Dinner! 2009

[Toliver]

Started with a retro salad of iceburg, olives, tomatoes, feta and pickles...smothered with homemade Catalina dressing.

Ended with Key Lime bars from Cook's Illustrated. They rock!

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Can you share the recipe for the Cataline dressing?

[kayb]

Roasted chicken thighs with peaches, ginger and garlic, from Mark Bittman's blog; sauteed eggplant with mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar, over brown rice; and old-fashioned Southern green beans and new potatos.

[monavano]

Started with a retro salad of iceburg, olives, tomatoes, feta and pickles...smothered with homemade Catalina dressing.

Ended with Key Lime bars from Cook's Illustrated. They rock!

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Can you share the recipe for the Cataline dressing?

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Sure! It's caled 1960's Catalina dressing, and it's so retro I love it!

http://www.recipezaar.com/1960s-Catalina-Dressing-33561

Edited August 4, 2009 by monavano (log)

[Corinna]

I love reading all these posts. They are all such an inspiration.

Tonight:

Barbara Kafta's zucchini custard with Mark Bittman's broiled mushroom & red onion w/basil & parsley vinagrette on the side. A delightful pairing with a Finger Lakes Riesling (and then a Seyval) and sunset.

One day I'll be organised enough for photos!

[Restorer]

Saturday night I improvised a Massaman curry. Massaman curry paste from a bag hidden in the back of the pantry, plus a can of light coconut milk, some chicken stock, and a touch of whipping cream. I didn't have any fish sauce, lime juice, or fresh herbs on hand, so I had to find substitutes. It still tasted good - I used enough curry paste to ensure that.

[menuinprogress]

Sushi night. We got some nice ingredients from a local Japanese market.

First up was a soup that looked appealing. No idea exactly what it was since there was no English on the packet, but we really liked it. Amazing vibrant green translucent bits of seaweed.

Next, a bit of toro sashimi. It had lovely flavor and texture.

And then some nigiri - salmon and hamachi (yellowtail). The salmon was very photogenic (and very good), but the hamachi was the flavor show-stealer.

To round it out, some California roll. No inside-out shenanigans here, and I'm not ashamed to say I love fake crab...

[Alinka]

percyn

I glazed the tart with heated and strained apricot jam.

monavano

Somebody's eating that bar ! Looks very creamy.

[Steve Sokoloff]

Mirlitons steamed and stuffed with brown rice, sauteed onions,poblanos, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots,queso fresco and a gratinee of jack and romano cheeses and panko crumbs. served with burgers that I ground myself from Short ribs and chuck tenders, with some onion and flat parsley salt and pepper mixed in.cooked to a rare-med. rare red center and served with carmelized onions and Pickapeppa sauce. I don't usually grind my own meat, but therib tail looked so good I had to use it. the chuck added just enough fat to keep the burgers tender. I was tempted to add some butter, but that would please neither my wife nor my cardiologist.

[Tri2Cook]

I've been tossing this idea around in my head for a couple weeks so I thought I better try it...

Meow

yellowfin tuna - catnip pesto - milk noodles - peas - catnip flowers - olive oil - sea salt

[heidih]

I've been tossing this idea around in my head for a couple weeks so I thought I better try it...

Meow

yellowfin tuna - catnip pesto - milk noodles - peas - catnip flowers - olive oil - sea salt

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Beautiful plating. When I look up catnip I do not see it as generally edible except for a form that is like lemon balm- is that what you used? The milk noodles are a great concept in terms of cats & milk- what was the texture like as opposed to the tuna?

[Tri2Cook]

Thanks. The catnip I used is nepeta cataria (commonly known as catnip, catmint and field balm). I have no idea if it's the same as the one you're refering to. My research assures me that it is safe for culinary use, it just doesn't appear to be very widely used other than as a tea. It is used relatively moderately in the pesto. Instead of the traditional all-herb pesto, it is a blend of equal parts catnip and fresh peas. The reason I wanted to moderate it was strictly for culinary reasons, I have no safety concerns. Eating fresh catnip leaves on their own seems to have a very mild mouth-numbing effect similar to menthol but much less powerful so I didn't want to go too heavy with it.

The noodles were a little less than perfect texture-wise with the tuna. It was a better idea than result. The taste was fine. I infused the milk with lemon zest and seasoned it with salt before setting it with agar, LBG and xanthan. It made for flexible, stable, warmable noodles that needed more body for this dish. They disappeared too easily in the mouth and were buried by the other ingredients. So basically, they fit the theme well and in a different setting I would probably have been very happy with them but they just weren't quite right for this one.

[Prawncrackers]

It's been a rather fishy week this week, started with simple fried snapper and salad:

Then today to celebrate a friends birthday I really went to town and made a Fritto Misto Di Mare.... or assorted deep fried fish if you like! This one included prawns, squid, monkfish, little nuggets of lobster knuckles and goats cheese. There was some rocket & radish, a thin crouton and garlic dressing:

The rest of the lobster was poached in vanilla scented butter. I made some tagliatelle with duck eggs and saffron. It was coated in a sauce made from a lobster bisque reduction, thickened right at the end with the tomalley and roe. A very intense luxurious tasting dish. My friend was very happy indeed!

