Dinner! 2004

[RSincere]

Percy,

I have The Everything Indian Cookbook and she does have a butter chicken recipe in there! I don't know if it's the same one she used above, though. I haven't tried that one yet but her other chicken curries are good.

[markk]

I made a pasta dish vaguely based on Spaghetti all'Amatriciana, for which I didn't want to use bacon for saturated fat reasons; (I'm all for bacon, though, but this was for somebody who really has to watch it.) So I took some all natural chicken sausage, stored it for the day with some slab bacon against it to impart some smoke flavoring, and then pierced it well and baked it to allow the chicken fat to drain (hopefully). Separately, I sauteed some vidalia onions and cremini mushrooms with some garlic cloves and fresh rosemary in some oilve oil. Then I sliced the chicken sausage into rounds, added them to the onions and mushrooms to flavor them additionally (read: impart what fat and flavor may have remained), and finally I added some white wine to bubble through, and then some chunked, well drained organic Tuscan plum tomatoes (my new favorite ingredient-find) to cook briefly. At serving time, I stirred in just a little bit of black truffle oil, and topped it with freshly grated Parmiggiano-reggiano cheese. Quite delicious; now I'm sorry we didn't photgraph it.

[FoodMan]

Great, thanks for the info. The shanklish sounds like it might be worth a shot. That with some chopped tomato, onion and olive oil? Stinky stinky heaven. I wonder if a very slow oven would work instead of sun-dried, so my neighbors don't stage an uprising.

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That is what I did, dried my one trial Shanklish in the oven but I think I did not put enough salt in the mixture so it spoiled instead of ripening. Next time more salt.

For dinner last night, I had picked up some very fresh yellow fin tuna. So I marinated for a very short time in a mixture of soy, rice wine vinegar, sake, sugar and sesame oil (aka Teriyaki sauce). I then pressed the steak into sesame seeds and seared it till its rare. I reduced the Teriyaki a little bit and drizzled it over the tuna with some white steamed rice, green onions and homemade pickled ginger.

Elie

[Susan in FL]

Thank you, Percy. It looks delicious and beautiful. The pictures of the eggs are great! I find myself just sitting and staring at the photos. I'll look in the store for the kind of potatoes you used, and if I can't find those, I'll use frozen. Thank you for the compliment on my posts and for the instructions on linking to specific posts!

This past week was my (every other) week to work evenings, which is usually out, over dinner. So, the two nights before last were out, and last night was take-out.

After a 90 degree, lower humidity, clear and beautiful day, we would love to have grilled outside and eaten on the porch tonight; however, our monster grill is still on the porch after the last hurricane. My husband is suffering from a bout of gout, and I can't move that thing outside by myself, so I cooked indoors. We still haven't gotten the repairs on the porch, including the screen, but tomorrow I am going out there with duck tape. I am the Duck Tape Queen, and I will make it work, temporarily. This is a great time of the year here in Florida and now that maybe the hurricanes are over, I am dying to get back out outside for meals.

So anyway, tonight we had:

Melon and prosciutto and Prosecco

Osso Bucco

A "pie" of caramelized savoy cabbage atop polenta

Steamed and buttered baby zucchini and yellow squash

Salad: cucumbers and onions

Salice Salentino

Still to come, a dessert of figs and mascarpone cream

I have been forgetting and I am going to try to remember to post what wine we've had with our dinners. I think some are interested in that. I am. Unless it was an oh-ma-god good wine worth posting the vintner and vintage and all that, I'll just post the variety.

Edited October 3, 2004 by Susan in FL (log)

[Susan in FL]

Susan,

      Where did you buy the foie gras from? I used to buy them raw (as you seem to have them) from D'Artagnan, but they have recently been unable to import them.

 

        I also noticed that you are using Ghee, do you use it to sear the foie gras or do you use a dry frying pan?

Do share...

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Most often I order online from Marky's Caviar, in Miami.

I always use something in the pan when I sear foie gras. If oil, it's usually canola and sometimes it's Ghee, as you can see.

