Dinner! 2005

[MobyP]

A starter course from yesterday's lunch. I had some foie torchon scraps left over, and thought I'd give this a try (inspired by a fat guy/Ellen dinner in the NY forum).

Foie gras anollini with a jerusalem artichoke foam.

[Daniel]

Wow Moby, that looks great..

[Shalmanese]

Charred Cherry Tomato Sauce with Lemon Pepper Marinated Chicken Breasts and Basil on Penne Pasta.

I had heard about this a while back and wanted to have a try. Basically, you cut cherry tomatos in half and slather the cut side with some oil, get a cast iron skillet smoking hot and sear all the tomatos on the cut side until they are charred and crisp. Then, just deglaze with some water or wine, toss in some S&P, a few red pepper flakes and some basil and blend in a belnder or food mill. I added some chicken breasts I had lying around as well which I just seared quickly.

You get the deep, rich roasted char flavour from the underside of the tomatos and the fresh sweetness of the barely cooked top side and it tastes wonderfully complex and tomatoey. It's great. But you pretty much have to use cast iron and you have to get it smoking hot and keep it there, otherwise the top will overcook.

[Alinka]

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!

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Have you by any chance noticed the translation I provided right inder the link?

[racheld]

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).

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Ah, that beautiful hands-on bread!! Welcome and please post pics of the newborn, after all that labor and waiting. What a great debut!!

[racheld]

A starter course from yesterday's lunch. I had some foie torchon scraps left over, and thought I'd give this a try (inspired by a fat guy/Ellen dinner in the NY forum).

Foie gras anollini with a jerusalem artichoke foam.

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Ah, the burning question: What to do with all those pesky leftovers?

Pale poetry, Moby---just beautiful.

[BryanZ]

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  

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I'd really like to see how you set up your shots. The lighting angles, background, etc.

[vkn]

Having karela curry aka bitter gourd curried sauce prepared in Indian traditional home cooking style with plain boiled rice is a bliss. Do you agree?

[Daniel]

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  

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I am going to say there is something similar to a jewlers lightbox in your kitchen...

[Chufi]

I was boiling up a large pan of black beans to make a filling for tortilla's fro my Christmas party on Saturday (trying to get ahead - trying not to get too stressed this year, having 25 people over for food & drinks) so I used some of the beans to make a sort of vegetarian chili, with black beans, chipotle chilies, sweet potato and some tomato sauce. Nice & spicy.. fresh coriander stirred in at the last minute, soft goat cheese crumbled on top.

Also made cornbread muffins with cheese and cherry tomatoes.

[racheld]

CHUFI!! Lovely to see you at last. The beans sound wonderful on a wintry night.

I'd love to be at THAT party.

[Jmahl]

Yesterday, made an Ragout of wild Mouflon.

Here are the lamb shanks before being taken from the bone.

Here the lamb is boned out.

Here the ragout is cooked off.

Here it is plated with mashed potatos, green beans, julian of celery root and carrot.

(sorry for the focus, I will try harder next time.)

[Daniel]

Tonight was left overs of sorts.. With left over bitter greens I made a salad.. Italian and curly parsley, watercress, and bibb lettuce.. Sherry vinegraette with shallots and radish.. On top I put some of the bacon wrapped trout cold..

Rib Eye.. Covered in cracked and toasted peppercorns.. I took two yucon golds and mashed them with some of the she-crab soup.. Really great combo.. And for a vegetable I took frozen Collard Greens and mixed with garlic and apple cider vinegar.. I bought these hoping they would be a healthy substitute.. Its decent..

Dessert.. Maybe a black and white milkshake..

[Jmahl]

Daniel, very nice - can I eat at your house?

At my place, Mexican Oxtail soap. With lemon, hand made tortillas, salsa, and guaca., hard to beat on a cold night.

[percyn]

Had a few leftovers as I am still partially recovering from yesterday's huge meal at Per Se in NYC

[Shalmanese]

Shalmanese.

I wanted to ask you about Kangaroo.. Is it common?  Do butchers sell other parts besides the loin?  Do they ever roast the whole thing?  Is there a traditional Kangaroo dish?  Kanagroo offal?

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Sorry for the late reply, I only just saw this. Kangaroo used to be thought of as pet food even just a few years back and marketing has been trying to change this image. It's I've only seen the relatively tender, grilling parts on sale at supermarkets but I've seen other parts very rarely in restaurants. It's a very lean meat so it makes it hard to braise, marinating is almost essential. I only bought it because it was on special that week and I had never tried kangaroo before.

Heres a thread on kangaroo

[FoodMan]

Alsatian onion and bacon tart with a green salad in raspberry vinegar-walnut oil dressing.

[Pan]

Elie, that tart looks great! Is there cheese in it? If so, what kind? Emmenthaler?

[Abra]

Ok, enough lurking on this thread! I already spend too much time taking pictures of my food, but I enjoy so much seeing what you all have for dinner that it's gotten like a public radio pledge drive, where I feel guilty if I just lurk and don't pay my dues.

Today I made my annual giant pot of mole, and last night I smoked a turkey, so here was some smoked turkey in mole on pan fried corn tortillas with some pan roasted corn thrown in.

Actually, that was my husband's supper. I had tofu and vegetable soup, and some roasted pink banana squash, but I didn't deem it beautiful enough to pose for this august assembly.

[Pan]

Abra, I've never heard of banana squash. What other kind of squash is it most similar to?

I love the smoked turkey mole picture!

[little ms foodie]

Welcome aboard Abra! your mole is famous!!

Last night was our Christmas, dinner for 6

starters were 4 bottles of Chandon blanc de noirs and clams casino

and cream cheese, chili sauce and baby shrimp served with triscuits but you can't take pictures of that right?

after opening presents we had a wonderful dinner. My MIL make a gorgeous salad with pecans, raspberries, mushrooms, avacados and raspberry vinaigrette

Della made braised potatoes with bay and garlic

We made prime rib and yorkshire pudding

in laws also made yummy carrots with herbs

cheese course

and chocolate pear tart (Chufi this is a huge hit!)

last dinner posting until 2006, we had leftovers tonight and tomorrow it's delivery pizza while we finish packing!

edited to add that wine with dinner was a magnum of Goosecross 2000 Cab from napa and with cheese and dessert we had a 15 year antique tawny from Australia

Edited December 20, 2005 by little ms foodie (log)

[Grub]

Sultani Munghi (Chicken stuffed with golden raisin and spinach):

There's a pictorial of the making of this dish, here...

[Chufi]

Abra welcome to the Dinner! thread! Now I am craving mole.. and I have none left in the freezer, and no time to make it.. I will plan a date with some chillies in January, and make a giant batch to last me a while..

Little ms Foodie what a lovely Christmas dinner. I'm glad the pear tart is such a success! Happy holidays abroad and please report about your trip!

Grub that chicken dish looks fantastic.. this is going on my "must make this soon" list. I love the combination of spinach and rasins.

[Megan Blocker]

Wendy, what a gorgeous, festive dinner! Reminds me of the year (many, many moons ago) I made my father make roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with me out of one of the "American Girl" books (for those in the know, I think it was the original Christmas story for Samantha) - yours looks a little better...

Edited December 20, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[FoodMan]

Elie, that tart looks great! Is there cheese in it? If so, what kind? Emmenthaler?

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nope, no cheese. Only eggs, creme fraiche, bacon and lots of slow cooked onions. It is great, I actually ate most of the tart by myself between Sunday and this morning