Dinner! 2005

[ellencho]

This was today's snack - fig stuffed with maytag blue wrapped in prosciutto.

Dinner was tomato pie with a simple salad.

[handmc]

pie -oh my! that looks great!

Boy have I missed a week.

[Chufi]

last night, friends for dinner.. Italian feast!

antipasti:

prosciutto & salami

mozzarella with pomegranate and olive oil

red & yellow peppers with garlic, pinenuts, raisins and balsamic vinegar

Pasta with roast tomato & roast garlic sauce, with porcini, panfried portobella, rosemary and sage. It had a wonderful herby, woodsy, deep and complex flavor.

Vela involtini with a breadcrumb, salted caper, parsley & pecorino stuffing

On the table with the vegetables: roast broccoli and a salad of roast beetroot & belgian endive, with a walnut oil/chive dressing

Dessert: blackberry almond tart, served with e lemoncurd cream. This may be one of the best tarts I ever made.. crisp buttery crust, a lovely rich almond cream filling, perfectly balanced by the juicy tartness of the blackberries.

Edited September 24, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[liamsaunt]

Pan seared veal rib chop, gorgonzola risotto, and broccoli. It was late and we were hungry, so I did not defat the sauce. Oh well, it still tasted good.

[MobyP]

Pan seared veal rib chop, gorgonzola risotto, and broccoli.  It was late and we were hungry, so I did not defat the sauce. Oh well, it still tasted good.

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Not to worry. In classical French kitchens it's called a jus perlé - and is much coveted.

[gourmande]

...Dinner was tomato pie with a simple salad.

OOOlala... I know what I'm having tonight

Is that simply phyllo (or puff pastry) with basil, tomatoes and cheese?

[ellencho]

Gourmande, it's your lucky day. I've got the exact recipe online that I posted for an Iron Chef type cookoff for another forum that I frequent.

I don't think you need to be a member to check out the recipe.

The recipe uses puff pastry, scallions and parsley instead of basil, and gruyere. I hope you still try it

Tomato pie recipe.

[gourmande]

Gourmande, it's your lucky day. I've got the exact recipe online that I posted for an Iron Chef type cookoff for another forum that I frequent....The recipe uses puff pastry, scallions and parsley instead of basil, and gruyere. I hope you still try it

Tomato pie recipe.

My lucky day indeed! As it happens I have puff pastry sheets in the freezer, lots of local tomatoes, some home made pesto (basil though) and some gruyère.

I will let you see how it turned out!

[Patrick S]

Gourmande, it's your lucky day. I've got the exact recipe online that I posted for an Iron Chef type cookoff for another forum that I frequent.

I don't think you need to be a member to check out the recipe.

The recipe uses puff pastry, scallions and parsley instead of basil, and gruyere. I hope you still try it

Tomato pie recipe.

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I tried this tonight, and its delicious! I deviated from the recipe in the following ways: I egg-washed the puff sheet and coated it with grated paramsan, ala CI tomato tart recipe. This gives a supercrisp crust, as the bottom photo shows, plus it tastes damn good. I added some basil to and subtracted some parsley from the pesto. I used a mixture of gruyere, parmasan, and mozarella. Thanks for the recipe, ellencho!

Before the last trip into the oven:

The finished product:

The crispy crustage:

[M. Lucia]

I've been peeking in on this thread but my commitments recently have kept me from cooking anything noteworthy (though with beautiful produce, I don't really need to cook much) or having time to post. However, all your gorgeous meals are putting me to shame.

Tonight I decided to use up some end of summer corn by making:

humitas con queso.

I have an obsession with corn in any form but this a good one I don't make often.

Humitas are like tamales but the dough is made with grated fresh corn with a little milk and masa, then steamed in corn husks. The texture is like a lovely steamed pudding. I added some grated cheese for extra yum-factor.

Accompanied by a tomato salad. Dessert will be P. Herme's chocolate mousse.

by the way, I have this blue cheese languishing in my fridge and I was remembering that Choufi always makes these great looking blue cheese sauces and gratins. Maybe a sauce for mushroom ravioli or other ideas are welcome...

[ellencho]

Oh wow, your crust looks awesome Patrick S. I'll definitely try that egg wash and parm trick next time I make this.

[dockhl]

M. Lucia~

That sounds wonderful ! Could you point me toward a recipe for humitas con queso?

Thanks !

[helenas]

tonight appetizers - saffron cauliflower with onions, anchovies (mind-bogglingly good Ortiz brand) and raisins:

tomato salad made with jersean ugly tomatoes and artisanal tomato vinegar;

black pudding medley: thickly sliced potatoes browned, fat scallions and wedged cortland apple browned, sage and chopped scallion greens added, topped with thickly sliced pudding and broiled until sausage is crispy:

[Ling]

-pork ribs in black bean sauce

-abalone, chicken, and pork soup

[Daniel]

Really pretty Patrick..

[Chufi]

by the way, I have this blue cheese languishing in my fridge and I was remembering that Choufi always makes these great looking blue cheese sauces and gratins. Maybe a sauce for mushroom ravioli or other ideas are welcome...

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as it happens I just made a belgian endive gratin yesterday

served with a green salad and a chickpea salad. the chickpeas were donated by a friend who came to my house friday afternoon to "make some houmous" in my food processor. I did not know he was talking about 2 liters of houmous.. he made a big mess.. but at least he left me some chickpeas. I tossed them in lots of lemon juice, garlic, walnutoil and parsley. Draped some leftover prosciutto over it. A nice easy dinner after the italian extravaganza of the evening before (see upthread).

But, on to the cheese sause.. Mine are really very easy.. with good blue cheese, I just heat some cream (or milk if I don't have any cream) and crumble the cheese in it, heat until melted, season with pepper and nutmeg (I like nutmeg with blue cheese).

It also works with creme fraiche.. that's especially good for gratinee-ing.. yesterday I heated a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche, a tablespoon of mustard, a splash of milk to loosen it up, salt and pepper and various grated cheeses that were lying around in the fridge. Spooned over pre-cooked belgian endive and baked, sprinkled some more cheese on top, then finally grilled to make a nice golden crust.

Mmm I love gratins!!

edited to add: Helenas, that black pudding dish looks fantastic. Now I'm craving black pudding!

Edited September 25, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[Daniel]

Set up a griddle at the living room table.. Had marinated skirt steak with peppers and onions in a citrus, garlic, cumin, soy combo..

Edited September 25, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[MobyP]

Roast Lable Anglais chicken, stuffed with herbs, with french cèpes, pommes puree, and roast golden beetroot, epine artichokes, chicken jus, and barigoule foam.

Bernard Pacaud's chocolate tart with a vanilla cream

Edited September 25, 2005 by MobyP (log)

[Megan Blocker]

Wow! I go away for one weekend and come back to some amazing dinners! This thread is so inspiring.

I was at a wedding this weekend (just down in Midtown, but it felt like a world away), and the dinner was amazing - butternut squash soup with bleu cheese, watercress and walnuts; poached lobster on a bed of parsley risotto with a blood orange sauce; lime sorbet with green melon liqueur; filet mignon with bearnaise and port sauces; Waldorf salad (updated with truffle oil and creme fraiche). Had to have a Waldorf salad, since the wedding was held at the Starlight Roof!

Here's a pic of the salad - gorgeous, and pretty tasty, too.

[monavano]

Roast Lable Anglais chicken, stuffed with herbs, with french cèpes, pommes puree, and roast golden beetroot, epine artichokes, chicken jus, and barigoule foam.

Bernard Pacaud's chocolate tart with a vanilla cream

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That meal looks amazing!! Can you explain "epine" artichokes and "barigoule foam".

thanks

[Pumpkin Lover]

mozzarella with pomegranate and olive oil

This picture reminds me of seeing cherry and plum blossoms in Japan, but it's the furthest thing from a Japanese dish, LOL. I think it must be the brightness of the pink against the white. Gorgeous, gorgeous photo!

[MobyP]

Thanks. Though the sauceing of the jus is a bit rubbish. Epine artichokes are the small ones, about the size of a rose, also known I believe as violet artichokes. A traditional French recipe for cookiing artichokes is called Barigoule, where after trimming the heads, you poach them in chicken stock, white wine and mirepoix, with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Once they were finished, I strained and reduced the barigoule stock until it was thick and syrupy, then added about a cup of cream, and used a stick blender to make a foam (courtesy of Matt Grant).

[Chufi]

I made an attempt at gnocchi for the Cook-off..

fortunately I also made a salad that turned out great.. lots of different green leaves (oak leaf, lollo rosso, lollo bianco), chickpeas, hard boiled eggs and a dressing of salted capers, parsley, anchovies, olive oils and lemon juice.

[liamsaunt]

I took a picture of last night's dinner but it turned out so ugly that I think I am going to post the result in the other dinner thread! Roast maple turkey, mashed potatoes, roast cauliflower, bread dressing, carrots, and brussel sprouts.

Today, for "linner," grilled salmon with dill-caper sauce, hasselback potatoes, green beans from the farmers market with basil from the garden, and eggplant sticks.

[monavano]

Thanks. Though the sauceing of the jus is a bit rubbish. Epine artichokes are the small ones, about the size of a rose, also known I believe as violet artichokes. A traditional French recipe for cookiing artichokes is called Barigoule, where after trimming the heads, you poach them in chicken stock, white wine and mirepoix, with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Once they were finished, I strained and reduced the barigoule stock until it was thick and syrupy, then added about a cup of cream, and used a stick blender to make a foam (courtesy of Matt Grant).

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Thank you for clarifying. I'm writing it down and will give it a try if I can find some decent 'chokes.