Dinner! 2007

[C. sapidus]

Stephanie: Ohh, I looove roasted garlic

Octaveman: Nice job on the chicken with lemongrass – how did you keep the lemongrass from falling apart and getting stringy?

Megan: Welcome back! We have missed your beautiful, healthy meals.

Kbjseq: Nice dinner – the browned Brussels sprouts sound especially good.

Tonight we made grilled chicken, Sinaloa-style (pollo a las brasas, estilo Sinaloense); quick-fried chayote with lime and garlic (chayote al mojo de ajo); and green salad with lime-cilantro dressing, all from Authentic Mexican. We served the chicken with flour tortillas, roasted Poblano chile rajas, and Frontera chipotle-garlic salsa.

I spatchcocked the chicken and marinated it with freshly-squeezed OJ and pureed onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, and S&P. The chicken turned out very nicely, with crispy skin and juicy meat, even the breasts. Speaking of breasts, we have a family of dark-meat lovers so I usually cook parts rather than whole chicken. As I was cutting up the leftovers, the phrase “freakishly large breasts” popped into my head – those things just didn’t look natural. I will make this recipe again, but with legs and thighs.

The lime-cilantro dressing was remarkably good considering that I forgot to add, um, cilantro.

Sinaloa-style grilled chicken; chayote al mojo de ajo; and chile Poblano rajas

[Ann_T]

Prawncrackers Goats cheese, prosciutto and red onion tart looks yummy. I keep coming back to look at this.

Klary Gorgeous piece of salmon. Home smoked. It must have been wonderful.

Played in the kitchen today. Baked three batches of bread, 7 loaves

and two small pizzas.

And dinner was a shared antipasto platter.

Ann

[dockhl]

Peter the eater~ that fried seafood look luscious. Was it just egg/seasoned flour? Yum.

kbjesq~ food photos ARE hard (that is why I don't post them !) God job, keep 'em coming !

Bruce~

"Speaking of breasts, we have a family of dark-meat lovers so I usually cook parts rather than whole chicken. As I was cutting up the leftovers, the phrase “freakishly large breasts” popped into my head – those things just didn’t look natural"

My friend Bernie used to refer to those as from the "Jayne Mansfield Chicken Farm" Yummy looking, tho. (I'm a dark meat person, myself)

[Chufi]

Chufi, that Asparagus risotto looks wonderful.  After a trip round Germany a few years ago my wife always raves to me about Spargel.  She says it's really delicious but i'm sure she just loves to put on a comedy German accent and shout "Spargel!" at me...   

Never tried it myself.  I've never seen in sold fresh here in the UK but i'm sure i've seen it in jars.  Chufi, do you know how the Spargel in jars compare to the fresh?

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Prawncrackers, the stuff in jars is NOTHING compared to the fresh. If that´s all you can find, I would stick to the beautiful and delicious green asparagus you have in the UK, and just make sure you visit Spargel country one day, when the white asparagus are in season!

Chufi, I am a huge lamb fan but have never had mature sheep or mutton or whatever you might call it. It looks extremely inviting - I have no idea where I should find such meat. Do you find lamb vs. sheep at all like veal vs. beef?

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Peter, this meat was surprisingly mild tasting. I´ve had ´lamb´ that had a much stronger flavor. But, I have to say, I really don´t know where they draw the line and when a lamb becomes a sheep . This came from a really good butcher and I trust him completely. It could be that what he´s (truthfully) selling as sheep, is being sold as lamb elsewhere, because I assume many people would be put off by the word sheep.

btw that picture of the seafood and fries is just stunning. Glad you joined us here on this thread!

[Prawncrackers]

But, I have to say, I really don´t know where they draw the line and when a lamb becomes a sheep  .

Mutton is having renaissance here. I love braising the shanks, it's such a wonderful flavour. I think people are too used the mild taste of lamb and have forgotten what sheep taste like. In the UK lamb is less than one year old sheep, a hogget is an animal between one and two years. Mutton is any animal over two years old.

