Dinner! 2004

[eunny jang]

and dinner is served...

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Susan - seriously good looking plate of food, that. Were your timbales plain molded rice?

[little ms foodie]

Had friends over for dinner, the theme was pork!

kirs w/ onion tart topped with crispy bacon

2001 JK Carriere Willamette Valley pinot noir

mache salad with proscuitto and parsnip crutons

brined pork loin served with grilled apple rings on fresh creamed corn

cheese plate (roaring 40's blue, tomme affinitie and a sheeps basque) with fresh figs.

McCrea late harvest viognier

as always pls excuse the bad spelling!!!

[Susan in FL]

Susan - seriously good looking plate of food, that.  Were your timbales plain molded rice?

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On this night, the rice was cooked in chicken broth with a little butter and sesame oil added, and after that tossed with chopped fresh chives and toasted black and white sesame seeds. The ramekins were coated with sesame oil before packing the rice in them, but it was a bit too much of a coating... good, but it made the sesame taste a little too strong for us. I've loved having them at home, since discovering it's so easy to keep the rice intact!

[hathor]

We had lots of house guests this weekend.

Friday night:

starter: fresh edame from the Greenmarket, boiled shrimp with a spicy chili/soy dipping sauce, some fancy-dancy cheezey poufs and Proseco

main: Grilled, herb stuffed red snapper with orange beurre blanc sauce

grilled corn with a limi chili butter

heirloom tomatoes with basil/anchovy dressing

green salad with EVOO and lemon dressing

Sat lunch: angel hair pasta with lots of chilis, anchovies, cherry tomatoes and shredded basil, parmesan wafers and a grilled/chopped asparagus salad

Sat night: we had a neighborhood dock party...a group of us head down to the lake with table cloths, candelabras and crystal. This year we rowed out to the middle of the lake for cosmoplitans. Then a pot luck of grilled early season Canadian goose, I made a covey of roasted quail with a prune/cognac sauce, and we had some bean salad, scalloped potatoes...and nary a mosquito.

Sunday: very late arrival at the wonderful eGullet NJ picnic with some too late spiced yams. Sunday night was a mish-mash of leftovers....and hangovers.

[NulloModo]

At the Spanish grocery today I picked up something called 'Recaito' that looked interesting.

So tonight I sliced up some flank steak thin, sauteed it with onion, some of the Recaito, and finished it off with crema mexicana and chipotle sauce. Pretty tasty.

[hathor]

At the Spanish grocery today I picked up something called 'Recaito' that looked interesting.

So tonight I sliced up some flank steak thin, sauteed it with onion, some of the Recaito, and finished it off with crema mexicana and chipotle sauce.  Pretty tasty.

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What category is Recaito?? Sauce? Vegetable Intestine???

[NulloModo]

What category is Recaito?? Sauce? Vegetable Intestine??? 

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It is a condiment. Apparently it is cilantro based, saw it next to the Sofrito, Goya brand.

[Misa]

Baked potatoes with chili, cheese, and sour cream

Black cherry chocolate chip frozen yogurt w/ Cadburry Dairy Milk pieces

[Susan in FL]

Between snack time and appetizer time, I made some guacamole which we had with chips and Mojitos.

Dinner was an Asian style soup, using de-fatted broth leftover from the weekend's duck cooking process

and Walter Kei's Sweet and Sour Spareribs, which was a test recipe for Leite's Culinaria.

[Kapuliperson]

made a creamy soup last night with pasta, peas, carrots, and baby corn

[eunny jang]

The Great Gnocchi Experiment:

Gnocchi two ways: on the left with browned butter and sage leaves, and on the right with a proper pork/veal/beef bolognese. It was my first attempt at homemade gnocchi - I think I used waxy potatoes without thinking, and ended up having to add waay too much flour to be able to handle the dough. Still, they were tolerably light and fairly delicious. Both sauces gently glossed over any imperfections in the pasta

Just for me, eaten on the couch with a big tumbler of iced Lady Grey and the Sopranos.

Edited September 14, 2004 by eunny jang (log)

[birder53]

The Great Gnocchi Experiment:

Gnocchi two ways: on the left with browned butter and sage leaves, and on the right with a proper pork/veal/beef bolognese.  It was my first attempt at homemade gnocchi - I think I used waxy potatoes without thinking, and ended up having to add waay too much flour to be able to handle the dough.  Still, they were tolerably light and fairly delicious.  Both sauces gently glossed over any imperfections in the pasta

Just for me, eaten on the couch with a big tumbler of iced Lady Grey and the Sopranos.

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It looks wonderful!

[Malawry]

Pineapple-chicken skewers

Tofu satays with peanut sauce

Tiki roast pork BBQ mini-sandwiches on potato buns

Asian slaw, with sesame seeds and chili oil

Egg rolls with sweet chili sauce

Macadamia-white chocolate cookies

For 50. "Luau night."

[hjshorter]

Monday night: giant pot of Boston baked beans (navy beans, molasses, dry mustard, brown sugar, salt pork, yummy yummy salt pork). Cooked all day. Tangy, rich, and tender. I would have made brown bread to go with but didn't have a coffee can. I'm going to serve the leftovers on Wednesday over cornbread.

Tonight: Got sick and didn't feel like cooking, so takeout pizza.

[Foodie in Vancouver]

Diced some seeded, perfectly ripe Romas, tossed them with diced garlic pounded in the mortar. fresh basil. Drizzled with 12 yr. old balsamic and real Tuscan EVOO. Then mixed into some spaghettini. Fresh-baked ficele to mop up the left-over liquid

[Daddy-A]

It's harvest time in North Burnaby ... or at least on our back patio. Now that the Vancouver rains have started we decided to clear off the plants. This was the yield:

The eggplants & peppers will have to wait for another post, but the tomotoes were combined with some basil:

and thyme:

, drizzled with some olive oil and roasted with garlic at 325 for an hour to get to this:

I borrowed this technique from Jim Harrison's The Raw & the Cooked. The rest is all me (The pesto on the right was tossed with some pasta to go with the main) The tomatoes were skinned & seeded and set aside. Onions were sauted and deglazed with some Banrock Un-wooded Chardonnay, and then the tomatoes were thrown in. Two fillets of red snapper are placed on top:

and braised for 10 minutes.

You're all gonna kill me, but we were so hungry I forgot to take pictures of the finished dish ... but it was yummy! We used the pesto with some linguine, and enjoyed the rest of the Chardonnay.

Arne

Edited September 15, 2004 by Daddy-A (log)

[Susan in FL]

I worked both jobs yesterday, so dinner at 9 PM after I got home was this quick and easy pasta with shrimp, edamame, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, etc. that Russ made for us. It was good, and light enough for late night eating.

Tonight starts cooking by request, which I love! Our Danish son is flying to the States and will be here with us for a week and a half. Near the top of the list of what he wants is lasagne. I'm cooking ahead this morning, and this afternoon I'll be working while Russ picks him up at the airport. I'll be done with work by the time they get home, and then we'll eat, and talk way into the night I'm sure.

[CheGuevara]

looks very good - shrimp have a comforting attribute to them.

late night eating at 9pm - ahhh....cultural differences

-che

I worked both jobs yesterday, so dinner at 9 PM after I got home was this quick and easy pasta with shrimp, edamame, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, etc. that Russ made for us.  It was good, and light enough for late night eating.

Tonight starts cooking by request, which I love!  Our Danish son is flying to the States and will be here with us for a week and a half.  Near the top of the list of what he wants is lasagne.  I'm cooking ahead this morning, and this afternoon I'll be working while Russ picks him up at the airport.  I'll be done with work by the time they get home, and then we'll eat, and talk way into the night I'm sure. 

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[eunny jang]

Tuesday and Wednesday:

Tuesday: The Great Indian Experiment

My first foray into Indian cooking. Made the two most predictable things: vindaloo (with lamb) and saag paneer with some super-quick milk-and-lemon-juice paneer. They both turned out very well (well, delicious anyway), although I can see it taking me a very long time to properly understand the nuances of different spices singly and in combination. Also made some whole-wheat chapatis, which miraculously puffed up like hot-air balloons when held over a flame (they've cooled and deflated somewhat in the picture)

A rather chilly, damp night here. Put to rest a daydream I've been having for ages - short ribs, fastidiously trimmed of fat but not silverskin, braised with the usual suspects in red wine and some stock I had knocking around. Spooned over mashed Yukon Golds seriously spiked with horseradish. A little tangle of greens with hazelnut oil. Glass of non-descript zinfandel. The paper. Aaaahh.

[hjshorter]

Sausages, roasted as per Jinmyo's post in Jackal10's blog. Makes beautiful crunchy snappy skin. No more pan-frying.

The rest of the baked beans from Monday night. They were even better tonight, the dry mustard had mellowed somewhat with the molasses.

Tiny little brussels sprouts.

Milk for the kids, and parents.

[cheeseandchocolate]

eunny jang, those meals look gorgeous--and all the more so because it is a nasty chilly rainy fall day here in Seattle. Mmmmm, Indian food...short ribs...

Question: were you using a recipe for the vindaloo and saag paneer? Can you share?

[eunny jang]

eunny jang, those meals look gorgeous--and all the more so because it is a nasty chilly rainy fall day here in Seattle.  Mmmmm, Indian food...short ribs...

Question: were you using a recipe for the vindaloo and saag paneer?  Can you share?

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Thanks! Hrrmm...I sort of cobbled something together out of many recipes I saw for the vindaloo, including some over in our India forum. There's a whole thread on "authentic vindaloo" which was also helpful. The spice mixture was something like this:

1 t coriander seed

1 t cumin seed

6 green cardamon pods

10 black peppercorns

1/2 t turmeric

10 dried red chilis

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 inch of ginger

6 cloves of garlic

I think that was it, although I adjusted the spices a little as I went and tasted. Grind the spices, mix with a little oil, and toss some chunks of lamb shank (carefully trimmed; it's ok to leave silverskin on though) in it. Let it sit. Carmelize some shredded white onions (quite a lot; I used 2 medium for 2lbs of bone-in lamb) gently in a little oil. Skin some soft, almost overripe tomatoes (I used 3 big ones). When the onions are brown, buzz them with the tomatoes in a separate bowl to make a thick, liquid puree. Meanwhile, sear the lamb very well on all sides in a deep saucepan. Add the tomatoes/onions and a good quarter cup of white vinegar, along with plenty of salt, bring to a boil, and then let it simmer quietly until the lamb is done and the tomatoes have cooked down into a glossy, spicy, vinegary, velvety sauce.

The saag paneer spice mixture:

2 t coriander

1/2 t turmeric

1 inch ginger

6 cloves garlic

I sauteed a chopped onion in some oil until brown; then added the ground spices and the chopped ginger and garlic. After giving them a minute to bloom in the oil, I added about 1lb of washed and chopped spinach. Once the spinach was wilted, I added a little less than a cup of plain yogurt, gave it a quick buzz to puree everything, and heated it back up. Meanwhile, I fried cubes of paneer in hot oil to give them a brown crust, stirred them into the spinach, and plated everything.

To make paneer:

I took a suggestion off a website to make quick paneer this way - Bring a gallon of milk to a rolling boil. Off the heat, add 1 cup of white vinegar or lemon juice or a combination. Let it stand for ten minutes or so to let the curds come together, then strain through several layers of cheesecloth, sqeeze dry, and then sandwich the cheesecloth parcel between a couple plates with heavy, and I mean HEAVY, weights on top. Given a couple hours, it should be firm enough to cut and fry as referenced above.

Hope this helps!

[malarkey]

breakfast, friday morning: scrambled eggs with tarragon and fresh chanterelles, courtesy of DRColby who brought them to a bunch of egulleteers last night in Seattle. Hot cup of java.

Love your sig line eunny jang!

[cheeseandchocolate]

Thanks, eunny jang! I really appreciate it!

[Jinmyo]

Sausages, roasted as per Jinmyo's post in Jackal10's blog.  Makes beautiful crunchy snappy skin.  No more pan-frying.

Truly, madly, deeply, roasting is the One True Path to utter and perfect sausagement.