Dinner! 2004

[Jensen]

Last night was my turn to host our gourmet dinner club. The way our club is set up is like this: the host is responsible for setting the menu, distributing recipes, and the entree. Guests are responsible for their assigned recipes and the wine.

I wanted a Belgian-themed dinner so the evening went something like this:

* Moules Rôties a l'Ail

* Potage Parmentier

* Poireaux aux Vinaigrette

* Carbonnades Flamande

* Choux de Bruxelles

* Gateau Chocolat

Edited February 1, 2004 by Jensen (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Chili (from Chili for a Crowd in the Silver Palate, subbing venison and venison/pork sausage)

Hot Water Cornbread

Pecan Pie

[torakris]

Sunday dinner:

a sort of a twist on a loco moco (a local Hawaiian dish)

a bowl of rice topped with a hamburger patty and some avocado slices and then a teriyaki sauce (made with a nice addition of freshly squeezed mandarin orange)

onion and hijiki (type of seaweed) salad with ponzu and toasted cashew nuts

dessert:

haupia

(Hawaiian style coconut pudding)

[Dana]

Pan fried pork chops with a creamy pan gravy

Pan-roasted cauliflower

Broccoli/Bacon Salad

[Priscilla]

Dungeness crabs, cooked by the nice man at the pan-Asian supermarket, cracked and served atop a newspaper-covered table with mayonnaise and cocktail sauce, also the crab fat and related, which I especially like. Skinny ficelles from the Vietnamese French baker, especially good with the crab fat and related. Broccoli florets, too, with a dab of the mayonnaise, like Japanese restaurants do. Rose of Rioja.

Crab shells bunged in the stockpot, simmered a long time with specified seasoning and tomato, portending the dear departed Simon Majumdar's fish soup in the near future. The link for that's hereabouts somewheres ... I'll try to find it when the time comes.

[Susan in FL]

This weekend we did Friday night happy hour on Thursday, and have cooked and eaten at home since.

Friday night multi courses, with a main theme of shellfish, each with different wines, slowly spread out over the whole evening:

Starter - "Crostini," one with topping of homemade tapenade, and one topped with a butter and Dijon mixture and a slice of daikon

1st course- Alaskan king crab legs, jumbo! They were on sale, thank you competition for Superbowl shoppers.

Next - Mussels in a mildly spicy ginger and lemongrass broth. Our lemongrass growing in the back yard is taller than I am.

Main course - Seared fresh (dry) scallops, with a black bean vinaigrette, and baby vegetables

Chocolate truffles and also some Anthon Berg chocolates

Saturday we had a first course pasta with lobster, prosciutto, baby peas, shiitakes, and a splash of heavy cream (a not oaky Chardonnay), followed by rack of lamb with a tapenade crust and roasted cauliflower and broccoli (old vines Zinfandel). Dessert was Cabrales blue cheese, slices of Asian pear, and toasted pine nuts (Port).

Tonight was pasta with Bolognese ragu, salad, and a cheap Italian.

[Suzanne F]

Saturday: Black Cod broiled with a marinade/glaze of miso shiro, mirin, grated ginger, and a couple of pinches of cayenne.

Leftover brown rice reheated with roasted chopped cashews.

Sauteed julienne chayote.

Watercress, Boston, and romaine lettuces with sherry vinegar and olive oil.

Paumanok Barrel Select Chardonnay, 2001. (North Fork, Long Island, NY)

Tonight: Duck hash: meat from confit duck necks and wings plus neck meat from recent stock-making, white onion sauteed in duck fat, and leftover "gratin" of redskin potatoes (no cream, just duck fat and stock)

Frozen chopped spinach cooked just enough to thaw/heat, with nutmeg, garlic, and white pepper.

I refused to go out to get more salad stuff, so no salad.

Paringa Shiraz 2002 (South Australia)

[laurel]

I went up to Whistler with a big group of friends last week. One night we made:

Cauliflower Soup

Wilted Spinach Salad with Bacon, Onions, Mushrooms, and Blue Cheese

Salmon Baked with Lemon and Fennel

Roasted Squash

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Stir Fried Bok Choy

Chocolate Fondue with Pound Cake and Fruit

And the next night:

Caesar Salad

Steak (Both NY Strip and Tenderloin)

Baked Potatoes

Sauteed Mushrooms

Caramelized Onions

Bailey's Cheesecake

[torakris]

Monday dinner:

beef and lotus root patties with a teriyaki sauce served on a bed of shredded cabbage

simmered kabocha

avocado slices with soy sauce and yuzu-koshou (green chile and yuzu paste)

Japanese rice

dessert:

leftover haupia

[Susan in FL]

Very good dinner tonight...

