Dinner! 2004

[Placebo]

Last night was chanterelles sauteed inoilive oil with walnuts and balsamic and fig vinegars and then tossed with fresh spinach and year-old gorgonzola. On the side was half a small squash baked with butter and then drizzled with maple syrup.

[little ms foodie]

We spent the day working on the house and doing a bit of cooking. I love Sundays!

Friends of ours recently had a baby so I made some homemade mac n' cheese and we took it over for them to bake when they wanted. Of course I had to double the recipe and make some for us too, my husband would never let that leave the house without having his own! I use sharp white cheddar and gruyere.

Was also roasting a chicken but by the time we got home from visiting our friends we were hungry so I made us some caprese on baguette to tie us over:

The roast chicken before it's quartered, stuffed with some herbs, garlic and lemons. Rubbed generously with sage butter which was provided by a friend who is having us sample versions for a possible business:

Is there anything better than crispy chicken skin??? mmmmmmmm!

Complete Sunday dinner, roast chicken, mac n' cheese and Romanesco broccoli:

[Basilgirl]

Lidia's Cappelini Capricciosi, because it is quick and easy & I was in a hurry plus it's GOOD. Bacon, onions, I used fresh hot peppers instead of pepperoncini, crushed tomatoes, Pecorino on Barilla's linguini fini.

[eunny jang]

little miss foodie, your Sunday dinner looks like the rainy-night-dinner of my dreams :wub:

and Susan, your food looks spectacular as always.

Soooo tired all weekend. Changing jobs, so purse strings are verrry tight right now. Wandered into Safeway - skin-on chicken breasts on the rib were, miraculously, $0.78 per pound! Desperate attempt to feel at least a little summery and sunny:

Chicken (after a Provencal sort of fashion)

Skin and bone-on breasts, dredged in flour doctored with salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Very well-browned; a quick sloppy sauce of canned tomatoes, capers, onions, a little garlic, and plenty of rosemary and thyme. Meat finished in the sauce. Orzo (and chili-garlic roasted brussels sprouts as the obligatory nod to winter and good nutrition).

[liamsaunt]

Sunday dinner: My brother in law is home from Korea on a brief leave from the army, so we decided to make "Thanksgiving" dinner, since he won't be here on the actual day. Roast turkey with thyme butter under the skin, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, cranberry sauce, and green beans. I made a nice stock from the carcass, and am planning on turkey soup for tonight.

[FoodMan]

Wow, everyone's food looks so wonderful.

Saturday-

Chinese dinner:

-Tea and Spice smoked chicken. Chicken stuffed with ginger and other aromatics, then steamed till almost done. Then it was smoked in the wok on top of black tea leaves, orange rind, rice and brown sugar. I've never had this before and was a little intimidated, but when I uncovered the wok and saw that wonderful golden colored chicken I knew this will be a regular menu item. It was amazing, and very very juicy with a good smoky flavor and soft texture. The leftovers were excellent cold and today I had smoked chicken salad on homemade multigrain bread for lunch.

-Pan fried noodles. Homemade egg noodles, cut thin cooked, tossed in some sesame oil and scallions, then pan fried to resemble what Barbara Tropp (both of these are her recipes) calls a "pillow". these were also great, crunchy on the outside and soft inside.

I wish I had my camera with me...

Elie

[little ms foodie]

I wish I had my camera with me...

Elie

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Wow! I wish you did too! I would love to see that chicken~

[reesek]

a weekend to cook! bliss.

saturday we had another couple over. i served a simple green salad with paprika spiked candied pecans, goat cheese and a pear shallot vinagrette. (it doesn't really sound that simple, does it? but it was)

the entree was seared then roasted scallops with an orange buerre rouge, horseradish potato silk and buttery green beans. i sprinked pancetta on all but one of the plates. dessert was 1/2s of vanilla poached pears with cinnamon caramel and gelato.

last night i had extra scallops and some razor clam meat too, so i made a simple fish soup which i finished with saffron aioli. shipwreck bay sav. blanc

delicious!

someday i will take photos!

