Dinner! 2008

[C. sapidus]

Pierogi, congrats on the bread and biscuits.

Tonight's dinner: pork, stir-fried with bacon, Poblano chiles, red bell peppers, garlic, fermented black beans, and fish sauce. Broccolini, blanched and stir-fried with garlic, fish sauce, and fermented bean paste. Jasmine rice.

Returning from basketball practice, elder son complained that “his shirt smelled like dinner.”

[Pierogi]

Pierogi, congrats on the bread and biscuits.

Thanks Bruce and Shelby ! It is still so terribly exciting to me when a bread-type project actually turns out and is not only edible, but looks like its supposed to look. Many, many failures later, I think I may finally be turning a corner......

[monavano]

Last night I made Sicilian Chicken with a side a spaghetti. It's been a while since I've eaten hot cherry peppers.....and they're still very hot! Recipe and more pics here.

Edited February 22, 2008 by monavano (log)

[Prawncrackers]

All the talk about scallops on the other thread had the obvious effect on me at the market this morning. I was irresistibly drawn to them!

Pan-fried with roasted peppers, chorizo, pureed peas & roasted anya potatoes:

[Shelby]

All the talk about scallops on the other thread had the obvious effect on me at the market this morning.  I was irresistibly drawn to them!

Pan-fried with roasted peppers, chorizo, pureed peas & roasted anya potatoes:

←

I've never made pureed peas. How do you make them? Blended sorta like mashed 'taters?

Your scallops look divine, btw!

[prasantrin]

I'm having dinner at MiFi's house. Ohhhhhhh those cheeses!

[C. sapidus]

Mrs. C and grandma made a delightful salad with spinach, tomatoes, slivered carrots, cucumbers, pecans, walnuts, blue cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. I adore the combination of blue cheese, nuts, and a fruity salad dressing.

Continuing the scallop theme, I sauteed bay scallops a la Provence (dredged in flour and sauteed with parsley and mashed garlic). The scallops turned out sweet and tender, but next time I will cook them in two batches for a better crust. Served with Italian bread to sop up the sauce.

[heidih]

Mrs. C and grandma made a delightful salad with spinach, tomatoes, slivered carrots, cucumbers, pecans, walnuts, blue cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. I adore the combination of blue cheese, nuts, and a fruity salad dressing.

Continuing the scallop theme, I sauteed bay scallops a la Provence (dredged in flour and sauteed with parsley and mashed garlic). The scallops turned out sweet and tender, but next time I will cook them in two batches for a better crust. Served with Italian bread to sop up the sauce.

←

Bruce - salad looks particularly good. Just wondering if you toasted the nuts. All the "health experts" keep talking about raw nuts, but I SO prefer them toasted to bring out their flavor.

[C. sapidus]

Bruce - salad looks particularly good. Just wondering if you toasted the nuts. All the "health experts" keep talking about raw nuts, but I SO prefer them toasted to bring out their flavor.

←

Thank you, Heidi. Ahh, we didn't think of toasting the nuts - that would have been even better. Regarding "health experts": we are talking about a salad full of spinach, how healthy can you get?

[Pierogi]

I adore the combination of blue cheese, nuts, and a fruity salad dressing.

Oh yeah, babe (as Emeril would say........not that I watch Food Network, or anything............. )

[Ce'nedra]

Riopelle and bleu Benedictine from Quebec (snuck past Customs), Red Hawk

←

This should be banned from posting unless you can share.

Btw, HORAAYYY!!! The vegetarian period has finished!

Today, mum and I made something I have been craving for the past two months...

honey grilled mullet with rice paper

Well actually, I had to bake it because our grill doesn't work atm but usually, we would grill the fish.

Anyway, it was the best meal I've had in AGESSSSS.

oh and this was my last roll so I tried to stuff as much inside it as possible hehe (just thought I'd share a picture of my nice fat buddy).

[Prawncrackers]

All the talk about scallops on the other thread had the obvious effect on me at the market this morning.  I was irresistibly drawn to them!

Pan-fried with roasted peppers, chorizo, pureed peas & roasted anya potatoes:

←

I've never made pureed peas. How do you make them? Blended sorta like mashed 'taters?

Your scallops look divine, btw!

←

Thanks Shelby, they tasted divine too! Pea puree is dead easy; boil frozen peas till they float, drain, add a knob of butter, season and blitz with a hand blender.

[Ce'nedra]

Thanks Shelby, they tasted divine too!  Pea puree is dead easy; boil frozen peas till they float, drain, add a knob of butter, season and blitz with a hand blender.

←

Easy aye, seems to interest me

Would you say it's a good substitute for mash?

The vibrant green of your puree is also very pleasing to the eye hmm...

Edited February 23, 2008 by Ce'nedra (log)

[Kim Shook]

Pierogi - I have been drooling over your dinners lately - I would hate to have to choose between the braised pork and roasted apple dish and your wonderful brisket and creamed spinach! Your breads have been great, too! Congratulations on your successes!!!

MiFi - oooooh! I <heart> your pupu!!! And those cheeses make me feel slightly faint .

Bruce - "Returning from basketball practice, elder son complained that “his shirt smelled like dinner.” " - this cracked me up. And I've got to have some scallops soon! BTW - I bought the dreaded cabbage Thursday and I think I'll be making it this weekend. Wish me luck and I'll let everyone know if a miracle happened and I actually end up liking <shudder> cabbage <shudder> !

Ce'nedra - your 'fat little buddy' is delicious looking!

