Dinner! 2009

[Prawncrackers]

The weather has definitely turned this week in the UK; cold, wet & stormy. It's the kind of weather that makes you stay in the kitchen and cook long slow dishes with lots of veg prep and stock reductions.

First of the wintry dishes this week was a pork belly confit. I've never cooked pork belly like this before and I don't know why it's taken me so long. It's fantastic - crispy, succulent and salty all at the same time. I made some pork stock and braised some fennel to go with the belly, it was the perfect combination. For an extra veggie hit I grilled some red endive, sauteed some cavalo nero and finished the plate with some crispy parsnips and splodges of salsa verde to cut through the fat a little:

Today has been a lazy Saturday, perfect for making a stock reduction to coat some roasted pigeon. Roasted some pink fir apple potatoes to crispiness too and inspired by local chef Glyn Purnell i made some orange glazed toffee cumin carrots. Still had a bit of cavalo nero from earlier in the week so rested the pigeon on that, oh and those parsnip crisps again (a big one goes a long way!):

[Shamanjoe]

I've been working at this thread for a few months now, and i'm only to page 450 or so!

I'll post dinner later on tonight, when I decide what it will be.

[Katie Meadow]

Prawn, I need parsnip crisps! How do you make them?

[Prawncrackers]

Parsnip crisps are dead easy, just deep fry them in oil for a couple of minutes. They come up crispy much better than potatoes in the same time. The long thin ones were done with a veg peeler and the round ones were just cut with a knife. Prepare much more than you think you will need because they shrink a lot and they are very moreish.

[jnash85]

I made my first dish from the French Laundry Cookbook last night. Citrus-Marinated Salmon with a Confit of Navel Oranges, Beluga Caviar and Pea Shoot Coulis

I left off the caviar and substituted watercress for the pea shoots. I am not a big fan of salmon, but when eaten with the oranges and watercress coulis it was delicious.

Edited November 29, 2009 by jnash85 (log)

[mgaretz]

Further updates to the Chicken Roasting Saga:

I found a small roasting pan in Tri-Ply from Sur La Table - their own brand. It's very nice and on sale for only $79.95 (larger one on sale for $99.95). Link to Sur La Table My only minor quible is that the bottom isn't flat - it has a raised indentation.

I also picked up an adjustable V rack that fits the pan perfectly for $9.95.

Last night I made roasted chicken and veggies again, but decided to try out the V rack. While it worked fine as a rack, the chicken is better on the Verictal Roaster. I varied the veggies a bit using celery root and parsnips in addition to the ususal carrot, celery, potato and onion.

[SauceRobert]

The weather has definitely turned this week in the UK; cold, wet & stormy. It's the kind of weather that makes you stay in the kitchen and cook long slow dishes with lots of veg prep and stock reductions.

First of the wintry dishes this week was a pork belly confit. I've never cooked pork belly like this before and I don't know why it's taken me so long. It's fantastic - crispy, succulent and salty all at the same time. I made some pork stock and braised some fennel to go with the belly, it was the perfect combination. For an extra veggie hit I grilled some red endive, sauteed some cavalo nero and finished the plate with some crispy parsnips and splodges of salsa verde to cut through the fat a little:

Today has been a lazy Saturday, perfect for making a stock reduction to coat some roasted pigeon. Roasted some pink fir apple potatoes to crispiness too and inspired by local chef Glyn Purnell i made some orange glazed toffee cumin carrots. Still had a bit of cavalo nero from earlier in the week so rested the pigeon on that, oh and those parsnip crisps again (a big one goes a long way!):

Absolutely beautiful stuff! Do you cook for a living? and if so, how do you find time to do this at home? I make food like this at work, but i never want to spend that much time in the kitchen at home... you seem to do it quite often as well...

[Prawncrackers]

Thank you for the compliment SauceRobert. I've never cooked for a living and you're right, if I did I probably wouldn't have the time nor the inclination to cook the last couple of dishes at home. I just like eating, a lot, trying new things and pottering around the kitchen in my spare time.

[Shamanjoe]

Dinner last night was a bowl of homemade slow-cooker beef stew and some fresh sourdough toast. Yumm! Didn't have the camera with me, but there's more stew, so I'll try and take a picture later tonight.

Slow-Cooker Beef Stew

4 Medium size Beef Shortribs (long bone cut, about 4-6" long and a good 2" thick)

4-5 turnips

1 large (or two small) onions

Most of a bunch of celery

3-4 carrots (if you like, didn't add them this time)

2 14.5oz cans of Italian-seasoned canned tomatoes

1 small can of tomato paste

2 Tbs flour

2 Tbs ground dried chilies (I use ancho chilies)

Mix the flour and ground chilies together and coat the short ribs in it. In a heavy skillet (cast iron is best) brown the short ribs on all sides, then drain off excess fat. Add the tomato paste to the slow cooker, as well as the cans of tomatos. Stir until the paste is incorporated (or at least evenly distributed, it'll cook down anyway). Peel and chop the turnips, onions, celery and carrots into large chunks. Toss everything in the slow cooker and add water until almost covered (filling up the tomato cans a couple times usually does the trick). Stir it up as well as you can, then cook on high for one hour. Then drop the heat to low and let go overnight (about 12 hours for me).