[Megan Blocker]

Ann, the antipasto platter is quite something. Can you name the bits and pieces for us? The shrimp look grilled...did you brine or marinate them at all? Yum.

Thanks to all for the welcome back messages!

[Emily_R]

Peter -- I'm so glad you joined this thread, as I loved reading about you and your wife's black-box challenges! The fried goodies look fabulous!

Ann -- That antipasto plate made me swoon!

Have had a frustrating cooking week here... Tried out five new recipes, three of which were bad enough to not bother with eating! ARGH. In protest, I'm ordering pizza tonight!

The recipe that was a winner, however, was quite delicious -- Catalan Chickpeas with Tomatoes and Almonds from the fabulous food blog www.travelerslunchbox.com

Emily

[laurelm]

Ann -- That antipasto plate made me swoon!

Looks delicious, if you can share- what is the eggplant wrapped in?

Spinach?

[little ms foodie]

The other night we had duck confit with israeli cous cous and fresh peas

last night was falafel

[Ann_T]

Wendy Wish I was eating at your house. I'm craving duck.

Ann -- That antipasto plate made me swoon!

Looks delicious, if you can share- what is the eggplant wrapped in?

Spinach?

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Thank you Laurel and Emily.

Ann, the antipasto platter is quite something.  Can you name the bits and pieces for us?  The shrimp look grilled...did you brine or marinate them at all?  Yum.

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Megan Nice to see you back.

The prawns were grilled. I just rubbed them with a little fresh garlic, hot red pepper flakes and a little olive oil about an hour before grilling. And about 20 minutes before they went on the grill I squeezed the juice of a lemon over them as well.

The eggplant was grilled and while still warm I wrapped each piece around a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese and a basil leaf.

The zucchini coins were dipped in an egg batter and deep fried and served with a marinara sauce. I roasted the peppers earlier in the day and they were marinated in a little olive oil with garlic. There was also kalamata olives, salami, and pizza.

[C. sapidus]

And dinner was a shared antipasto platter. 

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Wow. Just wow.

Mrs. C took the boys and their friends to a movie, so I had the evening to run errands and cook while listening to inappropriate music loudly. The end result was a one-dish dinner: Asiah's eggplant curry (kari terung). Details on Cooking with ‘Cradle of Flavor’, One Recipe at a Time (click)

[little ms foodie]

ann thanks!! a friend of mine was talking about confit "quick style" and I had a major craving too!

tonight- night before vacation, so officially vacation now!- we started with a Floridita Cocktail (followed by a few other cocktails....)

then we made Jamaican Jerk Chicken, fried plantains and cuban salad (iceberg-pinapple-avacodo-red onion)

(speaking of vacations, you are more than welcome to check out our new blog Luggage Tag- link in my signature)

Edited June 7, 2007 by little ms foodie (log)

[Chufi]

LMF, where are you going on your next trip?

last night I made pizza Calabrese. Ever since I saw Foodman´s picture of it here in the Basilicata & Calabria thread I had to have it! It´s a yeasted dough enriched with lard, the filling is a spicy tomatosauce with tuna, capers, anchovies and olives

[doctortim]

On Monday I made Tuna Mornay. This was Lucy's special request, and I must say it turned out rather well.

Tuesday I decided to try once more to make filled pasta. My past attempts have met with mixed success, but they've all been equally as frustrating. I love making fresh fettucini, but with all of the great family-owned italian deli's around here selling home-made filled pasta I rarely make it myself. I made prawn ravioli in a lemon-butter-cream-dill sauce. The filling itself was a little plain, but the sauce was perfect and cooking the pasta in prawn stock made a huge difference.

On Wednesday I used up the rest of Sunday night's bolognese to make lasagne. Good stuff.

Today my favourite butcher had a sale on the most beautiful organic chickens, so on an impulse I bought one and roasted it.

