Dinner! 2012

[rotuts]

robirdstx:

those thighs look delish: if I could get TT alone Id try this in the fall/winter as I bet the aroma on a fall/winter day are delicious!

what do you int.temp to? Herbs? I think i spy rosemary. In my case they come from 22 lbs whole birds that I 'process' , SV, and freeze for heat up later.

[robirdstx]

robirdstx:

those thighs look delish: if I could get TT alone Id try this in the fall/winter as I bet the aroma on a fall/winter day are delicious!

what do you int.temp to? Herbs? I think i spy rosemary. In my case they come from 22 lbs whole birds that I 'process' , SV, and freeze for heat up later.

Thank you! The house smelled amazing! I cook them to 170 - 175 degrees. The meat is cooked through and the skin is so crispy. And you saw correctly, I use rosemary, thyme, sage, black pepper and kosher salt to season the thighs after I rub them with either olive oil or butter. Last night I used olive oil. I am lucky that my grocery carries the cut up portions, much like chicken. Tonight we will be going a bit lighter and having the second thigh with a salad.

[FrogPrincesse]

[...] and finally some Lobster Thermidor tonight:

What a great way to finish the week! And it's nice to see a classic French (Parisian) dish. I've never had lobster Thermidor but this looks delicious.

Do you cook the lobster in a pan first before finishing it in the oven?

[ScottyBoy]

Such awesome stuff everyone!

Made some Foie/Chicken liver/truffle pate. Paired it with some nectarine and fig jam I made (great success) and Picandou cheese.

[Prawncrackers]

What a great way to finish the week! And it's nice to see a classic French (Parisian) dish. I've never had lobster Thermidor but this looks delicious.

Do you cook the lobster in a pan first before finishing it in the oven?

Yeah, i parboil the lobster for three minutes, remove from the water and leave the claws in for a further two minutes. Split them in half and cut the meat up neatly so it fits back into the shell (the clawmeat goes into the head). But before you reassemble, make the cheese sauce: Soften shallots in butter, add flour etc, enrich the sauce with dijon mustard, the lobster tomalley and I use a mixture of gruyere and parmesan. I like to spoon the sauce into the shell first then rearrange the lobster meat on top then cover it with more sauce. You can leave it at this point to finish later in the oven then under the broiler with some extra cheese on top. A classic!

[Paul Bacino]

Dinner:

Made a Butter Herb Gnocchi in an Roasted Heirloom tomatoesauce w/ Locatelli cheese

[patrickamory]

Oh man, so many incredible meals posted here in the last couple of days.

Soba and Soba, beautiful looking pasta. I love celery so will definitely try the latter.

robirdstx turkey thigh with gravy mashed potatoes and peas. this looks FANTASTIC. I can literally smell it coming out of the screen.

Prawncrackers let me add my voice to the chorus of appreciation on your smoked eel. Way way way up my alley. And eel fat as the jamon iberico fat of the sea - I can easily imagine. (Did you skin them alive a la Richard Olney? I quail)

the croquettas look toothsome as well...

[C. sapidus]

Everything looks great, but I have a hankering for Paul’s gnocci, Prawn’s smoked eel, and Andrew’s monkey bread French toast. Nice work!

I’ve been on a Mexican jag lately – apologies for the sloppy plating

Mixed seafood with salsa de chile guajillo: Extra salsa made this weekend, plus a roasted and pureed garden tomato and a squeeze of lime. The seafood turned out tender, and the sauce (from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen), is ridiculously good.

Arroz verde al Poblano (green Poblano rice): Fry jasmine rice with white onion and garlic, and then steam with a puree of chile Poblano, cilantro, and chicken stock

[patrickamory]

Lovely colorado look to the sauce Bruce.

I made a tagine of chicken in tomato sauce with preserved lemon and capers. I added some pimentón as well, and substituted hyssop for the parsley. The result is a sort of Moroccan puttanesca:

[Franci]

Tonight we had fish.

Grilled calamari

A very nice branzino

And tomato salad, plus some Romanesco cauliflower that I didn't picture

[judiu]

Andrew, that French toast has nothing to do with breakfast OR dinner, that's all dessert! Given that, I'd happily eat it, day OR night!

[rarerollingobject]

This picture was actually taken at lunch, but since I'm having the same thing for dinner, I think it's fair game to post.

Steak tartare, a pretty standard preparation of beef, shallot, parsley, tiny capers, Dijon mustard and Tabasco. And egg yolk porn, to be sure.

[Paul Bacino]

My Basil season is coming to a close!

[rotuts]

Wow good ideas. never thought of cashew pesto, even though its my favorite nut! its on the list.

[patrickamory]

Rancho Gordo borlottis with garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and sage

[Kim Shook]

robirdstx – I like the look of those ribs. I’m ready for some ribs SOON. And your turkey dinner looks wonderful. My mom was roasting a chicken for the dog when I was at her house today and I was thinking wistfully of turkey dinner!

Bruce – so glad that you made the Gai Yang! I’ve got company coming over for dinner on Tuesday and was trying to think of what to make. You sent me the marinade recipe in June and I still haven’t made it – that’s exactly what I’m making! As a matter of fact, I’m stealing your whole menu! You say to marinate briefly – an hour or so?

Paul – your chicken fried steak is gorgeous!

