Dinner! 2007

[scamhi]

Passover dinner

Chicken with Dates, string beans with garlic and pine nuts, sweet potato puree flavored with orange juice and orange rind and fresh ginger

[meredithla]

Curried sweet potato soup with yogurt and scallion oil:

Nishla-Tell us about those fabulous soup bowls! They look similar to ones Shaya has too?

[meredithla]

Smoky Pork Tinga Tacos with potato, queso fresco & avocado-Rick Bayless-Mexican Everyday

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meredith la,

I don't have that cookbook. Where's the "smoky" come from? Chipotle? Did you use canned chipotle?

Any other standout flavorings in the braise?

Thanks - I'm trying to expand my taco repertoire.

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agalarneau-Yup, the smoky is from the chipotles, adobo sauce and fire roasted tomatoes. Also has garlic and onions and potatoes, worcestershire and oregano. I'm trying another recipe tonight: braised pork shoulder with tomatillos, pickled jalapenos, garlic, worcestershire, cilantro and white beans.

[meredithla]

Last night, by kids' demand...pizza and American Idol! Homemade make your own pizza. Pepperoni and cheese for the kids, for us: buffalo mozzarella, marinated oven roasted yellow tomato and prosciutto. The tomatoes tasted like summer.

[shoutsandmurmurs]

yum, everyone! meredithla, those tacos-- where's the drool icon again?

last night i made asparagus and gruyere omelets, from the latest cook's illustrated.

still a little browner than i would have liked, but they were yummy nonetheless.

Edited April 4, 2007 by shoutsandmurmurs (log)

[Becca Porter]

I made Marlboro Man's favorite sandwich, from this fantastic blog:

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

[MiFi]

Dijon Crusted King Salmon w/Beluga Lentil's, capers, and very fruity extra virgin

[Emily_R]

Hi folks --

Well lately it seemed like every television ad I saw featured a glistening plate of ribs... So a craving emerged. Last night made BBQ ribs (in the oven) and roasted green beans. My husband declared them the best ribs I've ever made... Though not the best picture I've ever taken -- need to get some software so I can tone down the glare!

[Dianne]

We are just back from a holiday in South Carolina and you have been cooking up a storm while I was gone. There are too many wonderful dishes to comment on. Take it as read that every one's dinner looks great.

I was able to cook some; so here are a few dinners.

Our regular salad and a shrimp and grits with country ham and garlic butter.

Another shrimp and grits; this time with a tomatillo sauce

And finally, fresh grouper and biscuits.Thanks to an eGullet discussion for pointing me to Mary B's frozen biscuits. A wonderful resource for holiday cooking.

[Ling]

This was more of an afternoon snack than dinner, but this is something only food nerds like us would appreciate so I thought I'd post it in this thread.

You know how many people have strong opinions about what kind of ham they prefer? Some people insist that they like Serrano best, some like parma, etc. Henry and I generally buy San Daniele. But today, I decided to put together a taste test to see which ham we truly prefer by tasting them side by side.

Here we have 5 types of ham--3 prosciutto di parma from different producers, 1 Jamon Serrano, 1 San Daniele.

(L-R) parma from Pio Tosini $28.99/lb.; parma from Greci and Folzani $27.99/lb; Jamon Serrano $24.99; parma from Leporati $24.99/lb.; San Daniele $24.99 lb.

Lorna's picks:

1. Leporati parma

2. San Daniele

3. Pio Tosini

4. serrano

5. Greci and Folzani

Henry's picks:

1. Leporati parma

2. San Daniele

3. Greci and Folzani

4. Pio Tosini

5. serrano

So, the Leporati won on both counts. Henry picked the Greci and Folzani one as his #3 it was much more heavily spiced than the others, and I picked that as my last choice for the same reason.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Ling (log)

[C. sapidus]

Wow, delicious dinners and fun experiments with ham. Ling, would you use Leporati parma all of the time, or do you think that different types of ham would work better with different dishes?

We made Thai red curry with bay scallops. This was my favorite red curry so far, and bay scallops stand up to strong flavors better than regular scallops. The boys snacked on a very spicy salsa while I cooked dinner, and then they scarfed down the red curry with no complaints. Life is good!

More information on Thai Cooking at Home (clickety).

[Chufi]

This was more of an afternoon snack than dinner, but this is something only food nerds like us would appreciate so I thought I'd post it in this thread. 

You know how many people have strong opinions about what kind of ham they prefer? Some people insist that they like Serrano best, some like parma, etc. Henry and I generally buy San Daniele. But today, I decided to put together a taste test to see which ham we truly prefer by tasting them side by side.

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I did something similar recently with some friends, we taste-tested 5 different Spanish hams Part of the fun was the shopping, running around the city getting to different shops!

[Domestic Goddess]

We found some Australian steak, some brussel sprouts at the local E-Mart store. Dinner was steak with sauteed onions plus steamed rice plus braised brussel sprouts with bacon.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[doctortim]

At the markets today, the place I buy mushrooms from was closed while another place had a sale on cauliflower. So, a last minute change meant dinner tonight was cauliflower risotto with bacon. The veal stock I used was a little disappointing, but a generous helping of pecorino made up for it.

