Dinner! 2007

[rooftop1000]

Happy New Year Everyone, I sure missed egullet when it was down.  Everyone's meals look wonderful  Here are a few from the past couple of weeks:

I made a homemade beef stock one day, since I was off work for the holidays. Nothing like a pot of stock simmering for 4 hours.  After it was done, I turned it into French Onion soup, very good:

Thanks!

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Since my soup looked Exactly like this one....

Ahh the things you can do with inspiration and 2 onions

it was yummy

tracey

[rnsmelody]

here is what i made for dinner.. ::drumroll please::

ankimo!

[Narcissus]

here is what i made for dinner.. ::drumroll please::

ankimo!

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OH MY GODS!

My Wife just had a look on her face that I see only in candlelight!

That ankimo looks great! Can you share the recipe?

Larry

[laurelm]

I just got back from France and Germany, so my parents made a huge basket of foods, wines, beers from the areas for me to cook as my Christmas gift when I returned.

I love the gift.

Tonight I made frog legs for the first time and for the first time tasting them. I did not like them, I did not care for the texture of the meat. But my husband and I thought they at least LOOKED pretty.

I love cooking new things, so still glad I did it.

Anyhow dredged in flour, and seasoned with parsley and garlic.

Sides- caramalized onions and puréed cauliflower

The pics stink, I dont know what happened!

[racheld]

here is what i made for dinner.. ::drumroll please::

ankimo!

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Chinmi, INDEED! I'm learning a lot here, Y'all.

[ghostrider]

Lucy, that looks fantastic.  Is that sour cream on top there?  Could you tell us more about the recipe?  Maybe you could even share it over here...

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While you're at it Lucy, could you please tell me how you get your mashed potato pancakes to look like that (maybe in the latke topic). Mine always fall apart and never get that golden brown crust on them.

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Thanks Pam, I appreciate the compliment. Actually, this was a luck of the draw. I've tried before and had problems keeping them together. I think someone after your reply said butter and low heat, I would totally agree. I used olive oil this time and kept them in the pan for quite a while at a medium/low heat. I think the key is to make them fairly small, not gigantic, mix the potato with an egg (I just made two, the other one fell apart) and then I dredged them in flour, which is what I think helps them get golden brown. I also added a little gruyere cheese, since I had some left over. I hope that helps.

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Wow, this just triggered a long-buried memory. My mon always used to make these with leftover mashed taters. No egg or cheese, just dusted them with a little flour & fried them in an ancient, extremely heavy cast-iron skillet in - drum roll, here is what I am sure is the secret - BACON GREASE!!!!!

(Yes, my dad loved bacon, & we always had a can of bacon grease around to spoon into the skillets. This may have had something to do with the 3 heart attacks that he survived. It definitely had something to do with the deliciousness of the food in our house.)

Anyway the mashed potato pancakes, which I learned to make at an early age, never fell apart & the crusts never came off. And, infused with the flavor of smoky country bacon, oh my but they were good.

[lucylou95816]

Lucy, that looks fantastic.  Is that sour cream on top there?  Could you tell us more about the recipe?  Maybe you could even share it over here...

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While you're at it Lucy, could you please tell me how you get your mashed potato pancakes to look like that (maybe in the latke topic). Mine always fall apart and never get that golden brown crust on them.

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Thanks Pam, I appreciate the compliment. Actually, this was a luck of the draw. I've tried before and had problems keeping them together. I think someone after your reply said butter and low heat, I would totally agree. I used olive oil this time and kept them in the pan for quite a while at a medium/low heat. I think the key is to make them fairly small, not gigantic, mix the potato with an egg (I just made two, the other one fell apart) and then I dredged them in flour, which is what I think helps them get golden brown. I also added a little gruyere cheese, since I had some left over. I hope that helps.

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Wow, this just triggered a long-buried memory. My mon always used to make these with leftover mashed taters. No egg or cheese, just dusted them with a little flour & fried them in an ancient, extremely heavy cast-iron skillet in - drum roll, here is what I am sure is the secret - BACON GREASE!!!!!

(Yes, my dad loved bacon, & we always had a can of bacon grease around to spoon into the skillets. This may have had something to do with the 3 heart attacks that he survived. It definitely had something to do with the deliciousness of the food in our house.)

