Dinner! 2003

[CathyL]

I'll third that! Don't understand why everyone's favourite "utilty" grren isn't roamine, for all the reasons mentioned above.

I'm a fourth.

I'm a fifth. Romaine is the default salad green here, often with raw mushrooms and sweet onion, sometimes with endive and radicchio. I'm doing sherry vinaigrette a lot lately, especially since Liza gave me a bottle of O brand sherry vinegar; it's the mellowest, most flavorful one I've ever tasted.

Dinner tonight, in addition to romaine/mushroom/onion salad, is skin-on salmon fillets, currently marinating in dark soy, garlic, lemon juice and a bit of sugar. I'm going to sear them on both sides and then finish in the oven.

[helenas]

Yesterday cooked a rabbit sausage stew with red potatoes and creminis. The ginger in sausages was a perfect combination with the somewhat sour broth made of half white wine, half chicken stock.

Today - no cooking, as i have a headache of my life (no biggy, i have them quite often )

[Kim WB]

Yesterday cooked a rabbit sausage stew with red potatoes and creminis. The ginger in sausages was a perfect combination with the somewhat sour broth made of half white wine, half chicken stock.

Today  - no cooking, as i have a headache of my life (no biggy, i have them quite often   )

Helena, this sounds wonderful. Where do you purchase the rabbit sausage?

PS, feel better.

Edited January 10, 2003 by Kim WB (log)

[helenas]

Oh, thanks Kim, i eventually will...

As for sausages, i bought them in Delicious Orchards. You should really come to check this store!

[spernagel]

Well, entering a heathy-ish phase now that our Christmas/New Year visitors have gone, we had:

Cauliflower and Pesto Soup - first time I'd made it and it was a bit bland, pesto could probably be replaced by better spicing, perhaps a la curried parsnip soup.

Shredded carrot and toasted sesame seed salad (dressed with v.small amounts of shoyu and vinegar)

Boring bread with lovely tasmanian cheddar

Passionfruit

All a bit disjointed but it was my first chance to potter around in peace in the kitchen for ages - v.enjoyable

Ellen

[tsquare]

I made my first oxtail stew - long time cookin' in the oven after a quick start atop. Lightly floured and browned in olive oil, sauced with homemade chicken stock, red wine, garlic and herbs. After awhile, added home grown potatoes and fresh carrots. Late in the roasting, fresh mushrooms and celery. It was very good and great for a frosty night or two.

A lovely loaf of Perrin bread - fig, walnut, and pear in a wheat loaf - from a local bakery.

Also, tangerine gelatin! (Too much fresh juice in the house going to waste.)

[Liza]

Welcome Ellen and your dinner posts!

Last night: bison burgers, with melted farmhouse cheddar and raw red onions, on toasted rolls. Lashings of grainy mustard and ketchup.

[Rhea_S]

Shrimp Fra Diavolo or my thrown together version of shrimp and pasta in a spicy tomato sauce. I added a bit of cream at the end because my hand slipped while adding the red pepper flakes and the tomatoes were too acidic for my taste.

[Suzanne F]

Meatloaf! of beef, buffalo, and sausage meat, with fillers and flavorings too numerous and embarrassing to mention. One of the tastiest I've made, though.

Gravy from the skimmed juices (lightly thickened with Wondra, of course of course)

Yukon Golds mashed with cream cheese and yogurt

Frozen chopped spinach heated with olive oil and garlic.

No salad -- -- never got out of the house to buy new.

Beer.

You see, Ellen, not every dinner we post has to be a gourmet tapdance. Just tasty and satisfying. Welcome!

[Priscilla]

Last evening, the Japanese fried pork cutlet known as tonkatsu, sake-simmered carrots, Vietnamese pickled veg salad (not meaning to Pan-Asianize my meal, but I'd brought it home from a very good takeaway the previous day and it seemed suitable), and spinach with

Torakris's Sesame Sauce

This dressing works on almost any veggies especially green ones. In Japan spinach is the most popular followed by green beans and broccoli. I especially like it on broccoli rabe.

