Dinner! 2004

[cheeseandchocolate]

I couldn't seem to get warm today, even though it was pretty mild out. Dinner was warming, though...

Lentil-and-chestnut soup

Greek-style lima beans (from Gourmet a few months back)

Macrina Bakery baguette

Afterwards, a bit of Neal's Yard Stilton and thin slices of mimolette, with more baguette

And finally, a few squares of Cluizel 85% dark chocolate

[Mayhaw Man]

I catered a Gallery Meet and Greet tonight for 100 ppl. and dinner was the same thing the hipster art patrons ate for chat snacks

Crawfish Tarts

Smoked Salmon on herbed flatbread rounds w sundried tom. pesto, capers, micro thin lemon slice

Gorgonzola Mousse w breadsticks (same dough as the flatbread)

Lemon Loves and Hazelnut/Chocolate Puffs (picture sugar cookies with baking powder-really good)

[Rhea_S]

Braised pork loin with cabbage, apples and fennel

Roasted mustard-spiced sweet potatoes

Chocolate mascarpone cheesecake

Licorice-spice tea

[Mayhaw Man]

Braised pork loin with cabbage, apples and fennel

Roasted mustard-spiced sweet potatoes

Chocolate mascarpone cheesecake

Licorice-spice tea

That is a very cool looking plate

[redfox]

Frittata containing onion confit and Trader Joe's frozen asparagus.

Still-warm whole wheat buttermilk bread.

Big salad.

Coffee ice cream.

Today I was very very good and not only put in a full day of work, but also went to Home Depot and bought a plumbing snake, cleared our gnarly bathtub clog, and cleaned the apartment -- with vacuuming, even. So now I am slowly winding down for bed with bourbon and Fritos (!), because I deserve a treat.

[FireWire]

Beef Stir Fry

Beef, Broccoli, red peppers, a few other Chinese vegetables which I am unsure how to spell, in oyster sauce. Something done in a bit of a hurry, but tastes great.

(Oh and that was served on basmati rice)

[pcarpen]

thursday: bucatini with artichokes, tomatoes, lemon zest, olive oil, lemon juice,parmesan, and fresh ricotta

[PopsicleToze]

Yesterday was Day 1 of my Atkins diet. Giving induction until April 1st to work its magic.

For lunch, cheeseburger salad. Lined plate with shredded iceberg lettuce. Then layered some cheddar cheese on that. Layered on top of that some browned ground chuck with onions. Finally, drizzled on an aioli for the 'dressing'. It was fabulous.

Planned on having pan-seared salmon fillets last night with the roasted cauliflower inspired by this board. However, after roasting the cauliflower, that's all I had -- the entire head

[Jinmyo]

My attempt at southern U.S. cuisine for 12 out of the 33 people served:

Corn fritters: Roasted corn and crab meat in an onion and corn cream on a corn tortilla chip with a few pieces of serrano chile.

Demitasse of chicken broth a few enoki mushrooms and a deep-fried sage leaf.

Crunchy chicken thighs. (Seasoned with kosher salt, crushed black pepper, minced garlic, fresh ground cumin, smoked paprika oil, lime juice, ancho powder, rolled in panko, roasted at 450 F for 20 minutes, turned for 10 minutes, finished at 350 F for ten minutes) with

Polenta muffins (poured into muffin tins, put in with chicken for 5 minutes at 450, 10 minutes 350) topped (flipped, so it becomes the bottom) with pecorino and lardons, surrounded by onion "confit".

Tiny salad of chopped romaine and escarole tossed with EVOO and champagne vinegar with deep-fried shrimp chips and a few black-eyed peas marinated in bourbon.

[alacarte]

Arroz con pollo -- Oven-roasted chicken with lemon juice, paprika and bay leaves, served with spanish rice and steamed asparagus, peppers, and baby carrots.

gorgeous photo, pcarpen. I think I hear my stomach rumbling.

[Priscilla]

Hey, I prepared a chicken-with-rice dish too. Guess it was in the zeitgeist.

Chicken thighs, browned/removed, onion, bell pepper, one lonely tomato sauteed, more than a pinch of Aleppo pepper, bay leaf, s & p, the remaining threads of Penzey's superior saffron so now it'll be onto trying the Trader Joe's in the cute little square jar, a hit of white vermouth allowed to boil away, Mahatma long-grain sauteed before water & chicken added back in, lid clapped on, low heat until such time as it was ready.

Broccoli blanched, turned in butter in which anchovies had been dissolved.

LBB sourdough, salty Plugra.

The dread Korbel brut rose.

[torakris]

Only a couple more days until payday and i am working from the freezer and the larder:

chicken meatballs simmered in a tomato sauce with green beans

served over Japanese rice

potato salad with cucumbers and green olives

[bloviatrix]

Shabbat dinner will be:

Chicken Soup w/carrot

Veal Schnitzel

Sauteed mushrooms on arugala

Bulgur Pilaf

Hamentashen and grapes for dessert

Haven't yet decided on the wine.

[Jason Perlow]

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Cajun Rice Dressing w/Meat (Inspired by Ms. Lucy) with Sliced Roasted Chicken and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

[dumpling]

Friday

Distance cooking- I prepped it then phoned it in and ate it when I got home now

Jamaican Jerk Shrimp and Scallops

Sweet Potato Salad in a Chili Lime Dressing

Haricot Verts with butter, lemon and garlic

Yellow Rice

Key Lime Pie

Tasty dinner.

Nice pepper, Jason.

Pcarpen, will you guys adopt me and feed me?

[Susan in FL]

As always, beautiful food being displayed and described here. Thanks everyone for the continued inspirations.

