Dinner! 2005

[Susan in FL]

Looks great Susan...the first course plate looks fantastic. What kind of flowers are those?

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They are the same nasturtiums, from one teeny tiny little patch in our garden, that seem as though they are never going to quit! It's been over three months now. That's a good thing, I just can't believe it.

3 glasses of it, simultaneously? 

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Now that you mention it... I set the table with three different pairs of wine glasses, one for the bubbly and one for Sauvignon Blanc to go with the calamari salad and one for Pinot Noir to go with the tuna. Then it turned out that the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or what we thought was Sauvignon Blanc was not Sauvignon Blanc after all. It was Pinot Grigio, so we decided to stick with the bubbly. Oh well, it was a good excuse to see these glasses all lined up together. They were our 15th anniversary present to each other.

Gotta come down gently from the breakfast beers 

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LOL, for real!

[helenas]

Today's meal will involve sorrel and arugula in some way.

Happy.

Indeed. I'm making Wolfert's ragu: baby artichokes slowly braised under shredded spinach and sorrel

[Chufi]

Thanks for explaining Susan

Tonight:

miso marinated grilled salmon steaks

soba noodles with spinach, portobello mushrooms, sesame seeds and sesame oil.

followed by a large chunk of Lindt dark chocolate with caramel pecans, brought from France. Why can't I buy chocolate like that over here

[naguere]

A simple evening meal, additions, mushy peas and runner beans from Zimbabwe (shame on me)

[mccorry]

This is a fun thread.

Tonight I did chicken breasts wrapped up in some very thin (1/16") beech-smoked pancetta. Seasoned well with salt, pepper and fresh thyme (would normally use sage but just sold the house with sage in my herb garden) pan fried then finished in the oven and drizzled with a sauce made of reduced balsamic, chicken stock, then mounted with some butter. It was great.

Last night we went to a restaurant in Bath called Fish Works. I fancied scallops, so I asked how they were done. The reply was "they're fried" and what garnish? "maybe some salad". I assumed the problem was with the waitress not speaking very good english and decided to try my luck in spite of this bad start. Eventually the chef called down to the dining room I was in and enquired as to whether I would like some hollandaise! It will go down in history as one of the more bizarre restaurant experiences. Needless to say I wouldn't recommend the place should you find yourself in the area...

[SuzySushi]

middle-eastern theme:

mackerel and shrimps marinated in charmoula;

okra tossed with baharat and evoo;

okra was a winner, one of the best grilled vegetables ever 

(no pic of okra as it was devoured before i got to the camera)

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This picture looks gorgeous!!! I want some!!! Now!!!

[Susan in FL]

Dinner tonight was the tuna planned for last night, which we were too full to eat. Had we eaten it last night as a third course, it would have just been the grilled tuna steaks with mango and homemade Teriyaki sauce, garnished with the peppers and bits of crystallized ginger. Tonight's go-withs were grilled zucchini which was first dusted with cumin, garlic powder, ground savory, and S&P; and rice noodles with shoyu and some Thai-style flavorings as a side dish.

[helenas]

as mentioned above, baby artichokes slowly cazuela braised on a bed of pancetta, sliced onions and carrots, topped with shredded sorrel, spinach and dill.

Apricots roasted in chamomile-vanilla bean syrup, from Claudia Fleming’s: I made this recipe many times, on couple occasions using it as a base for ice cream. This time added some apricot’s kernels during roasting and served with Total yogurt.

[Behemoth]

Bitter greens and sorrel ravioli from the Babbo cookbook. Nice, the greens keep it from being too heavy.

I also made ciabatta loaves, so more radish and butter sandwiches for me

Amazing how much my mood improves when I eat a few vegetables...

[percyn]

Skirt Steak Fajitas - grilled some skirt steak, sauteed some onions, bought some fresh guacamole and ate it right off the grill (which explains why I do not have any pictures).

[helenas]

Stuck in my fridge was a bunch of gorgeous red chard, bought and barely used for some dish mid-week. Wolfert to the rescue: stems went into tahini dip, and leaves (along with some leftover spinach and dill) became yet one more variation on Paula's greens jam's theme (incidentally i had some oil-cured olives as well).

Piadini with pinenuts and thyme to scoop up the above.

