Dinner! 2010

[Kim Shook]

Thanks all for the pork compliments. We really got lucky with that – it’s just supermarket pork (which I hardly ever buy anymore – mostly butcher shop pork), but it was really moist and flavorful. And I’m thrilled that no one mocked my sweet potato !

menuinprogress – what lovely beets! Mr. Kim would love those!

Le Master – I am SO making those onion chips soon!!

robirdstix – that tart is gorgeous and I don’t even like asparagus!

Kay – yep, I grew up with a mom who, God bless her, cooked pork to DEATH. We used to joke that her sausage patties were cooked so long that they ended up the size and texture of silver dollars! I still won’t make pork for her because she thinks I’m going to kill everyone .

We finished up the pork loin the other night – I just brushed it with BBQ sauce and served it with salad, creamed corn and corn muffins:

Another night was spaghetti carbonara w/ spinach – this was a Food & Wine recipe. We liked it and it was very easy, but thought it needed a little adjustment. I added garlic, which it lacked. Also, the way they suggest doing the spinach is odd. You dump all the spinach on the pasta at the end of the boiling and then drain it all. We ended up with a very few clumps of spinach that didn’t distribute itself among the pasta at all. Next time, I’ll roughly chop the spinach and sprinkle it on just before serving. I’m sure that it will wilt plenty. The recipe calls for spinach pasta, which I didn’t have, so I just used regular:

Served with garlic bread and salad.

Friday night was shrimp tacos with this gorgeous and delicious slaw:

It included pickled red onion, cabbage and mango.

Tacos:

The shrimp preparation called for sautéing the shrimp and then adding BBQ sauce and Monterey Jack cheese at the end. This sounded really peculiar to me, but I went with it and they were really, really good – definitely a keeper. And that slaw would be wonderful on a LOT of things.

For our tailgate meal in Charlottesville yesterday I decided to try pressed sandwiches. I’d never done them before, but always thought they’d make good tailgating fare. I googled a Julia recipe and a Martha recipe and kind of put them together, adding my own ideas. They turned out great!

Layering:

bread, anchovy paste, tapenade, chèvre and sliced marinated artichoke hearts.

Black Forest ham and sopressata

Dijon vinaigrette and arugula

sandwich the next day

They were very, very good and so easy that I’m sure this will go into our regular tailgate rotation.

I served them with a layered salad:

lettuce, cauliflower, red onion, bacon and cheese

Our dinner tonight (in front of the Sunday night football game on TV) will be Sloppy Joes on onion rolls, fries and a salad (I think that I’ll try to add a little oomph to the salad!). Pictures later.

[Kim Shook]

Dinner tonight was exactly what I said I was planning, plus some leftover layered salad from yesterday’s tailgate meal:

Plus a MUCH more interesting salad than our usual:

romaine, arugula, chèvre, pears, toasted almonds and corn muffin croutons. Just a couple of additions, but what a difference!

[mssurgeon81]

Thai Curried Butternut Squash Soup, from the November issue of Food and Wine. The only change I made was to roast the butternut squash (rather than boiling it as the recipe suggests.). Garnished with a dollop of greek yogurt. Served with an Americano Imperial (an Americano, with champagne instead of club soda) to balance the rich sweetness of the soup. This was rich, spicy, and REALLY REALLY good. I ate an embarrassing amount.

[petit cochon]

Meant to add these a few days ago when I made them, but better late then never! Leftover braised shortribs, roasted veggies, and cauliflower puree became pot pies.

Pre-crust:

Finished product:

Looking forward to experimenting with more leftover-inspired pot pies this winter!

[Honkman]

According to the San Diego County Farm Bureau San Diego had in 2009 more than 6680(!) farms with most of them between just 1-9 acres which is more than any other county in the US. San Diego County is also the largest community of organic growers in the nation with 374 organic farms. So there are a lot of good sources yearround for excellent produce which we like to use often. Recently we made a ratatouille lasagna with celery root creme. All main ingredients beside the pasta and Parmesan cheese were grown locally or at least came from somewhere in California.

[Blether]

... ratatouille lasagna with celery root creme...

Nice. How do you go about celery root creme ?

[dcarch]

What a glorious display of cookery mastery everyone!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was told, to Native Americans, wild rice is a sacred gift. And,

"DO IT RIGHT OR DON'T DO IT! "

I got some real wild rice from a friend whose background is Native American.

The first thing I decided that the rice should not be a side dish. It was going to play the leading role.

The plating design was to subtly and abstractly recall some Native American symbolism and motifs of the hawk and the circle of life.

Some extra rice was used to indulge in a little seasonal fun with a butternut squash and cauliflower. I know what you are thinking. The rice does look like maggots. In real life it really doesn't. That's the way it photographs.

Happy Halloween to everyone.

I urge you all to try and to learn about real wild rice, not the so-called wild rice in the stores. I assure you it will be worth your while.

dcarch

[patti]

Not only artistry, but humor! I love it.

[percyn]

Very nice dcarch. I like your plating with the Butternut Squash and Cauliflower.

[kayb]

dcarch -- Words fail me.

Wow!

[menuinprogress]

We had an extra pork tongue left after making a batch of head cheese, so we decided to try smoking it. We brined it and threw it on the weber at the same time as some bacon we were smoking.

