Dinner! 2007

[Bella S.F.]

Shaya,

Oh, what a beautiful sacrifice for a bottle and a half of wine. Your Boeuf Bourgignon looks spectacular. I have had varying success with recipes for B.B., some not turning out too tender. Now that I am thinking about it, I used to have a recipe card from what was called "McCalls' Cooking Club", or something close enough to that. I remember it as being really tasty, but then again, that was years ago. I don't think that I could put my finger on that one. What is the source of your recipe? Is it something that you could share?

Thanks!

[Kim Shook]

Ann - beautiful, beautiful hamburger buns !

Marlene - your Potatoes Dauphonaise look exactly like I always want mine to do, except they never seem to. I also always have trouble with my potatoes getting cooked enough. I have given up making them for company because there is always some embarrassing delay while I futz around with the microwave .

Shaya - I had never heard of Sambousak before so I had to google it. MMMM. They are beautiful! Actually, every single thing in your post is something that I wanted to immediately sit down and tuck into. But that Tangerine Peel Beef is something else !!! Do you have an actual recipe that you have worked out? I don't think I could decipher one myself from the thread.

Tonight was lazy night. I am still recovering from my re-injuring of my hand and Mr. Kim is sick. So I re-ran last night's salad:

And fixed up a store-bought pizza with some Philly deli pepperoni someone sent us , red onion and olives (yep, plain old California black olives - I love them - (no shame)):

Dessert was some more of The Blissful Glutton's Peach-Cherry Crisp:

Edited to add: Notice the old school McCormick's red pepper flakes bottle in the pizza photo? I think that I have been refilling that bottle since we got married (25 years ago this month!).

Edited March 2, 2007 by Kim Shook (log)

[Marlene]

Kim, I use the recipe from Les Halles. For some reason, it's never failed me yet!

[little ms foodie]

marlene potatoes are veggirs in mybook!

shaya good for you for having cocktails again!

tonight we had lamb and shallot kabobs with pomagranate glaze and a cuc salad ala megan

[Peter Green]

All credit for this goes to the madame, as I'm temporarily banned from the kitchen due to a lack of help to do the clean-up.

What we were looking for was a preparation for our truffles that would be mild enough to showcase the truffles, avoiding any other ingredients that might overpower them.

We decided to go with gnocchi (I'd been holding out for risotto, but that'll be another day), and match it with chicken, onions, and butter. A touch of salt, and no other distractions.

For greens, they had some nice looking spinach in, so we separated the stems from the leaves to try two different approaches.

First, we start with a bowl of desert truffles - fuqa (for more on this go here

Then we slice them up....

Then we make some gnocchi (in a method very similar to the Korean kalgetsu preparation...which I find oddly unsettling at times)

And presto chango you have a meal on the table

and on the plate

spinach stems done Korean with sesame oil, salt, and garlic

spinach leaves fried in olive oil and garlic

gnocchi with desert truffles, chicken thighs, garlic, onions, butter, and chicken stock

It's amazing how much easier a meal can be when you have someone else do all the work.

the gnocchi worked well with the truffles, giving plenty of contrast in texture and flavour with the firm bodied fungi.

The spinach stems, being Korean, were very good, but the pan fried spinach came off a touch bitter, and would've been better done just blanched, with some sesame sead to set it off.

Maybe they'll let me back in the kitchen tomorrow.

[hathor]

I'd like some potato dauphonaise with a side beef with tangerine peel, please.

Peter, nice gnocchi! Where did you get the truffles from?

No pics, but last night was red wine braised bunny with pureed fava beans. Pureed fava beans are delicious, but peeling those dried beans is just as much of a pain as peeling the fresh beans.

[GTO]

Yeah, very nice looking Gnocchi, Peter. Good to see you've got the wine out while you work, dinner at yours looks nice and relaxed.

I did a Risotto with Chili Pecorino tonight, it was good.

[Dianne]

Last night we had a small piece of pork shoulder slow braised in red wine with a mushroom sauce, and creamy grits.

The roast after carving:

And a plate with grits , sauce and pork:

[C. sapidus]

Way, way, way too many incredible dinners upon which to comment (‘cept I have to give props to Shaya’s tangerine peel beef and LMF’s gorgeous HSSS banquet).

We made spicy tamarind shrimp; salmon soup with tomato, dill, and garlic; and jasmine rice. Da boyz finished all of the cukes before picture time. This week has been a relatively bereft of cooking, so it was nice to get back in the kitchen. Details on Vietnamese Food (clickety).

[lucylou95816]

Hi Everyone! Wonderful looking meals. We have a Potatoes Dauphonaise thing going on here, since I made these last week to go with a roasted brined chicken (that was only 69 cents per pound) and roasted herbed mushrooms, which are to die for! You can never make enough of those. My potatoes were from the Joy of Cooking, but I am going to try the Les Halles next time, since I have that book as well.

