Dinner! 2005

[pattimw]

Sunday

Sundried tomato tapenade on goat cheese coated baguette slices with a mixed green salad, red wine vinaigrette

Pork tenderloin with a stuffing of: sage, shallots, mascarpone, pine nuts. Wrapped the pork in prosciutto, roasted it, made a sauce of the pan drippings with white wine and mascarpone.

roasted potatoes

brussel sprouts

Dessert- chocolate sorbet and almond cookies

Monday

I brined a chicken over night, stuffed it with lemon and rosemary and roasted it. I never brined chicken before and couldn't believe how great it was! I will brine forever now.

Served with roasted potatoes and caramelized fennel

Dessert was chocolate sorbet and almond cookies again.

[CaliPoutine]

I think I better eat lunch soon. All this yummy food is making me so hungry.

Last night I made

Bucatini( imported artisan) with parmesean and bacon( cooking light)

baby spinach with navel oranges, red onion, avocado and pepita's in a citrus vinegarette.

Tonight.

Chicken in a caper, raisin feta sauce

Bulgar pilaf

Both cooking light.

Im on a cooking like kick these days!!

[liamsaunt]

Monday, roast chicken and pan gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted buttercup squash, and gratineed cauliflower. Comfort food for a cold night.

[suzilightning]

vegetable beef barley soup is on the stove.

we'll have that with german rye bread and an arugula salad.

dessert for john later will be cranberry orange tea loaf that is in the oven along with tomorrow morning's french crumb cake.

i'm debating between a glass of stout and a glass of red wine...we'll see what johnnybird wants when he gets home.

since SOMEONE didn't get home till almost seven and i was hungry at 6 i ate and john got the soup reheated with a glass of stout

Edited January 19, 2005 by suzilightning (log)

[Daniel]

Tonight me and my girl made thai food.. We started with an extra spicy tom yum soup that was amazing..

We then had flank steak satay which again was really good.. Made our own peanut sauce

Then had duck and eggplant with green curry and coconut rice.. She made this green curry sooo damn hot.. I loved it.. It had dried red pepper as well as fresh thai chiles.. For some reason I love to drink margaritas with thai food.. The place mats and chop sticks were sent to me as a christmas present by a co-worker in china.. Everything was delicious.. We have yet to eat the scharffen berger orbit cake with nibby whipped cream. Will add picture later.. Still trying to recover..

Ok recovered.. The scharffen berger cake was amazing.. I reshaped them to little individual cakes.. Then made the whipped cream with the scharffen berger nibs.. It was excellent.. I could just and am sitting there eating the whipped cream with the Nielsen-MAssey madagascar vanilla extract and specks in it.. The nibs add a texture and bitterness that is outstanding..

Edited January 19, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Afterburner]

This pales in comparison with some of the offerings I've seen posted in this thread, but I've only just started taking baby steps down the road to being a home cook, so this was a big deal:

--Pork tenderloin chops, rubbed lightly with salt and pepper (freshly ground peppercorn medley), lightly dusted with buckwheat flour, and then seared until medium.

--Stove-top stuffing (yeah yeah), made with my "sweep the kitchen" stock that I made last week. Gave it a hearty flavor, especially after I burnt it slightly due to not reading the directions properly.

While I say that I am just now starting to cook food, that's actually a smidge misleading. I've cooked before. I just (A) didn't know what I was doing; (B) didn't really enjoy the process, and © didn't do it but maybe once every couple of months. So I've seared pork tenderloin before. And it's always come out well done, dry, and chewy.

These pork chops were cooked wonderfully well. They were moist, tender, juicy, and flavorful. It's amazing what a little knowledge can do...

[little ms foodie]

afterburner do you think the flour makes a difference in the chops being moist??

Tonight we had a quick dinner after stopping at our favorite cheese shop...Fondue

or FUNdue as we call it with bread cubes, potatoes and green apples. Served with a Lange Pinot Gris (OR) yum!!

(that is steam on the glass fondue insert, sorry!

[Ling]

I am defrosting chicken in the fridge right now, and I'm making larb with chicken (both dark and white meat) tomorrow. I've only made larb with pork before, so I'm excited to see how the chicken turns out.

I also have about a cup of schmaltz that I carefully rendered from 3 chickens a few nights ago, and I will be stir-frying some vegetables in the schmaltz, and roasting rosemary potato wedges with the rest. That will round out our larb meal nicely, I think. And I have some Colston Basset stilton for dessert...yum!

[Afterburner]

afterburner do you think the flour makes a difference in the chops being moist??

