Dinner! 2005

[FoodMan]

Sahlmanese this is wonderful!! I also love that steak Varmint.

Dinner last night was leftover corn bread heated up in the oven and served with soft scrambled eggs and cheddar.

Elie

[Jinmyo]

Seafood broth with lobster wonton.

Roasted eryngi mushrooms and red peppers with two kinds of pressed tofu.

Sautéed baby Shanghai bok choy, bok choy, and gai lan with abalone sauce.

Large squares cut from beef chuck roasts braised with shoyu, sake, lemongrass, ginger on barley risotto with saffron, shaloots, garlic, surrounded by the strained braising sauce.

Green tea sorbet and kimchi pancakes (like scallion pancakes but with kimchi, about two inches across).

[ludja]

Seafood broth with lobster wonton.

Roasted eryngi mushrooms and red peppers with two kinds of pressed tofu.

Sautéed baby Shanghai bok choy, bok choy, and gai lan with abalone sauce.

Large squares cut from beef chuck roasts braised with shoyu, sake, lemongrass, ginger on barley risotto with saffron, shaloots, garlic, surrounded by the strained braising sauce.

Green tea sorbet and kimchi pancakes (like scallion pancakes but with kimchi, about two inches across).

←

Particularly intriguing menu jinmyo.

Two questions:

1. Abalone Sauce

Is this a preserved product bought in a bottle? How does is compare with fish sauce? Can you recommend a brand?

2. The green tea sorbet and kimchee pancakes sound unique. I guess the sorbet must have had some sweetness? Would be interesting to hear your opinions on how this dish worked.

Thanks much!

[Jake]

Last night, hangar steak, roasted yellow beets with pomegranate molasses and french green beans with an herbed dijon butter.

[Jinmyo]

Particularly intriguing menu jinmyo.

Two questions:

1.  Abalone Sauce

Is this a preserved product bought in a bottle?  How does is compare with fish sauce?  Can you recommend a brand?

2. The green tea sorbet and kimchee pancakes sound unique.  I guess the sorbet must have had some sweetness?  Would be interesting to hear your opinions on how this dish worked.

Thanks much!

1. It's like oyster sauce. The brand that I use is Kong Soon. It's particularly nice mixed 1 part to 4 parts shoyu.

2. No sweetness. That would destroy the flavours of the Huo Shao Yun ("Cloud Burner") tea. People really liked it but I had might as well have just served the tea as tea really.

[M. Lucia]

I am stuffed just looking at that feast above, the flower buns and meatballs with snow peas look especially good!

I am currently cooking a New Orleans inspired stew of light roux, onions, tomatoes, okra, green peppers, and potatoes. Cornbread on the side.

I picked up a slice of bourbon cream cake for dessert, but those paczkis I heard about in the radio sounded pretty good.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to go to the big Chinese New Year celebration tomorrow but hopefully I'll get to Chinatown on the weekend.

Edited February 9, 2005 by M. Lucia (log)

[Behemoth]

Weeknight mezze. Sopprasetta salami, moroccan oil cured black olives (not shown), octopus with garlic, a little vinegar and olive oil, hummus, and a new one: mustard greens sauteed in mustard oil with mustard seeds and whole red chilies. The greens were excellent, definitely a new favorite dish. Greek pita with, because I find it less appalling than what passes for arabic pita around these parts. Martini bianco vermouth to drink.

[jscarbor]

I really need to learn how to download some pictures. It really makes an impression. Since I don't know how to dl pictures i'lll just tell you what I made.

Tonight was sauteed salmon with a maple/mustard sauce. Really tasty and very easy. It was an epicurious recipe. Wild rice which I cooked with way too much water? and roasted asparagus finished with rosemary grapeseed oil.

And for dessert! Hot fudge sunday! Yum... yum!

[Mooshmouse]

A simple meal tonight, but one of my son's favourites: teriyaki salmon cakes with roasted cauliflower and jasmine rice. It's amazing how much food a hungry preschooler can put away!

