Dinner! 2008

[David Ross]

This dish is a white fish on a champagne sauce from Thomas Keller's French Laundry.  I made a couple of changes to the recipe where the reduction was made with champagne not wine and I used white wine vinegar rather than champagne vinegar.  Also used Goat butter which I had never tried before, came out very nice.  Topped with star fruit.

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Very nice Dr. J. That fish, (especially the crispy skin), looks quite delicious.

[Shelby]

Crappy picture, but I made oxtails for the first time last night! They were soooo good. I braised them in beef broth and red wine and then popped them in the oven for about three hours. We had them with buttered egg noodles.

A few days ago we had deviled eggs

and tuna melts!

[C. sapidus]

Shelby, your oxtails sound delicious, and the tuna melt looks like it wants to ooze cheesy goodness right onto my task bar.

AlexusF: Thanks for the kind words!

We cooked Indian again tonight.

Shrimp curry: We simmered chicken stock with cayenne, paprika, turmeric, coriander, cumin, garlic, and ginger until the mixture thickened. We added coconut milk and tamarind paste, brought everything to a simmer, and then cooked megajumbo shrimp until just done. Tamarind gave the spicy coconut milk an addictive tang.

Braised mustard greens: We fried minced onion, ginger, garlic, coriander and cumin, and then added chopped mustard greens and chicken stock. After braising until the greens softened, we removed the lid, fried the greens until dry, and topped with garam masala. The boys enjoyed the greens, much to their chagrin.

Cumin basmati rice: Soaked the rice for 30 minutes and steamed it with cumin and black pepper that had been sizzled in ghee. Turned out nicely.

Edited September 8, 2008 by C. sapidus (log)

[Ce'nedra]

A family friend came over with fresh banh tet (a Vietnamese 'cake' of sorts made with glutinous rice mixed with some kind of bean and filled with pork bits, glistening pork fat and mungbean paste). The bundle arrived wrapped in banana leaves -I unwrapped it and cut the banh tet into thick slices, pan-fried both sides and served with a dipping of soy sauce.

The pictures below don't do it justice (blame my photography skills) but boy, was it tasty! I believe it's particularly delicious pan-fried, giving it that crispy exterior. Combined with the melting pork fat, how can you go wrong?!

[nakji]

If I might add, Ce'nedra, those are also excellent for breakfast, especially with a cup of thick Vietnamese coffee.

I like mine dipped in Chin Su tuong ot sauce.

[AlexusF]

Ribs n- coffee. Love both! What did you serve with those delicious ribs? Did you add anything to the coffee marinade or was it straight joe? Gas grill? Charcoal? I use my gas grill quite a bit but I miss the down-to-earthiness of my Weber kettle. Poor thing sits in my garage waiting...

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Hi! Here is the marinade:

Marinade:

4 cups water

3 cups chilled strong brewed coffee

1/2 cup coarse kosher salt

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons (packed) dark brown sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 cups ice cubes

4 pounds ribs

Preparation

For marinade:

Stir 4 cups water, coffee, 1/2 cup coarse salt, and sugar in large bowl until salt and sugar dissolve. Add syrup and next 3 ingredients; stir until ice melts. Add ribs. Place plate atop ribs to keep submerged. Cover and chill 4 to 6 hours. Drain ribs; discard marinade. DO AHEAD: Drained ribs can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.

I normally use our big gas grill but wanted to cook these really slow so used our old webber and they turned out TERRIFIC! Really deep, intense flavor.

Ive also used the marinade on short ribs that I later braised and WOW!!!

[AlexusF]

Special Sunday night dinner- Beef wellington which turned out really good! Pinot Noir sauce on top and white truffle mashed potatoes. Not one of my best photos but we were STARVING and ready to eat!

[AlexusF]

Crappy picture, but I made oxtails for the first time last night!  They were soooo good.  I braised them in beef broth and red wine and then popped them in the oven for about three hours.  We had them with buttered egg noodles.

A few days ago we had deviled eggs and tuna melts!

Note to self... NEVER read this board when you are hungry. Never. Ever.

[gfron1]

Leftovers from an Indian cooking class that I taught yesterday...Aloo Gobi Paneer (homemade paneer) with fresh chapati.

[C. sapidus]

gfron1, your chapati are gorgeous! I have some chapati flour but have not yet found the time to try my hand. Any tips that you care to share?

