Dinner! 2004

[eunny jang]

My boyfriend made salty, peppery steaks and a little green salad. He garnished the plate with fresh blackberries. He's wonderful.

[reesek]

Dinner tonight:

Slow roasted chicken with garlic and lemons (Nigella Lawson - Forever Summer)

anna,

i don't even eat chicken but actually looked around for the bread to dip into that gorgeous chicken juice. nigella rocks.

chef shogun - i'm addicted to panang too. i think it tastes like soap and i can't get enough. i think lime leaves are the critical element - they freeze very well. a little fresh galangal or lemongrass if you can find it will also help and thai (holy) basil adds an anisey bite.

good luck!

Edited July 20, 2004 by reesek (log)

[hathor]

Pork chop, very simply pan fried with salt, pepper and thyme. Served with fresh lime. The pork chop was from the Berkshire pig, and was amazingly tasty and flavorful.

White beans and basil.

Heirloom and tomato salad with a mashed anchovy/basil dressing. mmmmm....

[Carrot Top]

I've enjoyed reading all these dinners. Usually I would not even post mine as any gourmet-ish plans are foiled and adapted by my children (ages nine and ten).

Today however I am fleeing to the computer to avoid eating another portion of what I cooked for dinner (they are away at camp!)

This was simple, and good for anyone who is eating solo: Chunky Caponata, freshly made from ingredients at the farm market, still warm, ladled onto heated pita bread.

With a glass of chardonnay and a bit of quiet?

Heaven!

[binkyboots]

last night was lentil soup from mung dahl lentials, really good, much creamier than ordinary lentils!

tonight,

brie, figs, pears, fresh sourdough bread and a green salad

[curlywurlyfi]

at home with my parents in Scotland, last meal of a long weekend of birthdays and weddings and golf at Troon before returning to London, real life, work, house-move, etc. Poached smoked haddock topped with a poached egg, grilled bacon and fried Ayrshire potatoes. The rest of the magnum of Carteau du Gay 2001.

[Jake]

Homemade (by someone else) ricotta filled ravioli in a thyme/butter/white wine/ch. broth sauce with some fresh peas. Yummy. Accompanied by a bottle of Villa Sandi Pinot Grigio (cheap & cheerful @ about $11 a bottle).

[Susan in FL]

A no-recipe night...

Grilled skewered pork, chicken, shrimp, and pineapple, with a mango-pineapple glaze;

A saute' of cooked rice, peas, seeded and diced tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, cumin;

Caesar salad;

Pinot Noir.

[irodguy]

Seared Salmon on Cucumber Salad Toped with Japanese Chili Oil and Tabiko

[hillvalley]

Went home to my parents house tonight. Fresh quatro fromagio ravioli (from the Eastern Market) and a butter leaf salad with tomatoes and peppers from their garden.

For dessert we walked to B&J and I had a cone of chunky monkey. When we got home from the walk my mother and I tried a mellon (butterscotch, I think) I picked up at the farmers market this weekend. It wasn't very good.

[Rachel Perlow]

We just finished the swiss chard goma-ae as an appetizer to tonight's dinner of BBQ chicken. While not my favorite way to have goma-ae (tied between green beans and spinach), it is my new favorite way to have swiss chard (usually we just sauteed w/oo & garlic).

[tanabutler]

Susan in FL and Anna, y'all made me drool. Nice photos (I like your table setting, SiF) and the food looks really appetizing.

[eunny jang]

Dinner tonight:

Slow roasted chicken with garlic and lemons (Nigella Lawson - Forever Summer)

This looked so delicious I toddled over to the bookstore, bought the cookbook, and had it for dinner last night. I'd planned to get home at six so we could eat by 8:30, but the rain here turned my six-mile over-the-bridge-into-the-city-against-rush-hour-traffic-normally-fifteen-minute reverse commute into an 1.5 hour debacle . We didn't eat till ten, but man, was it good .

Haricots verts, parboiled and finished with grainy mustard (the best possible way I know of to prepare green beans, better than with almonds or mushrooms or even bacon, sorry sorry) and orzo pilaf with tangy-sweet oven-dried grape tomatoes on the side.

Excellent rainy-night dinner.

[irodguy]

Dinner tonight:

Haricots verts, parboiled and finished with grainy mustard (the best possible way I know of to prepare green beans, better than with almonds or mushrooms or even bacon, sorry sorry) and orzo pilaf with tangy-sweet oven-dried grape tomatoes on the side.