[spaghetttti]

Mooshmouse, that looks fabulous! Are those sesame seeds and almonds on the rice? I've gotta try that. Thanks for the inspiration.

[FoodMan]

We wanted to cook fish and the Mahi looked very fresh so I picked up a large fillet. It's also a pretty ugly, rainy day and we wanted some comfort food. So, I cut the fresh fish into large chunks, sauteed in butter and olive oil and finished with chopped garlic and parsley.

I served it on top of a sort of chowder, made thicker than normal to form a nice base. The chowder had yukon golds, sweet potatoes, corn, bacon, green onions and cream.

This improvised dish was excellent, if I do say so myself, and recieved rave reviews from all two of my diners .

Elie

[Mooshmouse]

Thanks Yetty!

Yes, those are almonds and sesame seeds toasted in a bit of salted butter. They were left over from a salad garnish that I made which also includes crushed dry ramen noodles. The garnish is so tasty that I end up nearly doubling the quantities because at least half of it gets eaten as snack food before it even makes it onto the salad.

And Elie, that looks fantastic! Had I been one of your diners, I'd have needed restraint to prevent me from licking the last drops of chowder out of the bowl.

Joie

[spaghetttti]

Tonight I made a soup with tofu and long beans in coconut milk. I had mine just ladled over some rice, but my husband added some fresh bean sprouts to his. A squirt of kalamansi really brightened up the flavors.

[sadistick]

Looking good all, decided to cook up some last night...

Thai little neck clams, in a ginger chilli lemongrass broth, with a tomato compot.

Charred baby octopus served with nice evoo and lemon juice

Chickpea fry with spanish onions and wood oven tomatoes

Boconccini with (more) wood oven tomatoes, mescaline mix, aged balsamic, and evoo.

[FoodMan]

Sadistick,

your menu sounds very interesting. What exactly is a "chickpea fry"?

Elie

[sadistick]

Sadistick,

your menu sounds very interesting. What exactly is a "chickpea fry"?

Elie

←

Hi FoodMon,

A chickpea fry is similar to hash browns, but chickpeas...here is what I did

Sliced a nice fat Spanish onion...chopped some garlic, chili and roasted garlic.

Started off by sauteing the onions, med heat, getting them the caramel color we love, then added some balsamic to deglaze

Once i decided the onions were pretty much done, added garlic and chili, and while this was happening, i would 'mash' some of the chickpeas...i would say about 1/3 gets mashed, the starch is important later on...

Earlier in the day i made a 5 hour marathon tomato sauce...

After the garlic is turning a little golden, i deglazed with some white wine, then added a chunk of the tomatoe sauce, and roasted garlic...fried that up

I guess instead of a fry, its more of a Chickpea ragout...added the wood oven tomatoes at the end as garnish, finished with good evoo.

Hope this helps

[Jinmyo]

Peanut and dai gai choy (Chinese mustard greens) soup (chicken broth galangal, tamarind, peanut butter etc) with tofu noodles.

Then family style:

Mixed grain with roasted mushrooms and coriander; Tandoori pork loin roasts with Meyer lemon and red jalapeno pesto; tsukemono of daikon and thinly sliced Meyer lemons.

[FoodMan]

Sadistick,

your menu sounds very interesting. What exactly is a "chickpea fry"?

Elie

←

Hi FoodMon,

A chickpea fry is similar to hash browns, but chickpeas...here is what I did

Sliced a nice fat Spanish onion...chopped some garlic, chili and roasted garlic.

Started off by sauteing the onions, med heat, getting them the caramel color we love, then added some balsamic to deglaze

Once i decided the onions were pretty much done, added garlic and chili, and while this was happening, i would 'mash' some of the chickpeas...i would say about 1/3 gets mashed, the starch is important later on...

Earlier in the day i made a 5 hour marathon tomato sauce...

After the garlic is turning a little golden, i deglazed with some white wine, then added a chunk of the tomatoe sauce, and roasted garlic...fried that up

I guess instead of a fry, its more of a Chickpea ragout...added the wood oven tomatoes at the end as garnish, finished with good evoo.

