Dinner! 2003

[Priscilla]

Bonny Doon L'Etoile Muscat.

I just got a bottle of the L'Etoile Muscat but have yet to open it. Still thinking about what to have on the menu when I do drink it. Did you like it?

Oh we thought it was delicious. A pleasure to have a CA wine that is, um, Euro enough to really complement seafood.

Be sure to post when you do come up with just the right menu!

[torakris]

Thursday was a a very busy day and I had no time to go shopping:

Japanese curry rice topped with a corroke (croquette) served with all the appropriate pickles

Japanese rice

[Jinmyo]

Salad of microgreens (red oak, frisee, mache, daikon sprouts) and paper-thin slivers of raw sea scallops with a basil foam.

Pomme fondant (tourne Yukon Gold potatoes cooked in stock and glazed with butter) in a bowl of cool buttermilk and topped with lentils mixed with chopped bacon.

Slow roasted tomatoes with braised lamb shanks, chipotle, cumin etc .

Celery root slaw with simple mayonaisse and key lime.

Leek and Swiss chard soup (chicken broth) with large garlicky croutons.

[mags]

The potatoes sound fabulous, Jinmyo. I love buttermilk.

[SethG]

Thursday dinner:

Once bitten, whatever. Went back to Thompson's Thai Food. I've been craving the shrimp salad I made about a month ago, full of chiles, shallots, lemongrass, and young ginger, with a citrusy dressing equal parts lime juice, mandarin juice and fish sauce. Last time the shrimp took me forever and didn't come out right, so I just poached them ahead of time tonight. Worked out great.

And he has this chapter full of street food at the back which includes tons of stuff that seems workable for weeknight dining. I made stir-fried beef with chillies and holy basil. Very quick garlic, salt and chile paste, fry it up, add beef, soy, a touch of sugar and basil, and you're out.

And jasmine rice.

The bird chiles I bought today kicked ass, by the way. Yum.

[margaret]

Felt like eating autumny yesterday.

Stuffed acorn squash.

Shredded brussels sprouts cooked down in butter, some Dijon and popped mustard seeds stirred in.

Roasted potatoes.

Japanese rice for boyfriend; none for me.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, a 90- or 100-degree, whatever, day, had a duck been drying in the fridge for a few days. It was dry. Almost as dry as the hillsides burning all around SoCal.

A choice of turning on the oven, or lighting charcoal with its scary popping embers and the Santa Anas threatening to whoosh in any moment.

Like Puddin'head Wilson's advice about putting all your eggs in one basket and then watching that basket, I chose the charcoal, and watched it like mad, powernozzled hose at the ready. All was well.

Anyway, cooked the duck on the old Weber not too fast, water in the drip pan, dry skin (the duck's; not mine) brushed with a very little honey I melted over the fire so that salt & pepper would adhere.

Made a vinaigrette with white wine vinegar and seedy Dijon which had a little cassis in it, colored furtherly pink with cochineal! Little touch of honey, and grapeseed oil, salt & pepper, and you know what that Jackal is right -- what a thick emulsion with a nearly 2:1 ratio oil to vinegar. Nice rosy color. Courtesy cassis & cochineal.

Bed of dressed Romaine, nice sliced duck & skin arrayed, extra dressing available for at-will application. LBB Italian sourdough. Cheap chilled French rose.

[SobaAddict70]

very Joel Robuchon-ish, Jinmyo. (the salad that is)

Kristin: rice and rice?!?

Soba

[arjay]

You folks seem to have a serious problem finding American food ingredients and recipes. Maybe you should try Wal-Mart and Epicurious.com.

[dumpling]

Salad of microgreens (red oak, frisee, mache, daikon sprouts) and paper-thin slivers of raw sea scallops with a basil foam.

Pomme fondant (tourne Yukon Gold potatoes cooked in stock and glazed with butter) in a bowl of cool buttermilk and topped with lentils mixed with chopped bacon.

Slow roasted tomatoes with braised lamb shanks, chipotle, cumin etc .

Celery root slaw with simple mayonaisse and key lime.

Leek and Swiss chard soup (chicken broth) with large garlicky croutons.

Sounds like a beautiful dinner Jinmyo(particularly attacted to the potatoes).

[torakris]

Kristin:  rice and rice?!? 

Soba

I guess that second rice mention was a little redundant!

Friday night:

sauteed sole with a brown butter and basalmic sauce

mashed potatoes

salad of iceberg, arugula, parmesean and gaeta olives

Dessert:

cookies (a gift)

[dumpling]

Ecce Panis' Simple Foccacia

Penne with Sunday Gravy(even though it's Friday) with pork ribs, Italian sweet sausage and homemade meatballs cooked for hours

Creamed spinach and french cut green beans with garlic

Cauliflower with lemon butter sage sauce

Dumpling's easy Vanilla flavored Creme Brulee with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on the side

[Placebo]

Beef (sliced thin for sukiyaki) with string beans in a sauce of ginger, garlic, chili, vinegar, mirin and soy over white rice.

