Dinner! 2005

[MobyP]

More asparagus tomfoolery

[Patrick S]

For Derby day, had cheese pizza again, and espresso Kahlua tiramisu for dessert.

[Susan in FL]

Cuban tonight, with recipes from In a Cuban Kitchen by Alex Garcia that I adapted:

Picadillo

Fried Plantains

Rice and Red Beans

Hearts of Palm Salad

Before, Mojitos made with Ron Añejo Aniversario Reserva Exclusiva (I mention that because that Rum is really, really good. )

With, a Spanish red wine

After, chocolate-covered strawberries

[ellencho]

Char siu and gai lan served with white rice.

[tanabutler]

Baked salmon here (wild Pacific salmon's back in season!) with a maple-chipotle glaze; baby carrots steamed/tossed in unsalted butter with kosher flake salt and ground pepper; and simple white jasmine rice. A nice spring dinner after a lovely spring day.

[SuzySushi]

Char siu and gai lan served with white rice.

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Ellen -- do you make your own char siu from scratch? Recipe, please!

[ellencho]

I do make my own, but it's using someone else's recipe with my own modifications.

I adapted my recipe from shiokadelcious! . The changes I made were using half the white sugar, and using five spice powder as my seasoning instead of using garlic and ginger. Everything else is the same as her recipe and technique.

[SuzySushi]

Sushi!

Tekkamaki and hamachi sashimi, garnished with shiso leaves and fukujinzuke (storebought Japanese pickles).

[Grub]

SuzySushi, that looks excellent! I looked around, and found that Tekkamaki is tuna -- but how is that term different from maguro? Is it a different type of tuna, or is it just a word that in itself means a tuna roll?

I love maguro and hamachi, but have never tried to make it at home, as I've never quite dared to go ask for sushi-quality fish... I'd never try a local supermarket, but know a few seemingly upscale stores -- not specialized towards sushi, mind you... How do you go about finding the right quality?

--

Tonight's dinner: Salmon with a honey, soy, crushed green peppercorn and lemon juice glaze, potatoes and asparagus, all roasted on the grill (BBQ). Along with some Hollandaise sauce from the CIA cookbook.

(Hollandaise is a bit of an obsession with me, and I've tried about a dozen different ways to do it, and I think I've finally found one that I really, really like. The Escoffier method seemed really easy, and came out pretty good, but was too buttery for my taste. This version suits my tastes far better.)

Oh, and maybe this won't come as any surprise to anyone, but I just learned something today... Don't let Raley's sharpen your knives. They use machines. And not very well:

[SuzySushi]

SuzySushi, that looks excellent! I looked around, and found that Tekkamaki is tuna -- but how is that term different from maguro? Is it a different type of tuna, or is it just a word that in itself means a tuna roll?

I love maguro and hamachi, but have never tried to make it at home, as I've never quite dared to go ask for sushi-quality fish... I'd never try a local supermarket, but know a few seemingly upscale stores -- not specialized towards sushi, mind you... How do you go about finding the right quality?

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Thanks!

Tekkamaki means a tuna roll. It's the same tuna as maguro. I buy my fish at a Japanese market where it's pre-cut into slabs marked "sashimi" (a different quality & cut than tuna steaks meant for grilling). I look for fish that looks & feels fresh (it's usually prepackaged, but it should look shiny and feel firm, with no weeping of liquid).

Is there an Asian market near you that sells fresh fish? Or a fish market with a knowledgeable staff? You should tell the purveyor if you're planning to eat the fish raw. A reputable store will point you in the right direction.

Edited May 8, 2005 by SuzySushi (log)

[Matthew Grant]

Red Mullet, roasted cherry tomatoes, basil oil and balsamic reduction:

Roast Squab, toasted almonds, confited leg, Fig, Quinoa. Coffee and Cardamon sauce:

Edited May 8, 2005 by Matthew Grant (log)

[markk]

What a pleasure to be cooking in this company, really! Great stuff, everyone !!

