Dinner! 2003

[Jinmyo]

Hi Alex. Welcome to eGullet.

[Jinmyo]

Not a big deal, but was fun.

Steak frites:

Black and blue aged rib steaks, served sliced from the bones. Dijon sauce drizzle, crumbled chevre.

Frites and fresh horseradish mayo.

Caramelized onions with mustard seeds and grilled, thinly sliced portobello mushrooms and baby spinach.

Daikon and fennel slaw.

Lime and tequila granita.

[Basilgirl]

I haven't had her book long, so I'm only starting to work my way through it.  So far, I've made the scaripiello, the short ribs with barolo, carrrots and onions, veal scallopini and a bunch of her sides.

Love her.

Try the Chicken Valdostana on Braised Lentils next.

Then the sausage & peppers.

You will be hooked.

Lidia.

[Toliver]

Not a big deal, but was fun.

Steak frites:

Black and blue aged rib steaks, served sliced from the bones. Dijon sauce drizzle, crumbled chevre.

Frites and fresh horseradish mayo.

Caramelized onions with mustard seeds and grilled, thinly sliced portobello mushrooms and baby spinach.

Daikon and fennel slaw.

Lime and tequila granita.

Jinmyo,

As usual, it all sounds just heavenly.

I have two questions, though.

1) Regarding the horseradish mayo, at what ratio do you mix the two? Is it mayo with a hint of horseradish or is it mayo with a heckuva horseradish kick? I only have access to the bottled horseradish and I'm guessing I wouldn't quite get the same results.

2) This is probably a silly question, but since alcohol doesn't freeze, do you add the tequila after the lime granita has been formed? It sounds incredibly refreshing!

Thanks!

[Jinmyo]

I have two questions, though.

1)  Regarding the horseradish mayo, at what ratio do you mix the two?  Is it mayo with a hint of horseradish or is it mayo with a heckuva horseradish kick?  I only have access to the bottled horseradish and I'm guessing I wouldn't quite get the same results.

2)  This is probably a silly question, but since alcohol doesn't freeze, do you add the tequila after the lime granita has been formed?  It sounds incredibly refreshing!

Thanks!

Mayo with horseradish kick. But no tears. I grate then puree, fold in, taste as I go until it just about... not as much as I would want.

Not silly at all. The lime granita has lime zest, juice, and minced pulp in filtered water. As its scraped and folded, some tequila is sprinkled. Served in frosted glass bowls with another splash of tequila, chilled spoons.

[Toliver]

The lime granita has lime zest, juice, and minced pulp in filtered water. As its scraped and folded, some tequila is sprinkled. Served in frosted glass bowls with another splash of tequila, chilled spoons.

That makes much more sense than what I was picturing. My thought was that too much tequila would prevent the granita from icing up. That's the lush in me, thinking it would be a large amount of tequila...which is then called a margarita, of course!

Thank you for taking the time to explain this.

[Schielke]

Applewood smoked King Salmon- topped with EVOO, S, White P, and champagne reduction.

This turned out really great, very juicy and tender. I also had a small piece of Coho salmon the fish lady gave me to try, I thought it was even better than the king in this application.

Roasted potatoes and onions w/ EVOO, salt, and rosemary

Local Green beans boiled and tossed w/ EVOO, salt, and more champagne reduction

Served with a nice reisling

[torakris]

Thursday dinner (now down to an empty fridge!):

calamari all'inferno (squid in a very spicy tomato-romesary sauce)

served over orzo

pan grilled peppers with basalmic vinegar

potato salad (made by Mia with a recipe from a kid's cook book)

dessert:

ice cream

[bloviatrix]

Fettuccini with a sauce made of diced eggplant, diced onion, garlic, EVOO, S&P, chopped tomatoes, and merlot.

[fresco]

Zucchini stuffed with rice, pork, tomato, parmesan, onion, garlic, and parsley.

Bruschetta made with naan (it works surprisingly well) tomato, garlic, basil, balsamic vinegar, EVOO.

Wild blueberries.

[Jinmyo]

Bruschetta works well with roti also.

[guajolote]

Black and blue aged rib steaks, served sliced from the bones. Dijon sauce drizzle, crumbled chevre.

Who gets to chew on the bones? Hopefully you.

[Malawry]

Grilled mustard-glazed salmon with papaya-cucumber-basil salsa

Grilled veggies: squash, zukes, asparagus

Very garlicky fingerling potatoes

A wineglass-assembled dessert: crumbled shortbread cookies, grilled pineapple, rum-flavored whipped cream in layers. Everybody licked their glasses. I love grilled pineapple.

[Jinmyo]

Black and blue aged rib steaks, served sliced from the bones. Dijon sauce drizzle, crumbled chevre.

Who gets to chew on the bones? Hopefully you.

Indeed. Breakfast of champions. Or in this case, my own supper.

Though there were twenty-five bones so much went into a beef consomme that was served as a cool broth around hiyayako-tofu with crispy deep-fried leeks atop.

Followed by:

Dai gai choy with a mustard sauce with minced lamb.

Rice noodles wrapped around lobster tail meat into bundles served in small bowls with a splash of seaweed broth.

Shattered chicken (roasted, pulled from bones) with a red curry rub served with roasted cremini mushrooms.

Salad of red and green leaf lettuces with a lime vinaigrette and deep-fried wonton croutons.

[bloviatrix]

A wineglass-assembled dessert: crumbled shortbread cookies, grilled pineapple, rum-flavored whipped cream in layers. Everybody licked their glasses. I love grilled pineapple.

That sounds fabulous.

[Malawry]

Thanks, it was good! Steve Klc is somewhat responsible for my interest in putting desserts into glasses (the rest of this interest comes from the lovely and talented Edemuth, who is an aficionado of trifles). As long as the components are cooked properly you can have very simple ingredients yet create a real impression. The cookies: easy. The pineapple: easy. Whipped cream with rum in it: easy. Together: yum. If I'd piped the whipped cream instead of spooning it the dessert would have looked even better, but my guests had already arrived by the time I was assembling the dessert so I didn't want to take any extra time.

[NeroW]

cheeseandchocolate, that's a great story about the baguette.

torakris, the other day I laughed out loud picturing your hungry family lined up while you carefully take pictures of their dinner for this thread!

EDIT: well, golly gee whillikers. That was my 1000th post. Bless you all.

EDIT: also to say that for dinner tonight, I wanted the ol' filet and bearnaise gut-bomb. Settled for:

hot-and-sour jumbo shrimp, stirfried

served with stirfried walnuts and wilted watercress

Basmati rice

Beer

Oranges

Edited August 1, 2003 by NeroW (log)

[laurel]

Slap-in-the-face Avocado-Tomatillo Soup

Moqueca

Oven-roasted corn

Steamed red cabbage wedges

Steamed baby turnips with greens

[Schielke]

Smoked up two racks of pork ribs, a coho salmon filet, and some ling cod. The ribs had a basic rub on them. The salmon, EVOO, salt, pep, and lemon. The cod, sweet soy sauce, thai chili sauce, rice wine vinegar.

We are half of the salmon and some red rice for dinner. I had the cod for lunch today (very nice smoked). Everything else is going back home with me this weekend to visit the fam.

Ben

[Malawry]

Smoked cod! That sounds fabulous. How did it come out? How long did you smoke it?

[bloviatrix]

Beer Battered, Deep-fried Zuke blossoms

Whitefish in a charmoula, pan roasted

Zukes sauteed in EVOO and butter with fresh herbs

Bulgur pilaf with toasted pine nuts

Musk Melon

Mint-infused iced tea to drink

[snowangel]

Sweet corn (picked at 4:00 pm, eaten at 6:15 pm)

BLT's. Bacon smoked and purchased at the wonderful meat market in Nicollet MN, and the FIRST local tomatos. The tomatos are an early variety, and tasted wonderful because they are the first we've had. Bread was double levain from Acme in Berkeley (a friend just came back from visiting my sister and brought me 3 loaves).

Local strawberries for dessert.

This is the meal I look forward to all year long.

[malachi]

Chilled Tomato-Melon Soup with Basil and Candied Lemon Rind

Crispy Sea Bass with Fried Wonton Wrappers, Spicy Citrus Cabbage and a Crimson-White Corn and Scallion Relish

Molten Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Creme Anglaise and Crystalized Ginger

2000 Henri Bourgeois La Cote des Monts Damnes Sancerre

Hardy's Whiskers Blake Port

[SethG]

Too pathetic to post?

Tonight I made fried chicken for the first time in my life. I bought a cast iron skillet a few days ago, and after a few rounds of seasoning the pan, it seemed like frying something was in order. I'd had my eye on this Penelope Casas recipe for chicken that's poached, then coated with a bechamel sauce, and then fried. (It's called "Pollo Villeroy.") So I gave it a try, and everything went quite well until it came time to do the actual frying. I guess I put too much oil in the pan, and also made it too hot before putting in the chicken, because as soon as I put the chicken in the oil the pan started overflowing and the oil started flying everywhere. So I was getting spattered, the front of the oven and the floor in front of the oven were totally covered, and the chicken was browning VERY fast (it was done in seconds), so I could neither clean up nor avoid the flying hot oil.

But in the end the dish came out quite nicely. Not the sort of thing I usually make. Very decadent, rich. A creamy bechamel beneath a light, fried, breaded surface. And I was more competent at poaching than at frying so the meat was nice and juicy.

Oh, and there was also steamed broccoli and some rice.

[fresco]

Have you tried anything from her tapas cookbook? It was a great favorite of mine for a while. Will definitely have to dig it out again--thanks for the reminder.