Dinner! 2003

[SethG]

Tuesday: went out for sushi for the first time in....I don't know how long. Don't have babies if you like going out for sushi, folks.

Wednesday:

Made the Food & Wine June 2003 tomato tart with farmers' market plum tomatoes. Thank you, cheeseandchocolate and FoodMan! Yum. Based on other eGulleters' experiences, I roasted an extra pound of plum tomatoes and was able to make two layers of tomatoes with a few bits left over to munch on while the tart finished in the oven.

Here it is:

I'd never made pate brisee in the food processor before tonight. It was so easy that I think I may never do it by hand again.

And I pan-broiled (or whatever) some ribeye steak, and deglazed with red wine. The wine was an Australian: Pirramimma Petit Verdot. Uncomplicated. Complimented steak very well.

[tommy]

i don't know why, but i made filet mignon tonite, a cut that i rarely eat anymore.

i think it's because i wanted to make a port reduction, and wouldn't dare put that on strip or ribeye.

roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes as well.

[Ondine]

Got some nice thick (about 2 inches! ) baldchin groper fillets, cut into cute rectangular chunks, seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper, then wrapped in fresh rocket leaves and a couple pieces of schinkenspeck. I then rolled each little bundle in a mixture of beaten egg and minced fresh garlic. These were then wrapped into parcels with filo, glazed with the last of the egg and baked for just 20 minutes.

Served with sliced good tomatoes (a miracle in late winter).

Delicious and weirdly filling - is it the filo? I've never had it before though I have cooked with it...and it made everyone really full...

[Priscilla]

H-O-T. Last evening for dinner, nice Cobb salad. All diced to a similar not-teensy size: leftover mesquite-grilled chicken wing and leg, tomatoes from a neighbor's garden, Hass avocado, h.b. egg, butter lettuce, supersmokey delicious Niman Ranch uncured bacon. Croutons spread with Maytag blue cheese & beurre d'Isigny, toasted until just browning. (The delivery system for the requisite blue cheese; croutons not trad but I wanted 'em in there and so it came to pass.) Nice mustardy vinaigrette. Cold pink Coteaux de Languedoc.

[dumpling]

Ondine from Australia - cool! Welcome.

There are some dinners I wish I had figured the digital camera on to the computer thing. Tonight was one.

Peking Pork Chops served surrounding a pineapple full of yellow rice, sweet sausage (I didn't have roast pork), shrimp, pigeon peas, scallions and avocado.

Buttered brussels sprouts and haricots verts.

Pineapple Orgasm(name is egullet user's suggestion because I didn't know what to call it):

In individual souffle dishes, buttered and sugared, pignoli nuts then pineapple. Then poured on top, a mix of Beaten eggs, sugar, almond paste. Cooked about eighteen minutes and then turned out and plated with fresh mint and confectioners' sugar. Topped with a triangle of grilled pineapple dusted with cinnamon.

[creaton]

Tomato vodka cream sauce over penne pasta (fresh tomatoes from my garden... they finally got ripe!!)

Herbed, grilled chicken breast

Grilled red bell peppers, onions, zucchini (again, fresh from the garden)

Fresh chopped basil and fresh grated parm to top it off

[snowangel]

Sweet corn (surprise!) and BLT's made with great sourdough, great butcher shop apple-smoked bacon and Brandywines. We were out of lettuce. It didn't matter. Gin and tonics for the adults, ice cold Coca Cola over ice for Heidi (Peter and Diana at grandma's tonight).

The rest of you cook such elaborate meals; I feel like such a load at this time of year, but the ingredients are so pure, and the time for such purity is so short, they must be eaten without much doctoring. The days, too, have so beautiful that I'm not really up to standing in the kitchen and chopping and dicing. Better to be running around in the sprinkler with the kids (or up at the cabin bobbing in the lake).

[laurel]

Dinner for four from the CSA basket:

Melon and Smoked Salmon:

Cilantro, Bean, and Almond Salad

Coconut Spiced Summer Squash:

Oven Roasted Corn

Seared Albacore:

Blueberries and Peaches:

[Toliver]

...the ingredients are so pure, and the time for such purity is so short, they must be eaten without much doctoring. 

Yes, I agree. That's why I've been eating tomato salad for days on end. I know the season will be gone shortly and there'll be a long wait until next year's crop. I'll enjoy it while I can.

[Steve Martin]

Hi all,

Back from France and I thought I would show you the spherical courgette (zucchini) we found there. I never see them in UK.

Saddle of farmed rabbit saute in butter. The skirt trimmings boiled in fowl stock with some dried herbes de Provence I found in the cupboard.

Bashed new potatoes and parsley.

[Jinmyo]

Steve, that's great. Lovely.

I've seen "globe zucchini" in Market Fresh in Ottawa a few weeks ago. Was tempted to hollow out and stuff with minced lamb, wild mushrooms, and top with creme fraiche and mint but just left them. (Wanted to and did lamb gyoza with a mint and lime dipping sauce instead.)

I'll have to see if they're still available.

[guajolote]

Back from France and I thought I would show you the spherical courgette (zucchini) we found there.  I never see them in UK.

They're called 8-ball squash here, not to be confused with the cocaine package of a similar name .

[Chad]

Last night: Chicken & Proscuitto -- this is a saltimboca variation. BSCB are pounded flat, draped in a couple of layers of procuscuitto, rolled & tied. The roulades were sauted in duck fat & olive oil for 6 minutes, a half cup of white wine added, the whole thing covered and cooked for 6 minutes more. Roulades are removed to a gentle resting place with tinfoil cover, the liquid is reduced with chicken demi-glace (Ok, I admit; I cheated here with "Fond de Poulet" from More than Gourmet) until it coats the back of a spoon. Served on a bed of arborio rice (which nicely absorbs the flavors) with broccoli and focaccia.

