Dinner! 2003

[SethG]

Cranberry carrot relish

Recipe please? I have never seen that combo before and it sounds interesting.

And while you're at it, post a link to it in this thread.

Dinner Wednesday:

Paula Wolfert's rack of lamb recipe from the Ocotber 2003 Food & Wine. I'd never cooked rack of lamb at home before. It was totally simple.

I was going to make Paula's suggested side (slow-cooked carrots with olives) as well, but my daughter was not cooperative. She was very cranky for about two hours this evening, and by the time I could turn my attention to shaving carrots, it was too late to start them.

So I tried out some potential Thanksgiving sides. I made green beans with shallot butter and almonds. Nice. My very pregnant wife managed to eat five or six beans.

And I made a red onion/vinegar/cranberry/chipotle thing from the November Bon Appetit.

[mags]

Had to sub at the bookstore, so dinner out at Otto, viz:

Preserved swordfish with pickled ramps

Duck sausage

Sauteed broccoli rabe

Celery root vinaigrette

Much more of my pal's gelato than I should have eaten

[Priscilla]

Last evening, salt bagels made by me, split, toasted. With cream cheese, what turned out to be very nice mild tender hot-smoked salmon, the last of the Romas from the garden thinly sliced, copious amounts of white onion, a few capote capers for the Consort to strew, not-too-bad-for-being-from-a-jar Sevilla olives, and pickled green tomatoes I put up last fall with last fall's end-of-the-garden. Bonny Doon L'Etoile dry Muscat, kinda delicious. To accompany the deleted-scenes and bonus-whatnot DVD packaged with Pulp Fiction ... rewatching the catalogue in advance of seeing Kill Bill.

[NeroW]

Last evening, salt bagels made by me, split, toasted.

I made bagels a few days ago.

Did you boil/poach them? Or just give them an egg wash?

A little late here, but last Thursday I made a Beef Carbonnade (served Friday).

Yesterday I made grouper fillets, poached in beurre monte. While that was cooking, I made a coulis of shallot, carrot, ginger and chicken stock (should have had lobster stock ). Brought that up to a boil with some heavy cream. Threw in some butter (should have had lobster butter ). Finished with a squeeze of lemon.

Served over some wilted baby greens.

[Priscilla]

Yes, NeroW I did poach/boil. In the water, non-diastatic malt and sugar. Pretzel salt, you know, opaque whitey-white large crystals, sprinkled over while wet for adhesion. Have done egg washes, and oh but doesn't that make the salt stick LAMF, too.

What about you did you poach/boil? A bagel guy told me once that a bagel is always poached/boiled, while what makes a bialy a bialy is it's NOT having been boiled. And here's me thinking it was the onions and poppy seeds what makes a bialy a bialy.

[torakris]

Thursday dinner:

I had bought some fresh sanma (saury pike) and was going to grill them, but 5 minutes before my husband came home my MIL called and said my husband had to go to their house when they got home to have a discussion and he could eat there. So the sanma will be used tonite....

So the kids and I ate:

simmered kabocha (had made it earlier)

kimchi p'ajon (only Julia age 5 and I ate this)

Japanese rice

2 tins of sanma kabayaki (the kids love this)

dessert:

chocolate cake or what was left of it. I had left it on the counter to cool and my kids and about 5 friends decided to test it by pulling of pieces with their fingers, a good 1/4 of the top was missing!

[hjshorter]

Thursday:

Both kids are sick and I'm exhausted. So, I didn't bother cooking much. Emma had soup, Ian had some leftover buttered noodles and a small bowl of VD stew. Scott and I made barbecue burritos with some pork from the pig pickin and flour tortillas. Good stuff.

[Malawry]

Homemade pizzas: one with spinach and mushrooms, one with red bell pepper and mushrooms

Tossed salad with lots of olives

Meyer lemon sorbet for dessert. Ahhhh.

[dumpling]

Last evening, salt bagels made by me, split, toasted.

I made bagels a few days ago.

Did you boil/poach them? Or just give them an egg wash?

A little late here, but last Thursday I made a Beef Carbonnade (served Friday).

Yesterday I made grouper fillets, poached in beurre monte. While that was cooking, I made a coulis of shallot, carrot, ginger and chicken stock (should have had lobster stock ). Brought that up to a boil with some heavy cream. Threw in some butter (should have had lobster butter ). Finished with a squeeze of lemon.

Served over some wilted baby greens.

Hey Nero we should have gotten together! I have the lobster stock but I haven't had the time to be able to use it all. I was going to do it today but I had to go out so I didn't cook. And I was feeling kind of punk digestively.

[dumpling]

Cranberry carrot relish

Recipe please? I have never seen that combo before and it sounds interesting.

And while you're at it, post a link to it in this thread.