Beats me. All I know is that The Joy of Cooking sez to lightly dust meat with flour prior to searing 'em, and Alton Brown sez the same thing in I'm Just Here For The Food.

If I had to guess at a reason why the chops were moist this time, it'd be because I didn't cook 'em to death.

[pattimw]

A kind of soup/stew consisting of-

hot italian sausages, red potatoes, garlic, artichoke hearts, red wine and crushed tomatoes.

whole grain boule from the bakery

mixed greens, red wine vinaigrette

Santa Rita 2002 Cabernet

A great meal for a cold night - it was 5 degrees F here last night!

[Chufi]

slices of ciabatta with bleu d'auvergne and onion confit:

salmon in a saffron couscous crust, roast tomatoes, sauteed spinach

and for dessert.. chocolate risotto with almonds and cream. Sounds weird but tasted fantastic:

both the salmon and the risotto are Delia Smith recipes, from her website.

[Behemoth]

Toasted ciabatta slices with gorgonzola

Red lentil soup with turmeric, cumin, coriander. Yogurt stirred in gently at the end, topped with caramelized onions. (Olive oil from caramelized onions also stirred in, of course).

Espresso and a piece of Niederegger marzipan for dessert.

[lovebenton0]

Took me a few pages to catch up on everyone's great looking meals. We have been flu central here for two weeks. When the DH first went down I made a big pot of chicken stock which was a good thing since I got hit with the flu about 3 days after he did. Made chicken soup about six ways over the past couple of weeks for us, changing it up a bit here and there to keep us interested in eating anything at all. With Jasmine rice, no-yolk noodles, bean thread noodles, curried with brown rice, all veg and stock, with roasted carrots/cauliflower/potatoes. We had enough of that no matter how varied in herb/spice and starch accompaniment.

So here are some meals, mostly over the last few days when I could stand up for a bit longer again. Thank goodness for a halfsheet of foccacia (1/3 each parmesan/herb topped, herb topped, and cracked black pepper and rosemary topped, for variety) I made on Friday we had good bread to go with whatever over the worst of it.

Dying for a salad one night so I had a sliced chicken thigh and ham grilled with shallots, slices of pummelo and crumbled bleu over Romaine hearts drizzled with basalmic/EVOO. Black pepper/rosemary foccacia.

Another night I made mixed (and yes bag from the store) pasta tossed with grilled then sliced butcher-fresh hot Italian sausage, our summer tomatoes rescued from the freezer, dried basil/oregano and garlic all from the garden, onions topped with fresh grated Parm Reg. Parm foccacia.

Wanted soup again, but still tired of chicken so made a pot of beef stock one evening with beef neckbones and hunks of chuck roast, then a veg/beef/barley soup the next night. Lots of baby carrots/onions/peas/ with our own rosemary/thyme/opal basil and garlic. Served with (ta-da!) the last of the herbed foccacia.

Finally last night, I baked some light rye/sour cream/carraway seed biscuits. Sauteed ham and onions to serve on those with Swiss cheese sauce, and topped with pan crisped tender baby asparagus. Salad of green leaf lettuce, tomato, hard boiled egg and crumbled bleu with fresh ground black pepper (and an extra drizzle of Brianna's bleu cheese dressing for DH).

[s'kat]

Wow, I want to be stricken down with the flu in your household. :)

[reesek]

oh chufi!

wow. that meal looks incredible. can you elaborate a little on the dessert? my boyfriend loves risotto, but i've got to admit - i'm not a fan. but that looked delicious!

[Susan in FL]

Incredibly good food in these posts! Daniel, nice Thai... Did you make up your peanut sauce or follow a recipe? Satay is on my "list."

I've had camera trouble with loading my photos, but I got this shot of a beef and broccoli salad using some of our left-over roast.

[Daniel]

Thanks Susan.. All of those recipes were from the Beautiful Thai Book including the Peanut Sauce.. Satay is such a pleasure and so easy to make.. The biggest problem is having all of the left over flank steak because my butcher sells such large pieces.. But i think a chimichurri is on the menu for this evening..

[hathor]

I couldn't find any orzo at the market, so I wound up with 'fegola' a Sardian pasta. It looks like big bread crumbles, but its a pasta.  Anyone know anything about this pasta?  Can't say we loved it...

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I saw Lidia make fegola on tv a couple of weeks ago. She spread semolina on a sheet pan and sprinkled it with water, then she sieved out the crumbles, sprinkled some more water, sieved more crumbles, etc...then she dried them and cooked them like pasta. Looked interesting and good to me, what about them didn't you like?

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Hello Brite14! The texture was mush on the outside and still firm on the inside and I had cooked them longer than the instructions said because I thought the inside was just too firm. No real flavor...just little balls of dough with under done center.

