Dinner! 2003

[hjshorter]

We had some friends over for a little post-holiday fun.

Veggies & blue cheese dip.

Crab and jalapeno dip, thanks to hannnah and her spouse. This was awesome!

Chips and corn/poblano salsa.

Scott made two kinds of chili, with condiments - cheese, sour cream, lime wedges, scallions, & cilantro. One had beef cubes & ancho chiles, the other had ground chuck and pinto beans.

Various beers, including a chocolate stout.

Cashew & butterscotch bark for dessert, brought by another friend. Yum.

[SethG]

Saturday night:

Had a couple friends over. Served:

leek & potato soup;

salmon fillets cooked en papillote with tomato;

artichoke bottoms stuffed with mushrooms;

and rice pilaf.

And I baked a loaf of bread-- I messed it up but it was still good.

I planned to make a souffle for dessert but said "enough already" at the last minute.

[dumpling]

Uncle visiting. He's 79 and just decided he wanted to go back to school and finish his masters in theology. So he's here before his classes start in Janaury.

Sunday dinner-

Had some leftover duck carcass with a little meat left on it from making Crispy Aromatic Duck for Christmas. So tossed it in some stock with some ginger, onions, carrots, snow peas, chineses chives, wine and sesame oil and had a nice duck soup.

Then a Cantonese chow mein - chicken, chives, julienned carrots and snow peas in sauce over with some crispy two sides fried noodle cake.

Married with that some roated broccoli with EVOO, salt and pepper.

To finish we had some leftover Tiramisu Eggnog Trifle and tea we received for Christmas.

[Belmont3]

Dinner for 12 on Saturday Night:

Tuna Tartar on Endive

Smoked Salmon Croque Monsieur

Phyllo and Rosemary Crusted Shrimp

Red pepper Mousse, Chopped Herbs and deep fried Prawns in an Orange Crust

Slivered Diver Sea Scallops with Chive and EVO

Brandade de Morue

Arctic Char with Parmesean Polenta, Mushroom Consomme and White Truffle Oil

Black Bass in Bouillabaisse sauce with Shingled Diver Sea Scallops

Roast Monkfish on Napa Cabbage with a Bacon Butter sauce

Braised Short Ribs

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Grapefruit

Chocolate Ravioli in Chocolate sauce

[Suzanne F]

Hey, Belmont3, long time no see! Your brandade made a great base for my fishcakes (see above).

As foretold, last night was:

Crisped duck confit (whole leg/thigh)

Cubes of potato cooked very crisp in duck fat

Steamed beet greens plus the leftover roasted beets + pickled onions

Salad (by HWOE) with a dressing of artichoke marinade + white wine vinegar + "artichoke cream"

Salmon River Pinot Noir

[Belmont3]

How did they turnout..the fish cakes? Did you fry them?

[Suzanne F]

Gorgeous. Panné à l'anglaise, with seasoned flour, real egg, and panko. Shallow-fried in corn/canola blend.

They were less free-form than jackal10's -- more hockey-puck shape.

[Suzanne F]

deleted for double-posted impatience.

Edited December 29, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[Priscilla]

Boneless rib roasts in the zeitgeist. Boneless rib roast on Christmas day for us, too, from Costco. Unaccountably, among the very best pieces of beef ever ever cooked at home. Just really really good. Cooked outside in the old Weber over hardwood charcoal, at a low temp that at first wanted to creep up and up but which the Consort bent to his will.

Like Tommy we're trying to eat beef until the Mad Cow thing abates, if it's going to, or even if it's not. Not pre-packaged ground beef, of course, but I've never used that anyway, even BEfore reading Fast Food Nation.

So last evening it was beef Stroganoff, using portobellos for the first time. Vintage Natural beef top sirloin with a lot a lot of marbling, cut and pounded to a fare-thee-well. The cute-lookingness of regular-sized mushroom slices was of course absent, but the musky mushroomy flavor of the big old honkin' portobellos was very good.

Souffle potatoes, all puffed up in the cutest way, not unlike Jackal's garden squirrels.

Edited December 29, 2003 by Priscilla (log)

[tastykimmie]

Last night for dinner wasn't all that exciting. I just quickly seared a juicy porterhouse, made fresh kale greens and mashed taters. Simple but good!!

[Jake]

Beef it is!! Last night was simple and easy. Grilled filet with brandied mushrooms, lemon/dill asparagus and parisienne potoatos.........and to make the meal, a lovely Tignanello. Here's hoping the SO takes charge tonight.

[rachiesarah]

Sunday night:

chicken breast tenderloins pounded and rolled around spinach (garlic, breadcrumbs & egg) baked, with a gently creamy mushroom sauce that didn’t thicken up properly. A+ for presentation.

diced roasted sweet potato plain with just a bit of butter when re-heated

kraft, shells & cheese.

salad in the bag w/ken’s italian

[Priscilla]

[...]deviled eggs (with some NOLA seasoned salt -- Tony Shackarey?? (can't spell))[...]