Actually nothing to it. I think I may have made it once before but I just thought it would be interesting. I used fresh cranberries with a little water over them to cook them in(before I think I used a little marsala as well). Sprinkle with sugar to taste, let it reduce a little. Toss in chopped baby carrots(so the size of the pieces is round and similar to the cranberries) and cook until carrots are done. Comes out very pretty with vibrant red and orange, each brings out the taste of the other; quick, simple and just the vibrant flavors of the cranberry and carrot.

[Jinmyo]

Roasted root vegetables (turnips, daikon, carrots, rutabagas) with curry seasonings.

Braised beef chuck with huang zi (Chinese mushrooms) and leeks with a green curry coconut sauce.

Grilled U10 shrimp witrh braised fennel and red peppers with the same sauce.

Deep-fried shrimp heads and legs with silken tofu.

Salad of thin asparagus and pickled mamgo slices.

[mags]

That sounds wonderful, Jinmyo. What did you braise the beef in?

[jwagnerdsm]

oops. wrong thread and so I deleted my original post about Thanksgiving side dishes. We had leftover beef stew with noodles from the farmers market. Functional and tasty but nothing real special.

Edited October 17, 2003 by jwagnerdsm (log)

[torakris]

Thursday:

Both kids are sick and I'm exhausted.

I hope you didn't catch what we had!

[ExtraMSG]

I cook most every night for my wife, plus often make extra meals for her lunches (computer programmer, I work from home) that we freeze. I send descriptions of many of the dishes I make to a food lover friend of mine. Here are some of the last emails I sent him:

Made mushroom and bacon soup last night. Needed to use up some mushrooms, crminis. I started by sauteeing some bacon for the fat and then sauteed onions in that bacon grease (along with the bacon still). Then I tossed in some quartered criminis and salt. I deglazed with merlot, let that cook down to a syrup, and added in some reduced chicken/duck stock and a little water. Simmered that for a while while I made some home made onion rings. Just a simple recipe. Heated the oil to just over 300. I wanted the onions to get melty inside before the breading got GBD. They were just tossed in flour, dipped in egg, and then tossed in bread crumbs (homemade from potato bread). I pureed the sautee mixture, including the bacon, and tested for salt and half and half (it needed some half and half to thin it out and make it still creamy). Then I served it in a bowl with a quenelle of sour cream in the middle. Around the bowl on a plate I placed the onion rings. I was going to put them in the soup as croutons, but I didn't want them getting soggy. I just told Lisa to dip them instead. Once she realized that, she started loving it that way. The flavors of mushrooms, bacon, and onions go so well together. The sour cream added a nice high note without taking away from the richness.

***

Made tlacoyos for dinner. Pretty much used Bayless' recipe from Mexican Kitchen. While frying them on the second side, I tossed some salt and cheese on top. Took them out, and put them on a plate with greens on top, a little salsa I made (chipotles -- to go with the black beans inside --, tomatoes, and onion pureed), and sour cream. Lisa devoured them. They were very good. I seasoned the beans before mashing them and the tlacoyos were excellent.

***

Made sopes tonight -- sopes con tinga de tofu. Yep, tofu. I started by cutting small batons of tofu, about 1/8" x 1/8" x 2". Then I fried them up until they had crisped up nicely on the ouside. I set that aside and started the tinga by sauteeing some onions in lard (not a vegetarian dish, just a tofu dish). Then I added some cumin, coriander, paprika, and garlic powder. I let the flavors wake up and then added a couple diced tomatoes. Salted it to get the tomatoes to break down and added in some chipotle sauce -- that brown salsa that's pureed chipotles in adobo essentially. Cooked that a bit and then added in some reduced chicken/duck stock. Then I added the tofu back in and let that simmer until it reduced to a nice consistency. I made the sopes by using reconstituted masa harina and then adding a little lard in. Then I wrapped the top of once sauce and the bottom of another saucer in plastic wrap. Then I made balls of the masa about 2 inches in diameter, maybe a little bigger. I set them in the middle of the saucer with the plastic on its main side and then squished it with the saucer with the plastic underneath. They came out very nicely, about 3 inches in diameter and 1/4" thick. Then I cooked them on the comal at medium low for about 5 minutes a side. Then I fried them until nice and golden, about 5 minutes at 325. They were very crispy no the outside and nicely golden and moist and a little airy on the inside. I served them with a little cheese on top, followed by the tinga, and then sour cream. I put greens around them on the plate as well. Lisa seemed to like them and ate them all. I've got leftover masa from today so I'll probably make another such thing tomorrow. Not sure what yet. Maybe practice gorditas some more. More tlacoyos. Panuchos or huaraches. Lots of options. Not sure what I'll put over it yet, though.

***

Made an antojitos platter with a tlacoyo, tostada, and sope. The tlacoyo sounds weirder than it was, but I used mashed tofu that I marinated in a chile/lime mixture. If you think that the traditional thing is black beans and tofu is made from beans, it's less weird. Plus, tofu has that really bland cheese quality to it. To top the tostada and sope I baked some winter squash. Quartered it and seasoned it with cumin, coriander, paprika, and garlic powder. Made a simple cooked salsa, almost like an enchilada sauce, to go with everything.

