Dinner! 2005

[racheld]

And that Dayne dinner was gorgeous!!! What a sweetie!!

[little ms foodie]

I have to add the 4th course....

Cappucino Semifreddo with Cinnamon Sugar donuts

[racheld]

Now that just takes the cruller!! How long does beatification take, anyway?

[Daniel]

That just looks lovely.. If given the choice of having a bite of donut or a sip of cafe, i would be happy with either..

Edited November 8, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[coffeekev]

Singapore chilli crab with sea urchin roe paella

For a description

Edited November 8, 2005 by coffeekev (log)

[Patrick S]

recipe for pear cake? i'm drooling. i want to smother it in whipped cream and be alone with it.

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Pear and Vanilla Cake with Custard

Best served warm. Enjoy!

[Patrick S]

One thing I have to ask, whats with the blt.. Gorgeous photo, by the way...You made it like a baker?  You used a roll over bread...  Availbility or better then bread?

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Availability. We had everything for BLTs except bread, so we used the rolls.

[racheld]

Singapore chilli crab with sea urchin roe paella

For a description

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What a stunning debut!!! Happy first post, and Welcome!!!

Though I think the crab would rather be elsewhere.

[Megan Blocker]

Great dinner, Wendy! You obviously have excellent taste in men, as well as in all things food. Those custards are gorgeous, and the veal looks positively too-licious.

[percyn]

On Sunday I decided to do Chicken Two-ways : Fried and Smoked

The fried chicken was soaked overnight in buttermilk, seasoned in Emeril's essense, drenched in a mixture of AP and corn flour and fried.

The smoked chicken was seasoned with a bunch of herbs and a secret ingredient and smoked over hickory for 1.5 hrs.

Since I had the smoker and fryer going, I also decided to make a smoked pork chop, grill a squash and make some homemade fries.

Yesterday I made Skatewing in a lemon burre blanc sauce with shitake mushrooms, kapers and orzo

[Daniel]

I have been wanting to make skate for a long time.. Looks awesome Percyn, all your dishes, like usual..

[Alinka]

BLT's:

Work. Of. Art.

Great dinners, everyone. And I seem to be on a vegetarian streak again, can't stand the thought of eating meat . At least I can eat fish, so I cooked tilapia with San Marzano tomatoes (+capers, kalamata olives, garlic, lots of basil), served with whole grain lemon-cranberry couscous. Too dark to photograph.

[I_call_the_duck]

Drool. I don't know if I'm ever going to match any of you guys. My dishes are good, but not as pretty as everyone else's here.

The fried chicken was soaked overnight in buttermilk, seasoned in Emeril's essense, drenched in a mixture of AP and corn flour and fried.

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Percy, the chicken looks great, but is my eight year-old sense of humor just getting to me, or am I the only one that finds that seasoning in "Emeril's essense" to be a little, er--unappetizing?

Edited November 8, 2005 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[Alinka]

And I also baked cookies using the recipe I got from a friend in Brussels - lemony and very tender, to the point of too fragile. I decided to stick them together with some cooked condensed milk.

[FoodMan]

yummmmmmmm.... isn't that pretty?

that's the understatement of the week! Keller would be VERY proud Wendy.

[Poffertjes]

Nice Alinka, almost like alfajores from Argentina.

How long did it take you to cook down the condensed milk into the caramel (dulce de leche)? How much sugar did you add?

[Alinka]

Thanks!

I used to actually boil condensed milk right in the can, submersed in water (it takes a few hours) but I'd heard too many stories of the contents of the can sticking to the ceiling after the great explosion, so now I just buy a can of "boiled condensed milk" at the Russian store. It's used fairly often in baking, mostly for buttercreams and fillings (like for thin crispy waffles that are rolled into "cigarettes" when still hot and then filled with the mixture of the condensed milk and nuts, for example, or for stuffing blini).

I bought a can of dulce de leche I found in the Hispanic section of the supermarket. Have not tried it yet.

What are alfajores?

Edited November 8, 2005 by Alinka (log)

[Mooshmouse]

Here's a link to photos from dinner at last night's Serious Foodie class which include:

• Vietnamese-Style Calamari Salad / Wine Pairing: Torres 2004 Viña Esmeralda (Moscatel-Gewürtztraminer)
  
• Pad Won Sen (Pad Thai) / Wine Pairing: Gehringer Brothers 2003 (?) Auxerrois
  
• Lime Coconut Soufflé
  

[jilli42]

Made a gorgeous roasted chicken with carrots, potatoes & onions last night.

