Dinner! 2009

[mgaretz]

Roasted chicken with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery.

I did end up buying the new All-Clad chicken roaster - an exclusive with Williams-Sonoma.

I'm still undecided if I will keep it. I will make another chicken and check out the arm fit before deciding.

Please post your decision. I am interested in this pan also.

The chicken looks like it came out well.

I will report on what I find out about the fit of the arm this weekend - probably won't make the chicken again for a week or so.

[deensiebat]

Deensiebat -- your Basque potato-leek soup is cookbook photo worthy! I'll bet it tasted as good as it looks.

Rhonda

Aw thanks. So many photos here knock me out. Or, more accurately, make my stomach grumble. We have terrible light in the kitchen -- in the whole house, actually -- so I always take food outside for pictures. Not sure what I'm going to do now that it gets dark at 5....

And yes, the porrusalda was lovely. I have a Basque friend in town through the end of the year, and I'm looking to get as many cooking tips as possible while he's around.

[Blether]

Beautiful meat dishes, percyn.

LaCookrasha, nice red fish, rice and salad.

I like your chicken, mgaretz.

Great stuff, everyone.

It's getting cold... broke out the haggis, neeps & tatties and photographed them badly:

[prasantrin]

It's getting cold... broke out the haggis, neeps & tatties and photographed them badly:

That's what haggis looks like? It doesn't look nearly as bad as I imagined. Where does one get haggis in Japan?

I actually have a can of haggis that a former co-worker brought me from Scotland. It might even be vegetarian haggis (I can't remember now). If you're ever in the mood for a trade, I'll send if you a can of haggis if you send me some pork pies!

[Blether]

That's proper Scottish butcher's haggis, a good one. You can't buy it anywhere in Japan that I know of - I have it in mind that it should be possible to import haggis from Australia. There are established suppliers, but I've never gone as far as making the enquiries.

I think of haggis as simply a kind of sausage that's served by spooning it out of its skin - there's nothing to be afraid of. Like other sausages, there are good ones and, um, not so good ones. This one is peppery, rich and delicious, with a great texture, whole grains cutting the smooth softness of the long-cooked offal.

[mgaretz]

Roasted chicken with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery.

I did end up buying the new All-Clad chicken roaster - an exclusive with Williams-Sonoma.

I'm still undecided if I will keep it. I will make another chicken and check out the arm fit before deciding.

Please post your decision. I am interested in this pan also.

The chicken looks like it came out well.

I will report on what I find out about the fit of the arm this weekend - probably won't make the chicken again for a week or so.

I went to Williams-Sonoma today. The arm on my roaster was definitely not made correctly so they exchanged it for me. I'll let you know how it works "under fire" next week.

Edited November 8, 2009 by mgaretz (log)

[kayb]

A chicken pot pie with roasted tomato caprese:

And Friday night, with greatest thanks to Chris Amirault for posting his mother-in-law's posole recipe:

(which I seem to be having trouble uploading, but Chris, it was wonderful! Please thank your mother-in-law for me!)

Last night was choucroute garnie and German potato salad, with no photographs because we were starving.

[kayb]

Trying again, to post the photos:

Chicken pot pie and roasted tomato caprese:

(and apparently they will be one post per photo, for some reason....)

[kayb]

Posole, with baked arepas:

I made some changes from the recipe posted in the posole cookoff thread, to accommodate what was in my kitchen. It was astoundingly wonderful. Thanks, Chris!

[Chris Amirault]

You're welcome, kayb! Did you poach the pork beforehand and use the stock, or just add cubed raw meat?

Edited November 8, 2009 by Chris Amirault (log)

[MiFi]

A few meals from the past week/weekend:

Stir-fried Kong pao-style chicken w/cabbage

Milk braised pork shoulder w/rice & broccoli

Brined and roasted chicken w/roasted root vegetables

Braised leg of lamb w/white beans

Arugula, beet, feta salad

Pan seared local rose veal w/caper & conichon sauce and sweet & sour cabbage

[kayb]

You're welcome, kayb! Did you poach the pork beforehand and use the stock, or just add cubed raw meat?

One of the changes I made was to use tenderloin, since I'd happened upon a great sale on them and had some in the freezer. I was afraid poaching would mean too much of a breakdown of the meat, so I just browned the raw cubes and used beef stock. Worked like a charm. I subbed a couple of tablespoons of Santa Cruz chile paste for the jalapeno, which I didn't have handy, either. It was wonderful!

[Kim Shook]

Blether – I keep thinking that I would probably like haggis and everyone I know thinks I’m insane. Wonder where I could try it?

MiFi – beautiful meals – every single one of them!

Got home last night from a trip to NC to visit my grandmother who has just gotten home from being in a rehab center (I told her that makes her sound like a Hollywood druggie ) since her stroke in July. Mr. Kim and Jessica made a lovely dinner. Mr. Kim’s spaghetti w/ meat sauce:

Jessica’s wonderful salad with her delicious balsamic vinaigrette:

I got started on some things for Thanksgiving/Christmas. I roasted my turkey wing/veg mix and then simmered them to make stock. I’ll make the gravy tonight for the freezer. I also made the cranberry/orange sauce:

The only thing that I cooked in NC was a dowdy little casserole that my grandmother has made all my life – you know, pre-Hamburger Helper beef/noodle casserole. It was most certainly NOT photo-worthy, but tasty and something that she could eat (she’s still having to eat fairly soft foods). Having eaten nothing but institutional food since July, she was in the mood to party – on Saturday, she had me go get BBQ for lunch and fried flounder and baked potatoes for dinner!

[Blether]

Hi, Kim. I hope your ma's bearing up under the strain. I had my first and so far only encounter with medically-imposed soft foods when I smashed my face off a newly surface-dressed road, aged 14 (dangerous contraptions, bicycles), and had reinforcing tape over my top lip for nigh on a month. It sure brings on vivid fantasies of all your favourite foods.