Then after a long weekend last weekend, with several friend's birthday's to celebrate we made what the BF wanted for his birthday. Some aged at home New York Steaks with roasted root veggies and sauteed broccolini in butter and garlic..

Lastly, last night, made some beef fajitas with the marinade from Cooks Illustrated. Garnished with a little avocado, sour cream and salsa. Of course, served with a nice cold Corona Light to help it all go down.

[hathor]

We had one of those "it all came together' dinners last night. Even the wine was special, and simpatico, and wonderful. No particular occasion, which sometimes makes it even better.

Roast spiced poussin served with roasted pear. The spices were: cumin, coriander, Chinese 5 spice, smoke adobe chili, salt and pepper. The sweetness of the roasted pears was a gorgeous compliment to the heat of the spices. Sauteed parsnips and swiss chard.

1993 Gigondas.

[little ms foodie]

judith that looks awesome!! pousine in our grocery is outrageously expensive so I never buy it but yours almost has me over there!!! and the roasted pears sound great!

[Shalmanese]

This was served with a radish and cucumber salad which my husband whisked  to the table before I could add any to my plate.

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That looks SO good... I'm a sucker for radishes and crisp cucumbers. So, what... mandolin sliced? What sort of dressing? Vinegary so it's almost pickled? mmm... *floats off into dreamland*

Mandoline sliced; then crisped in ice water in the fridge for an hour or so. I had forgotten this technique and it needs to be resurrected. The veggies become very crisp and juicy.

The dressing is a standard type vinaigrette with apple cider vinegar and a little sugar.

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You should try it with some apple as well.

[Ann_T]

I want some of Marlene's and Lucylou's Potatoes Dauphonaise, Shaya's Tangerine Peel Beef, Kim's Peach-Cherry Crisp and Dianne's Roast Pork. Sooooo Good!

We had Grilled Chicken Fajita's for dinner. Homemade flour tortillas, salsa and guacamole .

[Marlene]

Dinner party tonight, with yes, the usual prime rib.

Started with two tomato appetizers. Roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic with fresh majoram on broiled cibata bread

and vodka spiked cherry tomatoes which were far tastier than they look here!

I made brioche en tetes and flatbread:

Honey Bourbon glazed carrots:

Roast beef before and after:

And ginger mascarpone icebox cake for dessert:

Oh, and I made most of this while I was reasonably hungover.

[hjshorter]

I was pretty unreasonably hung over this morning.

We had lentil soup from the Bouchon recipe. Actually, my husband and kids had it since I was out. Apparently it was pretty good since I didn't get any.

[Kim Shook]

Dinner party tonight, with yes, the usual prime rib.

I made brioche en tetes and flatbread:

Honey Bourbon glazed carrots:

And ginger mascarpone icebox cake for dessert:

Marlene - when I saw those gorgeous brioche, I thought this post was Ann's - until I saw the carrots ! (It is Ann who hates carrots, right?) You are really working the breads!

And - OMG - I really, really would love for you to share the recipe for the cake - that is amazing and I love, love, love icebox cake!

Kim

[Marlene]

The cake recipe is from 150 Best American Recipes. It's called Ginger Mascarpone Ice Box Cake I think.

.

[Kim Shook]

Fantastic - I just got that from the library yesterday - I will flag that one to try! Ta!

[Marlene]

I thought you might have that one. The one thing I would note is that the recipe calls for a 9 in springform. I used an 8 in and it was pretty much the right size.

[Marlene]

Come to think of it, this could be cute, done in those individual spring form pans too.

[GTO]

I want to sleep in that cake, Marlene.

[judiu]

Dinner party tonight, with yes, the usual prime rib.

Started with two tomato appetizers. Roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic with fresh majoram on broiled cibata bread

and vodka spiked cherry tomatoes which were far tastier than they look here!

I made brioche en tetes and flatbread:

Honey Bourbon glazed carrots:

Roast beef before and after:

And ginger mascarpone icebox cake for dessert:

Oh, and I made most of this while I was reasonably hungover.

←

My HERO!

[Ann_T]

Oh Marlene, I'm imagining a slice of your cake for breakfast.

I have to tell you though, I'm a little disappointed that you didn't post a picture of the roast after it was carved. Your prime rib is always perfectly cooked.

Ann

[percyn]

Playing some catch-up...

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Smoked Salmon, Horseradish cream, Swedish Kaviar and Cream Cheese on Polenta

Braised Short Ribs on Polenta w/Gorgonzola

Chicken Rendang w/Sweet Rice