Dinner! 2004

[Suzanne F]

Found a package of salt cod in the fridge yesterday (from ???????), so put it to soak. Tonight: sliced up some green plantains, started simmering them in fish/fennel/celery broth (from the freezer) plus a lavender spice mix and dried thyme; added a can of diced tomatoes and a half-dozen shallots sliced and browned with 3 cloves garlic and a few hot chiles; finally laid half the cod (lovely clean thin fillets) on top and sprinkled around a cubed chayote. Served over wlhite rice, with a mixed salad with creamy garlic dressing. Dry Riesling.

Tomorrow: oxtails that simmered all day today in the slow cooker. Then Sunday I'll probably fry the rest of the cod and have it with skordalia.

[ruthcooks]

Tonight I made roast leg of lamb with garlic cloves thrown in; baked potatoes mashed with the roasted garlic, butter and porchini dust (dried mushrooms in a grinder); and one of my favorite salads: warm Brussels sprouts, Mandarin oranges, toasted walnuts in a sweet-sour-mustard dressing. Good combo.

After I freeze a few portions of roast lamb, which I got marked down for about $8, the rest is earmarked for Shepherd's Pie and Lamb and Barley Soup.

Tomorrow is cooking day, I'm also making my Asparagus-Mascarpone Soup and a cold Strawberry-Buttermilk soup. Most of the lamb and asparagus soup will be frozen in individual portions.

I haven't owned a camera in over 20 years, but am considering one for Christmas so I can take pictures of my food for eGullet. It's really wonderful to see all the posted picture from everyone.

[tupac17616]

Tonight we had roasted butternut squash flan with parmesan sage sauce. We were so excited to eat it I forgot to take a picture!    It was good!

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Is that the recipe from the recent issue of Gourmet (or was it Bon Appetit....i forget)? Sounds very familiar. I made that a few weeks ago as part of my father's birthday dinner, and my whole family loved it. Very tasty recipe. Definitely will be repeated in the future

[cheeseandchocolate]

Last night's dinner for me and one lucky man-boy:

Warm leeks vinaigrette

And then:

Zuni roasted chicken ; Shirley Corriher's Touch of Grace Biscuits ; and braised red cabbage with apples, apple cider vinegar, and caraway seeds

Dessert: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with milk

Tonight's dinner for one was leftovers, minus cabbage but plus broccoli soup. Mid-fall is so tasty.

Edited October 30, 2004 by cheeseandchocolate (log)

[Susan in FL]

I'm new here, so "what's for dinner" is actually from this summer.  My wife and I planted over 30 varieties of tomatoes (most heirloom varieties).  Sooooo, we were inspired by the FL Cookbook to make Salad of Haricots Verts, Tomato Tartare,

and Chive Oil...

Welcome! And I echo, what a wonderful first post. I would love to have the recipe for the salad. Do you know if it is online anywhere? Looking forward to more posts from you.

I am a little embarrassed to post this picture of my dinner because it is not a beautiful as Eunny's and SusanFL's, but my excuse is that this is my first photo on eG.

I made chicken with pomegranate syrup, ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, onion, garlic and honey. I served it with sweet potato and green beans.

I really don't want anybody to feel embarrassed posting pictures of your own dinners because you don't think it's as beautiful, or as whatever, as mine! I would imagine that Eunny and others would have the same sentiments. I thank you for the compliment part of that (I'm usually pleased with my cooking and plating, but I am often not pleased with my photos, BTW), but I don't want to have any part in anybody not feeling welcomed to post. That would take away from the fun! Please do post photos when you can. Everyone's photos are a big part of the reason this is my favorite thread and eG is my favorite food site.

I've been on a kick for pomegranate syrups and glazes lately. They are just so good, aren't they.

I haven't owned a camera in over 20 years, but am considering one for Christmas so I can take pictures of my food for eGullet.  It's really wonderful to see all the posted picture from everyone.

Ruth, I vote for you to get a camera. I would love to see some of the food you describe!

[Marlene]

Last night's dinner was kind of an experiment. I did a spiral ham (won't do that again!), and for the first time in my life, I stir fried something! My husband is the stir fryer in our family . The Sesame Garlic Asparagus turned out really really well.