[Grub]

Prosciutto-wrapped salmon and asparagus ferilletes* with brie, and an asparagus-dill béchamel sauce:

I saw Jamie Oliver do a lemon-thyme salmon wrapped in prosciutto once -- I didn't have any lemon-thyme, but even if I had, since I was using a sauce to add extra flavors, I figured it'd be better to not season the main ingredient too much. So I just used some cracked pepper. The prosciutto is plenty salty.

The asparagus "ferilletes" -- I'm kinda lost on that one. I got it off the net, but must have written the name down incorrectly, because I can't seem to find it anymore. It's just puff pastry wrapped around asparagus spears (shortened quite a bit), brushed with a beaten egg for color, and scored with a sharp knife (for looks, as much as anything, I guess). After cooking, I added some slices of brie -- but the slices I added were obviously too small, because you couldn't notice the brie at all. When I started assembling the dish, I thought my memory was off, because it seemed to me that it called for way too much cheese -- so I reduced it. I guess that was a mistake. But it still tasted great.

The sauce was a complete spur of the moment thing. I had to cut off a lot of the asparagus to fit the puff pastry, and I just hated wasting it like that, so I cooked it, and hit it with a blender, and mixed it in with a béchamel sauce -- and added some dill too, which always goes well with fish. I'll have to hang on to this sauce for Paddy day, I guess -- what was I thinking, a green sauce?

Pretty much everything was improvised except for the asparagus part. I'm kinda happy that I can do that kinda thing now, because it wasn't that long ago, that any attempt at "winging it" would result in a major catastrophy...

I need to learn how to plate these things though -- arranging things, applying the sauce etc. I'm happy with my cooking, but these pictures I'm taking are freakin' horrible. I showed off egullet to a friend this weekend, who's both an excellent cook and a great photographer, and he was completely awed by the quality of the pictures in this thread... Then we took at look at my Imagegullet collection, and just laughed our asses off at my pictures: discolored, unfocused, unappetizing crap, it so bad it's downright funny. I'm like a snuff food-porn photographer... I've got no excuse either, cause I've been taking serious pictures for a couple of decades now -- just never of food. I just didn't realize how difficult it is.

[SuzySushi]

The asparagus "ferilletes" -- I'm kinda lost on that one. I got it off the net, but must have written the name down incorrectly, because I can't seem to find it anymore.

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Try "asparagus feuilletes." Feuilletes means "little leaves" in French and is often used to name dishes made with leaves of puff pastry.

[Grub]

Feuilletes, uh? I'd never figure that out on my own -- thank you SO MUCH! I think I'll definitely add this one to my do-again list...

[Matthew Grant]

Friday cooked a favourite quicky dish. Paella of Pork Fillet, Chorizo and spinach from the Moro cookbook.

Saturday, started with a Morel and Asparagus Ravioli with Parmesan shavings and Olive Oil, seem to have lost the photo to this one

Moby talking about Troisgros Salmon & Sorrel made me want to try it so armed with ridiculously expensive wild Salmon (£36/kg) and some Sorrel from Booths at Borough market I came up with:

No idea what the Troisgros dish tastes like but I made this with some fishstock, Vermouth, shallots and Sorrel (I gathered this from a review I read). The sauce was slightly sweet from the vermouth, the richness of the cream offset by the acidity form the Sorrel. Cooked the sauce with a little Sorrel before removing and replacing with fresh Sorrel just as I served. Great fish, beautiful sauce, very moreish.

Followed by Roast Pork Fillet with Braised pork belly quickly roasted to crispen it up a little before serving. Plating went out of the window when my morel macaroni fell apart when I was dishing up - I wanted a neat little slice of Macaroni like I had at the Ledbury. Pork Filet much underated in my book - especially the stuff from the Ginger Pig. Also served some tiny Yukon parsnips with honey glaze. Meat Just provided by braising the Pork Belly in Veal stock, reducing the Veal stock right down, frying some pork trimmings and deglazing the pan followed by a second deglaze of the Pork Fillet pan. Great jus.

[suzilightning]

last night john was home from his mom's so we had:

mixed green salad

german potato salad

stuffed eggs

fried chicken from the cookoff

mango and blueberries topped with a sauce of vanilla soy yoghurt mixed with some brown sugar and greek yoghurt

this is the first time i have ever fried chicken(and i picked a lovely lady i work with who is from morristown, tn for her method). it came out quite juicy and crunchy so i may do this again.