Tonight: grilled salmon, grilled portobello mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar and EVOO, green beans (blanched & sauted in duck fact with garlic and shallots) and new potatoes, quartered and coated in EVOO and kosher salt.

Am I the only one who posts when he/she had done an impressive dinner? C'mon. We have Mac & Cheese or taco salad on a regular basis. I'd defy anyone with kids to say otherwise.

Chad

[Ondine]

Dinner was something we call white chicken pasta thing.

Small cubes of smoked bacon were rendered slowly until crispy, then set aside. Homemade garlic confit was added (with the fat) to the pan and used to cook off a pound of inch-cubes of free range chicken thigh, which were also set aside. White wine to deglaze, then added finely chopped mushrooms and a double handful of minced parsley to the pan. When that soaked up the wine and started to stick, we poured in some single cream and let it boil a little. This was mixed, together with the bacon and chicken, with some leftover boscaiola sauce (white wine and mushroom) and a little parmesan.

Served over fresh fettucine and a green salad.

[MatthewB]

Saturday night:

Tomato salad (w/ Greek basil, Greek feta, EVOO, & BV)

Roasted sea bass w/ chickpea dal & basmati rice

Gooseberry rustic tart w/ vanilla ice cream

[Chad]

Last night: homemade tortilla soup (made with my own chiles!) and chicken quesadillas.

Chad

[Elissa]

my friday post-blackout dinner party menu:

gazpacho

*

spaghetti al limone (barbara pepper's recipe - cold)

artichokes with vinagrette (cold)

raw thinly sliced fennel/yellow squash/red pepper/parmesean salad

*

chilled, grilled asparagus

strip steak with red wine (tempranillo) reduction (hot)

*

fruit salad (mint, ginger, blueberries, mango, cherries, papaya)

berry sorbet

to drink:

sergio prosecco

mosel riesling

an italian white

the spanish red

parallel 45

i making august gazpachos

Edited August 17, 2003 by lissome (log)

[zilla369]

Saturday:

Grilled Boar's Head frankfurters with fontina cheese and sauerkraut

Sliced home-grown tomatoes

Grilled bourbon-butter corn on the cob

Espresso ice cream

[torakris]

after 4 days of camping (in the pouring rain! ) and 2 days of being glued to my computer trying to rid it of the blaster/lovsan worm I am back to cooking!

Sunday night:

salmon in crisp rice paper with sweet and spicy sake essence (from Fine Cooking May 2003), this was incredible!

roasted baby kabocha (rubbed with EVOO and then sprinkled with Maldon sea salt after cooking)

tomato and kaiware (daikon sprouts) salad with EVOO and Maldon sea salt

Japanese rice

dessert:

espresso-chocolate-hazelnut biscotti (from the Dessert Bible)

[MatthewB]

Sunday night:

Tomato salad (shaved aged asiago, a bit of onion, Italian basil, EVOO, & BV)

"Pasta from Hell: The Second Generation w/ Curried Chicken"

Grilled sweet corn w/ lime juice & roasted cumin seed salt

[cheeseandchocolate]

Sunday night's dinner, after a weekend tucked away in a house in a tiny town, far from the cares of our normal life:

Carrot-ginger soup

Green salad with lemon-tahini dressing

Fresh mozzarella drizzled with EVOO and sprinkled with fleur de sel and pepper, with Tall Grass Bakery baguette

and soon...fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies! I just pulled them out, and they smell sooo good...

[tommy]

saturday:

steak tartare

spicy tuna tartare (scallion, mayo, sriracha, toasted panko)

gyoza (store bought) with dipping sauce of soy/vinegar/scallion/sesame oil.

steamed buns with sweat bean paste (store bought)

[KAPDADDY]

Yea!! My first post in the "'Dinner" thread! I could eat a year's worth of excellent meals from this one thread. Truly inspiring stuff. Here's what we had today:

Strawberry salad - strawberries, mixed greens, capers, toasted walnuts, dijon-mint vinaigrette

Grilled shrimp and vegetable kebobs

Squash puppies

Lemon bars and banana pudding for dessert

[torakris]

spicy tuna tartare (scallion, mayo, sriracha, toasted panko)

there's that panko in the tuna again!

[reverendtmac]

The heat kept me off the golf course, so I finally got around to making dad one of his favorite meals:

Gumbo Ya-Ya (from the Commander's Palace cookbook) - chicken and sausage (had to use chorizo 'cause you can't get andoullie (sp?) in this town - not that I'm complaining, I could live on chorizo), fresh green peppers, onions, garlic and celery from the farmer's market, and a sore shoulder from the course that just got worse stirring a dark brown roux :) I also got the new experience of butchering a chicken, which was a lot of fun...my everlovin' ma did all the shopping, and because I was exceptionally hungover when I wrote out the grocery list, I forgot to put "a cut-up chicken" instead of "a chicken". Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques, you're my bestest friend :) Anyway, it came out fabulous...even my mom ate a load of it, although she mentioned that it was a bit spicy. Mind you, this is as she's sopping up the remainders of her second bowl :)

Had fresh corn (market again) with it and a nice bit of bread and a green salad and a pint of Alexander Keith's finest. It's 8:40 the following morning and I'm still full.