I'd skipped lunch, so I enjoyed the first warm, juicy cuts of breast meat on fresh bread as my late-afternoon snack.

[MiFi]

"Leftover" salad "nicoise"

[Peter the eater]

Wow the food looks good here.

doctortim: what did you do to that chicken prior to roasting? I'm curious to know what weight and what price, it looks brilliant.

Today I bought some salmon trimmings and a daikon radish. Some stuff from the fridge crisper drawer and some parchment paper resulted in this:

I liked it but no one else seemed too interested, maybe rice would have been good. I put green Thai peppers in my pouch, and everyone had lemon juice and soy sauce. It was nice to prepare individual meals ahead of time, but next time I'll add more punch.

[lucylou95816]

Nothing too special tonight...pretty much white girl tacos...jazzed them up with some freshly fried corn tortillas

[Megan Blocker]

Nothing too special tonight...pretty much white girl tacos...

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[Prawncrackers]

Ann_T's antipasto up-thread looks incredible, in fact i've really enjoyed this whole page (hope i don't spill over to the next!). The food on this Dinner! page has been really hearty and satisfying, yum!

Tonight, i made rolled belly of pork again! We both really love this dish and it deserved another outing already...

[Dianne]

Wow. Have you told us about this, and can you point me at that message?

[pups224]

Ann_T's antipasto up-thread looks incredible, in fact i've really enjoyed this whole page (hope i don't spill over to the next!).  The food on this Dinner! page has been really hearty and satisfying, yum!

Tonight, i made rolled belly of pork again! We both really love this dish and it deserved another outing already...

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"I admit it looks like a burst colostomy bag but omigod does it taste good..."

Thank you so much for the laugh after a tough weeks work! Any chance for a recipe?

[Prawncrackers]

Thank you so much for the laugh after a tough weeks work! Any chance for a recipe?

Anytime!

This is a really simple dish. It's basically Italian porchetta but with the skin left on. Make sure you have nice square of pork belly, not too thick but not too thin even layers of fat to meat. Score the skin then rub the flesh with a mixture of chopped rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Put a line of anchovy along the length of the meat, now you're ready to roll . Roll it up and just tie it off to the number of portions you want. Be neat now as the string lines are where you're going to be slicing the meat.

Rub the skin with a mixture of fine and coarse salt then roast for 3 hours at around 150C on a trivett. To be extra sure of crispy skin i usually finish under a medium grill, turning it to get an even burn.

This recipe is foolproof, just make sure to roast low and slow. Most of the fat renders out keeping the flesh moist within its jacket of crispy skin.

[C. sapidus]

Continuing the pork theme, we made grilled lemongrass pork riblets (click), chile-soy dipping sauce, jasmine rice, and a green salad with cilantro-lime dressing (I remembered the cilantro this time ). After dinner, Mrs. C improvised a tasty concoction of hard cider, applejack, and lime juice.

[Prawncrackers]

This is a really simple dish.... Score the skin then rub the flesh with a mixture of chopped rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.....

This recipe is foolproof.....

Whoops, forgot to mention the lemon zest in the mixture! But hey, recipes aren't there to be followed are they? They're definately not foolproof if one is an idiot!!

[rooftop1000]

Continuing the pork theme, we made  grilled lemongrass pork riblets (click), chile-soy dipping sauce, jasmine rice, and a green salad with cilantro-lime dressing (I remembered the cilantro this time ). After dinner, Mrs. C improvised a tasty concoction of hard cider, applejack, and lime juice.

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Now if we switch the salad for sesame broccoli it would look just like my dinner last night.

Pork (boneless ribs) some marinated with Char Sui and Hoisin and some with Gochujang and "Korean bbq sauce" grilled and served with rice and sesame broccoli.

reminder: when you get to the very end of a jar of sticky sauce, and think to put in some water and nuke it to melt the very last out of the jar....It Will Be HOT

tracey

Edited June 9, 2007 by rooftop1000 (log)