Dinner! 2005

[Alinka]

So, not only did I have a Russian breakfast, my lunch also came from the Russian store:

This is smoked mackerel. At home, we always ate it with boiled potatoes. But now I had something better: roasted potatoes.

[Alinka]

Also made these orange almond biscotti from Baking Illustrated. Dipped in milk chocolate...

[percyn]

Alinka, biscotti looks great....I almost wanted to reach through the screen and try one. Is that Sturgeon in the previous post?

Tonight's dinner consisted of some sandwiches and panini combinations I am experimenting with for an upcoming office pot luck.

Chicken salad baby arugula and another version with with truffle and chanterelles

Also made a panini of skirt steak with onion confit and skitake on roasted garlic sour dough bread

I like the steak version, my wife liked the chicken...guess I will make both for the pot luck

[Megan Blocker]

BEAUTIFUL biscotti, Alinka - as usual!

[little ms foodie]

Happy Holidays everyone!!

In addidition to just recenetly moving and hosting a housewarming/holiday party we are now getting ready to head to Paris-Stockholm-St Petersberg for Christmas and New Years so there hasn't been a lot of cooking lately.

we have a (young) tradition of having tartiflette on Christmas eve and since tomorrow we are having our family christmas we thought we would pretend tonight was christmas eve

Lucy's tartiflette recipe which has become my staple

served with a green salad with tarragon vinaigrett and an Oregon Bordeaux Blend that we love!!

[Alinka]

Percy, Megan - thanks, guys! Percy, I looked up the name of the fish in the dictionary; it said mackerel I see, that panini press gets as much work out as mine .

little ms foodie

Wendy, I'm jealous! Just today I was talking to someone that, ironically, I've been to Paris, Tokyo, New York, Rome, Montreal, etc. but never to St. Petersburg. Tell us about the food from the trip when you get back (take lots of pictures for us ).

[vkn]

We are celebrating and are passing through Curry Week Day #4 today. The curry being cooked today is cauliflower and potato curried sauce which would go with rice and chappaties. Cheers!

[hzrt8w]

Dungeness crab is in season. Live crab is on sale for only US$2.49 a pound. Can't miss this opportunity to make some crab dishes at home. Cooking live crab is a little bit of work, but the reward of eating fresh and sweet crab meat is well worth it.

Pictorial recipe here.

[monavano]

Also made these orange almond biscotti from Baking Illustrated. Dipped in milk chocolate...

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Absolutely gorgeous. I am SO making those today!

And the crab! I am really in envy. One the east coast we have blue crab in the summer, and it's sweet and wonderful. But, to have crab like that in the winter, well, that'd chase away the blues any day.

[Alinka]

monavano

Thanks!

Not quite dinner, but the rest of the results of my cookie-baking marathon yesterday:

Chocolate truffle cookies.

Dried cherry walnut cookies from Baking Illustrated.

[sabiha]

monavano

Thanks!

Not quite dinner, but the rest of the results of my cookie-baking marathon yesterday:

Chocolate truffle cookies.

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Those look absolutely gorgeous, could you share the recipe by any chance

[kaneel]

Also made these orange almond biscotti from Baking Illustrated. Dipped in milk chocolate...

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These look so good , Alinka

How do you cut your biscotti so clean.....i cut mine with a serrated knife and it still crumbles ..any tip???

I wonder if i should try another recipe even though i like the taste

By the way i see a lot of people from houston and or texas here...i thought about a eGullers get together...what do you guyz think???? A cookie exchange or so??

Ashiana

[Daniel]

Alinka.. The women is on fire.. I could only image what the kitchen smells like! And as always such gorgeous photos..

LMF. Sounds like so much fun.. Merry early Christmas and have an awesome time.. Come back with pictures and recipes...biggrin:

[eje]

Boy, I love Black Trumpet mushrooms! They are my absolute favorites. I get so excited when they show up, I can't help but make risotto.

----

Salad of mixed greens, roasted chiogga beets, and satsuma mandarins tossed with Bariani olive oil and Bariani balsamic vinegar.

Fresh black trumpets musroom risotto (enriched chicken stock with soaking liquid from dried black chanterelles).

Mustard and herb crusted pork tenderloin with butter enriched pan sauce.

Carmelized pink lady apples.

[Grub]

Indian Fish & Chips:

Deep frying rather scares me. I did this recipe once before (it's Monica Bhide's Macci Fry Koliwada, from her Beginner's Guide to Regional Indian Cooking) but I chickened out and tried shallow-frying it -- in a stainless steel pan, of all things... I still believe I could have gotten a good result, if I'd just used a non-stick pan, but well this time around, I decided to go for it, and deep fry it.

Can't believe how well the fries worked out -- dip em once at a lower temperature, then again at a higher, to make em crisp. Very cool. Just wish I'd cut the cilantro up some more.

[Patrick S]

Also made these orange almond biscotti from Baking Illustrated. Dipped in milk chocolate...

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Excellent photograph, Alinka. All your photos seem to have great lighting.

[Malawry]

Turkey-sausage gumbo over rice

Hot cocoa for dessert.

[Meez]

Last night:

Your basic beef braise

With sauteed mushrooms, glazed shallots, and sitting on mashed potatoes and turnips with leek gratin and bacon mixed in.

Alinka, the shot of the biscoti is so clear, when I look at the reflection in the chocolate, am I actually looking out a sliding glass door onto a deck? With maybe a hanging plant? Great shot.

[Daniel]

We had Sunday dinner at our house.. The menu was bitter green salad, with sherry shallot and radish vinagraette and duck breast. We then had She-Crab soup.. Bacon wrapped trout with homemade chive mayo and garlic greens.. Thyme and truffle madolines..

Salad:

I took flat and curly parsley, watercress, and bibb lettuce.. Added slice duck and topped with sherry shallot dressing.. Added vinegar soaked raddish around the plate..

She-Crab Soup:

A thick soup made from butter, flour, milk and cream.. Added lump crab and Harvey Brisol Cream Sherry..

Madolines:

Truffle,corn meal, roasted garlic and thyme.. Cream instead of Buttermilk

Trout:

Wrapped in bacon and then broiled..

Plated with garlic green beans.. I had also made a chive mayo not pictured.. It was great..I think I am only making my own mayo from now on..

Dessert.. Hot fudge sunday, with homemade chestnuts in syrup, with Thomas Jeffersons Vanilla Custard recipe.. Homemade cream, and a cherry on top.. I saw these ice cream sunday dishes in the store today and it was clear what needed to be done with them.. So cute.. Now I need the long old fashion spoons and its perfect.

[racheld]

Alinka, the shot of the biscoti is so clear, when I look at the reflection in the chocolate, am I actually looking out a sliding glass door onto a deck? With maybe a hanging plant? Great shot.

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Let's play Read-Alinka's-Chocolate!!! Instead of a hanging plant, I see a person, standing admiringly til the photo's finished, to get a bite.

But I didn't see it at all, despite the hundred times I gazed longingly at that biscotti. Not til you mentioned it---couldn't see past that hypnotic glaze.

And the shot is terrific, as is the beautiful food.

(Oops, I scrolled down, right into Daniel's sundaes...dived right into the left-hand one, in fact. That's the recipe we ALWAYS use for homemade vanilla--Always cooked up a gallon on Saturday afternoon, to chill til after Sunday church to start up the freezer---kid-powered in those days).

[racheld]

deleted cause I posted twice. And I just said in a previous thread that I've never been inebriated. Couldn't prove it by Y'all.

I'm going to bed.

Edited December 19, 2005 by racheld (log)

[fannus]

We had Sunday dinner at our house.. The menu was bitter green salad, with sherry shallot and radish vinagraette and duck breast.  We then had She-Crab soup.. Bacon wrapped trout with homemade chive mayo and garlic greens.. Thyme and truffle madolines..

Wow, looks delicious. Cooking for one makes me pretty lazy about cooking 'meals', let alone multi-course dinners. You can infer what comprised my dinner:

And desert is ready to go into the oven:

A very primitive first attempt at some Russian Wheat, and some as-of-yet unborn Ciabatta (which is in the oven as I speak).

[Alinka]

Sabiha, kaneel, Daniel, Patrick, Meez, thanks! Glad you liked the cookies .

Those look absolutely gorgeous, could you share the recipe by any chance 

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I'll be delighted to. I got it here, on one of the Russian cooking forums. I don't think Ayn will mind if I share her recipe here.

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Makes 40

200 gr chocolate, cut into pieces

90 gr (6 tablespoons) butter

110 gr (1/2 cup) fine sugar

pinch of salt

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

200 gr (1 1/2 cups) flour

25 gr (1/4 cups) cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a small heavy pan melt chocolate and butter. Remove from heat, add sugar and mix well until sugar is dissolved. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition with electric mixer. Add vanilla.

Sift flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder into chocolate mixture; mix to make dough. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 160 C (325 F). Line cookie sheet with parchment.

Pour powdered sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into small balls (2.5 cm/1 inch diameter). Roll balls in powdered sugar to cover with a thick layer. Place on sheet 4 cm apart and bake 10-15 min (cookies will crack during baking). Cool on sheet 2 min, then transfer to rack to cool completely.

These look so good , Alinka

How do you cut your biscotti so clean.....i cut mine with a serrated knife and it still crumbles ..any tip???

I wonder if i should try another recipe even though i like the taste

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I use light, sawing motion with a serrated knife, almost without pressing. Some pieces near the ends of the logs inevitably crumble. Not that I mind, having to eat them personally .

Alinka, the shot of the biscoti is so clear, when I look at the reflection in the chocolate, am I actually looking out a sliding glass door onto a deck? With maybe a hanging plant? Great shot.

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No, it's just a window there .

[Alinka]

Alinka, the shot of the biscoti is so clear, when I look at the reflection in the chocolate, am I actually looking out a sliding glass door onto a deck? With maybe a hanging plant? Great shot.

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Let's play Read-Alinka's-Chocolate!!! Instead of a hanging plant, I see a person, standing admiringly til the photo's finished, to get a bite.

But I didn't see it at all, despite the hundred times I gazed longingly at that biscotti. Not til you mentioned it---couldn't see past that hypnotic glaze.

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Oh how funny! Rachel, you posted while I was writing my previous message . I was actually going to show my kitchen counter "studio," but now I'm thinking maybe I should wait and let you play at guessing what's there? And no, there was no one staring at my cookieeeeees

[ChefCrash]

I'll be delighted to. I got it here, on one of the Russian cooking forums. I don't think Ayn will mind if I share her recipe here.

Aaaaliiinkaa?.. ahem..cough.. it's in Russian!