Dinner! 2010

[dcarch]

Kim,

I am not done playing with bacon yet :-)

More BLT with M. cheese, and Magic Puff bread.

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

dcarch - ok, now you're just messing with me !

For dinner tonight, I did an version of a chicken and ham cannelloni that I used to make years ago. I had kind of forgotten about it. It was a bit labor intensive – not a weeknight meal. This version was. I used egg roll wrappers and an simple filling of chicken (cooked last night while I was doing other stuff), deli ham, spinach, ricotta, garlic, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning:

All rolled up:

Instead of making my own sauce, I used Bertolli Alfredo sauce (that’s the real cheat here) and baked until bubbly:

These were awfully good:

Served with a salad which NO ONE needs to see another picture of .

[djyee100]

dcarch - ok, now you're just messing with me !

You're messing with all of us. I have never seen bacon curled up like that, like flower petals or a bowl. Fabulous presentation.

So tell us how...

(Kim, love the cannelloni.)

[dcarch]

dcarch - ok, now you're just messing with me !

You're messing with all of us. I have never seen bacon curled up like that, like flower petals or a bowl. Fabulous presentation.

So tell us how...

(Kim, love the cannelloni.)

OK. I will tell you. But promise you will not tell Kim. :-)

Basically I like eating bacon. Lots of bacon. Obviously bacon fat can be an issue.

I developed different ways to make bacon so that most of the fat can be drianed off and the bacon strips would be uniformly crispy.

The straight bacons were baked stretched out, away from the fat, and the curved ones were baked on a curved surface so that all the fat would drain off. The bacon strips were never fried in the fat.

dcarch

[percyn]

Nice meals all, including that gravity defying bacon dcarch.

A few meals from earlier in the week -

BBQ Beef Ribs

Curry Chicken & Shrimp

Steak w/mashed sweet potatoes

[SobaAddict70]

Was pressed for time tonight so I threw something together in short order.

Fusilli with summer squash, heirloom tomatoes and anchovy

Sometimes all you really need for a pasta sauce is a great olive oil and some wonderful vegetables. Add a glass of wine and you're set.

[Kim Shook]

dcarch - ok, now you're just messing with me !

You're messing with all of us. I have never seen bacon curled up like that, like flower petals or a bowl. Fabulous presentation.

So tell us how...

(Kim, love the cannelloni.)

OK. I will tell you. But promise you will not tell Kim. :-)

Basically I like eating bacon. Lots of bacon. Obviously bacon fat can be an issue.

I developed different ways to make bacon so that most of the fat can be drianed off and the bacon strips would be uniformly crispy.

The straight bacons were baked stretched out, away from the fat, and the curved ones were baked on a curved surface so that all the fat would drain off. The bacon strips were never fried in the fat.

dcarch

I heard, I heard!!! Still amazed!

[Pilori]

Salad Lyonnaise with some butter roasted carrots

[David Ross]

Last night I did pasta with the first tomatoes off my Topsy-Turvy tomato planter. Over the course of the summer I've been recording my tomato growing adventure here.

It's a very simple recipe--fresh grape tomatoes sauteed for about two minutes in olive oil and garlic, then tossed into some cooked bowtie pasta--garnished with fresh basil and ricotta cheese.

[Honkman]

Moroccan Vegetable Ragout with kale, sweet potatoes and chickpeas - Overall we were pleased with the Moroccan vegetable ragout but if we would repeat this recipe we would increase the amount of spices and at the same time use less honey. Even though the dish wasn’t overly sweet we felt that the spices could have been more pronounced.

[kayb]

dcarch, I don't know what you do for a living, but you need to set up shop with Prawncrackers as professional food stylists and photographers. I'm contemplating making a collections of y'all's photographs to post on my kitchen bulletin board to inspire me. Beautiful, beautiful meals!

Everyone else's dinners had me drooling as well. Particularly since I've been on the road and in the midst of a hectic work schedule with no time to cook. However, at least one trip did take me to New Orleans, where I did my dead-level best to hit as many of my favorites as I could in 2 1/2 days:

Mother's, fried shrimp po'boy washed down with Dixie beer

Mr. B's Bistro, bacon-wrapped shrimp over the most impossible creamy cheese grits I've ever tasted.

Cafe DuMonde, cafe au lait and beignets, of course. With nine gazillion other tourists.

Acme Oyster House, chargrilled oysters, red beans and rice

Palace Cafe, grilled redfish with crawfish etouffee

Restaurant August, gnocchi with truffle cream sauce, poached figs with fresh ricotta, rabbit sausage with fennel

I think I gained 10 pounds and it was worth every stretched seam of it. Lord, but I love New Orleans.

[David Ross]

Sauteed Halibut on Smoked Creamed Corn-

Creamed Corn-

For the creamed corn, use sweet corn from the Farmer's market. I use about 3 ears of corn which will yield enough creamed corn for about 6 servings of creamed corn. Pull back the husks and clean the silks with some fresh running water. Pull the husks back and tie them back on the ears with cotton string. Roast the corn on a barbecue for about 20 minutes until the ears begin to char. I add a handful of wet apple chips for some extra smoke.

When the corn is done, cut the corn off the cobs. (The squirrels in my backyard love the corncobs). Saute some diced, smoked bacon until crispy. Add some chopped onion and saute for about 1 minute. Drain, and combine the bacon and corn in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add some heavy cream, grated white cheddar cheese,salt, pepper and cayenne. I add about a teaspoon of liquid smoke to boost the smoke flavor. Cook the creamed corn down until it is thick and creamy. Garnish with some chopped chives.

[Lindsey]

Everything looks so good, been very lazy lately - must pull my socks up!

[deadstroke]

Kingfish sashimi and tempura!

[Blether]

Everything looks so good, been very lazy lately - must pull my socks up!

It's good to see you here again.

[Prawncrackers]

dcarch, I don't know what you do for a living, but you need to set up shop with Prawncrackers as professional food stylists and photographers. I'm contemplating making a collections of y'all's photographs to post on my kitchen bulletin board to inspire me. Beautiful, beautiful meals!

Thanks Kayb! If I ever meet dcarch in person I'll put it to him Here are some meals from recent weeks that I hope will make your board.

Mole Poblano guinea fowl, guacamole and red rice. Oh and some sliced habanero to pep things up a little:

Chicken with Chillies:

Ultimate comfort food - steamed fish (sea bass) and stir fried veg (tong ho) with lap chueng:

Finally after a couple of weeks of poor weather, I had the opportunity today to bbq some beef short ribs. As you can see this was nice meaty four ribber, seasoned down with a pepper heavy rub the night before and smoked with mesquite for about four hours then in the oven for three. I managed to transfer it to the serving plate and it fell into big juicy hunks when I cut it up, tasted incredible - it may be the best thing yet to have come off my weber. I called a friend to help devour it and between the three of us we ate every last scrap of it with some potato salad, sweetcorn and guacamole.

and because I know you folk like this sort of thing, I took a close-up of the very last delicous morsel - a burnt end that I'd saved:

[Kim Shook]

Pilori – beautiful meal! Even the carrots look good and I don’t care for cooked carrots.

kayb – Oh, I am so envious! I think that we had the best food I’ve ever eaten on our NOLA trip. We were so stuffed the night that we were supposed to go to Acme for the chargrilled oysters, that we wimped out and ended up sharing a Lucky Dog at midnight and we never got back to Acme.

David – that creamed corn looks stupendous! Do not look at my creamed corn below. It was a combination of frozen niblets and a tube of frozen creamed corn that I am addicted to.

deadstroke – gorgeous tempura – I can HEAR the shattering crispness.

Prawn – as usual, everything on your post looks and sounds amazing. We have a new, big screen computer and it is making that short rib completely irresistible looking.

Made dinner at my mom and Ted’s last weekend:

Maggie’s Shrimp and Corn w/ Basil. This is just so good. Five ingredients. Amazing.

Served with fried squash and onions:

I have cooked precisely one night this week. Sunday night we got home to find that Jessica had made a delicious saffron scented spaghetti carbonara. We had that Sunday and Monday. Tuesday we ordered pizza and I made a salad. Wednesday night we had leftover pizza and a stir fry of yellow squash, peppers, onions and sriracha. Last night, I had errands to run after work and was out until 10pm. I grabbed a Chick-Fil-A and I have no idea what Mr. Kim and Jessica ate. Tonight they are in Charlottesville for a VA football game and I’ll probably scramble some eggs. But I did cook Thursday. Some shrimp that Jake made recently have been in my mind. I didn’t have all of her ingredients, so I riffed with what I had. We started with the inevitable salad:

this is Mr. Kim’s – some red jalapenos from our CSA box on top.

The marinade ended up being OJ, lime juice, garlic, olive oil, Penzey’s Mural of Flavor, ginger, shallot, ground ancho chilis and fish sauce. It turned out really good. Served with creamed corn and marinated cucumbers.

[kayb]

Creamy gazpacho with chicken quesadillas. Quick, easy, good.

The last two nights were street-vendor food at the blues festival -- corn dogs, funnel cakes, et. al. And beer. Lots o' beer. Must have beer with the blues!

[David Ross]

Grilled Pesto Prawns with Zuchinni and Tomato Salad-

Very simple-Large prawns in the shell that I butterflied and then rubbed with some fresh pesto I bought at the deli. Grilled for about 4 minutes each side on the Weber. The oil in the pesto kept the prawns very moist. Garnished with grilled lemon halves.

The salad was thin-sliced tomatoes that I bought at the Farmer's market along with sliced yellow and green zuchinni, basil, nicoise and picholine olives, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and some parmesan.

[emilyr]

@kayb - What's in the creamy gazpacho?

[dcarch]

"dcarch, I don't know what you do for a living, but you need to set up shop with Prawncrackers as professional food stylists and photographers. I'm contemplating making a collections of y'all's photographs to post on my kitchen bulletin board to inspire me. Beautiful, beautiful meals!"

That's quite a compliment, kayB. Thanks.

I am just so overwhelmed by all the amazing display of food art here!

I make BBQ ribs with mango sauce and a blur berry lime jello.

dcarch

[Blether]

I love the rib handles - it's like an old-fashioned organ.

[deadstroke]

Crab ravioli on a roasted tomato puree and chorizo chips.

[ScottyBoy]

Oh yeah man! That looks great!

[SobaAddict70]

Linguine with sweet peppers, garlic, pear and cherry tomatoes