Dinner! 2011

[rotuts]

the above fantastic looking charsui is on my to-do list!

thanks for sharing!

[Prawncrackers]

I was preparing a couple of French Squabs on Sunday but I kind of got held up so in the end cooked them last night. It was a pretty nice dinner for Monday night after work:

These Imperial squabs were £10 each so I took extra care taking them apart. Though I was disappointed to find only one of them had the liver attached to the heart. The carcasses were used for stock sweetened with a touch of marsala. For the sauce the stock was reduced a little and finished by blending some cold butter and the chopped raw liver. The legs and wings were confited then stripped off the bones. The confit meat was then fricasseed with the hearts, black pudding, fava beans, peas, little gem lettuce and a touch of PX sherry vinegar. The crowns were simply cooked sousvide, finished in the pan and the breast fillets taken off the bone. Served on a big dollop of parsnip puree scented with vanilla bean.

Tonight following the broad bean, black pudding, pea and little gem fricassee theme again (look it was in the fridge already!). I made a warm salad that included smoked eel and an onsen egg. The dish was bulked out a little with some sauteed potato and there was a PX vinegar and yuzu dressing:

Not my usual start of the week type of dinners, the rest of the week can only go downhill from here!

[Genkinaonna]

Wow, Prawn! Both meals are gorgeous! I've never had squab but that spread makes me want to give it a try...

[Genkinaonna]

Scotty- I'm guessing you have the first issue of Lucky Peach too? I've been itching to try out some of the recipes in there. Glad I went to the website to confirm I had the name right, otherwise I might not have seen the corrected noodle recipe, leading to much wailing and gnashing of teeth when my noodles came out horribly.

MGaretz- I love char siu pork, I see another sous vide project in the near future!

I had zucchini pancakes with sour cream and quick roasted cherry/grape tomatoes tonight. I wish I could say that the zucchini came from the garden but I finally gave up and pulled the whole plant out today, after it succumbed, once again, to powdery mildew. And everyone else bitches about having too many zucchini ...

At least the parsley, oregano, and basil in the pancakes and the tomatoes on top were from the garden...

[ScottyBoy]

Prawn Jealous of the products you get to work with!

Genki You're spot on, that's hilarious! My friend's made the broth but I showed up with the harder part (noodles and eggs). Which I've made multiple times.

[Keith_W]

Sole a'la meuniere, cooked on the bone. Garnish of lemon supremes, parsley, viola and tulip. Did you know that tulip petals can be eaten? Neither did I, until I tried. It has a mild sweet taste with a very subtle perfume. Viola pretty much has no taste, but it does have a vivid orange colour.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Keith_W (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Hey Scotty, I love to see the great ingredients that people are using as much as the wonderful dishes they cook. It makes me think about what I would do with them, especially if I can't get them in this country. It might make an interesting topic - 'Look at what I've got.. What would you cook with it?'. Could be a good ideas generator.

Those squabs were amazingly good, the first time I've ever cooked them. Usually I buy wood pigeon that are £3-£4 a pair, wild and from the farmers markets - that's why they're five times cheaper than those squabs! Those beauties were from one of the best butchers in London, O'Shea's in Selfridges department store, and I only got them on the off chance after meeting a friend there for a snack. The counter was just about to shut around 8pm Saturday evening but I snaffled them just in time. They're bred in France and whilst they have that unmistakable pigeony flavour, they're much more tender and less gamey. The closest I've tried are the pigeon you get in Hong Kong, the famous ones from Sha Tin, maybe next time I'll cook them like they do in HK. But then the HK ones are meatier and can survive being cooked a little more well done.

As for the smoked eel, that was a gift from Hamburg, Germany of all places. A friend brought it back from a business trip along with the black pudding So all in all, ingredients-wise, it's been an exceptional start to the cooking week. It's been a real treat for me to cook with such nice stuff. Tonight, back to reality, I've taken some char siu out of the freezer and making egg fried rice.

[threestars]

That looks nice Genki! And the Flank Steak of MsDivinaLoca looks great as well!

[ScottyBoy]

Thanks for the in-depth Prawn, I'm a huge proponent of "great ingredients, great food".

Edit: Oh and, charred local squid salad. Get the cast iron glowing red on the coals and char cleaned squid, unstick them with lemon juice. Dress with good olive good from Santa Cruz. Plate with garlic confit, minced preserved lemon and frisse....eat!

Edited August 26, 2011 by ScottyBoy (log)

[heidih]

ScottyBoy - you made a squid lovers day. I will have to try this prep.

