Dinner! 2005

[snowangel]

Meanwhile, tonight's dinner...

This sounds weird, but it tasted so good!  Boneless skinless chicken thighs, with prunes and green olives.  Great flavor combination.  The go-withs were unremarkable and unphotogenic, rice and left-over greens.

In the skillet...

Agreed that this is not strange. In fact, I have a post in in my All About Braising book that her Chicken with Prunes and Olives (she also adds some lemon) is one of the next up!

[Megan Blocker]

Thanks, Megan and All, for your show of support on my interest and efforts in the hobby of food photography!

And Megan, I am game if you are!  Shall we tentatively plan for the weekend of the 29th?

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It's easy to show interest in such gorgeous food and the photos that capture it!

As for the puff pastry, you're on! And that gives me time to buy a pastry scraper - something I can't believe I don't own!

Edited October 20, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Chufi]

And Megan, I am game if you are!  Shall we tentatively plan for the weekend of the 29th?

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As for the puff pastry, you're on! And that gives me time to buy a pastry scraper - something I can't believe I don't own!

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I think I will join you. (if that's allright )

[Susan in FL]

Klary, please do! This will be fun.

And Verjuice, Michael, and Susan, what a surprise. This is sort of like "the joke's on me." I guess I was the only one to whom this sounded weird. It was an unknown dish to me!

[Lori in PA]

Last night: Veal Saltimbocca, Butternut Squash Risotto, and broccoli. Rich and yum!

[Megan Blocker]

And Megan, I am game if you are!  Shall we tentatively plan for the weekend of the 29th?

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As for the puff pastry, you're on! And that gives me time to buy a pastry scraper - something I can't believe I don't own!

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I think I will join you. (if that's allright )

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Yay! Oh, this will be fun...

[vanderb]

Last night was a bit of cheat due to tiredness... grilled cheese w/ naramata bench blue cheese and smoked turkey; to accompany a packaged cream of vegetable soup I won't buy again. The grilled cheese were definately worth it though.

Tonight, bbq'd coho salmon in a quick EVOO, lemon zest, lemon juice and chilli marinade with jasmine rice and a fresh tomato salad. I took the salmon out of the freezer before heading into the cubicle of shame for the day, that's the only reason this is known before hand.

[gourmande]

Sunday I was back in my own kitchen, and with the colder weather my thoughts turned immediately to braising and other forms of comfort cooking, so...

Sunday: Chicken braised in white wine with onions, peppers and apricots; served over lemony Jasmine rice; mixed leaf, cucumber and tomato salad.

Monday: Stuffed peppers with tomato sauce and shaved Parmesan; roasted Yukon Golds; leafy green salad.

Tuesday: Baked rigatoni (tomato meat sauce) topped with lots of Provolone; mixed leaf, cucumber and red pepper salad.

Wednesday: Baked Coho salmon fillets; duck fat roasted veggies (potato wedges, baby carrots, red peppers strips, thick sliced zucchini rounds); spinach and orange salad.

[Chufi]

lots of stuff in the freezer and fridge and not much money in the groceries bank account, so it's time to eat the leftovers

Tonight we had leftover chicken pie and left over coq au vin from the freezer. Then a friend came by and I invited him to dinner and to make our leftovers go further, I made a gratin of the last bit of kabocha squash that was lying around in the fridge, potatoes, garlic and cream. Crunchy parmesan topping. Delicious!

The one really fresh part of the dinner (I think you should always have one crunchy fresh item when you're having leftovers) was a green salad.

There was gratin left over but I made my friend take it home with him otherwise the chain of leftovers in my fridge will never end... better transfer it to him

[AmyDaniel]

I received my new digital camera today, and of course I had to use it in my first Dinner! post! Please forgive the quality of the pictures, I'm just learning to use this thing...

Last night I made chicken curry; my sister and I heated up the leftovers for tonight. I usually make it as my mother does: just cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves fried with the onion/ginger/garlic paste, and simmering the chicken in water with tomatoes. I wanted to try something different, though, so I made the Bombay Chicken Curry with Coriander and Coconut Milk from Indian Home Cooking by Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness. It's great, but next time I think I'll cut down on the number of cardamom pods in the spice mix - it overpowers over the flavors of coriander and the other spices a bit too much. It's a nice change from everyday chicken curry, though.

Pics!

In the pot:

In the bowl (sorry about the curry leaf on top - it looks like an insect, doesn't it? ):

All mixed up:

Amy

edited to fix bad image link

Edited October 21, 2005 by AmyDaniel (log)

[monavano]

Amy, the pics are wonderful. I HAVE to get that cookbook. Daniel has posted pics from recipes in it, and ...wow. Damn.

[Megan Blocker]

Great first Dinner post, Amy!

[Daniel]

Hey great Amy, looking forward to seeing your photos.. That chicken looked great..

Edited October 21, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[rooftop1000]

Meanwhile, tonight's dinner...

This sounds weird, but it tasted so good!  Boneless skinless chicken thighs, with prunes and green olives.  Great flavor combination.  The go-withs were unremarkable and unphotogenic, rice and left-over greens.

In the skillet...

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Chicken Marbella (sic) used to serve this at one place that I worked...had apricots too

T

[Kent Wang]

Fettucine alfredo with porcini mushrooms

To be honest, it did not turn out all that well. After many tries, I still do not like sauteed porcinis. The distinct flavor of the porcinis is too concentrated. I prefer to cook it in a risotto.

[AmyDaniel]

Thanks for the kind words. I forgot to post about dessert...

The Baked Apples thread got me craving for apples in some cooked form - I almost never eat them raw. I didn't want to bake, though, so I improvised:

First I sauteed an apple in butter:

Removed the apples, fried a little cinnamon and cloves in butter, and added sugar and water for caramel - didn't realize that the fat-coated sugar would seize in the water... But it worked out in the end:

Added the apples and some walnuts to the sauce:

In the bowl, topped with crème fraîche:

Yum.

