Dinner! 2009

[Kim Shook]

It looks like I haven’t posted about a meal since July! I’ve been spending a LOT of time on the road lately dealing with family health problems and so haven’t been cooking much at all. Monday nights are for unpacking and going to bed early and Thursday nights are spent doing laundry and packing. So Tuesday and Wednesday nights have been mostly take-out, frozen pizza, quick sandwiches or breakfast – i.e. nothing worth noting or taking pictures of, certainly. But I have been sneaking peeks at eG all the while and longing for the days when I am home more! Just a few comments to catch up!

percyn – that patty melt with the egg is fantastic – I have to try that SOON! And your smorgasbord is my very favorite kind of meal!

Shelby – your tomatoes are gorgeous. I haven’t had any that looked like that in YEARS! Not from a farm stand, garden or market! Wow.

menuinprogress – love the taquitos – I’ve never made my own and I don’t know why! Now I want to try soon!

monavano – your corn soup is lovely, but I was totally captivated by the idea of putting a ham croquette on top! Thanks for posting the Catalina dressing recipe. I can’t wait to try it.

Alinka – I would have asked for both a slice of the gorgeous fruit tart AND a cupcake!

lesliec – your ‘Christmas’ dinner sounded delicious and intriguiging! I wish I could have seen pictures!

Prawn – I would trade all of my next week’s meals for one plate of your Fritto Misto Di Mare! Amazing!

Bruce – that’s the best looking BLT I’ve seen all summer!

The one occasion that I have cooked for recently was Mr. Kim’s family reunion last weekend. I made a fresh salsa with a lot of help from an online friend. It consisted of grilled corn and jalapenos, black beans, tomatoes, roasted tomato sauce and roasted garlic and all the usual add-ins: red onion, cilantro, lime juice, etc.

The corn and jalapenos:

The roasted tomatoes and garlic:

Finished:

It was delicious (and made a TON of salsa – we still have some left) and very popular.

I also made the much maligned, but delectable Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding:

It is trashy, fragrant, utter delicious doughnut goodness . I’ve noticed that the folks at all the food boards who express horror at the idea of this dish are never the ones who’ve tasted it. All I can say is that 20 minutes after I put it in the oven, everyone in the house starts to congregate in the kitchen, sniffing and wondering when it will be done!

Tonight is Mr. Kim’s birthday and we are off to his favorite German restaurant (it’s 90 degrees here today – do Germans even eat German food when it’s that hot?), the Bavarian Chef in Madison, VA. I am planning on ordering the snail fritters and begging bites of everyone else’s entrees! :lol:

[Soup]

It is trashy, fragrant, utter delicious doughnut goodness .  I’ve noticed that the folks at all the food boards who express horror at the idea of this dish are never the ones who’ve tasted it.  All I can say is that 20 minutes after I put it in the oven, everyone in the house starts to congregate in the kitchen, sniffing and wondering when it will be done!

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Please, I need the recipe for this amazing looking creation.

[Kim Shook]

It is trashy, fragrant, utter delicious doughnut goodness .  I’ve noticed that the folks at all the food boards who express horror at the idea of this dish are never the ones who’ve tasted it.  All I can say is that 20 minutes after I put it in the oven, everyone in the house starts to congregate in the kitchen, sniffing and wondering when it will be done!

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Please, I need the recipe for this amazing looking creation.

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Here you go! Enjoy!

[Shelby]

Kim, we've missed you! I hope the health problems are getting better!!

I haven't had a tomato season like this one EVER. I'm out of room in the basement which means I've canned over 130 quarts so far. Plus, I gave a huge amount to my mom and grandparents.

O M G that bread pudding looks to die for. If only I had a Krispy Kreme around here!!!

After seeing your salsa, I might have to make Mexican food tonight.

[Kim Shook]

Kim, we've missed you!  I hope the health problems are getting better!!

I haven't had a tomato season like this one EVER.  I'm out of room in the basement which means I've canned over 130 quarts so far.  Plus, I gave a huge amount to my mom and grandparents.

O M G that bread pudding looks to die for.  If only I had a Krispy Kreme around here!!!

After seeing your salsa, I might have to make Mexican food tonight.

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Actually, I cheated and made the bread pudding with doughnuts from a grocery store bakery. I've made it with chocolate covered doughnuts and cinnamon buns, too. A young friend of ours used to work at Starbucks and would bring us bags of leftover pastries every couple of nights and I ended up with a freezer full of them. I was desperate to use them up and googled and came up with this recipe!

