Dinner! 2007

[Priscilla]

Last evening, Poularde Brillat-Savarin, from the old Conran Cookbook, a chicken cooked w/ butter in a covered pot, mushrooms added, sauce made from reduced cooking juices, little added stock, hit of sherry, cream. (Sir Terrance, or maybe then-wife Caroline, notes this is a good dish, luxurious and simple to prepare, and I have to agree.)

Potatoes tossed in chicken fat and oven-roasted, nice butter lettuce salade dressed with mustardy shalloty vinaigrette.

Improbably old Columbia Crest white wine off-loaded from a friend's mother's basement, improbably chardonnay, improbably good, esp. w/ the mild sherry note in the sauce.

Ficelle from the Vietnamese French baker.

[C. sapidus]

Malaysian pan-seared fish fillets with slivered red onion, chiles, ginger, and garlic (chuan-chuan), from Cradle of Flavor. The sauce was the pan juices mixed with soy and black soy sauce, black pepper, and a touch of sugar, finished with rice vinegar. Jasmine rice and cucumbers on the side.

The recipe calls for mackerel, but we used frozen fillets. The topping is delicious on any fish - I would love to bottle the aroma of sauteeing onions, garlic, and ginger as an eGullet perfume.

[little ms foodie]

TallDrinkOfWater made dinner tonight- we started with pomelo salad (nyoom kroit t'long) out of HSSS- excellent and nice and spicy!!

then we had a chicken egg drop soup

Edited February 1, 2007 by little ms foodie (log)

[shengcai]

A couple nights ago I made sea bass en papillote

Last night, we had sinful bacon burgers (onions caramelized and burgers cooked in bacon fat, and, oh yeah....buns pan-toasted in butter )

along with a side of roasted cauliflower that everyone has been raving about:

Tonight, it was Lumas' fake-fried chicken

Thanks to this thread and others for the recipes and the inspiration!

[Nishla]

Haven't posted in a while, and again, pages and pages of awesome stuff!

Bruce, that topping for the fish sounds so good, I'm thinking of making a bucket of it just to have around.

Wendy, I was just thinking that I haven't had egg drop soup in ages...you've inspired me to bump it up on my list of things to make

A couple things from the last few days:

Arugula walnut pesto with sausage, sun-dried tomato and goat cheese, topped with parsley.

I had a pretty big batch of pesto, so yesterday I used the rest with some sauteed summer squash, grape tomatoes and onion.

Butternut squash soup, with red pepper foam (sort-of) and mushrooms. The red pepper foam was an experiment with our new iSi whip, and I borrowed the idea from this post. It tasted really good, but didn't get exactly the texture I expected. Mushrooms were cooked with bacon, shallots, garlic and thyme. Mmmmmmm...

[Pan]

[...]Tonight, it was Lumas' fake-fried chicken

←

Looks tasty. What's fake about it?

[shengcai]

Looks tasty. What's fake about it?

It's first browned in a tiny bit of oil but then finished in the oven for 30 mins or so. It was indeed quite tasty! I'd have a tough time trying to distinguish real-fried and fake-fried. Lumas' recipe is here.

[Chufi]

Dutch split pea soup. This is the first time I managed to take a picture of this soup that looks remotely appetizing! (well, at least I think it does.. ) And oh boy, was it delicious!

[Priscilla]

Wow looks good Chufi. I love pea soup.

Soup here last evening, too, French onion w/Emmenthaler croutons, a help in using beef stock I'd made previously. And even a little rain, adding welcome evocativeness.

[markk]

I haven't posted much lately because I haven't cooked (or shopped) much lately, and to make a long story short I'm recovering from knee surgery and hopefully I'll soon be able to go out and shop the markets to my heart's content and stand as long as I want and cook. But I've been watching every day here and I love it!

Now a question, and I hope this is allowed because it's specifically to the participants in the Dinner thread. I notice that many people shop and cook meals ahead, and I realized that when I know I'll need to do that, I frequently turn to having food delivered from one takeout menu or another. But I've been told that that's not an option in lots of places (I live in Northern NJ about a mile from midtown Manhattan as the crow flies, and we have no end of places that will deliver just about every cuisine you can think of, same as across the river.)

So my question is, where you live, is having dinner delivered an option?

And since I hate not to post any photos, here's a video I dug out (having to do with another thread) of me cooking in France.

It's a Tarte Flambée, and it's not last night but rather a few years ago, and I hope it's allowed. This is a pizza-like tart that's made on an unleavened bread dough rolled as thin as possible, spread with a well blended mixture of crème fraîche and fromage frais, topped with chunks of bacon (lardons) and slivered onions, and baked for less than a minute in a blistering hot (literally, you'll see the tart buckle instantly) oven with roaring flames. And as I say, they let me "make" one - well, on a technicality, but I hope this allowed and I hope everybody enjoys this as much as I've been enjoying living vicariously through all your photos the last few months.

It's the same short video posted in 2 different video formats in case one or the other doesn't play:

http://www.guyarts.com/tarte-flambee.mov

http://www.guyarts.com/tarte-flambee.mp4

[C. sapidus]

Little Miss Foodie: Isn’t that HSSS pomelo salad delicious? We made it once – it was time-consuming but worth it.

Nishla: Definitely make a bucket, and, um, send over another bucket of the arugula walnut pesto pasta.

A very late semi-pseudo-Thai dinner tonight. Surprisingly good, although our judgment may have been impaired by hunger and a bottle of viognier. Fish fillets with viognier, coconut milk, green curry paste, fish sauce, and Thai basil (from James Peterson's Fish & Shellfish).

Wilted spinach with blood orange vinegar and more of the green curry sauce.

[gmi3804]

...w/Emmenthaler croutons...

Yum! Recipe, please?

[Sararwelch]

I made grilled tuna with moroccan pepper salad and herb potatoes from the Mustards Napa Valley Grill cookbook:

[little ms foodie]

dayne cooked again tonight- tandori style chicken skewers with rice and grilled onions

[Live It Up]

Like Nishla and markk, I haven't posted here in a while, but I've been keeping up with the thread and using it for inspiration. Last night I made Shaya's sesame chicken cakes, except I used pork and served them with nuoc cham because the rest of the meal was vietnamese. I also made scallops in a caramel type sauce from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, except the recipe called for shrimp, not scallops. I guess I did a lot of protein substituting last night. Also, Shaya, did you post the recipe for the sambousak somewhere? They look amazing! I think I must also add my accolades for Lumas' fried chicken--it looks good enough to actually satisfy a craving for the real thing. Tonight we had osso buco that I made last night knowing I wouldn't have time to cook tonight. It was OK. Anyway, keep up the good work all.

[Daniel]

We had some friends over for dinner tonight.. This one friend of ours is a big fan of fettucini al fredo, so it was a request.. There were a few restrictions in terms of cooking with alcohol, red meat, and only dairy in desserts.. We rushed home from work tonight and put together a pretty fun meal..

We started with Tuna Tartare and endives..

Al fredo for most of the guests.. We made a cauliflower, mint, and chile dish with soy parmesan cheese for another..

Hangar steak with french fries, bacon wrapped green beans, celeriac puree, and inspired from watching Paula Dean last night, baby blooming onions.. I had never had a blooming onion but, after seeing her make large ones, I figured little baby guys would be cute.. For the batter I used seltzer instead of beer.. Hangars were cooked perfectly.. We also had a salmon with fresh herbs, fries, celriac puree made from soy cream cheese and soy milk...

These little guys are very fun..

Dessert was called Dealings with Chocolate.. We made a chocolate sorbet. No Dairy just Chocolate, sugar and water.. Next was Rocky Road Brownies and a Chocolate Souffle..

[lucylou95816]

We had some friends over for dinner tonight.. This one friend of ours is a big fan of fettucini al fredo, so it was a request.. There were a few restrictions in terms of cooking with alcohol, red meat, and only dairy in desserts..  We rushed home from work tonight and put together a pretty fun meal..

We started with Tuna Tartare and endives..

Al fredo for most of the guests.. We made a cauliflower, mint, and chile dish with soy parmesan cheese for another..

Hangar steak with french fries, bacon wrapped green beans, celeriac puree, and inspired from watching Paula Dean last night, baby blooming onions.. I had never had a blooming onion but, after seeing her make large ones, I figured little baby guys would be cute.. For the batter I used seltzer instead of beer..  Hangars were cooked perfectly.. We also had a salmon with fresh herbs, fries, celriac puree made from soy cream cheese and soy milk...

