Dinner! 2011

[djyee100]

What's the difference between a baked omelet and a frittata? I encountered an oven-baked omelet at a place I ate last week, and have now seen it a second time. I must find out the difference before my head explodes.

Not much difference, as far as I can tell. I started cooking the egg & veg mixture in a cast iron skillet over moderate heat on the stovetop. When the mixture was set at the edges and bottom, I transferred the pan to a hot oven to finish the cooking. That's a classic frittata method right there. Some people, the brave agile ones, flip the frittata over onto a plate partway thru cooking, then shovel the upended frittata back into the pan so that both sides cook deep golden brown. (A manuever that can result in oil burns on one's hands and wrists. I know, I've been there.) These days, I prefer to set the omelet under the broiler for a minute to brown the top. I didn't call my dish a frittata since I didn't do that midway flip in the pan. However, I checked some cookbooks after reading your question, and apparently it's still a frittata even without that flip to deeply brown both sides.

ETA: Also, I will not call a dish a frittata if it's not Italian. I make a baked omelet of Greek origin that contains zucchini, feta cheese, rice and dill. I call it a baked omelet or oven omelet. TMI? How's your head now?

Edited May 2, 2011 by djyee100 (log)

[Kim Shook]

Deena – what an absolutely gorgeous pizza!

Rico – congratulations on your new toy! That chicken looks beautiful!

With the England trip coming up, we are trying not to buy a lot of fresh stuff and eat up the freezer and pantry. Tonight was some of Mr. Kim’s chili from the freezer. He had it straight with cheese and jalapenos:

and I had chili-cheese fries:

[robirdstx]

robirdstx those look absolutely gorgeous. And delicious. The ingredients glisten with freshness and health. Are you based in the Southwest by any chance?

[edit: whoops, looked at your description and saw it's Southeast Texas.]

Hi patrickamory, thank you. Yep, down here in Texas!

We had some of the chicken leftover, so we had Chicken Quesadillas the next night, but not before a little snack of Chips and Guacamole while catching up on email.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Marsala with Bowtie Pasta.

[Dakki]

Quesadillas with 5 chile pork, my original recipe. A roaring success, even if I say so myself.

The cilantro was kind of tired so I chopped it smaller than usual.

Not shown: Frijoles charros flavored with leftover 5 chile paste. They are also delicious.

EDIT: Rico, I'm sure I've said this before, but your recent photos are amazing. What kind of camera/lighting are you using?

Edited May 4, 2011 by Dakki (log)

[toolprincess]

Dinner tonight with some photos of dubious quality.

For the SO:

Calzone (sausage and pepperoni), green beans, grape tomatoes, and orzo

For me:

Teriyaki-miso salmon, orzo, green beans, and grape tomatoes, and red pepper strips.

Edited May 4, 2011 by toolprincess (log)

[SobaAddict70]

Spaghetti with lobster and spicy tomato sauce

[gfweb]

I am impressed with the small portions everybody eats. I wish I could do that.

[SobaAddict70]

I am impressed with the small portions everybody eats. I wish I could do that.

LOL

I'm having seconds as I type this.

This btw, is actually my fifth meal of the day. I'll have another -- a bedtime snack -- in two hours.

S.

[Genkinaonna]

Fried rice with egg and a little napa cabbage I had hanging around in the fridge, with some potstickers. I made the filling (pork, ginger, sesame oil, xiau xing wine, cabbage, green onion, soy sauce, cornstarch) but bought the wrappers. I got all the prep done last night so it went together pretty quickly. I love fried rice but it does require quite a bit of chopping...

[robirdstx]

Today I made a couple of dishes for the first time. The first was Hummus.

(Note the cute little moat filled with olive oil and lemon juice. ) We had the hummus with some Homemade Naan.

For our main course, we had the last of the Steelhead Trout, wrapped in foil and baked with red onion, lemon slices and dots of butter.

The second new dish was a Quinoa Pilaf. This was our first time having quinoa and we liked it! We also had a tomato, cucumber and red onion salad that was dressed with some of the creamy dill sauce that accompanied the fish.

[Shelby]

Spaghetti with lobster and spicy tomato sauce

OH YUM.

[Blether]

Today I made a couple of dishes for the first time...

This whole repast leaps out at me, robirdstx. Gorgeous.

[robirdstx]

Today I made a couple of dishes for the first time...

This whole repast leaps out at me, robirdstx. Gorgeous.

Thank you, Blether.

My hummus was based on the recipe provided by Suvir Saran in the second post in this topic from 2002. And Ellen Shapiro's post (#9), in the same topic, gave me the moat!