Serve and enjoy with some toasted or good crusty (and slightly stale) bread.

edited to add "dried" chilies

Edited November 30, 2009 by Shamanjoe (log)

[MiFi]

MiFi, any chance of sharing the recipe source for the maple roasted yams?

Sure thing Velveeta. I just peeled and diced large about 5 or 6 jewel yams, drizzled with sunflower oil, salt and pepper, and roasted at 400 for about 20-25 minutes. Then I drizzled some maple syrup and popped back into the oven for another 10 minutes or so. After that I tossed them with some cubed butter and tarragon.

[mgaretz]

Hard for me to remember to take a picture before the food's gone!

Tonight I played with the Sur La Table roasting pan and rack again, this time making a small boneless pork loin roast (about 2 lbs pre-cooked weight) with pan roasted carrots, celery and onion.

I used the cooking method from New Best Recipes (CI) - roast at 300F until the inner temp reads 135F followed by a tented 10 minute rest. I tied the roast and browned it in the roasting pan, then sprinkled with salt, pepper and a seasoning blend that I like from Trader Joe's called 21 Seasonings Salute. The veggies were tossed in some olive oil with salt and pepper. The roast went on the rack with the veggies spread around and into the oven.

Took about 50 minutes to reach 135F - pulled and tented the roast and boosted the oven to 425F for the ten minutes while the roast rested.

The roast was great - juicy and tender - best I have ever done with pork loin. But the veggies were under done. 3 minutes in the microwave made them perfect. So next time I will pre-cook the veggies in the microwave for about 5 minutes and then into the roasting pan and I'll leave them at 300F while the roast rests.

[djyee100]

C.Sapidus, that was a fine Thai meal you created from the fridge and pantry. Which reminds me, I haven't cooked Thai in awhile and I'm due.

For now I'm still in the Mediterranean. Last night's dinner, a perennial favorite, Pot-Roasted Steak with Piquillo Peppers from Paula Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. Served with two side dishes, Artichokes a la Provencale and Creamer Potatoes Cooked in the Devil's Pot, from Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking.

The steak was a tad overdone because I was cooking it in cast-iron rather than my usual stainless. Live and learn. There's another steak in the freezer to play with. I was satisfied with both of the side dishes that I was trying for the first time.

Artichokes a la Provencale combines baby artichokes, pancetta, thyme, white wine, stock, garlic and shallots, all braised in a Spanish cazuela. The sauce reduces until it is thick and jammy. I let the dish sit overnight in the fridge, and the flavors melded beautifully. I'm thinking of taking this dish to my next potluck dinner, because it's better if made the day ahead.

For Creamer Potatoes Cooked in the Devil's Pot, the potatoes are stovetop roasted with salt in a garlic-rubbed clay pot. Traditionally the claypot is a special item called a diable. I don't own one of those (yet), so I relied on my Chinese sandpot. The potatoes cook up full of flavor--they basically cook in their own moisture-- and they give off a wonderful, earthy aroma.

For dessert, Apple, Black Cherry and Walnut Crisp, also from Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. This crisp is tart-sweet, with sour cherry jam in the topping. I find it livelier and more interesting than the usual sweet apple crisp.

The crisp when it came out bubbling from the oven.

[Corinna]

Tonight, fresh, local venison tenderloin (thanks to a friend) with horseradish mash and a drizzle of red wine pan sauce. Delicious!

[kayswv]

First of the wintry dishes this week was a pork belly confit. I've never cooked pork belly like this before and I don't know why it's taken me so long. It's fantastic - crispy, succulent and salty all at the same time. I made some pork stock and braised some fennel to go with the belly, it was the perfect combination. For an extra veggie hit I grilled some red endive, sauteed some cavalo nero and finished the plate with some crispy parsnips and splodges of salsa verde to cut through the fat a little:

Prawncrackers, the pork belly confit looks delicious beyond belief. Will you be willing to share the recipe or the link? Al, my husband, loves pork belly and I have yet found a recipe that I was very happy with flavor and appearance. Yours looks like it would be definitely worth the effort.

Thanks, Kay

[Prawncrackers]

Prawncrackers, the pork belly confit looks delicious beyond belief. Will you be willing to share the recipe or the link? Al, my husband, loves pork belly and I have yet found a recipe that I was very happy with flavor and appearance. Yours looks like it would be definitely worth the effort.

Thanks, Kay

Sure, although it's one of those dishes you need to start two days before eating it but actually takes very little effort. I chose a skinless piece of belly draft that i'd butchered myself and would fit snugly into the pan i was using. I sprinkled with salt and white pepper, I didn't cover it with salt just seasoned it heavily and left it for 24 hours in the fridge.

The next day the cure was wiped off and the meat was poached in duck fat for 3.5 hrs at 140C. Now my duck fat is already flavoured with garlic, lemon zest, thyme & bay so it you are using fresh duck or goose fat then add those aromatics too. Make sure your meat is fully submerged in the fat when cooking, you may need to weight it down with a plate. When it is cooked gently lift it out of the fat and place it flat on a large plate. Press it down with a weighted board and when it's cool put it in the fridge to set.

