Dinner! 2003

[Steve Martin]

Next day.

I got a special offer on fish, so we had it several days running.

Hake is a nice flaky fish, a bit like cod, but not as creamy. It is very popular in Spain.

Once again seared skin down and served with a robust sauce of vermouth and capers whizzed and reduced. Olive oil beaten in at the end. Small new potatoes were boiled and halved, then roasted on with Spanish baby plum tomatoes.

[SobaAddict70]

Baked swordfish, with chopped tomatoes, white wine, Kalamata olives and capers [onion confit]. Basmati rice, cooked in coconut milk (cashew bits, urad dal and black mustard seeds briefly fried in a little ghee folded in prior to serving.) Roasted carrots, finished with a drizzle of almond oil. Deer Park.

---------

midnight snack: a block of tofu, sprinkled with half a seasoning packet from shrimp-flavored ramen, minced scallions, a T. of spicy sesame oil and pickled shredded carrots.

SA

[Priscilla]

Bolognese sauce as per Marcella Hazan, on self-styled handmade-in-Italy putatively artisanal tagliatelle from Trader Joe's, the only shape from the range remotely suitable. Very very thick, hearty noodles. Too thick, too hearty. The pasta cooking water was nearly opaque from offloaded starch. Hmmm. It's just that I hadn't tried it and it keeps being there on the end cap as I pass on the way to the King Arthur Flour and the Cline Zinfandel and other staples. So, I tried it. Done and done.

Bag o' baby red Romaine for salad, LBB baguette. The aforementioned Zinfandel. A TJ meal (except for the sauce), A-B-C-D.

[Jinmyo]

Soba, that's a nice snack, packaged stuff and all. Silken tofu?

[suzilightning]

Wow!  This is all very impressive and the photos have my stomach grumbling.  But really, do you cook like this every night???  I mean, what do you eat on nights when you've worked for 12 hours and you come home hungry and tired and there's no one home but you?

that's why the nights i work till nine both my husband and i take enough food to eat dinner at work. leftovers - good!!

tonight was gratin potatoes and grouper en papailote - a layer of thinly sliced yellow squash topped with a mixture of diced kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes in oil, the last of the flat leaf parsley, some leftover roma tomatoes diced and a touch of evoo. the butterlied grouper steak a bit more of the tomato olive mixture and several asparagus tips. wrap and bake 20 minutes.

tomorrow: chicken cordon bleu by request.

sunday i work so will set up a ham the husband can put in to bake, some potatoes and some butternut squash. have his favorite baby mixed greens leftover squash will become a soup; ham bone and leftover ham will become split pea soup for sharing at work

[Steve Martin]

I'll do a few more.

More hake, but this time in a style from Richard Coutanceau in La Rochelle. New potatoes, carrots and garlic cloves roasted in olive oil, fresh rosemary and a little goose fat. A very light chicken stock is reduced and thickened slightly with arrowroot. I added a small amount of lemon juice and served with boiled green beans. The fish was just pan seared as usual.

Edited February 22, 2003 by Steve Martin (log)

[torakris]

Friday night we ate at a friends house so here is Saturday night:

seared sashimi grade salmon served on a bed of roasted fennel and red onions, drizzled with EVOO, balsamic vinegar and Maldon sea salt

double bread and chicken salad with tomatoes and arugula ( a Williams-Sonoma recipe that was disappointing)

dessert:

husband and the kids ate a vanilla cream pudding made by Mia (7) and Julia (5)

I went out to a friend's house taking with me and adapted version of the Raspberry Bar recipe from Fine Cooking Holiday baking issue, came home with an empty plate and requests from everyone for the recipe.

[tommy]

grilled strip steak covered with fried leeks.

potato pancakes with leeks and a spice mix (including cinnamon and coriander)

roasted brussels sprouts and garlic

some sort of cote d'Or from an off year.

[helenas]

Complete indulgence, since it was a dinner cooked for one person and a half:

butter roasted grouper steaks with bread crumbs;

fingerlings and carrots roasted in duck fat with rosemary and lavender;

cucumber-tomato salad;

apple-strawberry pie;

Now we have tons of leftovers for tomorrow.

[CathyL]

Monster veal rib chops, marinated in beer 'n' stuff and broiled. (He got part of my chop's eye in return for his ungnawed rib bone, a mutually happy exchange.)

Yukon Gold chunks, roasted with EVOO and pimenton.

Romaine/radicchio/endive, raw mushrooms and sweet onion with mustard-shallot vinaigrette.

Pedestrian, but very satisfying.

[JAZ]

Composed warm salad consisting of mixed greens, sauteed prawns, pear wedges wrapped in prosciutto and grilled with a dressing of balsamic, red wine and bacon fat heated and emulsified. Toasted pecans and crispy bacon pieces sprinkled over the top. (Gotta love a salad that contains two pork products.)

[Steve Martin]

A paella of monk fish and black pudding with cherry tomatoes and green beans.

The monk was marinated in fresh bird's eye chile and light olive oil for two days. This was very hot so the fish was wiped before adding to the paella. Some shallot, ginger and garlic sauté in light oil in a shallow casserole. Bomba (Valencia) rice added and well coated in the oil. Sherry, saffron, parsley and water added and cooked on for a few minutes, paella style. I added slices of black pudding and then departed from the correct method and turned it into a pilaff, meaning I stirred, covered and, after adding the monk, finished in the oven. Blanched green beans and tomatoes were added near the end.