[Dakki]

Best. Squid. EVER.

(And I like sqid!)

[ScottyBoy]

It's a dish I used to do at a restaurant with a wood oven. The key is to get the pans as hot as possible. It was a revelation when I first did it, I like it more than fried.

[rotuts]

Im assuming due to the heat of the cast iron that those squids were really tender?

Yum!

[rarerollingobject]

Edit: Oh and, charred local squid salad. Get the cast iron glowing red on the coals and char cleaned squid, unstick them with lemon juice. Dress with good olive good from Santa Cruz. Plate with garlic confit, minced preserved lemon and frisse....eat!

ScottyBoy, that squid is incredible! Just amazing!

That is all.

[ScottyBoy]

Very

[heidih]

I blanched some grape leaves when I trimmed the vines a few months ago. Pulled a packet from the freezer yesterday and made steamed stuffed grape leaves. That unique lemony, grassy taste and smell combined with the garlicy pork filling was a delight.

[Kim Shook]

dcarch – you caught a joke that I didn’t even realize I’d made ! Coconut and mint ice cream! What a fantastic combination.

Paul – I really love the idea of roasted tomato soup and basil gnocchi!

Dakki – poor you! I hate when that happens. I always have more success with coatings than with batters, but I love a good batter fried fish fillet!

Mark – what gorgeous char siu! My mind is literally racing to try to figure out how I can get some soon!

Prawn – lovely squab! How big were they? Since basically squab = pigeon, and we thought that the pigeons in England and Paris were the biggest we’d ever seen, I’m curious.

Scotty – the squid looks amazing!

Heidi – I’d like some of those stuffed grape leaves, please! One of my favorite things. And if you have any left, how about a picture of the inside?

The only cooking that we’ve done for the past week, besides breakfast was the annual Geekfest, which is what I call Mr. Kim’s fantasy football draft party . Mr. Kim did a pork butt and a smoked turkey earlier in the week and I put the rest of it together. The menu:

Ranch oyster crackers & Cinnamon pecans:

BBQ pork w/ slaw:

He neglected to take a picture of the pulled pork, but he got a great smoke ring!

Smoked turkey sandwiches

Lovely moist, smoky turkey!

Ann’s corn custard:

Extremely well received!

Salad greens w/ Marlene’s bleu cheese dressing and Daddy’s paprika dressing

Pintos w/ chow chow

My plate:

The pintos are at 3 o’clock. They loved everything, but the pintos where the hit of the evening. Even with all of the other food, 12 guys ending up finishing what was supposed to be 16 servings of beans. It’s always interesting to me to see what ends up being the most popular item in a buffet of food.

‘Hostess’ chocolate cupcakes:

I thought that my ‘squiggles’ were a little messy, but one of the new guys didn’t take one and when someone asked him why he said he thought they were actual Hostess cupcakes!! Mr. Kim said, “you don’t know my wife very well, do you?”.

Filled with marshmallow Fluff.

Dream cookies (basically shortbread) w/ and w/out Nutella:

[heidih]

Heidi – I’d like some of those stuffed grape leaves, please! One of my favorite things. And if you have any left, how about a picture of the inside?

The entire neighborhood descended when I brought them over to someones front patio. None left! Another round is scheduled soon.

That Fantasy Football group is a lucky bunch of boys. I imagine you are always the designated host?

[ScottyBoy]

Kim - That hunk o' pork looks delicious!

New dish for a dinner last night. Wild king salmon, puree of watercress, peas and parsley. (I love crispy salmon skin...)

Edited August 28, 2011 by ScottyBoy (log)

[nikkib]

I need some of those nutella dream cookies in my life now - oooh and some hostess cookies too!

[weinoo]

Tonight roasting stuff. Roasted quail with roasted vegetables...

Roasted peaches with walnuts and smoked ricotta...

[Keith_W]

Wild king salmon, puree of watercress, peas and parsley. (I love crispy salmon skin...)

That looks superb. Love the vivid green of your puree. Can I ask how you managed to get a crispy salmon skin without overcooking the salmon?

[threestars]

i love the squid salad by ScottyBoy! I'm craving for squid right now.

[MsDivinaLoca]

A friend asked me to test drive one of her recipes and I did so last Friday - it was wonderful. Her recipe is here, if you're interested: Peking Duck Tacos

Edited August 29, 2011 by MsDivinaLoca (log)

[ScottyBoy]

Keith - Just a hot cast iron, cooked on just the skin side and spooning the oil over the flesh side.