Dinner! 2007

[dockhl]

Maple pepper

Yum ! Thank you. What is this?

[Marmish]

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!

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I'll second the thanks for the link. I spent the better part of the afternoon with the Pioneer Woman and her family, and will be making those sandwiches very soon.

[Domestic Goddess]

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

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.

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Bruce - would you believe it was the first time I had brussel sprouts? I love it! Hubby wasn't much af a fan so that means more sprouts for me!

Sigh, I just love looking at your food pics. The colors are so vibrant, I could almost inhale the aromas and droool....

Edited April 9, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[AnnaC]

Not terribly pretty, but our dinner:

chicken-fried-venison steaks, mashed red potatoes with lots of green onions, & the horseradish & butter sauced sweet peas from the April '07 Gourmet.

I so want new dishes.

[Chufi]

Beautiful peas, Anna! I think they look pretty on the black plate!

here's our Easter dinner. It was the best dinner I cooked in a while!

Toast with fava bean/mint puree

Cream of turnip soup Polonaise (with a parsley, hardboiled egg and buttered breadcrumb topping) This was really good, very delicate, no-one guessed it was turnip.

Salmon rillettes from Paula Wolferts Cooking of Southwest France. Served with a parsley/dill herb salad and toast

Veal shanks braised with honey, rosemary and orange from Molly Stevens All about Braising

On the plate with polenta and sauteed spring onions

Dessert: crepes layered with lemon curd cream. The filling was a bit too runny and consequently cutting and plating was difficult! But it tasted sooo good. Served with brandy-macerated strawberries.

[racheld]

We got in late from a long trip and woke to all this sunshine. Lovely pictures, everyone!!!

This one is a Walk-Right-In:

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And a definite DIVE!!

We always have something with lemon curd for Easter dessert, and ours has been postponed til next Sunday---we traveled SOUTH for a wedding, and will celebrate the Season with family and friends a week late. Probably a good thing---Spring here is 35 degrees today, and will drop lower the rest of the week.

It's wonderful to see all the shining colors of the photos, and to hear of all the celebrations.

PS:Percy ---Chris was IMPRESSED with all the grilling. You'd do any barbecue proud.

Edited April 9, 2007 by racheld (log)

[meredithla]

Bruce-that fish looks wonderful!

We made Octaveman's Mongolian Beef on Friday night. It was attacked before I could take a picture. Definitely a make again recipe.

Easter dinner for only 3 of us + 2 kids...

Turkey breast deboned and stuffed with spinach, basil, yellow raisins and parmesan

Potato gratin with sage and smoked gouda

Asparagus wrapped in proscuitto (or not) with a balsalmic glaze

Finally dessert...rhubarb cardamom crisp with vanilla ice cream inspired by Chufi's rhubarb desserts!

[Ann_T]

Klary, great looking veal shanks.

[

Finally dessert...rhubarb cardamom crisp with vanilla ice cream inspired by Chufi's rhubarb desserts!

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Oh Wow, your dessert makes my mouth water. I can't wait until the fresh rhubarb is available here.

Dinner Saturday night was Hungarian Goulash with Spaetzle and red cabbage.

And we had the same cabbage with our Easter Ham.

Ann

[seisei]

Um, long-time listener, first-time caller?

My humble first contribution to this august thread:

Lamb loin chop w/rosemary and garlic, new potatoes with butter and chives, and a ramekin of spinach gratin. Medium rare, I promise--I was too hungry to stop for an interior shot! Believe it or not, its still cold enough in NY for such wintry food.

I could def. use a food porn tutorial from y'all!

(ed. 'cause I'm new at this thing)

Edited April 10, 2007 by seisei (log)

[lucylou95816]

Hi Everyone

Meals haven't been too photo worthly lately, that along with being lazy. After a few days of feeling not so great, with sore throats, etc, my boyfriend attempted a new dish tonight;

Pork Adobo

I thought it was quite delicious.

We had along side, a salad with a raspberry vinegarette and some locally made blue cheese that we bought wine tasting a couple weeks ago:

We also enjoyed some local wine that went well:

All this and "My Super Ex Girlfriend" not bad for a Monday night!

