Dinner! 2007

[JacobCooks]

A couple of days ago I made some Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Didn't have any pancetta on hand, so used some mortadella instead(so this really isn't Spaghetti alla Carbonara), but it tasted good!

edited b/c of photo problem

Edited March 8, 2007 by JacobCooks (log)

[The Blissful Glutton]

My BF (can you tell he does this for a living?) made a pan-roasted poussin, diced sweet potatoes with bacon, and garlicky creamed collards. I just had to post it because I adored the dish. We served them with some biscuits that I made.

Biscuits:

Edited March 8, 2007 by The Blissful Glutton (log)

[Ann_T]

Daniel Nice to see you posting again.

That has to be the best-looking sandwich I have seen in a long time. The bread and chips look fabulous too. Great job.

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Thanks Blissful Glutton.

They were probably Ann's.  Mine weren't that spectacular.

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I don't think so Marlene. Your cinnamon bun picture was the reason that I made them.

mmmmm...skillet potatoes, quick, easy and hot!

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Gruzia, I'd be happy with just those potatoes. Yum!

And, tonight,

Liver and onions!

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Susan If I could have anything on this page it would be your liver and onions. (With Gruzia's potatoes). I love Calf's liver but haven't had it in a while.

We had a roast chicken dinner. The old standby.

[Blether]

Thank-you all for a warm welcome.

Chufi - thank-you, yes, and I pre-salted the meat for 4 days, so the flavour went right through too - more below

GTO - I need to come back and post separately about the 'fudge'

C. Sapidus - (blue crab... I learned something ) it's not every day, but, "I'll be back"

This looks amazing Blether! Can you generously share/PM the recipe? I got a pork slab waiting to be roasted in my freezer now.

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As, not exchange, but some small offering in return for your superb-looking afritada, amongst others, how can I refuse ?

It's Canadian pork shoulder, a piece weighing about 1.2kg. I'll paste how I've written it, edit gently and add some comments:

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Pot roast pork 'n' cabbage with wine - 20070213

1kg+ pork shoulder

Cabbage - about a half to two-thirds

A couple of onions

White wine - Hanamasa Hock and Banrock Station box Semi-Chardo, half and half; second time - Hock only

Juniper berries - a dozen ? - crushed

A fistful of bacon fat - if you have it, otherwise whatever frying medium

Salt and pepper

Pre-salt pork (~2tsp ?), leave overnight (second attempt - for 4 days (really aimed for three))

Grind pepper over pork

Brown pork all over, in bacon fat, and reserve

Fry onions in bacon fat till golden

Deglaze with wine - ~3/4 of bottle

Add cabbage, bring to simmer whilst adding pepper (12 grinds), salt (~1.5tsp) and crushed Juniper berries

Stir everything together, place pork on top. Bottom 0.5" or so of pork should be in wine

Once simmering, cover and move to oven at 170C for 2.5 hours

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Salting the pork - apply salt only around the round surface of the 'cylinder', not the ends, for even absorption

Frying fat - about 6tbsp ? Yesterday I used too much and got an oilier stew than ideal

(Dried) juniper berries - this quantity (and my stock being old) makes it a distant, background presence. It's a very dominating flavour if used heavily, but not out of character for the dish (nor will omitting do any harm).

I find my gas stovetop too aggressive at its lowest setting (I never owned one of those asbestos mats, and the perforated aluminium plate I bought doesn't seem to work, either) - things like rice too, I'll use a 170C oven to cook off at 'a gentle simmer' without having to worry about stirring.

The onions are of course really browned - a good 15 - 20 minutes frying ? - for that deep flavour.

The first time I cooked it I went for 3 hours - it was falling-apart tender, like when I pressed my carving knife into it it was keener to crush than to slice (note to self - sharpen that knife). Yesterday, 2 hours - good (and I carved with my bread knife !), but I think 2.5 will render the fat down just that extra bit and be the best compromise. The meat came straight from the fridge before browning.

A fuller set of pictures is here

Plating - we were eating with the lights turned low. Had it been brighter, I'd have instinctively laid some of the juice-and-veggies over the meat and it would have looked better under the flash, too

Edited March 8, 2007 by Blether (log)

[SeaGal]

yum!!! percyn that looks right up my ally! I don't even think I can get hanger/onglet here- did you just ask your butcher for the cut or what????

Wendy: I've bought hanger/onglet from both Whole Foods and Don & Joe's. They don't always have it, but I try to grab it when I see it. It's really tasty!