[SethG]

Friday night:

We had a friend over, and made a menu from Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home:

simple salad with lemon-oil dressing,

Jacques' Pommes de Terre Boulangere, and

Jacques' Sauteed Chicken "Maison"

I also thought it would be nice to put out before dinner a crudite plate with homemade Aioli-- which I'd never made before. I prinetd out Jackal10's eGCI course, and got to work. And I failed, at least at first. I think my egg yolk was too cold. The stuff seemed to be well mixed, but it just wouldn't thicken. So I pulled Mastering the Art... off the shelf, and implemented Julia's fix. I put a little mustard in a warmed bowl and beat my egg/oil mixture into it slowly. It thickened right up. Then I finished the mayonnaise by Julie Powell's method. I poured the rest of the olive oil into the white plastic pusher from my Cuisinart and let the oil drizzle into the bowl through the small hole in the bottom as I beat with a wisk. It was great. Tasted good on blanched asparagus, raw baby baby carrots and mushrooms. But the addition of mustard made its flavor profile a little closer to that of the salad dressing than I would've wanted. Oh well.

Tonight we're having a couple surprise guests from my hometown, and I plan on keeping it simple. I picked up some monkfish, which I think I'll roast with herbs (courtesy Mark Bittman), and serve with rice, some broccoli, and .this squash dish, thanks to MatthewB.

Edited October 26, 2003 by SethG (log)

[torakris]

Spent the day with a friend and our 5 kids trick or treating at a nearby mall and arrived home at the same time as my husband, nothing was prepared so I decided to throw together okonomiyaki, no eggs in the house, so back to the cupboard:

bakmi goreng (a boxed noodle and spice mix) to which I added cabbage, carrots and sakura ebi (a type of small flat dried shrinp)

seki-han a sticky rice dish with adzuki beans (this had been given to us by a neighbor)

Edited October 25, 2003 by torakris (log)

[bloviatrix]

Friday (shabbat) dinner

Veal Chops

Brussel Sprouts w/Balsamic Vinegar and Toasted Pine Nuts

Bulgur Pilaf

Apple, Pear and Quince Crumble

Cotes-du-Rhone to drink

[arjay]

Salmon filets sauteed in butter

Wild/brown rice pilaf (summer savory makes the dish)

Fresh green peas

Steamed Baby carrots from the garden

My wife, Godzilla, was almost satisfied.

[FoodMan]

Saturday:

With a barely-over-three-months baby in the house me and the madam decided to have date night just for ourselves so we send him to grandma’s house for the weekend and had ourselves a nice and romantic dinner at home.

Parmesan Crisps with Goat cheese, basil and evoo: I think a I put a little too much goat cheese on the crisps but otherwise it was very tasty

Pan seared scallops with sage and pancetta

Goat cheese Tortellini with dried orange rind and fennel powder

Cool Beet soup with Crème Fraich, Marjoram, balsamic Vinegar and evoo

Pan fried Black Bass with Endive Marmellata and Saffron/orange Vinaigrette

Bitter Chocolate mousse with sesame brittle

Fig and Almond Biscotti with coffee

We had a bottle of Saintsbury Pinot Noir 2000 with our meal.

Sunday:

Pan seared then oven roasted pork tenderloin that has been marinated with garlic, lemon and basil.

Potato and beet green gratin topped with gruyere.

Elie

[Jinmyo]

Nice, FM.

Congee with daikon rounds and shungiku (garland chrysanthemum greens), topped with gomasio.

Roasted whole cremini and golden thread mushrooms with sesame and shoyu.

Cotton tofu with onions and peppers with kong soon abalone sauce.

Stir-fried Shanghai bok choy tips with grilled U10 shrimp.

Daikon kimchi and white kimchi.

[Jason Perlow]

awesome.

[SobaAddict70]

what's white kimchi, Jin?

Soba

[Jinmyo]

Soba, white kimchi is cabbage with all the rotten fish and other good stuff but no chiles.

[torakris]

Monday dinner:

buri no kamayaki ( grilled yellowtail collar) with a teriyaki sauce

mizuna and tofu salad with a ginger-soy-sesame dressing topped with katsuo-bushi (bonito flakes)

sauteed kabocha with a butter- honey glaze

ankimo (monkfish liver) poached and served with ponzu and scallions

Japanese rice

[Malawry]

The last of Saturday's batch of homemade fettucine, with butter and parmegiano-reggiano. Ahhh, Italian pabulum.

[dumpling]

Sunday

Went out to a reiki circle, where everyone brought potluck- so I brought apple walnut strudel

Monday

Artichoke and pepper spread on semolina bread

Pollo al Mattone(Chicken under a brick)

Asparagus sauteed in EVOO, lemon juice and garlic

Couscous pilaf

Red potatoes sauteed in EVOO, rosemary and shallots

Pumpkin Pie and pumpkin bread that I made yesterday