Dinner! 2010

[suzilightning]

saturday i worked and when john got home from the hawkwatch we went down to the lake, sat and enjoyed some beer and each other. dinner was bison sliders with cheese and carmelized onions, tomatoes and green beans with a vinegarette low on the vinegar.

sunday i worked again and went to a local supermarket afterwards. dinner was pasta with shrimp, clams, parsley, roma tomatoes and garlic with olive oil and the wine the clams were cooked in.

[scubadoo97]

I made pho for the first time. Used oxtails to make the broth and very thin sliced flank and brisket to finish before serving.

[Kim Shook]

A couple of recent meals:

Salad w/ fried spinach wrap strips:

Fried shrimp (coated in cornmeal and taco seasoning) w/ mango-habenero salsa and a side of black beans, corn and salsa:

We are trying to work through the freezer and pantry before I start all the holiday cooking – most of that was leftovers (not to mention beige ).

Tonight:

Panko crab cakes on corn cakes w/ remoulade, fried potatoes and creamed corn. This actually counted as leftovers, too. I did crab stuffed mushrooms for my niece’s wedding this weekend and bought too much crab. Those are another story – my lovely stuffed mushrooms came out of the oven tender and crisp topped. The kitchen helpers then put them into a steam pan to serve and they ended up soggy and flabby .

[KatieLoeb]

Heirloom tomato salad with chiffonade of basil and balsamic vinaigrette. This and an entire Delicata squash was my dinner a couple of nights ago. The produce at my local Farmer's Market is awesome right now...

[dcarch]

Bogus Chicken ------ Buddha’s delight .

There have been too many meat dishes posted. Here is one using mock chicken, which I think even fanatical carnivores can enjoy.

Recipe is basic and not complicated.

Mock chicken is available from Chinese stores. Sliced and browned in oyster sauce cooked with rosemary and a tea spoon of liquid smoke.

Gravy is veggie stock with fish sauce added, cook with mushroom and diced tomato and ¼ cup of red wine. Sprinkle with ground pepper and sesame oil.

dcarch

[Blether]

Bogus Chicken ------ Buddha’s delight ...

When is your book coming out ?

[robirdstx]

I'd been craving risotto for some time and finally made up a batch of Duck Breast and Porcini Risotto (sorry, no photo) for dinner last night. I soaked the dried porcinis in some chicken stock; strained the soaking liquid and sliced the mushrooms into match stick pieces. I also sliced the cooked duck breast and some water chestnuts into match stick pieces. I added the mushrooms, duck, and water chestnuts to the risotto about half way through the cooking and then added diagonal sliced green onions near the end. After coming off the heat, I stirred in about a half cup of shredded pecorino romano and a touch of butter. The water chestnuts added a nice crunch!

[ScottyBoy]

Sounds killer, remember there's a lot of porcini flavor in that soaking liquid so I'd add it back to the stock (if you didn't).

[robirdstx]

Sounds killer, remember there's a lot of porcini flavor in that soaking liquid so I'd add it back to the stock (if you didn't).

ScottyBoy - I most definitely used the soaking liquid! This was my first time using or tasting porcinis. The flavor was milder than I thought it was going to be but I liked it very much.

Oh, and how could I forget? I made cracklin's out of the duck skin and sprinkled that on top of the finished dish.

[Stephanie Brim]

Spicy Chicken and Black Beans

Because I couldn't think of anything else to call it. I didn't know whether to put it in the Regrettable Food thread because of how it looks or here, but the flavor is spicy and delicious so I figure it deserves being in this one.

I threw this together because I wanted tacos tonight, but not the typical ground meat, pre-packaged seasoning, and cheap cheese/lettuce/sour cream fixings we normally have. In there is a mix of chicken thigh meat, black beans, tomatoes, onion, red bell pepper (roasted from a can, though), garlic, ancho chile, and spices including a little cinnamon, some cumin, some coriander, paprika, cayenne, and salt and pepper...plus a secret mix I use instead of taco packets, generally. These will be served with just a little lettuce, some thinly sliced white onion, a few black olives, and crema on flour tortillas.

Not traditional by any means, nor is it anything I'd serve to my Mexican neighbors, but it hits the spot tonight.

Maybe, though, they should be called burritos instead of tacos. Or just spicy meat and beans wrapped in a tortilla. Someone can correct me if they want. I don't know what to classify it as. Sure is good, though.

Edited September 30, 2010 by Stephanie Brim (log)

[Katie Meadow]

In New Mexico, where I cut my southwestern teeth, what you made would be more traditional than the Taco Bell-like contraption you describe. In fact, that standard American taco with ground beef, yellow cheese, limp lettuce and ersatz salsa was rarely served anywhere in New Mexico EXCEPT Taco Bell.

We pretty much called anything wrapped up in a flour tortilla a burrito. Basically what you made is a chicken burrito with no rice, just beans, with your own version of a red chile sauce (as opposed to a chile verde.) When I think of a traditional taco, it can be soft and warm or fried and crispy, but it's always made with a corn tortilla. And rather than ground beef, it would be some type of deeply flavored long-cooked shredded or chunked pork, or grilled beef.

