Dinner! 2012

[ScottyBoy]

Sunflower seed risotto is now a staple on my menus, so good!

Edited August 8, 2012 by ScottyBoy (log)

[judiu]

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

But Soba, you may have USED that all today, but certainly you won't EAT it all today, will you? (I might, but YOU? Nah!)

[Norm Matthews]

I had some eggplant sauteed with garlic, ginger, peanut oil, then steamed briefly with some spicy Asian red bean paste and chicken base with a little water.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Norm Matthews (log)

[toolprincess]

Can you share your frying method? I can't seem to get it right so the plaintains are soft and delcious. Mine always come out hard more lie for tostones...

Fried plantains: ‘nuff said

[robirdstx]

Delicious looking food everyone!

We had leftovers to use up, so dinner last night was

Nachos Grande, made with refried beans and pulled pork; guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo on the side.

[ScottyBoy]

Yessss nachos!

[tug]

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.

What a GREAT idea!

[jrshaul]

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

I thought "That's a decent price for a pound of squid!"

...then I remembered that a kilo is a bit larger than a pound.

Lucky you.

[SobaAddict70]

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

But Soba, you may have USED that all today, but certainly you won't EAT it all today, will you? (I might, but YOU? Nah!)

I finished the last of it last night.

I was supposed to have made something with a tray of roasted cauliflower but took one of my infamous "naps" and ended up waking up at 7 am. Oops.

Tonight's menu is:

Deconstructed "aloo gobi"

Spaghetti with squid, garlic and bread crumbs.

More later.

[SobaAddict70]

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

I thought "That's a decent price for a pound of squid!"

...then I remembered that a kilo is a bit larger than a pound.

Lucky you.

Indeed.

Citarella was selling them for $7.99 a pound yesterday.

[SobaAddict70]

Scotty, when you have a moment, can you please tell us about the sunflower risotto? Looks good.

Douglas, Chef White doesn't specify whether canned or fresh crabmeat. (I saw the entry on your blog.) However, I abhor canned seafood in general unless I can't get it any other way, so I used fresh lump crabmeat.

RRO -- those squid remind me that I need to learn how to turn scallions into tempura soon, for an idea that just popped into my head. You can get inspired just from reading this thread, if nothing else.

dcarch -- great-looking plates as always.

Edited August 9, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[mm84321]

So, this was a very interesting recipe. Took some pics, so I'll run through it.

Here are coco beans, or haricot "tarbais" that I was able to get fresh from a restaurant in Manhattan.

A brunoise of carrots, celery, and minced onion are sweated in goose fat with a clove of garlic.

After, the beans are added, along with a piece of ham butt, thyme, bay leaf, and a quart of white veal stock. This is cooked in the oven for a half hour. The beans are reheated in the juice of cockles, and the clams are added into the beans just before serving.

As a garnish, zucchini flowers are separated, petal by petal, and dried on a tube over the stove for 4 hours.

The main element in this dish is tuna belly. This is marinated in a mixture of soy, sesame oil, lemongrass, ginger and garlic. It is seared on all sides, and left above the stove to slowly warm through.

A sauce, or "jus de kokotxas" is made from the cheeks of a monkfish.

The cheeks are sliced, and placed in a pan of olive oil. As the heat rises, the albumin from the flesh creates an emulsification, much like a mayonnaise in texture. Blanched and browned julienne of garlic is added to this, along with chopped parsley.

In addition, the dish includes a parsley puree, grilled zucchini, veal jus broken with a bit of olive oil, and a few slices of Jamón Ibérico.

[mmille24]

Wow. Stunning.

I don't think I've ever eaten a coco bean, how was it?

[mm84321]

They are delicious; firmer than a fava, but not mealy at all. They worked very nicely with the clams.

[PattyO]

mm84321,

That was beautiful and amazing...

[SobaAddict70]

mm -- ditto.

sure you're not a chef in disguise?

tonight:

Deconstructed "aloo gobi"

Clockwise from near left:

Roasted cauliflower cooked with black mustard seeds, onion and turmeric;

Indian home fries (Yukon gold potatoes fried in ghee, with onion, cumin and scallions);

Quick tomato confit

Spaghetti with squid, tomato and toasted bread crumbs

[avaserfi]

Dessert for dinner. S'mores.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Can you share your frying method? I can't seem to get it right so the plaintains are soft and delcious. Mine always come out hard more lie for tostones...

Fried plantains: ‘nuff said

You're going for the kind of soft, ripe fried plantain with a bit of caramelization on the outside, yes? They're not so much fried as they are lightly poached in a bit of water and then finished by sauteeing in the frypan. You also have to start with really ripe plantains - you can't do this with greenies. Slice or simply peel your plantain, then toss it into a frypan with at least 1" of water, and poach with a lid on until the plantain has turned golden. Then remove it from the pan, drain off the water (or reserve it and use it as a base for Sancocho!), add some butter or oil to the pan, and get it sizzling. The plantains go into that and are sauteed until they've developed their caramel.

That's the Ecuadorian trick for it; Colombians would cook those plantains in the soup.

[C. sapidus]

Can you share your frying method? I can't seem to get it right so the plaintains are soft and delcious. Mine always come out hard more lie for tostones...

Fried plantains: ‘nuff said

Toolprincess: Thanks, and sorry I missed your question earlier. Try starting with black-ripe plantains, softer and riper than seems reasonable. I buy them so black and soft that sometimes they reduce the price at check-out.

I fry plantain slices in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat, but I am intrigued by PanCan’s method and look forward to trying it.

Good luck!

[Keith_W]

Here we go ... two days work.

Egg yolk ravioli with truffles and mushrooms. The pasta was embedded with chervil. The recipe for the pasta was from Modernist Cuisine and contains 1% Xanthan gum, which really improves the texture.

The ravioli cut open to show a soft cooked egg yolk.

Main was a confit duck maryland, duck breast ballotine, foie gras, and potato pave. The confit was done sous-vide over 24 hours with mandarin zest. The duck breast was stuffed with the mushroom duxelles then wrapped in a crepinette and fried. It was then sous-vided until cooked (don't let the pink colour fool you) and then fried again. The potato pave was as per Thomas Keller's recipe from Ad Hoc at Home. It was served with a Perigeux sauce (not pictured).

[rotuts]

KW (and all the rest!) WOW!

[Mr Holloway]

Burger night

Fresh ground chuck,3 cheese,grilled onion/mushrooms,tomato,an egg and bacon

The corn is incredible considering the weather we have had

Shane

[rarerollingobject]

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

About five minutes, on a pre heated grill pan (smoking hot, actually). They were so tender, it was incredible!

Still on the quick seafood theme, mussels. Braised with cider, cream and fatty speck bacon. With some bread and a big glass of the cider. Mmmm.

[SobaAddict70]

tonight -- leftovers, but there were also these:

Corn, sweet peppers, manouri cheese

Inspired by Larry Forgione's pan-seared buffalo steak with corn, peppers and scallions at the original An American Place.

Sopa de ajo con chorizo

[rotuts]

Thanks RRO thats a good idea about the pan! I tend to end up in that middle chewy zone

Edited August 11, 2012 by rotuts (log)