Dinner! 2003

[FoodMan]

Invited the in-laws on Sunday for a nice Mexican fiesta dinner. For an appetizer I made a roasted tomato and chile salsa and served it with corn tortilla chips and fresh squeezed lime margaritas. the main dish was charcoal grilled skirt steak that was marinated in onions/garlic/cumin tacos with chile "rajas" (roasted poblanos and onions cut into strips), brothy mxican style skillet beans (cooked with bacon onions and cilantro), guacamole and sour cream (Salsa , beans and steak recipes courtesy of R. Bayless).

For dessert I had made Tres Leches for the first time . Served cold and moist it was the perfect end to the meal.

FM

edited to add the beans

(NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT: This topic is a continuation of Dinner! 2002)

Edited September 8, 2012 by Chris Hennes
Added management note. (log)

[Priscilla]

Foodman that sounds like a good menu. What was the recipe source for your Tres Leches?

Yesterday, New Year's Day, superultratrad black-eyed peas--bell pepper, celery, garlic, onion, parsley, classic Southernish. Rice. Coleslaw.

Also, in the Consort's personal interest of boding steak over the coming year, prime-grade porterhouse, first time purchasing prime grade for home use. (Not Certified Angus.)

Cooked in the verrrrry hot 12-inch All-Clad, outtake fans outtaking as fast as their little legs could carry them, salt, pepper. Emitted very clear, very good-smelling fat. Achieved very good crustage. Buttery, beefy. Possibly, quite possibly, worth the price differential from the usual CAB choice.

[FoodMan]

After a quick search on yahoo here is the link to the recipe I used for Tres Leches:

Tres Leches

I substituted whole milk for the heavy cream to make it a tad lighter.

FM

Edited January 2, 2003 by FoodMan (log)

[SobaAddict70]

New Year's Eve party:

"Asian" bhel puri (with crushed shrimp chips and panko, in addition to the usual bhel mix; diced potatoes; tomatoes and chickpeas; tamarind chatni; and coconut chatni)

rogan josh

lemon rice

stewed cauliflower, with tomatoes and paneer

cabbage masala

sweet laasi

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pear pan dowdy (at the stroke of midnight)

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last night:

roasted some brussel sprouts, finely chopped, and sauteed with minced pancetta and caramelized onions, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and white pepper, and some EVOO, on top of penne rigate (herbed fried bread crumbs)

roast chicken, mashed potatoes (with lots of butter and cream AND NO ROASTED GARLIC!!!), green beans with a little almond oil drizzled over them

haagen dasz mango sorbet

SA

[Simon Majumdar]

Chunks of Cod and Haddock plus two fillets of red mullet

Dredged in seasoned flour and shallow fried in olive oil

Served with a salad of spinach, rocket,sorrel and basil in a dressing made from walnut oil and normandy cider vinegar

Also a small amount of rouille

The Haddock in particular was superb

S

[Wilfrid]

I miss haddock.

Seem to be on a tripe binge. Following the Spanish tripe dish last week, I am now onto tripe a la mode de Caen. Good thing for this weather, with buttery mashed potatoes to soak up the sticky juice.

[Priscilla]

Glazed ham. Sweet potato biscuits. Butter & honey, together again. Nice Romaine with buttermilk dressing. 1996 Storrs Zinfandel from Santa Cruz of all places--really good!

[Gavin Jones]

Wish I had something to add on the tripe front.

Just had 1/2 a pheasant simply roasted, with much butter.

A few nondescript vegetables.

Dessert: Cadbury's creme egg

Am trying to explore my religious heritage such as it may be through diet.

[Kikujiro]

An evening of random experimenta, to which, luckily, I subjected only myself. Not hugely successful, but you live and learn. Several (clearly not all) of the below were attempts to mimic stuff Jinmyo has posted on at various points:

1. Frozen potstickers from Chinatown. Scrumptious. Came in a huge bag so now I can have junk food at home any time I want.

2. Shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted from dried, brushed with chiu chow chilli oil and grilled. (I didn't have the hua gu that Jin referenced so I kept them whole.) Seemed to go from chewy (despite long period of reconstitution) to dried out without a sweet point in between. Damn.

3. Sort of attempted baby nasu dengaku. Some of those tiny Asian eggplant, sliced in half, brushed with sesame oil and grilled; then the cut half spread with a paste of miso, sake and sugar and grilled again. Not a complete failure but the little bastards shrivelled up somewhat by the time they were soft, and ended up rather dry. Maybe need to precook? Or give up even trying to do with baby aubergines? I liked the idea of working this into a kind of finger food.

4. Grilled polenta with parma ham and new season evoo. And a couple of glasses of red wine. I managed not to screw this one up. Inspired by prosciutto thread.

5. Dashi games, one. Soup made with soaking liquor from shiitakes, dashi, sake, soy sauce, salt, white pepper, reduced with a couple of thinkly sliced mushrooms in. And a last-minute kick of Marie Sharp's chilli sauce. Not bad, presumably with better mushrooms and longer soaking would have worked better.

6. Dashi games, two. Chawanmushi. Problem: despite several opportunties, forgot to buy crab meat I had intended to incorporate in this. In last-ditch bid, tried to persuade the Yo! Sushi round the corner to sell me a small quanity, but they refused. Ah, they suck anyway. Had plain with a little soy and scallion. Not bad, but I think I might have preferred a poached egg. Looked extremely pretty.

That'll do for tonight. I note, incidentally, very mild incidence of CSR symptoms, but these could be psychosomatic.

Edited January 4, 2003 by Kikujiro (log)

[Jinmyo]

Kiku, I'm glad you enjoyed the chawanmushi. It's very nice with lobster meat.

