Dinner! 2008

[David Ross]

Earlier this week, chicken breast stuffed with prosciutto, arugula and parmesan. Served on linguine tossed with more arugula and parmesan. I suppose this is my idea of a diet dish for 2008. You know, chicken on the menu when one is dieting!

[monavano]

Earlier this week, chicken breast stuffed with prosciutto, arugula and parmesan.  Served on linguine tossed with more arugula and parmesan.  I suppose this is my idea of a diet dish for 2008.  You know, chicken on the menu when one is dieting!

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And hey, there's green is there! Totally nutritious. The dish looks delicious...do you use a lightbox?(I'm missing the sunshine for my pics)

[David Ross]

I know this is the wrong forum/wrong thread but, with so many great photographs in this thread, I know I'll get great responses.

I want to buy the smallest digital camera that meets my needs (has viewfinder for sunny conditions).  Of course, I'd like to be able to take passable pics of my more successful dishes with it.  I understand that most of the really nice photos in this thread are taken with a macro function.

All of these ultracompact digicams have "digital macro" as opposed to a real macro lens.  Will "digital macro" be sufficient for my needs (just to get some decent photos for eGullet...nothing more)?

Thanks in advance!

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By all means, the small digital cameras will serve your needs. I use a Canon Powershot SD1000 with 7.1 megapixels for my food postings in this thread. For really close up shots I use the digital macro feature. But for the above shot of the chicken on linguine, I set the camera on manual, no flash, then use the macro setting. Seems to work o.k for me. I think the camera was about $350 at Sear's.

Be careful though with your camera in the kitchen. I've let greasy hands get on the camera, allowing it to slip out of my hands and dropping to the floor-with the lens open! Not a pretty sight and the demise of that particular camera.

[David Ross]

Earlier this week, chicken breast stuffed with prosciutto, arugula and parmesan.  Served on linguine tossed with more arugula and parmesan.  I suppose this is my idea of a diet dish for 2008.  You know, chicken on the menu when one is dieting!

←

And hey, there's green is there! Totally nutritious. The dish looks delicious...do you use a lightbox?(I'm missing the sunshine for my pics)

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No light box used. I put the plated dish on the dining room table which is under a brightly lit chandelier. Then I put a piece of white foamcore board behind the plate. The foamcore works as a sort of backdrop to bounce the light back on the food. I'm using Windows Vista operating system on my computer, which incorporates the latest version of Windows Photo Gallery. That gives me the opportunity to do a lot of color and light editing to my photos before I post them on eGullet. Thanks for the nice comments.

[mojoman]

I know this is the wrong forum/wrong thread but, with so many great photographs in this thread, I know I'll get great responses.

I want to buy the smallest digital camera that meets my needs (has viewfinder for sunny conditions).  Of course, I'd like to be able to take passable pics of my more successful dishes with it.  I understand that most of the really nice photos in this thread are taken with a macro function.

All of these ultracompact digicams have "digital macro" as opposed to a real macro lens.  Will "digital macro" be sufficient for my needs (just to get some decent photos for eGullet...nothing more)?

Thanks in advance!

←

By all means, the small digital cameras will serve your needs. I use a Canon Powershot SD1000 with 7.1 megapixels for my food postings in this thread. For really close up shots I use the digital macro feature. But for the above shot of the chicken on linguine, I set the camera on manual, no flash, then use the macro setting. Seems to work o.k for me. I think the camera was about $350 at Sear's.

Be careful though with your camera in the kitchen. I've let greasy hands get on the camera, allowing it to slip out of my hands and dropping to the floor-with the lens open! Not a pretty sight and the demise of that particular camera.

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Thanks David. I knew I could count on eGullet and you in particular.

[nakedsushi]

Tonight's dinner ingredients:

Appetizers:

Hiyakko tofu with bonito, green onion, ume (plum? apricot?) paste, dressed with ponzu sauce.

Broiled shishito peppers sprinkled with salt and dipped in ponzu sauce.

The main course:

Ramen! No explanation necessary.

[suzilightning]

minestrone made with broth from the bones of our new years roast, a host of veg and some macaronis and beans. finished with shaved asiago and hot sauce for me.

[Shelby]

Suzi that looks so comforting and yummy! Beautiful picture!

[Kim Shook]

suzilightning! That Ruby Chicken brought back some memories. I have been making that dish for years! It was from an old Family Circle magazine special recipe issue - I think that it was originally my mom's book! It is one of those recipes that makes a double portion and you can freeze it and cook it from frozen, so I make it for welcome to the neighborhood and welcome new baby meals to this day. It was so cool to see someone else making it! Do you remember where you got the recipe?

Kim

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kim-

i've been making this for at least 20 years. a coworker described the basic recipe to me and i've tweaked it over the years to include the fresh zest, lessen the sugar, or replace the sugar and spices with Toast Dope. Please, please check the recipe that i entered in RecipeGullet and see if i've violated(inadvertantly) the copyright agreement. what book was your mom's recipe in? can you post it or a link?

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[Ted Fairhead]

Chicken Breast with garlic, mushrooms and artichoke hearts. From the "Garlic Lover's Cookbook".

and for dessert, a peach pie with a custard base and rum glaze

[Shelby]

Good LORD Ted, I want to dive head first into that peach pie. Gorgeous!

[C. sapidus]

Chicken and ginger simmered in caramel sauce; braised shallot confit; jasmine rice; eternal cucumbers.