[chileheadmike]

Green Chile Cheeseburger

Roasted green chiles from the garden

Tomatoes from the garden

Oven fries

Chipotle Aioli

[nikkib]

Then today to celebrate a friends birthday I really went to town and made a Fritto Misto Di Mare....  or assorted deep fried fish if you like!  This one included prawns, squid, monkfish, little nuggets of lobster knuckles and goats cheese.  There was some rocket & radish, a thin crouton and garlic dressing: 

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/12494027...5922_119533.jpg

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that looks amazing!

[lhollers]

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Dude, Prawn...this looks and sounds awesome! Nicely done!

[Prawncrackers]

Thanks guys, glad to have presented these dishes for your delectation!I'm proud of last night's meal as apart from the slice of bread for the Fritto Misto everything was made from scratch. It was one of the most challenging and satisfying I've ever cooked.

I have to fess up to couple of mistakes though:

The garlic dressing actually started off as an aioli that split badly (first time for everything). I couldn't rescue it so decided to just thin it out with oil and lemon. In the end it worked really well as alight (albeit slightly split) garlicky dressing rather than a rasping hot aioli.

The other was I forgot to add a little cream to the reduced lobster bisque. This would have made the sauce a little looser to coat the pasta. It was no big deal because there was just enough sauce anyway but it would have been nice. I suppose it made up for it by not diluting the intense lobster flavour. I think I got side-tracked because I was showing our guest how the horrible looking swamp-coloured roe turned a beautiful red when heated!

[deensiebat]

My friend was very happy indeed! 

Lucky friend!

[suzilightning]

not much worth photgraphing around here but this weekend FINALLY some decent things at the farmer's market: basil, some unblighted tomatoes and olives from Pickalicious. add in some whole wheat pasta and oven roasted shrimp for dinner. also tried some wine from Westfall Winery. the wine in the glass to the right is their cranberry wine. light and very refreshingly tart.

a few weeks ago after a workout i spent about an hour picking wineberries. i kept about half of these and made small steamed puddings with hard sauce and gave half to a neighbor for a pie.

[Pilori]

Did Mexican two nights in a row.

First, just a improvised fish taco with grilled sea bass, lime creme fraiche, and fresh made salsa. Also had grilled corn dusted with ancho chile.

Second, made some enchiladas verde with chicken from a Diane Kennedy recipe. Topped it with some lime creme fraiche, onions, cilantro, and cotija.

Sorry for the iPhone quality pics!

[monavano]

Clafouti-just make a simple custard and pour over your favorite summer fruit:

Viola!

[rooftop1000]

Last night was a gringo version of huevos rancheros with fried corn torillas with cheddar melted on them covered with beans, chorizo and 2 perfect over easy eggs. With sides of fresh salsa (home grown tomatoes and jalepenos and guacamole ....

unfortunatley I havent been able to get any pictures to upload since April

tracey

[kayb]

A Caprese salad the size of a dinner plate. With a glass of Santa Margherita pinot grigio. I'm content.

[C. sapidus]

Still renovating the house, so I am enjoying everyone’s lovely meals.

Mrs. C made BLTs with heirloom beefsteak tomatoes from the garden, I whisked up Sriracha mayonnaise, and the extended family made a nearly two pounds of thick-cut bacon disappear. We also enjoyed homemade borscht, kindly provided by our Russian friends.

[judiu]

Clafouti-just make a simple custard and pour over your favorite summer fruit:

Viola!

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Too, TOO beautiful!

[Restorer]

Tonight, I made chili. Whenever I get serious about making chili, it's a pretty involved process. I made this one using a method similar to bolognese sauce: cook down and caramelize the aromatics, meat, and tomato paste.

I found some mild Hatch chiles at the store, and chopped those up with a couple white onions. I rendered some pork chorizo, then removed it from the pan and cooked down the onions and peppers in the chorizo grease.

I made a puree from 4 ancho chiles and 4 California chiles, toasted under the toaster oven's broiler, and six cloves of garlic. Then I added that to the dutch oven, along with a small can of tomato paste and the chorizo. I cooked all that, stirring constantly, until it was nicely browned and caramelized.

Then I deglazed with the remnants of an oatmeal stout, and added two cups of water, 3 pounds of cubed beef chuck, some dark chili powder, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, black pepper, and 3 whole chiles de arbol. That was all thrown in the 275 degree oven for 2 hours.

Once I got the chili out of the oven, I added a masa harina roux to thicken it, and balanced the flavors with lemon juice, sugar, and salt.

It was really good. I had to make it milder than usual for my mother, but it still had really good chile flavors. I ended up eating half a sourdough baguette just dipping in the sauce. There's a full recipe and more pictures on my blog.