Dinner! 2007

[monavano]

MobyP, what beautiful pictures. Is the lobster in a corn sauce? Sazji, the boreks look so good with the leek and cheese combination. Great baking!

[David Ross]

Last night I did Roasted Chicken Breast on Creamy Polenta with an Oyster Mushroom Sauce and Braised Celery.

I had been wanting to do a recipe for 'Celery Victor' for a long time. That's a classic San Francisco dish of celery braised in stock. I braised the stalks and then made a salad out of the celery leaves. I garnished it with some fried shallots. I buy the fried shallots in big jars at my local Asian market. The fried shallots are a lot like French's fried onions.

I started with a whole chicken and butchered it by removing the breast and wing in one piece. I cut off the top two wing sections and left the 'drumette.' Years ago some chefs called this the 'airline' cut. I just sauteed the chicken in butter and olive oil to crisp the skin then roasted it in the oven. As I was in the market I found some Beecher's Flagship Cheese and decided to add a good amount of the cheese to my polenta. Beecher's has gotten a lot of press lately-they are located at Pike Place Market in Seattle and the cheesemaker and owner used to work in corporate America before starting to make cheese in recent years. The cheese I bought is a cow's milk cheese aged one year. It is very creamy and tangy and and was good addition to the polenta.

[Dianne]

Beautiful, David. Celery is such a neglected veg.

[sazji]

sazji, are those Turkish? Greek maybe? I love freshly made breads -the smell just makes you melt inside...and yours looks yum yum...

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Well, hard to say really. Leek pitta is very common in Greece, especially in the north, and they often make it in the spiral shape, as do the Jews of Istanbul. The brushing of the oil and yogurt was from an Aegean wild herb börek recipe collected by Tijen Inaltong that I just translated today (for a website on foods of Turkey, I'll post when it's up). The Greek recipe would use feta, I used çökelek, so I suppose it's a more Turkish approach. (The fact that all the ingredients were bought in the street market down the block from me would push it that way as well.) The lines between Greek and Turkish cooking are so blurry really, considering that Greeks and Turks lived side by side in the same towns for hundreds of years. Whatever they were very good and now they are all gone....but I got more filling to use tomorrow!

[GTO]

sazji - Those look absolutely phenomenal. Leeks are one of my favourite onion cousins.

David - Beautiful presentation, and the chicken looks like it's beyond perfectly cooked.

[tug]

Lastnight I made prawncracker's recipe for goat cheese and red onion tarts

I served them with a small steak and a romaine-tomato salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

My family was very impressed

[Sony]

Congee with a bit of miso, chanterelle mushrooms, chicken breast, rice wine vinegar, red chili paste, and green onions.

It was my first time making congee. Well, I'd made it overnight (erm... sorta, as I went to bed at four am) in my crockpot, had some with brown sugar and syrup for breakfast. Kept it warm all day in the crockpot (had set it on eight hours/slow) and fixed it up for dinner. My husband had never eaten congee before. He liked it. Score. 

Edited to add: sorry for the crappy pic. It was taken with my cell phone cam, as my digital camera's batteries were dead. 

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I feel a cold coming on...and THAT'S what I want right now! The comfort factor comes shining through, even with a cell phone picture.

[David Ross]

Beautiful, David. Celery is such a neglected veg.

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Thank you and yes, I agree, we seem to relegate celery to snacks for the kids or our turkey stuffing. Celery gives a wonderful peppery, crispy fresh flavor to many dishes but don't forget it can be served cooked on its own and it's delicious.

[little ms foodie]

Speaking of comfort food...I made these leek böreks with çökelek cheese (a slightly tangy curd cheese). I used ready made yufka (like phyllo but slightly thicker and tenderer), brushed with a mixture of yogurt and olive oil, then rolled up the leek/cheese mixture and rolled that into a spiral. Topped with beaten egg and a bit of nigella seed. Almost good enough to eat, as my mom would say.

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those look delish! I totally want to try that.

Moby those cepes also have me excited! I'm heading to the farmers market in the morning and will watch for them

Last night we made Thomas Keller's "My Favorite Roast Chicken" which is our favorite too!

we buy our chickens from our farmers so they are a perfect 3 lbs!

Served with a green salad and my white mac n cheese

[Peter the eater]

I was interested to read about bdevidal's Chicken Stock Breakthrough so I made some chicken thigh bone stock to see for myself. Naturally I had to do something with the actual meat.

1. A dozen thighs skin down, bone out (for the stock):

2. Flavouring agents sage, parsley, lemon and lime (frozen citrus):

3. Assembly with some salt, pepper and onion:

4. On an aluminum sheet ready for the 375F oven:

5. Served with roasted veggies:

[doctortim]

Peter, those chicken thighs look great. How'd the stock turn out?

For the next 9 weeks I've got basically no commitments, so I've been taking the time to prepare meals at a relaxed pace every day of the week. I don't know whether it's the result of more careful preparation or simply the psychological effect of cooking at my leisure, but the food has just been tasting so much better. I think it's probably a bit of both. The other night I made spaghetti carbonara.