[calimero]

Octopus salad

Grouper ravioli with broccoli tomatoes and bottarga (tuna eggs)

Mixed fish (mussels, clams, shrimps, prawns, quids etc.)

lemon sorbetto to finish

All with a good bottle of falanghina

[Basilgirl]

The pictures on this thread are awesome.

Friday: Pipette pasta with a sauce from Mario's new book (for ricotta gnocchi, but I wasn't that ambitious) of tomatoes, fennel, celery, carrots, onions, garlic and tons of red pepper flakes

Saturday: "Barbequed" chicken on the grill pan, baked beans, and something else I can't remember

Sunday: Marinated flat iron steak sandwiches on olive oil soaked toast; fennel salad with blue cheese; very cheap Merlot

Monday: Beer-battered fried chicken and onion rings, coleslaw, biscuits, cukes & onions

[Basilgirl]

Um, forgotten menu item from Saturday: corn on the cob roasted in the husk with parmesan-cayenne butter.

[Priscilla]

Birthday dinner for the Man of the House, 3"-thick porterhouses as per his request, rubbed with a paste of sage, parsley, mint, rosemary and ex-virg olive oil, cooked standing on their end bones in the oven after outdoor grilling was jettisoned in favor of an extended cocktail hour on the promontory. Icy good Negronis from the sterling silver shaker.

So, steak. Frites fried twice in ex-virg olive oil. Homemade aioli. Lovely salad of little red and green Romaine leaves. LBB seedy baguette.

Birthday cake was a quatre-quarts type flavored and glazed with the last of the blood oranges from the tree.

[percyn]

Steak in a bordeaux based demi-glace sauce with shallots and sides of truffle infused mushrooms, sauteed spinach with Agran Oil, shrimp, crab cake and onion confit.

Grilled Pineapple slice with ice-cream

[Pan]

That grilled pineapple slice looks great! Did you make the ice cream yourself?

Also, perhaps you'd like to say something about agran oil. A web search turned up the information that it's from a Moroccan nut. Is it possible to give a rough description of the taste of the oil?

[percyn]

Alas,

I did not make the ice-cream, it was a generic "premium blend". It was quite a nice combination that only occurred to me since I had a grilled pineapple and foie gras appetizer recently. I also experimented with a slice of pineapple with spices (cajun blend) on it and I must say it was an interesting sweet and spicy flavor.

Yes, Argan oil is from Morocco and apparently the argan tree only grows there. More information can be found here. It is difficult to describe the taste, as it is unique. The closest thing that comes to mind is a slightly bitter macadamia nut like flavor. I was introduced to this by a very talented local chef and after 2 years of searching (including in Paris), I finally found a source. It is more expensive than macadamia nut oil, but when you consider the rarity and effort to extract the oil, I think it is worth it.

Hope that helps.

[Daniel]

Friday cooked a favourite quicky dish. Paella of Pork Fillet, Chorizo and spinach from the Moro cookbook.

Saturday, started with a Morel and Asparagus Ravioli with Parmesan shavings and Olive Oil, seem to have lost the photo to this one 

Moby talking about Troisgros Salmon & Sorrel made me want to try it so armed with ridiculously expensive wild Salmon (£36/kg) and some Sorrel from Booths at Borough market I came up with:

No idea what the Troisgros dish tastes like but I made this with some fishstock, Vermouth, shallots and Sorrel (I gathered this from a review I read). The sauce was slightly sweet from the vermouth, the richness of the cream offset by the acidity form the Sorrel. Cooked the sauce with a little Sorrel before removing and replacing with fresh Sorrel just as I served. Great fish, beautiful sauce, very moreish.

Followed by Roast Pork Fillet with Braised pork belly quickly roasted to crispen it up a little before serving. Plating went out of the window when my morel macaroni fell apart when I was dishing up - I wanted a neat little slice of Macaroni like I had at the Ledbury. Pork Filet much underated in my book - especially the stuff from the Ginger Pig. Also served some tiny Yukon parsnips with honey glaze. Meat Just provided by braising the Pork Belly in Veal stock, reducing the Veal stock right down, frying some pork trimmings and deglazing the pan followed by a second deglaze of the Pork Fillet pan. Great jus.

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Gorgeous as always..

[Spinner]

Udon..with Kamaboko, Baby Bok and Onion in a Dashi broth. I threw some Mirin in there as well..because..well..I love Mirin!