Dinner! 2010

[Kim Shook]

Darienne – I’ll look for the cut and try that. I really like the idea of pulled beef. I had to laugh when you said that you didn’t know how to pick meat, because that is always my problem, too. I know rib eyes for steaks and chuck for pot roast, but then I get lost. My first impulse is if it’s flat, it’s a steak and if it’s a big ball, it’s a roast .

robirdstx – thanks for the link. I printed it out and will try that soon. Your Cannelloni is gorgeous. I make a similar one with chicken and ham and we love it with the spinach!

deensiebat – your couscous is lovely.

Dinner tonight was MORE Greek salad:

yawn

And grilled cheeseburgers w/ a fried egg:

Nom.

[menuinprogress]

Mano de Leon scallop. Snap peas, beans and beet green stems. Warm potato salad with bacon.

[Dianne]

Hello again,

I have been absent for more than two years because I went completley blind after a severe illness. I have had many challenges but I am slowly getting back to cooking. There will be no pictures; I find the focus too difficult .

Last night's dinner was roasted chicken, red potatoes finished with butter and chives from our garden and a green salad of the first lettuces from our farmers market.

[Darienne]

Darienne – I’ll look for the cut and try that. I really like the idea of pulled beef. I had to laugh when you said that you didn’t know how to pick meat, because that is always my problem, too. I know rib eyes for steaks and chuck for pot roast, but then I get lost. My first impulse is if it’s flat, it’s a steak and if it’s a big ball, it’s a roast .

No, no...the meat was picked because it was on sale. The called-for cut is a brisket but we can't get them from our butcher. Outside round would be suitable or chuck. I can't tell you further than that. Yeah, a flat piece is a steak for sure. I am a confirmed lessmeatarian (Bitten)

Edited May 21, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[millich]

THAT is the most beautiful salad I've ever seen!!! What are those flowers?

[dcarch]

Thanks millich. It's just a simple salad fresh from my garden:

Arugular, lettuce, hosta shoots and garnished with spring beauties (claytonia) blossoms.

Spring Beauty is a common lawn weed. Tastes very good in a salad.

dcarch

[djyee100]

For dinner tonight, my idea of comfort food, Greek Lamb Yiouvetsi with Pasta, Tomatoes, and Cheese. Lamb shoulder chops braised in tomato sauce with Aleppo pepper and cinnamon, combined with orzo pasta, then slow-baked so the flavors meld. A little before the end of baking time, some pecorino romano cheese is sprinkled on top.

The casserole comes out of the oven with a crispy cheese crust.

Garnished with more grated pecorino cheese and fresh parsley, and served warm, rather than hot. A homey dish, yet with complex flavors. The long cooking time makes the difference.

My variation of a recipe from Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. I split some lamb shoulder chops, keeping the bone in for more flavor, and seared the chops in a skillet before braising. Other than that, I followed the recipe. It's available on Googlebooks, Page 136.

http://books.google.com/books?id=DwtbDDGaQcIC&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=wolfert+greek+lamb+yiouvetsi+pasta+tomatoes+cheese&source=bl&ots=qlxLQC0_pR&sig=QNXUHcEerWAZhloEf09acJFX7ew&hl=en&ei=e2L3S7a8FYuyMtimmL8I&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Kim Shook]

djyee – That pasta dish looks wonderful. We love lamb and orzo is my go-to starch, so I know we’d really enjoy that. Thanks for linking to the recipe!

Dinner last night was Sweet and Sour Glazed Pork Chops. We went to our butcher and got these lovelies:

These things were HUGE – 1” thick, 4” wide and 7” long! And how about that fat cap?

The chops were wonderful – juicy, PORKY and the balsamic, honey, butter and rosemary glaze is perfect with pork:

I also did the ubiquitous salad and some plain old cheddar au gratin potatoes:

Plated:

[kayb]

Dyjee, that lamb WILL be my dinner tomorrow night; I lamb stew meat in the freezer and all the rest of the ingredients. I can't wait.

Kim and RobirdsTX as always, your meals look wonderful.

DKarch, I am in awe of your presentation skills!

Nothing exceptional at my house this week, but here are some samples...

Whole-wheat penne with sugar snap peas and bacon, caprese salads, multi-grain baguette from the bakery.

Chicken stirfry with mushrooms, carrots, peas over brown rice.

Roasted pork tenderloin (I went to no great lengths to plate it, and my plating skills leave much to be desired anyway, so this is just after slicing on the roasting pan).

Edited May 22, 2010 by kayb (log)

[dcarch]

Thanks kayb.

I think your meals look wonderful, in a natural way.

I think your meals look delicious, and in a very healthy way.

dcarch

Sushi? anyone?

[Bella S.F.]

Menu In Progress Your scallop dish is gorgeous! Please, could you say how you did that?

Thanks!