Excellent rainy-night dinner.

I don't know about that. Wrapped in apple smoked bacon popped in the oven @ 450 and then just before they are ready sprinkling on brown sugar. Hard to beat

[Basilgirl]

The first bacon, basil & tomato sandwich of the summer. On toasted 15-grain bread with pesto mayo and lots of salt & pepper.

Herr's Thin & Crispy potato chips.

Sierra Nevadas.

[RSincere]

Not that fancy, but my lunch was great. I'm eating some really good food ever since I decided to REALLY learn to cook (none of this five-can casserole crap anymore). And interestingly enough, even though I'm using butter, olive oil, and cream in my cooking, I'm losing weight without trying. Contrast this to the EIGHT months I spent low-carbing (25 carbs or less/day, and I was obsessive about it) in which I lost only TWO pounds total. To be fair to Dr. Atkins, I have med issues and pituitary issues. I don't know why I'm losing the weight now, but I'll take it!

Anyway, Lunch!

Sauteed 4 oz. pollock per person in butter with garlic, lemon pepper, salt. Lemon squeezed over at the end.

Sauteed 1/2 lb mushrooms and a large shallot, added vegetable broth, and made rice. I added a small handful of Parmesan cheese to the rice at the end just because I wanted to use it up.

The whole meal for both of us cost less than $5 total. I don't know why pollock is so cheap but I got a pound of filets IQF for $1.79.

Yesterday I made a rice noodle dish out of "How to Cook Everything." I'm sorry to say I hated it. It had rice noodles, peas, onions, curry powder, soy sauce. But I was also very nauseous because of meds, so that could be why I didn't like it. I also couldn't bring myself to use the fish sauce called for in the recipe because I smelled it in the bottle before adding it and seriously gagged. Does it taste like it smells?! Sorry if that's a stupid question.

[eunny jang]

Yesterday I made a rice noodle dish out of "How to Cook Everything."  I'm sorry to say I hated it.  It had rice noodles, peas, onions, curry powder, soy sauce.  But I was also very nauseous because of meds, so that could be why I didn't like it.  I also couldn't bring myself to use the fish sauce called for in the recipe because I smelled it in the bottle before adding it and seriously gagged.  Does it taste like it smells?!  Sorry if that's a stupid question. 

Smells like death, I agree. But it's amazing how it rounds things out, adding some depth to even simple, contrasting flavors - sesame oil and rice vinegar is oil and vinegar. Add a little fish sauce and it's suddenly a flavor that just feels "fuller" in your mouth. Use just a little and apply heat - think of it like anchovies - there are lots of things that suddenly taste indefinably different with anchovies added, even if there's no whiff of fish about them. Oh, and quality brands really makes a difference.

But yeah, it smells awful. My boyfriend and I always crack ourselves up thinking of horrendous things you could do with straigh fish sauce every time I cook with it. Spraying it into the air vents in someone's car is about the worst we've come up with so far (barring a few possibilities too disgusting to mention to innocent bystanders).

All that said, I don't think the fish sauce would have been the magic fix for your Bittman recipe.

Edited July 23, 2004 by eunny jang (log)

[RSincere]

But yeah, it smells awful. My boyfriend and I always crack ourselves up thinking of horrendous things you could do with straigh fish sauce every time I cook with it.

That's so funny. Last night I couldn't sleep and I was pondering the fact that I couldn't think of any enemies, because I thought it would be deliciously evil to soak a bunch of cotton balls in fish sauce and sneak them into someone's drawers, under their rugs, in their couch cushions... Not that I'd ever do that.

I will work up the courage to try it, what you say makes sense. But I think the right time to try it is not when I'm already fighting to keep food down.

Based on another thread, I looked for "Baby" fish sauce and another brand that was recommended (can't think of the name) but couldn't find it so I bought "A Taste of Thai." Maybe that's a bad brand.

Tonight I'm making Cincinnati Chili (two way) using Sara Moulton's recipe from her show yesterday. It looked really good and the only ingredient I don't have is mace!

[Laksa]

Yesterday I made a rice noodle dish out of "How to Cook Everything."  I'm sorry to say I hated it.  It had rice noodles, peas, onions, curry powder, soy sauce.