Talk to your local St. Andrew Society and see if there's a Burns Supper (normally nicely placed in the depths of January's cold) that you can join ?

Edited November 10, 2009 by Blether (log)

[mgaretz]

Stir fried chicken with sugar snap peas, Chinese flower mushrooms, celery and onions. Seasoned with garlic and a touch of red pepper flakes. Sauce was a mix of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cream sherry, sesame oil and a little cornstarch. Served with basamati white rice.

[Aloha Steve]

Stir fried chicken with sugar snap peas, Chinese flower mushrooms, celery and onions. Seasoned with garlic and a touch of red pepper flakes. Sauce was a mix of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cream sherry, sesame oil and a little cornstarch. Served with basamati white rice.

It looks great Mark, well done.

[mgaretz]

Paella with shrimp, spicy sausage, rice, red pepper, celery, carrots, peas, onion and sun-dried tomatoes.

[pastameshugana]

Sauteed some onion, garlic, mushroom, coriander and dill in olive oil and white wine. Then whizzed it all up in the blender, returned to the pan with about 250ml heavy cream, a bit of Parmesan and Grana Padano.

Mrs. Meshugana made some great little meatballs with garlic, sage and parsley, and we served it over some trivelle. Was surprisingly good for a "clean out the fridge" meal!

[MiFi]

Pasta e fagioli

Chicken Pillard w/lemon caper sauce & steamed broccoli

[Aloha Steve]

Pasta e fagioli

Chicken Pillard w/lemon caper sauce & steamed broccoli

Molta Bene

[kayb]

Paella with shrimp, spicy sausage, rice, red pepper, celery, carrots, peas, onion and sun-dried tomatoes.

YUM! And it looks as good as it sounds. Recipe?

[kayb]

I volunteered to cook dinner for our company staff retreat (12 people, a lake cabin). I wanted good food but knew it was going to be important to cook a good deal ahead. The menu wound up as bouef bourguignon, potatos dauphinois, green beans Provencale, and coriander glazed carrots, with a salad of mixed greens, walnuts and goat cheese. I picked up some bake-it-yourself French bread at a local bakery, and made a coconut cake with fruit salad for dessert. Cooked the cake two days ahead, so it could get nice and moist; made the beef the night before, and while it was cooking prepped the potatos up to the point of covering them with cream and baking, made the fruit salad, and packed what kitchen necessities I thought I'd need. That left me to do the salad, the carrots, the beans and the bread on-site, as well as reheat the beef and bake the potatos. It was a hit.

Unfortunately, the pic of the beef doesn't seem to want to upload. Not that it was all that photogenic, in its huge roaster pan, but it was certainly good.

[Blether]

Saturday: a dockside barbecue. Amongst other things, a rough Baba Ghannoush from aubergines cooked on the charcoal brazier you can just see in the background

and tandoori chicken, also always good cooked over charcoal

[Kim Shook]

Blether – I checked and we do have a St. Andrew society here. I’m saving the site so that I can watch for the dinner! Thank you!

Mark – that paella is beautiful. I wonder if I could do something similar with orzo (I can’t tolerate rice since having a gastric bypass ).

We’re still sorta working down the freezer, but other stuff, too. Saturday was some rib eyes from the freezer, cheese potatoes, a Costco demi baguette (also from the freezer) and slaw:

The steaks were fantastic. We’d put the Montreal steak seasoning/brown sugar rub we always use on them before freezing (I seem to remember that they were intended for a dinner with my in laws that got cancelled for some reason) and Mr. Kim grilled them perfectly:

Last night I took some sliced eye of round roast that I had in the freezer and made some rich gravy with some beef stock that I had in there and just simmered the slices in the gravy for a couple of hours. Some elderly potatoes from the cabinet, applesauce from the apples we picked a few weeks ago and another of the frozen baguettes:

I am one tired puppy. I am doing desserts/nibbles for a 100 person alumni ‘gala’ for my daughter’s college sorority next Saturday. I’m doing a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, coconut cake, pecan cheese straws, bleu cheese shortbread with apricot preserves, buttermints in the sorority colors and spicy glazed peanut clusters. I frosted the chocolate cake tonight and it’s in the freezer getting solid so that I can wrap it. The coconut cake is in the freezer sans frosting, since I am using 7 minute frosting and will do that last thing on Saturday. All 200 mints are spread out drying on my dining room table. I’ll flip them over tomorrow night and wrap them up Wednesday night. The cheese straws are in the freezer and I’m going to try to get at least some of the bleu cheese shortbreads baked tonight before I snatch a couple of hours of sleep. The peanut clusters will have to wait until Wednesday night because tomorrow we are going to Charlottesville to see Jimmy Buffett. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I’ll take pictures on Saturday when everything is done and post them in the desserts thread.

[mgaretz]

Mark – that paella is beautiful. I wonder if I could do something similar with orzo (I can’t tolerate rice since having a gastric bypass ).

I'm sure you could. Most paella recipes have you cook the rice in the making of the paella itself. I use cooked rice (cold) like you'd do for fried rice. I mix about 3/4 cup of chicken broth with a pinch of saffron and about 1/8 tsp tumeric and set aside. Saute the sausages (oil or not depending how fatty they are) until they are well browned. Then I add in the onion, celery, , and red bell pepper and continue to saute until the onions are translucent - another 8 minutes or so. Next I stir in the rice, thawed peas and carrots and toss, then add the broth mixture. Continue to cook until the liquid is mostly absorbed then add the shrimp and chicken (chicken is pre-cooked). Stir for a few seconds and let the shrimp cook from the heat of the mixture until just pink/white - about 2 minutes.