[robirdstx]

Pan-seared Lamb Rib Chops I cooked them in my cast-iron skillet on the outdoor gas grill. It was so nice not to have to worry about the smoke alarm! I'll definitely be using this method again. The chops turned out great - brown and crusty on the outside, pink and tender on the inside, with lots of meltingly, delicious fat.

Out of the pan and resting.

Plated with Basil Pesto Bowtie Pasta

[David Ross]

The fresh asparagus in Eastern, Washington keeps coming. I've never seen a season like this-week after week after week of fresh asparagus. Thank you Mother Nature. This past winter I sure didn't miss the 4' of snow we had in the winter of '09, and I sure like the spring crop of asparagus in '10. The price is now down to 99 cents per pound.

Last night I did a simple Cream of Asparagus Soup. The garnish is Steamed Asparagus Spears and a few threads of Spring Onion-

[Honkman]

Homemade Orecchiette with Rabbit Ragu from Puglia

First time we worked with pasta dough without egg and it made some of our best pasta yet. Rabbit is also very underappreciated in restaurants and cooking in general in the US. The dish might have been even better with hare.

[Blether]

Homemade Orecchiette with Rabbit Ragu from Puglia

D'you mind if I ask you to describe the process of making the orecchiette ?

[Blether]

Inspired by a rampant lemon thyme plant this season, Hugh F-W in the Grauniad this week, and an unusually pre-filleted Inada / young Yellowtail on the fish counter for the equivalent of 2 bucks 50, I made Yellowtail Gremolata, with a small pan sauce - didn't have any wine, so just water to deglaze, and a little extra olive oil:

- accompanied by fresh-baked bread and followed by a simple salad of mizuna (greens). Vibrant, juicy, delicious and satisfying.

[nickrey]

Tonight's dinner was tea-smoked duck breast with puy lentils.

[Dianne]

Last nigh was classic bacon cheese burgers with fries Friday was garlic shrimp made with the first green garlic from our farmer's market in Orillia, Ontario. And tonight will be ribs.. All good on a long weekend..t

[deensiebat]

Simmered up a pot of Acorda, a brothy cilantro-leek-chard-chickpea soup, poured over garlicky bread and topped with a poached egg. It looks kinda like mulch, but it was delicious.

[menuinprogress]

Menu In Progress Your scallop dish is gorgeous! Please, could you say how you did that?

Thanks, Bella! The cooking technique is pretty simple - the key is to use a good quality dry scallop. If the scallop is shedding liquid it is hard to get that nice caramelized sear. The scallops were coated in olive oil, the presentation side was seared first in a fairly hot pan and then turned and cooked at a lower temperature until the center was cooked to just barely medium.

[Darienne]

A rice recipe from a Martha Stewart Living magazine left in the free bin at the local 2nd hand book store:Wild Rice with Cranberries and Toasted Pecans.

DH did not like it: he likes his rice mushy: I don't. He says he'll fix it up with some curry sauce to make it edible. I just looked askance.

[Bella S.F.]

Menu in Progress Thanks for the tip. I have found that people either say that caramelizing scallops is either really, really easy, or they say that the scallops end up tough. I am going to have to just dive in, so to speak, and try it myself!

[SobaAddict70]

Spicy squid stew, with Belgian beer, fennel and ramps

It doesn't look like much but it packed quite a flavor wallop, believe me. Recipe on the blog.

Tonight will be something simple (which isn't saying much b/c most of what I cook tends to be REALLY simple); "complicated" dinners are actually quite rare at Chez Soba. It will probably be something along the lines of thin spaghetti with chickweed, radish greens and caramelized onion. Pix later. One of the advantages of keeping a "Mediterranean" pantry is I can be assured of dinner in ten minutes or less.

[dcarch]

Here is a trick I use to make scallops. Depending on how much browning and done-ness you prefer, you can vary the technique a little:

I slice the scallops in half, use paper towel to dry them completely, season them according to your recipe.

I have one frying pan with oil heat to smoking hot, and have another frying pan with oil also burning at the same time.

I fry all the scallops in one pan to a nice caramelization, (don't turn them over) then immediately transfer them to the other frying pan to cook the other side.

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

menuinprogress – what a beautiful sear on that scallop!

Nick – gorgeous duck!

deensiebat – that’s some good looking mulch! And, really, isn’t EVERYTHING better with a poached egg on top?

Darienne – I’ve made that rice and it’s delicious!

Soba – nice to see your post! Beautiful, as always!

Mr. Kim was smoking a couple of pork butts to take to NC this weekend so I fixed up a chicken with the lemon balm from the CSA box and had him put it on the smoker too:

I rubbed it with olive oil, put some of the leaves under the skin and stuffed the cavity with more leaves:

This was one gorgeous, juicy bird – we are smoked chicken converts:

We had it with some (Not So) Spicy Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup that a friend sent me the recipe for:

This was very popular with Mr. Kim and Jess. Too much cumin for my tastes and besides, I only really like sweet potatoes when they taste like dessert .