Jan

[Blether]

Blether: You're not fobbing anyone off with that, it looks like textbook fudge to me, I'll bet the texture is awesome.

Tonight I tried again with some extremely temperamental Linguini I bought last weekend. It caught me completely off guard the first time, since even though it is INCREDIBLY delicate, it's dried pasta, so I thought it would take a a minute. It took literally 10 seconds.

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Hmm. Dried linguini that cooks in ten seconds. Are you having a laugh ? Are you posting from Mercury ?

You're going to confuse me if you start referring to tablet as 'fudge'. Do you know tablet ? It forms a bar that has a hard 'snap' to it. I don't like it as rough as some so I forgo the beating before pouring out, but a granular mouthfeel is part of the experience.

Tablet's a real duffer's confection - no glucose; no fuss about dissolving the sugar perfectly; and if you google Scottish tablet you'll see a wide range of recipes - with different instructions including 'simmer for 10 minutes', 'boil for 30 minutes', 'cook to firm ball', 'cook to soft ball'. It's old-fashoined home cooking at its best, really, isn't it ?

When I was a kid the recipe we used didn't even have condensed milk - it was milk, sugar, butter. On this occasion I stopped at 124C, which is probably the high end. 112-116C is typical.

I have a distinct memory of bugging my mum to make tablet late one night when she was obviously tired but I was obstinately selfish (what else is new ?) and/or uncannily persuasive. The freakin' stuff boiled over and there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth: the tablet we ended up with was all in shards like shattered ice (but still got eaten, natch ). I must have been 7 or 8 years old, but it's the whole crack story right there.

Edited March 8, 2007 by Blether (log)

[GTO]

I kid you not, Blether. The box says 1-2 minutes but I swear, it was straight in and straight out. It came from an Italian comapny called La Campofilone.

I'm probably mistaken about the tablet, it just looks like fudge is all. Either way, it looks good.

[Blether]

You're very kind, GTO. It probably looks like fudge mostly because I've added an extra layer of duffery by cooking it so long

Thanks for the link - that looks like luscious pasta, and they've staged their photos beautifully. Hopefully they'll sort out some of the glitches with the links within the site ('long pasta' sent me to their jars of creams).

[Dianne]

Lovely, lovely food everyone. I get hungry reading this thread.

Last night we had a simple pasta dinner. Linguine with anchovy, garlic, chile flakes, black olives and grape tomatoes. The topping was crisp breadcrumbs and crumbled bacon.

[racheld]

spinach, plantain mash, and green garbanzos with olive oil, sea salt and pepper

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Those green garbanzos are gorgeous (and other alliterative compliments as I think of them). Did you get them fresh or frozen? Chris is hooked on hummus, and I know he'd like the green ones.

And where DID you get the picture of our gray kitty for your avatar?

[insomniac]

PLaying catch-up with food from weekend and the week:

mmmmm...skillet potatoes, quick, easy and hot!

A riff on Alton Brown's Shrimp Scampi...the tomatoes add a great fresh touch

buckwheat stir-fry with pineapple

spinach, plantain mash, and green garbanzos with olive oil, sea salt and pepper

Yet another Alton Brown dish...shallots, garlic and chicken in olive oil - really easy and makes the chicken sooooo tender

spinach and quinoa made with tomato paste, boullion cubes and pickled jalapenos - much better than it sounds

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what an absolutely stunning array of dishes Gruzia

[percyn]

yum!!! percyn that looks right up my ally! I don't even think I can get hanger/onglet here- did you just ask your butcher for the cut or what????

LMF, I ordered the hangers from a butcher who supplies restaurants.

[GTO]

You're very kind, GTO.  It probably looks like fudge mostly because I've added an extra layer of duffery by cooking it so long 

Thanks for the link - that looks like luscious pasta, and they've staged their photos beautifully.  Hopefully they'll sort out some of the glitches with the links within the site ('long pasta' sent me to their jars of creams).

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Me too, Blether. I think all the effort went into the pasta, which is fine by me.

[Priscilla]

Yay a million views. Wonder how many are mine over the years.

Last evening, fish pye, using leftover grilled salmon, plus nice crimini mushrooms, onion, parsley. Thick raft of mashed potatoes on top, that'll take care of that pesky partial bag in the pantry. Asparagus, like the devil with the blue dress on, not too skinny not too fat, blanched, eaten w/mayonnaise on the side. Not bad Zinfandel from Trader Joe's, after I'd given up on Zinfandels from Trader Joe's.

[little ms foodie]

yum!!! percyn that looks right up my ally! I don't even think I can get hanger/onglet here- did you just ask your butcher for the cut or what????