The reason I won't do a spiral cut ham again is because it's already sliced, and that leaves it open to drying out inside while it's baking. I actually usually prefer a bone in ham, but they are always so big for just the three of us.

Here's a couple of pictures. And no, I didn't make the cake

[the_cow_whisperer]

Thanks for the warm welcome, everybody!

[

Welcome!  And I echo, what a wonderful first post.  I would love to have the recipe for the salad.  Do you know if it is online anywhere?  Looking forward to more posts from you.]

Thanks! The recipe is from the French Laundry Cookbook. Beyond being a great coffee table book (the photography is wonderful), the recipes are "not simplified for the home cook" but the level of detail in the directions is enough to turn out high-end cooking. If people haven't tried the recipes, jump right in!

Swisskaese and SusanFL,

I'm curious how you're making your pomegranate chicken - is is all a glaze or is there a marinade,as well, to infuse flavor into the meat?

[little ms foodie]

Tonight we had roasted butternut squash flan with parmesan sage sauce. We were so excited to eat it I forgot to take a picture!    It was good!

←

Is that the recipe from the recent issue of Gourmet (or was it Bon Appetit....i forget)? Sounds very familiar. I made that a few weeks ago as part of my father's birthday dinner, and my whole family loved it. Very tasty recipe. Definitely will be repeated in the future

←

I got it on Epicurious but I know they get a lot of recipes from different sources so it is probably the same!!

[Swisskaese]

Swisskaese and SusanFL,

  I'm curious how you're making your pomegranate chicken - is is all a glaze or is there a marinade,as well, to infuse flavor into the meat?

←

Hi Cow Whisperer,

I use pomegranate syrup in various dishes. It comes in a bottle and is concetrated pomegranate juice. The syrup I buy in Tel Aviv is imported from Turkey or Uzbekistan.

I use it to make glazes with lemon juice, orange juice, peach juice or mango juice and I glaze salmon and chicken.

I also make a glaze with honey and baste couscous stuffed cornish hens.

I add it to ground turkey and beef, along with a number of spices and stuff eggplant, peppers, artichoke hearts or butternut squash.

In the recipe on the posting above, I used about 2 cups of water, 1/4 cup of honey and 3 tablespoons of pomegranate syrup.

The only time I use it as a marinade is for the ground meat. Otherwise, I add it at the last minute. It is strong enough that the fish, chicken or meat absorbs the flavour immediately.

[Behemoth]

My folks just sent me a jar of homemade pomegranate molasses -- and 5 balls of shankilsh!! Um, not to mention a box of turkish delight, a bag of roasted nuts(??) and five large pita covered in zaa'tar. Oh and some amazing spicy homemade olives (Will share those later in the week.) In the meantime, more fun experiments with Korean food. Octopus Chorim:

This is a braised dish. The sauce is an amazing balance of salty, sweet and spicy, and is very addictive.

Edited October 30, 2004 by Behemoth (log)

[peanutgirl]

Memorable dinners from this past week...

Oven fries, steak "grilled" on indoor cast iron pan seasoned simply with salt & pepper, and gorganzola butter on top... salad on the side sprinkled with some of the same gorgonzola cheese.

Cross section of bloody rare meaty goodness.

I could have eaten the whole hunk of meat... but instead I saved half to be turned into another meal...

TAH_DAH

Larb . I must be stopped .

Grilled on the same indoor cast iron pan one night was jerk chicken breasts along with a pineapple salsa and salad. No picture that night... but the leftovers were transformed into this for a light dinner last night:

A healthy whole wheat wrap with the chicken, pineapple chunks, red onion, grape tomatoes, guacamole and shredded romaine hearts.

[Malawry]

Tonight:

Pork-turkey meatballs, with some challah crumbs soaked in half-and-half as a little filler/lightener. In a slow-cooked tomato sauce.

Simply steamed broccoli. Sometimes that's all you need.

