Dinner! 2004

[Varmint]

Chicken and Dumplings (absolutely sublime, if I do say so myself) Wonderful.

Chicken and dumplings may very well be my all time Sunday dinner favorite, paticularly when it's cold. Yum.

[Jason Perlow]

Last night we made a paella-like dish with chicken breast (hey, its what we had in house) and chaurice from Poche's Market in louisiana. Used spanish "La Bomba" rice and lots of saffron and spanish paprika.

[Mayhaw Man]

Man, that looks like it was "la bomba"

How as the chaurice?

[Rachel Perlow]

It came out really good. I used some of my stock concentrate from the freezer (thanks Steven) to make up for not having any bones with the chicken. The chaurice was spicier than regular Spanish chorizo, but it was very good. It started out with the intention of it being Arroz con Pollo, but yeah, it became more of a paella.

I also used some canned red pepper from Ole Ole, the saffron was from there too. What's silly is I have some shelf stable chorizo from there, but we used the cajun chaurice from the freezer instead. Oh well.

[suzilightning]

- unless made into a spread with evoo and kosher salt

What a great idea... what do you do, just process cooked lima beans, EVOO, and the salt, and that's it?

along with some minced garlic and rosemary. spread on a thinly sliced, toasted baugette

so now you have toast dope from john and his lima spread as well

[torakris]

Sunday dinner:

I didn't actually cook since I was helping a friend out at her yard sale all day but my husband made:

homemade sausages cooked over the BBQ

baking soda biscuits made in a dutch oven over the same BBQ

bacon, cabbage and onion soup made in the dutch oven after the biscuits were done

dessert:

choclate ice cream bars

by the way it is winter here in Japan and actually yesterday was the coldest day we have had so far this winter.

[dumpling]

Sunday

Wild Sockeye Salmon with Soy-Honey and Wasabi Sauces

Baby Bok Choy sauteed with garlic and finished with a little chicken broth

Honey Carrots

Fried Brown Rice with egg, tiny shrimp, peas and lop cheong

Yakon(Squash Cake)- first try at. Tasted okay but didn't firm up so still pretty squishy, more pudding than cake like.

[cheeseandchocolate]

Sunday dinner:

Friday's leftover stoneground grits, sliced 1/2-inch thick and "toasted" in the oven

on a pan brushed with olive oil

Red chard sauteed with garlic and olive oil, finished with lemon juice

Shelled edamame, nicely salted

Tall Grass Bakery pain au levain, with EVOO for dipping

About to have some chocolate for dessert...

[curlywurlyfi]

out-of-season asparagus with sauce Maltaise (hadn't made hollandaise in about seven years, so it was a bit runny, but divine)

- casseroled pheasant with bacon onion + red wine - we forgot the pheasant in the Aga and the sauce had reduced so far that it was literally one shade away from being burnt - hurriedly poured in two more glasses of red wine and rescued it and it was DELICIOUS - the finest most savoury sticky treacly gravy I've ever had

- mashed potatoes with olive oil and a bit of horseradish

- broccoli (on which we poured the leftover Maltaise from the asparagus)

- hot chocolate souffles with single cream

Hear that crispy sound? That's my arteries silting up. And all this with a magnum of 1996 Chateau Soleil Puisseguin St Emilion, and two old friends. Lovely.

Fi

[Susan in FL]

Yesterday's main meal was brunch: steak; soft scrambled eggs with sour cream and salmon caviar; sliced tomatoes; melon & prosciutto; and mimosas.

After that I wasn't real hungry for dinner last night, so I had a helping of my husband's pasta sauce over a slice of Italian bread while he had his over penne pasta. We've been on a kick for 1999 Rancho Zabaco Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel recently, and each had a glass of that with our respective dinners.

[NeroW]

Crocks of french onion soup with Gruyere croutons floating on top. I was patient when I caramelized the onions the day before, so the soup had a very mellow, sweet taste. An hour later, some lovely filet mignons seared in clarified butter, then finished to a rosy-rare in the oven. Thick-cut fries with minced raw garlic and parsley. A very tarragon-y, very vinegar-y, very shallot-y bearnaise sauce--the way I like it. On my fork, I assembled bites of fry, a small piece of steak, and a dip of sauce. My favorite . Creme brulee for dessert. I'd forgotten any vanilla in the recipe but I had infused the cream with orange peel, so they turned out to have a nice flavor.

[reesek]

Sunday dinner:

Friday's leftover stoneground grits, sliced 1/2-inch thick and "toasted" in the oven

on a pan brushed with olive oil

Red chard sauteed with garlic and olive oil, finished with lemon juice

Shelled edamame, nicely salted

Tall Grass Bakery pain au levain, with EVOO for dipping

About to have some chocolate for dessert...

yum that sounds good...i had grits on friday at a wonderful new seattle hot spot - i'd never had them like that (by like that i mean "good")

sunday dinner was black bean chili from the greens cookbook. definitely the best chili i've ever had...lots of toasting and grinding - i used some smoked spanish paprika and finished it with rice vinegar.

made cornbread/pudding to go with - corn meal, roasted poblano, carmelized shallots and frozen cuisinart-ed corn. i think i should have compensated for the extra liquid in the corn - it was a little wetter than i would have liked, and not quite as sweet. still very tasty with the smoky chili.

[misstenacity]

Now that I've got the 'gist' of homeade pizza down, last night:

One (1) basic, simple, pepperoni pizza.

Fired at 525 degrees for 6 minutes, awesome crust. Next time I try 'hawaiian' style.

Miss Tenacity

http://tenacity.net

....in ABQ, NM

[torakris]

Monday dinner

It was Mia's 8th birthday and she had requested mashed potatoes and chicken....

So we had

Chicken thighs with a sherry vinegar sauce (a wonderful recipe from A New Way to Cook)

Mashed potatoes

sugar snap pea and cannelini bean salad with lemon and EVOO

Dessert:

chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (per request)

the only picture we got with the cake was blurred.

[oatmeal]

For dinner tonight: buttermilk fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, steamed kale and bacon, cider, and king cake. An attempt at southern fare in cold Alaska.

[Susan in FL]

Kristin, that was still a nice picture. Call it special effects. Happy Birthday to Mia.

Oatmeal, your attempt for something warm and southern in ALASKA was impressive. I would probably go totally insane in a place so cold.

Tonight I cooked Border-Style Shrimp and Potatoes Bravas, from the December 2003 issue of Cooking Light, with very little modification of the recipes. With it was a Tomato, Mint, and Watercress Salad which we usually serve atop pork chops -- it was a nice cool contrast to the spicy food -- and once again, a 1999 Condesa de Leganza Crianza.

[bloviatrix]

Dinner tonight is a single pot meal - cauliflower and chicken curry from a Mark Bittman column that appeared in the Times years ago. I wish I could the sapture the smell of the cumin seeds and curry powder when they hit the pan with the browned onions and include it here. There's something comforting about it - I just stuck my nose over the pan and inhaled.

[Malawry]

A tossed salad with lemony vinaigrette

Bouillaibaisse, with rouille and aioli. (We hit the aioli especially hard.)

A chilled Graves was offered to our guest, but she declined.

[dumpling]

Everyone's dinners sounded particularly tasty tonight!

Oatmeal, sounds like a good effort on the Southern fare-can I come eat with you?

Monday dinner

Rigatoni Al Forno with ground turkey, mushrooms, onions, spices, ricotta, parmesan, and a porcini tomato sauce

Suzilightning's Mashed Limas(Thanks Suzi!) to go with some fluffy flakey biscuits

Baked and quartered artichoke hearts

Roasted Apricots with Carmelized Raw Sugar and Pine Nuts, with a cherry sauce.

Also to accompany the apricots and cherries, made Maddelena cookie sandwiches stuffed with cherry preserves, topped with confectioner's sugar.

Edited January 20, 2004 by dumpling (log)

[pepperAnn]

I roasted a turkey today. Call it a late Thanksgiving. Had to get that turkey out of my freezer! Well my husband brought home BOXED stuffing to go with it!! Boxed isn't exactly my favorite (AT ALL), but I was out of time to fool with REAL stuffing. So, I sauteed onion and celery in butter, cooked the stuffing in chicken broth, added the onion/celery and seasoned it with poultry seasoning. I must say, it was good! I "doctor up" just about everything. My NINE YEAR OLD actually complimented me on the stuffing. He doesn't usually care for stuffing one way or the other, so I considered that quite an honor!

[cheeseandchocolate]

Sunday dinner:

Friday's leftover stoneground grits, sliced 1/2-inch thick and "toasted" in the oven

on a pan brushed with olive oil 

Red chard sauteed with garlic and olive oil, finished with lemon juice

Shelled edamame, nicely salted

Tall Grass Bakery pain au levain, with EVOO for dipping

About to have some chocolate for dessert...

yum that sounds good...i had grits on friday at a wonderful new seattle hot spot - i'd never had them like that (by like that i mean "good")

sunday dinner was black bean chili from the greens cookbook. definitely the best chili i've ever had...lots of toasting and grinding - i used some smoked spanish paprika and finished it with rice vinegar.

made cornbread/pudding to go with - corn meal, roasted poblano, carmelized shallots and frozen cuisinart-ed corn. i think i should have compensated for the extra liquid in the corn - it was a little wetter than i would have liked, and not quite as sweet. still very tasty with the smoky chili.

Reesek--

Was that "Seattle hot spot" Lark, by any chance? I've been dying to go there, but I'm waiting for a little boost to the bank account first. This grad school/part-time job thing doesn't leave much wiggle-room in the ole wallet...

And I LOVE that black bean chili recipe from Greens! I interned--very informally-- in the kitchen there for a couple weeks during college, and I always snuck the black bean chili leftover from lunch service home with me in empty plastic yogurt containers. I've made the recipe at home many many times, and as you noted, it's really worth the effort. I usually serve it with brown rice, chunks of avocado tossed with lime juice, and crumbled sharp cheese (such as feta or queso fresco). Your cornbread/pudding sounds really terrific too, and I'll have to try something like it next time.

Our dinner tonight:

Two old Martha Stewart Living stand-by recipes--

Chana masala

Cinnamon basmati rice with golden raisins

And braised fennel from the Zuni Cafe cookbook...mmmmmmmm

Finished it all off with some chocolate from L.A. Burdick, leftover from Christmas in Cambridge...

[NeroW]

Chicken thighs with a sherry vinegar sauce (a wonderful recipe from A New Way to Cook)

Torakris--

I've made this recipe also--last year at around this time. It was sort of a farewell dinner for a boy I'd been dating briefly (while on an mainly amicable, mainly mutual hiatus from my longtime boyfriend).

By the time the dinner was over, the vinegar in the food was not the only vinegar in the room, if you know what I'm saying.

But I liked the chicken very much.

[Priscilla]

Steak frites last evening. NY strips cooked indoors this time in the beeyootiful 12-inch Griswold, outtake fans on Warp 6. Grilling's OK, but surface area meeting superhot cast iron ain't nothing to sneeze at, neither.

Frites, oil blanched the day before, second frying just before service, I think the refrigeration really benefited the texture, especially contributing to exterior dryness and crisposity.

Lovely Romaine salad with buttermilk-Parmesan cheese dressing, what we call Coco's Dressing, after the house dressing after a long-since-gone-commissary chain restaurant. Imagine, there was a time when some chain restaurants cooked from scratch back there in those hidden kitchen recesses.

Parducci 1997 Zinfandel, suprisingly good.

[Tam]

Lovely Romaine salad with buttermilk-Parmesan cheese dressing, what we call Coco's Dressing, after the house dressing after a long-since-gone-commissary chain restaurant. Imagine, there was a time when some chain restaurants cooked from scratch back there in those hidden kitchen recesses.

Mmm, please detail your dressing. Sounds delectable. Much thanks.

[Priscilla]

Coco's dressing, I suppose it would be considered a ranch-type dressing, on account of the buttermilk, although (at least in my experience) it majorly predated the ranch dressing trip.

About equal parts mayonnaise and buttermilk, peeled smashed garlic clove, hit of cider vinegar (maybe 2 t. or a T), s and especially p, grated Parmigiano, although I usually use some Pecorino Romano as well, and then several T. of sour cream whisked in UNcompletely. Needs to sit in the fridge several hours before use.

Not for delicate, soft greens!

We have regular old vinaigrette-dressed salads far more often, but sometimes nothing else but Coco's Dressing will do.