Dinner! 2008

[Marlene]

Thanks! The marinade was red wine, fresh chopped rosemary, minced garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The honey was added after the marinade was strained, then reduced.

[Dr. J]

Thanks lhollers

Great rack marlene

[Shelby]

BLT's

And, I had a craving for this, so don't laugh

Roasted poblano stuffed with macaroni and cheese with roasted tomatoes

[MiFi]

Gazpacho w/avocado

Lobster Sandwich, Chowder House, Neils Harbour, Cape Breton, NS

Barruta-Tomato Salad

[Daniel]

The other Miss A made some Mexican Food last night.. The other Miss A is officially nuts.. I asked her to make a soup and turkey mole for dinner last night. I dont think she knows how to do a simple dinner..

Beans stewed with avacado leaves, some chiles, some other stuff... Served with queso fresco. Also served some guacamole..

Top right you can see the masa boats she mades.. She called the chalupitas..

Turkey Mole: The mole here is fantastic.. The turkey was falling apart and still on the bone. Able to suck the marrow from the bones.. Fantastic.

Chicken enchiladas with mole sauce..

Cecina tacos:

It's important that everything she uses be Kosher.

Here are the chalupitas. She makes a masa boat, puts down some of the beans, adds a swirl of creama, some salsa, and then the chicken..The chicken is boiled in very salty water. Then she tops with cabbage and queso fresco..

Love how the boat is crisp enough to stand up to the toppings and has a nice dense chew to it..

Here grandmother's recipe.. Spicy tamarind jelly on white toast squares..

I also brought various desserts from the Portuegese Bakery in Elizabeth.. Lots of dulce de leche and guava..

[scubadoo97]

Trying to make some of my son's favorite things before he leaves for school.

Last night was Planet Hollywood Captain Crunch chicken.

Tonight was braised lamb shanks with white rice, tomatoes and mozzarella, focaccia with herbs and garlic.

[hungrykoala]

Lobster Sandwich, Chowder House, Neils Harbour, Cape Breton, NS

MiFi, this sandwich looks so civilized and lovely! For some unknown reason, I have never had a lobster salad or sandwich before, I need to get cracking!

[David Ross]

More wonderful finds from our newly expanded Asian grocery store.

This was probably the easiest and tastiest dish I've done all Summer. I found the fish in the frozen section. I'm often skeptical of frozen fish in Asian markets as it tends to be sitting in the freezer far too long. This fish was from Vietnam. Small slits had been cut along the body of the fish and then lemongrass, chile and salt had been rubbed into the flesh. I grilled the fish on the bbq for about 4 minutes per side. No seasoning was needed.

I served the fish with two salads-a carrot salad dressed with soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame seeds. The second salad was cucumber that I cut on my Japanese slicer and garnished with green onions and a bit of olive oil.

Grilled "Silverbarb" with Lemon Grass and Chili-

[Priscilla]

Last evening very good Italian sausages from the butcher shop that made 'em served w/loads of caramelized onions, excellent Caprese salad w/CA water buffalo mozz, farmer's market tomatoes, basil from the garden. Ciabatta from the French-Japanese baker.

[Prawncrackers]

Fantastic Mexican meal Daniel. Alas, living in the UK severely limits my exposure to real Mexican cuisine. It's such a shame because everything looks so tasty.

Still going through the half a pig we butchered a few weeks ago now. So this week to make dent in the pork mountain i had to concentrate on cooking swine.

Pork Chop with Green Beans and Red Rice:

Char Siu & Stir Fried Veg:

and today Twice-cooked Pork:

[LoveToEatATL]

Trying to make some of my son's favorite things before he leaves for school.

Last night was Planet Hollywood Captain Crunch chicken.

.

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Could you please share how you make those? I love them but my tries were unsuccessful - I kept burning the cereal on the outside.

Thanks!

[Megan Blocker]

Marlene, that lamb looks incredible. Wow.

Shelby, I have to agree - the macaroni and cheese in the pepper looks positively crave-able.

I've been on something of a Greenmarket tear recently - I made a Knoll Crest chicken on Sunday night and ate it all week - except for the night when I had Knoll Crest egg fettucine with beets and green beans. Too-licious, as my mother used to say.

[Dr. J]

Great looking pics mifi. Very nice colors.

This meal is Duck Ravioli (Purchased at Fox and Obel).

The sauce is basically a Mushroom, Butter, Cream reduction with Champagne.

The potatoes were boiled in very salty water with different spices then fried in oil. Great technique learned from Thomas Kellers bouchon book.

Quail was pan fried then finished in the oven.

The sauce for the qual was made using the pan I seared the quail in and adding and reducing, pork stock, white wine, white pepper, butter, mandarine orange for sweetness. Did the same thing with mango juice the next day and came out very nice as well.

[Kim Shook]

RAHiggins - love the turkey hash! I never think to do that with my leftover turkey, but it's a wonderful idea!

Shelby - BLTs !! We never have gotten any good local tomatoes this year, so I think that I'm just going to Costco and buy those good camparis from Canada and have BLTs and cream of tomato soup next week - we have a delivery of Benton's bacon due soon!

MiFi - that lobster sandwich looks wonderful and I am checking into flights to NS as I type this !

Daniel - amazing dinner! TOMA (the other Miss A) is a gem! I especially want one of those chalupitas!

David - I am amazed at that fish! I am going to look for something similar in our Asian grocery store. Was the word "Silverbarb" printed on the packaging?

Prawn - all that gorgeous pork! I am not sure if my favorite is the char siu (maybe my favorite Asian dish ever) or the lovely crackly piece on top of the chop!

