Dinner! 2004

[hathor]

Diana: those pork chops look really good! I'm a sucker for parmesan crust!!

Last night we had roasted salmon with a pesto crust (have a lot of leftover pesto sauce....its gonna be a basil week for sure!), served on a bed of lemon Israeli couscous, topped with shredded snow peas.

Salad was a roast pear and bleu cheese salad. yum.

[Milt]

First time I've looked at this thread. 229 pages is a bit intimidating , and something always makes me want to review all postings prior to adding my own. 229 pages allows me to make an exception. I have read this page only.

Our dinner last night wasn't that well received. I prepared a Meatless Main from Southern Living's "Five Star Cooking Light" - Beans and Rice and Pesto. I enjoyed it more than the other three, but it would have been better as a large side dish than as an entree. Live and learn. This is why we began adding notes to recipes when we prepare them. It was hard to give myself permission to write in a book, but it is an excellent practice. Each time a cookbook recipe is used, we post the date and our response - along with any thoughts on adjustments which could improve the dish.

[AnnieD]

Hello, all.

This is my very first post. (I've been a lurker for far too long.)

Hathor - It's 10:30 AM here, and all I can think about is preparing your dinner from last night! I haven't even had breakfast yet!

Last night, I made pasta with chicken, oven-baked prosciutto, and bocconcini. My good friend had three helpings, and he claims to "not be a big eater." (Yes, I'm still friends with him despite that.)

My only problem was I didn't like how the bocconcini melted together. I think I should add them right before serving next time. Any suggestions?

Edited August 4, 2004 by AnnieD (log)

[hathor]

Hello, all.

This is my very first post. (I've been a lurker for far too long.)

Hathor - It's 10:30 AM here, and all I can think about is preparing your dinner from last night! I haven't even had breakfast yet!

Last night, I made pasta with chicken, oven-baked prosciutto, and bocconcini. My good friend had three helpings, and he claims to "not be a big eater." (Yes, I'm still friends with him despite that.)

My only problem was I didn't like how the bocconcini melted together. I think I should add them right before serving next time. Any suggestions?

Hey! Glad you decided to jump on in!

Depends on what texture you want for the boccini (spelling??). In the summertime, I love to have the firm cool texture balance out against the warm pasta. I like tossing in "raw" ingredients for a little suprise!

[RSincere]

I was going to make stir-fry with a piece of skirt steak but I'm having one of those days where I just can't read a recipe with comprehension.

So I browned up some smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu sausages from Usinger's in my cast iron pan! They were wonderful. I am not always enthusiastic about sausages, sometimes the smoke flavoring is too much for me and sometimes there's some kind of sharp bite of a flavor that overwhelms it for me. (Not sure what that spice is, it's usually in brats.) But these were so good, I could have eaten four. I am lucky that I live in Wisconsin and our grocery store carries Usinger's. If you've ever hesitated about trying their Chicken Cordon Bleu sausage, hesitate no more.

And no, I don't work there.

Edited August 4, 2004 by RSincere (log)

[Toliver]

Last night:

Swiss Steak in the pressure cooker, homemade mashed potatoes & gravy with a side of green beans long-simmered with bacon.

Is there any other way to get Swiss steak to turn out like it's been cooked in one?

Perhaps the experts will chime in, but I think the only way you can get Swiss Steak to turn out like it's been cooked in a pressure cooker without using a pressure cooker would be to either use a very tender piece of meat (then why make Swiss Steak out of it?) or use a long slow-cook method.

I am wondering now if a slow cooker/crockpot could be used to make a slow-cooked version of Swiss Steak. The purpose of the pressure cooker is to make a tough cut of meat fork-tender (which this was! ). Tough cuts of meat cooked in a crockpot have turned out fork-tender as well which makes me wonder if this method could possibly work.

[RSincere]

I'm trying to cook lots of things in my new cast iron skillet so it will be fully seasoned sooner!

I eat dinner alone so tonight I sauteed a pollock filet (seasoned with lemon pepper) in butter and garlic in my nifty skillet. There was lots of extra butter/garlic in the pan so I quickly washed/trimmed a big handful of green beans and threw them in there too. Everything was done at the same time and it was delicious.

[Anna N]

Tonight's dinner - a family favourite - pork with apples and onions and glazed potatoes.

Edited to post a less blurry photo! Must have been the wine

Edited August 5, 2004 by Anna N (log)

[FL Heat]

Anna, that looks. . .delicious. And family style. Are there leftovers? Are you nearby?

Since everyone was so nice last night, here's tonight's dinner.

It's from this recipe for Poulet Au Vinegar off RecipeGullet. It was delicious. I modified it a bit. Pulled some garlic from the pan and sauteed some sugar snap peas with it, and served the chicken on top of some whole wheat pasta tossed with olive oil, rosemary, parmesan, and a little of the pasta water.

(Is it cheating if I read the "how to take better pictures of food" thread before I actually took pictures? )

Diana

[tanabutler]

(Is it cheating if I read the "how to take better pictures of food" thread before I actually took pictures?    )

Diana

No. I wish it were mandatory!

Just as I wish that UrbanLegends.About.com were mandatory for anyone with a modem. I think they should issue internet licenses, and you can only get yours by passing a test that makes sure you don't forward e-mails containing useless and outdated petitions to save NPR, warnings about perfume-wielding muggers in parking lots, and schemes offering free money for every e-mail address you forward it to.

</grumpy internet geezer who's tired of encouraging people to think first before forwarding idiocies>

[dumpling]

Well we had a boatload of leftovers to use, so I contemplated the question. For five people. Hmm...

1. There was the salmon with some Indian spices my brother had overcooked

the day before.

2. The chicken pieces in wine and broth with mushrooms, shallots, saffron and

turmeric(with only two pieces left) that I made from the day before that.

3. Some leftover Chinese vegetables from takeout from Sunday(with some

pretty tasty white sauce on them-pea pods, cabbage, baby corn, etc.).

4. Some leftover "Create-A-Meal" vegetables -sliced crinkle cut carrots, snap

peas, and a few roasted potatoes that had a little herb sauce on it.

5. And a whole lot o' leftover brown rice going on.

So I thought, "How can I save the salmon and make it juicy again(or at least not horrid)?" Then the thought came: a stew-Festival O' Leftovers Stew. I chopped up the salmon pieces, threw them in a pot with chicken broth and water, 2, 3, and 4 with a bit of cayenne pepper. I fried up some of the brown rice with onions, scallions, a little bit of the stew juice and sesame oil. Served the stew over the rice in bowls. What a picturesque and tasty dish it turned out to be and you would have sworn that I spent all day preparing it. Also served Thai vegetable dumplings.

Edited August 5, 2004 by dumpling (log)

[petite tête de chou]

Shredded chicken burritos.

Spiced the chicken breasts with garlic, ancho, cayenne, sea salt, black pepper, cumin and pimenton de la vera. Medium heat until almost done, but not quite. Remove, plate to cool. Same skillet, onions, red bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, red pepper flakes, mexican oregano, dash of sugar and sea salt. Sautee on med high, turn down to med-low. Shred chicken, roll meat around to absorb the released juices. Turn vegetables to med-high. Add cumin, ancho, garlic, slightly brown (the smell tells you when the right time is to add the chicken). Push vegs to side..add a small pool of UNfiltered corn oil- heat till bubbly, add chicken. Mix well, cook for approx. ten minutes (allowing the chicken to cook through, absorbing the toasted spices and vegetable juices). Test for salt..add a VERY healthy amount of rather coarsely ground black pepper. Once the chicken begins to stick (yummy toasty meaty spicy goodness) remove from heat. Add- at your pantrys avail- black olives, cilantro, lime juice, sprinkles of your fave hot sauce, maybe green onion.

Boy-o prefers whole wheat tortillas toasted over a hot burner. Shredded romaine lettuce, chopped white onions, Tillamook cheddar/jack cheese, sour cream and homemade (my god, there IS no better) salsa...and beer of choice.

Tomorrow is his birthday, and we shall be having the same dinner...at his request.

For dessert, his favorite, home-made carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

[curlywurlyfi]

second dinner for friends on new cooker! slightly derailed during the prep stages by flooded hallway. so it was a bit more scrambled together + rushed than I'd have liked.

tiny weeny bacon joint (where DO they find those tiny pigs), roasted on top of some rosemary sprigs, with sauteed potatoes sprinkled with parsley and coarse salt, Hell Carrots TM (carrots tossed in chilli flakes + cumin + olive oil then roasted) and a floppy green salad with balsamic dressing. English mustard made up with a bit of Ma Kirkpatrick's legendary marmelade + some whisky. Redcurrant jelly. Then leftover apricots in cardamom from Monday, with plain yoghurt and grated orange rind. Dom brought a Cotes du Rhone rose which we drank with frozen raspberries to act as icecubes - most chi-chi.

I love my new kitchen...

[reverendtmac]

The bro and I knocked together a bunch of different dishes this week...but the best was easily the big pot of red beans and rice. And then the red beans and rice omelette I had the next night with some nice dark rye toast

[hathor]

Rats! No pictures...the digital and I are having a spat. Can't seem to get it to hold the focus...

Yesterday morning I was at the Greenmarket nice and early, so I had my pick of all sorts of seasonal treats.

