Dinner! 2008

[MiFi]

Beef Bourgogne w/spatzle

[lucylou95816]

Marcia

How are those shiritake noodles? I have been wanting to try them, but a little leary. Would they be good carbonara style?

[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:

Man, David Ross, your food looks stunning, as usual. I don't like herring in cream but your photo makes me want some. And yes to the pickled red onions. If you don't have any in the fridge, even a 30 minute soak in rice vinegar makes a big difference in taste, texture and appearance.

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Thank you. I was trying to create a Scandanavian theme menu and I thought this salad would fit within that theme.

I couldn't find my Rick Bayless recipe for the pickled onions, so I made one up using apple cider vinegar, water, sugar and mixed pickling spices. I cheated and put in a few drops of red food coloring to bring out the pink hue of the onions.

[Misplaced_Texan]

Rolled Pig's Spleen with thinly sliced raw red onions and cornichons.

Edited January 15, 2008 by Misplaced_Texan (log)

[rooftop1000]

Months after Suzylighting's blog I finally made my way to Schindlers Butcher shop in Rockaway NJ

We picked up 6 Brats, 2 Smoked Cheddarwurst, 1/2lb of Bacon, 1 mini store made Leiberkase, Sauerkraut perogies...and a Ritter Sport candy bar

Saturday was sausage sandwiches with either kraut or red cabbage (red for me)

The Brats are great interesting seasonings...the smoked ones were too everything(smokey, tough, dry)

And Sunday was Leiberkase, a leftover Brat, seared pork tenderloin(in bacon fat), potato dumplings, kraut, and asparagus

nice chicken soup and a salad tonight

tracey

[Shelby]

Rolled Pig's Spleen with thinly sliced raw red onions and cornichons.

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Interesting! I haven't had time to read all about it yet. We process a pig about once a year. I have never heard of eating the spleen! I love liver and heart. Thank you for sharing!

[suzilightning]

Months after Suzylighting's blog I finally made my way to Schindlers Butcher shop in Rockaway NJ

We picked up 6 Brats, 2 Smoked Cheddarwurst, 1/2lb of Bacon, 1 mini store made Leiberkase, Sauerkraut perogies...and a Ritter Sport candy bar

tracey

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tracey,

go for the maultashen and ONLY the fresh wursts next time.

[demiglace]

[Ok, as requested the Scalloped Tomato recipe is now on RecipeGullet.

Thanks for posting the recipe....can you describe your cheese potatoes please

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Do you mean the stuffed baked ones that I served with the burgers or the ones with Christmas dinner that were in the crock pot?

Kim

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Both..

[doctortim]

Several dinners from the last week:

Pork noodles

These were fresh rice noodles with char siu pork, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, egg, and spring onions. Maximum credit should go to hzrt8w for this excellent Chinese cooking tutorials. Although the method of cooking was not traditional (Cast iron frying pan on an electric stove), by heating the pan until smoking I was able to achieve the heat necessary to get some of those caramelized, smoky flavours I was after. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and the next night I finished the noodles by following hzrt8w's recipe for beef noodles.

Beef and chickpea curry. Although I really should be using up the stocks occupying space in the freezer, I had an urge to cook a curry.

Macaroni and cheese. I'm the only one in the house who likes any form of macaroni and cheese, so while home alone I made this recipe from Cooking for Engineers. Very creamy, although next time I'll mess with the flavours a little to suit my tastes.

[Shelby]

Lovely Dr T! But I have to wonder about the company you keep--don't like mac and cheese??????

[Ann_T]

Thanks Bruce and Demiglaze.

Ann T - I got that same camera.  I really like it, but it makes me feel like an idiot.  I want to take a class now so I can take advantage of all the bells and whistles!

Kim

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Kim, when you figure the camera out maybe you can help me. I'm basically just using the auto setting.

MiFi Your Beef Bourgogne looks delicious. Spaetzle is a favourite of ours.

doctortim It is the opposite in my family. My husband and son love mac and cheese and I'm the one that doesn't care for it. I'd be happy with your pork noodles and that gorgeous looking curry.

Moe requested Chicken Souvlaki for dinner last night, so that is what we had.

[purplewiz]

Marcia

How are those shiritake noodles?  I have been wanting to try them, but a little leary.  Would they be good carbonara style?

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No, I don't think they would be. They have a texture more similar to bean threads when they're boiled - great for Asian soups and there's an "ants on a log" dish that's a sauce made from ground pork and other goodies served over bean threads that I have a recipe for around here somewhere. But I think the shiritakes are too chewy or glutinous to be a good substitute for Italian pasta.

Saturday was sausage sandwiches with either kraut or red cabbage (red for me)

The Brats are great interesting seasonings...the smoked ones were too everything(smokey, tough, dry)

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Oh, that looks WONDERFUL! Sorry the smoked ones were too much, but they're lovely in the picture!

Marcia.

[nakji]

:swoons:

I'm going to look that one up! It's the sort of thing I would be back at the fridge, an hour after dinner, gobbling mouthfuls from the leftover dish, hoping no one could hear me....

[sadie4232]

Last night I sauteed corn, shrimp and chorizo, added some chopped tomatoes and mixed it together with a lovely vinegarette made by browning some minced garlic cloves in olive oil. Once the oil cooled slightly, I added some sweet paprika and let it steep for about 15 minutes. Strained it, whisked it with some sherry vinegar and pored it over the corn, shrimp and chorizo and topped it off with some chopped cilantro. Served the warm salad with toasted garlic bread. From the empty plates, it seems to have been a hit.

