Dinner! 2003

[paul o' vendange]

Maggie, off topic, just saw your subtitle - the Dark Lady of the Literary Smackdown...

May your name inspire great food writing, as the Dark Lady of the Sonnets brought forth, in this erstwhile actor's view, Shakespeare's best work!

[maggiethecat]

May your name inspire great food writing, as the Dark Lady of the Sonnets brought forth, in this erstwhile actor's view, Shakespeare's best work!

Thanks for noticing, Paul; that's what I was hoping when I chose it.

(So enter the competition! )

[torakris]

Thursday dinner:

katsuo tataki , sear bonito until very very raw, plunge into ice water until very very cold then slice and cover with various toppings, last night I used scallions, shiso, and lots of ginger with a soy based sauce

dashi maki tamago, Japanese thick sweetened egg omelette

soy sauce flavored yuba (tofu skin)

cucumber sticks with Japanese mayo

zucchini and white onion miso soup (with hatcho miso)

Japanese rice fortefied with amaranth, millet, Japanese millet, foxtail millet

dessert:

popsicles

[nerissa]

Sounds delicious. Your fridge must be working.

Thanks. It was!

We bought a used frig last week and had it delivered... ah, so nice to have a working frig.

Torakris, what is Japanese mayonaise?

Tonight--going out for sushi.

Edited June 26, 2003 by nerissa (log)

[torakris]

Torakris, what is Japanese mayonaise?

mayo made by a Japanese manufacturer

the Kewpie brand available in any Asian store, it just sounded better then just plain old mayo!

[Priscilla]

Side of salmon, just pink salmon, which was very fresh and a nice dark red, but as with pinks not too fatty, slather of pesto at the end of grilling over mesquite. Nice crispy skin, just-cooked flesh, very nice.

Red potatoes roughly mashed with the components of a fully-loaded baked potato, butter, sour cream, bacon, a load of chives, s & p.

Salad of getting-better farmer's market tomatoes, Belgian endive, white onion, chiffonade of mint, pink grapefruit sections, with grapefruit vinaigrette.

[torakris]

I thought we were going to go away for the weekend (the rain forced us to postpone our beach plans ) so I was using up what was in the refrigerator.

Friday dinner:

Ikura donburi with dashi maki tamago and cucumbers

aburage (tofu "pockets") spread with a miso-scallion paste and broiled

gobo and cucumbers in a spicy mayo dressing

ground beef and zucchini stir-fry with bulgoki style seasonings

seasoned nori

dessert:

popsicles

[Jinmyo]

Yukon gold potato salad with a sauce made from curry leaves/turmeric/Dijon and other stuff and seared scallion pieces and sugar snap peas with pea greens and grape tomatoes.

Hard-cooked quail eggs marinated in kimchi.

Chilled pureed chickpea and leek soup (with lobster and shrimp broth).

Sauteed gai lan and yu choy with cubed pillow tofu.

Frozen spears of honeydew melon that had been marinated in ginger and chile.

[guajolote]

2 inch thick grilled rare Strip Steaks

Baked Potatoes

Sauteed Cremini Mushrooms w/ Garlic

Roasted Vidalia Onion (put right on the grill coals)

Glazed Carrots

Greek Bread

Caravello (?) - A red wine recommended by Carig Camp that I bought very cheap.

My father-in-law was very happy.

[Xanthippe]

2 inch thick grilled rare Strip Steaks

Baked Potatoes

Sauteed Cremini Mushrooms w/ Garlic

Roasted Vidalia Onion (put right on the grill coals)

Glazed Carrots

Greek Bread

Caravello (?) - A red wine recommended by Carig Camp that I bought very cheap.

My father-in-law was very happy.

I'm happy just reading your dinner menu, guajolote!

And would you mind describing the Greek bread, please?

[KNorthrup]

Hot weather/end-of-week laziness/broke until payday menu:

Eggs scrambled with cheddar and TJ green salsa

White bordeaux

[malachi]

I'm experimenting these days - figuring at some point my girlfriend will say "enough" and I'll have found the limits.

Wild Salmon Filet marinated for 20 minutes in a mixture of crushed pineapple, habanero chilis, sea salt, lime juice, rice wine vinegar and thai basil.

Cooked in a 400 degree wood fired oven (75% alder, 25% hickory) on a rack over a pan of water.

Served with Kale sauteed with garlic, EVOO and sea salt and dressed with sherry vinegar.

Lime/Pineapple "chutney" as a condiment (diced unripe lime, fine diced pineapple, garlic-chili paste, lots of salt, minced sweet onion).

Actually came out quite tasty - though the chutney may have been "gilding the lily" so to speak.

[guajolote]

grilled rare Strip Steaks

Baked Potatoes

Sauteed Cremini Mushrooms w/ Garlic

Roasted Vidalia Onion (put right on the grill coals)

Glazed Carrots

Greek Bread

Caravello (?) - A red wine recommended by Carig Camp that I bought very cheap.

My father-in-law was very happy.

I'm happy just reading your dinner menu, guajolote!

And would you mind describing the Greek bread, please?

[paul o' vendange]

Went to Evanston Farmer's market. Got among other things, fennel, chanterelles, purslane, lavender, lettuces.

Have rabbit from Paulina Market.

Think I will make tonight (for tomorrow night):

fennel oil

chicken stock

"quick" rabbit sauce a la FL

and tomorrow will make:

braised rabbit leg, roasted rabbit saddle roulade with smoked bacon; plate with rabbit sauce, chanterelles, both cuts of rabbit; top with paper-thin (mandoline-sliced), caramelized fennel, and ringed with fennel oil.

Will use the lavender to make a peach-lavender sorbet; and will use the purslane in a starter salad of some kind.