This is really all to taste, so taste as you go along, I don't really use a recipe so these are approximates.

for about 1 lb of veggies

4 tablespoons white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons dashi ( I just put hot water in a small cup and sprinkle in some dashi powder)

Toast the sesame seeds, then place the hot seeds into a suribachi and crush until about 75% are spretty well smashed. Add the sugar and mix again. Then add the soy and dashi and mix  wit the pestle with a fast almost whipping action to blend it. Taste and add more sugar or soy if needed.

Add the vegetable, if using a leafy vegetable mix with the pestle very gently bruising it to allow the flavors to penetrate. When using chunkier veggies I mix with a rubber spatula.

I vary the taste depending on the veggie, for broccoli rabe I like it sweeter to offset the bitterness, where I prefer a little more soy in the spinach version.

This was such an improvement over my usual sesame-seasoning method, which is to open the purple-and-silver foil packet and sprinkle and stir. The spinach, the fresh toasted sesame flavor especially, was just so much better than usual. (Although the packet seasoning ain't too bad, and has the same ingredients basically, just in dried form.) Extra toasted sesame strewn artlessly over.

Thanks again Torakris for the instruction.

Lessee, also rice from the cooker. Beer, made by the Consort, coming right along, fermentation-wise.

[torakris]

Last night:

Chicken thighs braised with sherry, sherry vinegar, and tomatoes (great recipe from New Way to Cook)

roasted potatoes, carrots and garlic

avocado chunks tossed with lime juice, a very nice EVOO, salt and white pepper served on a bed of lettuce

A very nice dinner using up the last of everything in the house!

[birder53]

I never thought I would be adding to this post. On the rare occassions that I did cook, I felt that the results were rarely worth the effort. Tonight was different. I made a chicken stew from Fine Cooking magazine. It's a family joke that I have a subscription to it and have only tried a recipe once before. (I really love the photos!) I am known at home as the one who knows the best restaurants, not the one you hope will cook a meal! This stew had chicken, black beans, chipotle, lime and cilantro, among other things. How could you go wrong? I even bought the Shiraz-Cabernet they suggested and the results were truly awesome! My husband was shocked, as was I, at how delicious the meal was. I have been encouraged by this success to try the recipe for chicken stew with braised fennel and sausage next. I'm even going to start checking into this Cooking section. (I usually avoid it since I don't usually cook unless forced to!) Maybe it isn't as daunting as I thought.

[Anna N]

Salad of romaine, grape tomatoes, scallions tossed with a balsamic, olive oil vinaigrette and topped with pre-cooked shrimp served in parmesan "bowls". Main: pan-fried steelhead with a lemon, butter and parsley sauce. Dessert: raspberry fool spiked with creme de cassis.

[Jinmyo]

KathyM (birder), that's fabulous. Congratulations.

Anna, that sounds lovely.

And another score for romaine lettuce.

[snowangel]

And another score for romaine lettuce.

Late night snack last night: bacon, romaine and hummus sandwich on toasted levain from Acme.

[ranitidine]

I've caught the miserable cold that Sandy had earlier this week. So we had to cancel our reservations for a jazz workshop at the Hilton to which we had been invited by Vikki True, a sensational singer who is one of the performers. We stayed home and Sandy made the perfect meal for a sick person: grilled rib lamb chops, baked potato and spinach with garlic and nutmeg sauteed in olive oil. I washed it down with a health beverage: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Soon there will be Sandy's rice pudding with PG Tips tea.

[Kim WB]

Ranitdine, I'm not familiar with PGTIps tea...is that a brand or type? Loose, bags? curious.

Birder, Yes, I agree, my repertoire has expanded so much in the last year..its a great feeling to accomplish a wonderful meal...and I was known as the "cookbook reader" for years..the running joke was that I could give you a history of the dish, variations thereof, nice accompaniaments...and never have cooked it! I'm glad to say that things are changing!!! And what a difference it makes.

However, we still use the joke: My briother in law has his doctorate in urban planning and architecture, is going for tenure at a major U, is serving on some WTC review boards and future planning boards..and has never actually worked on a building. To apply it to food, its like having a teacher at the CIA who worked six weeks at the Hilton...with no other restaurant experience, he's telling students how to work ina restaurant.