[Kim Shook]

Mifi - love the idea of beef bourg. w/ spatzle! I've been serving my meaty/gravy stuff lately with polenta and I really like the idea of trying spatzle - thanks for the idea!!

doctortim - thanks for posting the mac n cheese photo. That recipe has been recommended to me and I am going to try it soon. My folks are not wild about it either, but I'm going to make it anyway. They can eat it or not. Wish we could share !

demiglace - re: the potatoes - the stuffed potatoes are just baked, scooped out and smooshed up with shredded cheese, a little sour cream, a little cream cheese, butter, salt, pepper and chives. Shove it all back in the skins, top with additional cheese and bake until crusty. The basic recipe for the crock pot ones is here. It's actually from Taste of Home magazine . I added a lot of really good cheddar and froze it. I put it in a crock pot to keep warm for Xmas eve dinner and checked it about an hour before everyone was to arrive. I will come out here and admit that they were like soup ! I had Mr. Kim run to the store for some potato flakes and dumped them in until it all thickened up. This did not happen when I made them the first time - I think that it was a combo of freezing and crock pot. Anyway - they were the one thing that EVERY single person loved Christmas Eve !

Kim

[Shelby]

This was dinner last night:

Chicken quesadillas with black beans and sour cream

[monavano]

Beef Bourguignon tonight. I made it yesterday letting it braise in it's juices and a bottle of red wine for hours at 275 degrees. I added chopped bacon towards the end for smokiness. Served with smashed yukons.

[demiglace]

Mifi - love the idea of beef bourg. w/ spatzle!  I've been serving my meaty/gravy stuff lately with polenta and I really like the idea of trying spatzle - thanks for the idea!!

doctortim - thanks for posting the mac n cheese photo.  That recipe has been recommended to me and I am going to try it soon.  My folks are not wild about it either, but I'm going to make it anyway.  They can eat it or not.  Wish we could share  !

demiglace - re: the potatoes - the stuffed potatoes are just baked, scooped out and smooshed up with shredded cheese, a little sour cream, a little cream cheese, butter, salt, pepper and chives.  Shove it all back in the skins, top with additional cheese and bake until crusty.    The basic recipe for the crock pot ones is here. It's actually from Taste of Home magazine  .  I added a lot of really good cheddar and froze it.  I put it in a crock pot to keep warm for Xmas eve dinner and checked it about an hour before everyone was to arrive.  I will come out here and admit that they were like soup  !  I had Mr. Kim run to the store for some potato flakes and dumped them in until it all thickened up.  This did not happen when I made them the first time - I think that it was a combo of freezing and crock pot.  Anyway - they were the one thing that EVERY single person loved Christmas Eve !

Kim

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Thanks I will have to try them both!!

[C. sapidus]

Shelby, those are sure purty quesadillas!

monavano, nice!

All About Braising dinner tonight: Goan chicken with cilantro, mint, and ginger; and creamy braised Brussels sprouts. Jasmine rice and eternal cucumbers completed the meal. The family voted the Goan chicken (particularly the sauce) their new favorite.

[Shalmanese]

Ceviche of Turbot & Mango. Some mint, sambal and black sesame for accent notes.

Five Spice Crusted Scallop, Parsnip-Ginger Puree, Fiery Herb Sauce, Sesame. The Herb Sauce was Szechuan Pepper and Chilli infused oil, scallions, cilantro and rice vinegar. Definitely going into my permanent repertoire. Each scallop was 1/4 of a lb! The texture and flavour contrasts made this my favourite dish of the night. Also, this was my first time to bust out those awesome plates I got in Taiwan.

Ravioli of Duck Confit, Edamame, Chives and Truffled Potatoes, Lemongrass & Coriander scented Duck Comsomme. This was the dish I was most excited about conceptually but the least certain about. I didn't have a clue whether those flavours would all work together but it ended up really coming together as a coherent whole. Not as pretty presentation wise but it tasted great. Nice and meaty and satisfying.

Pineapple-Lemongrass Zabligione. The moscato we were drinking was Saracco, lovely intense pear and candy notes, my favourite wine in the whole world. Paired with my favourite dessert in the whole world... Bliss.

Edited January 18, 2008 by Shalmanese (log)

[monavano]

Ham, pea and pasta "casserole".

[nakji]

Stunning menu, Shalmanese! Is that a menu curled up in the background of the first photo? What kind of scallops did you use? And when are you inviting us all around for dinner?

[Emily_R]

Hi folks --

No picture, but made one of the best new recipes i've tried in a while last night. A Giada recipe from food network for beef and butternut squash stew that also included sun dried tomatoes, marsala wine, and fresh rosemary and thyme. It was truly outstanding, the most fabulous melding of flavors... SO good! Only modification I made to the recipe was to add a tablespoon of tomato paste and to cook it much longer than the 1 hour the recipe calls for -- about 1.5 hours covered and another 45 minutes or so uncovered. Also nice that with the butternut in there it really didn't need a major starch with it... I just served it with some garlic bread...

[Ted Fairhead]

Yesterday we had a plate of steamed mussels followed by Emeril's Cobb Salad

The organic hydroponic Boston Lettuce was delicious. A new brand to me that came in a clear plastic box with the roots curled neatly below.

Then today we had Julia Child's Belgian Endives wrapped in ham in a Mornay sauce

However, the endives were very hard. I prepared them as Julia suggests by braising them for ten minutes after carefully trimming the ends and coring the root end. They were a little bitter, more so at the root end, but the real problem was they were so hard and crunchy. Did I not braise them long enough? Should they have cooked longer than the 30 minutes in a 375 oven?

I would like to try them again as the flavors were good. Any suggestions?

[Domestic Goddess]

Today, I made Oyakudon for the first time.

Hiroyuki, et al - the korean mirin worked! Thanks!