Dinner! 2008

[Ann_T]

Wow where to start.

Chris Your Mushroom Omelette is prrobably the best picture I have ever seen of an omelette.

Nishla Your Tofu and your scallops look sooooo good. But it is your butternut squash tart that I would love a slice of.

Renka your Lamb is perfectly cooked. Now I have a craving.

Kim I'd be happy with a little bit of everything on your plate.

Monday night's dinner - Chicken Chop Suey.

And last night we had Spaghetti and Meatballs. I've had a craving for meatballs since Shelby posted her dinner. So I put a big pot of sauce and meatballs on yesterday morning before leaving for work. This time I made bite size meatballs.

[Chris Hennes]

Chris  Your Mushroom Omelette is prrobably the best picture I have ever seen of an omelette.

←

Thanks, I wish the omelette had been as good as the photo !

Tonight, still living like a bachelor, Croque Monsieur:

[jayejo]

It must be spaghetti and meatball week. I had it for dinner last night...didn't make it though, got it from Whole Foods

The night before, I was inspired by Heidi Swanson's 101cookbooks.com to make Garlic Soba Noodles. That's tofu that's been breaded with parm/breadcrumbs and baked until crispy on the top.

[tupac17616]

tupac17616, with the squid (next time) you might try using a piping bag if the puree/filling isn't too chunky.  might save you some time 

But Alana, what fun is trying out something new if you don't screw it up the first time?

I actually thought about pulling out the piping bag, but wasn't certain I had a tip small enough to fill the relatively small tubes of squid. Next time I'll go the ghetto route and use a zip-loc bag with the corner snipped if I have to, though.

[C. sapidus]

Wow, tons of beautiful meals. Nishla, I do hope you will find the time to post more often. Your dinners always look fantastic (especially the scallops, but I am a sucker for seafood).

Pan-seared trout fillets with Poblano chiles, garlic, and ginger (chuan-chuan), adapted from Cradle of Flavor. Stir-fried asparagus with garlic and fermented bean paste, jasmine rice, and eternal cucumbers. We also reheated the last of the ribs, wrapped in foil in a 250 degree oven.

[Nishla]

Thanks for such a warm welcome back everyone It feels great to contribute again!

The butternut squash tart was an experiment, since we had a bucket of leftover squash and an extra pie crust in the freezer. And I love sauteed mushrooms (with bacon and onions, of course), so those went on top

Here are a couple more things:

Kale soup and cannellini beans fried with bacon--we got bored with the same old kale and white bean soup, so we decided to puree the kale part and top it with beans instead. It was a nice variation, but the skins of the beans got a bit tough.

Striped bass (I think) with grapefruit and avocado.

Sliced beets with blue cheese, and a cold soup made with the beet greens and some sherry vinegar. The soup was actually quite good...I thought it might be completely gross, but was pleasantly surprised.

[Dr. J]

Great work nisha and tupac.

Thanks for the compliment Ann.

Kim here is a pic of what I use for the rice. For the ridges to come out you have to pack the rice a bit and slowly pull it out while pressing at the top. If you dont want ridges you use the other side. I bought a set which came with like 5 rings of different sizes and I use them depending on what I want to do.

Tonights dinner was a bit of a funky mix.

The rice is a canned vienna sausage rice which in spanish is called "Arroz con Salchicha" it is basically a typical Puerto Rican homestyle recipe.

The sauce is a Mustard Creme fraishe made with reduced duck stock and wine.

On top we have Duck Sous Vide. Definately felt really weird mixing the PR food with french techniques but came out pretty interesting the sausage, duck and mustard mix was really cool. Bottom of the plate are some seedless cukes and tomatoes.

Edited March 6, 2008 by Dr. J (log)

[judiu]

Great work nisha and tupac.

Thanks for the compliment Ann.

Kim here is a pic of what I use for the rice.  For the ridges to come out you have to pack the rice a bit and slowly pull it out while pressing at the top.  If you dont want ridges you use the other side.  I bought a set which came with like 5 rings of different sizes and I use them depending on what I want to do. 

Tonights dinner was a bit of a funky mix. 

The rice is a canned vienna sausage rice which in spanish is called "Arroz con Salchicha"  it is basically a typical Puerto Rican homestyle recipe. 

The sauce is a Mustard Creme fraishe made with reduced duck stock and wine.

On top we have Duck Sous Vide.  Definately felt really weird mixing the PR food with french techniques but came out pretty interesting the sausage, duck and mustard mix was really cool.  Bottom of the plate are some seedless cukes and tomatoes.

←

Canned Vienna sausage? OK, no I don't feel so bad about fessin' up; I had a frozen stuffed chicken breast (hey, I live alone) and ROASTED ASPARAGUS!

