Dinner! 2004

[cheeseandchocolate]

Tonight:

Leftovers from last night's dinner, a little belated-birthday feast for my boyfriend--

--Black-eyed peas masala (from Saveur, some months back)

--Saag paneer (another Saveur recipe, from quite a while ago. I made my own

paneer for the first time and was amazed by how easy it was! I was

positively tingling with glee! "I made this!" )

--Cinnamon basmati rice with golden raisins

And for dessert, double chocolate layer cake with Richmond chocolate frosting and

raspberry preserves between the layers

I ate too much, but how could I not?

[dumpling]

Monday

Another New Year's celebration, this time one with my family

We started with cha gio, Vietnamese spring rolls, served with red leaf lettuce, nac mam and mint. The spring roll signifying good fortune in the New Year is almost a required dish.

A little shrimp shumai to go along with.

Then! On to the hot pot!

Shrimp, scallops, a little flounder, baby bok choy, scallions. The broth was a chicken stock with roasted garlic and lots of ginger. A healthy splash of Chinese rice wine.

Sauces were ginger and sesame oil, garlic, chili, jalapeno, nac mam, dumpling sauce, soy and oyster sauce.

We finished up with brown rice or noodles with a little ginger, garlic and sesame oil with the broth for an ending soup. Very vibrant broth by the end of the meal.

Our dessert in honor of the New Year was eight treasure rice pudding.

[curlywurlyfi]

in the Brave New World that is 2004 (yesterday was my first day back at home after New Year in Italy where I basically ate my own body weight daily in gorgonzola gnocchi truffles cream truffles wild boar sausage truffles parmesan prosciutto truffles olive oil tortellini and truffles), last night's dinner was ENTIRELY vegetable-based:

- baked sweet potatoes

- courgettes, green beans, garlic + lemon quarters, tossed in oo + roasted

- plum tomatoes, tossed in oo + bay leaves + roasted

combined on a plate with feta cheese crumbled over. And two glasses of a light merlot-shiraz blend, since stopping alcohol consumption cold would most certainly have been injurious to my health.

And Kristin, those gyoza look absolutely superb!

Fi

[bloviatrix]

Monday

We acted as human garbage pails.

Spinach Salad w/avocado and hearts of palm

Turkey Soup (from turkey carcass left from Friday night's dinner)

Pumpkin pie (leftover from weekend)

Cherries and Cantaloupe

[laurel]

SethG: As you can probably tell from my random stuff-that-I-have-and-stuff-that-looks-good-in-the-store menus, I don't think too much about pairings and what goes well together. I will say that I think the lobster souffle went fine with the maguro. Lobster reminds me of ama-ebi (sweet/raw shrimp)...

Last night, a simple dinner for 2:

Sage, Onion, and Cheddar Omelet:

curlywurlyfi: I've never roasted lemons, but it sounds great.. I'll have to try it sometime.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, the End of the Ham was transmogrified into excellent hash. Good balance of potato cubes, diced onion, ham, butter, s & p and the essential whiff of cayenne, slowly fried to browny-brown crustiness. Topped with the Consort's Perfect Poached Eggs. Alongside were heart-shaped English muffins made by me, with salty butter, and, for those who like such things, strawberry preserves.

Rosemont Grenache/Shiraz, cheap & cheerful and downright delicious.

[torakris]

Tuesday night:

working on cleaning out my refrigerator

Kimchi and octopus gukbap with onions and Japanese leeks (a Korean "soupy" rice dish)

fiddlehead ferns simmered with garlic, soy and mirin

chicken meatballs and taro simmered in a dashi-soy-mirin-sugar sauce

dessert

chocolate truffle cake

[Malawry]

Tonight:

The last of the spaghetti squash, tossed with a garlic-cream sauce and topped with seared shrimp and sauteed mushrooms. With the addition of parsley it was a beautiful plate.

Salad

Last night:

Chicken parmigiana

Salad

[Moopheus]

Tonight's dinner was red lentil soup with saffron and garam masala.

[Jake]

I guess I forgot to go "light" for the new year!

Tonight: Spaghetti Carbonara with a lovely spicy pancetta, salad, bread and a bottle of Pinot Grigio (I blame my SO for the last addition)

[dumpling]

Tuesday

Grilled Moroccan Charmoula Lamb Chops (marinated with rub of cinnamon, cayenne, paprika, cumin, whole cloves and coriander, mixed with EVOO, garlic, and cilantro)

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries(Baked, spiced with salt, pepper, cinnamon, brown sugar, cardamom and President butter)

Haricots Verts with lemon butter

Couscous Pilaf

Cherry Strudel - dark cherry filling with Harry London Chocolate Joys(chocolate mint candy) mixed in

Sweet potato fries were a big hit and blended so well with the lamb chops, beans and couscous. YUM!

Edited January 7, 2004 by dumpling (log)

[Priscilla]

Last evening, a steak frites variant. So-called London Broil, cooked on the old Weber over hardwood charcoal, (32 degrees outside!) sliced, saltylicious Tillamook butter allowed to melt over. Frites run the trad twice through the old deep fryer, nice and brown and crunchy. Excellent Romaine salad with creamy Ranch-Blue Cheese-type dressing, just right. Very good Bonny Doon Cigare Volant.