[suzilightning]

My folks just sent me a jar of homemade pomegranate molasses -- and 5 balls of shankilsh!! Um, not to mention a box of turkish delight, a bag of roasted nuts(??) and five large pita covered in zaa'tar. Oh and some amazing spicy homemade olives (Will share those later in the week.) In the meantime, more fun experiments with Korean food. Octopus Chorim:

and your address is........

i want that shanklish and those pita

[Arey]

Saurday nights I allow myself the treat of eating in front of the TV. usually a sandwich, chips, and cole slaw.

My next to last tomato of the season. My tomatoes stopped blossoming the middle

of June, and then started up blossoming and setting fruit the middle of September. Last week I pulled up all but one plant and drastically pruned the remaining one, leaving just the two ripest biggest tomatoes, and they've actually continued to ripen despite a succession of damp, cool sunless days.

It really had a nice flavor. Just the thing for my leftover pot roast sandwich. When I cook a pot roast, I slice it and freeze it for future salads and sandwiches.

If you're cooking for one, and want pot roast for Sunday dinner, you have to have plans for disposing of the remaining roast once dinner is done. It'd be a lot easier if I had a dog.

This is what I was watching while eating

My fast food is a lot faster than his fast food, but his non-fast food is a heck of a lot faster than my non-fast food. I tend to get annoyed with myself when the actual eating of dinner is just a brief interlude between preparation and cleaning up.

[Suzanne F]

As advertised yesterday, tonight was:

Oxtails braised with onions, (canned) tomatoes, Jamaican curry powder and sundry other spices, finished with carrot and plantain batonets

Brown Rice

Steamed haricots (at the incredible price of $.49 per pound! )

Mixed salad with artichoke/shallot dressing

Osprey Dominion (North Fork Long Island) Cabernet Sauvignon

(I'm also still hesistant about getting a camera because however tasty, most of my dinners are not that beautifully presented )

[percyn]

Wasn't able to cook most of last week, so at 9am this morning I started making my breakfast and started working on dinner right after.

I sautéed some leeks, braised some short ribs and put them in the crock pot along with some wine, ginger, demi glace, vegetable stock, etc for about 9 hrs or so (on low). I was done in about 4-5 hrs, but I was not ready for dinner yet and so I added some marrow bones from the freezer.

Here is the result....uuhmmm...love the marrow

Followed that with a cheese plate of somewhat random samplings from my fridge. It includes, clockwise, sheep's milk cheese from Spain (1 o'clock), roaring 40s, a buttermilk blue and Fourme D'Ambert.

Cheers

P

[snowangel]

(I'm also still hesistant about getting a camera because however tasty, most of my dinners are not that beautifully presented )

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So, if you want to see "not that beautifully presented" just look at my blog. Pretend you have a bunch of kids who are going "what do you mean we have to wait to eat until you take a photo?"

[Susan in FL]

Swisskaese and SusanFL,

  I'm curious how you're making your pomegranate chicken - is is all a glaze or is there a marinade,as well, to infuse flavor into the meat?

My pomegranate glazes have been made by reducing pomegranate juice (and I've used it only as glaze, not marinade). When I did the first recipe, a bought a half gallon, because all the little bottles had another fruit juice added in, and I wanted straight pomegranate. That big baby cost $9.99 so needless to say, I began looking for ways to use it up, so we had glazed entrees for dinner twice and another night I did the pomegranate glazed pears for dessert.

For the cornish hens and the duck, I reduced 2 cups of pomegranate juice and 1/4 cup of sugar and freshly ground mixed pepper to about 3/4 cup. The glaze for the roasted pears called for 3/4 cup each of red wine and pomegranate juice, 1/2 cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick and orange peel, and I think it reduced to about 2/3 of a cup. There's a lot of room for playing around with these glazes and I want to concoct one, to call my own.

So, if you want to see "not that beautifully presented" just look at my blog.  Pretend you have a bunch of kids who are going "what do you mean we have to wait to eat until you take a photo?"

The food pictures in your blog were great. How well I remember those times. Of course back in my day of raising kids, regular people weren't photographing their food or doing blogs on Blogspot or eG or wherever. I didn't give nearly the thought to presentation back then. This was a long time coming!

[lovebenton0]

Birthday dinner at home last night.

