Dinner! 2008

[monavano]

I bought a lot of produce at the farmers market this weekend, so tonight our plates were piled with greens and ramps!

Potatoes and ramps (likely the last of the season, or close to it), rainbow chard with a dash of oregano and lemon, oven roasted balsamic cherry tomatoes and carrots, talapia.

Edited May 13, 2008 by monavano (log)

[Kim Shook]

Some amazing food folks!

Bruce – the chicken with chilies looks so great. I’m sure it would be too hot for me, but the color is so gorgeous! Maybe I could make it and tone down the heat a bit!

Susan – I love the idea of Buffalo duck wings – the chicken flavor tends to get lost in the intense flavor of the sauce, so duck is a great idea! And the fries look perfect!

Ted Fairhead and my mom are up here for a Mother’s day visit. Friday night’s dinner will look familiar:

It is the pasta and Sunday gravy that I served to my friend a couple a weeks ago. I had some of the sauce left over in the freezer and just served it with some bread and salad. It was even better leftover!

I forgot to take pictures of Saturday night’s dinner, which is a good thing, because no one but Mr. Kim and I liked it . It was a chicken cordon bleu casserole. I’d made it before and we really like it, but no one else did! I served it with braised cabbage and roasted baby potatoes – everyone liked them !

[emilyr]

Amazing looking dishes, everyone, as usual!

I cooked dinner last night for mom and my brother's birthday (which was Saturday). I made a chicken marsala-esque dish with a local wine (Les Bourgeois winery's Fleur du Vin, from Rocheport, MO) and morels mom got from a co-worker; and I made risotto for the first time and simple microwave greenbeans with garlic.

The family (except for brother who is UBER picky [doubly frustrating because I was trying to recreate something HE like in a restaurant! ]) seemed to like it, but I was disappointed with the chicken. It was alright, but not the dish I was hoping for. Not the best showcase for the mushrooms either because I think I let them cook too long. Next time I will use heartier shrooms.

The sauce turned out ok, though, and the risotto was fantastic. I had never made it before because I'd only ever been able to find long-grain rice in my small town. Finally Wal-Mart started carrying some, and I think it will be a semi-regular menu addition. So easy and yummy. I carmelized some Vidalia onions as the base.

Edited May 13, 2008 by emilyr (log)

[SobaAddict70]

Ramps. They smell like onions steeped in deer piss and mothballed socks. I adore them. They're only available for four weeks a year. I expect they'll be gone by next weekend.

Clockwise from top left: toasted bread crumbs (use as you would regular breadcrumbs or in place of grated cheese), onion, ramp leaves, anchovies, ramp stalks

Fusilli with caramelized onion, ramps and anchovies.

Onions are briefly fried in olive oil with a pinch of salt along with minced ramp stalks. Anchovies are added towards the end of the cooking process. Fold in ramp leaves 1-2 minutes before service. Check seasoning, drizzle with EVOO, add cooked pasta, toss. Add a pinch of toasted breadcrumbs, some chopped herbs if you like (I used sage) and serve immediately.

[Shelby]

Yeh, it makes you a better cook.. Starve yourself for a little and then think of things you would die to eat at that very moment.. And then cook it when you are able to.. Its like a food vision quest! 

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Will you be smoking peyote?

[Ce'nedra]

Prawn (it's not called 'shrimp' Down Under!) summer (and it's not summer here!) rolls with peanut sauce

[isomer]

Hi all,

I've been lurking for so long it's embarrassing . Here, finally, is my first post.

Dinner from the other day: Steak with caramel sauce, served with cauliflower "frites" from the wonderful recipe on the recipeGullet.

Edited May 14, 2008 by isomer (log)

[SobaAddict70]

Welcome to eGullet, isomer! Glad to have you.

Leftover pasta from last night

Roasted asparagus, poached farm egg and shaved parmesan

Mint tea

[Susie Q]

Something I've been craving for a month or better.

Chicken fried steak, cream gravy, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, wilted lettuce salad. Dessert was some shortbread cookies I made this weekend and Earl Grey tea.

[Daniel]

Yeh well, that didnt last long.. When discovering the full details, I decided to put an end to that one.. Last night made 1)green curry mussels with string beans and potatoes.. 2)Peanut fed pork chops with roasted fennel and orange...3)cheese plate, 4)black and white cookies..