I went to my Shop-Rite during the two-day lobster sale, and the seafood lady had saved me a beautiful 6.5 pounder! It was a tall as she was. Had I thought about it in advance, I would have brought a camera to get a shot of it before she cut it up for me. And expertly, she did it, too.

Here's everything set out for the giant lobster dinner, which I cooked with roasted garlic cloves, grape tomatoes, parsley, basil, and white wine, and served with fresh corn and asparagus:

(I hope somebody will let me know if I post too many photos of the giant lobster adventure.)

Here's a close-up of the lobster:

The lobster was sauteed in a beautiful Arbequina olive oil from Spain, with all the other ingredients:

I really worked my photographer hard; it's amazing what you can get people to do when you're feeding them a 6 and a half pound lobster.

The lobster was flamed with some Armagnac, the wine went it, and it cooked for a while, and then got served to the table:

And while that was being photographed, I quickly reduced the pan juices down before pouring them in individual serving bowls and dishing out the first round of lobster:

I had never made a lobster any way but steamed before. I adore them Cantonese style, cut up and stir-fried with ginger and scallion, and was dying to try this. And I was very pleased with the results, I must say.

[Behemoth]

Philadelphia theme dinner for 24 graduating seniors:

- hard pretzels with mustard

- philadelphia cheese steaks "wit" or "wit-out" onions, cheese wiz or provolone

- philly style roast pork sandwich with provolone and sauteed escarole

(On home-baked hoagie rolls -- gotta do it right!)

- roasted red peppers

- italian lemon ice

- tiramisu

- espresso

Drinks: massive quantities of beer, and somehow we found Hank's Wishniak black cherry soda in the wilds of the midwest.

Photo 1: Taking a break, 4 batches of biga in the background. Photo 2: bread done!

The infamous roast pork sandwich:

Edited May 8, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[Malawry]

Field greens with asparagus, proscuitto and sherry-walnut vinaigrette

Braised pork belly with mashed garnet yams and rainbow swiss chard

Coffee

[Dana]

For Mother's Day - much better than going out.

Pan seared scallops and shrimp with herb-butter sauce.

Porchini Risotto

Glazed Carrots

Sparkling Wine

Strawberry shortcakes with Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream

We don't need no stinking restaurant.

[Evan]

Locally caught fresh fish (Barberpole Rockcod caught by me) prepared sweet and sour style

Chicken thigh and eggs stewed in soy sauce, star anise, and willow bark

Stir fried gai lan and baby bok choi.

[Vancouver Lee]

I hosted a dinner last night for two other eGulleteers (Mooshmouse and Sashavan) and their spouses.

The appetizer was seared horse tenderloin over arugula and cherry tomatoes. I marinated the meat in a splash of red wine (cabernet) with onions, carrots, celery, sage and a bay leaf for 7 hours, then just before cooked I added fresh-ground salt and pepper directly to each steak. I seared them in butter for about 2-3 minutes per side and sliced them thin to serve. I drizzled the arugula and cherry tomaotes with some EVOO and balsamic vinegar prior to topping it with slices of the meat.

The main course was BBQ pork side ribs. They were somewhat of an adventure to get, as my regular butcher (Tenderland Meats in the Granville Island Market here in Vancouver) does not carry them. I was told "It's Vancouver - there's too much fat in side ribs so nobody eats them". He did , however, order them for me, and looking at the back rib racks in front of me, I ordered 4 side rib racks, too. BIG MISTAKE. When I picked them up, I felt like Fred Flintstone at the drive-in, getting that huge brontosaurus rib that tips over his car. Anyway, I had so much meat that I decided to cook them two ways: I did some the old-fashioned way, cooked for 6 -7 hours over low heat on the BBQ, and some more the "cheater ribs" way where you boil the ribs with onion, clove and peppercorns until the meat is soft, then and rub and sauce and grill them until hot. Both ways yielded excellent ribs.