Hope this helps

←

Wow! That's totally not what I expected. Sounds very good though as an alternative to a mushroom or meat ragout.

See I have this recipe from an old Food and Wine issue that uses chickpea flour to make a sort of dough. then it is cuts into finger size pieces (a la French Fries). these are then deep fried. I never got around to trying the recipe but I always thought it was interesting. I thought you did something similar and I wanted to see how you made it.

Elie

[sadistick]

Sadistick,

your menu sounds very interesting. What exactly is a "chickpea fry"?

Elie

←

Hi FoodMon,

A chickpea fry is similar to hash browns, but chickpeas...here is what I did

Sliced a nice fat Spanish onion...chopped some garlic, chili and roasted garlic.

Started off by sauteing the onions, med heat, getting them the caramel color we love, then added some balsamic to deglaze

Once i decided the onions were pretty much done, added garlic and chili, and while this was happening, i would 'mash' some of the chickpeas...i would say about 1/3 gets mashed, the starch is important later on...

Earlier in the day i made a 5 hour marathon tomato sauce...

After the garlic is turning a little golden, i deglazed with some white wine, then added a chunk of the tomatoe sauce, and roasted garlic...fried that up

I guess instead of a fry, its more of a Chickpea ragout...added the wood oven tomatoes at the end as garnish, finished with good evoo.

Hope this helps

←

Wow! That's totally not what I expected. Sounds very good though as an alternative to a mushroom or meat ragout.

See I have this recipe from an old Food and Wine issue that uses chickpea flour to make a sort of dough. then it is cuts into finger size pieces (a la French Fries). these are then deep fried. I never got around to trying the recipe but I always thought it was interesting. I thought you did something similar and I wanted to see how you made it.

Elie

←

Yah, I have had and made Chickpea fries, they are pretty good...nothing I would waste that much time with though...

Note, you dont want too much tomato sauce, as its similar to a ragout, but not as saucey, you want the chickpeas to take center stage...

[Jinmyo]

I do chickpea frites from gram flour now and then. They're nice with rack of lamb, quail, and so on.

One nice thing is that the dough can be seasoned in a wide range of directions.

[Susan in FL]

I brined a chicken most of the day yesterday, and put it in the fridge last night to let it air dry until roasting tonight. It turned out juicy and tasty with almost perfect crispy skin. We had a potato salad with oil cured olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, capers, basil, etc. and Chufi's roasted green beans with it. We served dinner family style for a change, instead of the usual plating.

[Mooshmouse]

Oooh, Susan. Roasted green beans. I keep forgetting to try that, throwing some garlic in there for good measure. And that looks like the potato salad to end all potato salads.

Yetty, your soup is so vibrantly coloured... I'm sure it tasted just as wonderful as it looks!

Tonight's dinner was an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink stirfry. Cooking had to be extra-quick as the troops were ravenous Chicken and loads of vegetables with a soy/cane vinegar/orange juice/honey glaze, served over jasmine rice. And no leftovers to be had.

Edited February 10, 2005 by Mooshmouse (log)

[appreciator]

Turkey Picadillo over short grain brown rice

Broccoli Rabe sauted with garlic

[hathor]

I'm back in the land of dial up...so I've been gone for a few days...fantastic meals all over the world!

I'm still pondering: parmesan tuilles with chorizo and goat cheese...what a great idea!

Last night: braised coniglio (rabbit) with green olives, finished with a mustard sauce made from the reduced braising juices.

Sauteed radicchio

Green Salad

Lunch today was risotto milanese with some great local salami, radishes and pecorino on the side.

Tonight we are having a very simple bolognese sauced spaghetti. To me, that is soul food.

[Basilgirl]

Like Mooshmouse, we did a chicken stirfry - for Chinese New Year - plus my boyfriend wants to learn how, so I gave him a lesson in Stirfry 101, even though I'm definitely no expert. He got to cut up the red peppers, onions, celery, carrots, asparagus, shiitakes & the chicken. He does not follow instructions well and cut them too small but oh well. He does play well with others and does not run with scissors. It turned out pretty good and he was really proud of himself.