To say thank you to Mr. Kim for taking such good care of me when I was sick last week I made his favorite - spaghetti and meatballs. He could eat this twice a week for dinner and a few more times for lunch and I don't make it very often (no excitement ). It was good, though - sometimes I have a tendency to forget how good basic food is and want to do only the fun stuff. He chose long fusilli as the pasta - we liked that:

Last night was the first time I really out and out cooked in a long time. It was fun !!! We had some friends over for dinner - they are the kind that don't mind experiementation, so they knew that they could end up eating take out pizza for dinner - but it all turned out really well.

We started with Jambon Serrano Ham, Marcona Almonds, Hot Dates stuffed w/ Manchego and Crusty Bread. I got a lot of advice on the Wine board (especially from Katie Loeb) on my pairings and ended up serving Amontillado sherry with this course:

It was all very good. Everyone just loved the dates, but I think I'll try something 'meltier' and more assertive next time for the cheese - any one have any ideas?

Main course was Grilled Leg of Lamb w/ Feta & Herb Salsa, Couscous w/ Pine Nuts,

Roast Green Beans w/ Shallots & Filberts and a Butter Lettuce salad w/ Marinated Red Onions & Vinaigrette:

The lamb was just perfect. And the method of cooking was really easy, but one I hadn't thought of before. You take a boned leg of lamb, smear it up with the tasty stuff (herbs, oil, garlic) and then grill it flat. You don't roll it and tie it back up into a roast. It takes like 20 minutes total to grill it and you end up with maximum outer crunch and a good assortment of rare to med well cooked meat since it is so uneven in size! It's fantastic! The salsa was amazing. We were spreading it on everything in sight!

As Katie suggested with the mains we served Montecillo Crianza Rioja 2003 - everyone thought this was the perfect pairing:

Dessert was Mini Strawberry Shakes w/ Strawberry Mascarpone Paninis, Belgian chocolates (another Katie suggestion - to make her wine suggestion really sing - it worked ) and to drink, Banfi Rosa Regale.

[Domestic Goddess]

Kim - can I come over for dinner? Suddenly my Subway sandwich pales in comparison looking at your delicious foodie pics.

[Prawncrackers]

It was all very good.  Everyone just loved the dates, but I think I'll try something 'meltier' and more assertive next time for the cheese - any one have any ideas?

Dates stuffed with cheese sounds absolutely heavenly! This is going to the top of my 'things to try' list. How about tallegio and maybe add a little walnut? Dates and walnut are a classic match. The combination of the three might just blow your socks off! Mind you i could eat medjool dates till the cows come home.

[Shelby]

Those dates look SO good! Where do you find those????

[suzilightning]

Ce'nedra - i agree. none of that cheese porn around here unless you share.

Kim - how was that Rosa Regale? i've seen it but never tried it. try blue cheese with those dates though we paired them with with Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheese last night.

leftover chicken became a chicken tetrazzini

ready for the oven

there is no pretty way to photograph the final product.

while waiting for the tetrazzini to finish cooking a snack of Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheese with johnnybird's beloved Ritz crackers and fresh figs

blueberry streusel coffeecake for dessert

[Kim Shook]

Those dates look SO good!  Where do you find those????

←

I got them at The Fresh Market - since I work there I know that they just get them from the basic organic source that all the good stores order from - nothing out of the ordinary. They are always good and moist, though. I got them already seeded to save time and effort and I think I might as well have gotten them with the seeds still in them. It was such a fiddly job cutting the cheese in little bitty strips to stick in the hole !! I think I would have been better off seeding them myself and having a big slit in the side of each date to stuff with cheese!

[Kim Shook]

Kim - how was that Rosa Regale?  i've seen it but never tried it.  try blue cheese with those dates though we paired them with with Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheese last night.

leftover chicken became a chicken tetrazzini

ready for the oven

there is no pretty way to photograph the final product.

while waiting for the tetrazzini to finish cooking a snack of Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheese with johnnybird's beloved Ritz crackers and fresh figs

←

I will try that. We love bleu and have it around all the time. The Regale was fantastic. Really fragrant. The ladies liked it more than the gentlemen did. I make a chocolate truffle loaf dessert that it will be crazy with!

I love tetrazzini and yours looks perfect. I need to have that soon!

[rooftop1000]

Kim your lamb looks perfect, thats how I always make it for Easter now. And the fusilli is so hard to find here, my favorite though.

tracey

[judiu]

Riopelle and bleu Benedictine from Quebec (snuck past Customs), Red Hawk

←

This should be banned from posting unless you can share.

Btw, HORAAYYY!!! The vegetarian period has finished!

Today, mum and I made something I have been craving for the past two months...

honey grilled mullet with rice paper

Well actually, I had to bake it because our grill doesn't work atm but usually, we would grill the fish.

Anyway, it was the best meal I've had in AGESSSSS.

oh and this was my last roll so I tried to stuff as much inside it as possible hehe (just thought I'd share a picture of my nice fat buddy).

←

WOW, Ce'nedra! That gives the phrase "rolling a fattie" a whole new slant!

[Shelby]

Kind of crappy pictures...

Spaghetti and venison meatballs

Asparagus that I rolled around in a mix of lemon juice, mayo and mustard and then dipped in Panko crumbs and baked. Really crappy picture lol.

[Chris Hennes]

Spaghetti and venison meatballs

←

Is that some kind of garlic/cheese bread on either side of the spaghetti? Looks tasty...

[Shelby]

Spaghetti and venison meatballs

←

Is that some kind of garlic/cheese bread on either side of the spaghetti? Looks tasty...

←

It's actually one of the bagels I made the other day. I love gooey cheese and chives on them!