Xie Laoban’s dan dan noodles (from Land of Plenty -- made with thin spaghetti or I would have posted on the Chinese cooking thread), and dry-fried green beans (made with ground beef instead of pork). Younger son had three cavities filled this afternoon, so he was tormented by having to wait until nearly bedtime to try the noodles.

Sesame paste (tahini) gave the noodle sauce plenty of body; dried chiles, chile oil, and a double dose of Sichuan peppercorns added plenty of ma la. I prefer this version of dan dan noodles -- the flavors are more pronounced compared with Ms. Dunlop's "traditional" dan dan noodles.

Mrs. C is donating the leftovers to a soldier who loves spicy food.

Edited to clarify and expound.

Edited September 9, 2008 by C. sapidus (log)

[Shelby]

Bruce: Those dan dan noodles look SO good and spicy!

Alexus: I've never attempted beef wellington--you're my hero! I love your plates, too.

Ce'nedra: The banh tet looks to die for. I just want to crawl in the screen and take a big bite!

[Kim Shook]

Randi - re: that eye of round roast - I, too, am roast challenged actually. I usually would rather make a pot roast so I don't have to worry about getting it perfectly done. The problem with this roast is that I don't really know how much of a temperature jump it takes after you turn the oven off - it sits in there awhile and then tented in foil awhile - so if the roast isn't exactly the same weight as the recipe calls for, its hard to adjust the timing to get a perfectly cooked roast. My first one was great, the second a little overcooked. (sorry - I know your post was way back, but I just noticed it).

Dr. J - using puff pastry as a base for benedict is a great idea! And gives me an excuse to do what I always want to do with puff pastry anyway - just eat giant slabs of it !

Bruce - that Green basmati rice with pureed spinach and watercress is just making me crazy! What a lovely dish and a great picture, too. I do pretty well substituting orzo for rice most of the time, but that picture perfectly shows why sometimes rice is necessary to a dish. That fluffliness, the perfect separate grains . <Sigh>

Shelby - I want all that stuff for dinner tonight. I don't care if it doesn't go together or that I hate hot tuna, I want it!!!

Sunday night dinner we started out with a caprese salad made with these teeny-tiny little heirloom tomatoes:

too cute to pass up at our brand new Whole Foods.

Mr. Kim requested this:

its a pork loin roast with an apple/bread stuffing. It was kinda hard to do since Costco decided to cut the entire thing in half and tie it up so that you couldn't tell . Instead of one big butterflied loin, I ended up with two little ones.

Served with extra stuffing (I baked it in little pans, because all the stuffing wouldn't fit in my mini roasts), mash potatoes, and brussel sprouts:

Boy, could this dish have used some of Marlene's gravy! It tasted really good, but it was a little dry - the pork was a little mild, next time I'll invest in the good pork from our butcher shop. Also, we have enough left for probably 4 meals each! Jessica won't eat it and I don't like leftovers (not a flavor issue, I just don't like eating the same thing over and over).

This strudel (also a Mr. Kim request - this always happens when he watches the food network on weekend mornings!) was dessert and you can read of my troubles with it here:

[gfron1]

gfron1, your chapati are gorgeous! I have some chapati flour but have not yet found the time to try my hand. Any tips that you care to share?

Thanks. Normally I would use chapati flour, but its getting harder for me to buy. This is:

1 1/3 C. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 C. AP Flour

3/4 t. Salt

2 T. Melted Ghee

2/3 C. Warm Water

Combine dry, finger in the ghee then add the water and knead 10 min. Cover and rest for 1 hour.

I melt extra ghee in a med hot skillet. Roll out my ping pong ball sized dough ball as thin as I can possibly get it. Mine are almost, right on the edge of, see thru. I set them in the hot skillet, take a soup spoon, pour a little extra ghee on the chapati, then move the bottom of my spoon in circles on the top of the chapati - just letting the weight of the spoon do the work - I don't put any pressure on it. Within seconds the chapati will start to blister and I keep making circles. When I see that its started to brown on the edges I flip and do the same on the other side. It only cooks about 45 seconds at most. I don't know what the key is, but I was taught that it was the spoon circles that make the difference. Hope it works!

[muichoi]

Those are pretty unusual chapatis! the use of ghee is not normal here, indeed you could argue in particular that its use during the cooking process makes them not chapatis at all, not to mention the shape!

