Dinner! 2004

[Susan in FL]

Its sort of turning into a tradition...a big, lavish meal for teenagers.

That is so nice to hear. Brought back memories... That's the sort of thing we did for our boys and their friends when they were young. They all loved it, and we had quite a reputation for it. Everybody wanted to be invited! Even on regular week nights, the friends would casually ask what we were having for dinner, because they knew (1) that we cooked a good meal almost every night, even if it was after the ball games and practices, etc. -- only once in a while did we order pizza -- and that we sat at the table to eat no matter how late and (2) it was always something different than they were used to. It was amazing to me how few kids had dinners cooked for them. Often in their families, it was each person on their own, take out or eat out.

Congrats to you. Thanks for the post. Great sounding dinner menu, too, BTW!

[hathor]

Its sort of turning into a tradition...a big, lavish meal for teenagers.

That is so nice to hear. Brought back memories... That's the sort of thing we did for our boys and their friends when they were young. They all loved it, and we had quite a reputation for it. Everybody wanted to be invited! Even on regular week nights, the friends would casually ask what we were having for dinner, because they knew (1) that we cooked a good meal almost every night, even if it was after the ball games and practices, etc. -- only once in a while did we order pizza -- and that we sat at the table to eat no matter how late and (2) it was always something different than they were used to. It was amazing to me how few kids had dinners cooked for them. Often in their families, it was each person on their own, take out or eat out.

Congrats to you. Thanks for the post. Great sounding dinner menu, too, BTW!

that about describes what goes on at our house! Now that everyone is back from college, I usually call my son around 8:00 to get the head count for dinner!

[redfox]

Guacamole tacos

which were a hit -- I can hardly wait to try it with better avocados -- and (not pictured) a really delicious salad featuring the very very fresh salad greens that came in our first sack of vegetables from our CSA. There were pea shoots! That made me happy.

[KateW]

Guacamole tacos

That has GOT to be a sin, albeit a very good one. Is there just guacamole in there? What are the red bits?

[redfox]

That has GOT to be a sin, albeit a very good one.  Is there just guacamole in there?  What are the red bits?

Chopped cherry tomatoes, to leaven it ever so slightly. Otherwise, 100% classic guacamole. A Salvedorean restaurant around the corner from us makes a supper platter that includes one of these, and I am always wishing that the whole platter were all guac tacos! So we took matters into our own hands.

Edited to add: Oh, by the way -- I had a great experience regarding tonight's salad. There'd been some confusion regarding which CSA pickup site I was signed up for, and the following email exchange came out of it:

Farmer: I see you are still down for "TAKOMA PARK", a drop that does not exist currently.

There were extra shares at Silver Spring. If you can get back by there tonight, there should still be one there for you.

Me: Thanks very much -- we went back and picked it up, and have already consumed the delicious salad greens. Pea shoots! Mmm.

Farmer: You are making me happy!!! ;-)

Is it not an amazing world in which one emails one's farmer to tell him one enjoyed the pea shoots?

Edited June 4, 2004 by redfox (log)

[Dana]

Garden salad with champagne/walnut vinegar dressing

Dried Porcini Risotto

Green beans from the garden (3rd picking)

Roasted Chicken

Strawberries and Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell Ice cream

[pcarpen]

thursday: grilled quesadillas with caramelized onions and monterrey jack. homemade pico and guac.

[binkyboots]

oregano & tomatoey lamb mine with spaghetti, topped with crumbled feta

bread

[NulloModo]

Chicken leg/thigh quarter with basil and garlic slid between the skin and meat, pan-browned and then finished in oven with some parmesan and mozerrella on top.

basil, spinach, and tomato salad with a black pepper and red-wine dressing.

[curlywurlyfi]

inspired by this comment

I have to say that there is not much more sacred in families than passing down well loved recipes. [...] And there is this recipe for pickled shrimp that has a historical and family connection.

in the thread about Mayhaw Man's mother's recipe book, I made pickled shrimp and served with steamed asparagus. Didn't have the recommended celery seed so substituted fennel seed. Absolutely delicious, thank you Fifi! (and Brooks.) I had the leftovers for breakfast...

[Susan in FL]

And now thank you Fifi (and Brooks, and Curlywurlyfi)! I printed out that recipe and will definitely make it with some fresh local shrimp ASAP.

It looks like we should beware... this might be the beginning of something like roasted cauliflower.

I've had a great big box of cut-out recipes to go through (unorganized) of my mother's, since she died in 1996. This has inspired me to tackle it.

[Suzanne F]

Another meal that made me wish we had a camera:

Roasted Copper River Sockeye Salmon fillet

Melange of seasonal veg: fiddleheads, ramps, asparagus plus fingerling potatoes

Salad with artichoke vinaigrette

Paumanok Barrel-fermented Chardonnay

Now I understand why the anticipation of Copper River salmon was so great: this is what salmon is supposed to look and taste like. Mmmmmm.