[ranitidine]

Kim--PG Tips is a tea made by Brooke Bond for the UK market. One sees it here only in stores that specialize in British goods. It comes in gauze bags. Our Brit posters probably consider it common supermarket stuff but I think it beats any of the weak U.S. supermarket stuff.

Your brother-in-law reminds me of the trial supervisor for my division when I was a NYC Assistant Corporation Counsel. He had never tried a case before a jury. But he was an absolutely brilliant attorney, who I make believe is still editing me whenever I write a brief.

Edited January 12, 2003 by ranitidine (log)

[Suzanne F]

Grilled halibut steak coated with Vann's "Caribbe Rub"

Buttered boiled white rice

Steamed green beans

Salad (romaine, greenleaf, baby spinach, radicchio, red & green peppers, cucumber) with balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Schneider Chardonnay (North Fork, LI, NY)

Tarte au citron and Mont Blanc tart from Payard Patisserie*

Decaf espresso

*because when I went out, Paul said "When come back, bring pie."

[Louisa Chu]

I make dinner almost every night at school - Cordon Bleu Paris. I do cuisine 3 days a week and pastry 2. It's my sister and me - and our dog - and each dish serves at least 4 so we have more than enough to cover those pastry days - though a big slab of chocolate something could do quite nicely for me.

I've heard that some cooking schools don't allow students to bring home food for fear of liability? How sad.

Also at home we like to have just about everything with rice - it's a Chinese thing.

If anyone's interested in any recipes just let me know and I'll post.

Tonight it was POITRINE DE VEAU FARCIE MÉNAGÉRE/HOME-STYLE STUFFED VEAL BREAST - sorry it's all caps as I just copy it from my notes - with Endives meunière and basmati rice. Dessert, some leftover TARTE CHOCOLAT-PRALINE/CHOCOLATE-PRALINE TART and STRIÉS CAFÉ/COFFEE FILLED PETITS FOURS.

[dlc]

Roasted racks of lamb with thyme, rosemary, garlic, mustard and breadcrumb crust

Spinach sauted with shallots & whie wine (Oregon Pinot Gris)

Field greens with balsamic vinagrette

Orzo cooked in chicken broth with parmesean

1986 Calon Segur

A big roaring fire in the fireplace

[CathyL]

Roast bone-in pork loin with citrus and caramel (from Jean-Georges' Simple to Spectacular) - delicious but a bit dry, damned newfangled fat-free pork. It looked more marbled than it was.

Salad of romaine and baby spinach with walnut oil and sherry vinegar

Broccoli rabe with garlic and hot pepper

Ka'kat (little sesame-studded rolls), an Alford/Duguid recipe from Baking with Julia, an exercise inspired by the upcoming bread event. Is there any kitchen pursuit more satisfying than kneading yeast dough?

[Andy Lynes]

Leftover's last night resulted in field mushrooms with garlic and blue cheese on toast with poached eggs:

4 Field mushrooms with sliced garlic and some butter and salt and pepper, baked in the oven for 10 mins or so, then crumbled over the blue cheese and returned them to oven until the chesse bubbled. Two thick sliced of granary bread spread with butter and baked in a hot oven for 5 mins. 4 Eggs poached in a large pan of simmering water with a little vinegar and salt until done (lift eggs out of water with a slotted spoon and press with fingers to test doneness after 2 mins. You will know). Served 2 mushrooms each on the toast with the eggs on top with a turn of pepper and a slosh of olive oil. It was better than it had any right to be. Some chopped parsley would have improved it even more. It was a winner and destined to become a Lynes household regular.

Possible variation could be some bayonne ham under the mushroom and egg and served on a toasted muffin with the lot covered in hollandaise sauce.

[Toby]

Watercress, red onion and blood orange salad.

Chicken cut up into pieces with hominy, crimini mushrooms, sliced carrots, onions, white wine, parsley and a little cream slowly baked in the oven.

Pear gratin with heavy cream and parmigiano cheese (thanks again to Margaret Pilgrim).

[tommy]

suvir's brilliant bhel poori (photo obviously not as good as ellen's on TDG ) with NY riesling.

and tagine chicken with a red from languedoc. i don't recall ever mixing oil and water to cook meat, but the recipe called for it. a very decent (if not a little too sweet) dish.

Edited January 13, 2003 by tommy (log)