Varmint, must be Tony Chachere's? Course I am in no way sure I'VE spelled it correctly, either, but I am at least pretty sure about the Ch at the front end.

Anyways this was recommended to me, no, recommended is too pale a word -- STRONGLY SUGGESTED, let's say, by a Cajun piano tuner whose brain I picked for recipes whilst he worked. I never thought of it as seasoned salt, but it IS its adamant, take-the-top-of-your-head-off saltiness that is what I like best about it. It's the only blended seasoning type thing I keep around. And I DO keep it around.

However, deviled eggs! Never used it in deviled eggs although I'm going to, right quick-like here, aren't I.

[dumpling]

Switched up a little today and made dinner for lunch.

Chicken Fricassee

Risotto alla Milanese

Brussels Sprouts in lemon and butter

Caramel apple slices over ladyfingers, sprinkled with powdered sugar

[Malawry]

Finally got around to my annual latke fete last night. With homemade applesauce, sour cream. A big salad. Glass of grapefruit juice to cut the fat.

[laurel]

Sunday, dinner for 2:

Pan-seared Steak with Caramelized Onion Sauce and Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower:

[Susan in FL]

Tonight we wised up and discovered eating the cheese course first: Parmigiano Reggiano Riserva, Beaufort, Le Petit Billy, and Cabrales (thank you, Di Bruno Brothers). Main course: For the first time, capon, and with it polenta and really beautiful skinny green beans with a new EVOO. Wine was a nice Clos du Bois Cabernet.

Recent dinners:

Roasted Spiced [fresh local] Shrimp on Wilted Spinach

Once again, David Leite's Roast Goose

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Buttered brussels sprouts and chestnuts

Glazed carrots

Tropical Bananas Foster

Wines were dry Riesling and Pinot Noir

Bow tie pasta with sausage, tomatoes, vodka, and cream... special request of my son who was on leave, and with us for Christmas.

Choppped salad

Chianti

[dumpling]

Tuesday

Veal Marsala

Rice Pilaf

Baked Butternut Squash Gratin

Early peas in butter

Garlic bread

[SiseFromm]

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Potato-Celeriac Puree, Crouton, and Veal Reduction

One of my finest slow-cooked meals. 5 hours of braising in cast iron will do wonders. The veal stock I made a few weeks ago and froze worked like a charm, as did the bottle of Chateau Potelle Cabernet I brought back with me from Napa. That sauce was liquid gold. If you blended it with ice cream I would have had it as a shake. I put my brand-spanking-new food mill to good use with the puree, which was enriched with mascarpone (a slightly-adapted recipe from the Lumiere cookbook by Rob Feenie). It was a real winner with my wife, who went back into the kitchen to sop up the remaining sauce with a couple of pieces of toasted bread that were left over.

R. Jason Coulston

Edited December 31, 2003 by SiseFromm (log)

[Susan in FL]

Jason, can you supply a link to the recipe for that? It sounds great, and really good slow-cooked recipes aren't as common as one might think. It sounds a bit more sophisticated than the usual.

[SiseFromm]

Actually Susan, I don't have a recipe. I've just made braised dishes so many times that I just kind of wing it now. The short ribs were dusted in flour and seared in stages in my Le Crueset. They were set aside to drain, and then I sweated off shallots, garlic, and leeks until very tender but not too browned. I hit that with a bit of roux I had on hand, then deglazed with the wine. Once that reduced by about 1/2, I added the short ribs, veal stock to cover, bay leaves, peppercorns, and several sprigs of thyme. The whole thing was brought to a starting boil, then I covered it with a parchment paper lid and it went in a 350-degree oven for about 5 hours. They were probably good at 4, but I just let them go, turning them from time to time so they were submerged through most of the process.

The ribs were very carefully removed (as they were basically falling apart), the bones were discarded. I carefully trimmed them of the tissue surrounding the bone so I was left with 8 total pieces of braised ribs.

The liquid was already reduced by about 1/2 at least after cooking. It was strained through a chinois, and then reduced in a saucepan by 1/2 again. I hit it with more thyme, seasoned with salt and pepper, and finished it off by whisking in butter after it was saucy enough to coat the back of a spoon.

I plated it on large white china with two dollops of the potato/celeriac puree. One was topped with a large crouton, the other with two of the ribs. I spooned sauce around the plate and finished with chives.

It's a good cold-weather dish.

R. Jason Coulston

[Susan in FL]

Nice! That is on my list of "cold" weather dishes to try, but the way it's been for the past couple of weeks I'm not sure when that will be!

Thanks, I appreciate your taking the time to post how you make it.

[Chris Hennes]

NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT: This topic is continued in Dinner! 2004