Dinner! 2003

[Dana]

BBq'd Shrimp loosely lifted from Paul Prudhomme

Corn on the cob

potato salad

french bread to sop up the buttery juices from the shrimp

[torakris]

Sunday dinner:

grilled shishamo-- a small pregnant fish eaten whole, head to tail!

"Japanese" potato salad

lotus root simmered in soy sauce

miso soup with tofu and wakame

Japanese rice

[mikeycook]

Friday

Broiled oysters with pancetta and leeks (plus breadcrumbs and parm-regg.)

Arctic char in an improvised mushroom sauce (veal stock, madiera, dried cepes, button mushrooms, herbs)

Sunday

Merguez sausage with peppers and onions (Confess I didn't make the sausage. Used a medley of colored peppers)

[Socrates]

Tomato and Mozzerella Tart with Basil-Garlic crust.

This sounds so familiar, I'm sure Xanthippe makes it--or something that's really close to it. Is it from an Italian cookbook on vegetables??

It sounds like Jack Bishop's recipe from Italian Vegetarian Cooking, I make this same recipe A LOT!

Yup that's the one allright! We naever get tired of it, and it even makes tomatoes that are out of season taste pretty darn good. Gotta remind Xan. to make it again...

[bloviatrix]

Tomato and Mozzerella Tart with Basil-Garlic crust.

This sounds so familiar, I'm sure Xanthippe makes it--or something that's really close to it. Is it from an Italian cookbook on vegetables??

It sounds like Jack Bishop's recipe from Italian Vegetarian Cooking, I make this same recipe A LOT!

Yup that's the one allright! We naever get tired of it, and it even makes tomatoes that are out of season taste pretty darn good. Gotta remind Xan. to make it again...

I've actually made this with roasted peppers instead of tomatoes. Another thing you can do is spread some sun-dried tomato paste on the dough and then layer the mozzerella and veg.

Additionally, this is good serve when kids around. They think it's pizza.

[Schneier]

We had people over tonight: six, including us. What we made was dictated primarily by the vegetables we received in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share and the black walnuts I brought back from Seattle a few days ago.

First course: salad with all sorts of odd greens and all colors and shapes of tomato.

Second course: cioppino, with several types of fish and shellfish.

Third course: lamb chops "breaded" with chopped black walnuts, fresh brocolli.

Fourth course: black walnut pie.

We managed to go through two full bottles and two half bottles of wine, including a 91 Ridge Monte Bello and a 95 Muller-Catoir Mussbacker Eselshaut Rieslaner Auslese.

It has been far too long since we cooked for people; I've been travelling too much lately.

Bruce

[FoodMan]

Saturday:

I decided to take Joyce Whites advice and cooked my ham hocks like she said. Served them with a sweet potato puree (brown sugar, orange zest, cream, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg). Very hearty and tasty. Thanks Joyce.

Sunday:

Pepper steak. A nice NY Strip crusted with cracked pepper (with rosemary instead of pepper for the wife) and seared in a cast iron skillet till cooked medium. I made a sauce with the pan juices, some garlic, a little water and stock then finished with butter.

Served it with potatoes sauteed in clarified butter a la Parisienne.

Dessert: Bittersweet Chocolate Cloud cake from one of Tyler's ultimate episodes.

FM

[jackal10]

Dinner for an “Auld Acquaintance”

Dinner with a Scottish theme

21 September 2004; .

Amuse: Champagne: Guillimard Pere et Fils, Cuvee de Reserve

1. Garlic prawns and Mangetout on sticks

2. Potato and leek scones with crème fraiche and marinated Orkney herring

3. Haggis in Phyllo purses

4. “Pizza” Parmesan tuile with mi-cuit cherry tomatos

5. Scottish Smoked Salmon, Cucumber and Dill Jelly, Honey Mustard foam

Alsace: Rolly Gassman Pinot Gris 2000

6. Oyster Souffle, served in the half shell

7. “Cockie Leekie”; Chicken consommé with chicken quenelle and leek julienne

Sherry: Manzanilla Solear Barbadillo

8. “Fish and Chips”. Scottish salmon in tempura batter; chips made from purple potatoes; mushy peas; heritage tomato salsa