These little guys are very fun..

Dessert was called Dealings with Chocolate.. We made a chocolate sorbet. No Dairy just Chocolate, sugar and water.. Next was Rocky Road Brownies and a Chocolate Souffle..

←

It always amazes me what you whip up for dinner on a weeknight Daniel...just lovely!

[Priscilla]

...w/Emmenthaler croutons...

Yum! Recipe, please?

←

Thank you, George, but they were only very simple, just sliced baguette toasted on one side, buttered and immodestly Emmenthalered on the untoasted side and then broiled, before serving in the onion soup.

Last evening, lasagne with ragu Bolognese, lashings of bechamel, some fresh mozz that was kicking around, and Parmigiano. Butter lettuce salade, seedy baguette.

[little ms foodie]

Daniel I love the riff on asparagus wrapped with proscuitto! you guys are very clever!!!

did you blanch the beans, wrap and broil or pan fry or what? was the bacon crispy?? it all looks fab and I'm stealing some of your ideas!!

[Daniel]

Daniel I love the riff on asparagus wrapped with proscuitto! you guys are very clever!!!

did you blanch the beans, wrap and broil or pan fry or what? was the bacon crispy?? it all looks fab and I'm stealing some of your ideas!!

←

I am sure I am not the first person to do it, although I did think of it myself.. The little vadalia blooming onions was a lot of fun too.. I blanched the beans, then wrapped and fried in leaf lard of course.. haha.. I used a really smoky bacon which flavored up the beans.. I then added a little pear jelly to the top of the beans. I only used one strip of bacon.. I might use two next time but, I wanted to take it easy on my guests.. Two pieces of bacon per wrap I thought was a bit much.. Wow, this veggie diet is really rethinking my intake.. It was crispy..

[LoveToEatATL]

I giggled when I saw shengcai's post. That's what I've made recently too!

And it has been too long that I have enjoyed this thread - time to join in the fun:

Last night - my darling husband's burgers - doubles!

And a few nights ago, southern fried chicken, sauteed okra and yummy mashed potatoes:

Tomorrow we are making a birthday dinner for a dear friend - will be sure to post those pics as well.

Sorry they are so blurry - I am in the process of shopping for a new digital.

Edited February 1, 2007 by LoveToEatATL (log)

[Daniel]

I giggled when I saw shengcai's post.  That's what I've made recently too!

And it has been too long that I have enjoyed this thread - time to join in the fun:

Las night - my darling husband's burgers - doubles!

And a few nights ago, southern fried chicken, sauteed okra and yummy mashed potatoes:

Tomorrow we are making a birthday dinner for a dear friend - will be sure to post those pics as well.

Sorry they are so blurry - I am in the process of shopping for a new digital.

←

Those fries look great.. How did you make them..

[LoveToEatATL]

I giggled when I saw shengcai's post.  That's what I've made recently too!

And it has been too long that I have enjoyed this thread - time to join in the fun:

Las night - my darling husband's burgers - doubles!

And a few nights ago, southern fried chicken, sauteed okra and yummy mashed potatoes:

Tomorrow we are making a birthday dinner for a dear friend - will be sure to post those pics as well.

Sorry they are so blurry - I am in the process of shopping for a new digital.

←

Those fries look great.. How did you make them..

←

Oh, Daniel, I am mortified to tell you - they are OreIda fast food frozen fries! But, we went to the butcher and he gave us some tallow. We cut it up and put it in the fryer with the peanut oil to make them taste more like McDonald's.

[gmi3804]

...w/Emmenthaler croutons...

Yum! Recipe, please?

←

Thank you, George, but they were only very simple, just sliced baguette toasted on one side, buttered and immodestly Emmenthalered on the untoasted side and then broiled, before serving in the onion soup.

"Very simple" works for me, Priscilla. Thanks!

[Gruzia]

My first post on the dinner thread! You guys were a large reason behind my getting a digital camera

Anyway, dinner from a couple of nights ago, pasta with Eggplant and Ricotta Sauce from Marcella Hazan's Essentials:

Dinner from tonight, Coriander rice with Chicken in Red Curry Sauce from Camelia Panjabi's Great Curries of India: