Dinner! 2005

[22tango]

Valentine's Dinner (sorry no pictures):

Belgian Endive leaves stuffed with balsamic dressed pears & gorgonzola

Asparagus & wild mushroom risotto

Grilled lobster tail with green-curry mango sauce

Tiramisu

Sparkling Cider with raspberries in the bottom (no champagne while pregnant!)

It was all I could manage while 37 weeks pregnant and keeping a toddler in check, so I chose things that were quick to put together or purchased (the tiramisu) after I had my mise done -- just some leisurely stirring & tending to the risotto while enjoying a drink & apps with my husband, then grilling the lobster during the last 5 minutes & plating! SUCCESS!!

[loper]

First contribution to the dinner/food porn thread... Valentines Day:

1. Rock Shrimp Ceviche w/ Avocado & Blood Orange, Oysters w/ Blood Orange Mingonette.

2. Copper River Coho Confit w/ a Black rice & Hijiki Crust, Truffled Potatoes & Greens. The salmon was done in Tetsuya's oil & herb marinade/low oven "confit" style, but then crusted and quickly seared - should have cut into it for the pic, the inside was a beautiful orange red and wonderfully tender. Candied Kumquats are a stand in for the home-cured salmon roe that I managed to leave at work. Potatoes were done sous vide w/ a little white truffle oil my mother brought back from Italy for me - first food-saver sous vide-ing for me, was good.

3. Coriander & Orange Peel Crusted rack of Lamb w/ Shiraz-glazed Apricots, lentils & Braised Cabbage, Cumin & Coriander spiced Blood Orange Cream.

4. Chocolate pot de creme. Mmmmm... chocolate.

[FoodMan]

Loper- Welcome to the thread and the site, this "first ccontribution" looks absolutly amazing!

Susan- I never had kidney pie but now I really want to try it (I do like kidney in general)

As usual, here goes a few days' worth of dinners:

Saturday-

-Congee with ginger, chillies, chives, and cilantro (inspired by Jin's). I made it a little thicker than it should be so it can stand up to the chicken.

-Spice and tea smoked chicken. rubbed with Szechuan pepper salt and marinated for about 12 hrs. Then it is stuffed with aromatics, wok steamed, dried, and smoked in the wok. the first pic is right after it came out of the smoking wok.

This chicken is great and the leftovers cold or in a chicken salad are the best.

Sunday-

Leftovers with a twist. Since I had a good amount of chicken left as well as congee. I prepared,

-Chicken Pad Thai

-With the more or less stiff congee I made rice cakes. I mixed the congee with lots of cilantro, chicves and ginger. Formed into patties and pan fried. Very crunchy on the outside and soft gooy on the inside, perfect. Served it with a soy dipping sauce and lettuce leaves and hot sauce.

Valentines dinner-

-Carrot and beet soup. Both veggies are from my garden so they were excellent and looked wonderful as a soup.

-Spaghetti and meatballs (by family request).

-Small Lemon tarts, curd made from Meyer lemons from the garden as well.

Elie

[DTBarton]

Simple Valentine goodies. Pan seared Australian Wagyu ribeye steaks, stuffed twice baked potatoes (green onion, sour cream, sharp cheddar, milk), and mixed greens with dijon vinagrette.

2000 Moulin St George Bordeaux. (I opened, didn't cook)

[percyn]

Got a bit of catch-up to do.

Unfortunately we went out for Valentine's Dinner over the weekend to a high end restaurant, which usually serves great food and has even better service. I hate going to even the best restaurants on the busiest day of the year. All tables were occupied by 5pm, our orders were running behind and regulars could tell the difference in the quality of the food and service. On top of this, my wife did not want me to take any pictures of the food which I could post here

Anyway, got to do some cooking over the weekend and consume over the past few days...

Not too fancy steak salad

Beef stew and broccoli cheese rice w/leeks

Opera cake (bought at TJs)

Fresh Tortellini with homemade Porcini Bolognese Sauce

[bilrus]

I have been pretty good lately about watching my rice and pasta (even though I've been slacking in other areas), but I've been craving some pasta and looking to make something other than Cooking Light recipes for a change. So tonight I made Rigatoni with Tuscan-Style Cauliflower from the Babbo Cookbook.