[dockhl]

Yeh well, that didnt last long.

Welcome back, Daniel !

[MiFi]

Chicken Marsala w/polenta

[C. sapidus]

Kim, thank you! Sichuan chiles are not particularly hot, but you could certainly tone down the heat. The chiles flavor the oil, but you don’t eat them (unless you really like chiles . . .).

I love seeing what everyone is doing with their Spring bounty.

Adapted from Thai Food: grilled chicken, eggplant, zucchini, and red bell pepper, accompanied by a sweet-sour chile-garlic-cilantro sauce, mushroom salad, and jasmine rice. Chicken thighs spent the day marinating with fish sauce and a paste of garlic, cilantro stems, white pepper, and palm sugar. The vegetables were simply dipped in coconut milk and grilled.

[SobaAddict70]

New Year's resolution is to cook more locally/seasonally. 90% of all my meals are from farmer's markets, Union Square Greenmarket (henceforth "USGM") primarily. I'm limited by availability at work, plus I eat out from time to time.

I eat very little junk food, my one vice being a tub of Haagen-Dasz. I'll probably get an ice cream maker for my birthday after which the circle will be complete.

Left to right: Dandelion greens, garlic, turnip greens

Sauteed spring greens with garlic, served with polenta

Polenta is 1 cup cornmeal to 3 1/2 cups water, 1 T. salt; as much unsalted butter as it can hold and a fist of grated parm-reg cheese

[Lisa2k]

Lasagna Bolognese has been dinner last night and the night before. An abbreviated 'start to finish', since the whole process required like 40 photos!

Bolognese sauce

Ground beef and veal, mire poix, pancetta, garlic, San Marzano tomatoes (about a 1 lb), red wine, a combo of chicken and beef stock, half heavy cream and half whole milk (Not the half and half you buy at the market..literally 1 cup of each). No cinnamon, cloves, green herbs, etc, that some like to add. I wanted to keep it simple and authentic. Slowly simmered for 5 hours.

Pasta sheets

Basic pasta dough. About 4 eggs and one yolk to 3 1/4-1/2 cups flour, nothing else, since the Bolognese is so concentrated after simmering for so long.

Kneading then resting.

Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep that pasta rolling. These do not have to be perfect..in fact I wanted to keep them 'rustic'. This is down home, italian comfort food, not haute cuisine.

I had sheets of the pasta drying all over the kitchen and dinette. I probably got about 2 lbs of pasta, total.

Bechamel Sauce

Adding milk to the blond roux until I got a nice, creamy sauce that coated the back of a spoon. To the sauce, I added sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a couple 'microplane grates' of whole, fresh nutmeg.

Mise en place for assembling the lasagna

From left to right..the bechamel sauce, bolognese sauce, grated parm-reg, and finally, the briefly boiled (about 40 seconds for every three sheets) lasagna noodles.

Assembling

First a thin layer of bolognese, the pasta sheets, then more bolognese, bechamel, and finally the Parmigiano-Reggiano, covered with another layer of the pasta sheets -- lather, rinse, repeat..ad infinitum, until you run out of the sauces, pasta and cheese and it's ready to go into the oven. 350F for about 40-60 minutes, since this baby was about 5-6 layers deep.

Finished Lasagna

I didn't think any of the above platings needed any adorning. I felt the lasagna stands on it's own.

BTW, if this is too much for the dinner thread, please don't hesitate to direct me to the proper thread to post it in, as I'm still learning as I go along here.

Edited May 15, 2008 by Lisa2k (log)

[doctortim]

Lisa, wow. I am so hungry now.

[Kim Shook]

Lisa - applause, applause, applause!!! Just beautiful lasagna! I almost never make it because it's a PITA and it's hard to find thin pasta sheets (I hate fat sheets) and I don't make my own pasta (one of my life list of things to do when I retire), but you've inspired me! Maybe I'll find some thin pasta sheets at the fresh pasta store and do that soon! One question: no ricotta? or was it in the bechamel?

[Dr. J]

too much for the dinner thread?

Hell no...... lisa that was awsome. I love it. Love the step wise pics and love the finished product.

[dockhl]

lisa~

a thing of beauty, my favorite lasagna! It is an ordeal, but what an entertaining one

To what setting do you roll you pasta sheets?

