Dinner! 2005

[Matthew Grant]

Stunning - that pasta looks awesome. The gnocchi also look excellent. Where did you get the parmesan air recipe from?

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Sorry Andy, only just spotted your question. Parmesan air was derived from Anthony Flinn (Anthony's in Leeds) Equal amounts of gratedParmesan and water by weight, boil for a couple of minutes, remove the gunky whey from the liquid. Let the Liquid settle. You will end up with a layer of white fat and a clear(ish) liquid at the bottom. To make it easy to remove, keep it in the fridge for an hour or two and then remove the layer of fat (use to spread on bread as Parmesan butter or stir into Risottos, very nice). heat the clear liquid add a little Lecithin (helps stabalise the foam) and blend with a bamix in the usual manner to obtain a foamy finish.

To make it easier grate the Parmesan as fine as you can before addiing it to the water. It is relatively expensive to make, the liquid would make masses of foam but reduce the quantities too much and it is difficult to immerse the bamix enough to get a foam.

Edited May 9, 2005 by Matthew Grant (log)

[forever_young_ca]

and blend with a bamix in the usual manner to obtain a foamy finish.

How stable is the foam - is it a "do it ahead" or last minute item?

[Matthew Grant]

The Lecithin makes it pretty stable for several minutes at least but best to do towards the end to keep some heat in it.

[monavano]

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:

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This looks great. I don't know how you did it all. Glad you found what looks to be good cherry soda. Go Philly party!

[Basilgirl]

Lidia's pork chops braised in a spicy tomato sauce

Garlic mashed potatoes with lots of sour cream

Roasted zucchini, grape tomatoes and garlic-stuffed olives drizzled with red wine vinegar

So pedestrian compared to all that great stuff up thread. All of the pictures are truly amazing. What a lot of great cooks here on e-gullet!

[Behemoth]

This looks great. I don't know how you did it all. Glad you found what looks to be good cherry soda. Go Philly party!

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Thanks! It was a very fun party. The tiramisu, peppers and lemon mixture were done on Friday, and then Saturday I just needed to do the greens, put the lemon mixture in the ice cream machine, shove the pork in the oven, and, well -- the bread took by far the most time. But good bread was really non-negotiable as far as I was concerned, and I just couldn't find anything around here that would hold up to the filling.

Since the guests were all college kids it wasn't exactly a tough crowd to please but they really appreciated that we had made "real" food for them as opposed to what people normally feed them -- ordering pizzas or grilling hot dogs or whatever. Since I was working the griddle to make the sandwiches "to order", I was often told I reminded them of Rachel Ray or that Everday Italian show on the food network. (Meant as a complement, apparently. )

But after the first hour I got to relax and hang out. The last group of guests left around 4 am.

[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.

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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.

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That's what I was thinking!

[redfox]

Guacamole tacos! Make guacamole, heat cheapo taco shells in oven, put guacamole in tacos, consume. A perfect food.

[Behemoth]

We finally get around to our "Spargelessen". White asparagus baked with prosciutto and fontina, plus a fried egg. And every year I am amazed by how good this is. Gruener Veltliner to drink, followed by espresso and lemon ice. What up with my white balance? Sigh.

I forgot to say so sooner, but the three seafood meals above look amazing. I heart freaky fish.

Edited May 10, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[ludja]

We finally get around to our "Spargelessen". White asparagus baked with prosciutto and fontina, plus a fried egg. And every year I am amazed by how good this is. Gruener Veltliner to drink, followed by espresso and lemon ice. What up with my white balance? Sigh.

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Hmmm, this looks and sounds delicous. Are the asparagus cooked at all before roasting in the oven? Do you add the cheese at the end?

[Behemoth]

We finally get around to our "Spargelessen". White asparagus baked with prosciutto and fontina, plus a fried egg. And every year I am amazed by how good this is. Gruener Veltliner to drink, followed by espresso and lemon ice. What up with my white balance? Sigh.

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Hmmm, this looks and sounds delicous. Are the asparagus cooked at all before roasting in the oven? Do you add the cheese at the end?

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Very easy! Actually it is a Marcella Hazan recipe, though at this point I can do it in my sleep. I trim and tie the asparagus in a bundle and cook/steam standing up in about an inch of water until just short of done. Then put three spears on the slice of prosciutto, top with a little fontina & butter, roll up, and put two more slivers of cheese on the ham bundle. dot the tops of the spears with a little more butter, and bake in a lightly-buttered dish at 400 for 20 minutes.

[Lochina]

First post to the dinner thread, after having followed it for months (not sure why?):

Last night I cooked for my mother, making Farfalle with Sausage, Peas and Criminis from my new (and wonderful) Giada DiLaurentiis cookbook. Very simple, and OH so tasty.

Tonight: Grilled. Chicken sausage links with spinach and pine nuts (NOT homemade) and zucchini spears with tons of salt, pepper, olive oil and fresh basil and chives from the herb garden I planted on my deck on Saturday (my favorite spring rite). Served with black bean, yellow corn, red pepper and green onion salad (how colorful, no?) with lime and cumin.

I do have a digital camera and will try to document some of my meals. I am however starting a new job tomorrow, in catering, so I'm not sure how much time or desire I will have to cook lovely meals at home.

[Mooshmouse]

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.

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Lest my recently posted photos of this outstanding meal get lost in the shuffle of earlier posts, I just wanted to give Lee's dinner the recognition and appreciation it truly deserves. There's been quite the discussion in the Vancouver forum on the virtues horse meat; I, for one, never imagined that I could overcome the squick factor to try it. Boy, was I ever glad I took the leap. The horse tenderloin was excellent. Leaner, sweeter and more tender than I expected it to be. I'm now a believer.

