Dinner! 2007

[markk]

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Isn't this actually "Upside-down Tamarind Shrimp"?

[Dianne]

Markk, it is upside down, but I'm not sure how to rotate it.Pretend.

Bruce, the taste was great. The sauce had that sweet, spicy, salty, sour thing going on.

I will be doing more from this book too. Love to hear about your results.

[Shaya]

Last night we had an Asian feast to celebrate a friend's birthday.

I made some of my favorites:

Korean Sesame Chicken Cakes - I used finely chopped chicken rather than ground chicken, because I like to know exactly what I'm eating

Vietnamese Beef Rolls - these were outstanding; the beef was marinated overnight in lemongrass, finger, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, chilies and briefly grilled to bring out the flavors

Dipping Sauces - for rolls on the left, chicken on the right

Char Siu Bao - I still had some left over from 2 weeks ago; I baked them this time as they were a bit sticky after steaming last time, and this worked much better.

And our friends brought some of my favorites :

Shrimp in Coconut Peanut Sauce - the sauce was incredible, homemade of course; note the cilantro topping for color - I am with Bruce's boys, I find it tastes like soap, so I ate the shrimp from the pan (I can't even stand if my food has touched the stuff)

Vietnamese Noodles with Veggies

[judiu]

Last night we had an Asian feast to celebrate a friend's birthday.

I made some of my favorites:

Vietnamese Beef Rolls - these were outstanding; the beef was marinated overnight in lemongrass, finger, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, chilies and briefly grilled to bring out the flavors

Um, did you leave the nail on, or peel it off?

[percyn]

Playing catch-up

Prime Rib Roast - w/scallop potatoes, jus, green bean casserole, etc

Braised pork loin

Pork loin was stuffed with baby spinach, broccoli rabe, asian pears and sunchokes

Plated with some of the braised carrots, turnips and parsnips.

[dockhl]

Last night we had an Asian feast to celebrate a friend's birthday.

I made some of my favorites:

Vietnamese Beef Rolls - these were outstanding; the beef was marinated overnight in lemongrass, finger, garlic, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, chilies and briefly grilled to bring out the flavors

Um, did you leave the nail on, or peel it off?

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As beautiful as this picture is, it has a little bit of the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" pod thing going on Now I know why (the finger )

[petite tête de chou]

I made my third batch of chicken noodle soup in three weeks. My husband was nursed back to health with the first two (the second batch had rice noodles) and craved even more!

[lucylou95816]

Daniel, as usual your dinners look fantastic..how can I be invited over?

Petite, that soup picture is way too cool.

Everyone else, I have to continually wipe the drool off my computer.

Here are a few meals from the past couple of weeks:

Last night, we had our monthly dinner club, theme: Indian. My offering was trying to make Naan from scratch with raita and mango salsa. For a first effort, the Naan turned out okay, there was hardly any left:

One night a while back, we had some friends over to have pork chops with a roasted red bell pepper soup. The soup and chops are from Giada. The soup, in my opinion was very good, garnished with marscapone cheese and croutons. The pork chops had a tarragon dijon sauce. they were cut in half, since I had brined 2 for dinner with my boyfriend, and then we invited his sister over, so we had a comparison tasting with brined vs unbrined. I used the Chaz Panisse brine, which I liked a lot better on chicken.

Picture not the prettiest, but my favorite from mom, comfort food, Hamburger Stroganoff. Easy to make and tasty to eat:

Lasagna another night, again not the best picture:

Another easy and fairly healthy meal. Chicken and veggie stir fry:

This one was good. Chicken and mushroom crepes with creme fraiche. Served with roasted red potatoes.

[Dejah]

Last night we had an Asian feast to celebrate a friend's birthday.

Dipping Sauces - for rolls on the left, chicken on the right

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Shaya,

What did you use to make the dipping sauce for the Vietnamese Beef Rolls? Your marinated beef sound good. I'll have to try that instead of the usual shrimp.

[C. sapidus]

Shaya: Wow, another incredible dinner! Sorry to hear that you are afflicted with the cilantro = soap gene, though.

We made Tai Bai chicken (Tai Bai ji – from Land of Plenty); Napa cabbage and shrimp soup (canh cai kim chi nau tom – from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen); and jasmine rice. More information about the chicken on Chinese eats at home (post #775 – click), and the soup on Vietnamese food (post #249 – click)

[Dana]

Some incredible looking food being posted here. This is tonight's attempt at Indian Home Cookingby Suvir Saran. Chicken Biriyani and Dal with curried eggplant from another book

[little ms foodie]

mmmm... I really want quiche- gorgeous daniel

and shaya all of that looks amazing but especially the chicken patties and the beef roll ups!!

the other night we grilled some pork chops after marinating them in a really nice garlicy fish sauce/soy sauce conncoction. we also grilled some bok choy and brushed it with the same marinade. served with brown rice.

tonight we just got back from a ski weekend at Whistler so we are eating some minestrone we had frozen.

edited to put in the right picture

Edited January 29, 2007 by little ms foodie (log)

[ChryZ]

Shaya, amazing feast! May I request your recipe for the sesame chicken cakes?