Prawn – the idea of eels makes me a bit shivery (I confess that my feet are right up in my chair along with my bottom as I type) since I have a snake phobia, but I’ve actually eaten eel – smoked, I reckon: whatever I’d get at a sushi restaurant. I liked it quite a lot (much better than the raw fish that it came beside) and your croquetas look fabulous. I know I’d love them.

Stash – loved the Pane, burro e acciughe picture. Perfect last gasp of summer meal!

Andrew – I have breakfast for dinner a LOT and mine never looks like that ! Just fantastic!

Scotty – mmmmm, pate! I think we need to have a pate and baguette dinner here soon.

While I was in NC, visiting my grandmother, Mr. Kim made chili:

Delicious, as always. No picture of mine, but if you subtract the jalapenos and add some elbow macaroni, you’ll have it.

I contributed Jiffy corn muffins:

[woodburner]

Flank Steak Taco's with Mexican Street Corn.

[mgaretz]

Been lurking and cooking (even remembering to snap some pics now and then). Here are some recent dinners:

Stir fry with baby bok choy, onions, carrots, peas and char siu (from the deli counter at the Asian grocery):

I finally got to try some more smoking in my new smoker (my daughter didn't like the smoke smell that leaks into the house, but now she's off to UC Davis). I did some St. Louis ribs, rubbed with Meathead Goldwyn's Memphis Dust then finished with Bullseye. Here are the ribs after 6 hours in the smoker at 225F with just the rub:

And after about 20 minutes on the regular grill and basted with sauce:

They were fantastic.

I also made a pastrami. Started with uncooked corned beef, soaked for 4 hours in several changes of cool water, then dry rubbed with coarse ground pepper and coriander and left overnight in the fridge. Then 10 hours or so in the smoker until the internal temperature was 210F. (Smoked to an internal temp of 156F or so - about 5 hours, then wrapped in foil for the rest of the time.) Didn't take any pictures of finished pastrami but it was really great.

I made pastrami hash with the leftovers. Pastrami, onion and potato with poached eggs on top:

Sorry about the picture!

Edited September 24, 2012 by mgaretz (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Now that I have moved to a city that has a butcher shop with grain fed roasting chickens, I poached one and then made dumplings. My son reorganized the kitchen to make it more efficient. I spent more time looking for stuff (and cussing) than cooking and didn't take any pictures.

[rod rock]

Mgaretz, that is wonderful salad!

[Paul Bacino]

I source a local Wagyu type beef from Omaha area, I picked up some skirt steak to make Tacos. The beef absolutely melted in your mouth

I roasted some garden onions and 3 type peppers and made a home-made salsa to finish

.

[FrogPrincesse]

Local halibut cooked en papillote with thyme and grapefruit segments.

I served it with acorn squash and kale.

Dinner last night was a quiche Lorraine with home-cured bacon.

We had the quiche with this tomato, watermelon and fennel salad.

[eldereno]

Local halibut cooked en papillote with thyme and grapefruit segments.

I served it with acorn squash and kale.

Dinner last night was a quiche Lorraine with home-cured bacon.

We had the quiche with this tomato, watermelon and fennel salad.

I'm kinda loving that salad combo. Will steal that idea for sure!!! What kind of dressing did you use?

Edited September 25, 2012 by eldereno (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

I'm kinda loving that salad combo. Will steal that idea for sure!!! What kind of dressing did you use?

Olive oil + lemon juice, plus the fennel fronds. Very simple!

[Kim Shook]

Mark – everything looks delicious, but those gorgeous eggs sitting atop that hash got me HUNGRY!

Elise – that salad caught my eye, too! Beautiful – I love fennel with tomatoes.

Last night we had a birthday celebration for Mr. Kim’s dad. Nibbles:

Cheeses: Merlot Bella Vitano, Ilchester Beer Cheese & Stilton

Assorted olives

For dinner I basically stole Bruce’s Gai Yang meal from the 19th:

Absolutely delectable baked, then grilled chicken with a marinade of garlic, pepper, cilantro, whiskey, coconut milk, fish sauce, ginger and soy sauce. Everyone at the table, including my mother (who is poultry-averse) loved it. I served it with a vegetable stir-fry almost exactly like his - Napa cabbage, snow peas, onions and bean sprouts flavored with garlic, fish sauce, mirrin and soy. I also made coconut jasmine rice. I somehow missed taking pictures of the stir-fry and the rice. I may make the stir-fry again tonight. If so, I’ll get a picture then. I had some trouble with the rice getting properly cooked – it was still pretty dern crunchy after 16 minutes + rest time and still a bit too crunchy after an additional 10 minutes cooking and some additional liquid. I guess I need practice. I have to confess to usually using those microwave bags. Anyway, thanks so much Bruce – everyone was happy! That meal with definitely go into my rotation.

Dessert was by request. Birthday boy is diabetic, but he and his wife are completely sugar-focused. He will eat any amount of carbs, but actual sugar is VERBOTEN . He wanted SF angel food cake and SF ice cream. Sigh.

The cake was store-bought. I can make a fantastic angel food cake (Michael’s, actually), but I think that a commercial kitchen can beat me in making a SF one. The flavor was actually fine, but the texture was off, unsurprisingly. I made a strawberry sauce with some frozen berries and that went a ways towards ameliorating that cake .