Dinner! 2010

[dcarch]

Hello,

New member and my first post.

Tofu with prawns.

dcarch

[twoshoes]

absolutely stunning presentation there.

[Pam Brunning]

Sea bream with samphire, new potatoes and wild sorrel sauce last night very simple but delicious.

Welcome ‘dcarch’ not a tofu lover myself but that looks stunning and a lot of work.

[llc45]

Dcarch -I am a tofu lover - how did you prep the tofu? Did you just saute the prawns and place on top of tofu? Stunning picture

Pam - Grilled fish - yum!

[Kim Shook]

emmalish – Jess finally got the recipe together for the corn casserole: Click!

robirdstx – lovely tortilla soup! That is one of our favorites. We have it at my MIL’s Christmas celebration every year. My BIL lives in Phoenix and brought the recipe back years ago and now it wouldn’t be Christmas without it!

Friday night pre-dinner nibbles:

Goat cheese, fig preserves and crackers.

Dinner was garlic shrimp:

Some odd little cuts of steak that I found at the store called “Western Grillers”:

They were very chewy, but pretty flavorful:

I also made a salad – no picture!

I made a big batch of my mother’s vegetable soup for lunches and to stock the freezer:

Dinner was a joint effort between Jessica and me. Jessica made an incredible corn, asparagus and feta salad w/ roasted red peppers and red onion:

I don’t even LIKE asparagus and red pepper and I loved it.

At Jessica’s request, I did her favorite hoisin braised short ribs:

These things turn out BLACK, but they aren’t burnt – they are just so incredibly rich and moist and flavorful.

I grilled some polenta rounds on my panini maker:

Plated:

Close up:

We had dinner with friends last night and it was a wonderful evening. Good food, good drinks and good company. The whole flow of the evening really made me think. They are a couple that have been together for about twenty five years and are a wonderful host team. One of the guys is a fabulous, instinctive cook. The other guy doesn’t cook at all. While John is putting the finishing touches on dinner, Jack serves the drinks and entertains. The group flowed back and forth between the living room political discussion and the kitchen prep (guess where I spent most of my time). John comes out to have a drink or two while things take care of themselves in the kitchen. It is just such an easy, effortless looking flow – welcoming and gracious and low stress. I wonder if Mr. Kim and I entertain like that and HOPE that we do. But it is something to try to pay attention to. John also served a COMPLETELY demolished Bundt cake that came out of the pan in about 40 pieces. We all laughed and then proceeded to eat every delicious crumb. I know for a fact (because it has happened) that I would never have the grace to do THAT. That cake would have ended up in the back yard for the birds and I would have been at Wal-mart at 3am buying a cake mix.

[emmalish]

Kim, thanks! You rock! And I loooove the name of the recipe.

[C. sapidus]

Kim, thank you for the very kind words. Your Mother’s Day spread looks fabulous, and the dinner party sounds like a delightful evening.

We had a summery dinner on a cool, drizzly evening . . .

Chicken with soy-ginger-sesame oil-rice vinegar marinade, grilled over charcoal.

Grilled asparagus with sesame oil

Served with buttered shoepeg corn, and bread with smoked gouda cheese.

[dcarch]

Thank you all for your warm welcomes and wonderful complements.

You all make such super meals.

dcarch

[mgaretz]

Well I meant to take pictures!

I haven't been posting for a while, not because I haven't been cooking, but because I haven't made anything new....

Tonight we had friends over and I made London Broil with mashed potatoes (no milk, just butter), porcini sauce for the meat and potatoes and salad with my raspberry vinaigrette.

The sauce was made with dried porcinis, reducing their soaking liquid and adding cream sherry, garlic, butter and a touch of balsamic vinegar.

[mgaretz]

Chicken with soy-ginger-sesame oil-rice vinegar marinade, grilled over charcoal.

Bruce, that chicken looks fantastic!

[dcarch]

Time to BBQ. The garden is blooming.

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

Bruce – thank you! That chicken looks beautiful and the marinade has all my favorite stuff in it!

dcarch – I can’t figure out what I’m looking at. Do those ribs have handles? They look fantastic. And are those fries under the impossibly thin and gorgeous red onion strings?

Dinner last night was a ‘Greek-ish’ salad. I used the CSA Bibb, mustard greens and spring onions:

Dressed w/ a lemon dressing and some of the CSA feta:

[robirdstx]

Dinner tonight was Garlic Toast from a fresh baked artisan loaf

and Toasted Ravioli with Marinara Sauce for dipping.

[dcarch]

Kim,

Yes, those are handles for the ribs. The BBQ ribs were for a sitdown dinner table meal and with ladies all dressed up with their manicured fingers.

Your salads look delicious and healthy. Are the ingredients from your garden?

I made one salad with greens from my garden:

dcarch

[MiFi]

Diners from last couple weeks:

Pork ragu

Grilled chicken, lentils de puy, tomato salad

Lemon-yogurt cake w/strawberry sauce

More grilled chicken

Fish Tacos

Duck Rillets

Grilled shrimp, soppressta, mozzarella

Tabbouleh

Grilled fennel pork loin

Roasted yellow beet, potato, carrot, and goat cheese salad

[Darienne]

Never even thought to take photos until after lunch (our dinner), but today I made my first Enchiladas ever using pulled beef (a first, but after last week's pulled pork first)and some canned poblanos which were so far past the can's 'best by' date that it will be a wonder if we don't end up in Emerg soon. So delicious. Will make them for guests coming on Friday evening to stay over. So many firsts...so few photos...

So that adds Enchiladas to the Moussaka, the various Chinese dishes, the ice cream, bread from scratch, and the other firsts that I am finally at this late stage in my life, building up a suitable repertoire of recipes to serve to guests.

Photo next time I hope.

[deadstroke]

My first post in this thread!

Beef Cheek Bourguignon with mashed potatoes and caramalized vegetables. Couldn't resist showing off my Ichimonji TKC chef's knife as well .

[Kim Shook]

robirdstx – both the garlic toast and the ravioli look wonderful. I am mesmerized by your bread, though. I clicked to enlarge and it looks almost like there is cheese there, too. Could you give me a mini-tutorial on that bread?

dcarch – you may only be 6 posts in to your eG career, but you obviously have some serious experience. Gorgeous food and pictures. I am enjoying all of your contributions. The fresh stuff is mostly from the Community Supported Agriculture baskets we have signed up for.

MiFi – I would love to try the duck rillets. We had pork rillets in NOLA for the first time and we fell in love. And I think that shrimp, soppressta and mozzarella is an inspired combination (love the fancy picture, too!).

Darienne – pulled BEEF? Hmmmm. How’d you do that? What cut of beef? Inquiring minds and all that.

deadstroke – Gorgeous first post. We saw beef cheeks in the butcher shop the other day and I wondered what I could do with them. Now I know!

[Darienne]

Darienne – pulled BEEF? Hmmmm. How’d you do that? What cut of beef? Inquiring minds and all that.

Ed says it was a sirloin tip. It was very large and half price. (I don't know how to pick meat.) Did it like the pork in the slow cooker on low for several hours. It was incredible. I guess you can 'pull' just about any meat. It sure is handy to cook meat in a slow cooker and not have the oven on. Then I spread it in lots on a cookie sheet in the freezer for fast freezing and then put it all in bags in the cellar freezer for quick access to cooked meat for just about anything.

Our eating life just keeps on changing and changing.

ps. Should add that our grocery store has a real butcher (half-owner) who likes us.

Edited May 20, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[Pierogi]

Never even thought to take photos until after lunch (our dinner), but today I made my first Enchiladas ever using pulled beef (a first, but after last week's pulled pork first)and some canned poblanos which were so far past the can's 'best by' date that it will be a wonder if we don't end up in Emerg soon. So delicious. Will make them for guests coming on Friday evening to stay over. So many firsts...so few photos...

So that adds Enchiladas to the Moussaka, the various Chinese dishes, the ice cream, bread from scratch, and the other firsts that I am finally at this late stage in my life, building up a suitable repertoire of recipes to serve to guests.

Photo next time I hope.

Dear Darienne....

Welcome to the YaYaEnchiladaSisterhood.

This is a MARVELOUSLY adaptable technique, which is just made for using up any protein leftovers you may find lurking in your cold storage units. Once you've got the technique down (sauce, even purchased works perfectly....canned, bottled, whatever), dip tortillas, fill with protein/cheese/onions/chiles/olives/scallions/whatever bound together with sauce, pour more sauce over, add more cheese and bake, you've got dinner. Leftover roast beef....? Enchiladas !

Leftover roast/grilled/sauteed chicken...? Enchiladas !

Too much turkey after a holiday feast....? Enchiladas !

Leftover pork tenderloin/chops/shoulder...? You got it....

Even just cheese and sauce is plenty satisfying and plenty good.

Protein won't shred....no big deal, just dice it in fairly small cubes and carry on.

Enchiladas are a gift from the culinary gods. Just don't skimp on the cheese.

[robirdstx]

robirdstx – both the garlic toast and the ravioli look wonderful. I am mesmerized by your bread, though. I clicked to enlarge and it looks almost like there is cheese there, too. Could you give me a mini-tutorial on that bread?

Hey Kim, thanks. Yes, you are correct - there is cheese on the bread. I used Method 1 from the recipe link below:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/garlic_bread/

ETA: We dipped the bread in the marinara sauce too.

Edited May 20, 2010 by robirdstx (log)

[robirdstx]

Dinner last night was Grilled Pizza using the recipe from Reinhart's American Pie.

All the little doughs coated with olive oil in their baggies and ready for the fridge.

Dough out of the fridge and resting in olive oil.

Ready to put on the grill.

Toppings on this one included shredded mozz and parm, crushed tomato sauce (recipe also from American Pie), hot Italian sausage, pepperoni, caramelized onion and sauted mushrooms.

Out from under the broiler (see note below) and ready to cut.

And the underside.

Note: The recipe calls for using a charcoal grill, but since we only have gas that is what we used. Unfortunately, the gas grill cooked the bread too fast and the toppings didn't have a chance to really heat up, so we had to finish the pizzas under the broiler. It was a fun experiment and the pizzas were great but until there is a charcoal grill to work with, we will be sticking to the oven method.

Edited May 20, 2010 by robirdstx (log)

[deensiebat]

Robirdstx: I second the love of garlic bread! Every time I make it, I wonder why we don't have it more often. I'm fond of the Cook's Illustrated method, where you dry-toast the unpeeled garlic cloves first--seems to do a good job of yielding a strong taste without a harsh bite.

Last week we took advantage of the sunny day with an impromptu picnic. I threw together this Israeli couscous salad:

Saffron-cooked couscous, leftover cooked wheatberries, cilantro, mint, feta, hazelnuts, canned favas, lemon and olive oil.

[Darienne]

Dear Darienne....

Welcome to the YaYaEnchiladaSisterhood.

Dear Pierogi,

Thanks for the kind welcome. I intend to follow up on all your suggestions, Where were these foods all my life?

[robirdstx]

Tonight we had Beef, Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Cannelloni.

Stuffing the pasta.

Golden and bubbly out of the oven.

And the money shot!