Dinner! 2007

[Marlene]

Bruce, that looks fabulous. Is there a particular recipe you used for the flank steak?

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, that looks fabulous.  Is there a particular recipe you used for the flank steak?

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Thanks, Marlene. Hunan beef with cumin (click), from the Boston Globe.

[Marlene]

Thanks Bruce! It just went on my list to try.

[Jmahl]

here's my first birthdaydinner (I try to have at least 3 with every birthday  ) from last weekend.

started with various nibbles and homemade gougeres (cheese puffs), no pictures.

Salads: green beans, potatoes, cucumber and dill

pastasalad with tomatoes, courgettes, pine nuts,mozzarella & basil

My favorite moment of any dinner: everybody digging in! In the foreground, roast tomatoes and belgian endive. Behind that, chicken cobbler. I didn't get a good pic of the cobbler but it was delicious.. chicken, fennel and bacon in a creamy sauce with a cornmeal topping.

Strawberry almond cake with lemon icing

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Dear Chufi:

You are the Queen of Birthday Parties. Happy Birthday.

Jmahl

From the banks of the Rio Grande

[little ms foodie]

tonight we started with martinis, pistachios, sausage and white cheddar for snacking

then we made bacon wrapped roasted pork loin served on fig & parmesean mashed potatoes with a salad of green beans, radish and basil. OR bordeaux style Belle Rouge in the glass.

[Octaveman]

Tonight I tried a recipe for Orange Peel Beef that someone on another forum gave me. Came out pretty good but there are a few small changes I would make to suit my tastes. It was accompanied by stir fried baby bok choy in a tasty Chinese white sauce.

[MiFi]

Seared Duck Breast w/Port-Pomegranate and Pink Peppercorn Sauce

That's a rice salad w/wild capers in the background.

[Becca Porter]

I hate to follow all the beautiful meals above, but here are our last two dinners:

Malboro Mans favorite sandwich with bell peppers and provolone. Delicious and meaty!

And:

Emeril's Soul Roll (Southern Greens-stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Red Beans and Rice and Pan Gravy) With:

Dorie Greenspan's Corniest Corn Muffins

[Pontormo]

While one of my recent dinners* is probably the reason I'm waiting for the plumber, I would like to raise a glass** to Klary in honor of her birth*** in the best time of year and under the perfect sign (Taurus, I presume? Domestic, earthy, stubborn...).

And Little Ms. Foodie, I am so glad to learn you could bake her a cake for her fourth birthday celebration were you both only in the same city.

*Zuni Cafe roast chicken with bread salad?

**of water, but pretty, made in France with embossed bees and gold rim.

***Rhubarb-Strawberry-Mango Compote, recipe modified from Deborah Madison:

1 1/2 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed, washed & sliced into 1/2 in. pieces

1/4 t salt

3/4 c sugar (I actually used a little less given personal preferences & next ingredient; recipe calls for 1 cup)

Crystallized ginger (amount according to personal taste; keep in mind amount of sugar coating pieces), chopped fine

1 Meyer lemon

1 pint strawberries (good to do with mediocre container), hulled and quartered

1 Champagne mango, peeled and diced

1. Toss first 4 ingredients into saucepan and then zest lemon (I use microplane grater, making sure just to remove orange peel in thin flecks, leaving white pith) over contents.

2. Cut lemon into two domes to juice and pour juice into saucepan. Mix until vegetable (rhubarb) thoroughly coated w sugar & zest.

3. Put items in second list in bowl large enough to accommodate cooked rhubarb mixture.

4. Stew rhubarb over medium heat, stirring fairly frequently if not constantly, to make sure all pieces spend some time on the bottom of the pan, close to heat as sugar dissolves with some of the rhubarb. Adjust heat to low if necessary. In about 10-15 minutes (or less; test after 5 mins.), all the rhubarb should be tender, some pieces liquified, others still quite intact but soft when pierced with knife or fork.

5. Pour hot contents of the pan into the bowl of uncooked fruit and stir. Let sit until cool and chill.

Great with plain, tart yogurt and sprinkling of granola for breakfast or for dessert, with vanilla ice cream and thin gingersnaps or hand-cracked ice cream made with organic Hawaiian gingerroot, or strawberry frozen yogurt, mango sorbet, Meyer-lemon buttermilk cake, Angel-food...

Edited April 27, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[Chufi]

MiFi, that duck with pomegranate looks so good.

Thank you, everybody, for your kind birthdaywishes. I have good news for you: Another birthdayparty (my last, at least for this year, I promise) is coming up tomorrow

Pontormo I could use some of that birthday compote tomorrow for breakfast!

Pan, the flowers on the cake are violets which are edible I think, but we did not eat them.

dvs, the gougeres are really simple, just a basic choux pastry with a load of grated cheese stirred into it. No reason why it would not work with blue cheese though I've never tried!

this recipe looks very much like the one I use.

Edited April 27, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Ann_T]

Klary Happy Birthday. Sorry I'm late. Looks like you celebrated in style though.

Bruce Thanks for posting the link to that recipe. I've saved it to try soon. Hope it tastes as good as it looks in your photo.

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MiFi Your duck breast looks amazing. I love pink peppercorns in sauces.

Tuesday's dinner was a traditional roast chicken dinner.

Wednesday we had pot roast and last night I used the leftover pot roast to make Hot Beef Sandwiches with homemade fries with canned peas. I always serve canned peas with hot chicken/turkey/pork/beef sandwiches. Diner Food.

and dessert was Silly Toffee Squares.