Accompanying the ribs were roasted asparagas and red peppers, tossed in EVOO and balsamic prior to roasting. The mashed potatoes were made with goat cheese, half&half, sour cream and a little bit of butter. Once mixed, I put them in a baking dish and grated fresh reggiano parmesan over the top (this was all done earlier in the day). Once dinner was ready I put the dish in the oven to heat the potatoes through and melt the parm on the top. Oh, and there was cornbread, too.

Dessert was fresh strawberries over Vanilla Swiss Almond Haagen-Daaz ice cream with a glass of Moscato d'Asti.

Edited May 10, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[MobyP]

Locally caught fresh fish (Barberpole Rockcod caught by me)

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That has to be the ugliest fish I've ever seen.

[Matthew Grant]

You Fishist!

[SuzySushi]

Chicken thigh and eggs stewed in soy sauce, star anise, and willow bark

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Willow bark? Tell me more -- I never heard of using this as a food ingredient.

[Grub]

Carrot curry soup!

Years ago, an excellent, casual restaurant served a turkey curry soup that I absolutely loved. I went there for this dish alone, although they had lots of good stuff. Service was always excellent, but the place didn't seem to attract the crowds -- I think they were too non-descript, and didn't have an "angle." No one were willing to just check it out, to find the superb stuff inside. After it closed, this nightmarish chain thing called "The Elephant Bar" opened up there and brought in hordes of shopping mall families who just loved the whole Plastic Safari experience (and would let their own little wild animals roam freely, of course).

So no more turkey curry soup for me...

But seeing as I got stuck with heaps and heaps of carrots, I had to do something with 'em... This was completely winged. I chopped up an onion, some celery sticks and lots of carrots and threw em in a pot, let it stew for a while, added some chopped potatoes, let it stew some more. Then some water, and let it simmer for an hour or so -- covered. Added ground white peppercorns, cayenne, salt and mild yellow curry powder, and blended it with a hand-held.

The flavor was too instense, so I added water. This made it too thin, so I added more taters, let it simmer for half an hour and blended again.

Adjusted with some Worchestershire sauce and butter, and served with some whisked, plain, non-fat yogurt, and a slice of toasted french bread.

Very nice for a cold, rainy day.

[Susan in FL]

Last night we grilled some pretty Porterhouse steaks -- about 1 1/4 pound each -- which I was surprised to find on Mother's Day at Publix at the last minute. It was 5 PM when I decided that's what I wanted. (The supplies of flowers and boxed candies were wiped out, though.)

Beforehand, we brushed them with melted butter and put them in the fridge to get the butter coating to solidify a bit. They were then grilled to perfection, and really tasted good too. With the steaks: purple and red and white fingerling potatoes; broccoli rabe with garlic, EVOO, and a splash of balsamic vinegar; salad of arugula, tomato, red onion, pinenuts, etc.; and from Lodi , a bottle of Shiraz.

[chrish1]

My first post in this wonderful topic. Went out for Mother's day brunch and for dinner had Jackson salad, grilled chicken thighs rubbed with Pride of Szeged chicken rub (This is an excellent rub) and pierogies with butter and onions.

[Evan]

Chicken thigh and eggs stewed in soy sauce, star anise, and willow bark

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Willow bark? Tell me more -- I never heard of using this as a food ingredient.

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Oops sorry, I used licorice or sweet root. I was told that it was willow bark at the chinese herbalist but on the package its said licorice, hence the misunderstanding. I only knew the chinese name when I was trying to buy it "gan tsao".

Willow bark can be used as an herb... it has compound called salicin which is like aspirin.

[tanabutler]

My first post in this wonderful topic. Went out for Mother's day brunch and for dinner had Jackson salad, grilled chicken thighs rubbed with Pride of Szeged chicken rub (This is an excellent rub) and pierogies with butter and onions.

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Heh, this is like, "What did you make for dinner?" "Reservations!"

Me, too! What I didn't make for dinner was the chef's tasting at Manresa. Yum, yum, and how the chef got me to love foie gras is an ongoing saga with multiple happy endings. (Ending when the fork lands in my mouth, that is.)