Dinner! 2009

[Jenni]

I'm flattered by the interest guys, but I'm gonna keep this one quiet, because it's hard enough to sell books without the recipes already being available for free online! I will say that there is besan and coriander (fresh) too, but no yoghurt.

No more guessing! My book on pancakes is supposed to be something slightly unusual and interesting so that people buy it out of curiosity!

[percyn]

Budding cook and entrepreneur - love it!!

Jenni, when is the book expected to be published?

[Jenni]

Budding cook and entrepreneur - love it!!

Jenni, when is the book expected to be published?

At the risk of totally derailing this thread (mods, please allow me this one post to clear it all up!) - One book is already out (Mango Soup). Next book will not be out for a while, I am taking my time with it because I am also at college and doing far too many other things!

[percyn]

I posted this in the Breakfast thread, though some might like it for dinner, so here goes...

Soft Scrambled Egg w/Uni - the subtle sweetness of the cream in the eggs complimented the sea-sweet sea urchins, make it super luxurious. Would make a great amuse bouche or appetizer.

[Blether]

That's a beautiful piece of uni (and a beautifully-done picture), percyn. You must have a good supplier.

The other day I finally got round to faking up an uni cream pasta - I also used a raw egg yolk in it. I got to thinking that smoked salmon is one of the options for moving it towards "Unibonara"; where I am, hokke is another.

Edited October 3, 2009 by Blether (log)

[percyn]

Thanks Blether.

Actually, the Uni Carbonara is one of the dishes I am planning to make, along with an Uni Custard.

[Jmahl]

Today we tried this recipe from the New York Times - Restaurant Style Pork Chops with Goat Cheese Polenta. Works nice. With it we drank a bottle of a 2008 Achavar Ferrer Malbac from Mendoza.

[prasantrin]

Uni scrambled eggs!! It's just scrambled eggs topped with a piece of uni? I could do that!

And how would one make uni carbonara? Perhaps there needs to be a new thread on that. I can make tarako spaghetti (no egg). Is that about the same?

[percyn]

prasantrin, there was some Uni scrambled into the egg as well to give it extra flavor.

Last night I made this concoction - Chapati, topped it with caramelized onions and crimini mushrooms, shaved Parmesan and Sliced Prime Beef. - fold it and enjoy

A childhood treat was fresh chapati, topped with butter or pure ghee and sugar. - roll it up and enjoy.

Edited October 4, 2009 by percyn (log)

[Jenni]

I feel I should share with other eGulleters my version of the Sunday roast! Roast potatoes, roast sweetcorn (not shown), green beans and masoor dal with courgettes. Roast potatoes immersed in dal is one of life's greatest pleasures. The potatoes, sweetcorn and beans were all homegrown. It may be a mistake to call the beans green, as they are actually purple before cooking. My Dad informs me that they are a variety called "Cherokee trail of tears" beans. They are very tasty.

[BobLee]

That looks delicious, especially the potatoes.

[kayb]

Italian Roast Chicken with meat stuffing, cooked on the grill, for a dinner party last weekend:

A mix of olive oil, thyme, basil, oregano and fennel rubbed beneath the skin, and the skin rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and freshly cracked pepper. The meat stuffing has ground beef, an egg, some grated parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, thyme, fennel; it's stuffed into the cavity and bastes the bird from the inside as she cooks.

Later in the week, beef and barley soup with roasted sweet potatos with pimenton and cayenne, and cheese toast (sourdough with grated Gruyere).

I love sweet potatos like this, particularly now when they're in season; olive oil, a little sugar, smoked pimenton, cayenne, roast.

[percyn]

Dinner today was half a South Philly Hoagie left over from lunch

Then I started to sautee some bacon bits and leeks, added some porcini pasta, folded in egg yolks and Parmesan and topped it with some uni.

It was delicious, but wish I would have let the pasta cool a bit more before adding the eggs and Parmesan.

[Blether]

And how would one make uni carbonara? Perhaps there needs to be a new thread on that. I can make tarako spaghetti (no egg). Is that about the same?

Hi, Prasantrin

This is my development recipe, as it stands. I know what I mean by everything, but it's not edited for the general reader. Use at your own risk !

20090908 Euan's uni cream pasta

for two:

1/2 clove garlic, sliced fine

1/4 onion, chopped

small pinch of cayenne

knob of butter - 1/2 oz ?

2 tsps lemon juice, or a glass of wine (try umeboshi ? Yuzu juice ?)

100ml double cream

2 tsp grated parmesan

1 small tray of uni

1 egg yolk

(Try some saffron ?)

Yakinori for garnish

Fry garlic, onion & cayenne in butter till translucent (5 mins ?). Add lemon juice and cook off liquid, or wine and reduce to a scant couple of teaspoons. Add cream, parmesan & a grind of black pepper, season with salt, stir and reserve.

(Start 8-minute pasta just before adding the cream)

While the pasta cooks, reserve two whole uni for garnish, mince the rest, add them to the egg yolk in a bowl and whisk togather.

When the pasta is 1 minute before ready, add the uni/yolk mix to the cream sauce and drain the pasta (saving some of the water). Stir two or three tablespoons of the water into the sauce, then toss the pasta in it. Adjust the looseness with more pasta water as needed.

Serve garnished with the reserved whole uni, and nori cut in fine strips.

Try adding some prosciutto to the sauce with the uni & yolk, for a more carbonara-like dish ? Or some smoked salmon or similar ? "Carbonara di mare"... shredded hokke (or kipper) seasoned with lemon juice & black pepper; hot-smoked salmon likewise

Try large tsubure (soft-type) umeboshi instead of lemon juice / wine ? 7% salt type, and some salt, or just 13% salt type ?