[Marlene]

Fried chicken, mashed and a little corn on the plate for asthetics. The rest is in my side bowl

[rooftop1000]

I have accumulated 3 good looking dinners from this week, hmm actually the steak may have been last week

chuckeye steak with sesame brocolli,seaweed salad and tater tots

char sui with pineapple chunks, basmati rice and sesame green beans

mahi mahi cooked in a foil packet with shallots wine and butter with squished boiled then browned red potatoes and asparagus

tracey

[C. sapidus]

Pontormo: That compote sounds delicious, and we have missed your posts.

Ann_T: I would be a regular if you served those beautiful silly toffee squares at your “diner”.

Tracey: Char siu and pineapple – yum!

We cleaned out the fridge with bacon fried rice, cooked in bacon grease. I also stir-fried shiitake and oyster mushrooms with bacon, garlic, ginger, and dried chile flakes, finished with chicken stock, pepper, and scallions.

[snowangel]

Ann_T: I would be a regular if you served those beautiful silly toffee squares at your “diner”.

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Bruce, the recipe for Ann's silll toffee squares can be found right here!

I have a few dinners to post, just as soon as I can find that cord that connects the camera to the computer (spring cleaning). Suffice to say, the grill is once again coming into it's own on a regular basis and I bought 4 (yes four) twin packs of Kingsford at Costco just the other day.

Edited to add: when you cook the toffee mixture, keep the heat REALLY low or you will toss out a pan (like I did the first time I made them as was in a hurry).

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, the recipe for Ann's silll toffee squares can be found right here!

Susan, thank you for the link (and the cooking tip).

I have a few dinners to post, just as soon as I can find that cord that connects the camera to the computer (spring cleaning).

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Good luck finding your cord, and we will look forward to seeing your dinners. Ah, grilling season, predecessor to tomato and corn season.

[Blether]

Mmm, bacon... with bacon. Mmm !

Hello again, everyone. Great cooking !

Tonight - tarragon chicken and 100% wholewheat no-knead bread (baked yesterday night).

I'm not sophisticated enough for side bowls, but I'm now enjoying a raw carrot from the fridge, to parody James Bond, "washed, not peeled".

[Prawncrackers]

Yay, it's the weekend again. This year's asparagus has come in a couple of weeks early and i was lucky enough to get some that have been picked this morning. Simply roasted they were absolutely delicious, I did roast rib of beef and lots of bernaise with them... enjoy!

[GTO]

God, great beef, prawncrackers!

I got this gorgeous (naturally) coloured giant Penne the other day and just got around to cooking it tonight. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the finished dish, as I was in a rush (Doctor Who was starting)

[meredithla]

GTO, Lovely pasta in Easter egg shades.

My household is on the mend and I am cooking again. A couple of dinners this week:

"Asian schizophrenia"-Thai grilled shrimp with lemon grass, dark soy, garlic, fish sauce and lime; vegetable potstickers with ponzu & edamame

Roast chicken, twice baked stuffed potatoes with garlic & Boursin, broccoli

[DesertCulinary]

Last night we had Egg Salad BLTs - different, but pretty tasty!

[little ms foodie]

Last night we had Egg Salad BLTs - different, but pretty tasty!

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that is a beautiful picture!!!!!

tonight we started with pan fried baby artichokes and Montematre cocktails ( Vespers w/o the gin)

Then we tried a new recipe for olive oil poached salmon (which we bought off the fisherman's boat today) with leeks, fennel and carrot in horshradish broth

[dockhl]

Then we tried a new recipe for olive oil poached salmon (which we bought off the fisherman's boat  today) with leeks, fennel and carrot in horshradish broth

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And? Was it good? (It looks awesome )

Edited April 29, 2007 by dockhl (log)

[C. sapidus]

I would love to taste little ms foodie’s artichokes and Meredithla’s shrimp and potstickers.

Inspired by Peter Green's pictures from Chengdu (click), I made Sichuan “water-boiled beef” (shui zhu niu rou) from Land of Plenty. Wow, this was fiendishly hot and numbing (in a good way ). Dried chiles and Sichuan peppercorns – stir-fried, chopped, and sprinkled over the dish with sizzling oil . . .

. . . mixed up and ready to serve . . .

. . . and plated with jasmine rice. I know what I’m having for breakfast (oh wait, that’s a different thread ).

[Chufi]

Final birthday party last night, dinner for 18:

started with tuna salad in belgian endive

gougere cheese puffs (made ahead and reheated, which is why they were slightly deflated)

dips: lentil/red pepper and hummus

Dinner:

herbsalad (dill, coriander, mint, parsley, wild arugula, and a bit of radicchio)

tomatosalad with herb-marinated sheeps cheese (recipe from Paula Wolferts Cooking of the Eastern Meditteranean)

Bazerghan, bulgur salad with pomegranate syrup, walnuts and spices, from the same book

On the plate with börek, pastries with lamb and eggplant (a Kurdish recipe, can be found here, except this time I added some pinenuts and allspice to the filing.

Cupcakes: banana/peanutbutter with milk chocolate ganache, and orange/ginger with orange creamcheese frosting. The cute little peanutbutter cups are unavailable here but were sent to me a couple of months ago by a kind eGulleter!

It was a great party but I think now I'm done with my birthday... at least for this year