[Stephanie Brim]

Yeah, that's what I always thought, too. Burrito it is. I'm thinking that I'll be buying some larger flour tortillas for tomorrow's and making some spicy rice with some of the leftover sauce to use as a foundation for the rest of the mix. Need to get more sour cream anyway since the hubby forgot mine at the store today.

I think that I mean not traditional in the sense that I've never tried very hard to BE traditional with my Mexican cooking. I don't have a book to work from (though I'm thinking of getting one now that our Mexican population is large enough that we have a small store that stocks imported goods) and I just work from flavor profiles.

[David Ross]

Dinner last night started with French Fries served with Lemon-Herb Mayonnaise. I've worked for years to perfect my technique for making fries and I'm finally there. It's sort of like getting to a point where you're satisfied with your chili, pie crust or meatballs.

[dcarch]

Dinner last night started with French Fries served with Lemon-Herb Mayonnaise. I've worked for years to perfect my technique for making fries and I'm finally there. It's sort of like getting to a point where you're satisfied with your chili, pie crust or meatballs.

What kind of potato do you prefer to use?

dcarch

[ScottyBoy]

Yeah those fries look spot on.

[David Ross]

Dinner last night started with French Fries served with Lemon-Herb Mayonnaise. I've worked for years to perfect my technique for making fries and I'm finally there. It's sort of like getting to a point where you're satisfied with your chili, pie crust or meatballs.

What kind of potato do you prefer to use?

dcarch

I've always used the Russet--mainly because I prefer the flavor and I think it fries the best. I don't fuss with any other type of potato. I also have a soft spot for the Russet potato because my Grandfather used to grow them on his farm in Central Oregon.

[ScottyBoy]

Every place I've worked around the Bay Area used kennebec potatoes.

[percival]

Went to a Japantown street festival in San Jose that was sorely lacking in Japanese food, came home and made a Japanese themed weekend dinner in about an hour and a half, using stuff I just had lying around. I normally don't start cooking with any sort of menu in mind. It falls together as I'm digging througn the fridge and cupboards. There was a huge daikon I knew I had to get rid of, and I knew the potatoes in the garage were getting old, so I started off knowing I was going to make some braised root vegetable type dish, and some daikon pickle.

I ended up with:

Spinach Omiotsuke (salty/miso soup/dashi from scratch)

Cucumber Konbu Salad (sour/raw)

Shiitake Daikon Carrot Potato simmered in Dashi and Ponzu (sweet/braised/wish I had burdock root and konnyaku too)

Spicy Sesame Daikon Pickles (bitter/spicy/quick pickle)

Panko Fried Shrimp (savory/fried/dipped in mayo or my choice, mayo + sriracha + shoyu + togarashi shichimi)

Steamed Rice

Managed to get a classically Japanese balanced menu together, and only realized it as I was frying up the shrimp, the last thing to be made. Wish I had some nice bento serving trays to photograph it all together.

[percyn]

Pumpkin Walnut Risotto w/Scallop

[C. sapidus]

Chicken fricassee, cacciatora style, from Marcella Hazan. Quoth elder son: "You should make this when we have people over for dinner" (presumably, instead of the Thai curries and Indian food that I prefer to make ).

Linguine with garlic and sage, from the Great Garlic Book. Boys inhaled this. I received this book as a gift and haven't used it much, but this recipe and crawfish etoufee have been quite nice.

Crusty French bread from the grocery store, and green salad.

[percival]

Panko fried shrimp

Shiitake and root vegetables simmered in dashi and ponzu

Cucumber and kombu salad

Pix from Saturday night's dinner that I mentioned a few posts up.

[prasantrin]

What made you decide to slice the cucumbers so thick? I don't think I've ever seen them sliced like that (or is it just the camera angle?).

[percival]

That's about, er, 1.5cm slices? Something to chew on, texture, with moisture as well. I've always cut them that way. I've never understood paper thin cucumber -- the whole point is the crunchy wetness, no? Like pickles.

The dressing was vinegar, sugar, and a splash of soy sauce. I left it in the fridge to soak for thirty minutes, so a good amount the liquid soaked into the pickles. The kombu was left over from making dashi, so it's not as strong and is there more for texture: kind of gooey and crunchy at the same time. The sesame has little flavor. It's there for mouth feel and looks. It's a textural dish. I reserved the sesame flavor for another dish: sesame oil in the daikon pickles.

[dcarch]

I like thick cuts also. One slice, one mouth full.

Great meals everyone.

dcarch

[C. sapidus]

Percival, I can almost feel the crunch on your Panko-fried shrimp. What was your dipping sauce?

Shrimp fried rice, made with red curry paste, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, soy sauce, eggs, and chiles and Thai basil from the garden. Yup, it was leftover night. Served with limes, eternal cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions, and (after taking the picture) Sriracha and leftover broccoli and salad greens.

Younger son gave the meal an 8 (the boys' scale goes from 10 down to negative infinity for certain vegetables ). Elder son went out to eat with friends, but asked me to save a portion for him.