Anyway the mashed potato pancakes, which I learned to make at an early age, never fell apart & the crusts never came off. And, infused with the flavor of smoky country bacon, oh my but they were good.

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I'll have to try that the next time. Does it make a big difference if the original mashed potato is made with cream and a little, well okay, a lot of butter? Thanks for the tip.

[ghostrider]

I'll have to try that the next time.  Does it make a big difference if the original mashed potato is made with cream and a little, well okay, a lot of butter?  Thanks for the tip.

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Hmmm. The mashed potatoes as I recall were made with milk &, yes, a fair amount of butter.

The "pancakes" weren't as thoroughly all-over browned as yours though - they were much thicker, maybe an inch or a little more, & had a distinct thin crust on either side. You could actually slide the crispy brown crusts off & eat them separately if you wanted. Of course then you were left with a big glob of leftover mashed potatoes, & there was little else to do except put more butter on them.

Those were the days - bacon fat, butter & no worries.

[lucylou95816]

I'll have to try that the next time.  Does it make a big difference if the original mashed potato is made with cream and a little, well okay, a lot of butter?  Thanks for the tip.

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Hmmm. The mashed potatoes as I recall were made with milk &, yes, a fair amount of butter.

The "pancakes" weren't as thoroughly all-over browned as yours though - they were much thicker, maybe an inch or a little more, & had a distinct thin crust on either side. You could actually slide the crispy brown crusts off & eat them separately if you wanted. Of course then you were left with a big glob of leftover mashed potatoes, & there was little else to do except put more butter on them.

Those were the days - bacon fat, butter & no worries.

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Who's worrying????? Actually, my friend's favorite saying is, "nothing is better than butter, bacon and booze" thanks for the advice...I still have some mashers left over, maybe I'll give that a whirl.

Edited January 8, 2007 by lucylou95816 (log)

[The Hersch]

Belgian endive is called lof, or witlof, in the netherlands, and loof or witloof in Belgium - wit mening white, and loof is (I suppose) related to the word leaves!

It appears that your supposition is correct. I just found the most wonderful online etymology dictionary (of English) here. It appears that the English leaf is cognate with Old Norse lauf, Old Frisian laf, Dutch (or is it Flemish?) loof, and German Laub. Very cool. Thanks Klary.

[Daniel]

Been so busy.. Havent had a chance to post anything really.. Happy New Years, off to Atlanta tomorrow night..

This weekend spent some time upstate and had the chance to use the Biggreenegg.. Its really one of the more enjoyable grilling/smoking experiences.. Still feeling it out, its really a dream..

One night we made a 2 lb ribeye.. Had the grill up to most likely 800 degrees.. Cook the steak for 2 minutes a side and then left in the grill with the flames off for another two minutes.. It was perfectly charred on the outside and medium rare on the inside..

Served with these huge organic golden beets and baby brussels with roasted garlic..

I also had a grilled octopus salad that turned out really nice and grilled a bass for the little one..

The next smoked a whole butt, baby back ribs and spareribs.. The butt and ribs were brined..

Today with some of the left over pork I made pork sandwiches.. Made a South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce, mixed it with the pork, add provolone cheese, ham, and pickles.. Cooked on a sandwich press..

Edited January 8, 2007 by Daniel (log)

[Ling]

^Awesome meal, Daniel! Someone sure loves his meat!

We did the Momofuku Ssam pork butt recently, with a few modifications. Here it is with the kimchi and lettuce in the background.

We ate at Jean Georges last month, so we tried to do an interpretation of his signature scallop, cauliflower, and raisin-caper emulsion.

Scallops were huge!

Also had a plate of kumamoto oysters each.

Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of wine rounded out the meal.

Edited January 8, 2007 by Ling (log)

[Daniel]

Wow Ling.. Has it been a month already.. Dinner looks great.. Those scallops are gorgeous and the photo of the oysters is really good..

I didnt add the non meat items but here goes.. I cooked a sea bass on the grill..

And here is the salmon steak for the little one.. I smoked it for 20 minutes of so.. I then turned up the heat really high and covered it with a lemon mayo.. Grilled it really on high heat and it came out pretty nice...