I have to figure out how to take close-up shots that aren't blurry....

Amy

Edited October 21, 2005 by AmyDaniel (log)

[Grub]

Red Thai Chicken Curry:

I have no idea how authentic it is, to use taters in such a dish, but I love spuds so I went for it. Rice would have worked better, since the sauce ended up so thin -- next time I'll use some cornstarch slurry to thicken it. And, next time I'll use half the red curry paste, and mild chilis for garnish -- this recipe was extremely hot. But there'll definitely be a next time.

It's one of the simplest wok dishes I've ever made. Everything was cooked in the wok. And there was no prep work required at all -- normally, I have to cut & slice and prepare all ingredients and meez them and whatnot, because there's no time once you strt cooking. But with this one, I could easily do everything while things were bubbling along in the wok -- and have loads of time left over.

1. Heat the wok, and slice an onion into wedges. Dump it in and stir-fry for 3-4 min.

2. Dump in a can of coconut milk, bring to a boil.

3. Dump in 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp fish sauce and 2 (well actually, one, unless you're really keen on heat) tbsp red curry paste.

4. Dump in the taters (cut them in half unless they are really small) and let simmer for 20 min. While that's going on, slice two chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.

6. Dump chicken in and let simmer for 10-15 min (until chicken is done). While that's going on, squeeze up one lime, and chop 1 tbsp basil and 1 tbsp mint, and for garnish, tear up about 3-5 kafir lime leaves (depending on their size) and chop up a couple of chilis -- mild and seeded (or not, if you are a complete heat-maniac ) I could only get green chilis -- the recipe called for red ones, which would look better in the picture, seeing that all the other garnish is green...

7. Take off heat, dump in lime juice, basil and mint, stir.

8. Plate, and garnish.

(Oh, and I guess, halfway through 6, I'd add some cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce.)

[Kent Wang]

I baked a pumpkin pie, made from a fresh pumpkin.

[Brad Ballinger]

My first post to this thread. No photos, but I'll try to remember that for the future.

Last night on my way home, I stopped by the fish market. Our teenage daughter was out of town, and it gave my wife and I an opportunity to have some fish. The market had sashimi grade blue marlin at only $9.95/pound. I got a couple of steaks, about 1.5 inches thick.

Marinated them for an hour in a thrown-together mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Pan seared for 2-3 mintues per side over high heat, which developed a nice crust with a generous center section that was pink, but warm. Heated up the leftover marinade and added chopped parsley to pour over the fish when plated. Served with saffron rice and sauteed green beans. Opened a Cremant de Limoux (I love bubbles with fish).

[Chufi]

My first post to this thread. 

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welcome to the thread Brad! Sounds like a wonderful dinner especially with the bubbles

I had my last night of "trying to cook with anything left in fridge & freezer". Made spaghetti with roast tomato sauce (sauce from the freezer, jazzed up with lots of onion rings sauteed in olive oil).

I also used up some spinach and green peas from the freezer and made these cakes:

they were good and the dinner was ok, but I'm tired of being creative with leftovers and can't wait to get to the farmers' market tomorrow!

[Milt]

Last evening, I prepared a beef chili mac recipe from Cooking Light Five Star Recipes, as well as chunky chicken chili. Accompanying these two options were deviled eggs, a tray of fresh veggies (celery, carrots and radishes), a loaf of homemade whole wheat chili bread from the latest New Mexico magazine, and offsetting all of the saved calories - dessert was bread pudding from a Les Carloss cookbook on Cajun cuisine.

[Sid Post]

I'm tired of being creative with leftovers and can't wait to get to the farmers' market tomorrow!

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That's one of the things I loved about my time in Enschede, NL. On Saturday, they had a wonderful open air market. The variety of what was offered was really good. Someday, I hope to return to that lovely city.

Now, to decide what to cook after my trip to the market. I have lots of fresh veggies, a chicken, and two kinds of fish

[racheld]

A First-Really-Chilly night's dinner: Chris started with a cup of leftover shrimp/crab/okra gumbo, made yesterday by Dear Son #2, brought over this a.m. Quick-seared thick pink slices of ham steaks, snugged between sliced croissants made fresh this a.m. by Dear Daughter. A shared baked sweet potato, with brown sugar/vanilla butter smushed in. Snow peas, grape tomatoes and crisp cucumber sticks with dill raita.

No dessert yet---a cup of decaf caramel latte for me. Friday Night SciFi lineup.

One year ago today I joined eGullet. (And didn't post til January---odd).

[Daniel]

Happy happy anniversary, Happy happy anniversary, to you, to you, to you... What a great bunch of meals you had with family, and what a fun year it was knowing you.. I actually was planning on eating eggs with ham steak for breakfast tomorrow.. But didnt pick up the steak.. Where are your photos, I thought we were getting pictures from the new camera????

[Daniel]

Started with yucon potato pancakes fried in duck fat with creme fraiche, plank fish eggs, and onion in the kitchen..

Lovely..

We were still hanging out in the kitchen so I threw on razor clams.. Fried in garlic olive oil for a couple of minutes. Served with lemon..

Made lion of pork with a lot of garlic and rosemary.. Browned, then cooked for 40 minutes.. Used my electronic thermometer for the first time.. The alarm went off when the meats center hit 140. How awesome...

Let the pork rest and made a pan sauce with shallots and some red wine.. Great dish.. Served with blue cheese and duck fat grits..

From Chocolate Obsession I made the rocky road brownies.. Really good.. Marshmallow and walnut placed in the batter..

Close up

Edited October 22, 2005 by Daniel (log)