[Domestic Goddess]

Yeah me too! I'd love to have the recipe of your sesame chicken cakes, Shaya!

[C. sapidus]

the other night we grilled some pork chops after marinating them in a really nice garlicy fish sauce/soy sauce conncoction. we also grilled some bok choy and brushed it with the same marinade. served with brown rice.

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LMF: Mmm, grilled bok choy sounds intriguing. We have some in the fridge, so I may try that. Thanks for the idea!

[Shaya]

LMF: I love the look of that bok choy. Very clever to grill it. It looks so nicely caramelized.

Shaya,

What did you use to make the dipping sauce for the Vietnamese Beef Rolls? Your marinated beef sound good. I'll have to try that instead of the usual shrimp.

Dejah,

The dipping sauce is simply a Vietnamese nuoc cham dipping sauce : garlic, chilies, sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and water to thin it down.

Shaya: Wow, another incredible dinner! Sorry to hear that you are afflicted with the cilantro = soap gene, though.

Yeah, I know, I can't explain it but the stuff is completely offensive to me. Your chicken looks amazing.

ChryZ, Domestic Goddess, here is how you make the Korean Sesame Chicken Cakes: combine finely chopped chicken, green onion, sesame seeds, sesame oil, soya sauce, ginger, cayenne.

Form patties, refrigerate if you have time, then shallow-fry on medium-high heat until golden on both sides.

For the dipping sauce combine soya sauce, vinegar, green onion, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and Thai chilies.

[santo_grace]

Last night I made oven roasted lamb shanks with roasted tomatoes and toasted orzo. Time consuming, but worth the effort!

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Sararwelch,

Roasted tomatoes are the only way I can eat tomatoes in the winter since it's pretty hard to get a decent one in Chicago this time of year. Can you tell me about the toasted orzo? Is that two types of orzo in there? One looks darker than the other.

[Chufi]

I finally made Shaya's sambousak.. they have a curried chickpea filling.. delicious!!

on the plate with lamb sausages sauteed with red peppers and garlic, and a potato/cucumber/feta/mint salad.

[MiFi]

Just before hitting the road for work, I normally gear up by whipping up some home cooking, such as these meals before heading to Tokyo and Hong Kong...

Goat cheese stuffed Chix w/mustard sauce & lentils du puy

Veal dumplings

Blue cheese burger, homemade baked beans, onion rigs

Sausage & green pepper pizza

[Shaya]

Chufi, the sambousak look amazing. I can smell them all the way from here! I love the way you paired them with lamb and cucumber mint salad. It's perfect.

[eldereno]

I have been trying some more adventuresome dinners (for me anyway) lately. Not always taking pictures....but tonight I was proud of myself for doing Thomas Keller's recipe for leek and roquefort quiche from the Bouchon cookbook somewhat successfully for the first time.

I am now in the process of slow cooking the pork coddled in olive oil from Paula Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Cooking. This is for dinner tomorrow night.

[lucylou95816]

Mifi, that chicken looks divine and Eldereno, your quiche looks lucious. Umm, what am I going to have tonight.

[racheld]

Veal dumplings

There's just something about that come-hither shine on those well-stuffed beauties. I've been scattered around all this month, and have missed a lot of good things I need to catch up on, but I'm gonna go ahead and declare this the first DIVE of the year.

I'm sure there will be lots more in retrospect.

[Domestic Goddess]

Shaya, thanks for the recipe for the korean chicken sesame cakes. I need to make those sambousaks soon. I have about a cup and a half of chickpeas in my pantry.

[Sararwelch]

Last night I made oven roasted lamb shanks with roasted tomatoes and toasted orzo. Time consuming, but worth the effort!

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Sararwelch,

Roasted tomatoes are the only way I can eat tomatoes in the winter since it's pretty hard to get a decent one in Chicago this time of year. Can you tell me about the toasted orzo? Is that two types of orzo in there? One looks darker than the other.

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I watched Bobby Flay make this on the food network a few months ago - only half of the orzo is toasted, he said that the flavor was too strong when he tried toasting all of the orzo. Here's the recipe.