[Monica Bhide]

Daniel - gorgeous pics - I am SO hungry after seeing them.

[suzilightning]

chufi - i covet, CRAVE your first course

dinner tonight was more experimentation - wilde green chicken i copied out from an irish cookbook several years ago. don't get it but my friend's birthname is wilde - an english/irish lass. it is chicken breasts marinated in a mix of chunky peanutbutter, olive oil and minced garlic then sauteed in olive oil in which paprika, salt and pepper and dry mustard are heated. add water and cook. served over lemon rice with my first attempt at ROASTED CAULIFLOWER. OH MY GAWD!!!!!

i never jumped on this bandwagon before but it is awsome. will turn 'chelle on to this since the only veg her hubby eats are of the cruciferous kind. (hello - someone who doesn't like peas!!!!! - ok so she doesn't like lima beans[am i the only sane one in this land of the insane - limas grown in the right terroir are to die for]) want to now try broccoli and sprouts... definite possibilities here

[reesek]

chufi - i covet, CRAVE your first course

dinner tonight was more experimentation - wilde green chicken i copied out from an irish cookbook several years ago.  don't get it but my friend's birthname is wilde - an english/irish lass.  it is chicken breasts marinated in a mix of chunky peanutbutter, olive oil and minced garlic then sauteed in olive oil in which paprika, salt and pepper and dry mustard are heated.  add water and cook.  served over lemon rice with my first attempt at ROASTED CAULIFLOWER.  OH MY GAWD!!!!!

i never jumped on this bandwagon before but it is awsome.  will turn 'chelle on to this since the only veg her hubby eats are of the cruciferous kind.  (hello - someone who doesn't like peas!!!!! - ok so she doesn't like lima beans[am i the only sane one in this land of the insane - limas grown in the right terroir are to die for])  want to now try broccoli and sprouts... definite possibilities here

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roasted sprouts are divine. i've never had fresh limas...only favas (they're different, right?) but super fresh peas make me giddy.

[Afterburner]

More bold strides forward tonight, both for me as a cook and my wife as a diner.

As I diplomatically try to explain it, my wife has well-defined culinary comfort zones, outside of which she is reluctant to venture. Usually when I explain it this way, she follows up with "I'm a fussy eater."

And so she is.

Last week, however, she mentioned that she wanted to try to start eating fish, for health reasons.

After I recovered, we discussed what she didn't like about fish, and what she wanted to avoid. The answer? "That fishy taste and smell."

Right.

So today I went to Whole Foods and dropped $25 and change on two tuna steaks.

Tonight's menu:

--Pan-grilled tuna steaks, seasoned with salt, freshly ground pepper, and rosemary.

--Fresh green beans sauteéd in butter and salt

--Green salad with red Bibb lettuce, dandelion, and escarole, tossed with a toasted walnut oil and champagne vinegar vinagrette.

--Beer/cheese bread made with Gouden Carolus Ambrio and some chipotle cheddar.

I also tried roasting some garlic, but they got burnt. We live and learn.

The verdict: She liked the tuna, and would eat it again. And there was much rejoicing. The vinagrette was a little vinegary, however (prolly 'cause I added extra because I thought the toasted walnut oil was a smidge overpowering).

[suzilightning]

roasted sprouts are divine. i've never had fresh limas...only favas (they're different, right?) but super fresh peas make me giddy.

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[reesek]

I also tried roasting some garlic, but they got burnt.  We live and learn.

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congratulations on the dinner! halibut is another firm, unfishy fish you might try...

i roast my garlic a little differently than the rest of the free world, but it works really well. i peel the cloves and wrap them in foil with a bit of olive oil. i roast (and steam, really) at 350 until they're soft to the touch. (30-40 minutes) if i want a little chewiness or crispness, i'll unwrap the package for a few more minutes.

[suzilightning]

As I diplomatically try to explain it, my wife has well-defined culinary comfort zones, outside of which she is reluctant to venture. Usually when I explain it this way, she follows up with "I'm a fussy eater

like most of my inlaws they aren't challenged or exposed to anything other in their comfort level

After I recovered, we discussed what she didn't like about fish, and what she wanted to avoid. The answer? "That fishy taste and smell."

HELLO if it smells fishy it isn't fresh. as far as fish taste usually you get in the fish like blue or weakfish that have the stronger fat steak running down the spine. i grew up fishing and eating these fish and you CAN'T pay me enough to eat them now - which is why i will never fish for this species. if i catch it i will eat it. the "fishy" taste is probably the fat streak.