Dinner! 2012

[pastameshugana]

We had a couple of rainy days, and I was craving Corn and Roasted Green Chile soup, so here we are, shooting from the hip:

Started by frying up 1lb of bacon (Bar-S smoked, my favorite since childhood!) - toss the bacon into the stock pot, save the fat.

Deep fry rough chopped garlic (1 clove) in the bacon fat. I'll tell you right now there is no more heavenly scent on planet earth! Toss the garlic & fat into the stock pot.

Add two large potatoes, peeled and rough chopped.

Two cups of Chicken bouillon, a small handful of cilantro, and one whole roasted green chile (from my batch last year that I froze).

Here's the rough ingredients in the pot before the corn:

Add 4lbs of frozen corn and simmer for about 4 hours:

Blend and strain twice (it's amazing how much 'roughage' from the corn you can strain out):

Add whole milk, a bit of cumin, salt & pepper, simmer to heat up (the next day) and serve with Crema Mexicana & Cilantro garnish:

This was one of my favorite meals in a month or more, glorious flavor. All five of the mini-meshuganas gave it high marks as well!

[Mr Holloway]

Pound o bacon pizza

With extra cheese

To die for...literally

Shane

[SobaAddict70]

Some recent stuff from dinner this past week. Not pictured is spaghetti with summer vegetables (zucchini, tomato and onion) with pecorino.

Lately I've been exploring contorni so I can broaden my horizons.

Olives, cippolini onion, lemon and mint

Zucchine con acciughe e capperi

Fagiolini e zucchine

Spaghetti with white clam sauce

Edited August 22, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[C. sapidus]

. . . Corn and Roasted Green Chile soup . . . All five of the mini-meshuganas gave it high marks as well!

Sounds like the mini-meshuganas have good taste - corn and green chile is a magical combination

PanCan: Thanks! Try to stay out of the way of pyroclastic flows

Dong an (vinegar) chicken: Cornish game hens, actually – poached in stock, shredded, and stir-fried with dried chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, Shaoxing wine, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and slivered ginger, scallions, and bird chiles. Recipe from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. Jasmine rice.

Tomato and cucumber gazpacho, courtesy of Mrs. C. Variations of this are a staple during tomato season. Made a nice lunch the next day, too.

[Hassouni]

Tonight, my first time in ages making Sichuanese food.

Kung pao chicken (from Land of Plenty)

Tiger skin peppers made with shishitos that I found (never seen them for sale before)

Steamed broccolini, with oyster sauce and drizzled with garlic oil (or whatever it's called)

Not shown, rice, of course, as well as a huge heirloom tomato sliced up on the side for refreshing contrast

[patrickamory]

Soba, that spaghetti in white clam sauce looks perfect. I'd down that in a minute

Though I like to see some shells... here's ours from Maine last week, made with steamers.

Edited August 22, 2012 by patrickamory (log)

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks, patrick. I should mention that's not a traditional prep -- it had 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter stirred in at the end. otherwise fairly straightforward: olive oil, garlic, canned clams, parsley, white wine, sea salt, black pepper, cooked spaghetti.

for tonight, leftover spaghetti, but there were these as well:

Insalata di zucchini e pomodoro

Simmer zucchini in lightly salted water, then blanch in ice water, then drain. Combine with chopped tomatoes and baby arugula. Taste for salt and pepper, then dress with extra-virgin olive oil and 1 teaspoon vinegar (white wine vinegar, balsamic or sherry vinegar). Serve at once.

Fagiolini e patate

Boil green beans and peeled sliced potatoes in the same pot, in some lightly salted water, then drain. Next, heat some chopped garlic and olive oil in a skillet; when garlic becomes off-white (after about 30 to 40 seconds), add the green beans and potatoes, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry until potatoes become golden brown. Taste once more for salt and pepper, sprinkle lemon juice and parsley over the vegetables and serve immediately.

[robirdstx]

OMG! Such lovely dishes!

My dinner tonight was a Grilled Shrimp and Chicken Salad with a Honey Mustard Dressing.

[rotuts]

pasta was invented for (White) clam sauce. .

[Kim Shook]

PastaMeshugana – beautiful soup! I’m really craving corn soup lately and that looks so delicious!

Soba – the olive and onion mixture looks so good! Is it served cold/room temp? I have such a hard time finding cippolinis – they are some of my favorite onions to cook with so when I see them I grab them.