Then last night I took the opportunity to try two things that had been floating around in my head. The first was pan-fried potato gnocchi, and the second was slow-cooked steak. The gnocchi were boiled first then drained and fried in butter until they were crisp on the outside. The steak was a fat cut of sirloin roasted for 1 hour in a 70 degree (160 Fahrenheit) oven, then quickly seared in a stupidly hot pan to develop a crust without cooking the inside further. The results were great -- a smoky crust on the outside and perfectly medium all the way through. I served them together with a simple sauce made with reduced veal stock, brandy, and butter. And after all of that, unfortunately I didn't take a photo. Next time.

[MobyP]

MobyP, what beautiful pictures. Is the lobster in a corn sauce? Sazji, the boreks look so good with the leek and cheese combination. Great baking!

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No - we don't get good enough corn in the UK. It's a vermouth buerre blanc with brunoise. The ceps were very nice - French.

[sazji]

those look delish! I totally want to try that.

They're really nice, I made a second batch with the leftover filling and yufka this morning. But realized after they were in the oven for a few minutes that I'd forgotten to sprinkle on the nigella. (That's what you get for cooking before coffee!)

If you want the flavor to be really right, score yourself some Turkish yufka -- it's completely different thatn commercial phyllo. You can buy it online at Taste of Turkey. As for the cheese, feta works, though it will be a little different. You can also try a mix of dry cottage cheese with some feta that's been soaked in water to get rid of the extra salt. Çökelek has a bit of an acid tang that make it popular in böreks here.

[sazji]

I was interested to read about bdevidal's Chicken Stock Breakthrough so I made some chicken thigh bone stock to see for myself. Naturally I had to do something with the actual meat.

Those look really beautiful, I think that will be my next dinner! Why did you freeze the citrus? I think some rosemary in there with the sage would be nice too.

Edited September 23, 2007 by sazji (log)

[Peter the eater]

I was interested to read about bdevidal's Chicken Stock Breakthrough so I made some chicken thigh bone stock to see for myself. Naturally I had to do something with the actual meat.

Those look really beautiful, I think that will be my next dinner! Why did you freeze the citrus? I think some rosemary in there with the sage would be nice too.

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Lemon and limes were getting old last July so into the freezer they went. Thy lose a bit in the looks department but the juice is just as good. I had intended to use rosemary but our poor plant has really ben picked over recently.

[Peter the eater]

Peter, those chicken thighs look great. How'd the stock turn out?

Then last night I took the opportunity to try two things that had been floating around in my head. The first was pan-fried potato gnocchi, and the second was slow-cooked steak.  And after all of that, unfortunately I didn't take a photo. Next time.

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Thanks DrT, the thighs tasted great. Stock results will be posted here. We will be waiting for images of the gnocchi and steak, and may I say that's a handsome plate of pasta. BTW we are watching World Cup Soccer from China, Aussies have just scored on Brazil! I have only just forgiven them for beating Canada the other day.

[nonblonde007]

Peter & little ms foodie, Your chickens look fantastic!

I was alone, ate dinner late and indulged with a good movie. Snow crab legs w/ loads of butter(unclarified, I was lazy) and lemons.

Stock, perhaps?

[monavano]

Peter & little ms foodie, Your chickens look fantastic!

I was alone, ate dinner late and indulged with a good movie.  Snow crab legs w/ loads of butter(unclarified, I was lazy)  and lemons.

Stock, perhaps?

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That looks so good! You gotta treat yourself like that every once in a while.

[little ms foodie]

Thanks Brenda! mmmm....crab!!

Last night we started with skordalia with spinach added

then we made turkish spiced lamb "pizzas" and caprese. the caprese used on of the largest heirloom tomatoes I have ever seen!

[Prawncrackers]

Sunday dinner today was an economical yet tasty bacon hock with veggies:

[Shelby]

Hot wings, with stuffed peppers and macaroni and cheese

Blueberry cobbler for dessert

[monavano]

Prawncrackers - the meal looks delicious and those carrots are really beautiful.

Shelby - nice cobbler! I'll take a slice with a bit of vanilla ice cream, thank you

[Shelby]

Prawncrackers - the meal looks delicious and those carrots are really beautiful.

Shelby - nice cobbler! I'll take a slice with a bit of vanilla ice cream, thank you

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Can you see me? I was just mixing up homemade ice cream

Thanks

BTW, Little Miss Foodie, your pics are stunning. I want that salad *drool*

[Jmahl]

From the Tex-Mex Border today, Pork with Sweet Red Peppers served with brown rice and watercress. Its an Iberian dish with tones of North Africa and India with its cumin, lemon and garlic.

The wine, a young Rioja, and lemon cream for dessert.

Hearty appetite to all.

Jmahl

[monavano]

From the Tex-Mex Border today, Pork with Sweet Red Peppers served with brown rice and watercress.  Its an Iberian dish with tones of North Africa and India with its cumin, lemon and garlic.

The wine, a young Rioja, and lemon cream for dessert. 

Hearty appetite to all.

Jmahl

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Jmahl, that looks delicious. Can you share the recipe for us drooling here?