Dinner! 2003

[Dana]

Ultimate Southern comfort food:

Smothered okra with chicken thighs, smoked sausage and shrimp over rice.

Deviled eggs

Bread and butter

[NeroW]

Roast chicken with fresh thyme, Maple View Dairy butter, and lotsa garlic

Jim Dixon's roasted beets

Sea bean risotto

If you have never had sea beans before, they're quite amazing.  I almost consider them to be the vegetable version of caviar -- a great bite of sea salt flavor.  They were perfect in the risotto.

Varmint,

What is a sea bean please?

[Suzanne F]

Sea bean is a variety of seaweed. Very good, and becoming more available all over.

[JAZ]

Sea bean is a variety of seaweed.  Very good, and becoming more available all over.

Also called salicornia, samphire or glasswort (thank you, Elizabeth Schneider).

[torakris]

Saturday night dinner:

Just got the Zuni Cafe Cookbook and deciided to try something (using ingredients in the house)

Pasta with braised bacon and roasted tomato sauce

--I didn't have the bacon slab that she called for, so just used sauteed slices ad I roasted the tomatoes in a pan that had too high sides and think I added too much juice so seem to have steamed instead of roast.

--it was still good and I will give it a try with slab bacon and "roasted" tomatoes again.

fava bean and snow pea salad with a quick mustardy mayo dressing

dessert:

purchased ice-cream

[Jinmyo]

Kristin the braised slab bacon and tomato dish sounds interesting. Could you give a bit more detail?

[torakris]

This is how the recipe is supposed to go (not necessarily how I made it!)

Place about a 1lb slab of bacon in a pot with cold water bring to a aimmer and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, drain, rinse. Then place fat side up in a shallow baking dish adding carrots and celery (chopped), onions (sliced), bay leaf (crumbled) and equal part s of dry white wine, dry white vermouth and chicken stock to come to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat on the stove to simmering then transfer to the oven (covered) and bake for 2 1/2 hours. Uncover, then rasie the heat to broil for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool completey in the baking dish.

For the sauce:

cut canned whole tomatoes in half and place snuggly in a shallow casserole with about 1/4 inch of juice roast at 500 for 15 minutes, while that is going on saute an onion and 6 gloves of garlic (added after the onions have softened),lots of black pepper and a bay leaf. Then add the tomatoes (cut-up) little salt and sugar. Simmer just briefly.

Cut the bacon into strips (1/4 inch thick and one inch long) and saute for a few minutes until slightly colores, add to the sauce and simmer again briefly.

Add to pasta, topping with romano cheese.

I can't wait to try the real version!

[Jinmyo]

That sounds quite nice. Thank you.

[Varmint]

Varmint,

What is a sea bean please?

I had never even heard of sea beans, but when I was shopping in the neighborhood Whole Foods, here in Raleigh, North Carolina, there they were (right next to the fiddleheads!). Here's a picture:

I took a bite of them raw, and I truly could taste the sea -- they had a slight flavor of fish, but it was mostly a fairly complex salty flavor. I stirred them into the risotto right before the condementi, barely cooking them through.

[jackal10]

That's Samphire! Here in the UK the season is not until midsummer's day.

"Half-way down

Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!" Shakespeare, King Lear

Its a sea- margin palnt, not an underwater vegetable.

Also known as glasswort or sea asparagus. The stuff has a stiff glass-like core.

Cook like asparagus, Eat in the fingers, sucking the succulant outside off. Full of minerals.

Can be pickled, but that rather loses the point.

[torakris]

Had a party with some friends last night, as usual the children way out numbered the adults, so we sent them outside..................... until it started raining!

My friend form Hong kong wanted to learn how to make quacamole, so we started off with that and chips and my sangria.

Then we moved onto the main course, fondue!

We set up 2 pots (Ok they were actually Japanese donabe on individual gas burners) one was a regular simple fondue (mostly for the children, who we let eat first) then there was the jack cheese-jalapeno-spinach fondue for the adults.

the fondues were served with:

various breads (from what we believe to be the best bakery in Japan)

various sausages

roasted potatoes

broccoli

asparagus

My friend from Hong Kong brought over the most incredible chicken dish, actually her (Japanese) husband made it from a cookbook he picked up in Singapore:

It was a whole deboned chicken , marinated for a day, then stuffed with a sticky rice, dried shiitake, dried shrimp mixture and roasted, it was incredible.

Too bad he had to work and wasn't able to eat it!

dessert:

what goes better with fondue then chocolate chip cookies!

[Jinmyo]

Kristin, please please tell me the deboned chicken was skin-on.

[torakris]

Kristin, please please tell me the deboned chicken was skin-on.

Yes it was.

[CathyL]

Baby backs, slathered with John Thorne's rub (garlic, juniper berries, black mustard seeds, black pepper, salt, cider vinegar, peanut oil, brown sugar, chipotle) and smoked over shagbark hickory and applewood. It's spring, goddammit.

Coleslaw with, and a very nice (very inexpensive) barbeque-friendly wine brought by guests: Nu Har, 70% cab sauvignon/30% nero d'avola.

Dessert: purchased lemon sorbetto & nocciola gelato (both so-so), cornmeal-orange biscotti (from Claudia Fleming's book), and orange sections in a light caramel syrup.

[SobaAddict70]

Recovering from a week of pure hell.

Nothing extraordinary.

Slept all day Friday and didn't wake up until Saturday afternoon. Basically made comfort food all weekend -- note that comfort food for me is anything simple I can whip up in a jiffy. Comfort food for guests is a completely different animal.

Saturday: A quart of chicken stock from a local takeout Cantonese palace, some blanched veggies and cubes of tofu, and blanched udon noodles got turned into a nice steaming pot of soup. Tossed a bit of shredded cold roasted chicken, a sprinkle of chopped scallions, some sesame chili oil and a little chili paste. LOTS of green tea.

Midnight snack: steamed tofu, orange blossom honey. Very simple Chinese dessert -- try it sometime. Perfect for work-induced lethargy. Steam a block of silken tofu until heated thoroughly, top with honey. You can warm the honey if you like, so that it pours easier, or you can serve it with honeycomb as I sometimes do.

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Sunday: Congee topped with slices of poached chicken, slivered ginger, chopped scallions and chopped hard-boiled eggs. Sesame oil and togarashi to taste. Jasmine tea. Steamed red bean buns for dessert. (Ok, the buns were from a takeout palace.)

Soba

[Marlene]

Prime rib again last night, since hubby complained bitterly about missing out on the one a few nights ago. Also made the Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting from the Williams Sonoma Desserts book. Very good!

Spagetti sauce has been simmering since this morning for a pasta fest with garlic bread sticks tonight. And more cake of course

[birder53]

Last night was poached halibut in a hot and sour broth over rice and seared asparagus with lemon, garlic & shallots. All from Fine Cooking.

[Wilfrid]

Cooked some filets of whiting last night. Very cheap fish. Is it somewhat looked down upon in these parts? Rubbed them with salt and garlic, sauteed them skin down in a little oil quite briefly, then added fish stock and some handfuls of fresh parsley. Finished in a hot oven for about fifteen minutes. Served over some braised lettuce, with the odd bottle of Marques de Riscal white Rioja.

Cookies and calvados to follow.

[Liza]

Pheasant, stuffed with roast corn, sauteed onion, celery, herbs. Guanciale draped effortlessly over the breasts.

Salad of baby greens from Morse Pitts.

Strawberries.

[Becca]

saturday -- fresh corn, steamed sugarsnap peas, sauteed pork chops

sunday-- (had a party) tortilla espanola, vegetable dumplings w/ dipping sauce, mushrooms stuffed w/ goat cheese & sundried tomatoes, sopes w/ refried pinto beans, fresh tomato salsa, & queso fresco, catalan olives, meatballs in thai curry sauce, tartletts w/ lime custard, and dulce de mango w/ cotija cheese bites

[margaret]

A light dinner Saturday:

stir fried choy sum

red cooked daikon with japanese leeks

chilled plain tofu with yuzu-kosho and ponzu

leftover miso soup with potato and wakame

japanese rice

asian pear and apricot tea with honey for dessert

Sunday:

pasta with chickpeas, kalamata olives, lots of garlic, sage

artichoke antipasto

green beans tossed with fresh chopped tomato and some lemon

[Jinmyo]

Margaret, very nice.

Frenched racks of lamb with a shiro-miso and shallot sauce with fresh mint.*

Dashi (consomme of bonito and kombu) around a panko crusted u10 (big) shrimp with the legs and head deep-fried and on the side.

Gai lan (Chinese broccoli) sauteed with dried scallop sauce.

Grilled very large portobello (shinned and de-gilled) deep-fried and served with Hawaiin pink salt dip.

Bundles of of ahi tuna tartare with ponzu and roasted poblano wrapped in blanched Napa cabbage.

Gohan (Japanese white rice) with gomasio (sesame salt) and toasted nori.

Assorted tsukemono (pickled vegetables).

___

*I'd never done lamb this way. I would add some chiles next time.

[Sandra Levine]

For St. Patrick's Day and Purim:

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Boiled Potatoes

Irish Soda Bread (with caraway and raisins)

For Ranitidine: Old Peculier and Anchor Porter

For me: Woodpecker Cider

Dessert: Hamantaschen -- the cream cheese pastry with apricot filling type.

Thanks, Jaymes, for the suggestion of using beer as well as water to simmer the corned beef. I'll never do it any other way.

BTW: Years ago, (before he ever went to France) this was what ranitidine used to say he wanted for his last meal.

Edited March 18, 2003 by Sandra Levine (log)

[nerissa]

Jin, as usual, I am quite impressed.

Roast chicken, with lime, lemon thyme, shallot.

Pan gravy made from the drippings

Salad greens with balsamic/sherry vinegar reduction dressing... broiled goat cheese croquettes served on top.

[Jason Perlow]

Not quite a St. Patties day dinner:

Bean Thread Noodle Pad Thai with Shrimp, Chicken and Firm Tofu