Bruce – please tell Mrs. C that her gazpacho is gorgeous!!

Robirdstx – that salad looks great. Funny – a week or so ago I saw “shrimp and chicken salad” on a menu and was perplexed. Did they mean cooked shrimp and chicken chunks on a green salad (like yours, which I like the looks of) or mixed chicken and shrimp in a mayo-based salad (which sounds kind of gross to me). Never did find out because I ordered something different. I like yours, though!

Dinner last night:

Pork tenderloin with mustard-cream sauce, Marlene’s crispy smashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts and red cabbage. The pork was a recipe from epicurious.com. Very easy – just browned the pork and then roasted. The sauce is made very quickly while the pork is roasting with shallots, wine, chicken broth, Dijon and cream. It gave a lot of good flavor to sometimes bland pork tenderloin. The cabbage is an old favorite from “The New Basics Cookbook”.

[SobaAddict70]

hi Kim. yes, they're served room temp. you can make it as is, or a day ahead so that the flavors blend. edit: the recipe will be on the blog later this weekend, by the way.

last night -- and I made way too much as usual, but that's okay, as I love homemade Indian food (for that, leftovers are most welcome, indeed):

Chana masala, coconut rice, zucchini and scallion raita

Edited August 23, 2012 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[robirdstx]

Robirdstx – that salad looks great. Funny – a week or so ago I saw “shrimp and chicken salad” on a menu and was perplexed. Did they mean cooked shrimp and chicken chunks on a green salad (like yours, which I like the looks of) or mixed chicken and shrimp in a mayo-based salad (which sounds kind of gross to me). Never did find out because I ordered something different. I like yours, though!

Thanks Kim. I was disappointed recently when I ordered a grilled shrimp salad and the shrimp was grilled but chilled. I like the shrimp and/or chicken to be freshly cooked and still warm, so I made it myself!

[Norm Matthews]

Family requested a repeat of a previous meal and I have posted pictures before so none this time. We had grilled Cuban steak with chimichurri sauce, nopalitos with onions and tomatoes, broiled tomatoes and fried sweet potatoes. Garden fresh tomatoes were halved, cored, salted and peppered, topped with kerry gold butter and fresh bread crumbs then a little more butter and grilled briefly.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

For me it's chicken baked in strong mango chutney, over coconut rice, with steamed veggies on the side. It was dee-lish.

[rod rock]

Very nice dinner SobaAddict70 ! Zucchini looks simply wonderful!

[patrickamory]

Nice looking chana masala Soba - what recipe did you use, if I may ask? I've been making rather a study of chana masala lately.

[SobaAddict70]

Nice looking chana masala Soba - what recipe did you use, if I may ask? I've been making rather a study of chana masala lately.

Deb's recipe here -- http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/02/chana-masala/

I made a few substitutions since I have an Indian pantry -- ghee for oil, 1 teaspoon panch phoran and amchoor for the lemon juice. I skipped the paprika and garam masala.

I love cilantro, so added that in at the end.

[dcarch]

There must be about a 100 incredible dishes for me to comment on since I last posted here. I will just admire and drooooool!!!

A few recent ones.

dcarch

Chanterelle Mushrooms and Sous Vide Sea Scallops

Soft Shell Crabs

Sous Vide Pork Tender Loin on Risotto and Watermelon Rind

[patrickamory]

Thanks Soba! I hadn't seen that on smitten in my chole research. It's next on my list.

[chefmd]

Heirloom tomatoes with burrata cheese.

Sous vide duck breast and crispy smashed new potatoes.

[Kerry Beal]

Heirloom tomatoes with burrata cheese.

Sous vide duck breast and crispy smashed new potatoes.

Yum - how do you like the burrata?

[chefmd]

Love the burrata! I buy it at Trader Joe, it is way cheaper than buffalo mozzarella.

[avaserfi]

dover sole, caramelized tomato jam, mushroom puree, country ham chip

[Mr Holloway]

Great meals everyone, some really nice pics

We had a pig roast at work

90lb porchetta(Italian style de-boned stuffed pig)

This was a fun cook

Shane

[David Ross]

Been a busy Summer at work and I haven't done as much cooking as I would have liked, but tonight I got back at it. Fried Oysters, Hominy and Grilled Red Onion Salad, Remoulade Sauce-