Auxey Duresses 2000, Chartron & Trebuchet

9. Frozen carrot “air”

10. Warm salad of wild mushrooms, baby leaves and flowers, truffled balsamic vinaigrette

11. Roast grouse with nearly traditional trimmings: crouton spread with it’s liver, bread sauce, watercress, (parsnip) game chips, red cabbage, crushed fingerling potatoes, game jus.

1996 Nuits-Saint-Georges Vieilles Vignes. Bertrand Ambroise

12: Trio of deserts:

Shimmering port wine jelly (with edible gold leaf spangles)

Cranachan (whipped cream with whiskey and toasted oatmeal, raspberries)

Molten Chocolate Fondant

2000 Paradise Ranch (Canada) Merlot Icewine

13. Fried Mars bar;

Port Finished Glen Morangie; Coffee

Chaos in the kitchen:

[jackal10]

Thanks, but credit should go to our hosts (who were left with the washing-up), and to Fabien, my fellow chef.

The Oyster Souffle is straight from Escoffier no. 983, even the presentation in the shell; a parmesan souffle with the oyster meat embedded in it.

The soup did not need the chicken pieces, and they leaked beads of fat.

The plates would have been better with less pattern for the fish, but we were cooking in a strange kitchen.

The carrot foam really did not work; it took forever and was fairly flavourless.

Slightly too much food; people were slowing down towards the end. (12 sat down for dinner).

The fried Mars Bars were just fun, an extravagence. and a traditional Scottish dish. We used the fun sized Mars Bars which we cut in half, and we had the hot oil and the tempura batter anyway. They puffed like small beignets, and were surprisingly good, if a bit sweet.

Edited September 22, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[torakris]

Hate to post this one after Jackal10's meal, but......

last night my husband was at a BBQ at work so I fed the kids the left over curry rice and I had a block of tofu with a sliced cucumber topped with sweet-chile sauce. Then I picked at some pickled ginger (the kind served with sushi) until it was time to eat the peaches.

[Socrates]

I've actually made this with roasted peppers instead of tomatoes.  Another thing you can do is spread some sun-dried tomato paste on the dough and then layer the mozzerella and veg.

Those are great ideas, I'll pass them on to Xan. She usually roasts different colored peppers all the time, so the tart would be colorful too. Since she can now pretty much be on her feet for long periods, I think she'll be drying plum tomatoes again in the dehydrater. We get them from the farmer's market-- big boxes of them at a good price.

[cheeseandchocolate]

Wow! This page of the "Dinner!" thread is perhaps the most intimidating one I've seen yet. Yikes. Oh well...no shame here. I just have to remind myself that I'm a grad student with a hefty part-time job on the side and a nearly-vegan boyfriend to feed. So...

Tonight's dinner:

Mujadara

Daniel Boulud's Eggplant with Cumin

Farmer's market "Magenta" lettuce with lemon-tahini dressing

And to round it out, homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk. I've been using Elizabeth 11's cookie recipe (which I first read about here and then looked up on cookierecipe.com), and the cookies are absolutely delicious. Beautiful too--especially when I use my Silpats. Looooove those Silpats.

[curlywurlyfi]

well, after feeling like I ate most of jackal10's astounding dinner SINGLEHANDEDLY (was at serious wedding Four Seasons Park Lane on Sunday afternoon), I spent yesterday recovering, and finally struggled into the kitchen under the weight of my cold compress to make the world's easiest supper:

- salmon fillets fried then drizzled whilst still in the pan with balsamic + soy sauce (instant sauce)

- basmati rice

- steamed asparagus

NO wine. god no. fennel tea only.