[laurelm]

Cailles à la Vigneronne was tonight's dinner.

Quail stuffed with goat cheese with a grape wine shallot sauce, it was very tasty.

First time making quail!

Love the pics of oysters... yummm!!

[little ms foodie]

mmmm...everyone has been cooking up a storm!!!

we have been on vacation- in NYC for NYE and now getting back and starting to cook again (stove top only as the oven is still TU)

tonight we had Moules Marinere with a green salad and baguette. here they are in the staub mussel pot!

I'm compiling a list of stove top meals so that I don't dwell too much!

[markk]

That's one gorgeous steak!

[eje]

I was going to make a shitake mushroom and yukon gold hash to go with duck breasts last night.

Unfortunately, the butcher was out of duck breasts so we picked up pork tenderloin instead. And my wife was quite taken with some fingerling potatoes at the farmers' market, so no yukon golds.

Ditched the hash idea, since I had fingerling potatoes, and ended up just tossing the potatoes and mushrooms with fresh thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil, and roasting them in the oven.

Some of the shitake pieces became crisp.

Oh, my gosh! They were like concentrated umami!

Bacon, pah!

Crisp, roasted shitake mushrooms is where it's at.

[dockhl]

That's one gorgeous steak!

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Daniel~

When I saw that pic my mouth automatically began to water ( in my dogs I'd say DROOL )

Perfect.

[dockhl]

Crisp, roasted shitake mushrooms is where it's at.

eje, I'm with you

K (who REALLY likes bacon.......)

[judiu]

I was going to make a shitake mushroom and yukon gold hash to go with duck breasts last night.

Unfortunately, the butcher was out of duck breasts so we picked up pork tenderloin instead.  And my wife was quite taken with some fingerling potatoes at the farmers' market, so no yukon golds.

Ditched the hash idea, since I had fingerling potatoes, and ended up just tossing the potatoes and mushrooms with fresh thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil, and roasting them in the oven.

Some of the shitake pieces became crisp.

Oh, my gosh!  They were like concentrated umami!

Bacon, pah!

Crisp, roasted shitake mushrooms is where it's at.

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Now, of course, if you ditched the . and subbed in bacon grease...

(runs)

[nakji]

Here I've been feeling so healthy since I spent the whole last week eating rice noodles and vegetables, I come into this thread and see steak, macaroni and cheese, potato pancakes....I'm getting nostalgic for carbs covered in/fried in/dipped in fat.

I humbly submit my contribution to the thread - I made a red curry with peanuts, some eggplant and pickled bamboo shoots that have been lurking in my fridge.

[jende]

^Awesome meal, Daniel! Someone sure loves his meat!

We did the Momofuku Ssam pork butt recently, with a few modifications. Here it is with the kimchi and lettuce in the background.

We ate at Jean Georges last month, so we tried to do an interpretation of his signature scallop, cauliflower, and raisin-caper emulsion.

Scallops were huge!

Also had a plate of kumamoto oysters each.

Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of wine rounded out the meal.

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Ling: these photos are some of the very best I've ever seen on egullet (and most aren't shabby).

[Chufi]

So after I saw this last week:

Szechuan dry-fried chicken (gan bian ji), jasmine rice, and sliced raw cucumbers and turnips. For the chicken, we used leeks rather than celery as the vegetable. Leeks are definitely better. The turnips were very sweet.

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I had to make it!

In the spirit of 'use what you have' I did make it with the celery asn in the recipe, because I had some, and because I like celery.

The salad is lightly pickled cucumber, Chinese leaf, and kohlrabi, with a little shredded mint (not very Chinese - but really good n the salad). And sticky rice! It was delicious!

Edited January 8, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[C. sapidus]

Klary: Looks delicious, and I’m touched – this may be the first time I have inspired anyone's dinner.

Nakji: No need to be humble – your red curry looks like spicy, salty, crunchy, tender scrumptiousness. Did the pickled bamboo lend a sour note to the curry?

[Ling]

Ling: these photos are some of the very best I've ever seen on egullet (and most aren't shabby).

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High praise from a pro photographer! Thank-you!