[little ms foodie]

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!

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that sounds awesome, welcome to the dinner thread!

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

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oh we were lucky enough to be in on this- are you kidding??? all my favorite things!! wonderful dinner- loved the marrow bones! loved the tartare and the lamb had a sauce! avocado, mint and cream sauce. rocky rocks!

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OMG! we are making this for our next dinner party (we will be without an oven for a while now....)

Um, long-time listener, first-time caller?

My humble first contribution to this august thread:

Lamb loin chop w/rosemary and garlic, new potatoes with butter and chives, and a ramekin of spinach gratin. Medium rare, I promise--I was too hungry to stop for an interior shot! Believe it or not, its still cold enough in NY for such wintry food. 

I could def. use a food porn tutorial from y'all!

(ed. 'cause I'm new at this thing)

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looks fantastic!!! welcome to our little dinner party!

here's our last few dinners:

the first artichokes, dayne made a nice ailoi to go with them!

phew this picture needs help! cheesy orzo with leeks to go with ( a veg meal I'd like all to take note )

cocktails on the balcony last friday! 81 F in seattle! pineapple caipirihna's and snacks

then penne with grilled ny stip, arugula and balsamic vineagrette (big head was on the Today Show...)

tonight we turned left over easter ham into croque monsieur with salad with a basil vinaigrette

[Domestic Goddess]

I decided to test two new recipes today for dinner:

Chicken croquettes

Bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms (kids gave this two thumbs up)

And for our veggie dish - Beansprout Stir-fry with Squid and Chicharones

Eldest son couldn't wait to dig in...

Edited April 10, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[Pille]

Chufi, your whole feast looks impressive, but these two are my absolute favourites!

Toast with fava bean/mint puree

Salmon rillettes from Paula Wolferts Cooking of Southwest France. Served with a parsley/dill herb salad and toast

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Any chance of getting the recipe/ingredient amounts for the fava bean/mint puree?

[The Hersch]

Any chance of getting the recipe/ingredient amounts for the fava bean/mint puree? 

I can't speak for Chufi, of course, but Marcella Hazan has a recipe for something along these lines (a Ligurian dish called marò). I think it's in "Marcella Cucina". I found a recipe here that's very similar. I've made this a number of times, and came to dislike the mint after a while. It cloys. I usually replace it with parsley.

[Matthew Grant]

Some food from the weekend:

Confit Duck ravioli with Duck crackling, Dressing made with Duck jelly, olive oil and Jerez Vinegar.

Rib of Belted galloway Beef with Morels, Buttered Curly Kale and Purple sprouting broccoli, Gnocchi and Grilled Shallot:

And finally a dish based on a Giorgio Locatelli recipe in his lates book. Duck breast with farro, curly Kale with garlic and chill. Sauce made with Worcestershire sauce and olive oil:

[David Ross]

Good morning everyone. I put these photos on another post I started last week about discussing French Bistro dishes. Hope you enjoy the photos and the explanations of each dish. Let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy.

This is a simple salad of fresh Dungeness Crab. I tossed it with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt, black pepper and the first crop of chives from my garden this Spring. The base is a mousse I made from fresh asparagus. Sorry, the asparagus is from Chile. Not to knock South American asparagus, it was delicious. But it just wasn't from the famous asparagus beds in Walla Walla, Washington, just a few hours from my home. You just blanch the asparagus, then process it with cream, salt, black pepper, and fresh tarragon. Then you add one envelope of gelatin granules softened in 1/2 cup hot water. Pour the asparagus puree into molds and chill for about 3 hours. The dressing was just a roasted tomato vinaigrette-whole tomatoes roasted in a slow oven for 4 hours, then peeled and seeded, and mixed with sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Here is a boneless leg of lamb on the rotisserie. I don't do anything to it other than a rub of olive oil and then a sprinkle of Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic Cajun seasoning. The fire is made up of both charcoal and hickory wood. I think this was about a 5lb. leg of lamb and I roast it for about 20 minutes per pound over the open fire for a medium-rare doneness.