[mikeycook]

Last Night

- Broiled Rabbit w/Aioli

- Panned Spinach w/Garlic

[Malawry]

STEAK. NY strip, with a great crunchy crust from a high-heat sear in butter, nothing more to it than some S&P.

Buttered broccoli

Stilton cheese for dessert.

[dumpling]

Wednesday

What a lovely dinner!

Tandoori Chicken-just came out beautifully considering no tandoor

Cucumber Raita

Crispy fried Okra and onions with garam masala, cayenne, coriander and salt

Tamarind Cauliflower

Naan

Apart from the okra being slightly more cooked than I would have liked it while I was tending to the Naan, this was a very satisfying dinner. Well worth the time.

We had some broken sugar cookies that no one was eating. So I layered them in ramekins, then put in a mix of sauteed apples, cranberries, a little brown sugar and cinnamon. Then another layer of cookie crumbs and finally topped with melted dark chocolate. Chilled to firm up the chocolate top. A nice way to use broken cookies.

[bloviatrix]

It was so cold yesterday that I made a big pot of soup in order to warm the apartment up. For dinner we had

Black bean soup with pieces of lamb sausage

Baked lemon sole

I sliced the tip of thumb chopping the onion so I had Blovie finish the mis -- what a sweetie.

[Priscilla]

Last evening, roasted a chicken with lemons inside and butter and honey outside.

Pan juices reduced, served to pour at will, were very good.

Also, beet greens first allowed to imbibe (as Elizabeth David said) butter and then, heavy cream. A little onion in there at the outset, too, s & p, nutmeg. Just so good. Beet greens, I always say, are the most spinachy spinach. My favorite green, although I do like 'em all, well prepared, as with anything.

LBB seedy baguette, saltylicious Tillamook butter.

Again with the cheap & cheerful & delicious Rosemont Grenache/Shiraz.

[FoodMan]

Chicken thighs marinated in homemade red adobo marinade overnight and cooked under the broiler while basted frequently with more of the delicious marinade.

Served with mexican tomato rice.

For dessert: Banana Foster

Elie

[torakris]

Thursday night:

Chilli (with ground beef and pork and kidney beans)

corn bread

celery sticks (the last vegetable in the house) with a blue cheese and cream chees "dip"

forgot yesterday

Teeok (Korean mochi) sauteed wwith Chinese cabbage and octopus in a kochujang sauce

steamed shumai

nagaimo (mountain yam) grated and mixed with squid sashimi, ikura (salmon roe) and wasabi and soy

[laurel]

Dinner for myself last night:

Stir-fried Celery with Roasted Eel:

[Malawry]

Turkey burgers topped with cheese, sauteed mushrooms, onions and pepper. No bun.

Salad.

[dumpling]

Thursday

Inside out California Rolls

Strir Fried Tofu with bean sprouts, chopped baby bok choy, onions, rice wine and soy

Fried Brown Rice with egg, peas, some chicken stock, sesame oil and fresh ground sea salt.

Lighter dinner after made heavier lunch - home today to make lunch of Sausage and Peppers served with macaroni and mozzarella.

Have been doing the low carb thing now for about two and a half weeks. Carbs seen on my menu over that time and for the near future are probably only being consumed by others. Lost ten pounds of my voluptuous frame so I can become voluptuous-er(pardon the grammar). So I ate the tofu dish and skipped the others; just tried a tiny piece of the sushi to test it.

Edited January 9, 2004 by dumpling (log)

[SethG]

Tonight (Thursday) was a Thai curry with chicken and vegetables from David Thompson's book, doctored quite a bit because I didn't find it very interesting once it was made, then doctored a little more at my wife's urging, but ultimately not really bad at all.

And jasmine rice.

And a bamboo shoot salad was supposed to be a part of all this, but it was aborted during all the doctoring.

[curlywurlyfi]

warm chicken, chilli, lime + mint salad served over shredded Little Gem Hearts - this was a Jill Dupleix recipe which I doctored slightly (more soy, more lime, no shallots) and it was OK but not stellar - though having said that, we did eat it all.

[Priscilla]

The egg jag continues, no telling when it might end. Jags are like that. Course this is a life-long jag, too, so there's that.

ANYway, last evening, lovely waffles from the old heart-shaped waffle iron. If one can endure the piercing Nazgul-like shriek this applicance emits when it reaches temp, one can have decent heart-shaped waffles.

A bunch of Boar's Head bacon, which inspired the menu in the first place. Hadn't had BH bacon in years -- Niman Ranch uncured has trumped all comers -- but there is was and for some reason it was purchased. Not bad at all, a little more like ham than bacon, which I guess is a pretty big flaw, if you're trying to be bacon anyways.

The aforementioned eggs gently fried in the bacon fat -- excellent, landed equally gently atop the waffle which itself was first drizzled with melted butter. Bacon alongside, getting in on the maple syrup deal.

Mimosas of Carta Nevada and fresh-squeezed orange juice for the grownups, straight orange juice for the under-21 set. Reminded us all again how navels, our local wintertime oranges, just don't make as worthy a juice as Valencias, which we have for most of the year. Oh well. Would be considered great juice by any other standard.