[Nicholas Ellan]

A friend of mine scored some seriously amazing produce at the local farmer's market, so I came over to turn it into dinner. I really tried to keep it simple stupid, because of the impeccable quality of the ingredients. We made a "salsa" from red & green zebra tomatoes, a torpedo onion, grilled poblanos and italian parsley, acidulated with a little red wine vinegar. Chicken breasts seasoned with coriander and black pepper were grilled, and then combined on a soft corn tortilla with a 2-year aged cacciocavallo, said salsa, lightly torched and then seasoned with a little fleur de sel.

Not exactly authentic mexican, or authentic anything, but sure made for some good eatin.

[djyee100]

That food looks authentically good to me.

Tonight, a dinner that says summer to me. A starter of melon draped with prosciutto, soppressata, and fresh figs.

Followed by pasta with fresh tomato sauce. One of my favorites, angel hair pasta with tomatoes, basil, capers, and pine nuts, from Beverly Gannon's General Store Cookbook.

The recipe for the pasta is available on Googlebooks. Go to Page 30.

Angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, capers, pinenuts

Edited August 17, 2009 by djyee100 (log)

[percyn]

Pork Loin w/Oven Roasted Yams, Onions and Pork Jus

[rooftop1000]

Now that someone explained to me that my new camera's picture files are too big to post.....I can fix that

Pizza, prebaked slightly then topped with homemade "ricotta", crumbled sausage, and garden fresh yellow tomato, with a little fresh basil

tracey

[C. sapidus]

Tonight’s dinner was all about fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Beautiful heirloom beefsteak tomatoes with salt and pepper; chayote sauteed with tomatoes, chiles, and garlic (sprinkled with feta cheese); and grilled chicken marinated with curry powder, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, oil, rice vinegar, and maybe a few other things (but no tomatoes).

[djyee100]

Tonight’s dinner was all about fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes.

Those tomatoes look fabulous. So does the dinner. Are you cooking again in a newly renovated kitchen?

[C. sapidus]

Tonight’s dinner was all about fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes.

Those tomatoes look fabulous. So does the dinner. Are you cooking again in a newly renovated kitchen?

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Thank you, Donna! No, the kitchen (renovated four years ago) is one of the few un-renovated rooms in the house. All of our pantry space has been disrupted, and I threw in the towel after spending several days trying to find a 20-pound bag of rice. Since then, my cooking has been mostly limited to grilled meats and garden salads.

Mrs. C handles chaos much better than I do, so she has been the main cook lately. She continued the tomato theme tonight, making scrumptious BLTs and a delicious gazpacho (I should have taken a picture).

[percyn]

Happened to stop by a latin grocery store yesterday, so I picked up some stuff and made

Polo Pipian

Dessert was Homemade Blueberry Pie

Edited August 24, 2009 by percyn (log)

[djyee100]

Good-looking swordfish on sale at the market, so I bought some and made Moroccan Fish Tagine with Tomato, Peppers, and Preserved Lemons from Paula Wolfert's World of Food cookbook. The fish is marinated with charmoula, then layered with tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, carrot, preserved lemon, and more charmoula. Straightforward to cook, actually pretty easy. Once the tagine was in the oven, I put my feet up and read a book.

Served with roasted potatoes. It was yummy.

The recipe for the fish tagine is available at the link below. I cooked my tagine at a higher temp, 325-350 F, because the fish steaks were very thick and I like well-cooked fish. No olives in the recipe I was using, and I would have liked them.

http://www.gangofpour.com/carolyn_tillie/tagine/recipes.html

[Kim Shook]

Nicholas – what delicious looking salsa and what a GORGEOUS photo. I love that you can see the stripes on the little bits of tomato!

djyee – those fig/prosciutto/pasta plates make the perfect summer meal.

Saturday night I had to bake some chicken breasts for a dish I’m making Tuesday for Mr. Kim’s fantasy football draft party, so I decided to piggyback dinner onto that. I also did a fridge/freezer/pantry inventory yesterday, so most everything was either leftovers or stuff that needed using! I did baked chicken with herbed Monterey Jack and prosciutto. Mr. Kim had yellow squash and kale and Jessica and I had creamed corn and cous cous.

Mr. Kim’s plate:

My plate:

[djyee100]

Kim, If we keep talking about prosciutto like this, I will end up at the store buying more of you-know-what. I bet that baked chicken wrapped in prosciutto tasted good.

Percyn, I like how you made that blueberry pie. You've reminded me that I haven't made my blueberry pie of the season yet.