I put the asparagus on a baking pan, sloshed a little olive oil over it, seasoned with lemon and herb seasoning, put the chicken breast thingie on top, and baked the whole thing for 32 min., as recommended on the chicken box. I turned the asparagus once, at the half way point. Oh. My. Gawd! The hell with the chicken, just gimme the asparagus! I also seasoned it with some fresh grated Parm, so that it got a bit crisp. TOO GOOD!

[Pierogi]

Oh. My. Gawd! The hell with the chicken, just gimme the asparagus! I also seasoned it with some fresh grated Parm, so that it got a bit crisp. TOO GOOD!

Judiu, that is my absolute favorite way to cook asparagus. Forget the steaming, nuking, sauteeing, whatever. Roasted, or GRILLED, is the way to go. Try them on the outdoor grill in the warm weather, treat them the same way and throw them on (across the grates so they don't fall through, lol !). Or even on a grill pan. Yeah baby.

[Pierogi]

Suzilightning, I agree with Toliver, that shrimp looks awesome !

Nishla, it IS good to see you back, your photos and your platings are works of art. They give me inspiration.

Tupac, I really don't like squid, but your dish could sorely tempt me to give it one more shot. Just gorgeous.

Chris, I want that croque monsieur and I want it now......omg, that melting cheese.........

Ann & Kim, lovely as always.

Here's some of my efforts from the past week. Strangely enough, they all look pretty darn similar ! White starch, brown meat and some sort of sauce ! But they were all very VERY tasty.

Polish soul food, kielbasa, pierogis (store bought, sadly......) and sauteeed mushrooms & onions on top. Missing the sour cream I plopped on the pierogies before eating:

Oh Bruce, if you haven't made these from Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everyday" you must ! The boys may find them too spicy, but you & Mrs. C. will love them.....Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce (continuing the meatball theme as well !):

AND they have BACON ground into them.....gotta bacon

Indian spiced chicken with pistachio pilaf:

and raita:

And finally tonight's effort was pork chops with mushroom sauce and egg noodles & peas:

Good for a quick, after work, weeknight dinner.

BTW, the meatballs in chipotle sauce were the leftover lunch today, and even better the 2nd time around. The flavors really really melded together.

[Chris Hennes]

Indian spiced chicken with pistachio pilaf:

←

Pierogi this looks great: is this the recipe from the recent Fine Cooking, or someplace else?

[Kim Shook]

Dr J - thanks for posting the picture of the ring - I will look for one of those! I would love to try your vienna sausage dish - that sounds wild. Also, I love the dragonfly plate - that is just gorgeous!

Judiu - I agree with Pierogi - we never cook asparagus any other way than roasting or grilling anymore. The nice thing about roasting is that you can serve it room temperature - a great way to serve it to a crowd (like for Easter).

Last night we had 'Deconstructed Chicken Kiev' - just a pan fried, pounded and panko crusted chicken breast with a sauce of butter, Dijon, chive and capers poured over. I also served Marlene's Broccoli Gratin and Cornmeal Biscuits w/ Cheddar and Chipotle. I actually made the biscuit without the chipotles - we don't care for them. I can't handle the heat and Mr. Kim and Jessica don't like the smokiness. I just added some cayenne to the flour mix. They are the kind you make in the food processor - I love avoiding the whole cutting in process!

[Live It Up]

Wow! My laptop is broken and I haven't had any time anyway, and somehow I got 9 pages behind on the dinner thread. I have been cooking, and a lot of my meals have come out really well, but I never have my camera at home. All the meals on these pages look great, especially all the meatballs and Bruce's salads. Now that I'm all caught up, I'd like to request 2 recipes please. This one:

Venison pie and braised leeks

←

and this one:

In the pan:

←

[suzilightning]

a day off yesterday so i could cook. pork chop stuffed with some pumpernickel bread, shallots and sage. the moistruizing agent was a splash of stout. served with brussel sprouts and oven roasted sweet and eastern potatoes.

[Chris Hennes]

Tonight my ambition exceeded my talent, at least when it came to plating. Behold, sous vide lamb chop on funny-shaped mound of potatoes with not-quite round of brussel sprout gratin. The mushrooms are hedgehog and trumpet. It was delicious, the lamb was perfectly cooked (for once! I love sous vide!), but the plating could use some help...

[C. sapidus]

Oh Bruce, if you haven't made these from Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everyday" you must !  The boys may find them too spicy, but you & Mrs. C. will love them.....Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce (continuing the meatball theme as well !): . . . AND they have BACON ground into them.....gotta  bacon

←

Pierogi, somehow I missed that the chipotle meatballs contained bacon; I just added them to the list for next week. Nice Indian meal, too. Is that cumin on your raita?

Live It Up, thank you and welcome back!

Chris Hennes, looks good to me, but we usually eat family-style.

