fraiche. Will try proofing bread in it some time in the future.