[Susan in FL]

Dessert...

[Chef Shogun]

Sea bass, pan fried and finished with a sake reduction and green onions, with side of Five Spice-glazed carrots.

Plating didn't go as I imagined, and I broke the fillet in the process (), but it tastes good. Sauce wasn't as 'strong' as I expected it to be, with the juice of half a lemon being the bulk of the flavor. The sake packs a punch, so I expected it to hold up better in reduction. Maybe hit it with miso or dashi next time. Also, forgot to buy nori to cut into strips and fry as a garnish. The carrots were the big winner...nice and tender, flavorful, and aromatic. I assure you the onions aren't as incinerated as they look!

Breakfast tomorrow: Fritata with leftover udon (Tied in a bunch with a green onion stalk...thought it would be clever to have it stay together, but it just cooked to a solid block!), rest of the onion, and...whatever else is around!

Foodman: Oof....wanna trade? Did your sake stay sake-y when you reduced it? I was really expecting more sake flavor than what I got. I wasn't even using very good sake, so it wasn't delicate on its own!

[Behemoth]

Yesterday was the first real day of fall for us. Root vegetables at the farmer's market!

We had a dinner party last night:

Serrano ham, oil-cured black olives and soprasetta salami with ice cold martini bianco vermouth.

local organic mixed greens salad with a creamy & lavender-scented goat cheese & walnuts. Walnut oil in the vinaigrette, too...

Lamb stew with red wine, tomatoes and white beans, with a dash of vinegar at the end to wake it up. Served with turnips & potatoes that were steamed, then mashed with buttermilk. Unfortunately, it seems like the only cut of lamb available in the midwest is shank end of leg; woulda preferred a cut with more bones. (there were too many people to use my CSA lamb...). Anyway, I carved the bone out and cooked it with the stew, then attacked it in the late afternoon with a pairing knife as "cook's reward"

Oh, the wine was a La Crema pinot noir, which went really well with the lamb and didn't break the bank. Which was good because I think we had a little more than a bottle per person.

Assorted cheeses

sliced pears sauteed in butter, lemon peels and brandy, served over vanilla custard ice cream (didn't make the ice cream.)

espresso with 70% chocolate

Shots of Ransom gewurtztraminner grappa

More wine. Party ended at 4am, so I guess it was a success...

Edited October 3, 2004 by Behemoth (log)

[percyn]

Dessert...

Susan,

Are those figs baked with honey and (pine nuts or) almonds? I am assuming the mascarpone cream was not baked

The Osso Bucco looks good too, do you mind sharing the recipie for the figs and oso boco? And speaking of "oh-ma-god good" wines I opened a "2002 Fire Station Red" Shiraz (from California) yesterday, which had come a few months ago as part of shipment from a wine club I belong too. The packing on the bottle is so simple looking that it looks like someone bottled it in their garage, but this is a BIG wine. Very strong flavors of rasberry and blackberries with a super long finish....wish I had that Osso Bucco to go with it

Made a note to visit Marky's Caviar next time I am in Miami.

Chef Shogun, that sea bass looks good...broken or not

Edited October 3, 2004 by percyn (log)

[reverendtmac]

dammit - mods, could you dissapear this one? Thanks...

Todd, loving his unreliable wireless network since September 2004

Edited October 3, 2004 by reverendtmac (log)

[reverendtmac]

Today was kinda cold and miserable, so I wanted something that'd be all greasy and warm and gut-stickish...so I hacked Bourdain's recipe for rillettes (cubed the wee pork shoulder I bought yesterday, but instead of just the nice quiet bouquet garni, I threw in tons of garlic, basil, hot sauce and piles of black pepper) - let that putter through the afternoon while I did homework. Then I forked it into shreds, dumped it on plastic bread and absolutely drowned it in homemade sauce (Frank's red hot, butter, bit of honey mustard, more red hot). Had two with a couple Oland Exports, and I'm now giving serious consideration to going to bed at 7:20.