Let's not forget the ribs. Falling off the bone tender in a wonderful smokey sauce. Barbecue heaven. Lee, you can make ribs for me and Mr. Mouse any time. Thanks once again to you and the Mrs. for a phenomenal evening!

[Behemoth]

Guacamole tacos! Make guacamole, heat cheapo taco shells in oven, put guacamole in tacos, consume. A perfect food.

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redfox, Diana Kennedy has a recipe for avocado enchiladas that you would probably love. The enchilada sauce is just salsa verde with mexican sour cream. You basically mush up avocadoes as the filling (in corn tortillas.) then garnished with chopped sweet white onion and radishes. I know it sounds a little weird but it is very very good, especially in the summer, since it is not baked.

[Grub]

Seekh Kebabs with yogurt-honey-mint-dash o' cayenne pepper-sauce, cabbage 'n red onions, nan.

[ChryZ]

First post, so please go easy on me. This was my first attempt on sushi, the initial plan was to just roll up a few futo maki, but there was so much tuna and seasoned rice, that I gave nigiri and sashimi style a try. We were quite pleased with the results ... and stuffed ^_^;

[Grub]

Go EASY on you? Good grief, that is fantastic; way beyond anything I've ever done (although I'm a newbie to egullet myself).

That looks truly inspiring. Well done!

What else went into those rolls?

[ChryZ]

What else went into those rolls?

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Thanks for your kind words. I was actually suprised myself, that it kinda worked out.

The futo maki filling was made with:

-crab meat

-cucumber

-sweetened, omelette roll, cut in long strips

-cooked, seasoned shiitake mushrooms

-takuan (pickled radish, bright yellow in color)

-a little cress

EDIT: Whoops, I made a mistake. No tuna for the futo maki (those big rolls). Tuna is only in the small tekka maki.

Edited May 10, 2005 by ChryZ (log)

[Blondelle]

ChryZ, your sushi looks fantastic. Even nicer than I buy in the store and they make it everyday! ;-). Did you do anything special to the tuna before using it? If I buy sushi grade tuna, do you have to treat it in any way before using it?

First post, so please go easy on me. This was my first attempt on sushi, the initial plan was to just roll up a few futo maki, but there was so much tuna and seasoned rice, that I gave nigiri and sashimi style a try. We were quite pleased with the results ... and stuffed  ^_^;

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[ChryZ]

Did you do anything special to the tuna before using it? If I buy sushi grade tuna, do you have to treat it in any way before using it?

Since it's sushi and it's eaten raw, no cooking treatment is required. I only made sure, that the tuna is as fresh as possible, neat, clean and with a good cut. I bought a japanese sashimi/sushi knife (single sided/sharpened) and a waterstone to sharpen it.

EDIT: Whoops, I made a mistake. No tuna for the futo maki (those big rolls). Tuna is only in the small tekka maki. Rice should be cooled off to keep the raw fish ... well, raw

Edited May 10, 2005 by ChryZ (log)

[binkyboots]

dinner is cooking as we speak... I'm playing with the tagine Mike bought me!

put in (cold) two lamb shanks, some ras el hanout spice, tin of tomatoes, a little water, honey, salt and pepper, plus some chopped dried apricots and figs, it smells good, I'm hoping it will taste ok too, lol...

[Priscilla]

Last evening an excellent pizza topped with ingredients which the day had been made into Caprese salad. The basil was made into pesto, however, for the pizza; tomatoes sliced thinly, fresh mozz sliced thickly. Exceptionally nice salad mix salad. Just the thing.

[SuzySushi]

First post, so please go easy on me. This was my first attempt on sushi, the initial plan was to just roll up a few futo maki, but there was so much tuna and seasoned rice, that I gave nigiri and sashimi style a try. We were quite pleased with the results ... and stuffed  ^_^;

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Congratulations, and welcome to eGullet! Great job, especially for a "first attempt"! Your maki look very professional.

[Susan in FL]

Did you do anything special to the tuna before using it? If I buy sushi grade tuna, do you have to treat it in any way before using it?

Since it's sushi and it's eaten raw, no cooking treatment is required. I only made sure, that the tuna is as fresh as possible, neat, clean and with a good cut. I bought a japanese sashimi/sushi knife (single sided/sharpened) and a waterstone to sharpen it.

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Just an FYI: Some folks believe that tuna, and other fish for that matter, needs to freeze briefly before eating raw to guarantee safety. I don't know a lot about it, and maybe that's just some overly cautious Americans, but that was (is? -I don't know) a law in Delaware when I lived there for restaurants. Even though it was "sushi grade," and very fresh, it still had to be frozen long enough to get it solid, then thawed and used.

[Mooshmouse]

As caloric atonement for the superhuman number of calories I ingested at Mothers' Day breakfast, we kept Sunday night's dinner fairly simple.

Wild organic greens salad with assorted sprouts (mung, lentil, chick pea), endive, japanese cucumber, blackberries, roasted asparagus and edible flowers (care of Chef Metcalf). Topped with flaked BBQ smoked salmon and drizzled with sesame vinegarette (care of the Mouse House).

Tonight we fired up the grill.

Barbecued pork loin chops brushed with a glaze made from soy, honey, ginger, garlic, green onion and a splash of orange juice. Served on the side were roasted asparagus, applesauce and buttered brioche.

Edited May 11, 2005 by Mooshmouse (log)