[torakris]

Had a huge lunch out on Sunday and no one was really hungry for dinner, soooo.............

mushrooms (cremini and maitake) sauteed with bacon ( )

toasted bread slices drizzled with EVOO and rubbed furiously with garlic by 5 year old

simple salad with red leaf lettuce and grated carrots

[CathyL]

Kristin, I love the image of your little one with the garlic.

[wingding]

Bucatini all'amatriciana,made with canned{Redpack rules!}tomatoes roasted at high heat,then cooked stove top with garlic and guanciale.Thanks to Zuni Cafe cookbook for the tomato technique,it rocks...Plus braised treviso with olives.

[birder53]

Loin of pork with with a saute of sweet potato, apple, onion and ginger - finished with cider vinegar. My first time using loin of pork. I feared it might turn out dry, but it was quick to cook and quite tender and juicy.

[awbrig]

Steve M, your pics are amazing as your dishes!

[SobaAddict70]

Made pho for the first time tonight. I think it came out all right, although next time I'll have to try it with baby leeks if I can get them. I think the next time I do this, I'll also try it with chicken. [chili sauce, yellow bean sauce, seeded and minced jalapenos, lime wedges, cilantro, pickled spring onions]

Jasmine tea. Coconut bread pudding.

SA

[Suzanne F]

Recycle night:

Friday's red lentil dal turned into soup via stick blender, with the addition of a can of coconut milk and some additional spices

Pseudo samosas of pie crust filled with the last of a ground lamb-potato-pea korma.

The last of this weeks leaves (red leaf, romaine, radicchio) and the end of the red and green bell peppers, with Sicilian olive oil and factory balsamic vinegar.

Most but not all of a bottle of Dr. Konstanting Frank 2001 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling.l

[Steve Martin]

Thanks Awbrig, I was wondering if anyone was looking.

Did you miss my question about whether you have tried salmon confit. ie. poached in oil or fat? No more than 80 degreesC, for as little as 4 mins.

Superb quality swordfish, sliced a little thin so the grill pan was not used.

Broccoli blanched and stir fried with garlic. Potatoes mashed with a sauté of baby leek whites and lashings of butter. Swordfish rubbed with olive oil and seared in an iron pan. Flat leaf parsley just wilted.

I cooked this after two days travelling from Brazil and arriving home at 8pm. It was good to get back into my kitchen :-)

[Jinmyo]

Very nice, Steve.

Thai green chile shrimp with wilted spinach, cremini mushrooms, minced white onion, red bell and poblano peppers.

Frenched pork loin chops, grilled with much garlic and sesame chile oil.

Cantonese noodles with a shoyu ngoc plam sauce and coriander.

Sautéed baby gai choy.

Roast lamb shoulder pulled and tossed with preserved Chinese king mushrooms in chile oil.

Roti.

Tsukemono of mustard greens, mango pickle, daikon kimchee.

[Miss J]

Chicken stir-fried with chillies and holy basil

Gai lan stir-fried with garlic

Steamed rice

Prunes with greek yoghurt

Even my weekend cooking is starting to get a bit weeknight-ish.

[FoodMan]

Friday night:

"Tagine Bil Hoot", Fresh Grouper fillets marinated in ground ginger, cilantro, parsley, paprika and EVOO. The fish was baked with carrots and tomatoes with Saffron, cumin, preserved lemons and thin sliced fresh lemons on top.

I served this beautiful dish with "Bulgur and Eggplant", Bulgur (cracked wheat) cooked with lots of onions and tossed with cubed fried eggplant.

We ate it with two condiments: Fresh homemade yogurt, and some of Suvir's tomato chutney (can't get enough of this stuff).

Saturday:

Crispy ground beef tacos with the usual condiments (sour cream, cheese, lettuce,....) at the in-laws place.

Sunday:

An improvised Indian inspired dish. Browned some chicken thighs and put them to the side while I made the braising liquid. in the same pot I tosted some Cumin seeds, mustard seeds and a good handful of Urad Dahl. Then I added some fresh carrots, celery, canned tomatoes, cilantro, parlsey, water and braised the thighs in there. Served it with a romain salad, pita bread and some white rice (the rice was mainly for the wife ). I do have a picture of this dish and will post later if I have some time.

FM

[torakris]

Monday night dinner:

fried panko breaded cod served with steamed broccoli. lemon wedges and a homemade tartar sauce (hard boiled egg, shallots, and green olives)

mulligatawny soup(embarrassed to admit it but I pulled this recipe off of one of those copycat recipe sites and was actually for the Soup Nazi's mulligatawny from Seinfeld)

--quite disappointing, though I don't know what I was expecting. I have to admit hough that my pickiest eater had 4 helpings. Becasue I made so much it is probably going to be prominent in tonight's meal as well.

Japanese rice

[gknl]

Asparagus soup. I cut the trimmings into pieces, simmered them until tender, blended them with the cooking liquid, strained it, added a splash of half and half and a pat of butter. I did it on a lark because I remembered reading about some French chef doing that, but it was good and something I'll definitely do again.

Broiled asparagus.

Penne with preserved tuna and pine nuts from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. The tuna was slowly poached in evoo with red pepper flakes, garlic, lemon zest (the recipe called for fennel seeds, but I left them out). For the pasta sauce, toasted pine nuts in a splash of evoo, added the preserved tuna, coarsely chopped capers, and finely minced preserved lemon.

After eating out the past 10 days in a row, I needed this!