Dinner! 2009

[Prawncrackers]

That's a big piece of rolled pancetta hanging in the middle of some chorizo and saucisson sec, i love pork! Just another week or so to wait till it's ready to eat. If the chops were anything to go by these should be really tasty.

[deensiebat]

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

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Delicious-looking picture + "best I ever made" comment = piqued curiosity. Details?

[menuinprogress]

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Nice! Looks like you've got some good eating to look forward to!

[djyee100]

Prawncrackers, what great pork chops and sausages. Love the crackling.

A few days ago, I found some fresh cranberry beans at the farmers market.

For dinner, Grilled Steak Slices, Shell Bean Salad with Vinaigrette, and Tomato Confit.

I cooked the shell beans by the same method outlined for the shell bean salad here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/dining/t...ml?pagewanted=2

For my bean salad I made a sherry vinaigrette with chopped shallots and parsley.

[Shelby]

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?

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Jealous Jealous Jealous

Drool Drool Drool

*mental note: get pig soon*

[Blether]

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

...

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I have charcuterie jealousy, too ! But can I ask you about the two accompanying sauces with the tonkatsu, on the left ? I've lived in Japan some time and I'm familiar with the food - I'm interested in how it works in Birmingham. Your miso soup looks very authentic and the tonkatsu itself wonderfully coated, and I'm impressed you have daikon there. What rice do you use ?

[Prawncrackers]

Not all that charcuterie is for me you know, I think I would turn into a pig if I ate all of that

I sell most of it and what money I get for them pays for the next pig. So for me, I get all the prime cuts paid for and the pleasure of making all that nice stuff for people I know.

Blether yes we get lots of daikon in the UK, it's usually found in the Indian/Pakistani shops where it's known as Mooli. The two sauces with the tonkatsu were English mustard and a soy/worcestershire sauce mixture. A very quick and easy impersonation of tonkatsu sauce as you can see. More authentically the rice was Japanese Nishiki rice though I've never heard of Japanese pork crackling so that's another point in the minus column. But it felt like such a waste to throw the skin away. Do you get crackling in Japan? It was a very nice addition to the meal, maybe it could catch on...

[RunBe4UFly]

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

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Delicious-looking picture + "best I ever made" comment = piqued curiosity. Details?

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1. fresh caught 6 lb. walleye filleted and cut, marinaded in soy sauce + ginger + green onion + rice wine (classic Chinese marinade) and Yoshida sauce.

bread it then deep fry

2. devined shrimp, seared, then stir fry with tofu, and classic marinade above

3. served over thin Chinese pasta, garnished with cilantro and green onions.

4. Optional red pepper flake for garnish

[Jenni]

Blether yes we get lots of daikon in the UK, it's usually found in the Indian/Pakistani shops where it's known as Mooli.

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I buy it weekly in Tescos!

[deensiebat]

Turned loads of spinach:

into Spanikopita:

Brought it to a potluck, where it quickly disappeared.

[Blether]

Not all that charcuterie is for me you know, I think I would turn into a pig if I ate all of that   

I sell most of it and what money I get for them pays for the next pig.  So for me, I get all the prime cuts paid for and the pleasure of making all that nice stuff for people I know.   

Blether yes we get lots of daikon in the UK, it's usually found in the Indian/Pakistani shops where it's known as Mooli.  The two sauces with the tonkatsu were English mustard and a soy/worcestershire sauce mixture.  A very quick and easy impersonation of tonkatsu sauce as you can see.  More authentically the rice was Japanese Nishiki rice though I've never heard of Japanese pork crackling so that's another point in the minus column.  But it felt like such a waste to throw the skin away.  Do you get crackling in Japan?  It was a very nice addition to the meal, maybe it could catch on...

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I admire your spirit !

I left the UK in 1991. I'm the first to admit that I don't know what's going on there (hello, Jenni !) any more - and the culinary landscape has certainly changed in that time (though no doubt mooli was on the market all along).

Funnily enough I guessed that your two sauces were like those for shabu-shabu - one based on ponzu and the other, sesame. Mustard ?! It's almost obviously the choice for tonkatsu.

Worcester & soy sounds to me like a better sauce than the over-cloved standard. There's a lot of really excellently-done breaded breaded pork here, but that sauce... no.

We don't get crackling here, more's the pity. Maybe it's all being made into purses or something, but the closest I've got is enquiries at the specialist supermarket, where they said they'd get skin-on pork by special order. I've been too busy with everything else to bother.

[Kim Shook]

Blether - sorry, I somehow missed the request for the smoky bean recipe until just now. Here's the recipe. I don't know what makes them 'smoky' other than the BBQ flavor beans. If I can't find them, I just use canned baked beans with some good BBQ sauce added. I've also added leftover BBQ'd pork when I have some in the freezer.

[llc45]

This is my favorite thread. I love to see all of the wonderful dinners. I made a meze platter inspired by an epicurious recipe. Cucumber slices with greek yogurt, feta and oregano on top. Sauted shrimp with garlic, chopped tomatoes, olives, capers, lemon zest, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Sides of hummus (there was a recipe but I had Sabra that needed to be used up), artichoke hearts, toasted pita. Last minute dinner that I loved. Sorry I didn't take a picture.