The next day or after a few hrs when the meat has completely set-up you can cut into portions. Dust those portions with a little flour and fry them up till they are crispy on all sides. I cut them into quite big portions but next time i'll do them smaller so there is more surface area to crisp up.

Best thing is the trimmings from when portioning it made a great pasta dish. I diced them up, fried them with an anchovy, lots of evoo, garlic, shredded cavalo nero and then added orecchiette to it. Perfect leftovers dish.

[menuinprogress]

Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Breaking the yolk:

and after it had been swirled through:

This was the first time we mixed the yolk in at the table, and by far our best version of this dish yet.

[kayswv]

Thank you Pawncracker and thanks for the tip about your duck fat.

Kay

[Jmahl]

Dinner tonight Moroccan Lamp Stew with couscous and flat bread (Tagine d'Aneau aux Pois Chiches)

to drink a 2007 Fairview Petit Sirah from S. Africa - a good match.

For dessert a zabaione flavored with Mexican Brandy.

[Pilori]

Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Breaking the yolk:

and after it had been swirled through:

This was the first time we mixed the yolk in at the table, and by far our best version of this dish yet.

Any chance you have a recipe for this? Been searching around for one...

[percyn]

Thank you for the compliment SauceRobert. I've never cooked for a living and you're right, if I did I probably wouldn't have the time nor the inclination to cook the last couple of dishes at home. I just like eating, a lot, trying new things and pottering around the kitchen in my spare time.

Prawn, I have to admit, I also thought you were "in the industry" based on the fantastic quality and volume of dishes that come from your kitchen.

[velveeta]

Jmal, your lovely lamb stew is really complimented by your serve ware. Nice choice.

And thanks for the recipe MiFi. I love tarragon and would not think to pair it with yams. We have had much better luck with yam quality than squash quality this year, so they are really to go-to orange vegetable here now.

[menuinprogress]

Any chance you have a recipe for this? Been searching around for one...

Our current version is a cross between Mario Batali's and Marcella Hazan's.

The Batali recipe is online here.

[djyee100]

Jmahl, That's a wonderful Moroccan Lamb Stew.

For dinner here, a starter of Squash Soup with Creamy Roquefort, from Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. In this soup, the salty assertiveness of Roquefort combines with the sweetness of butternut squash. The croutons were made from some walnut bread. A delicious soup for winter. I know I'll make this one again.

A main course of Roast Pork Shoulder with Glazed Turnips, also from Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. The pork roast is stuffed with a paste of garlic and rosemary, then slow-roasted. Towards the end of cooking time it's basted with red wine. The pork roast comes out crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside.

Served with turnips in a buttery glaze, and kale sauteed in olive oil with garlic, raisins, and pinenuts. The turnips were braised in an earthenware casserole and cooked up full of flavor. Turnip-y flavor, that is. Their pleasant bitterness paired well with the pork. These turnips were a variety I hadn't tried before, called golden turnips.

For dessert, Open-Faced Pear Tart, with a honey glaze, from Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

[mgaretz]

Last night we had pork roast with roast veggies again, but this time I seasoned with caraway and dill seeds, lightly ground in a mortar (and sea salt and pepper). Yummy!

It's been pretty cold here and storms are coming in, so tonight it seemed like a hearty soup was the ticket. I threw together a slow cooker beef, barley and mushroom soup. It was a hit and will become a regular! It came out rich, thick and creamy, yet uses no butter or cream and had just the tinniest bit of fat from the beef. Normally I'd use top round for this, but the local market had sirloin steaks on sale for about 1/2 of the top round price, so I used sirloin!

Beef, Barley and Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

(makes about 8 large servings)

1.5 lbs lean beef – sirloin or top round – but just about any cut will do – cut into 1″ cubes

2 cups beef broth (see note)

2 cups chicken broth (see note)

1 oz dried porcini mushrooms

6 ozs fresh crimini or brown mushrooms, sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 carrot, diced

1/2 cup pearl barley

1 medium garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbs reduced-sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup cream sherry

1/2 cup red wine (optional)

Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker (except the red wine) and stir well to combine. There’s no need to pre-brown the meat, but you can if you like. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.

You can serve it immediately or it’s even better the next night. If you use the full 1/2 cup of barley, the soup may be too thick for your liking. If so, cut the amount of barley in half or add 1/2 cup of good red wine at the end to thin the soup.

Notes:

I use Better Than Bullion to make the stock, but you can also use canned or home-made stock. If using 14 oz cans, add 1/2 cup of water or red wine to bring the volume up. You can put everything in the slow cooker pot the night before and put it into the refrigerator – then put in on in the morning. If you’re doing this, make sure the stock is cool.

[jnash85]

My second dish from the French Laundry cookbook. My agnolotti didn't turn out right, so I made ravioli's instead. Just as delicious I'm sure. The prosciutto I bought seemed passed its prime once I opened it, so I skipped it.

Sweet Potato "Agnolotti" with Sage Cream, Brown Butter and Prosciutto

Edited December 12, 2009 by jnash85 (log)