The quinoa pilaf was the recipe on the back of the box (Ancient Harvest brand); the recipe is also posted on their company website. The quinoa was very easy to make - I just added the seeds and cooking liquid (I used turkey broth) to my rice cooker and pressed the 'Cooking' button. I'll definitely be making this dish again.

[menuinprogress]

Quesadillas with 5 chile pork, my original recipe.

That looks really good - love the vibrant red color!

[nikkib]

Had a ton of chickpeas in the cupboard so tried a variation on falafel, blended chickpeas, flatleaf parsley, cumin, coriander, garlic & chilli served with a salad of fresh peas, sweetcorn, radish, alfafa sprouts, cherry tomatoes & lebansese cucumber which i seasoned with lime juice, a little salt and pepper and some spices i picked up on my last trip to damascus (indeterminate still but tasty!)The "falafel" were ok - should have bound them with something - any ideas? I was going to use egg but didnt want them so spongy....

The salad was great - very tasty indeed and i shall be making it again....

some of the ingredients

the salad in process

the falafel in process

falafel ready for the pan

the final result....

[heidih]

nikkib the salad sounds like a winner - I will be trying that combo. I am a falafel virgin but plan to remedy that this summer. We have a good topic here.

[Kim Shook]

robirdstx – the crust on that chicken marsala is beautiful. And I love your hummus moat!

Genkinaonna – your pot stickers and rice are exactly what I would like for dinner 3 nights out of 7!

nikkib – I love falafel and yours looks fantastic!

Dinner tonight was chicken enchiladas made with the Philadelphia brand Southwestern cream for cooking. I did the chicken last night and it made a very quick weeknight dinner tonight. Just chicken, onions, cheese, canned tomatoes and the cream for cooking:

For me, these were pretty spicy. Mr. Kim didn’t find them so at all, of course. We are very incompatible when it comes to heat tolerance. I liked them a lot, though.

A peek inside:

Served with fries, slaw and raw vegetables:

[SobaAddict70]

Mostly leftovers from last night's pasta extravaganza.

I also had some heirloom carrots that I bought a while ago and apparently forgot about, having left them in the crisper. I marinated them in a little rice wine vinegar, cayenne pepper and cumin overnight, then combined them with some olives, capers and a mint vinaigrette.

Heirloom carrot salad with olives, capers and mint

Recipe will be posted shortly on the blog.

[ChrisTaylor]

Drew from Dashi and Umami and Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art to make a kombu risotto with Yuan-style grilled chicken.

[Blether]

Chicken liver curry from 1000 Classic Indian Recipes; buttered basmati. Like many of the recipes in this book, it takes a sense of humour to interpret the method.

[threestars]

I'm jealous! Foods here are awesome! I'll cook Squid Adobo for dinner. I'll try to get some pics.

[Paul Bacino]

Did the Alton Brown Ribs:

WE all are working full time jobs, working out after work and getting in overtime. So cooking dinner for service @ 5:30-6:00 can be interesting!!

I had some red wattle spareribs that I marinated ala Alton Brown, last night!! I added ginger, and had no Jalapeno powder for the rub and marinade liquid!! I put these things in 12:45 @ 220 convection, covered with foil. I got home about 5, and saw I didn't have the 1/2 inch pull back on my rib tips.. so I upped the temp to 400.. uncovered the ribs and basted with Famous Dave's Mesquite sauce!! it was ok.. but I don't think you can have good ribs w/o smoke!!!!!!

Served with a day old De Forville Barbara d' Alba

Recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/who-loves-ya-baby-back-recipe/index.html

Edited May 5, 2011 by Paul Bacino (log)

[nikkib]

Still had some chickpeas and salad ingredients left over from last night so made another salad this time with aubergine fried with cumin seeds, chickpeas, tomato, lebanese cucumber, sweetcorn & radish with the juice of 1/2 a lime squeezed over it. The main event was far more successful than last nights "falafel" attempt (thanks for the falafel link heidih - i shall be trying some of those next time for sure) Grated courgette with a red chilli, cumin, coriander, an egg and 2.5 heaped tbsps of self raising flour. Boy - these were good - i will definitely do these again. Served with habanero tabasco and feta cheese over the top.

[toolprincess]

Happy cinco de mayo!

Dinner tonight tacos with pork tenderloin slices, radishes, cabbage, sour cream, pickled spring onion, mango salsa, avocado slices and yucateo habanero hot sauce. Accompanied by black beans and yellow rice.

And a beer margarita in a classy ball jar glass.

Taco number 2 with lettuce

[ChrisTaylor]

Winter lobster casserole c/o Greg Doyle's Pier book. Too poor to buy whole, live lobsters so I bought frozen lobster tails. It was okay. Would be much better with fresh lobster, I'm sure. But I'm also sure it'd be much better if teaching paid twice as much as it does.