This recipe only takes 20 minutes to make and it is very good stuff and different with the mint and cauliflower together. I haven't made a recipe out of this cookbook yet that I didn't like.

[hathor]

Great dinners all around...

Pattimw can I get a paraphrase recipe on the sage croutons? They sound yummy.

And that stampot (sp?) looks really interesting!

Valentines day was at a friends house who has lots of Thai and Indonesian chilis, so I guess the 'red' inspiriation was a lot of chilis!

Last night we had an Italian chef over for dinner...so I thought I'd cook some American flavors, which by the way, do not taste the same using Italian ingredients.

Primi: Quick saute of shrimp with lots of garlic, chili and spices finished with lemon

Secondi: roast quail with a deep, rich bbq sauce, celery root puree, brussel sprouts made Pennslyvania Dutch style (with onions and sort of sweet/sour), and roasted cauliflower because it seemed only right to turn another person onto the fabled roasted cauliflower.

Followed by insalata with a roasted pear and gorgonzola served with a lovely desert wine: Panatelleria.

Ok. so by the salad we were going a wee bit French and then I found some of the chocolates we collected in Venice so it was definetly fusion food by the time we got to the espresso!

[Susan in FL]

I apologize for the delay in posting the recipe for the Steak and Kidney Pie, Jan. Click here for the recipe that I adapted. As you already know, I used the pre-made crust, and I adjusted amounts of just about everything else. The biggest change in the recipe was that I used less water-Worcestershire sauce liquid (and so less flour), and instead deglazed the hot onion mixture with red wine, and then stirred that in. The mushrooms I used were creminis.

Basically it's a plain, but good, recipe. It would have been tempting to add some garlic and maybe some other seasoning if I were not trying to recreate what Russ was used to when he was in England. However, he has long told me that a lot of the food there was plain and bland (it was over 30 years ago), and we wanted it to taste like it did then. Surprisingly to me, it did turn out flavorful. I was glad I left it alone except for the wine.

Last night my dinner was leftovers of this dinner, after I got home from the movies (Sideways, great film!).

Percy, that timbale of broccoli cheese rice w/leeks looks luscious. It's one of those photos I can't take my eyes off of. Did it taste as good as it looks? If so, it is sublime and please let me know how you did it.

All these dinner posts look and sound wonderful. It's not even brunch time yet and I'm working up my dinner appetite.

[little ms foodie]

I've been gone for a bit and just catching up, Percy I need to know more about the brocolli cheese rice! Please share your recipe!!

Dinner last night was a selection of things we found in the house after returning from vacation.

Lillet Blanc while cooking

Spinach salad with bacon and tomatoes with wholegrain dijon vinaigrette

Chicken breasts, baby carrots, sugar snap peas with thyme, lemon and white wine baked papiette.

2 Godiva heart chocolates for dessert.

No pictures as I hadn't unpacked the camera yet!

[little ms foodie]

Simple dinner tonight- the rest of the char siu bao from the freezer and some bok choy sauteed with sesame oil, ginger, sesame seeds and rice wine vinegar.

[Ling]

I'm in the process of making coq au vin (my first time) but I'll be eating that tomorrow night.

Dinner tonight was pretty pathetic--Frito's, scrambled eggs, and some bittersweet chocolate (not all together).

[Rehovot]

Mr. Rehovot surprised me by taking me out for Valentine's Day, to a great sushi place. I hadn't had sushi in 6+ months!

So last night, I cooked what would have been V-Day dinner, had we eaten in: poached salmon, green beans w/ browned butter and toasted walnuts, potatoes a la Mr. Robuchon (man is a genius with spuds); something that looked like a Napoleon but wasn't (still good!) and berries for dessert.

Cassoulet's on the menu for this weekend.

[TJHarris]

Dinner tonight was pretty pathetic--Frito's, scrambled eggs, and some bittersweet chocolate (not all together). 

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That sounds like a fine meal, Ling!

Last night my 5 year old daughter and I gorged ourselves on 4 jumbo steamed artichokes for dinner. She always asks for them in the market.

[bilrus]

One of our favorite light dinners is what we call "Bistro Dinner". French Onion Soup and a salad of some sort. Tonight I made the salad with baby romaine, pear, walnuts and goat cheese and a vinagrette of pear vinegar and grapeseed oil.