[SobaAddict70]

Chicken masaman

Jasmine rice

Stir-fried broccoli rabe with garlic and crispy shallots

Iced green tea

plums

Soba

[torakris]

Tuesday dinner:

nothing, absolutely nothing!

Tuesday was a holiday in Japan and we spent the morning burning incense and pouring water over my husband's ancestor's graves followed by a bed, very bad Chinese buffet lunch at the New Sanno Hotel (American Airforce hotel). This was American-Chinese food of the worst kind yet we all managed to eat enough to fill ourselves up for the rest of the day. The evening found me at the police station trying to calm a hysterical "friend" (I really hestitate to use that word for her) while translating between her and the police.........

[mikeycook]

Provence-style Vegetable Omelet

4 layers (from top)

1. Gruyere and Pancetta

2. Spinach and Garlic

3. Peppers and Onions

4. Haricot Verts, Button Mushrooms, and Dried Cepes

Didn't quite get the layers the same size (you can see from the top picture), but it tasted good nonetheless.

[SethG]

FoodMan: Just wanted to tell you your dinners from over the weekend look great. You got sort of buried by Jackal10's extravaganza!

Anyway, Tuesday dinner:

I got David Thompson's "Thai Food," and after brooding over it for while I decided to make some stuff from it tonight.

I planned on a Kaffir Lime Juice Dressing with Grilled Prawns (really a shrimp salad with a citrus dressing, and lots of raw shallots, lemongrass, chiles, cilantro, and mint);

a sweet pork relish to accompany the salad;

and Red Duck Curry, with rice.

Well, I was too ambitious. I hadn't planned on it taking me so long to devein the shrimp, then after I cooked them (with the shells on, as directed), I found that it was extremely difficult, and time-consuming, to get the shells off.

Then, as I tried to whip up the curry paste quickly, I realized that several of the ingredients were supposed to be roasted/toasted, individually, then ground before being put in the blender. Which took a long time. And then the goddam blender was simply inadequate to the task of creating a paste, so I had to scrape the ingredients out of the blender and into my spice/coffee grinder (good for coffee with a hint of coriander flavor).

So it was getting very late and my very pregnant wife couldn't wait any longer for dinner, so I stopped everything in the middle, and just finished the duck curry so we could eat. And it wasn't good. My dried red peppers just aren't hot for some reason, but that was only part of the problem. It was bland all around. Nothing really broke through the coconut flavor very well, and after I took the trouble to make my own curry paste, this was a big letdown. (Maybe next time I'll add some lemon pith.)

So then I trudged back in the kitchen and finished preparing the shrimp salad, which took me all of five minutes, and it was great. So many ingredients, but a unified, balanced whole, as Thompson's always saying. I highly recommend it. It's on page 218.

Maybe I'll make the pork tomorrow.

Edit: er-- I mean I recommend it highly.

Edited September 24, 2003 by SethG (log)

[smallworld]

Last night, a simple and typical early-autumn Japanese meal:

Braised shishitougarashi (sweet peppers) with shichimi and bonito flakes.

Salt-grilled sanma (pacific saury).

Red miso soup with tofu and okra, topped with mitsuba (trefoil).

Kinoko no takikomi gohan (rice cooked with mushrooms). With shimeji and shiitake mushrooms and abura-age (fried tofu strips), cooked in an earthen-ware pot.

A few leftover cans of Japanese beer that my Dad somehow failed to drink during his visit (Ebisu and Koedo Brewery's Premium Pilsner). Sanma is rich with fat this season and goes beautifully with beer!