In case you're wondering where the cauliflower is, I simmered the hell out of it in the stock so it falls apart in the risotto. It's an interesting surprise flavour, and makes the risotto even creamier.

[Dianne]

In case you're wondering where the cauliflower is, I simmered the hell out of it in the stock so it falls apart in the risotto. It's an interesting surprise flavour, and makes the risotto even creamier.

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That looks and sounds delicious, Doctortim. Thanks for the good idea.

[dnagirl]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I figured this would be a good place to put my first post.

I'll get my camera back in working order, so I can have some pictures, but for now...just explanation.

Last night for dinner we had Maryland crab cakes, served with a basil mayo and saffron aioli. Served with parmesan-pepper orzo and steamed snow peas.

Also marinated a pork shoulder yesterday for char siu.

Looking forward to adding more posts! All your dinners look so wonderful!

[doughgirl]

I made Marlboro Man's favorite sandwich, from this fantastic blog:

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

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Thank you so much for that link! I had a wonderful time reading her blog and that sandwich looks so good I'm going to pick up everything i need to make it at the store this afternoon! And those potatoes you made look like an absolutely perfect side dish!

[The Blissful Glutton]

Such a busy week. I barely cooked anything. Those of you making tinga (which looked amazing by the way) got me thinking about the pork shoulder I had in the freezer. Got it while visiting a grass-based dairy/cheesemaker I was researching.

I made some sopes with cochinita pibil tonight. This is normally made with suckling pig and cooked in the ground, but the recipe has been adapted over the years for city living. I marinated a pork shoulder overnight using D. Kennedy's recipe which can be found here: http://www.pepperfool.com/recipes/mexican/...ita_pibil3.html

Slow-cooked in banana leaves for about 5 hours until it fell off the bone. I put the shredded meat onto some fried sopes. I put out some fresh avocado, crema mexicana, fresh tomatillo salsa, pickled red onions, queso fresco, and micro-cilantro--I just let my guests make their own creations based on their tastes.

I would always look forward to eating these as a kid. It was such a treat when my Mom (who hated to cook) would make these. Probably my favorite Mexican dish aside from my grandmother's mole.

After busting open the banana leaves (was in a hurry to get eating):

Plated:

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

[Nishla]

Blissful Glutton, that looks amazing!

Meredithla, the soup bowls are from the Villeroy & Boch new wave collection. We had them on our wedding registry last year.

Here are a few dinners from last week:

We had leftover risotto so we made risotto cakes, stuffed with mushroom, ramps and bacon. The sauce is extra stuffing mixed with some tomatoes:

Mustard greens cooked with chick peas, kidney beans and indian spices (cumin, tumeric, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds and cardamom), served with some yogurt on the side:

Chinese celery with five spice tofu:

Orchiette with spicy sausage, zucchini and tomato:

[rockdoggydog]

Wonderful looking cochinita pibil!

Had a few eGers and other friends over for dinner last night but I neglected to take pictures. Stated with lingonberry and red lillet champagne cocktails, then roasted marrow bones and toast with parsley salad, moved on to steak tatare, then grilled lamb on saffron basmati rice, finished with strawberries and yoghurt and cookies.

Rocky

[tryingsomethingnew]

Bacon wrapped shrimp with a mustard passion fruit sauce (from this month's Food & Wine)

and

Shaking Beef

[percyn]

Fired up the grill the other day to make:

Yakitori

Hand formed Tri tip and Filet Burger

Turkey Burger

Another Day's Dinner was

Filet with Side Salad and Grilled Leeks

Yet another day's dinner comprised of

Baby Back Ribs

Smoke Ring

Edited April 9, 2007 by percyn (log)

[dockhl]

Oh my. Percyn, please tell us about the tritip/filet burger !

[C. sapidus]

Doddie: I would love to dig in to your steak and sprouts!

Tryingsomethingnew: Mmm, shaking beef.

Percyn: Quite the meatfest – everything looks good, especially the yakitori.

Except for the soup, tonight’s dinner was from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Hunan cookbook: dry-braised rainbow trout; stir-fried bell peppers with black beans and garlic; root vegetable soup; and jasmine rice. Details on Chinese eats at home.

Mrs. C made the soup from beets, carrots, turnips, slaw, rice vinegar, dill, and vegetable stock. The boys inhaled two bowls each, with a dollop of sour cream.

[percyn]

Oh my. Percyn, please tell us about the tritip/filet burger !

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Pretty simple... buy some tri tip and filet from your butcher. Cut it into bite size pieces and place it in the food processor. Give it 7-8 one second pulses. Don't process it too much or make it look like the ground hambueger beef. Sprinkle you favorite spices (in my case - Montreal seasoning, Maple pepper, Worchestier sauce) and form pattys.