Dinner! 2008

[LaCookrasha]

last week I made orzo in a tomato sauce with chorizo fresco, ham, and ground meat.

[Dejah]

Tonight we made Mulligatawny soup with parsnips, carrots, and celery  . . .

. . . pork vindaloo, cucumber raita, and basmati rice. The boys inhaled the vindaloo, which was spicy-tangy delicious (although the meat turned out a bit dry).

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Mulligatawny soup - a favourite in our house! Did you make it from a recipe or just used whatever in-season vegetables? I love lots of cilantro and slices of lemon in mine.

What cut of pork did you use in the vindaloo? I have the same problem with the meat being on the dry side. Might have to use a cut with more fat for that melt in your mouth texture. Did you mix up your own vindaloo paste?

[C. sapidus]

Mulligatawny soup - a favourite in our house! Did you make it from a recipe or just used whatever in-season vegetables? I love lots of cilantro and slices of lemon in mine.

The recipe, from Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Cooking, specifies any combination of carrots, celery, parsnips, or mushrooms. Presumably, endless variations are not only possible, but also desirable. The boys are hit or miss with mushrooms, so I left them out. Lemon slices and more cilantro would have been lovely additions.

What cut of pork did you use in the vindaloo? I have the same problem with the meat being on the dry side. Might have to use a cut with more fat for that melt in your mouth texture. Did you mix up your own vindaloo paste?

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I used bone-in pork chops (with some trepidation), but next time I will use pork butt or another fatty cut (I have heard of folks using a mix of butt and belly). We did make our own vindaloo paste – recipe here (click).

[monavano]

Herbed Feta and Tomato Tart

[LaCookrasha]

It was fairly warm today so Dad got out the grill and cooked up some ribs. He let me spread the glaze and season 'em. 

Prawncrackers: The French chicken looks so good!

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My kind of food! Brigid Mary these ribs look delish!

[LaCookrasha]

I cooked this CUBAN "POLLO RANCHO LUNA"

Chicken all cut up with the mojo it was cooked in on top!

Pollo Rancho Luna

1 (4 pound) whole chicken, cut in half or into 4 pieces

1/3 c olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion sliced

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup white wine(I used sherry)

1 tb kosher salt and

pepper to taste

1 bay leave

1/2 tsp oregano powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp montreal chicken seasoning by McCormick

Preheat oven to 350 ºF (175 ºC).

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except chicken, mix well.

Place chicken pieces in a 9x13 inch baking dish and pour the oil and juice mixture

over the chicken, coating well.

Bake at 350 ºF (175 ºC) for 1 hour or (a little more if needed), basting occasionally with the sauce. serve chicken with the mojo it was cooked in!

Enjoy!

[suzilightning]

over the weekend for johnnybird pan roasted salmon with a tomato vinaigrette over rice

[Sabrosita]

Some days you are just not into sides or sauces. These were great without. Last week I made some cheese that turned out quite bland and a little dry in texture, so I made them into gnudi (or gnocchi? I'm not clear on the difference) and they were much improved. Sauteed in brown butter with rosemary, salt and pepper.

[LaCookrasha]

AREPA DULCE DOMINICANA

A dessert from the Dominican Republic, baked pudding made of cornmeal and coconut milk!

[mizducky]

That pudding looks amazing, And you can never go wrong with coconut milk.

My dinner: started yesterday afternoon with a pork shoulder blade roast going into a simple salt/brown sugar brine; continued this morning with the roast going from brine into crockpot; picked up again at around 4-ish pm when I scooped the falling-apart roast out of the crockpot, pulled it to shreds and chunks, moistened it with a little rendered fat from the crockpot, and then put it in a hot oven briefly to get some crispy bits:

The pulled pork, plated, with just a little barbecue sauce, a bunch of hot sauce, and some coleslaw on the side:

No, it ain't real barbecue ... but it'll do just fine in the meantime.

[Chris Hennes]

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Now that is right up my alley! Beautiful!

[Kim Shook]

Dr. J - I love crab rangoon. It gets bad press, but I confess to a deep love

of gooey, crabby fried stuff! And yours looks so good!

Chris - love the idea of tilapia with grapefruit! Inspired choice and it looks lovely!

Sabrosita - your gnudi or gnocchi look terrific - I don't care what they are called !

mizducky - ooooohh, BBQ (cue Homer voice)! I have some in the freezer from my most recent NC run and a gallon of sauce that I preserved in qt. jars - time to do some thawing!!!