[Blether]

Thank-you very much for the recipe link, Kim Shook. Kidney beans and butter beans - in canned form, or dry weight ? What do you use ?

[CtznCane]

Saturday nights dinner. chile rellenos, mexican white rice, refried black beans, and flan. All from Rick Bayless Mexico One Plate at a Time. I've used his books whenever I've done Mexican food and nothing has ever turned out less than very good. I've never made any custards before and the flan turned out perfect. the mexican white rice (I used thai long grain while the recipe calls for medium) was the best rice I've ever had and I cook rice quite often

Edited September 2, 2009 by CtznCane (log)

[Kim Shook]

Thank-you very much for the recipe link, Kim Shook.  Kidney beans and butter beans - in canned form, or dry weight ?  What do you use ?

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I just use the canned ones, but if someone wanted to go to the trouble of converting the recipe to dry beans, I'd be ordering some Rancho Gordos tomorrow !

[djyee100]

An unusual find at the market, tuna belly, plus lots of tomatoes in season, and arugula from my CSA. I made Pan-Fried Tuna Belly with Orange-Olive Tapenade, and Tomato Salad with Marinated Feta and Arugula. Served with store-bought focaccia (Acme's great bread, not mine. I wish. )

The tomato is a fairly new variety called Berkeley Tie Dye, colored with mad orange, red and green streaks. I thought the vendor was totally putting me on with that name. But no, the variety really exists. http://heirloomtomatoplants.com/Heirloom%2...to%20_seeds.htm The tomatoes I've eaten are quite acidic, vegetal rather than sweet. I'll stick to Marvel tomatoes when I want crazy red and orange striped tomatoes.

Orange-Olive Tapenade (my favorite tapenade) is in Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe Cookbook. The recipe is available here:

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...62.story?page=2

Marinated Feta with Mint and Capers, which is really tasty, comes from Janet Fletcher's The Cheese Course.

The recipe is available on Googlebooks (Page 80):

http://books.google.com/books?id=5oJoRJwao...page&q=&f=false

[menuinprogress]

A "Banh Mi" Burger experiment:

A pretty standard burger patty composition - but with the addition of some fish sauce. Topped with quick-pickled carrot, daikon and cucumber along with mint, cilantro and jalapeños.

Turned out really well. It had the Vietnamese banh mi flavor profile, but yet still very much retained the sensibility of a good burger.

[Kim Shook]

Had some steamed shrimp that needed to be eaten tonight (leftover from our UVA tailgate on Saturday and then MORE from a party we went to last night), so I made Ina Garten’s shrimp salad and served it on split top rolls, also some tomato and red onion salad with cornbread croutons and some Star’s Brunswick stew (out of Burlington) from a recent trip to NC:

[Ann_T]

Oh my, I really need to visit here more often. So many wonderful meals and photos. Inspirational. The format has really changed. I like the new way of sharing photos.

A few of our dinners from the past week or so.

I roasted poblano peppers and made chile rellenos one night.

Pizza

Grilled Pork Chops rubbed with fresh garlic, salt, pepper and chipotle pepper. And the corn was out of my own garden. We might actually get 6 or 8 more cobs before the season is over.

Roast chicken dinner. This is my favourite dinner to make on a work day. High heat and dinner is ready in just over an hour after I walk in the door.

[mssurgeon81]

Thanks to the arrival of Moving Day, it was a very stressful week in the mssurgeon household. Of course the refrigerator in the new place broke as soon as I'd unpacked all my food into it, which didn't help matters. However my awesome new neighbors brought me over some of their homegrown heirloom tomatoes (who knew you could grow beauties like this in Center City Philly?), and when sliced over a bed of arugula and steamed edamame, with a balsamic vinaigrette, they made an amazing inaugural supper on my new apartment's deck.

[JAZ]

If you like this topic, you might enjoy the eGCI "Plating and Presentation" course.

Features like eGCI are made possible with the generous support of eGullet Society donors. If you're not already a Society donor, please read about becoming one here.

[Chris Amirault]

menuinprogress, can you say more about the intriguing banh mi burger?

A "Banh Mi" Burger experiment:

A pretty standard burger patty composition - but with the addition of some fish sauce. Topped with quick-pickled carrot, daikon and cucumber along with mint, cilantro and jalapeños.

Turned out really well. It had the Vietnamese banh mi flavor profile, but yet still very much retained the sensibility of a good burger.

Did you have other Vietnamese pate ingredients in there, or just the fish sauce?

[menuinprogress]

Did you have other Vietnamese pate ingredients in there, or just the fish sauce?

Nope - just the fish sauce, and not too much of it. The banh mi flavors came more from the pickled vegetables and the herbs.

Now that you mention pate, however, I'm thinking that a thin slather of it on the bottom half of the bun would be a pretty fantastic addition...

[Katie Meadow]

Another good addition would be the use of mayo with Maggi mixed into it. That's always seemed integral to banh mi.