Rice noodle is a tricky thing to prepare. Are you talking about the dry rice noodle sticks that you rehydrate, or soft flat rice noodles from the fridge or freezer?

Either way, they're both tricky. Even the dry rice noodle comes in two varieties, one finer than the other. The finer one can end up being a big gooey mess if not handled properly.

The soft flat noodle is usually stir-fried but you need quick and experienced hands and a super hot wok.

Edited July 23, 2004 by Laksa (log)

[RSincere]

Rice noodle is a tricky thing to prepare.  Are you talking about the dry rice noodle sticks that you rehydrate, or soft flat rice noodles from the fridge or freezer?

Either way, they're both tricky.  Even the dry rice noodle comes in two varieties, one finer than the other.  The finer one can end up being a big gooey mess if not handled properly.

They were dry and thin. The rice noodles themselves were okay, but the proportions of the recipe were off to me. It called for 12 oz. rice noodles. I thought he meant 12 oz. dry, that's what I used, but it was WAY too much. After they were soaked, I was supposed to fry them in a pan. I used a 12-in. skilled and they were just too unwieldly. I ended up scooping about 1/3 of them out and using the rest. Even then, there still was a huge proportion of rice noodles to the few vegetables. Maybe it was supposed to be that way, but it would have been nice to have a little more of the vegs to add sweetness (peas and fried onions) to counteract all the curry powder, and some more crunch. Finally, even though I fried the curry powder in the oil with the vegetables like the recipe said, the finished dish was kind of grainy and had an unpleasant texture of graininess over the rice noodles.

The Cincinnati chili from the FoodTV site (Sara Moulton) was pretty good. On the show, Sara didn't drain the three lbs of ground chuck, and the recipe didn't say to drain it after frying it either. So I didn't, and added the 3 cups water and 16 oz. tomato sauce. It was supposed to evaporate down in 2 hours but it really didn't evaporate enough, and there was SO much grease. I ended up using a large shallow spoon to scoop out some of the grease and got almost 2 cups of hamburger grease out of the dish. Next time I'll drain the hamburger before adding the water. Otherwise it was pretty tasty but seemed to be missing something, it needed some kind of depth of flavor. I also regretted not salting the meat when I put it in the pan, because no matter how much I salted the finished chili, it didn't seem to penetrate the meat and the meat itself was bland.

Edited July 23, 2004 by RSincere (log)

[Susan in FL]

We did the Friday night happy hour thing last night, and so tonight after work, we just went for one drink. Then we came home and stretched dinner out for 3 or 4 hours, as usual on the weekends.

First up was a sampling (as opposed to a feast) of hard-shell crabs, already steamed at our favorite seafood market. They were cooked and seasoned very well.

Then we had raw clams... so good, just wish they had been bigger.

Main course was grilled mahi with avocado and melon salsa, asparagus risotto, and some grilled fresh pineapple. Nice blend of flavors.

[spoonbread]

Chile-lime chicken, rice and borracho beans, with all the guac I could handle!!

[mags]

Rachel, all stews, including chili, are usually better after a night in the fridge. The flavors "meld" or something, and just as important, the fat congeals on the top, and you can scrape it off pretty easily. Just cool the pot to room temp. on the counter or (turned off) stovetop, and pop it in the fridge.

[NulloModo]

Susan -

IPA and crabs? Sounds like a great combo. Actually, all of that looks great. I truly wish I could have a full sized grill here so I could play around with seafood.

[Susan in FL]

Susan -

    IPA and crabs?  Sounds like a great combo.  Actually, all of that looks great.  I truly wish I could have a full sized grill here so I could play around with seafood.

Yeah, how 'bout that... First time with crabs, and I tried it since we had a limited quantity. If we're eating a half bushel or so, I usually drink lager of some kind, or even -- plug up your ears my beer friends -- a few Coronas.

This IPA was very good with them. It was the Shipyard, single hop (Fuggles). I just love the taste of Fuggles hops.

The clams for sale around here taste wonderful. They are nice and salty, but are usually too small. DE has it all over FL for clams. In fact, clams are one of the things we stock up on when we're up there, if we're driving home not flying. Copps in the area between Long Neck and Lewes is who we bought from for years when we didn't go clamming ourselves.

If you're traveling south, come on down...!! You can be our guest chef and play with our I-still-consider-it-new monster grill.