[Susan in FL]

There were some great meals cooked by eGulls this weekend!

Tonight we had chilled vichyssoise with sorrel and asparagus and, inspired by the Danish parts of Anna's blog, open-faced smoked salmon sandwiches. The bread was fresh and soft, with the crusts cut off, and the butter was room temp. Lurpak. The soup's garnish was remarkable in that driving back from my recent trip, in northern FL I found a Harris Teeter store in Amelia Island. I adore those stores, and hadn't been in one since my son was in college in North Carolina. Anyway to make a long story short, I bought some beautiful fresh white asparagus there, which tasted as good as it was pretty, and I garnished this soup with that. The soup recipe which I adapted was this recipe from Cooking.com/Food and Wine. We had a BV Sauvignon Blanc which was real good, and a fine match.

I am spoiled by my part-time working status, and so I'm not sure how I'll handle this week. My day job has me working all five days for a computer training (no internet access ), and I work my second job Tues., Wed., and Thurs. nights. So, I'm not sure how much I'll be photographing, loading photos, and posting.

[intraining]

cheese on toast and made the mrs roasted garlic fettucine with simple tomatoe sauce with black olives fresh cherry toms and grated parmesan washed down with a sparkling sprite

[RETREVR]

Today I made crab cakes, curried butternut squash soup, roasted red pepper soup, pot stickers, beef borgonnonnne, chicken roulades, pan seared tuna with a ginger sauce, crusty french rolls, and a few beef roasts.

But this is what I had for dinner when I got off work:

I took a torilla and put some grated yellow cheese on it> I popped it in the micro for about 25 seconds (times may vary) , I then dropped it on the floor, picked it up and seasoned it to tast.

For dessert, I had some squeeze butter left over from a camping trip, so I put it on a tortilla with some honey.

Both dishes sliced with japanese 33 layer cobalt damascus gyuto.

Bon food

[percyn]

It was time to make something with the leftovers and create more room in my fridge , so here is what I made for dinner:

Fresh Mozzarella, vine ripe tomatoes, fresh basil, blood-thick 25yr balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Lamb chops (left overs) topped with roasted vegetable tapenade (from Trader Joe's).

(Vertical) Cheese tasting of Point Reyes Farmstead raw milk blue cheese (whiter color on left) and King Island Dairy's Roaring 40s blue cheese (off-white color cheese on right). I paired these with slices of Olympic Asian (Korean) pears. (The raw milk blue has a sharper flavor, while the Roaring 40s is smoother and rounder IMHO).

Wine was a 1992 Burgess Cabernet Sauvignon (Library Release)

Edited October 26, 2004 by percyn (log)

[little ms foodie]

Percyn....a cheese course!!! yeah!!!!

Last night I made onion confit with the half of onion I had leftover from the chicken, first time making that....not the last! Spread crackers with locally made goat cheese and topped with the confit. Kir for me, G&T for the hubby!

Garlic Shrimp served with a salad of mixed greens, spinach, bacon, scallions and balsamic vinigrette. Bread and Chardonnay on the side

[Jensen]

Tandoori-style chicken skewers, bhindi masala, and basmati rice:

[percyn]

...

Last night I made onion confit with the half of onion I had leftover from the chicken, first time making that....not the last! Spread crackers with locally made goat cheese and topped with the confit. Kir for me, G&T for the hubby!

Little Ms Foodie,

How did you prepare the onion confit? That looks great !!

[FoodMan]

Sunday Dinner:

Mussaman curry with beef

steamed rice

Dessert: Tart Tatin with creme Fraiche

Elie

[SiseFromm]

Creamy Risotto with Crispy Pan-Roasted Chicken Breast and Mustard/White Wine Sauce.

[ludja]

cream of pumpkin soup with caraway buttered croutons and drizzled with Austrian pumpkin seed oil

open faced rye bread sandwiches with butter and Westphalian ham

frisee salad with garlic vinagrette

prune-Armagnac tart with coffee

(the pumpkin seed oil added a great flavor to the soup; so much so that I might make this for Thanksgiving Day dinner!)