***

Made pita from scratch for dinner tonight. Decided I should work on breads a little after my experiences with tortillas and masa creations. And now that it's crappy weather, baking makes sense. Anyway, I followed the recipe from my New Book of Middle Eastern Food. My Clayton's didn't have a recipe. I decided that book would be a good start then. I do have a couple other books with recipes, but I didn't really compare them. This one was relatively easy. The bread came out pretty good, though it doesn't create much of a pocket. It balloons up in an interesting way, especially if you broil it, which is her alternative (and I think better) method for baking the bread (btw, even baking it, the bread cooks in less than 5 minutes). Along with the bread I served two spreads/dips, a puree of olive oil, winter squash, garlic, cumin, coriander, and paprika (and salt), and a hummus with lime instead of lemon, but otherwise pretty standard. However, I did use that nice olive oil because I ran out of my grocery store brand. Man that makes a huge difference. No off tastes whatsoever. Just a rich, fruity flavor. I also served some sauteed cod, marinated in lime, seasoned and dredged in flour, cooked in oil that I let come up to temperature with slices of garlic so it had a nice aroma and flavor. Then I topped that with a relish of diced tomatoes and cilantro. Simple Mediterranean style dinner, but it was nice getting into baking, something I'm not very good at -- or at least don't feel entirely comfortable with --, again. However, I do have 7 pieces of pita bread now that I need to do something with.

[Jinmyo]

That sounds wonderful, Jinmyo. What did you braise the beef in?

What I've been using of late is Shiraz and fresh vegetable juice from tomatoes, onions, celery, and peppers and a mire poix with garlic. Sear and then braise for about eight hours.

[torakris]

Taught a cooking class yesterday and as usual didn't feel like cooking dinner, so I took the easy route:

shio-yaki sanma (salt grilled saury pike) served with shikwasa (sp?) and Okinawan citrus fruit

ton-jiru (from the eGCI Japanese class) a pork and vegetable based miso soup

Japanese rice

[SethG]

Roasted a chicken, Jacques Pepin's way (technique # 144), with sauteed mushrooms/garlic/parsley stuffed under the skin and with a Provencal sort of sauce made afterward with tomato, garlic, onion and an herb (I chose rosemary, as I do so often).

Leftover green beans

Asparagus. No butter-lemon sauce.

[ExtraMSG]

Man, I remember my first big Thanksgiving dinner when I thought up putting an herb butter under the skin of the turkey. I thought I was brilliant. Then I start watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks and everybody does it. Works great, though.

Tonight for dinner I made cachapas, a Venezuelan corn pancake. Used Lambert-Ortiz's recipe with some modifications to the batter. Cut up some bacon and tossed it in a pan. Then I added some onions and garlic and seasoned them with cumin, coriander seed, chile powder, and a little homemade garam masala that I like to use for an accent in a lot of Mexican cooking. Then I added some chipotle puree in adobo and cooked all that a bit. Then I added in some black beans and a just a touch of water just to help the beans heat through. Tossed that in the middle of a cachapa, grated on some cheese, and folded it over. Wish I had some sour cream. My wife would have loved a bit, but it was good without.

[torakris]

saturday dinner:

spent 3 hours on the phone (with a friend that lives less then 10 minutes away! ) and thus was too busy to do anything special, besides I was out of rice:

pasta with a tomato (can) sauce with gaeta olives, basil and proscuitto

green salad with EVOO and vinegar and sliced avocados

dessert:

an ice cream from New Zealand called Hokey Pokey with bits of hard caramel in it, this was really good!

[hjshorter]

Macaroni and cheese, made with extra sharp aged cheddar and a buttered panko crust. Mmmmmm.

Steamed broccoli.

Milk for kids and grownups.

Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and sliced almonds for dessert.

[Dana]

Lunch with the Girls:

Smoked pecans

Garlic marinated green olives

Butternut squash soup

Turkey Avocado and Bacon Sandwiches on Potato Bread

Cape Cod and Zapps Chips

Prosecco

[SethG]

Saturday night:

Had a friend over. Made steak. Three shell steaks, pan-broiled, deglazed with wine.

Also served noodles with garlic/butter/rosemary/parmesan sauce

butternut squash puree from the Frog Commissary Cookbook, a book I may as well plug since I haven't bought it myself.

And I got some Jerusalem artichokes at the greenmarket this morning. I'd never cooked or eaten them as far as I knew, and when I got home I did some digging on the web. Turns out they're neither artichokes nor Jerusalem-based. I found some recipe in which you simmer pieces of the "artichokes" in water, wine and onion for an hour, then add mushrooms and lemon slices and simmer some more. And I'll be damned if the pieces didn't come out tasting a lot like artichoke hearts! Neither our guest nor my wife would eat them. But what do they know anyway?

[mags]

Hey Seth, how did you like the squash puree?

[SethG]

It was good! I would have credited you, except you did not give me the recipe, see? We've never talked about it, got it?