I did all the "inside stuff" and my mr drove the grill.

Skewerd x-lg shrimp (marinated in lemon juice, red pepper, lemon thyme and powder blend garlic) with sweet onion slices and rings of red Anaheim peppers, brushed with light olive oil/chili oil before grilling. My usual lemon/horseradish red sauce, but we really didn't use it, shrimps were too good without it. Whole catfish fillets rubbed with lemon and my cajun mix, light olive oil, then grilled. Served catfish with a home mayo-based pickled roasted red pepper/lemon/garlic sauce for dippin'. But didn't dip much of that either. Fillets were beautiful and luscious. Baked French bread, then broiled split loaf with lots of butter and minced garlic. Salad of torn Romaine hearts, sweet onion, purple onion, and lots of avocado with bleu cheese and big parmesan and butter multi-grain croutons.

Halloween chocolates for dessert.

Maybe one of the last "still summer here" grill meals for a while. We are promised some cooler weather. Will be posting soups, braised meats and vegs, soon I hope.

[percyn]

My pomegranate glazes have been made by reducing pomegranate juice (and I've used it only as glaze, not marinade).  When I did the first recipe, a bought a half gallon, because all the little bottles had another fruit juice added in, and I wanted straight pomegranate.  That big baby cost $9.99 so needless to say, I began looking for ways to use it up, so we had glazed entrees for dinner twice and another night I did the pomegranate glazed pears for dessert.

Susan,

Of late, I have noticed pomegranate molasses and concentrated juice in many local supermarket stores, in the International section. This works great as a glaze if you use it as-is or dilute it with a bit of wine or stock. I also found pomegranate powder (which I haven't used yet) at an Indian grocery store.

Cheers

P

[the_cow_whisperer]

I sautéed some leeks, braised some short ribs and put them in the crock pot along with some wine, ginger, demi glace, vegetable stock, etc for about 9 hrs or so (on low). I was done in about 4-5 hrs, but I was not ready for dinner yet and so I added some marrow bones from the freezer.

Here is the result....uuhmmm...love the marrow

Percyn,

Wo!  The marrow along with the short ribs is way cool - I like your presentation, too, with the toast rounds.  I'm inspired to rummage around the freezer.  Did you have a wine with your dinner, as well?

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[percyn]

Wo!  The marrow along with the short ribs is way cool - I like your presentation, too, with the toast rounds.  I'm inspired to rummage around the freezer.  Did you have a wine with your dinner, as well?

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TCW,

Thanks for the compliment. I got the idea for the toast rounds from a foodtv show (called After Midnight), which featured Blue Ribbon (a popular hang out spot for NYC chefs), who serves a bone marrow and ox-tail marmalade dish (popular with chefs and foodies). Having grown up on 3 continents, bone marrow is not new to me and I never thought of it as a delicacy, just normal food....until I couldn't get it anymore . So, when I occasionally find bone marrow in my grocery store, I buy almost all of it and freeze it, patiently await an opportunity to indulge...hmmm ....grosses the wife out

I forgot to mention...I had 2 wines actually...SimonSig Cab/Shiraz with the shortribs and finished an open bottle of 1992 Burgess Cabernet (Library Selection) with the cheese plate. A few hours later I had some Hennessy Paradis Extra Cognac as an after dinner drink (helps me sleep better on weekends).

Cheers

P

Edited November 1, 2004 by percyn (log)

[the_cow_whisperer]

Following in the short rib thread, I made short rib ravioli tonight with rosemary butter sauce and sauce gribiche as an appetizer. Everybody ate up! I noticed the ravioli by itself was a bit heavy and the sauce gribiche cut it quite well. Served with Cotes du Rhone.

This idea actually came from the chef at Monarch Restaurant in St. Louis.

Edited November 1, 2004 by the_cow_whisperer (log)

[Malawry]

Roasted chicken leg quarters

Bright red Swiss chard, cooked in the chicken drippings and deglazed with balsamic reduction

Then I ate a kit-kat mini bar while enjoying the trick-or-treat parade.

[hillvalley]

Collard greens and pulled pork

The pork out of the oven

Let the pulling begin

Dinner