Dinner! 2008

[Shelby]

Yum Jamie!!! I love every single thing on that plate

(NOTE FROM MANAGEMENT: This topic is a continuation of Dinner! 2007)

Edited September 8, 2012 by Chris Hennes
Added management note. (log)

[Shelby]

A few more pictures to start the New Year!

Pork roast

Pork roast with pasta and roasted cauliflower

Last night we had the best seafood ever!!!

Kumamoto (sp) and Pacific (something or other) oysters!

My furry baby loves oysters

And monk fish. I'd never had it before. It really does taste like lobster!

And, finally, I hope ya'll have your black eyed peas soaking for later today!

[Doodad]

You and me both Jamie. The girls were both sick so I sat down by myself and made a cold plate of 6 different olives, humboldt fog/cotswald/chimay cheese board, herbed french salami, and fresh bread.

[Bella S.F.]

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Last night's dinner. (I finally had my appeitite back and could taste both food and wine. That's always a treat!)

We started out with a shrimp cocktail in honor of my Mother-in-law who passed away in September. That was always the treat she would ask for. We served that with that Roderer Estates's Vinyage Brut 2000 from the Anderson Valley. It is their higher end Sparkling. The 2000 vintage is really wonderful.

Main course... took out some sockeye salmon that we had vacumn packed back when fresh salmon was available. We really like salmon but will only eat the wild. Since its season is not too long, and we didn't want to wait till the next salmon season, one year we bought one of those "seal-a-meal" machines. Now we get to have wild salmon throughout much of the year.

I am a purist when it comes to certain foods. There are certain foods that have such wonderful flavor on their own, that I do not like to cover up/mask the flavor. Don't like to guild the lily.

Well C. sapidus, your discription of Mrs. C's salmon just struck a note. I grabbed our copy of Steven Raichlen's B.B.Q. and we made the maple mustard glaze. You are right. It was something that everytime we took a bite we made those noises that the people on The Food Network make. With that we made a Yukon Gold Potato, Creme Fraiche, and Gruyere Cheese Gratin. I didn't know if it would really go with the salmon but I just really wanted the dish. It was quite delicious. With that we served a 1999 Navarro Deep End Pinot. Never got to making the salad.

Dessert was a tiny slice of cheesecake and a glass of Lemoncello.

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. C for your contribution!

[rooftop1000]

Last nights dinner needed some filler since we had one more to feed, so I started with some crab salad on onion toasts

and then we moved on to butter poached lobster with mushroom risotto and asparagus

not half bad

tracey

Edited January 1, 2008 by rooftop1000 (log)

[monavano]

Tracey,

Lobster + Risotto=

[C. sapidus]

  Well C. sapidus, your discription of Mrs. C's salmon just struck a note. I grabbed our copy of Steven Raichlen's B.B.Q. and we made the maple mustard glaze. You are right. It was something that everytime we took a bite we made those noises that the people on The Food Network make. With that we made a Yukon Gold Potato, Creme Fraiche, and Gruyere Cheese Gratin. I didn't know if it would really go with the salmon but I just really wanted the dish. It was quite delicious. With that we served a 1999 Navarro Deep End Pinot. Never got to making the salad.

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Bella S.F., that sounds like a wonderful meal. I am so glad (and somewhat relieved) that you liked the salmon. Glad you have your appetite back, too.

Happy new year!

[percyn]

Happy New Year Everyone !!

Put my Christmas gifts to use to make some awesome Chicken Soup

Also made some Steak (garlic) Frites, topped with shallots reduced in a red wine demi glace.

[Bella S.F.]

Thanks, C sapidus! A wonderful extra... we made enough for tonight also. Not quite sure how we got ourselves to stop eating, but it was pretty late (not unusual for us) I was pretty worn out, and I wanted something good for tonight, but knew that I did not want to go out to the store today.

Wanted to mention a website that I got the gratin recipe from. You probably all know it already. It is a specific Google recipe research website

http://theory.stanford.edu/~amitp/recipe.html

You type in what ingredients you have that you want to use and you get recipes from many, many sources that use those ingredients. I originally got the gratin recipe by typing in potatoes and creme fraiche. The original recipe called for Idaho potatoes but I substitued the Yukon golds. We also just happened to have the Gruyere cheese that was called for. It is kind of fun to just type in what is hiding in the frig that is not yet a science experiment, and then get ideas of what you can make.

Question for you Shelby. Your monkfish looked wonderful. I have also always heard it called "poor man's lobster", although by now it probably is not too cheap. I don't know, I haven't sought it out. How did you cook your's? I only made it once, quite a long time ago. I didn't do something right, because it was not done and then a moment later it was tough like badly cooked shrimp. It sounds like something that might be fun to try again.

[Bella S.F.]

Oops. Just checked out the link that I put up to make sure that it was the correct one. I just read the "fine print". It is not a Google project. They just use Google to find the recipes. Also never noticed that it is connectedf with Stanford. I might be a little bit more impressed now.