Gym in the morning, obviously

[NulloModo]

Tonight I was looking for something simple and easy so:

Pork chops in a sauce of sauteed onions, garlic, tequila, crema mexicana, cumin, habanero, and lots of black pepper.

Side of a caesar salad with tomatos (I love tomato in my Caesars, so what if it makes me a heretic) with a homemade very garlicky Caesar dressing.

[Susan in FL]

Susan,

        Are those figs baked with honey and (pine nuts or) almonds? I am assuming the mascarpone cream was not baked 

I am not an experienced fig person. This was only my second time to make something with fresh figs, and the first time they were in an entree. I made this up. I made a criss-cross cut in the stem end, kind of like I do with brussels sprouts. I put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and oiled it. Then I put the figs on there, and sprinkled them generously with raw sugar/turbinado, and broiled them until caramelized.

Ahead of time, I set out the mascarpone to get to room temperature. We had a half bottle size bottle of Sauternes in the fridge and I added a little of that to the mascarpone, and some powdered sugar and whipped it.

I toast pine nuts ahead and keep them on hand all the time. (We use them a lot and my husband, and my kids when they visit, like them so much, they would eat them as snacks if would let them. But, I don't let them.) To serve, I put a glob of the mascarpone on the plate and then the figs. Then I poured the liquid that collected from broiling the figs over top, and then topped with the toasted pine nuts. And, we drank the rest of the Sauternes with it.

The Osso Bucco looks good too, do you mind sharing the recipie for the figs and oso boco?

The Osso Buco... Actually, I threw away the recipe I used as a guide, after I made it. It was pretty much a classic recipe, modified a little. I had some homemade stock on hand and used that, instead of a mixture of canned low salt beef broth and canned low salt chicken broth, as the recipe called for. I used both fresh lemon zest and fresh orange zest. I almost used fresh tomato instead of canned diced, but at the last minute, I decided to follow that part of the recipe. I'm sorry not to have something more definite to tell you. Email or PM me if maybe I can be of more help to you.

And speaking of "oh-ma-god good" wines I opened a "2002 Fire Station Red" Shiraz (from California) yesterday, which had come a few months ago as part of shipment from a wine club I belong too. The packing on the bottle is so simple looking that it looks like someone bottled it in their garage, but this is a BIG wine. Very strong flavors of rasberry and blackberries with a super long finish....

That sounds really good. I'll keep an eye out for that one. I love Shiraz. It's often like Pinot Noir to us, in that we like it with lots of foods.

[Susan in FL]

We had some Romanoff black whitefish "caviar" left from having bought it as hurricane food for Frances. So we had it as a first course tonight, after yet another day of hurricane clean-up, on slices of potato and sour cream, with Andre bubbly.

Since our food in the freezer partially thawed during the power outages of the hurricanes, we've been trying to eat everything. Tonight we had some strips of ostrich steaks which I made into a sort of ostrich scallopine dish. Actually, it was quite good. With it was baby zucchini cooked with garlic and rosemary, and a salad of beefsteak tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.

Pardon the picture... it is quite unattractive compared to how good it tasted!

Edited to add that we had Pinot Noir with the ostrich.

Edited October 4, 2004 by Susan in FL (log)

[FoodMan]

Sea bass, pan fried and finished with a sake reduction and green onions,  with side of Five Spice-glazed carrots.

Plating didn't go as I imagined, and I broke the fillet in the process (), but it tastes good.  Sauce wasn't as 'strong' as I expected it to be, with the juice of half a lemon being the bulk of the flavor.  The sake packs a punch, so I expected it to hold up better in reduction.  Maybe hit it with miso or dashi next time.  Also, forgot to buy nori to cut into strips and fry as a garnish.  The carrots were the big winner...nice and tender, flavorful, and aromatic.  I assure you the onions aren't as incinerated as they look!

Breakfast tomorrow: Fritata with leftover udon (Tied in a bunch with a green onion stalk...thought it would be clever to have it stay together, but it just cooked to a solid block!), rest of the onion, and...whatever else is around!

