Dinner! 2005

[Mottmott]

My son's a batchelor for the week, so I've been feeding him. And I've spent several days this week cooking with my other son's daughter. I won't go into detail on the homemade fettucine and ravioli I made with my gd or the mussel/shallot/riesling/creamsauce of earlier meals.

Last night I made pork chops, brined, then stuffed with a bread stuffing (bread, duxelles, parsley, grated gruyere, moistened with juice of rehydrating porcini), these were pan seared and then deglazed with reisling that was reduced before adding the chicken stock and remaining porcini juice and porcini and, of course, the pork chops. On a cooler day, this would have gone into the oven, but instead they simmered stovetop slowly til the liquid was very reduced.

Our appetizer was a composed salad of arugula, long thin farmers' market type beets (sliced), canneli beans, sprinkled with chopped toasted walnuts, and very aged raw milk Stilton. I prefer not to mix vinaigrette - especially with a salad of this sort, so I drizzled it generously with Nunez olive oil and then sprinkled it with a fine Sherry vinegar so that when you eat the salad, you get little separate bursts of unhomogenized flavor from one mouthful to the next.

My son was disappointed that he didn't get any of the rustic peach tart I'd made with my gd and sent home with her. But he was consoled by dessert made of North Star orchard peaches that had been poached in a simple syrup flavored with cinnamon, allspice, kirsch, with the syrup well reduced and poured over. If I'd had more energy I would have toasted and chopped some pistachios to sprinkle over. Neither of us needed the extra calories, so I omitted the homemade vanilla ice cream I still had on hand after making some for my other son's family.

The funny thing is that I though I do make these things when cooking just for myself, it was very taxing to make so many dishes in such a short time. When I cook for myself alone, I don't make all of them on the same day. I've gotten out of the rhythm of family cooking like this every day.

And I've got to get a camera!

[Susan in FL]

No special story, just a grilled rack of lamb with oven roasted rosemary and garlic potatoes with a Greek style cucumber salad

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I changed the image URL so we can see the full-size image!

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Nice!

Susan, I notice amidst the carapaces that the Sierra Nevada PA level remains the same.  Surely a coincidence of photo-taking.

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LOL, yeah, that it was. Good eye!

And I've got to get a camera!

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Yes, I hope you do... Would love to see some of the great sounding meals you describe.

Cool, about feeding your son and all. I'm going to visit my son, who is a batchelor, in California in about a month and I'm hoping to do some cooking for him.

[lesfen]

Here's a soup made of the leaves, chorizo sausage, potato and onion. Wit a raw eggyolk cracked into the hot soup because I just love the combo of spicy sausage, potato and runny egg.

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Oh my. Oh my! That is stunning. That bread looks phenomenal as well.

[suzilightning]

roasted chicken that was stuffed with garlic and lemon on a bed of carrots, onion and purple potatoes.

leftovers for tomorrow!!

[Grub]

Pork Vindaloo & Aloo Gobi

[bilrus]

An attempt to recreate a dish at a local Lebanese restaurant called Salmon Meshwi - Salmon with sweet sauteed onions, pine nuts and cliantro with Lebanese rice pilaf - that was good on its own but not too much like the one at the restaurant. And tomatoes drizzled with a pomegranite and lemon dressing.

[Bombdog]

I changed the image URL so we can see the full-size image!

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[dockhl]

An attempt to recreate a dish at a local Lebanese restaurant called Salmon Meshwi - Salmon with sweet sauteed onions, pine nuts and cliantro with Lebanese rice pilaf - that was good on its own but not too much like the one at the restaurant.  And tomatoes drizzled with a pomegranite and lemon dressing.

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Bill`

What kind of tomatoes do you have there? Green Zebras? What are your yellow ones? Did you make the dressing? Recipe?

So many questions..........

[bilrus]

Bill`

What kind of tomatoes do you have there? Green Zebras? What are your yellow ones? Did you make the dressing? Recipe?

So many questions..........

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I wish I could tell you the types of tomatoes, but they were in a carton with about six types of tomatoes. The yellow ones were a very pale yellow with a little pink tint towards the center, the green and red ones both had stripes on the skin. I have another one still to eat that has a pale yellow skin with a matte finish and one with a pinkish skin.

I did make the dressing - I've taken a couple of classes at the restaurant I mentioned, Lebanese Taverna. This was from one of those. It is very simple. Olive oil (4 parts), lemon juice (1), pomegranite syrup (2), salt and pepper. Sweet and tangy and worked well with the tomatoes.

Edited August 29, 2005 by bilrus (log)

[racheld]

Our best friends came to dinner tonight, along with their daughter, newly home from a trek in Tibet and a sojourn up part of Everest.

On the patio:

White sangria with nectarines

Crackers with garlic/chive/parsley fresh yogurt cheese, drained overnight in the refrigerator

Pannetini with Tapenade

English cucumber cups with crab/shrimp mousse

Grill-roasted pork loin rubbed with garlic/seasalt/paprika/olive oil

Grilled halved zucchini and baby purple Japanese eggplant. These eggplants had the most beautiful shiny lavender skins, like enameled jewelry amongst the leaves.

Grilled pineapple spears

Saffron rice salad with tri-color pepper confetti

Salad of baby green beans, white beans, julienne of jicama/three peppers/Vidalias in a sweet sesame vinaigrette

Sliced tomatoes with basil (meant to be Caprese, but I COULD NOT locate that ball of fresh Mozza I bought Friday).