[Dana]

Arugula with toasted walnuts, pears and creamy gorganzola salad

Sea Bass with chardonnay sauce (from Sauver mag)

broccoli with lemon butter

homemade rolls from my Grandma's recipe (1945?) with Plugra

Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and nectarines and ameretto

[Jinmyo]

Roasted whole huge white mushrooms.

Cubes of paneer (mild Indian cheese) with sautéed red onion, chopped gai lan, and red pepper

Croquettes of Thai rice with coriander and curry with goat's milk yogurt.

Tandoori centre loin chops.

Salad of mesclun with roasted yellow pepper vinaigrette, blanched haricot verts.

Grape tomatoes, and cucumber spears with pomegranate seeds in a pomegranate and grape seed oil vinaigrette.

[NulloModo]

Rare sirloin steak

Aloo Gobi Mattar

[Mayhaw Man]

I find myself home alone tonight. Pizza? Chinese? Leftovers? HELL NO!

I just enjoyed a salted and peppered tomato outta my garden, skirt steak smothered in onions and garlic over creamy cheese grits with a green salad w/ avacodo and some great vinegarette my wife left for me.

Desert will be lime sherbert (homemade).

Loneliness can be a good thing.

[bloviatrix]

Tonight's dinner was completely inspired by egullet:

Spicy fish soup

Multi-grain bread

Poached apricots w/mascarpone mixed with honey and nutmeg

[Susan in FL]

Loneliness can be a good thing.

Absolutely.

That sounds so good!!

[Malawry]

A big salad topped with buffalo-style chicken breast, bacon, and tons of vegetables.

Root beer float while watching a DVD to follow. Ahhh, summer.

[Varmint]

I find myself home alone tonight. Pizza? Chinese? Leftovers? HELL NO!

I just enjoyed a salted and peppered tomato outta my garden, skirt steak smothered in onions and garlic over creamy cheese grits with a green salad w/ avacodo and some great vinegarette my wife left for me.

Desert will be lime sherbert (homemade).

Loneliness can be a good thing.

I totally take advantage of the time when Mrs. Varmint and the L'il Varmints are gone. I love cooking for myself, using every single ingredient that Mrs. Varmint despises (and there's quite a few). Fortunately, though, I'm not cooking for myself very often at all. I'd prefer a crappy meal with my wife than an outstanding solo meal any day of the week.

[Behemoth]

I totally take advantage of the time when Mrs. Varmint and the L'il Varmints are gone. I love cooking for myself, using every single ingredient that Mrs. Varmint despises (and there's quite a few). Fortunately, though, I'm not cooking for myself very often at all. I'd prefer a crappy meal with my wife than an outstanding solo meal any day of the week.

Hear hear. The boy is travelling so I get to eat roast beets (and blanched beet tops salad, and roast chicken with lemons and black oil-cured olives and a wedge of v. goaty aged spanish cheese and Cote de Rhone wine and and and ....) But seriously, the man will not touch beets, whereas I love the things.

And yet, I wish he were here for everything else

[Yuki]

Stewed Lamb Chunks with bean curd, white turnip, and water chestnut

Stir fried sugar snapped beans with garlic

Stir fried spinach with garlic

Rice

Soup - pork bones, black eye beans, dried cuttlefish, and mystery ingredients added by grandma

[redfox]

Homemade hummus

Romaine lettuce (for scooping)

Two cheeses: Saint Nectaire, Idiazabal

Oil-cured olives

Assortment of fresh herbs: genovese basil, oregano, flat-leaf parsley, Greek basil

Olive oil with za'atar

Smoked almonds

Lillet cocktails

[cakewalk]

Had some friends over Saturday for dinner. After watching Smarty Jones lose and drinking more than enough Belmont Breezes (the Belmont Race's "official" drink) we had:

Chicken w/orange & lemon rind and grated ginger (from Cucina Hebraica)

Slow braised leeks

Steamed baby artichokes

Asparagus w/dijon vinaigrette

Quinoa w/sauted onions

Salad w/Israeli cucmbers that they had at Fairway (very nostalgic for me)

Too much wine

Perfectly ripe honeydew with lime juic and mint leaves

Everything came out great, but the leeks and the artichokes were amazing. I used the recipe from the Zuni Cafe cookbook (although she doesn't call for baby artichokes, and I left them to simmer on the stovetop rather than put them in the oven), and the Paula Wolfert recipe for leeks that someone put on eGullet a while ago (thank you).

[NeroW]

Saturday:

porterhouses on the Weber, marinated in EVOO, r.w. vin., green garlic, lemons

coal-roasted red potatoes

roasted red & orange peppers, crisped in the cast iron with more green garlic

bread

Sunday:

grilled beef/pork sausages

grilled buns

grilled onions

mustard

skin-on mashed red potatoes with chicken stock