Bravo.

[dockhl]

Lisa - applause, applause, applause!!!  Just beautiful lasagna!  I almost never make it because it's a PITA and it's hard to find thin pasta sheets (I hate fat sheets) and I don't make my own pasta (one of my life list of things to do when I retire), but you've inspired me!  Maybe I'll find some thin pasta sheets at the fresh pasta store and do that soon!  One question: no ricotta?  or was it in the bechamel?

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kim~

I'm not Lisa but there is no ricotta in this type of lasagna bolognese. Just ragu and bechamel (and Parm, of course !)

[menuinprogress]

Roast chicken with Mole Coloradito:

We've made mole from mole paste before, but this was our first mole from scratch. Tons of ingredients! Here is a picture of some of them:

[Lisa2k]

Thank you, doctortim {I'm still hungry for it too, but now it's gone! }

Kim, thank you so much! As dockhyl mentioned, Lasagna Bolognese is made up of just those three ingredients -- the long and slow simmered Bolognese sauce..with such amazing, concentrated meaty flavor, along with the creaminess of the bechamel, and the sharp, nuttiness of the parm-reg, so you don't miss the usual ricotta and mozzarella lasagna (NOT that I don't love a nice ricotta, meat sauce and fresh mozzarella lasagna!!).

Do you have a pasta roller, Kim? If so, it really does make quick work of homemade pasta. I recall watching an episode of 'Ciao Italia' one night, and the host (Mary Ann Esposito) was in Italy..maybe somewhere in the Puglia region, with a sweet, old italian granny, who hand rolled all of her pasta..paper thin. Ever since watching the love, patience and strength this lady put into her homemade pasta, I feel like such a cheat when I use a pasta rolling machine!

DrJ - Phew, I was hoping I didn't 'overdo' it. I had loads more photos, but I didn't want to take up two pages..LOL NOW, I just need to get a better digital camera. The one I have is simply awful, and I almost want to cry when I see the lovely, detailed photos here. It looks like the food is RIGHT in front of you, ready to eat! OH, and thank you for the lovely compliments

dockhyl, Thank you, also! I start with #1 for several times through, then go 'at the most' up to #3. I don't want my lasagna sheets too paper thin, since after a quick boil, they'll be cooking for a while in the oven. I get them just thin enough. It's sort of by 'feel' from doing it for so long, not to mention I use small amounts of pasta (a little larger than a golf ball, give or take) per sheet rolled.

Edited May 15, 2008 by Lisa2k (log)

[C. sapidus]

menuinprogress, beautiful mole! How did you like it and what recipe did you use?

Home to meet the dishwasher installers, I had a little time to play with food. Consequently, tonight’s dinner combined dishes from Sichuan, sorta-Hunan, and Thailand.

“Traditional” dan dan noodles, from Land of Plenty. The sauce included stir-fried Tianjin preserved vegetable, scallions, light and dark soy sauce, chile oil, Chinkiang vinegar, and ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns. To top the noodles, we stir-fried ground pork with Shaoxing rice wine and light soy sauce. The extra pork was very popular with the boys.

Gai lan stir-fried with black beans and garlic. Variations of this dish are perennial family favorites.

Shrimp and galangal soup with Shiitake mushrooms, based on a variation in Thai Food. The Thai lime leaves were harvested from our plant. Adding a dollop of nahm prik pao to the bowl makes this soup indescribably delicious.

[LizD518]

Lisa - that looks awesome! One question, does it freeze well, using the fresh pasta? I haven't made lasagna in ages - live alone so I'll end up with ton's of leftovers - but I'd love to make one and put some aside.

[Lisa2k]

Lisa - that looks awesome!  One question, does it freeze well, using the fresh pasta?  I haven't made lasagna in ages - live alone so I'll end up with ton's of leftovers - but I'd love to make one and put some aside.

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Thank you, Liz I freeze a lot of homemade pastas (tortellini, fettuccine, gnocchi, et al), but this is before they've been cooked. I've frozen fully cooked lasagnas before, with great success, but not with homemade, cooked lasagna sheets. Maybe someone here has and can give us their opinion/experience with it?

On another note, what a beautiful mole photo, above..not to mention the shrimp galangal soup and accompaniments.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Lisa2k (log)