Romaine hearts with raita

Sweetcorn spoonbread

Lemon sponge cake with sweetened mascarpone/lemon zest filling

Coffee and liqueurs

The tomatoes, cucumber, basil, parsley, and eggplant came from the garden just a little while before dinner.

We had had to postpone this dinner twice already, and when they raved over dinner, I said after all that postponing, we probably should have taken them on a cruise.

[Ann_T]

Wow some amazing looking dinners, Patrick's Lamb, Susan's crab feast, Foodman's Chicken Rollades, Grubs Pork Vindaloo & Aloo Gobi (Love curry), oh and Bill's Salmon. Everything looks wonderful.

I made Chicken Pot Pie yesterday. Used frozen puff pastry this time instead of the herb (thyme) crust that I usually make. I had enough filling and pastry to make one large and four small.

[Chufi]

made pizza today with grilled eggplant, mozzarella, and.. salami. Only when we were finished I remembered that after our trip to Germany, I had vowed to eat no pork for at least a month!! I guess this means I'm addicted?

But the pizza was very good, eaten on the balcony, on what might very well be one of the last sunny summer days.

[mhadam]

Friday -- 2 hot pockets, a bowl of chile/lime pistachoes (from TJ) and ice cream

Saturday -- pot roast with all the trimmings (mushrooms, carrots, onions, potatoes, etc). I've given up on summer and welcomed fall. Wish the weather would cooperate though.

Sunday -- Donna Hay's thai chicken soup -- with some variations -- shrimp instead of chicken, 3 jalepeno peppers instead of the 2 red chilis, and the additional of 1/2 a julienned red pepper

Tonight -- homemade enchilada's with the leftover pot roast meat. I made them last night and they are beautiful.

[MobyP]

Short rib ravioli...

[little ms foodie]

damn! I can't even comment to everyone as there are so many great looking dishes!!!

Elie, I've been wanting to make rice balls for a while, do you use a certain recipe?

Thursday night we cooked a whole salmon in salt. served it with israeli cous cous and chanterelles grilled and pan fried with wild greens and onions.

this weekend we went camping, husband was in charge of planning dinners. We made veal scallopine with grilled walla walla sweets the first night (actually very good and simple done over a campfire!) and steaks rubbed with rosemary, grilled corn and pan fried potatoes the next.

[Susan in FL]

Agreed, Wendy, everybody really is on a roll with wonderful food! And you, I like the way you camp.

Last night I used leftover crab meat in crab and corn ravioli, with a corn butter sauce -- or a butter corn sauce -- or a corn beurre blanc. Not sure what to call the sauce, but it was a reduction sauce using some corn broth I made the last time we cooked a large quantity of corn on the cob. Yeah, there really are ravioli under the corn.

[gourmande]

Friday night we had salmon, roasted beets with goat cheese, grill/baked red potatoes and a salad of mixed leaf with black plum tomatoes and basil.

the salad

the beets

the salmon on the sizzle pan, just off the grill

the plate

out on the front porch - with our other family member guarding a seat

[racheld]

Lovely food, all around. I am PEA GREEN over all those DARK luscious tomatoes.

And the cat guarding the seat, my hind foot!!! I see the fuzzy sentinel is ignoring the salmon---but half the ale is missing.

[Susan in FL]

Tonight, the last of the leftover crab meat on lettuce with remoulade sauce I put together, as a starter...

After this we had London Broil, baked potato, and skinny green beans.

[FoodMan]

damn! I can't even comment to everyone as there are so many great looking dishes!!!

Elie, I've been wanting to make rice balls for a while, do you use a certain recipe?

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I used the recipe from Batali's latest book.

Tonight's dinner was crappy Italian food at a crappy Italian chain restaurant .

Moby- These ravioli's look pretty damn awsome!

[wyf4lyf]

Tonight I made Cook's Illustrated's recipe for pot roast. I happened to catch it demonstrated on America's Test Kitchen recently and wanted to give it a try. I have NEVER (I repeat, NEVER) liked pot roast. It has always been dry, tough, stringy, with no flavor...no matter what "new and improved" recipe I tried. So I was skeptical about this one. To my surprise, it was FABULOUS!!! Using the chuck-eye (or chuck roll) made all the difference, I think. And turning the roast every 1/2 hour kept it moist. It was truly delicious...it was even a bit pink in the middle, and my family totally devoured it. It's a keeper!

[mhadam]

Enchiladas made from Saturday's left over pot roast meat. They were soooooooo good.

before baking:

after baking:

[percyn]

Its been a while since I made dinner, so I was happy when I got to make my Aunt a birthday dinner on Sunday.

Crab Salad w/Mango, Avacado and red onion

Roasted Chicken

Smoked Pork Chops and Sausage

Goan curry with crab, lobster and shrimp (served with Jasmine rice and onion relish)

Steaks and home-ground hamburgers (not pictured)

Puree of roasted parsnips (not pictured)

Cheers

Percy

Tiramisu (from Trader Joe's)

[Basilgirl]

Braised pork chops from Molly Stevens (chicken stock, white wine vinegar, white wine, hot peppers) - good stuff

Really buttery, lots of s&p egg noodles

Baked tomato halves with fresh mozzarella, olive oil, basil on top

[Alinka]

After gawking at Ann_T's gorgeous pies, Chufi's crunchy warm pizzas that smell deliciously of bread, MobyP's buttery looking short rib ravioli (and I'm not even sure what that means), percyn's fancy layered salad, and everybody else's carefully prepared, beautiful dinners, here I am with my simple sandwich (I'm saving my energy for the pasta party I am hosting on Saturday )