It came out really well. Last night we had some slices served with a bit of vinaigrette:

[Prawncrackers]

Wow, dcarch that maggoty-skull food sculpture is a truly skilful and visually delightful piece. It's also way beyond dinner!, maybe you should start a separate thread for your more artful creations so that we can enjoy them in a more suitable context? That way you can really let loose your creative urges without the incongruity of dinner. Love your work, I've just come back from a holiday in NY where we visited MoMA, I honestly think your pieces would look great on some of those surreal walls!

I've not done much cooking recently, been on holiday and feeling a little ropey when I got back. So here's a couple of dinners that I didn't get the chance to post before we went away. A variation on a theme: roasted game birds, veg, sauce and something crispy. First up was Teal, Toffee Cumin Carrots, Kale and parsnip crisps. Second was Pigeon, grilled red chicory, those same carrots, Cavalo nero and crispy curried shallot rings. The sauce on both was lightly spiced honeyed marsala reduction. I think of the two birds the teal had a much finer flavour but the accompaniments in the second, especially the shallot rings, were better. Next time I know which combination to start with!

[paul o' vendange]

Some wonderful squashes and pumpkins from our new digs (out of Chicago, into a Wisconsin idyll), so made a butternut squash soup with duck fat-fried croutons, from levain boule I make twice a week or so. Main was some roast game hens with a cherry gastrique, on a large palette d'ail doux. On a serious game poultry hankering, it seems (I usually get this disease in the autumn), so will confit some ducks for cassoulet, garbure and salads this week (and, botulism be damned, holiday season).

Edited: Posted before Prawn's post. Prawn, gorgeous meals, and lovely taste pairings. Thanks for the bit of joy.

Edited October 28, 2010 by paul o' vendange (log)

[Honkman]

... ratatouille lasagna with celery root creme...

Nice. How do you go about celery root creme ?

Nothing fancy. Just steam cleaned, cut celery root for 15 minutes, make bechamel sauce, than use immersion blender to incorporate celery root into bechamel sauce.

[Blether]

... Just steam cleaned, cut celery root for 15 minutes, make bechamel sauce, than use immersion blender to incorporate celery root into bechamel sauce.

Thanks There's a name for doing the same thing with bechamel and tomato sauce, isn't there ? Sauce Aurore ?

[Kim Shook]

petit cochon – lovely sounding pot pies!

dcarch – love the looks of your wild rice dish and the skull is hilarious!

Prawn – lovely meals, as always and I hope you are feeling better!

Dinner the other night:

Chicken in cheddar sauce, green beans, roasted cauliflower and long grain and wild rice.

I’ve got some tough old beef from the freezer braising, teeny little potatoes ready to roast, yellow squash sautéed with onions and some Brussels sprouts ready to sauté in butter. Mr. Kim is working late doing evaluations that are due Monday morning and we’ll eat as soon as he comes home.

[Kim Shook]

Dinner tonight, as described earlier:

I found lovely little sprouts at the store tonight and couldn’t resist them (and I almost never say that about vegetables) and the potatoes are even smaller than the sprouts. After this picture was taken, everything but the squash was drenched in that good gravy !

[Teddy Devico]

Pan Roasted Chicken Breast and Leg with Beet Gel, Chicken Jus, Crisped Chicken Skin, Radish, and Brussel Sprout

[Kim Shook]

I’ve been sick this week, so this was the first meal that I’ve cooked in a while. We had a chopped salad:

And my version of a NY Times shrimp recipe – garlic, lemongrass, lime juice, soy sauce and fish sauce. Jasmine rice and Brussels sprouts. The shrimp was really good – I was winging the recipe, based on what I had and it could have used a bit more of everything:

[harrysnapperorgans]

I just made a simple, easy pasta dish that I know my kids will eat - and that will make my wife happy when she gets home tonight.

Pasta with chicken, peas, broccoli and toasted garlic bread crumbs.

I managed to cook this while holding a grumpy 11 month old as well!

[dcarch]

---- I managed to cook this while holding a grumpy 11 month old as well!

Way too early to teach a kid to cook. Just my opinion.

Good job!

dcarch

[Rico]

Menuinprogress - I have never had pork tongue before, but I'd certainly give that a shot!

Prawncrackers - Thank you for continuing to post things to aspire to. Beautiful. Also, I like the use of the word 'ropey' in that context. I'm going to make an effort to incorporate it into my vernacular; I'd never heard that before.

Kim - I hope you get well soon! Sorry to hear you're not feeling well;I'm sure that meal helped at least a little!

HarrySnapperorgans - I'm too nervous to even hold an 11-month old, not to mention making a meal at the same too!

I made chimchurri sauce for the first time. Now it's one of my favorite things ever.

[harrysnapperorgans]

Rico, that looks great! What is chimchurri sauce? Some form of pesto?

[harrysnapperorgans]

I like this thread - I'm no chef, so it's nice to be able to post simple food that I do cook.

Friday night and I was totally in the mood for a steak.

I made grilled porterhouse steak, grilled potatoes and asparagus and a rocket salad.

[Jenni]

Happy Diwali everyone! Off to play cards and set off rockets

(yeah, I know, nothing particularly Diwali-ish about the meal, but it's special occasion because I made rabri and stuffed aubergines, dammit!)