Marcella's roasted lemon chicken, which is my all-time favorite way to cook a whole chicken. Besides the lemons inside, I added rosemary, thyme, and some thick slices of ginger, and it was a kosher chicken. Yum, the best.

"Diet french fries," a recipe from Miavita. Make a breading of potato starch and seasonings, and shake the french-fry-cut potatoes in it, and then bake on a pan sprayed with Pam. With some good malt vinegar, it was almost like the real thing!

Sauteed vegetables, with just a little EVOO, butter, and stock.

2000 Clos bu Bois Cabernet, which isn't highly rated, but this is twice now that we have really liked it.

Edited to add the french fries recipe.

Edited February 3, 2004 by Susan in FL (log)

[Jinmyo]

Steamed mussels on salad of edamame (soy beans) and diced, seeded plum tomatoes.

Tamarind soup with leeks, mushrooms, tofu noodles and fresh coriander.

Salad of shaved fennel and green daikon with slivered scallions.

Grilled bluefish with chile oil and lemon pesto.

Thai jasmine rice or paratha.

[helenjp]

It was Setsubun today in Japan, when you are supposed to eat sardines, and pin up holly leaves (and in some places sardine heads) over your doorways to ward off demons. If the demons come anyway, you are supposed to throw dry-roasted soybeans at them, saving enough to eat one for every year of your life.

This year our demon was upstairs in bed with flu, and said that he'd had a message (by on-ee-mail of course) from the oni (demon) saying that he was never going to visit again after the treatment he got last year -- when our two sons leaped at their poor father and practically knocked him senseless trying to get his mask off. This year we're all too sick with flu, but next year the boys can be demons, and we'll chuck the beans... and as for the holly bush by our door, my husband forgot to water it while I was away with the kids in summer, so it looks as if the demons won out this year.

By chance, we were all fitted out for the season -- we happened to have nothing in the house but 6 fresh, fat sardines, so I filleted them, soaked them in salty water for a while, and grilled them with yuzu-koshou (having dug it out of the fridge after reading of Torakris' obsession), red pepper, salt, and garlic in olive oil.

Plus...white rice

a mild miso soup with chopped nira (Chinese chives) and chopped beansprouts, courtesy of elder son

broccoli from the stand over the road

eggplant simmered in soy, mirin (sweet sake) and mustard.

[Priscilla]

Susan, fabulous pix! Real you-are-there quality.

Lessee, last evening, PNW-style Dungeness crab hash, with the (quite a lot of) meat left over from Saturday's cracked. Diced potatoes, onion, as per usual. The Consort's perfect poached eggs atop. Such a good dish. There really is nothing like Dungeness crab.

Buttered toasted homemade bread.

Mimosas with fresh orange juice and Carta Nevada for the grownups, straight OJ for the under-13 set.

[FoodMan]

Semi-boneless cornish hens stuffed with a pilaf made with rice, sausage, apples, almonds and spices. Seared and roasted in a cast iron skillet, made a nice sauce out of the pan juices with some vermouth and stock.

Dessert : Almond and Chocolate Dacquoise

Elie

[torakris]

By chance, we were all fitted out for the season -- we happened to have nothing in the house but 6 fresh, fat sardines, so I filleted them, soaked them in salty water for a while, and grilled them with yuzu-koshou (having dug it out of the fridge after reading of Torakris' obsession), red pepper, salt, and garlic in olive oil.

Helen,

keep that yuzu-koshou at the front of the refrigerator not the back!

How was it on the sardines?

Despite the fact that we live in Japan too, we had no sardines last night. Hide age three did run around te house wearing the oni (goblin/ogre) mask that Julia made at kindergarten while Julia (6) and Mia (8) threw beans at him....

for dinner we had:

katsuo-tataki bonito sashimi seared then sliced and topped with mistuba (trefoil) grated ginger and a ponzu type sauce

shirae tofu and sesame dressing mixed with shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves) and carrots

leftover simmered kabocha

homemade (not by me! ) takuan pickled daikon

Japanese rice

[jackal10]

Informal Guest Night in college

In Hall

Twice baked Goats Cheese Soufflé with roasted vine Tomatoes

Braised Saddle of Hare with Herb Dumplings

Pureed potatoes with home-cured Bacon

Selection of vegetables (pureed parsnips, broccoli)

Pear Tart Tatin with saffron Pastry and Armagnac Creme Caramel

Petit Bourgeois sauvignon Blanc 2002

Cot Rotie Chapoutier 1997

In Parlor

Coffee and petit four (miniature caramalised lemon tarts, white chocolate florentines, truffles)

Cheese

Fruit

Ch d'Angludet 1993

Ch Coutet 1988

Grahams 1977

Presentation:

(Hare: fanned slices of hare, quenelle of potato scattered with small cubes of the tea-smoked(?) bacon, jus)

(Pud: circle of pear tatin; small creme caramel with curved triangular tuile half surrounding it like a flag, compote of dried fruits(?) in Armagnac)

About 50 people. Seriously good and accomplished food.

Edited February 3, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[Mayhaw Man]

Inspired by the CFS thread-

Chicken Fried Steak (I used round steak that I had the butcher run through his tenderizer) w/WHITE cream gravy

Mashed Potatoes

Zipper Cream Peas with snaps (put up 2 bushels in freezer last summer)

Green Salad w warm walnuts

Leftover Pecan Pie and Bluebell Vanilla I.C.

Tonight the best CFS is at my house in bucolic Abita Springs, LA

[laurel]

Dinner for 2:

Platter of Roasted Cauliflower, Braised Kale, Sauteed Turnips with Greens, Sesame Tofu, and 2 Kinds of Smoked Salmon:

[dumpling]

Back in town-

Monday

Olive Oil and Garlic Ciabatta

Stuffed Chicken with basil and cilantro in a vodka sauce

Creamed spinach

Leftover mashed potatoes

Tuesday

Cha Gio served with fish sauce, mint and lettuce

Orzo and Asparagus with a chicken lemon sauce

Whole Fried Red Snapper served topped with Sweet Chili Sauce and Vegetables(Carrots, scallions, mushrooms and pine nuts)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

[pattimw]

Monday- Spinach fettuccine with ham, broccoli and a light cream sauce. Topped with parmesan.

Tuesday.

Sauteed sirloin steak rubbed with cumin, coriander, and chili powder, sauteed red peppers and onions with a coffee balsamic glaze.

Garlic french fries

Salad of baby romaine and baby arugula with a sherry vinegar-walnut oil dressing.

Few surreptitious bites of leftover chocolate cake from the weekend.

[helenjp]

We had something vile for dinner at our house tonight!

I picked up a ling (ocean pout), known here as "genge", which I found out too late is short for "ge no ge" or lowest of the low, the pits, etc. It looked like a typical soft-fleshed deepsea fish.

http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~kakure/zukan/zukan_042.htm

After a face-to-face with the ling, I decided to have him nabe-style, with plenty of long onion, tofu, and konbu, as everybody was still feeling low after flu.

I've eaten ling in New Zealand before, but this was not that. It seemed to come from deeper sea, and was jellyish when raw, and jellyish plus slimy when cooked. Nobody could face it, not even me!

Fortunately I'd baked an apple crumble for breakfast, so we ate that instead, and all crawled back to bed.

By the way Torakris, the yuzu-koshou was good with sardine fillets, especially with the olive oil to crisp it up. Another time maybe I'll thin some out with yuzu-su and pour it on after grilling??

Also another time, I wonder about making other types of citrus-koshou. It's a wonderful way to have citrus peel flavorings ready to hand!

[curlywurlyfi]

made Atkins-friendly supper (girls - tchah)

- smoked mackerel pate with crudites (red + yellow peppers, cucumber)

- chicken with shallots garlic parsley + tarragon inside, surrounded by sliced mushrooms, carrots, red + yellow peppers, garlic cloves + leek chunks, drizzled with olive oil then roasted, served with Dijon mustard

- low fat low sugar butterscotch pudding which I was too full to eat

I had two glasses of cabernet sauvignon - bring me carbohydrates in the fermented form I say!

[viaChgo]

homemade (not by me! ) takuan pickled daikon

torakris,

do you know if it's easy to pickle daikon? I love it & often by packaged pickled daikon but I'd love to try it at home sometime.

Thanks!

[viaChgo]

Last night we had steak tacos/fajitas.

Marinated flank steak in a hot cast iron pan.

Corn tortillas.

Chihauha (sp?) cheese.

Sauteed red bell pepper, onion, & thin asparagus with lime juice & Spanish paprika.

Homemade salsa w/chopped cherry tomatoes, cilantro & onion.

Guacamole.

Boxed yellow cake & chocolate frosting from the tub for dessert (I love yellow cake).

[Marlene]

Dinner has been a challenge this week. My son got his braces put on and with them came a number of eating restrictions, includng making sure he wasn't biting down with his front teeth and "tearing" at food. Soft foods have been the order of the week as his mouth is a touch sensitive anyway.

Monday night was spagetti with garlic bread in small pieces

Tuesday night was macaroni and cheese with a green salad a balsamic vinigrette dressing

Tonight was spareribs in the slow cooker, with the meat taken off the bone for him and baked potatoes

Tomorrow will likely be Red wine casserole, as I made this up a couple of days ago and it needs to sit for 48 hours,

Friday will likely be thin crust pizza, cut up in bites for him,

and Saturday will be honey garlic meatballs with garlic mashed potato puff.

Sunday, I'm dining out, I don't care what the rest of them do