Wendy: I've bought hanger/onglet from both Whole Foods and Don & Joe's. They don't always have it, but I try to grab it when I see it. It's really tasty!

Jan

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yum!!! percyn that looks right up my ally! I don't even think I can get hanger/onglet here- did you just ask your butcher for the cut or what????

perfect, thank you both- now I know I just need to ASK!!!

LMF, I ordered the hangers from a butcher who supplies restaurants.

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[ludja]

My BF (can you tell he does this for a living?) made a pan-roasted poussin, diced sweet potatoes with bacon, and garlicky creamed collards.  I just had to post it because I adored the dish. We served them with some biscuits that I made.

...

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The whole meal and plating are just wonderful and I'm loving the idea of garlicky creamed collards! Thank you for sharing this menu.

Thanks also for sharing the nice German pork roast recipe, Blether! Our thread on Sauerbraten has been making me hungary for not only Sauerbraten but other pot roast dishes--even though it is starting to get warmer in these parts.

Edited March 8, 2007 by ludja (log)

[Marlene]

[

They were probably Ann's.  Mine weren't that spectacular.

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I don't think so Marlene. Your cinnamon bun picture was the reason that I made them.

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Yes but your's looked so much better. In any case, the recipe I used is in Bread Baker's Apprentice. I don't have time to adapt the recipe in my own words before I leave on vacation in the morning, but I will when I get back. One thing my sister in law suggested when she made them was to use a butter, brown sugar cinnamon spread instead of the cinnamon sugar. she tried it and apparently they were divine that way.

[Gruzia]

So as one of my friends complained that I have cooked out of less than 10% of the cookbooks I own, I have made a quick and tasty dinner out of Rick Bayless's Everyday Mexican. Surprisingly enough, for the amount of chipotles I used as the marinade in the chicken and as part of the salsa, the heat was definately manageable. So, I present Chipotle Chicken and Smoky Chipotle Salsa with tomatillos, accompanied by onions and cucumbers:

[Gruzia]

Green garbanzos! I've never seen these before. They're so pretty...I thought they were large peas till I read your description. Are they fresh garbanzos? or a green variety? Where do you purchase such things? Inquiring minds want to know, please...

Thanks!

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I believe they are simply young garbanzo beans - I got them in the frozen section of Trader Joe's - super simple to make, they boil up in a matter of minutes.

[Blether]

Me too, Blether. I think all the effort went into the pasta, which is fine by me.

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Amen to that. And here am i giving you the tablet second-degree and you're in the UK. Sorry. I once got a puncture arriving in Horncastle on my motorbike at the end of a business day: the locals were so helpful it made it a pleasant experience.

Token food reference: Subway sandwiches for dinner last night.

[Gruzia]

And where DID you get the picture of our gray kitty for your avatar?

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yours looks like that, too? Maybe they're related - her name is Seela (russian for strength) and currently she is sleeping on the couch, exactly like in the picture!

[Blether]

Thanks also for sharing the nice German pork roast recipe, Blether!

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I'm afraid I can't blame the Germans, Ludja - though pouring from a bottle emblazoned with the word 'Hock' and using pork & cabbage, I did feel kind of mitteleuropean, I have to admit. The basic technique I filched from my mother (no German there):　the major ingredients are poor man's opportunism and the wine is no-stock-in-the-cupboard lazy man's expediency.

At the same time, I'm interested to know more about German food and with the level of my knowledge everything I read will add to it, so thanks for the link. I'll go and have a look now.

Edit: PS 'Hungary' ?

Edited March 9, 2007 by Blether (log)

[GTO]

Good to know Blether. I've always wondered why people sit in the window seats at Subway, the ones that sit snugly to the glass in front of the street.

"Everybody! Look! Watch me eat my sandwich!"

I'd find it very embarrasing. Sandwiches are not sexy.

[Kim Shook]

Mr. Kim is hosting a poker party tonight and I am serving:

Roast beef appetizers:

(isn't my picture pretty? Sorry, but I think it's my best effort since I got a digital!)

Buffalo Chicken Dip w/ Chips & Texas Caviar on Crostini:

Chocolate Chip and Spice/Molassas Cookies w/ Sugar Babies:

Can you see the melted Sugar Babies on the edge of the Spice Cookies?

And the cutest candy, ever:

(sorry it's blurry)

Kim

[Blether]

Sandwiches are not sexy.

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Oh, I dunno. Claudia Schiffer, Helena Christensen and me was pretty good fun.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Blether (log)