Foodman: Oof....wanna trade?  Did your sake stay sake-y when you reduced it? I was really expecting more sake flavor than what I got.  I wasn't even using very good sake, so it wasn't delicate on its own!

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What do you mean plating didn't go as you imagined? This looks wonderful. My camera is not very good and gives colors odd shades, that tuna looked red not purple-y .

To answer your question about Sake: I am not sure . The sauce has so many strong flavors that I really cannot tell. The end result sure tastes great though and it is one of our favorites with duck breast also.

Elie

[beetee]

Chili... for the next 3 nights. I posted the recipe for it over on the chili topic.

[NeroW]

Saturday night:

Charcoal-grilled porterhouse steaks with compound butter

"Fauxtatoes"

Sunday night:

Italian sausage lasagna

Green salad

Baguette

[curlywurlyfi]

Five Spice-glazed carrots

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Chef, these sound delicious. How did you do them?

thanks!

Fi

[Toliver]

Monica,

        Looks delicious...is this recipie in your book?

   

          Also, this murgh makhanwala (butter chicken) seems to have a bit less gravy than the ones I typically indulge in, do you prefer it so?

Cheers

Percy

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Thought I would channel Marlene here: Please use eGullet-friendly links when directing people to Amazon for specific titles - Monica Bhide's "The Everything Indian Cookbook"

[Chef Shogun]

Chef, these sound delicious.  How did you do them?

thanks!

Fi

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Well, pretty much sweated out half a sliced sweet onion in butter (In the end I think the onion was pretty much expendable), then turned up the heat a little and threw in quartered carrot sticks and let that cook for a couple minutes. As the carrots were approaching near-tenderness I added a little bit of turbanado sugar to melt down, and about a teaspoon of the five spice powder, and tossed the whole thing to combine and glaze. Don't want to go too heavy on the sugar, or the carrots will be too sweet (They almost were, but I was expecting more punch from the sauce for the fish to have to balance out). You're not looking for a sauce, really, as you might be when you glaze apples for waffles!

Thanks for the question!

Re: Butter chicken:

Edited October 4, 2004 by Chef Shogun (log)

[eunny jang]

More beer, more peanuts, and a rather unfortunate amount of canned tuna for dinner last night.

Back to cooking this week. A pretty chicken and some preserved lemons waiting in my fridge

[reesek]

slow cooked collards and white beans with guajillo and smoked alliums. gave it just the right depth and roundness of flavor without it tasting hammy. i will add more broth to leftovers for dinner soup tonight.

also - homemade quick radish and red carrot pickle and chile-spice crusted marlin. i had no idea until i did a search, wondering if it was best served rare or flaked that there is quite a bit of debate over the fishing practices of marlin. for the record, it tasted almost exactly like swordfish, not any tougher... but the thought that my beloved grocery doesn't support sustainable fishing kind of killed the taste for me.

[peppyre]

After many days/months of reading this thread and drooling on my keyboard, it's time to post. (Of course it will be more fun when I get my digital camera.)

Last night:

Pan fried lamb chops seasoned with salt & peper, a "warm" spice mix (I think it's star anise, clove, cinnamon, and something else) and garlic.

Slow roasted acorn squash from the farmers market

Oven roasted corn, from the farmer's market.

Tonight: Pork tenderloin with apples and fennel.

And of course, lots of wine.

[peanutgirl]

Last nights dinner of Chile Rellenos:

red poblanos stuffed with sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic & jack cheese

dredged in seasoned flour

after a quick dip in the egg batter and into the frying pan

looking good

a mess of refried beans

steaming pot of pasilla chili sauce

my plate

hubby's plate

can't forget the sangria!

The kids had bean burritos... no sangria.

Edited October 4, 2004 by peanutgirl (log)

[Pere Hugo]

Went to the farmers' market and got the biggest cabbage ever, turned it into cabbage rolls (using beef and arborio rice et al), and braised in tomato-ginger sauce.

Added potato pancakes and sour cream on the side.

Nice cheap red.

Fall is here at last.