Tonight's soup wasn't my best effort (no homemade stocks, just storebought broth) but onions bread and cheese are always OK, aren't they?

[PurpleDingo99]

My father has the camera off on his ski trip, unfortunately.

I made chili off the top my head (beef strips, kidney beans, crushed tomato, garlic, hot sauce, oregano, cumin, and parmesan cheese for body) and some buttered pan toast wedges. Then, a caper, rock shrimp, pineapple, red onion, and pineapple/lemon juice ceviche. Last was something experimental- crab, cumin, and red chilli pepper shoved into an avocado half (skin on) with a bunch of cheeses on top and broiled. The chili only needed more hot sauce to be perfect. The ceviche was perfect. The avocado needed jicama (or something textural) as well as some minced serranos. Perhaps some breadcrumbs too.

[Chocoholic]

Risotto - my 1.5 year old loves it and gobbles up the creamy rice concoctions I make up. Tonight's version included lots of shallots and garlic, chopped roasted mushrooms and frozen peas. Finished off with a generous dose of Parmesiano Reggiano and some white pepper. Served topped with some polpette (little Italian meatballs) courtesy of his grandmother. A treat for everyone and leftovers are packed for his lunch at day care tomorrow.

[Susan in FL]

Way to go with the child-rearing, Tobin and Stefan.

Tonight will probably be our usual happy hours, but it might take place at home. I am off today, so I won't be in such desperate desire for an attitude adjustment.

Last night I was already in the restaurant parking lot when my meeting over dinner was canceled at the last minute, so I went in and dined anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed the food, wine, and time to myself. I had Prosecco before dinner; a first course of lollipop veal chops with a balsamic glaze; tortellini, prosciutto, and peas with a cheesy creamy sauce; and White Oak Cabernet.

The night before was

Shrimp and Baby Corn in Chili-Tamarind Sauce, Spicy Beef Salad, larbed turkey, and Jasmine rice.

[percyn]

From a few days ago...

Duck Breast Salad:

Fajitas (w/lots of guacamole):

Susan/Wendy, the broccoli cheese rice is deceptively simple. It was from a Wegman's brand packet. I added some leeks I sautéed in some butter and some extra cheese. In the pic, I have it topped with some chorizo oil I had saved.

Cheers

Percy

P.S : Welcome back Wendy

Edited February 19, 2005 by percyn (log)

[jackal10]

Dinner in College. (I ate rather then cooked it):

The Gomes Dinner in honour of The Revd Professor Peter Gomes DD

In Hall

Saumon marine a l'aneth sur une salade de saison et une mayonnnaise moutarde

Cannelloni de ricotta et epinard d'orbe

Supreme de faisan aux choux et lard fume et un jus de la biere

Bouquet des legumes

Pommes Chateux

Prune au miel de lavande avec un parfait glace au whisky

Chablis Mont de Milieu

1er Cru Dom Auffray 1997

Cotes de Nuits VIllages

Naudin-Ferrand 1996

Tokaji Aszu 5 Outtonyos

Ch. Messzelato 1988

In the long Gallery

Desert

Cafe et Petit Four

Ch Patach d'Aux 1994

Grahams 1977

Edited February 18, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[percyn]

Dinner last night...

Thai Soup

Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Kabob and a Samosa (all bought from a take-out restaurant)

The tandoori chicken being made (at a take-out place)

[Susan in FL]

Peel & Eat Local Shrimp

Rotisserie Prime Rib Cooked on the Grill

Grilled Potatoes, Shallots, Garlic, and Mushrooms

Salad of Cucumbers, Onions, and Radishes on Mixed Greens

[Susan in FL]

And just finished dessert...

Vanilla Ice Cream and Plant City Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar & Toasted Pine Nuts

[helenas]

pork belly roast:

[Daddy-A]

pork belly roast:

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FANTASTIC! Gotta ask what you served with it?

A.

[NewYorkTexan]

Had a few friends over for dinner.

Onion Tart hor d'oeuvres

Crudite

No pictures of the salad with Bibb lettuce, pecans, goat cheese, blood oranges with black fig vinaigrette

Black drum on a puree of roasted garlic and tomato water, layered with oven roasted tomato and topped with tomato confit. Served with wilted greens and mushroom risotto