The meat salad theme continues: roasted mushroom salad with bacon, red onion, avocado, and spinach. Dressing of lime juice, olive oil, and Mexican oregano, warmed in the microwave. Blue cheese and walnuts for the grownups.

Grilled ribeye steaks with garlicky ancho chile rub. Store-bought bread and butter.

[Pierogi]

Chris Hennes - yes, that's the recipe for the chicken and the pilaf ! Leftovers were lunch today (I shredded the chicken into the rice) and they were very good even a couple of days after the fact.

Live it Up - that was a clemantine clafouti from Mark Bittman that I pulled off the NY Times website. I will either a) figure out how to post a link; b) figure out the policy on reprinting copyrighted recipes in this forum, or c) PM you the recipe sometime over the weekend. Or all of the above, if I'm ambitious. LOL !

Bruce - yeah, the bacon gets ground up, uncooked, in the processor when you're buzzing the mint and I think the garlic (hey, it's been more than 1/2 an hour since I made this, give me a break....) and it lends a nice background smokiness that enhances the inherant smokiness of the chipotles. Plus it gives the mixture some much needed moisture and fat, since pork is so lean these days. Thanks for the props on the Indian feast, and good eye ! Yes, I did sprinkle some additional toasted, ground cumin seed on top of the raita, because I was a bit short on what I mixed in to it.

Tonight was so very easy to make and so very very satisfying, and I *finally* broke my streak of brown protein and white starch ! The starch is still white, but the rest is well, colorful !

Pasta with Creamy Tomato/Gorgonzola sauce:

and green & white asparagus, steamed, with Trader Joe's Mustard Aioli Sauce as a dressing:

Yes, I know I said I only do roasted/grilled asparagus, but I was VERY tired tonight, and didn't want to fuss with another pot/pan on the stove top, so into the nuke-meister these went. They actually turned out pretty well, and I have enough of the green spears left for a salad over the weekend. The pasta was awesome. All enjoyed, robustly, while watching UCLA win the Pac-10 basketball championship. GO Bruins !

[prasantrin]

Tonight was so very easy to make and so very very satisfying, and I *finally* broke my streak of brown protein and white starch !  The starch is still white, but the rest is well, colorful !

Pasta with Creamy Tomato/Gorgonzola sauce:

←

Ahem...how would one go about making creamy tomato/gorgonzola sauce?

Damn that looks good!

[NoNiceTime]

Veggie Egg Foo Young

[conor610]

I wish I'd taken a picture of this, but frankly I was surprised it turned out so well and so I just wolfed it down...

Finely chopped baby bok choy and green onion, braised for 30 minutes or so in white wine and chicken stock with garlic and ginger (plus a healthy amount of salt and pepper). Drain, reserve liquid. Sautee whitefish (frozen pre-packaged tilapia in this case, cause it's what I had in the freezer, but obviously there are better options--I'd love to try it with some skin-on striper; season and dredge in flour) in butter till just cooked through. Deglaze pan with reserved liquid; reduce to desired consistency. Add a squeeze of lemon juice; serve fish on top of braised vegetables with sauce poured over all.

One of the best dishes I've ever cooked. Just delicious.

[austramerica]

Tonight I decided to just make leftovers -- a potato, chopped some premium ham, a bit of this and that and I have somewhat resembling a quiche but actually the recipe is called Potato Ham Bake.

I gave this plate to DH and so far...I haven't heard any complaint yet...maybe when we go to bed tonight ...

[C. sapidus]

Elder son had his last basketball game of the season, so we made a quick dinner. We roasted Portobello mushrooms in a dry wok, and stir-fried the shrimp with ancho chile powder, salt, and a little sugar. Eternal cucumbers, grape tomatoes, lime wedges, and a squirt of Sriracha.

Shrimp-fried rice with roasted Portobello mushrooms

Edited March 8, 2008 by C. sapidus (log)

[Tropicalfox]

Tonight we had arroz con camarones y almejas picadas (saffron rice with shrimp and chopped clams), camarones al ajillo en escabeche liviano (lightly pickled shrimp in garlic sauce), and tostones (slices of twice-fried green plantains).

Sandra

[Ndy]

Chris  Your Mushroom Omelette is prrobably the best picture I have ever seen of an omelette.

←

Thanks, I wish the omelette had been as good as the photo !

Tonight, still living like a bachelor, Croque Monsieur:

←

YES

[Shelby]

Wow! My laptop is broken and I haven't had any time anyway, and somehow I got 9 pages behind on the dinner thread. I have been cooking, and a lot of my meals have come out really well, but I never have my camera at home. All the meals on these pages look great, especially all the meatballs and Bruce's salads. Now that I'm all caught up, I'd like to request 2 recipes please. This one:

Venison pie and braised leeks

←

and this one:

In the pan:

←

←

I forgot to tell you that I pm'd the recipe to you