[AlexusF]

Evening everyone! I roasted a chicken after rubbing it with garlic and lemon and stuffing both under the skin. Turned out really nice. Too bad the skin is so bad for you- IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!

What did you eat?

[Shelby]

Evening everyone! I roasted a chicken after rubbing it with garlic and lemon and stuffing both under the skin. Turned out really nice. Too bad the skin is so bad for you- IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!!!

What did you eat?

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OMG hold the chicken, I'll take the skin

[AlexusF]

OMG hold the chicken, I'll take the skin 

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LOL.. the biggest problem was my husband pulling off ALL the skin and gobbling it instead of carving. I only got one little piece! Blahhh....

We are trying to work on that whole eating healthier thing but well.. it never seems to WORK for me.

[AlexusF]

OMG hold the chicken, I'll take the skin 

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Hey! Did you post your oxtail recipe somewhere? Ive been craving them ever since reading about them.

[Dr. J]

Thanks for the compliments guys, much appreciated.

Here is the recipe for the sauce.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of shallots

1 large thyme sprig

1 large italian sprig

1 bay leaf

6 black peppercorns

2/3 cup of dry white wine

1/2 cup champagne vinegar

1/4 cup heavy cream

8 ounces of buter.

2 to 3 tablespoons of stock (i used veal you can use fish, or chicken)

1 teaspoon of minced chevril

1 teaspoon of minced tarragon

1 teaspoon of minced chives.

Put the shallots, thyme, parsley, sprig, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a medium saucepan and add the white wine and champagne vingar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Remove from heat.

Add heavy cream to the reduction, place the pan over medium heat, and simmer to reduced the liquid by half: the sauce should be thick enough to coat teh back of a spoon. Begin adding the butter one piece at a time, whisking constantly to keep the sauce emulsified; add each new piece of butter before the previous one has completely melted. The sauce should remain warm to teh touch but not be simmering. When all the butter is incorporated, strain into a small sauce pan, stir the stock and keep in a warm place. Before serving stir in the minced chevril, parsley, tarragon and chives.

From thomas kellers bouchon.

[Shelby]

OMG hold the chicken, I'll take the skin 

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Hey! Did you post your oxtail recipe somewhere? Ive been craving them ever since reading about them.

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I'll pm it to you

[C. sapidus]

Shelby, thank you!

Kim, thank you, and apologies for triggering rice envy. With the meals that you prepare, I certainly would not miss rice.

gfron1, thanks for the details about your chapati method.

muichoi, care to tell how you make chapati?

Last night we made char siu pork for banh mi, using the recipe from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Debone pork shoulder, cut into logs, and marinate for eight hours with hoisin sauce, honey, garlic, dark and light soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, five-spice powder, and sesame oil. Bake in a hot oven, rolling the pork in the marinade every few minutes. Rest the pork, slice against the grain, and serve with hollowed-out baguettes.

Fixings included carrot and daikon pickle, chopped cilantro, thinly-sliced cucumbers and jalapeno chiles, mayonnaise, Maggi sauce, and a tin of foie gras that my mother brought back from France. Foie gras makes a decadent banh mi, for sure.

We had a guest, so no pictures.

[AlexusF]

Thanks for the compliments guys, much appreciated. 

Here is the recipe for the sauce.

From thomas kellers bouchon.

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Thanks!! LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! Going to use it this weekend!!

[Prawncrackers]

Last night we made char siu pork for banh mi, using the recipe from.....

.......

We had a guest, so no pictures.

Hmm, you had Char Siu & Foie Gras baguettes Bruce but no pictures?! Hope your guest was happy that they've deprived us gullleters of this visual treat. Make some more right away, you can't tease us like this!

[muichoi]

C. sapidus, chapatis are made from atta and water with an optional pinch of salt. Water is added to the atta to make a firm but supple dough, then this is kneaded thoroughly( about 52% hydration). This is then wrapped and rested then divided into walnut sized pieces which are rolled into circles then cooked on a griddle. After the second side is finished the chapati is held directly over the flame until it puffs.

It sounds easy but requires a lot of practice.

[gfron1]

My apologies for being loose with my terminology. My "chapati" was actually a Paratha according to Yamuna Dethi's cookbook. "Paratha dough is similar to chapati dough except for a little ghee or butter to enrich it and less water, making it a medium-stiff instead of a medium dough."