We had seared tuna with a lime/sesame/soy butter, a lentil mix (moong & masoor dal), and sauteed okra with chiles. The market stalls were overflowing with fresh okra.

Salad course was heirloom tomatoes and purslane with a basil/anchovy dressing. I'm addicted....

Cheese was this intense cheddar/blue that comes from a cheesemaker in Colechester, Ct. If anyone goes by the Greenmarket and sees the cheesemaker, this blue was amazing with a big red wine.

Then we finished up with some strawberries, that were real strawberries, the kind with mud that you have to wash off, and seeds and stems and flavor.

[tastykimmie]

fried pork chops with homemade gravy and homemade garlic mashed taters. for desert - - CRABS!!!! all washed down with COLD BEER!!!

Edited August 5, 2004 by tastykimmie (log)

[lovebenton0]

I have and do use my pressure cooker, often in the summer, as I did for the stewed lamb last night. I had a bag of good, meaty lamb bones in the freezer from a huge lamb shoulder we smoked in June. That was the last of that lamb. I thawed them, plopped them in the pressure cooker with a couple dozen baby carrots a chopped sweet yellow onion, lots of minced garlic (about 5 cloves), three sprigs of fresh cinnamon basil, four cups of water, a can of beer, some salt and black pepper. Pressure

cooked for 20 minutes. Removed bones and pulled lamb into bite size. Added lemon zest and more black pepper, tossed in some No Yolk extra broad egg noodles and boiled for several minutes until noodles were done. Served with the sourdough bread I made in the afternoon. We ate the hell out of it.

[RSincere]

Dinner should have been a disaster based on how many mistakes I made, but it was pretty good, even though the skirt steak was somewhat tough. (Yes, I cut it against the grain.)

I made Spicy Asian Beef from How to Cook Everything, over basmati rice with shallot and garlic. Also, I put fish sauce in the beef--finally worked up the courage to actually put it in food--and it was great!

[Malawry]

Farm market dinner:

Zucchini parmesan, featuring organic basil and tomatoes along with plenty of salted slim zucchini and shredded parm-regg, thinly layered in a gratin dish and roasted until crisped around the edges

Italian sausages with organic red and yellow peppers

Bibb salad, middle eastern cukes, mustard vinaigrette

[Anna N]

Homage to Jinmyo - grilled chicken and not a boneless, skinless breast in sight!

With a Sara Moulton gratin of zucchini and tomatoes.

[tanabutler]

Staggering under the weight of 20 pounds or so of heirlooms that someone gave me this week, I am desperate.

This is our first course. I'm calling it Stoplight Caprese (the tomatoes are red, green and yellow).

TomatoFest heirlooms with an Italian olive oil that my friend brought me (it won some grand prize in an Italian olive oil competition) and balsamic. Basil from Dirty Girl Farm.

[cheeseandchocolate]

I love meat meat meat.

Tonight's dinner for one:

--Lamb sausage with fennel seeds, feta, kalamata olives, and artichoke hearts, seared in my beloved cast-iron skillet...this was so delicious that I was saying "Oh my God!" aloud

--Salad of baby oakleaf lettuce (red and green) with shaved fennel and thinly sliced cukes, with mustard vinaigrette

--Tall Grass Bakery pain au levain

--And for dessert, 85% dark chocolate from A la Petite Fabrique in Paris, along with

a few Barbara's honey grahams

So very happy.

[bleachboy]

Went to my MIL's house today with a six-pack and a sauce bribe, and she taught me how to make homemade pasta.

Homemade fettucine with butter and parmesan. Chicken scallopini. Green salad. Garlic bread.

[Squeat Mungry]

Tana I love your Stoplight Caprese! Do you know what variety those yellows are? Looks a lot like the Orange Oxtails I had for dinner tonight.

Also, care to share the name of the olive oil?

[tanabutler]

I don't know any of the tomatoes except it is clearly the Green Zebra. The yellow ones were actually my favorite. Sweet but pure tomato.

It occurs to me that tomatoes are part of my religion. I went to my next-door neighbor to offer him some of the bounty. "Do you like tomatoes?" (Who the hell says they don't like tomatoes?)

"Uh, no. I sorta do," but I knew he was being polite. He was cool about me not being polite and not bestowing any of these 500-carat rubies on him.

Squeat, the olive oil I tried to Google with no results. It's from Siena.

The label says:

"Le Mole dell'Amore"

Olio EXTRAVERGINE d'Oliva

Brucatura a mano, molitura a freddo, in macina di pietra nella Communità di Mondo X

I can type up the rest of the label in the daylight. It's a dark label, and some oil has darkened the tiny type.

I am glad if you liked the Stoplight stuff. I read so many chef's menus, and like the poetry and the humor. I was just creatively goofing.