Edited January 2, 2008 by Bella S.F. (log)

[Shelby]

New Year's Day dinner

Cabbage pasta salad

Black eyed peas and smoked pork

Veggie beef stew

[C. sapidus]

Shelby, what a New Year’s feast! Did you eat your oysters nekkid (the oysters, not you), or with a shot of something spicy? Note to self: keep an eye out for monkfish.

Last night Mrs. C steamed leftover barbecued ribs, and sauteed green beans with sesame seeds. I made frijoles de la Staub, served with =Mark’s South Carolina mustard barbecue sauce. We were smoking a butt, so I tossed in halved acorn squash (served with cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter) and a couple of bananas, smoked until soft.

Smoked porky goodness . . .

. . turned into pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, frijoles refritos, and two kinds of barbecue sauce. We have seven people staying at our 2-bedroom house, so probably no dinner pictures for a few days.

[Pille]

We had a large bowl of Coconut and Tomato Soup with Horseradish last night:

[Shelby]

Bruce That pork is causing me to be hungry even though I just ate breakfast!

We ate them nekkid! They were so fresh and briny that it seemed a shame to put anything on them. I think hubby might have eaten a few with some tobasco sauce, but not me. I like mine "without attire"

[Marlene]

just back from two weeks vacation. I tend to be an infrequent poster to the dinner! thread these days, although I do read it daily. I don't always have time to do more than update my own place these days.

Roast Rack of Berkshire Pork

Served with buttermilk and scallion mashed and green beans with lemon garlic butter and toasted almond pieces

And lest anyone think I forgot.... gravy.

[prasantrin]

Marlene--I love that you and yours love the fat parts of roasts and such. I always cringe when I see people trim theirs off and throw it away. That's the good stuff, don't they know! And you always get yours so nice and crispy on the outside...a fat lovers dream!

Is that gravy made from the pork roast drippings? It's so nice and dark.

[Marlene]

Marlene--I love that you and yours love the fat parts of roasts and such.  I always cringe when I see people trim theirs off and throw it away.  That's the good stuff, don't they know!  And you always get yours so nice and crispy on the outside...a fat lovers dream!

Is that gravy made from the pork roast drippings?  It's so nice and dark.

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thank you! The fat is definitely the best part, and that's part of why I like Berkshire pork so much. It always has a fabulous fat cap and nicely marbled throughout.

The gravy is made from the drippings as all my roast gravies are. I always use a roux to make gravy and I let it cook till it's dark caramel in colour before adding pork stock or whatever stock matches the roast I'm making. A dollop of demi glace at the end helps the colour and flavour a lot too.

[doctortim]

Last night I celebrated my first chili of the season by making spaghetti in a spicy tomato sauce with grated pecorino. It was such a simple meal, but easily one of the most satisfying I've eaten.

[nakji]

I love the first simple meal after all the indulgences of the Christmas season. I love feeling hungry again. A simple plate of pasta can remind you that simplicity can be satisfying as well.

[monavano]

I love the first simple meal after all the indulgences of the Christmas season. I love feeling hungry again. A simple plate of pasta can remind you that simplicity can be satisfying as well.

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I agree! I'm on a salad kick and think I'll make an entree salad with chicken or steak tonight.

[rooftop1000]

My world famous Sauerbratten with spatzle, red cabbage, spicy broccoli and cookie gravy

No pictures this time

tracey

[Shelby]

Tracey, I gotta know what cookie gravy is

[dockhl]

My 23 yr old daughter has decided that Thai Spring Rolls are her favorite food, the one that she can imagine eating if she could only eat one thing forever

So, most times when she comes for dinner and spends the night we make:

THAI SPRING ROLLS

CLOSE UP

SAUCES

We almost always have plans for a curry or soup....almost NEVER manage to get there after stuffing ourselves silly with Spring Rolls

[rooftop1000]

Tracey, I gotta know what cookie gravy is 

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You start with the Sauerbratten marinade which has cider and red wine vin, sugar, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns and juniper berries if you can find them....

after you marinate the beef 3 to 5 days, sear and then cook in the marinade...

Let the meat rest, strain the marinade/braising liquid and bring to a boil....add about 10 Archway Gingersnaps and whisk till its gravy

make it in front of guests it really freaks them out

tracey

[C. sapidus]

THAI SPRING ROLLS

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Ooh, beautiful (and I love the yin-yang sauce dish). What sauces did you serve?

Tonight we simmered pulled pork with a little Mexican chicken stock to make smoked pork tacos. Accompaniments included roasted Poblano chile strips, guacamole, thinly-sliced radishes, lettuce, crumbled queso fresco, El Yucateco habanero salsa, and eternal cucumbers. Just enough pulled pork remained to make a modest breakfast for one.

Mrs. C and I had a tortilla production line going – she pressed the tortillas and rolled them into the first skillet, and I took it from there. We also baked sweet potatoes, but forgot to take them out of the oven until dinnertime was over. They should be good for tomorrow.

We learned that sliced radishes make a nice, crunchy addition to to tacos.