Dinner! 2003

[MatthewB]

Monday night

Amuse boche: bottle of champagne

Dinner: (all from Bittman's HTCE)

Grilled pork tenderloin w/ mustard curry rub

Grilled red & yellow bell peppers

Grilled giant portabellas

Mixed greens (dandelion, turnip, & Boston red) w/ vinaigrette

Dessert: cantaloupe (out of season here but what the heck?)

Edit: added salad

Edited May 27, 2003 by MatthewB (log)

[Belmont3]

Dinner for 7 Saturday Night:

Yukon Gold Blini with Eggplant Caviar and Roasted Pepper Confit

(Yes, Yes, straight out of the FL cookbook but my wife loves it)

Haricot Vert and Mussell Salad with Vinegarette Dressing

The above were paired with :

Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Grand Cru Furstentum Vielles Vignes 2001

Asparagus with Wild Mushroom(Morels and Lobster) and Truffle Oil Fondue

The Fondue was made from homemade creme fraiche

Paired with: Argyle Chardonnay 1999 Reserve

Crispy Skin Sea Bass with Parsnip Puree, Orange Infused Baby Spinach and Vanilla Saffron Sauce (Another FL recipe, but REALLY GOOD!)

Paired with: Cote De Nuits Villages 1999 Burgandy

Apple and Lemon Oil Creme Br. with Lemongrass Sauce

I have photos if I can figure out how to get them on here.

[fimbul]

Sunday:

Boneless leg of lamb roasted on a bed of brunoised fennel, carrots, and onions spiked with cherry peppers, rosemary, and orange zest. (This was very good, if I do say so myself.)

Royal trumpet mushrooms sauteed in bacon fat and sprinkled with chives.

Spinach cooked with tamarind and pumpkin seeds.

Monday:

Bone-in pork loin chops marinated in lemongrass and fish sauce, then seared and bunged in the oven for a moment.

Green beans blanched and sauteed with diced red, yellow, and poblano peppers.

Edited May 27, 2003 by fimbul (log)

[FoodMan]

Friday:

Home made pizza. We had my wife’s brother and sister over to spend the night and my wife wanted me to make pizza. I started the dough the night before and retarded it in the fridge overnight. A total of five different pizzas were made:

- classic margarita with fresh mozz, home made tomato sauce, and basil

- Italian sausage, sauce, mushrooms and provolone

- Italian sausage, sauce, mushrooms, provolone , gorgonzola and basil

- Brushed with EVOO, topped with yellow tomatoes, mushrooms, gorgonzola, and fresh mozzarella.

- Topped with nothing but zaatar and EVOO (not really called a pizza but more of a Lebanese breakfast pie that I make every time I have some dough leftover).

Saturday:

Our second wedding anniversary dinner:

- Lobster salad. Garlic and herb roasted lobster tail, served with a variety of citrus, shaved mangoes, and lightly dressed greens.

- Texas Diamond H Cross Quail and Foie Gras Over ginger-spiked butternut squash, accented with a huckleberry vinaigrette.

- Spring corn soufflé served with lobster and crawfish, oyster mushrooms and Avruga caviar in a shallot Chardonnay sauce.

-Roasted Escolar over fork mashed lobster potatoes, asparagus and crispy sesame shrimp in a Cabernet Sauvignon sauce.

- Roasted Maple Leaf duck, served with wild rice, pearl pasta, roasted figs, raspberries and mangoes.

-Dessert:

Chocolate Mousse layered Crème Brulee

Chocolate Hazelnut Tort with roasted hazelnuts and white chocolate Sabayon.

Wine: A red Pinot – Domain Vincent Gerardin, 1999 “Les Gravieres”. I had to drink most of the bottle myself since my wife is pregnant and cannot participate in this pleasure . Thanks to the laws of Texas we took the re-corked bottle home with us and I enjoyed the leftovers the next day.

No, Jin did not fly over here to Houston to help me cook this dinner. It was actually a dinner we had at “Mark’s American Cuisine”. It was a fantastic experience both the food and the service were superb. Kudos to chef Cox and his staff.

Sunday:

Jambalaya. Made with garlic sausage, chicken and pork.

FM

Edited May 27, 2003 by FoodMan (log)

[Dana]

Stuffed Bell Peppers (husband's favorite)

Homemade Potato Rolls

Mixed Vegetable Salad with Fresh Herb Vinegrette

[Steve Martin]

Asparagus boiled in salted, but high calcium, water.