[MiFi]

Roasted Eberley's Chicken Breast w/Pommes Saute and Green Beans w/garlic

[Prawncrackers]

Gosh, i've not posted on the Dinner thread for almost a month! Don't worry we have been eating... just not had the time to post any photos. So please indulge me whilst i catch up with a few of the dinners i've cooked so far this year:

Chicken Rendang and Stir fried Mange Tout:

Longhorn T-Bone smothered in Colston Bassett Stilton & Fries:

Tripe, Trotter, Chorizo and Chickpea Stew (try saying that after a few!) this was from Frank Camorra's Movida cookbook - doesn't look like much but packed some serious flavour:

Gnocchi with Ragu and Rocket:

I'm not much of a pastry cook but tonight i think i may have baked the best sweet to come out of my oven, Pear Frangipane Tart:

It was a bit lucky that the tart turned out like it did because i was guessing at the quantities! I will be posting the recipe for this as soon as possible in case i forget.

[Doodad]

I made an open asian dumpling with lasagna noodle on the base and interlayered pan seared scallop and grilled pork tenderloin. The sauce was green pepper and mushroom in a quick mushroom/wine stock. On the side are mashed sweet potatoes with ginger and creamed bok choy greens.

[percyn]

A few days ago I concocted a recipe for

Chipotle Pomegranate Braised Chicken - The smoky chipotle flavor went very well with the sweet and tangy pomegranate, if I say so myself

[Chufi]

A few days ago I concocted a recipe for

Chipotle Pomegranate Braised Chicken - The smoky chipotle flavor went very well with the sweet and tangy pomegranate, if I say so myself 

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that sounds fantastic. Was the pomegranate fresh, juice, or syrup-molasses?

[Shelby]

I made an open asian dumpling with lasagna noodle on the base and interlayered pan seared scallop and grilled pork tenderloin.  The sauce was green pepper and mushroom in a quick mushroom/wine stock.  On the side are mashed sweet potatoes with ginger and creamed bok choy greens.

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What a great idea! I love that wine. Makes me want to drink and it's only 10:45 a.m. here

[C. sapidus]

Prawncrackers, good to have you back, you have eaten very well these past weeks. I’ll have one of each, please (and perhaps seconds on dessert).

PercyN, ditto Klary’s comment and question.

We planned to make chipotle shrimp for dinner. With no chipotles in the pantry, we improvised a delicious but probably irreproducible sauce from canned salsas, chipotle powder, copious garlic slivers, black pepper, and Mexican oregano. Unfortunately, the shrimp turned out a bit chewy. Still, not bad over leftover rice.

We also made pureed hearts of palm soup (clicky), served with leftover rice or pasta. Eternal cucumbers, of course. Upwards of fifteen garlic cloves sacrificed their lives for tonight’s dinner.

[David Ross]

Last night was a salad of Herring in Sour Cream, Butter Lettuce and Pickled Red Onion. I try to always keep a batch of pickled red onions in the fridge. Very easy to make and they retain this beautiful pink color. Just about any recipe you pull off the web works fine:

Then the entree was Roast Leg of Lamb with Spicy Dark Beer Sauce and Roasted Carrot and Parsnip. I make this sauce a lot in the winter and the recipe is from the Alaskan Brewing Company. It starts with their Smoked Porter which they only offer in December. This time I used Guinness, and then reduced it with soy sauce, honey, molasses, and many different spices: mustard seed, cumin seed, caraway seed, fennel seed, mixed pickling spices, cinnamon stick and lots of nutmeg. Yes it's a lot of ingredients but you are left with this thick, spicy syrup that is very fragrant:

[Doodad]

I made an open asian dumpling with lasagna noodle on the base and interlayered pan seared scallop and grilled pork tenderloin.  The sauce was green pepper and mushroom in a quick mushroom/wine stock.  On the side are mashed sweet potatoes with ginger and creamed bok choy greens.

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What a great idea! I love that wine. Makes me want to drink and it's only 10:45 a.m. here

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Aw thanks. It came out very good and I will be working on this one. I threw this together based on what we had and other than getting too chunky on the sauce and some bitterness in the bok choy, we had a great meal.

[Domestic Goddess]

Tonight, I had Bibimbap.

Without the egg...

With the requisite fried sunny-side up egg...

I added drops of sesame oil and gochujang (red pepper paste) on top and mixed everything up.

[Octaveman]

Chinese noodle soup with homemade Char Siu. Used a chicken soup base and included Hong Kong styled egg noodles, baby bok choy, sliced onion, mushrooms, green onions and of course the Char Siu. A family favorite.

[Daniel]

Tripe, Trotter, Chorizo and Chickpea Stew (try saying that after a few!) this was from Frank Camorra's Movida cookbook - doesn't look like much but packed some serious flavour:

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Oh, my. The white rice doesnt seem necessary but, that stew looks amazing.

Edited January 13, 2008 by Daniel (log)

[percyn]

A few days ago I concocted a recipe for

Chipotle Pomegranate Braised Chicken - The smoky chipotle flavor went very well with the sweet and tangy pomegranate, if I say so myself 

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that sounds fantastic. Was the pomegranate fresh, juice, or syrup-molasses?

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Klary and Bruce, the primary source of Pomegranate was molasses, though I garnished my wife's version with some fresh pomegranate seeds as well.

Its so easy and delicious, you should give it a shot.