[Susan G]

Hot and sour soup with pork leftovers and extra wood ears

Potstickers

Brown rice

[little ms foodie]

...

Last night I made onion confit with the half of onion I had leftover from the chicken, first time making that....not the last! Spread crackers with locally made goat cheese and topped with the confit. Kir for me, G&T for the hubby!

Little Ms Foodie,

How did you prepare the onion confit? That looks great !!

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Well of course I had stumbled upon the onion confit thread on the site and it inspired me. The other night I had cut up half an onion to use as my rack for roasting my chicken. I was digging around for something to make for a pre dinner snack and was thinking about the thread....damn I'd like some onion confit spread with goat cheese on toast right now. So I thinly sliced the rest of the onion and put it in a small saucepan with about 2 TBS butter and some EVOO. Turned it down to low and stirred it every so often. It cooked for 3 hours as we ate dinner, watched tv, etc. I added a bit of pepper and some balsamic vinegar at the very end. put it in a ramikin, covered with a bit more EVOO and stuck it in the fridge. Then yesterday I popped it in the microwave just to get it to room temp and used it. Man it is good! Very easy, will do it often and serve with grilled meat.

[Behemoth]

Ludja, what is involved in the prune-Armanac tart? I have another dinner party coming up (we owe a lot of invitations...) and I wanted to do some sort of free-form pate brisee with fruit type of thing since the rest of the meal will be fairly hearty (short ribs/root veg).

Well, what is good for the career is bad for the stomach, I have been off to a conference and spending a lot of time in the department so I'm practically living on take-away thai/vietnamese noodles. Yesterday I got to make dinner -- even though we were still pressed for time it was nice to build in a little break. We had enchiladas verde (ie tomatillo sauce) stuffed with defrosted roast pork. It was quite good (a Diana Kennedy-derived recipe) but your standard late weeknight dish.

[ludja]

Ludja, what is involved in the prune-Armanac tart? I have another dinner party coming up (we owe a lot of invitations...) and I wanted to do some sort of free-form pate brisee with fruit type of thing since the rest of the meal will be fairly hearty (short ribs/root veg).

...

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Hi Behmoth,

I got the recipe from Susan Loomis' French Farmhouse Cooking. It was my first time making it so I followed the recipe.

It's extremely simple; using a completely pre-baked pastry shell and a no bake filling. The filling is just pitted prunes plumped in boiling water for 5 min; drained well and then pureed with water, armagnac (or rum) and sugar. (~ 1/2 lb prunes, 2 Tbs water, 2 Tbs armagnac, 2 Tbs sugar for 10 1/2 inch tart). Spread into tart shell.

(I didn't do this b/c I didn't have any cream at home, but she suggests drizzling creme fraiche (or heavy whipping cream) in a spiral pattern over the tart. (Sounds good to me; I'll do this next time!)

I have another slightly more elaborate prune tart recipe I've been wanting to try out of Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking. The prunes are plumped in Earl Grey Tea, drained and put into a partially baked sablee tart shell. Then a frangipane of almond powder, egg, sugar, eau de vie and creme fraiche is added in before baking...

Edited October 26, 2004 by ludja (log)

[FoodMan]

Ludja-

I was also very interested in the Prune tart. Sounds like it was very sweet. was it? How did u like it?

Elie

[ludja]

Ludja-

I was also very interested in the Prune tart. Sounds like it was very sweet. was it? How did u like it?

Elie

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We liked it a lot. There is quite a bit of natural sweetness from the prumes, but there is not much added sugar (2 Tbs for 8 oz of prunes). Also the alcohol provides a counterpoint. (And the creme fraiche would also cut things a little bit). Even so--it's true that it essentially a jam-type filling. We had small pieces and and drank coffee with it which worked well to my taste...

[Jensen]

Last night we broke our fast with family and friends. For the main meal,  I cooked and served soto ambon for 35.

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Thank you for a link to an incredible thread! The pictures! The food!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou