Dinner! 2004

[lovebenton0]

I was just finishing up a coconut green curry beef with baby eggplants from the garden and had cooked rice (which will now be tomorrow's dinner) . . .

My mr came in loaded for fajitas and determined to drive the grill this evening. So I chopped some avocados, dressed with lime juice, a dash of S&P, sliced some Romaine heart tops, grilled purple onions, made some refried beans with slow-cooked pintos on hand from the freezer to serve with rice, and threw together some fresh table salsa with the last of our tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, japs, and sweet yellow onion. Grated sharp cheddar, heated tortillas and set out sour cream.

Meanwhile he dosed the meat with grapefruit juice, and rubbed it down with whatever, let that work while he nursed the fire and a beer. Fajitas were delicious.

Even though what I really wanted was the green curry.

[Susan in FL]

Also, on Saturday:

Heretic's carbonara

Very thin cracked-pepper pasta sheets filled with a whole egg yolk each, plated with melted butter, grated pecorino and rendered pancetta.

Fantastic - but VERY rich.

Urp.

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I want that.

Eunny, would you please give the complete how-to? Did you make the pepper pasta dough?

[Susan in FL]

Sorry! I just realized you provided a link. I was so excited, I didn't notice that at first.

Thank you!

[Toliver]

Great photos, everyone!

Jason, your closeup of the sesame meatballs is spectacular! A veritable explosion of textures.

And Diana, your photo brought a tear to me eye, it's so "purty". But then, I have a weakness for a good chicken fried steak.

Remind me not to read this discussion when I'm hungry.

[Daniel]

Playing with a new toy, this is my first post on this thread.

Grilled Salmon with a spicy dry rub

Salmon on the grill.  The bacon had nothing to do with dinner, since the grill was going I figured I might as well through some Nueske bacon on the it.

On the platter with tots as a side

Plated.  There was a garlic butter sauce

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I like the plate.. Did you get the blue plate at Fisher Eddies?

[FL Heat]

Thanks for the nice words about the CFS. Did my heart good to eat it, even more good to make it.

And those meatballs. . .yum, wow, I wanted to reach right into the monitor and grab one.

Diana

[NewYorkTexan]

Playing with a new toy, this is my first post on this thread.

Grilled Salmon with a spicy dry rub

Salmon on the grill.  The bacon had nothing to do with dinner, since the grill was going I figured I might as well through some Nueske bacon on the it.

On the platter with tots as a side

Plated.  There was a garlic butter sauce

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I like the plate.. Did you get the blue plate at Fisher Eddies?

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Actually we got these plates at a place in Chicago near Wrigley Field. The plates we usually use are from Fishs Eddy, Oval Manhattan Blue Plate Special plates. We have the entire set including my favorite, the jumbo cups and saucers.

[Chufi]

Dinner was mushroom risotto. In the risotto there were fresh chanterelles and dried porcini, on top are sauteed fresh porcini. It was very very good (much better than the picture, but after spending 2 hours figuring out Imagegullet, I just HAD to post something tonight - hope it works)

Edited November 10, 2004 by Chufi (log)

[Susan in FL]

Dinner was mushroom risotto. In the risotto there were fresh chanterelles and dried porcini, on top are sauteed fresh porcini. It was very very good (much better than the picture, but after spending 2 hours figuring out Imagegullet, I just HAD to post something tonight - hope it works)

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Real nice picture, and yummy looking food!

[hjshorter]

Cold weather has arrived. Casserole time!

Tuesday:

Manicotti stuffed with ricotta, parm reg, and spinach. Emma (my 5 year old) helped to stuff the manicotti and did a not-too-shabby job with the pastry bag.

Big chopped salad with the last tomato from the garden, dressed with toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed oil.

Warm sourdough bread with salted Plugra.

Wednesday:

Shrimp with coconut milk, tomatoes and cilantro. Served over rice. We got this recipe from a Brazilian friend of ours. Emma ate huge qualitites, Ian was dubious.

Steamed broccoli

Big juicy white grapefruit for dessert.

[eunny jang]

Sorry!  I just realized you provided a link.  I was so excited, I didn't notice that at first.

Thank you!

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In case the carbonara post wasn't enough detail, a couple notes:

*I used a really STIFF dough - two large eggs to two and a half cups of flour to compensate for the liquidy filling.

*one egg yolk really provides too much sauce for the pasta holding it. Next time I make this, I'll probably do it with very large saucer-sized pasta sheets holding the egg yolk nested in some ricotta or something.

*the egg yolk filling has a tendency to "eat through" the raw pasta - if you are holding the finished ravioli for any length of time, I'd flip them every couple minutes.

*90 seconds of cooking is just about right to my taste.

I'm glad you're back in the dinner thread

[intraining]

tonight i made pork butt, salt pork, chicken legs, baby carrots, butter beans, apple in a braise started with orange juice, water and finished with a little demi-glace and butter served with tea-cup molded basmati rice

[little ms foodie]

Sorry!  I just realized you provided a link.  I was so excited, I didn't notice that at first.

Thank you!

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*one egg yolk really provides too much sauce for the pasta holding it. Next time I make this, I'll probably do it with very large saucer-sized pasta sheets holding the egg yolk nested in some ricotta or something.

*the egg yolk filling has a tendency to "eat through" the raw pasta - if you are holding the finished ravioli for any length of time, I'd flip them every couple minutes.

*90 seconds of cooking is just about right to my taste.

I'm glad you're back in the dinner thread

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Eunny what about using quail eggs?

[Jason Perlow]

Asian Marinaded Center Cut Pork Chops, with Char Siu BBQ Glaze:

Served with Soya/Garlic/Ginger/Scallion seasoned rice and Sauteed Long Beans with Garlic and Oyster Sauce.

[Susan in FL]

In case the carbonara post wasn't enough detail, a couple notes:

*I used a really STIFF dough - two large eggs to two and a half cups of flour to compensate for the liquidy filling.

*one egg yolk really provides too much sauce for the pasta holding it.  Next time I make this, I'll probably do it with very large saucer-sized pasta sheets holding the egg yolk nested in some ricotta or something.

*the egg yolk filling has a tendency to "eat through" the raw pasta - if you are holding the finished ravioli for any length of time, I'd flip them every couple minutes.

*90 seconds of cooking is just about right to my taste.

Thank you for the extra details.

I'm glad you're back in the dinner thread 

And thank you for that, too.... I'm glad to be back home to the dinner thread.

Everything was "new" tonight and tasted so good: First time for homemade cream of mushroom soup, and it was garnished with the last of the quail eggs; Lentil and Celery Root Salad which was a new recipe for me and the first time I have cooked celery root (the blue cheese was Maytag)... We could have eaten lots more of this than I fixed, it's definitely a keeper recipe; and 2002 Fleetwood Cellars California Symphony, the first time to taste a Symphony varietal -- very good and a great match with the food.

[Arey]

Mussels with garlic, white wine, and some garlic oil left over from making croutons that I wanted to use. I use the New Zealand green shell mussels since I can't stand gritty mussels.

I tried buying live mussels and cleaning them and then cooking them once, but it was not worth the effort. The worse mussels I ever had were at a crab place in Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula. they weren't even debearded. Talk about grit! One of the mussels had a little crab in its beard, which I was told is a real delicacy, but I passed it up. With all the gravel I'd swallowed while eating the mussels, I didn't have any room for the crab.

The parsley is from my herb garden. I have what amounts to a parsley hedge around my goldfish pond. It was a great year for parsley, which of course meant, a lousy year for tomatoes.

I had a green bean salad along with it

and a home made Italian roll.

washed down with.

[Suzanne F]

Last night, back after several days out of town:

Sausage and pepper sandwiches on baguette, with a light salad (only had 2 lettuces at the Greenmarket) and beer.

Tonight, inspired by Laurie Colwin:

Whole chicken legs baked with lemon juice and coarsely ground black pepper.

Polenta with creamy horseradish cheese mixed through.

Broccoli rabe blanched, then sauteed with garlic.

Mixed salad (leaves, red and yellow peppers) with olive oil and oregano vinegar.

Paumanok Barrel Fermented Chardonnay.

[eunny jang]

Mussels with garlic, white wine, and some garlic oil left over from making croutons that I wanted to use.  I use the New Zealand green shell mussels since I can't stand gritty mussels.

I tried buying live mussels and cleaning them and then cooking them once, but it was not worth the effort.  The worse mussels I ever had were at a crab place in Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula. they weren't even debearded. Talk about grit!  One of the mussels had a little crab in its beard, which I was told is a real delicacy, but I passed it up.  With all the gravel I'd swallowed while eating the mussels, I didn't have any room for the  crab.

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Ohhhh, how beautiful.

I find that live mussels are fine when you purge them for an extended period in water and salt - but I agree that the consistent quality of the frozen NZ mussels vs. the spotty quality of live seafood hardly makes it worth your while.

[Pumpkin Lover]

Totally off-topic, but I'd just like to point out that Eunny Jang wins the internet for her Smoove B signature.

Back to dinner.

[Behemoth]

A haiku of adoration, to my butcher:

I asked for soup bones

you gave me two hanger steaks

and charged $.99 per lb

Okay, for dinner we had the most amazing USDA prime porterhouse steaks I've ever had in my life. (Seared 3 minutes per side). And fingerling potatoes, boiled then fried with sea salt and lots and lots and lots of black pepper. And braised radiccio with prosciutto. And the rest of that great Chianti...

But mainly it was about the steak.

And the price on the soup bones was no mistake.

(what was that old MFK fisher line about good steak and red wine turning your earlobes red and making you very affectionate?)

[Jake]

Another ode to Jaymes dinner:

Tomatillo salsa and shredded pork enchiladas. Garnished with cilantro and crema.

Accompanied by ice cold Corona. Time for another......

[Suzanne F]

Multicolor night (gotta get a camera!!):

Risotto with chopped rainbow chard stems, made with cheese-rind stock.

Salad of green leaf, baby red romaine, belgian endive, radicchio, red and yellow bell peppers (olive oil and mixed herbs vinegar).

Roederer Estate Sparkling Wine, wheeeeee!

[percyn]

Mussels with garlic, white wine, and some garlic oil left over from making croutons that I wanted to use.  I use the New Zealand green shell mussels since I can't stand gritty mussels.

Nice looking (and I am sure tasting) dish !!

The breadroll looks good too !!

[percyn]

A haiku of adoration, to my butcher:

I asked for soup bones

you gave me two hanger steaks

and charged $.99 per lb 

LOL...and hanger steaks for $0.99/lb...I have to mail order them as my butcher does not carry them

You have a very special butcher indeed

[Ling]

I split over 4 lbs of clams with my bf, and we had some pork chops as well! Clams were cooked Chinese-style, with lots of garlic, soy sauce, and fermented black beans.