However when I went to go get the camera, the kids had already started pulling the chicken apart and the "big kid" was eating all the crispy skin !!

So no pictures, but we all know what roasted chicken looks like, right ??

[Chufi]

I love how the pictures of all these dinners do not just tell a story about the food on the plates, but evoke a whole world behind them..

Wendy, that is a gorgeous dinner that your husband cooked for you.. you both love food.. but that dinner speaks of the love that is in your home, between the two of you.... wonderful..

Our dinner tonight.. all day I had a craving for duck well you know that happens sometimes! So after work I bought 2 duckbreasts and made dinner with those, and bits and pieces from the fridge and the pantry

Pan-fried duckbreasts with lentils that were cooked with caramellized leeks and balsamic vinegar.

Grilled tomatoes

Root mash: celeriac, carrots and potatoes, flavored with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[Sid Post]

Elie, you've been doing some good cooking, from the looks of it!

I'm not sure whether I've had steamed eggs before. How are they superior to boiled eggs?

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Ok, I have no scientific basis to support my claims, but the main reason I love steamed eggs is the ease of peeling. Could be coincidence I guess. Whenever I steam them isntead of boiling, they come out perfect and peel with no problem. They are also very easy to make.

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I have a vegetable steamer that I use on eggs almost every morning. I can get a good hard boiled egg using the advice from the "culinary school" threads on this site but, it takes some concentration on my part which I don't always have early in the morning.

Put a few eggs in the basket, set the timer for ~10 minutes and walk away. When I come back they are easy to peel every time and have perfectly yellow yokes every time. There is no simpler or easier way to do it - YMMV.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Sid Post (log)

[M. Lucia]

Oh my goodness, you go away for a few days and this thread grows exponentially.

Patrick, gorgeous photos as usual- you always make the desserts I have on my list to try, it's like having a personal tester!

LMF is a Keller-like miracle, Chufi does double duty with Dutch cooking and puff pastry extravaganzas, and Daniel makes cooking for a crowd look like a breeze.

Alinka, I was going to say the exact same thing about Alfajores, they are a traditional Argentine cookie with dulce de leche filling. A common brand is Havanna.

Dinner here was good old Italian: ravioli nudi (spinach dumplings) in tomato sauce. A side of cumin spiced ceci (chickpeas).

Dessert will be homemade turron de yema.

I finally ran out of the boxes I got last time I was in Barcelona and have tried to make my own, I have no idea how they will come out. (fyi: turron de yema is literally egg yolk nougat, but its more like marzipan with egg yolks and bruleed on top).

[Megan Blocker]

Tonight was bistro night in my apartment - well, it was supposed to be! I wanted to make celeri remoulade and a real coq au vin (whole chicken, bottle of wine, fresh pearl onions, etc.), but the celery root I bought last week had something growing on it (icky!). Soooo...I improvised and made a cucumber remoulade instead, and it was pretty good! The coq au vin came out well, and should be good for a few more dinners this week, unless my little bro decides to come a-pillaging....

I'm having Image Gullet issues, but will post pics when I can!

ETA: Ooooooh, gorgeous duck, Klary! The mash looks pretty freakin' good, too. Is that a little pool of butter on the top, there?

Edited again: Found the pics!!!

Coq au vin:

"Cuke Remoulade":

Edited November 10, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Daniel]

Bought a cast iron hot pot for 22 bucks today.. The thing is really just so cool I couldnt pass it up.. Using the cookbook Land Of Plenty, a Sichuan Recipe book as a guide I made a hot pot.. Instead of chicken stock I used veal stock, added more bean paste and whatever, but stayed close to the recipe..

I served veal,chicken, beef on the side.. As well as bok choy,button and shitake mushrooms..

You put vegetables and meat in the spicey broth and watch the pot get darker and richer.. Put over rice.. Loved the tongue numbing sichuan pepper corn, the spicy sichuan peppers... Great dish and I always like to play with or cook dishes at the table.. The shitakes were the best thing besides the broth..

Bite *

We also had twice cooked duck tongue.. Served with leaks... I boiled, then fried the tongue in duck fat. then followed the sauce for twice cooked pork in this book.. Great..

Mini Lemon Macaroons for dessert.. Not very Chinese..

Edited November 9, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[little ms foodie]

total opposite of last nights dinner (cooked by Dayne, not me but thanks for all the kudos!) eggplant involtini stuffed with homemade ricotta and Marios red sauce on a bed of capallini sauteed in EVOO and garlic