Uh, I must ask an idiotic question: What differentiates high calcium water from other water? How does the mineral impact the taste of, in this case, asparagus??

Your dinner photos always leave me drooling on keyboard, Steve!

The latest findings indicate that the calcium content of the water affects how green the vegetables will remain. The salting of the water seems to have no benefit where colour is concerned. I have not seen any research on how taste is affected by salting. I like to think salt inhibits any dissolving of flavour compounds (sugars etc.) into the water, but apparently calcium makes the difference in colour.

Dinner tonight was the other half of my excellent sirloin steak cut.

Grilled and rested again, but sliced and served with plenty of Maldon salt.

New potatoes boiled and bashed. Red spring onions and garlic where sweated in good Greek olive oil and mixed into the spuds with rocket and a little mint.

Fine green beans boiled in salted, high calcium water

[Priscilla]

Memorial Day, bunch of people drifting in and out, mostly in: lamb shish kebab, meat having been marinated in pureed onion, lemon juice, s & p, few saffron threads. Brushed with heavy cream whilst grilling.

Landed on a big old flatbread with asst'd seeds, sesame, nigella, flax, poppy, + crunchy salt.

Salad with tomato, feta, onion, parsley, mint, olive oil, lemon juice.

Basmati infused with whole spices, like this recipe from Suvir, keeping the spices contained in cheesecloth, and clarified butter rather than oil, and more clarified butter drizzled over at service.

Hummus, too, there was. And excellent pistachios.

Yogurt/garlic/parsley sauce. Also, an incredibly delicious pungent sour plum-tamarind sauce made by a Pakistani friend that blew everybody's mind.

One guest brought a decadent homemade chocolate cake and another a bottle of Porto, good guests, complementarily wrapping everything up sweetly.

[torakris]

Tuesday dinner:

getting near the end of Thai food week!

penang style curry with chicken thighs, bamboo shoots and snow peas

simple green salad (got busy and din't have the time to prepare the rest of my original menu!)

jasmine rice

dessert:

ice cream

[Suzanne F]

So we had too much orange juice in the house ( 3 half-gallons). What to do? Something with an orange sauce? Which devolved into:

Fillet of Australian Baramundi, crisped on the skin side in cast iron, then finished in a hot oven

Cellophane noodles with slivered carrots, snowpeas (mangetouts), mung bean sprouts, and scallions (DAMN!! just remembered that I meant to add some toasted almonds, too.)

Orange sauce with juice, ginger, garlic, chili-garlic paste, sriracha

All garnished with cilantro and slivered scallion greens.

Mixed salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Dr. Frank Riesling.

Kinda wish I had a camera; it was really quite lovely, all those colors.

Edited May 28, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[tommy]

grilled leg o lamb marinated in yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and oregano.

grilled asparagus

grilled onion

yogurt/cucumber/mint sauce

roasted taters

95 beaucastel CdR

[KatieLoeb]

Tonight was the total cheat, slam me together in the wok dinner. Stir fried some premarinated pork shoulder cut into strips ($1.99/lb. at Han Ah Reum!!!) with garlic in wok. Dumped in bag of frozen oriental vegetables and continued to stir fry. Boiled the ramen from a packet of chili flavored Maruchan Ramen Noodles and fished them out of water into the wok. Used about 3/4 cup of "noodle water" and half the seasoning packet from the ramen to create a sauce with a small amount of cornstarch slurry. Total time - 10 minutes. Taste score - 7 out of 10. Not bad for a really quick throw together! And I have enough leftovers for two lunches

[SobaAddict70]

Tuesday:

Nem chua (cured sour pork sausage)

Steamed rice

Turnip kimchi

Stir-fried vegetables

Green tea

leftover orange compote over orange sorbet

Cheers,

Soba

[rcarter]

I always seem to be rushed these days, but this thread makes me want to spend more time in the kitchen!

Tuesday:

Quick stir-fry with shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, scallion, sambal and hoisin

Japanese rice

Watermelon

[MatthewB]

Tuesday night

It was "Leftover Meat Feast" with a neighbor . . .

BBQ pork ribs

Grilled pork tenderloin w/ grilled bell peppers

Grilled NY strip steak w/ steamed-sauted zucchini

Bottle o' wine

[Jinmyo]

"Hamburger and Fries"

Grilled pork loin chop sandwiches with fresh kaisers, pochu (Chinese chives) kimchi.

Oi sabagi kimchi (cucumbers, better than kosher dills).

Chickpea flour frites.

Taramasalata (preserved cod roe whipped with fresh mayo) to dip the fries into.

Salad of watercress and lardons with a Dijon vinaigrette.

[malachi]

Got two gorgeous small golden trout up in the Sierra yesterday morning.

Combined salted and diced cucumber with scotch bonnet chilis, fresh corn kernels, red onion, lemon zest, garlic, diced tomatoes and some thai grapefruit juice. Chilled this "salsa."

Dredged the whole, cleaned trout in flour, sea salt, cracked pink peppercorns, dried orange peel and a small amount of dried ginger.

Fried the fish whole (heads on, diagonal slits on both sides) until quite crispy.

Served on the mounded "salsa" with a drizzle of olive oil and sherry vinegar and a little sea salt.

Spinach salad with crispy bacon lardons, lemongrass and poached egg with mustard-vinaigrette served on a smaller, side plate.

1999 Villa Maria Reserve Riesling

[Steve Martin]

I ordered saddle of lamb but the supplier was out of it and substituted leg of pork. (He actually wrote leg of port).

This is organic pork from Laverstoke Park, the brainchild of Jodi Schekter, the ex formula one driver!

Fabulously tasty. It was a full 2 kilo boned roast that I had no intention of over-cooking. I am prepared to risk a bit of blood with pork of this provenance. Indeed, I think food poisoning is the only way to go, preferably with my boots on.

Roasted on a trivet over onion, carrots and garlic. A little Marsala poured in when things were well under way.

A chicken stock was infused with fresh sage and finished with grain mustard and a beurre manie. Not much pork jus, but that was added.

Savoy cabbage stir fried with cumin in pork drippings.

[jackal10]

Taramasalata is delicious, but it isn't preserved cod's roe in mayo, though I guess you can make an approximation that way...

The basic is fresh cold smoked cod's roe (Tara) creamed into a thick emulsion with onion, garlic and lots of olive oil. You can add fillers, such as soaked bread or boiled potato

Eat with pitta bread.

[Lady T]

On mornings when I want a savory breakfast, taramasalata on toast is frequently what results. I make a lot of it during the summer.

[jackal10]

On mornings when I want a savory breakfast, taramasalata on toast is frequently what results.  I make a lot of it during the summer.

Good as Taramasalata is, have you tried just the smoked cod's roe on hot buttered toast, with a little black pepper? mmmm...

[torakris]

Weds dinner:

Vietnamese chicken with ginger (from May 2003 Fine Cooking) --this was REALLY good!

Thai style bamboo shoot salad (sort of like a bamboo laab from Thai Food)

tomato slices

jasmine rice

dessert:

chocolate mint mousse from Nigella Lawson

[FoodMan]

-Ribeye steaks with Chimichurri. Marinated the steak for about an hour in Chimichurri sauce (parsley, cilantro, oregano, bay, vinegar, EVOO). Then grilled on the Lodge cast iron griddle.drizzled with a little more Chimichurri and peppery mustard sauce.

-Chipotle mashed potatoes. Yukon golds mashed with butter, milk, S&P, and chopped chipotle.

-Dessert: Butter Pecan ice cream with caramel sauce.

FM

Edited May 29, 2003 by FoodMan (log)

[Jinmyo]

Welcome, malachi.

Roasted (in duck fat) Yukon gold potatoes with ancho and cumin seasonings.

Fresh lime mayo with minced coruander to dip the roasties.

Roasted asparagus with a Stilton and port sauce.

Cubanelle pepper and onion frittata.

Salad of plum tomato spears and shaved fennel with Caveli condimente (like balsamico), shavings of grana.

[torakris]

thurs dinner:

cleaning out the refrigerator

ground pork and bamboo shoots stirfried with bulgoki seasonings wraped in lettuce and ekoma (beefsteak) leaves, smeared with kochujang

Korean style cold cucumber and wakame soup with lots of young ginger

Japanese rice

red wine rakkyo

[Malawry]

The last of the homemade fettucine from last weekend, tossed with sour cream, English peas, capers, and canned Italian tuna (I shared the can with my three cats rather generously). Lots of fresh ground pepper on top. Mm hmm.