[laurel]

A few dinners at once:

An experimental CSA basket dinner for 2 last Thursday:

Miso Soup with Tofu, Radishes, and Radish Greens:

Braised Cabbage with Smoked Salmon and Tomato:

Chiles Estellados (Exploded Chiles):

A simple CSA basket dinner for 2 on Monday:

Salad:

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche:

Backpacking dinner on Saturday:

Garlicky Sauteed Greens:

Hummus Stew :

Yesterday's CSA dinner for 5 (and first attempt at making Thai food):

Spinach and Tofu with Peanut Sauce:

Garlicky Rapini Greens:

Green Curry Shrimp:

Potatoes and Cheese:

[Malawry]

Sunday night, cooking at a friend's who had power:

Seared pork loin chops on a bed of honeycrisp apples, fresh kraut, onions with a little sage from said friend's garden

lacquered Chinese broccoli

Roasted potaotes with crisped garlic and rosemary from same garden

Last night, finally cooking at home again:

mushroom-goat cheese turnovers

spice-rubbed salmon

a big boston lettuce salad

purchased mint chip ice cream, because we have a freezer to keep it in again dammit

[Dana]

Smothered okra and tomatoes with chicken, shrimp and hot links over rice.

[Priscilla]

Smallworld, I love sanma. I am afraid your menu & mention is going to send me to the Japanese supermarket to score some at my earliest opportunity. So good.

Malawry, no power, all this time! So it's true what they say on the news! Glad you're back on the grid, however, for the ice cream if not for the actual cooking. (Couple very nice menus, too, in there.)

Dana are the chicken, shrimp, & hot links all together or separate.

Lessee, last evening, AGAIN with the fried chicken thighs, on account of scoring a beeyootiful Griswold 12-incher at a thrift store. I mean what am I supposed to do somehow NOT fry chicken in it asap?

A single judicious pass through the seasoned flour ... a little Spanish smoked paprika rather than the usual cayenne, along with plentiful black pepper & salt & the usual Secret Blend of Herbs & Spices. Happened to have lard on hand, for the frying. Rich beyond reason, chicken fried in lard. Swoonful, really.

Jeremiah Tower's aunt's freaky-ass coleslaw, recipe appears in both Jeremiah Tower Cooks and New American Classics, has TOMATOES in it. Also GINGER. And, it was very good.

Sweet potato biscuits from Craig Claiborne's Southern Cooking, a favorite, both the biscuits and the book itself. Honey & butter, together again, lovely orange blossom honey from the honey guy at the farmer's market.

[SobaAddict70]

Broiled skinless boneless chicken breasts, rubbed with 1 T. of EVOO mixed with a dash of sriracha, a pinch of light brown sugar, and some turnip kimchi. (Yes, weird, but what can I say, it was a moment of inspiration.) Popped into the oven and broiled for 20 to 30 min. at 350 F.

Couscous

Tomato, onion and pepper salad -- EVOO, rice vinegar, a sprinkle of patis (Filipino fish sauce) and furikake as dressing.

Iced green tea.

Soba

[smallworld]

Priscilla, sanma is a great fish. This was the first sanma of the season, an event so sacred it even has a name- 'hatsu-sanma'!

Last night's dinner was taken straight from a cooking show I saw the other night (NHK's 'Kyou no Ryouri'):

Kinpira of burdock root, lotus root, carrot and eringi mushrooms, braised with extra liquid. This made everything softer than usual and allowed the burdock root, now entering its peak season, to permeate the whole dish with its earthy flavour. It was topped with sesame seeds rather than shichimi and was the best kinpira I've made yet.

Tofu simmered with pork. A simple dish, like yudofu but with a bit more flavour and the addition of thinly sliced pork.

Foil-poached salmon. With shimeji mushrooms and sliced tomato and onion, flaoured with dashi, light soy sauce and sake. This was great and it seemed like such a waste to throw away the delicious soupy liquid that was left over. Will double the liquid next time then find a way to use it (maybe a short-cut risotto?).

[Suzanne F]

Bison ribs (from the Greenmarket) braised with mirepoix + garlic and rosemary, Chilean cabernet sauvignon, and canned beef broth. Oh, and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cooked overnight in the crockpot.

Buttered bow tie pasta; steamed broccoli

The eternal salad with balsamic and olive oil

St. Francis 2000 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon