Dinner! 2004

[Chufi]

I love vongole, but I never cook them. Why not, I wonder.

and the tagine with pears.. in autumn, I love to make dishes that combine meat and fruit. Last week I made a chicken dish with prunes... yum..

Last night our dinner was composed around a great bottle of port (1989 Kopke Vintage port). On the table: different cheeses (Stilton, Brie, Manchego, aged Gouda, a beautiful red-rinded cheese that I forgot the name of, and a little creamy, pungent au lait cru). Homemade soda bread, grapes, sliced Fuji apple, toasted pecans, and the last of a batch of onion confit.

we ate it all so that was basically the meal.. but we had a bowl of Jerusalem Artichoke soup afterwards just to have something hot

[Basilgirl]

Chicken Aglio Olio, from Lidia's new cookbook, Lidia's Family Table - the sauce is thickened with a tablespoon of breadcrumbs - a new one on me

Green Beans Toscano from The Babbo Cookbook

Garlic mashed potates with olive oil and lots of pepper

Garlic, garlic, garlic and more garlic in everything

Yellow Tail Chardonnay - I suck that stuff down like Coca-Cola

[LaurieB]

Finally had some time to cook.

Cream of celery soup finished with cilantro. Very delicate but at the same time VERY rich.

No salad

Herb roasted pork tenderloin with pan sauce; roasted cauliflower (my DH's new favorite vegetable ) and a gratin of shredded potatoes with some apples and horseradish. Cranberry mousse for dessert.

All was good.

LaurieB

[Chufi]

roast cod with shallots and garlic

slow-roasted tomatoes

pressed baked potatoes with fennel seeds and thyme:

[reesek]

chufi,

your potatoes and tomatoes look so delicious - and i LOVE your table (pictured last page)

last night was a meal to nurse a sick friend. egg drop soup made with the last of my turkey stock (simmered slowly with ginger & shiitakes sauteed with stock fat and deglazed with sherry & mirin)

main was seared albacore over cabbage slaw with my favorite dressing (sambal olek, rice vinegar, sugar, veg oil & fish sauce)

dessert was juicy comice pears cut in half and filled with sweetened mascarpone.

tea to drink...which kept me up all night.

[Susan in FL]

roast cod with shallots and garlic

slow-roasted tomatoes

pressed baked potatoes with fennel seeds and thyme:

That looks beautiful and sounds delicious. Could you please tell more about how you slow-roast tomatoes and how you do the pressed baked potatoes? I've gotta have 'em!

[Chufi]

chufi,

and i LOVE your table (pictured last page)

←

thanks! We only bought it last year and I'm glad we did every day!

Susan - those slowroast tomatoes are the easiest thing - just halve them, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and a little sugar, and roast at 120 C for about 2 1/2 hours. For serving I drizzled them with a little balsamico. I like them best cold.

The potatoes: boil unpeeled until barely tender, press flat between two plates, sprinkle with salt, fennel seed and thyme (or any other herb), drizzle with olive oil and roast in hot oven (200 C) for 20 minutes. They were a revelation, first time I made them!

Edited December 6, 2004 by Chufi (log)

[spaghetttti]

I made some turkey sausage rolls for appetizers and have just pulled these out of the oven.

Since the oven is still hot, put some cornish hens in an Indonesian sauce in there to roast. We'll have them with glazed carrots, stir-fried string beans and steamed rice.

Edited December 6, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[suzilightning]

last night was a venison stew with shallots and crimini mushrooms. with garlic mashed potatoes. wine was a st. helenas ranch cabernet. only thing i would have done differently is add carrots and peas to the stew. but the venison was the best i have ever had - a shoulder piece from a place up in pleasant valley, ny and cut with your fork tender.

john keeps threatening to buy a digital camera. guess i'm going to have to learn how to do this stuff because this meal was worth a photo.

[Luckylies]

god, I wish I had taken pictures...sat.

roasted a pork shoulder slow in 300 degree oven...

made cole slaw (i used to hate cole slaw, but it turned out so good)

yummy vinegary barbeque sauce

lame-o arugala salad which nobody touched (why eat salad when there's pig to be had)

super carmelised (also known as forgotten in oven) carrots...

the pulled pork sandwiches were divine...oohey-gooey porky goodness.

[hillvalley]

My kitchen is in bags for the foreseeable future so I am scraping around for non-cooked meals.

Last night was a brilliant Epoisses (smuggled in last week) on water crackers. An hour or so later I had a plate of Tator Tots. Both were washed down with a red called A*Mano.

Tonight was more Epoisses, more wine and a bowl of heirloom tomato soup from a local farm. It was way too sweet so I doctored it up a but of balsamic, evoo and red pepper flakes.

[Susan in FL]

I made some turkey sausage rolls for appetizers and  have just pulled these out of the oven. 

Since the oven is still hot, put some cornish hens in an Indonesian sauce in there to roast.  We'll have them with glazed carrots, stir-fried string beans and steamed rice.

YUM!

john keeps threatening to buy a digital camera.  guess i'm going to have to learn how to do this stuff because this meal was worth a photo.

Oh good, I hope he carries out his threat!

I larbed chicken thigh meat tonight, and besides the larby-garnishes, served a Thai-style broccoli salad with it.

[percyn]

Sunday's dinner - Shish Kebab (Temp was in the 50s, so I left like grilling one last time this year)

Monday's dinner - Chipotle Porter Chili (great for the rainy cold weather)

Tastes great with Rouge Mocha Porter

Chufi - Dinner looks great, as did yesterday's cheese dinner

Yetty - Did you make the dough yourself?

Cheers

Percy

[Dana]

Susan, the broccoli salad looks great! How'd you make it?

Edited December 7, 2004 by Dana (log)

[jrt]

...

Tastes great with Rouge Mocha Porter

Chufi - Dinner looks great, as did yesterday's cheese dinner

Yetty - Did you make the dough yourself?

Cheers

Percy

←

Oh my... that dinner looks great, but the porter? Have you been to Rogue? I can't belive what a wonderful beer that is. Oh. Heart. Breaking. Need. Rogue. Beer.

Great looking dinners. Did you throw the tortillas on the grill, too? Sorry for the beer tangent. :)

[lovebenton0]

I larbed chicken thigh meat tonight, and besides the larby-garnishes, served a Thai-style broccoli salad with it.

←

Susan, that all looks delicious! You're earning your larb stripes!

I'm curious about your broccoli salad also. Will you share? Please?

Tonight we had thin slices of toasted boule spread with today's experiment -- cinnamon basil/onion confit -- as an appetizer.

Big bowls of spicy panang coconut beef curry with rice, topped with lime zest cilantro, basil, and sliced hot Thai peppers.

Edit to add: Also a bunch of crisp, sweet red grapes to share. Great juicy treat with the hot curry.

These grapes are about 1/3 white (pale green) at the stem then deep red along the oblong fruit body. Does anyone know this variety? Someone brought a lot of these for Thanksgiving and we just finished them last night. They're so good -- but I don't know the variety.

Edited December 7, 2004 by lovebenton0 (log)

[Ling]

I baked 2 large (maybe 10oz?) salmon fillets for 15 minutes at 325F and they came out perfect--very moist, quite rare, with the fat just melting and coating the silky rose-colored flesh. I had topped the salmon with garlic, slices of Meyer lemon, s&p, and parsley. Also sauteed some mushrooms, and had tater tots (yum--easiest side dish in the world!) And an inexpensive Riesling to drink.

[Luckylies]

I made some turkey sausage rolls for appetizers and have just pulled these out of the oven.

I must have these yummy turkey rolls, spaghetttti.....how do I make these mine. they look sooo good...

as for my dinner. i was feeling very old school... so made a caprese witht the best buffolo mozzorella I've had in a very long time (surprising, it was the stuff in the bag) and some lame-o on the vine tomatos that refused to ripen no matter how many apples i bagged them with...yummy basil and ex virgin olio.

then baked ziti, which was very good and just like childhood dictated. ground beef, tomato sauce,ricotta, s&P and red pep (a li) and mozzerella...yes I used polly-o, how else was I supposed to get those strings of cheesey goodness...my boyfriend was impressed for no other reason than the fact that I used under a hundred utensils and pots. drank an okay pino grigio not worth mentioning. never watch The Swan while eating.

Edited December 7, 2004 by Luckylies (log)

[rabidscottsman]

...

Tastes great with Rouge Mocha Porter

Chufi - Dinner looks great, as did yesterday's cheese dinner

Yetty - Did you make the dough yourself?

Cheers

Percy

←

Oh my... that dinner looks great, but the porter? Have you been to Rogue? I can't belive what a wonderful beer that is. Oh. Heart. Breaking. Need. Rogue. Beer.

Great looking dinners. Did you throw the tortillas on the grill, too? Sorry for the beer tangent. :)

←

The Rouge brewery in Newport Oregon is a great place to visit. Upstairs is a small restaurant/tasting room. Every February they have a seafood and wine festival at the brewery. The event attracts thousands of people and the line can be up to 5 hours long just to get into the door!

The festival is a blast! Im hoping to make it back next year

[little ms foodie]

We had speghetti squash roasted then mixed with marinara and parm and baked back in the over. Veal breaded and pan fried with a bit more marianar on top. green salad.

[Luckylies]

god, I wish I had taken pictures...sat.

roasted a pork shoulder slow in 300 degree oven...

made cole slaw (i used to hate cole slaw, but it turned out so good)

yummy vinegary barbeque sauce

lame-o arugala salad which nobody touched (why eat salad when there's pig to be had)

super carmelised (also known as forgotten in oven) carrots...

the pulled pork sandwiches were divine...oohey-gooey porky goodness.

←

got pics when recreated the sandwhich for lunch today! oh man, I cant figure out how to post them....anyone? help...

perhaps this will work!

Edited December 7, 2004 by Luckylies (log)

[percyn]

...

I larbed chicken thigh meat tonight, and besides the larby-garnishes, served a Thai-style broccoli salad with it.

←

Susan, that looks good.....guess what I had for dinner today? Sushi and larb...but at a restaurant (and it still didn't look and I am sure taste this good).

[percyn]

Oh my... that dinner looks great, but the porter?  Have you been to Rogue?  I can't belive what a wonderful beer that is.  Oh.  Heart.  Breaking.  Need.  Rogue.  Beer.

Great looking dinners.  Did you throw the tortillas on the grill, too?  Sorry for the beer tangent. :)

←

Jrt,

I have not been to Rouge. I recently discovered this beer and it is great. There are some local breweries here that make good porter too.

Yes, I did place the flatbread on the grill after I turned it off and was letting the meat rest for a bit. Squeezed some lemon all over....hmmm....hmmm good. These were 90% beef, but I usually mix lamb and beef.

Cheers

Percy

[little ms foodie]

dark, stormy and rainy in Seattle..... just like in London right???

Shepards pie! in the dish...

and on the plate with a nice green salad and an O'Reilly's Merlot 2002

(sorry for the bit of blur)

There is cheese on top but it is white, extra sharp Tillamook Cheddar.

mmmmmmmmmm!

[percyn]

dark, stormy and rainy in Seattle..... just like in London right???

Shepards pie! in the dish...

mmmmmmmmmm!

←

That Shepard's pie must be perfect for the always rainy Seattle weather