As for nasu dengaku, I don't much care for eggplant (aubergine), even tiny Japanese ones, but here is what I do. I slice them in half lengthwise and then hache (crosshatch cut) down through the flesh almost to the skin. I rub them with a shoyu and wasabi mixture with a bit of oil. I then grill them open face down on a grill or flat top for about two minutes, turn them the other way if I want grill marks for another two minutes. If I want a miso coating, I'll apply it now and put them under the salamander. But I'm more likely to serve them with a miso dipping sauce.

[Kikujiro]

Jin, thank you, as ever.

With your nasu dengaku, just to be clear, is the method and timing you're describing what you'd do for the tiny Japanese aubs?

[Jinmyo]

Yes, Kiku, it is. I don't think they benefit from over-cooking. Unlike huge auber-gaijin that are better stewed or braised.

[Matthew Grant]

Pheasant and truffle ravioli with port sauce followed by a Label Anglais chicken roasted with truffle under the skin and accompanied with a truffle cream sauce with homemade tagliatelle.

Lunch today, shredded confit pheasant salad with a balsamic dressing and aged parmesan.

Dinner later chicken risotto utilising the left over chicken legs from last night.

[torakris]

Kiku, I'm glad you enjoyed the chawanmushi. It's very nice with lobster meat.

As for nasu dengaku, I don't much care for eggplant (aubergine), even tiny Japanese ones, but here is what I do. I slice them in half lengthwise and then hache (crosshatch cut) down through the flesh almost to the skin. I rub them with a shoyu and wasabi mixture with a bit of oil. I then grill them open face down on a grill or flat top for about two minutes, turn them the other way if I want grill marks for another two minutes. If I want a miso coating, I'll apply it now and put them under the salamander. But I'm more likely to serve them with a miso dipping sauce.

Jin, that sounds great!

How do you make your miso dipping sauce?

[Jinmyo]

Kristin, I warm some dashi and whisk it into some miso (usually shiro -white). Then additional flavours such as citrus or chiles or crushed ginger will really depend upon the other dishes of the meal as a whole.

[Yossarian]

Grilled tri tip steaks topped with crumbled feta. Baked potatoes. Broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms sauted in balsamic vinegar with a dash of parmesan cheese. 1998 Snoqualmie Cabernet Sauvignon.

[Jinmyo]

Sounds nice, Yossarian. Welcome to eGullet.

Gohan (Japanese rice) with toasted nori sheets.

Beef and shoyu consomme.

Shrimp shu mai.

Roasted "king mushrooms" from Yunnan in chile oil with pressed tofu.

Steamed gai lan (Chinese broccoli) with baby Shanghai bok choy with fermented tofu.

[memesuze]

a dinner party:

mixed greens salad with toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, a round of goat cheese, vinagrette

caponata

roasted butternut squash with shallots and fresh thyme

wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil

with crusty Italian bread and homemade flan brought by some of the guests

[FoodMan]

Sunday Dinner:

first course of spaghetti Putanesca, with tomatoes, basil and olives.

second course: meatballs with red sauce, lots of garlic and homemade crusty bread

dessert: using my new ice cream maker ( a christmas present from my dear wife) I made some orange blossom ice cream with mastic and rose water. heavenly. I am looking forward to trying new interesting ice cream recipes.

FM

[Liza]

Miso soup with cabbage, scallops, shrimp, noodles. Finished with hot sesame oil, necessitating dainty sips and every so often declarations of "oohzathot".

[SobaAddict70]

your standard workout dinner, part the second ( ):

leftover paneer korma (cubes of paneer, along with chopped peppers and onions in a cardamom infused yogurt sauce)

broiled steak

coconut rice

Mineral water.

Oranges (for dessert).

who said that workout food has to be boring?

SA

[Miss J]

A half-arsed version of Chiang Mai curried noodles, containing both the wrong type of meat (tiger prawns instead of pork or beef) and the wrong type of noodle (big, flat rice noodles instead of thin wheat and egg noodles). And I was using up a tub of red curry paste, so I didn't make my own. In spite of all these barriers to perfection, the finished product was quite edible.

I wouldn't serve it to guests, though.

[Wilfrid]

Is it cooking if I throw the last of Toby's pork stomach in a pan with some pieces of blood sausage, warm them through, then toss them in a salad of spinach leaves with truffle oil, white wine vinegar, and freshly ground salt and pepper?

Because that's what I did. Robert Mondavi Coastal Cab Sauv - pleasant in a fruit gum sort of way.

[Priscilla]

All this talk about buche is likely to send me to the taqueria right quick here, even though once there I'll get cabeza. But the Consort sometimes gets buche, along with his lengua.

Last evening, scallopine of pork with Marsala, after a Mario Batali recipe, with those red onions he Mario likes so well. I've never seen anybody cook with red onions as much as Mario does. Small earthy-flavored white potatoes roasted whole with olive oil and rosemary, sea salt and pepper. Nice Romaine salad with a new-to-me Balsamic vinegar dribbled from a pretty little bottle which would be almost worthy of perfume. Bread, very good bread, made by the Consort, you heard, from Madeleine Kamman's three-day starter bread recipe.

And: Courtesy Toby's passing along a Margaret Pilgrim recipe, pears, adorable little Boscs, baked with heavy cream and then copious shavings of Parmigiano overall at the end. What an incredible flavor profile. A heavenly dish. Just beautiful and delicious.

[Toby]

Priscilla, I missed the post on the bread -- is it Kamman's bread of 2 doughs -- one white bread and one all different flours with walnuts mature separately for 3 days in refrigerator and then at the end are kneaded together to look like marble cake? This was the first bread I ever baked -- it's miraculous. Robert Reynolds, when he owned Le Trou in San Francisco, used to make a bread like it, with golden raisins instead of the walnuts.