Getting the quantities right is what will make the dish succeed. I overdid the lemon juice, and was caught out too by how much the sauce thickened with the uni and just one egg yolk. More pasta water ?

Parmesan cheese - this was OK. Anyway I'm looking to avoid any hint of 'oh, uni... and cheese' and just enhance 'uni' to 'uni with real savour'.

The garlic, butter and cream are about right, though the cream measurement is a guess after a free pour, as is the lemon juice, still. Who really measures the stuff ? What I mean here is 'a smaller squeeze' (this amount of grated parmesan I did by eye, too). I've said it could be yuzu juice, but as you and I kmow, there's not much character in the huice, just as with lemon or lime. So Yuzu juice could be good if it's in season and you've some around, or if you stock the bottled stuff - or wanted to sound fancy on a menu - but isn't important and I think adding any yuzu zest / real yuzu flavour would be too much when there's already so much other flavour going on, a gilded lily.

I was surprised how far one little tray of uni goes - it could easily stretch for four, maybe more, only increasing other sauce ingredients in proportion with the pasta. Put another way, you could use much less and keep the rest for something else.

Getting onto the unibonara idea, you can see my notes. I love smoked salmon, but have been disappointed with it cooked in the past - it feels like a waste. So, in Japan, maybe some hokke. Back in the UK, kipper, or hot smoked salmon, which came into fashion in the time since I left. Smoked trout would be delicious, and the ubiquitous (as was; still ?) smoked mackerel another alternative.

I started out experimenting with umeboshi in a curry recipe. I like what it provides and I think it could find a place here. For the occasional refresher, I like to keep some large, soft, 6 or 7% salt jobs around, the hachimitsu (honey) type, which makes them my default.

Edited October 4, 2009 by Blether (log)

[menuinprogress]

Smoked duck with lentils:

The duck was cooked a bit more than we normally do, which hurt the breast meat a little. This was more than compensated for by the best tasting layer of duck fat I've experienced to date - smokey, savory and succulent.

The side was Lentils Braised in Red Wine from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and it paired very well.

[Prawncrackers]

Then I started to sautee some bacon bits and leeks, added some porcini pasta, folded in egg yolks and Parmesan and topped it with some uni.

It was delicious, but wish I would have let the pasta cool a bit more before adding the eggs and Parmesan.

I am suffering from such uni envy you just can't believe! Would love to experiment cooking with it as you are Percy. Alas my wife isn't really keen on it so I will have to make do with eating the odd morsel at my favourite sushi joint. Keep them coming i want to see more Uni food porn

[Darienne]

My very first posting on this thread.

My friend gave me this wonderful cookbook on potatoes and the pictures are the bait every time. I know, I know. Not very sophisticated. So I made this dish, Potatoes baked with Tomatoes, a recipe from the South of Italy, and my finished supper looked as good as the photo in the book...my photograph does not look as good as the one in the book and I thought I would post it.

[Jmahl]

For an early dinner chili relleno con tres quesos (with three cheeses) red beans and toasted tortillas.

[Blether]

My friend gave me this wonderful cookbook on potatoes

Mmm... potatoes. that looks nice.

Tonight, ad-libbed garlicky chicken curry with cream, and spiced Basmati.

The rice: a little golden-fried chopped onion, cumin, turmeric, 2" cinnamon, 3 bay leaves, home-bottled ghee, 1 pint of rice

Curry: golden-fried onion, cumin, turmeric, whole cardamom pods, home-blended mild curry paste; chicken breast marinated in salt, minced red chili from the balcony, lots of minced garlic, and for the last 15 minutes, the juice of half a lemon; crushed canned tomatoes; finished with garam masala and a little cream. Having read Shalmanese's great new topic today, I wrote it down

Edited October 6, 2009 by Blether (log)

[percyn]

Welcome to the thread Darienne. If the thread were just about sophisticated food, more than half my posts would have to be deleted. Besides that potato and tomato dish looks just fine.....hmmmmm.

Went to a Sichuan restaurant last night. I know the owner and he wanted to test out a new cook. So we enjoyed...

West Lake Soup

Scallops w/Baby Bok Choy

Garlic stir fried rommane lettuce

Whole Sichuan Fish

Stir fried scallops

Kung Pao Chicken

Lamb w/Cumin

Chicken w/Crispy Rice

Each dish was more delicious than the previous. He hired the chef and we left with very full bellies.

Edited October 6, 2009 by percyn (log)

[Darienne]

Welcome to the thread Darienne. If the thread were just about sophisticated food, more than half my posts would have to be deleted. Besides that potato and tomato dish looks just fine.....hmmmmm.

Went to a Sichuan restaurant last night. I know the owner and he wanted to test out a new cook. So we enjoyed...

Thank you for your kind welcome. (I am much intrigued by your avatar)

Wonderful looking Chinese food. The plates are so clean and fine looking. My DH adores Szechwan...my own preferred spelling ...food and all my many peccadilloes are tolerated and forgiven because I make him Szechwan a couple of times a week.

[gwl]

I am just amazed and impressed with the quality of the food that is regularly displayed on these pages. I have been reading this board for many years, and just recently registered. I hope to participate as time goes on...

gwl

[Blether]

A homely-looking Eve's Pudding with poured cream

From this recipe, with lemon zest added to the apple.

Edited October 7, 2009 by Blether (log)

[gregnz]

Rump steak, red wine and basil.

[Jenni]

Tonight I made greek style baked beans and olive bread. It was served with a little cheddar cheese. Delicious - I can never understand why people don't make their own bread more often. It literally takes a few minutes of work, and then it's just a matter of waiting and baking.