The meat picks up a nice hint of smoke but isn't overpowering. It looks pretty rare, which I prefer for lamb. If lamb gets too well done it gets tough and you don't get that sweet lamb meat flavor if it is tough. I just served it with baby Yukon Gold potatoes tossed in olive oil, butter and thyme. I also served broccolini tossed in olive oil, butter and garlic.

This is a Pear Tarte Tatin. I usually make the traditional Tarte Tatin with apples, but we also have wonderful pears in the Northwest so I used Bartlett Pears. Bartlett's are a firm pear with a green to yellow skin. The trick to the Tarte Tatin is to use an oven proof non-stick skillet. That way once you are done baking the Tarte it will release from the skillet very easily. Make the caramel, add the pear halves, then let it bake in the oven at 400 for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. You want the caramel to be really golden. Then the second trick is to let it cool after bringing it out of the oven and finally, let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for overnight. I know, a long time, but letting it cool overnight allows the butter to solidify and the caramel to set up.

On day 2 you then prepare your favorite crust. I don't use puff pastry for this recipe but a pie crust dough I make with regular flour, cake flour, sugar, salt, butter and crisco. Yes, both butter and Crisco. I make the pastry by hand, using a pastry cutter that's probably 60 years old to cut the butter and Crisco into the flour mixture. You have to do it by hand to get the right texture in the finished pastry crust. If you use a food processor it breaks down the butter and Crisco into such fine particles the pastry falls apart. Drape the rolled out pastry over the top of the skillet and bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry starts to brown. Let it cool for about 20 minutes after taking it out of the oven and then invert it, releasing the Tarte from the skillet. That's what you see in the first photo, the finished Pear Tarte Tatin. I served it with homemade Lemon-Vanilla Ice Cream. I felt like screaming it was so good!

[Dianne]

Dinner Saturday night was Hungarian Goulash with Spaetzle and red cabbage.

Ann

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I have just got a spaetzle maker and your spaetzle look perfect (as does everything you post). Would you mind posting, or PMing me with a list of ingredients. I am finding a bewildering variation in amt of flour, number of eggs and amount of liquid. Thanks.

[GTO]

I love to try and spot the week's pattern whilst looking through here. It seems like we've got a lot of roasted meats, sauces and caramelised bits this week, very nice.

Sei sei - The best tips I can give for photographing your food are simply:

Light - Try and light the plate as well as you can. Natural light is best. Nothing makes something look more appealing than good light.

Angle - Try and get down low when you photograph. The whole point is to "big up" the food on the plate and you can only do that by making the plate stand tall - "Stomach in, tits out" if you will.

[Ann_T]

I have just got a spaetzle maker and your spaetzle look perfect (as does everything you post). Would you mind posting, or PMing me with a list of ingredients. I am finding a bewildering variation in amt of flour, number of eggs and amount of liquid. Thanks.

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Diane, I use this recipe for Spaetzle that I found a few years ago on Teri's Kitchen. I think that the recipe needs more salt, and definitely pepper and I often add minced parsley to the mix. Also I let it rest longer than 15 minutes. At least an hour, and usually longer. I just mix it up earlier in the day and refrigerate until I'm ready to cook.

[Dianne]

Thanks Ann. I will be giving that a try soon.

[C. sapidus]

Wow, too many gorgeous dinners upon which to comment, but I’m enjoying all of them vicariously.

We had meat and potatoes, Hunan style. Details on Chinese eats at home, what did we cook?

[Ann_T]

Matthew Gorgeous piece of beef. Perfectly cooked.

David I love the combination of your dungeness crab and asparagus mousse.

Dinner tonight was herbed rack of pork with sides of corn pudding, mashed potatoes and mushrooms with snow peas.

[Becca Porter]

Cook's Illustrated's Cuban-style pork rotisseried.

Swiss chard and black beans over rice.

Hot water cornbread.

Delicious!

[lucylou95816]

still suffering with sore throats, but the wine seems to help

Anywhoo....dinner tonight was adapted from Cooks Illustrated, roasted cherry tomato pasta with basil, garlic, shallots and a sprinkling of sausage (housemade locally).

Our house sommelier chose this wine, another local vintage from our wine tasting excursion a few weeks ago.

[MiFi]

Tilapia with Red Curry Coconut Sauce & Brown Rice