Will start with a Gruner Veltliner; move on to one of 2 medocs: Chateau de Pez/St. Estephe 1996 or L'Ermitage Chasse Spleen/Moulis 1998; and a sauternes I know nothing about, Clos L'Abeilley.

Edit: Watching my little boy dip his apple slices into his prune juice for dinner, I think I'll take his cue, reserve the rabbit legs to make a terrine, and serve with a prune compote, and caramelized apples.

Edited June 28, 2003 by paul o' vendange (log)

[torakris]

wasn't supposed to be here this weekend and didn't feel like dragging the 3 kids shopping so:

slowly simmered block of pork with sake, ginger and peppercorns, left to cool then thinly sliced and served in lettuce leaves with either hoisin sauce (for the kids) or a kojuchang sauce

soy-sake-sugar simmered hijiki, chikuwa (hollow tube of fish paste), and edamame

stirfried somen noodles with onions and chikuwa flavored with umeboshi and konbu-cha

Japanese rice

dessert:

popsicles

[Varmint]

Fresh figs stuffed with Celebrity Dairy goat cheese, EVOO, and 12 year balsamico

Mussels with tomatoes, thyme, basil, onion, garlic, white wine, and drizzled with EVOO

Grilled loin lamb chops (rubbed with coriander, garlic, marjoram, salt, pepper), buttermilk mashed potatoes, ragout of butter beans, corn, zucchini, grape tomatoes, and baby spinach

Fudge layer cake with bacio and blackberry gelato

[Jinmyo]

Tomato water with basil oil.

Tiny baby white potatoes, double-fried, mixed with fresh-shelled peas (about the size of the potatoes), scallions, parsley, creme fraiche.

Slices of grilled ribsteak with chevre crumbled atop, much fleur de sel, guajillo chile oil around.

Plum tomato cups with fava puree and chopped Korean green chile kimchi inside.

Key lime granita.

[torakris]

were out all day, had a late lunch and came home to a refrigerator of cabbage, mountain yam (nagaimo) and celery, so we made:

okonomiyaki

lots of cabbage, nagaimo, pork, eggs and baby star ramen (a crispy ramen flavored snack) all topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayo and katsuo bushi

didn't use the celery....

[hjshorter]

Steak marinated with lime juice, EVOO, cumin, ancho chile powder. Grilled medium rare, thinly sliced. Served with grilled vidalia onions, tortillas, roasted tomatillo salsa, and guacamole.

Green chile refied pinto beans

Sliced cucumbers

'96 Rochioli Pinot Noir

No dessert. Too full of steak.

[poi]

Scallops wraped in bacon skewered on fresh bay sticks (from the hedge row ) drizzeled with basalmic , fresh grated ginger, cracked white pepper, and a squeez of fresh lime also from the garden. Grilled with fresh asparagras A simple salad mixed greens with fresh heart of palm a grate of parmesean cheese. A glass or two of Mersault it was ok. The wine that is. The first was an ahi poke just a quick one .Fresh ahi sesame oil frsh chile pepper just a wee bit green onion and shouy. Bon appitetit.

[guajolote]

Tasmanian Trout (YUM) -marinated with soy sauce, mirin, hoisin, sesame oil, and fresh garlic- roasted in very hot oven

Sauted new potatoes w/ fresh garlic

Snap peas in olive oil

Salad w/ pink, purple, red, and white radishes; spring onions; cucumbers; and dijon/rice wine vinegar/thyme/olive oil dressing

Black Sweet Cherries for dessert

Willm Pinot Gris, Caceres Rose

Edited June 30, 2003 by guajolote (log)

[laurel]

Salad with goat cheese almond truffles

Mussels with shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, arugula, and snow peas

Sauteed spinach

[Jinmyo]

Welcome to eGullet, poi.

[paul o' vendange]

An update on dinner. The "rack of rabbit," and rabbit loin roulade with bacon, caramelized fennel, chanterelles, rabbit sauce, and fennel oil.

I wanted both the mushrooms and the fennel in the dish, more for an aesthetic consideration of the "field" and rabbit than for known culinary affinity. I sauteed the thin fennel slices to caramelization, and slightly crispy, and the marriage with the sauce, fennel oil and chanterelles worked beautifully.

The roulade itself was so-so. If I do it again I will try another type of bacon (or maybe pancetta, or prosciutto). The loin had a chewy toughness to it; somewhat perplexed as to why (it was done to temp); next time I will bag using the flank "flap" to cover the loin, as I don't think it is needed and only adds to the toughness. The "rack of rabbit" a la FL is comically tiny, a bite, but delicious. I can see somehow using the rack in an amuse of some sort, although it is meat.

The wines were very nice. The Chateau de Pez is a great buy at $24, and coming as a St. Estephe Medoc 1996, I was eager to try. It worked well with the rabbit, as well as with a course of bread and black truffle-oiled brie (the wine extended the truffle oil beautifully - a sublimation on the palate which really brings home the idea of "black earth" with the St. Estephe terroir and black truffle...). The Clos L'Abeilley was similarly good - more of a "rot" component (as distinct from simple sweetness) from the vine than I have had in other sauternes, a good acid balance, and very enjoyable with the peach-lavender sorbet, although normally I would just drink the sauternes as dessert.

Edited June 30, 2003 by paul o' vendange (log)

[MatthewB]

Friday night:

My buffalo mozz pizza mess. (See that thread.)

Saturday night:

Grilled lemongrass beef

Quick pickled bean sprout salad

Jasmine rice

Sunday night:

Bacon-wrapped grilled pork tenderloin w/ balsamic-glazed peaches & black olive relish

Quick-saute snap peas & radishes

Spinach salad