I haven't been cooking a lot lately, but here are a couple of recent dinners:

pot roast soup, made with leftovers from the pot roast that I made a few days ago:

It was great, as usual, but I wish I'd seen Pierogi's post about pot roast hash in the Recipes that Rock thread before I made it. I would have so tried that recipe!!!

Also - Bean sprout spinach salad (odd name, good salad), pecan chicken casserole, butter beans and Irish freckle bread (another odd name, but good, sweet and dense bread):

Oh, and some dessert:

chocolate poundcake with Italian meringue buttercream (my first attempt at that) - really good and easy!!

[C. sapidus]

Kim, beautiful bread, and so many of your salads sound so satisfying.

Many limes and cloves of garlic contributed to tonight’s Mexican dinner: butterflied rainbow trout with lime-chile-tomatillo sauce; quick-fried baby zucchini with toasted garlic and lime; and store-bought bread. More on Making Mexican at Home.

[MiFi]

Leftover Ratatouille Pasta

[emilyr]

This isn't really MY dinner, but it is A dinner...My aunt volunteered to cook a large meal for a group as a prize in a charity auction. She's a fantastic cook and was a columnist for the Food section of the local paper (and something of a local celebrity for her cooking skills). Unfortunately, she broke her toe quite badly over spring break and can't stand for long periods of time. She also had to reschedule this dinner a few weeks ago when she had flu for several days. So I went in today to do some prep and will head over tomorrow to help finish up all the rest. (No pictures because I forgot, but I'll try to get some tomorrow.)

We made 2 soups which will be served poured into the bowl side-by-side, one is a beet vichysoise (sp??) and the other is a pea soup. These are so great. I like peas a lot, and was quite happy to scrape out the pan (with my finger!) before it head to the sink. The beet soup is a very pretty pink, and will have cream added to it tomorrow to make it nice and light; the pea is a lovely leaf green.

The main will be a beef tenderloin stuffed with sweet red peppers and mushrooms. I made the stuffing today and the sauce that will top it of sweet peppers, beef broth, butter and sour cream.

One of her stand-by dishes and a family favorite is Paul Prudhomme's Connecticut corn pudding. Made the base today - I'll have to add beaten eggs and milk tomorrow and bake. We're serving these turned out of individual ramekins, but the recipe is huge, so I'm hoping for leftovers! It's full of all kinds of good things like ham and peppers. The other sides, we'll be making tomorrow - something with parsnips.

She had a friend help her make mushroom croustades yesterday, and the other appetizers we made today: honey and olive oil baked figs, spicy shrimp (from the Silver Palate cookbook, I think), and asparagus tossed with viniagrette.

For dessert, we were going to prep the makings of pistachio napoleons, but didn't get enough white chocolate - we'll have to do those tomorrow. She also had quite a collection of fruits and berries, so there may be some other desserts as well. She makes the lists, I just follow directions!

Most of the time, I really hate sharing the kitchen with another cook, but my aunt is one that I love cooking with, especially today. She looks over the recipes and chops things, while I stand at the stove, carry heavy stuff, do dishes and other stuff that requires moving around.

[Bella S.F.]

monavano Could you please share the Herbed Feta and Tomato Tart?

It looks and sounds wonderful.

Thanks!

[phatj]

Chicken thighs, boned and pounded flat, then stuffed with a mixture of feta cheese, minced red pepper and sun-dried tomatoes, seasoned with garlic & thyme.

The leftover stuffing was combined with a simple tomato sauce and the lot was served over linguine.

[dockhl]

emilyr~

that sounds lovely and delicious. I envy you having someone you love to cook with. now that my kitchen is big enuf to have two people in without bumping (I can't stand that), my daughter isn't around as much as before to cook with. I miss that terribly.

phatj~

I love chicken thighs (I wish a chicken had 4 thighs and no breasts! ) and those sound fabulous. Were they?

Last night's dinner.......

Matzo Ball Soup made with a rotisserie chicken. So good, and just what I was craving. Today it is very warm and sunny but I think I'll make Claypot Cornish Game Hens. (Don't ask for a recipe--I haven't devised one yet !)

Felt crummy all day after staying up to watch Top Chef (!! !!) and got sucked into watching that dancing show. Don't exactly get it...

So tonight we'll cook with a little glass of Compass Box Asyla Scotch (not much or I'll snooze thru dinner !)

[phatj]

phatj~

I love chicken thighs (I wish a chicken had 4 thighs and no breasts!  ) and those sound fabulous. Were they?

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Pretty good, yup. I think next time I would keep the leftover stuffing for something else, though (it would have been a kick-ass dip, for instance). The richness of the sauce was overkill with the stuffed chicken.

[Reconstructing Dinner]

Unfortunately, having to attend to the real world has kept me out of the kitchen lately, but I do enjoy all of the posts. Thank you for the ideas and inspiration. Hope to have some new ideas to share soon. - RD

[emilyr]

This isn't really MY dinner, but it is A dinner...

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Here's the final menu. Still no pics, because I forgot my camera again.

Apps.

Spicy shrimp skewers

Figs in honey and olive oil

Soup

Beet vichysoisse

Pea Soup

side-by-side with creme fraiche

Main

Beef tenderloin with bell pepper and mushroom stuffing and red pepper sauce

Lemon glazed parsnips

Asparagus with dijon viniagrette

Connecticut corn pudding

Salad

Baby greens with toasted pecans, English cucumbers and persimmons

Dessert

Pistachio Napoleons with berries

This was quite an experience; I'm tired now and we only worked on it a few hours each day. I hope that everything goes well and wish I didn't have to work, so I could be there for service. It was definitely fun. I got to make recipes I've never tried before - like pastry cream for the Napoleons. I'm not a pastry person, so I was a nervous wreck making these today - puff pastry and pastry cream!

I may be doing more cooking with my aunt in the coming weeks. Her doctor told her to stay off her foot for a few more weeks, so I will probably be going over to help get things done around the house, including cooking, hopefully!

[monavano]

monavano Could you please share the Herbed Feta and Tomato Tart?

  It looks and sounds wonderful.

  Thanks!

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Hi Bella,

Here's the recipe for the feta and tomato tart:

Feta and Tomato Tart

serves 6

Ingredients

Pâte Brisée

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, cut into small cubes

2 1/2 Tablespoons ice-cold water

Topping

Freshly ground black pepper

6-8 ounces herbed feta of your choice*

14-16 cherry tomatoes (more if you wish, or depending on the size of your tomatoes)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling over the top after baking.

Directions

Cut the butter into cubes and place in freezer for 10 minutes.

In a food processor, place the flour and salt. Pulse 5 times. Add butter in thirds and pulse until it crumbs into pea size balls. With the processor running, slowly pour water through the top. The dough should come together and not crumble.

Take dough out of processor and form it into a flat disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to one month; defrost in refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Lightly butter a 9 inch springform pan.

Lightly flour a board and rolling pin. Place dough disk onto board and roll out to about a 10 inch diameter. Roll from center-out and make 1/4 turns to form a circle. Don't worry if the dough edges crack or become uneven. You can easily patch the dough once it is in the pan.

Place rolling pin at one end of the dough and roll the dough around the pin. Transfer dough to pan and pat down evenly. Tamp down the edges to make a bit of a crust at the edges. Patch holes in dough as needed.

Crack black pepper over dough to taste. Place crumbled feta, then tomatoes over the dough. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over the tart.

Place tart in oven and turn heat down to 425 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes. Allow tart to cool for 5 minutes, and release the pan. Transfer/ slide tart gently onto a cutting board and drizzle more olive oil if you like.

Cut into 6 pie pieces and serve warm, or at room temperature.

*If you wish to use plain feta, fresh herbs can be added later during the last 10 minutes of baking.

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I also made a Boucheron, Serrano Ham and Date Tartwhich was really tasty...and easy!

[quattroporte]

Some days you are just not into sides or sauces. These were great without. Last week I made some cheese that turned out quite bland and a little dry in texture, so I made them into gnudi (or gnocchi? I'm not clear on the difference) and they were much improved. Sauteed in brown butter with rosemary, salt and pepper.

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I'm not an expert, but I am Italian, and Gnudi means "naked" - I take that to mean without a sauce, and Gnocchi, I assume, are usually sauced. Either way, I love 'em!

Edited April 12, 2008 by quattroporte (log)

[Kim Shook]

monavano - that Bucheron, Serrano Ham and Date Tart looks amazing. I can get Bucheron and I'll be making that! Thank you!!

A couple of nights ago I made asian pork tenderloin (another Cuisine at Home recipe - I am trying to slowly cook through issues to get rid of the magazines that are threatening to smother us ), grilled pineapple (I've been craving this since I saw David use it in a fantastic dessert on the 'Sweets' thread - though, my grill marks aren't as pretty as yours, David ) and stir fried bean sprouts:

Tonight Mr. Kim is hosting a poker party and so I am snacking on what I made for them - buffalo chicken dip and crab meltaways (so tacky, but everyone scarfs them up!).

[Mota]

My first time making potstickers from scratch...

Verdict: DELICIOUS

I'd probably get a fattier piece of pork/ add shrimp/other flavorings