[RunBe4UFly]

shitake mushroom noodle soup

beef

and desert

[Kim Shook]

RunBe4UFly – gorgeous pictures! And that dessert…wow! Have you found the “Your Daily Sweets” thread on the baking board? I can tell that you would be very, very welcome there!

On Monday night we had brined pork chops, cous cous, creamed corn and tomatoes:

I loved the tenderness and juiciness of the pork chop, but really disliked the flavor – the brining liquid called for pickling spice. I really found it inedible. Mr. Kim seemed to like it, though. I think that next time, I’ll try more of an apple cider, mustard brine.

Last night was Mr. Kim’s annual Fantasy Football Draft party, which I’ve catered for the last 4-5 years. They used to get a private room at a local restaurant, but one year couldn’t get it on the night that they needed it and so Mike asked me to cater it. They’ve voted for me every year since. It’s 12 guys and I always take the day off and cook up a storm. They love everything and take food home to their families and PAY ME (a big deal to an ordinary home cook – the concept, not the money ), so I have a blast. Last night we had:

quick party nuts:

just easy, glazed almonds and pecans

Jaymes' incomparable caramel corn:

I decided to make this without nuts so the poor guy who is allergic could have some. Still the best caramel corn ever.

Buffalo Wing Wontons:

Some of them overcooked a bit, as you can see, but I watched more carefully with later batches. The filling for these is just my version of that Buffalo wing dip that was going around the food boards a couple of years ago. They are trashy and fried and totally delicious – perfect guy food :lol: !

I did sandwiches with the CI eye of round roast:

We love this recipe and I make it a lot, but we discovered that it just isn’t tender enough for cold sandwiches – the fellows kept pulling the whole slices out with each bite. I sliced them EXTREMELY thin, too. I did horseradish sauce, BBQ sauce and roasted red peppers to serve with the sandwiches.

Chile-cornbread salad:

weird and wonderful – a layered salad (remember those?) with crumbled cornbread, bacon, pintos, green pepper, cheese, tomatoes, spring onions and a mayo/sour cream/ranch dressing mix dressing. Another trashy and delicious concoction.

Pickles, pretzel chips and Alexia Crunchy Onion Strips (these were incredible – like Durkees kicked up a million notches!) – no pictures.

Gratin Dauphinois:

fruit salsa and cinnamon flour tortilla chips:

Perhaps the most popular dish of the night. I made probably 2 quarts of this salsa and had about 1 cup leftover! Just strawberries, kiwi, raspberries, blackberries, apples and a tiny bit of white and brown sugar.

Chocolate Toffee Bars:

Dream Cookies:

These are our family’s favorite cookies. Very simple – almost a shortbread and so incredibly tender and buttery and crisp. I sometimes dress them up with cinnamon sugar, nuts, chocolate dip, etc. But even plain, they are my best-remembered cookies. I've been making them since I was 9 or 10 years old - about 40 years!

Well, tonight I’m ‘wore out’ and I’m very glad that we have some leftovers!

[Kim Shook]

Oops! We also had Smoky Beans:

(I thought that I could edit my post, but couldn't find the edit button)

[nikkib]

Kim that all looks amazing!

[Blether]

Oops!  We also had Smoky Beans:

(I thought that I could edit my post, but couldn't find the edit button)

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Did you make sure you were logged in ? Please, please share your smoky beans recipe

[RunBe4UFly]

Thanks Kim.

Steam fish before

steamed trout after

pan fried steamed whole wheat bun with pork filling

salad

'BaiHe' (Chinese name) sweet pea stir fry

Curry spring roll

Seafood noodle soup - the best I ever made (with shrimp, deep fried walleye)

[Jenni]

Home-made bread, mattar paneer (with home-made paneer) and channa dal with spinach. Yes I ate that huge chunk of bread!

[Prawncrackers]

I broke down a nice fat Berkshire pig last week and had some amazing chops from them. They reminded very much of Brigit Binns' Embarrasment of Lard! Ok maybe they really can't compare to hers but nonetheless you can tell from looking at these that they were going to be so juicy:

I like to cook pork chops simply so first off was just pan-fried and served with potatoes, chorizo & peas. The crackling was cooked separately so it was perfectly crispy:

Tonight was Tonkatsu and Miso Soup, again i couldn't resist making some crackling!!

What did i do with the rest of the pig? I made a load of charcuterie of course :

[judiu]

What did i do with the rest of the pig?  I made a load of charcuterie of course  :

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Dayum, Prawn, that's some good lookin' stuff you've got going on there! What's the 'white' item in the middle?