Dinner last night was salad, scampi on angel hair and broccoli w/ cheese sauce. The broccoli was that crappy frozen stuff, but it was in the freezer and I needed a quick veg - but as I look at the picture, it strikes me that with that side, the dish might qualify for the Gallery of Regrettable Foods thread:

[David Ross]

Thanks Kim. Yes, "Silverbarb" was printed on the package of fish. Otherwise I would've had no clue what it was. The meat was bright white and had the taste of halibut but the flaky texture of trout. I'll definately buy it again.

Your angel hair pasta and shrimp look delicious. And I love that frozen broccoli and cheese dish-not regrettable at all.

[Megan Blocker]

Kim, that scampi looks great - really peppery, and the shrimp look so juicy. What method/recipe did you use?

[Kim Shook]

David - thank you! I'll look for it.

Megan - I brined the shrimp in a salt/water solution for about 30 minutes. The scampi part was just slivers of garlic, lightly toasted in clarified butter with parsley and lots of pepper added in at the last minute.

[Peter Green]

Brining! That's something I should get back to. Like garlic, you can never have too much salt.

I'm counting out my remaining hours of bachelorhood here, and so it occurred to me that if I'm going to experiment, I'd best do it now, before my critics return.

Hungry critics can be very unconstructive.

Tonight was a relatively simple affair.

Relatively.

I picked up some sardines the other day, and I remembered that marinated sardines always look so pretty on the food shows.

I followed the instructions (it's a guy thing), sauted the fish in herbs, garlic and olive oil, and then submerged everything in oil, vinegar, fish stock, peppercorns and whatever else was called for. The whole thing was then held down by the weight of sliced lemons atop.

The result, tasted now, was unfortunate.

The fish lacked any texture...mushy like peas but without the good memories might best describe the meat. And there was no joy in the flavour either. Perhaps it's this version of sardine - large (hand sized) - with the bitter disagreeability of the nasty part we remove from large mackerel steaks.

Excuse me a moment, while I try to wash that away.

The simple parts of the meal were much better.

I parboiled the potatoes, and then sauted them in good olive oil, garlic, and oregano, with some fresh ground pepper. Then I had some aioli I'd mixed up to go with them. (garlic....gotta have garlic).

I used these to counter some fresh radishes that I just had cleaned and sliced, taken with a small mound of pink salt.

The bitterness in the radishes was, in turn, softened by the aioli and olive background of the potatoes.

But, damnit, I can still taste the nasty part of that fish.

I'll be traumatized for days.

This is why it's good that Yoonhi and Serena aren't here.

[Daniel]

Well, you certainly get points for trying.. I think anchovies work best for marinating.. For sardines, I just grill them with some salt, maybe throw some herbs on the inside.. Sardines dont need much help they are amazing grilled.

[Peter Green]

Well, you certainly get points for trying.. I think anchovies work best for marinating.. For sardines, I just grill them with some salt, maybe throw some herbs on the inside.. Sardines dont need much help they are amazing grilled.

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Grilling would've worked a lot better, I agree.

But it's hard to spend days overthinking grilling. (I am in unrestrained bachelor mode right now)

Maybe I should try smoking some?

[Daniel]

I just have a simple plancha in my apartment.. But I also just heat up the cast iron pan and throw a little oil down... Takes longer to heat up the pan then it does to cook.

[nakji]

I attempted to recreate a dish I had at a yakitori bar near my home the other week. The original dish had some chicken braised in soy, over mizuna and onions and peppers. The flavours were great together, and it was really simple and refreshing. Since all the ingredients were easy for me to get, I took a stab at it for last night's dinner. Verdict? A hit!

I marinated some chicken thigh in soy, mirin, and calamansi overnight. When I got home, I sauteed some red onion, red pepper, and carrot matchsticks. Then I seared the chicken in the pan along with them, adding the marinade after the skin crisped up. I let that cook while I dressed the mizuna with dressing made from soy, lime juice, rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. I plated the mizuna, added the limp vegetables on top, and removed the chicken to be cut. I topped the whole thing with the chicken and additional dressing. The whole operation took about 20 minutes, since I always have veg prep done and in the fridge. I'll be making this again.

[Kim Shook]

Dinner last night was that eye of round roast:

a little overcooked - that was a tiny little sucker.

Along with Marlene's crispy smashed potatoes, roasted asparagus and Marlene's yorkies:

All covered with gravy! (I probably should have taken the picture pre-gravy!)

[CaliPoutine]

Dinner last night was that eye of round roast:

a little overcooked - that was a tiny little sucker.

Along with Marlene's crispy smashed potatoes, roasted asparagus and Marlene's yorkies:

All covered with gravy! (I probably should have taken the picture pre-gravy!)

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Maybe you or Marlene would like to be a guest chef for the Seniors???? They'd love that meal!! The last roast( I think back in January) I made for them was a disaster. My coordinator said to me " even I have trouble cooking roast". Yours looks perfect!!

[C. sapidus]

So many mouth-watering meals lately -- grilled corn and fish, a Mexican feast, twice-cooked pork, and that yakitori chicken salad –- scrumptious!

Shelby, anything stuffed in a Poblano chile is OK by me.

Clean-out-the-fridge steak salad with mango, red bell pepper, butter lettuce, sliced shallots, cilantro, flat-leaf coriander, scallions, and eternal cucumbers. We grilled strip steak to rare, sliced thinly, and then warmed the steak slices with a dressing of garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, roasted chile paste, and coconut milk.