I haven't been able to keep up with posting even our highlights, but I did want to take time to mention a dinner my husband cooked this week. I've had a lot of business + pleasure dinners out recently, and Thursday my vegetarian colleague and I ate here, with my husband. He made the Risotto Primavera recipe from April's Bon Appetit. It was delicious, and just as pretty as in the picture, which I forgot to take. An amusing thought... had I remembered, I wonder what our guest would have thought about our routine of photographing our food! Not too many of my coworkers or closest friends do this sort of thing.

[torakris]

Saturday dinner:

I am running out of food in the house.....

Thai style red curry with squid, potatoes, onions and cabbage

served over Jasmine rice

tomato salad

[arjay]

Last evening, tonkatsu, not with the usual tenderloin but with thin rib chops which appealed to me at the pan-Asian supermarket, which as a precaution against toughness I did pound to a fare-thee-well.  Very thin, schnitzele-like, very good.

Carrot kinpira, marinated soy bean sprouts, snow peas blanched and dressed with Torakris's sesame sauce.  Cabbage pickle, the last of my current batch, time to make more, a splash of soy sauce over.

Lovely new-crop Nishiki from the cooker.  May be the power of suggestion, that little "new-crop" flag on the bag, but wow it might have been the best rice ever, even among Nishiki always being good.

Excuse me, but would you please consider your audience in your posts and provide a translation for us peasants?

[redfox]

Today we wanted something light, and we wanted to pretend that the produce offerings had caught up with the lovely spring weather. I made a soup of fennel, leeks, carrots, shallots, and jarred roasted peppers, with a splash of yuzu ponzu. No cream or potatoes or any other thickeners, just the vegetables and stock. Hothouse basil as a garnish brought out the flavor of the fennel. Very nice.

[toni guy]

Brazil nuts and nectarine wrapped in prosciutto.

Crab ravioli with creme fraiche and basil.

Linguine with Sicilian pesto served with grilled cumin and lemon marinated shrimp.

Citrus fruit with rosemary honey.

[Varmint]

Dinner for friends and clients, inspired by dishes from Durham's Magnolia Grill:

Butterbean crostini with roasted garlic and bacon

EVOO-seared tuna sashimi with sesame vinagrette on watercress

Herbed green tomato soup with crabmeat, prosciutto cracklin's and buttermilk swirls

Roasted garlic-rubbed beef tenderloin with buttermilk mashed potatoes and artichoke ragout

Chocolate peanut praline tart with peanut butter mocha sauce and bourbon whipped cream

Started with a Paringo Shiraz, then a 2001 Saint-Benoit Chateauneuf du Pape, and then a 2000 Chateau du Tourano. Good fun, good meal.

[Larry]

Herbed green tomato soup with crabmeat, prosciutto cracklin's and buttermilk swirls

That tomato soup sounds and looks amazing. Would you be able to post a recipe?

Thanks

[Mayhaw Man]

Please tell an unsophisticated butterbean fan the process for "butterbean crostini". Hard to go wrong with bacon and butterbeans and that looks really tasty.

Those are some fine looking victuals you put together. Nice work.

[Mayhaw Man]

I am currently working some rediculous hours implementing a new process and my cooking has all been arranged around my stupid schedule (the hours aren't long, but they are weird and occur at odd and inconvenient times of the day-like Sunday morining).

Yesterday I got home and put a small turkey that I purchased at some rediculous price in the oven. I used the cooking method listed as "Marie Snelling's Perfect Turkey" in the Cotton Country Collection for those of you that have that fine book.

The basic process is that the bird is stuffed with onions, celery, and apples. The turkey is rubbed HEAVILY with kosher salt and cracked pepper. Bacon strips (good bacon) are laid on top of the bird and a linen cloth soaked in evoo is laid over the breasts of the bird. Turkey is baked and the rag is removed for the last 45 minutes of cooking. This process produces an unbelievably moist turkey.

This was served with a salad the last of the winter greens out of my garden (mainly butter lettuce), rice and giblet gravy, squash casserole and a little homemade strawberry i.c. for dessert.

It was just like a holiday meal except that most of it cooked while I slept. Very tasty and now I have sandwich meat for school lunches for the rest of the week.

[Varmint]

All but one of the recipes came from Ben and Karen Barker's "Not Afraid of Flavor" which you can get from Amazon here: Click here for da book!

I won't post recipes that have the detail necessary to be included in RecipeGullet, as I don't follow them to the level of detail specified in the books. I take their ideas and change them based on my needs and ingredients.

For the soup, take a smoked pork product and crisp it up with oil. Remove the ham/bacon/yummy stuff and then add lots of onions, garlics and whatever green chile peppers you have lying around. Cook until soft, then add a few pounds of quartered green tomatoes, cover with stock, and cook until tomatoes are mushy. Puree the soup in batches in blender, add some acid (lemon juice or white wine) to balance the flavor.

When ready to serve, put some crabmeat in a bowl, pour hot soup over it, garnish with chopped tomato & caper, scallions, and a mix of sour cream & buttermilk. Top it all off with the crispy pork product!!

Butterbean crostini. Cook lots of shallots until soft with a bay leaf. Add butterbeans and enough stock to cover. Cook until butterbeans are done. Cool. Drain, reserving liquid. Puree coarsely, adding roasted garlic, lemon zest, S&P, and herbs. Grill crusty bread that was brushed with EVOO. What we did was smear some roasted garlic then the spread on a piece of the bread and topped it with herbs and bacon. We also would add some hot sauce, which really helped the flavor. It was fun to play around with this dish.