Dinner! 2011

[Norm Matthews]

My son made dinner tonight. Cassie helped. I don't have the recipe but I know he cooked the pork loin chops (sliced thin) in butter and a lot of garlic and he marinated the vegetables in rice vinegar and sugar. At least some of the vegetables were diakon, carrots, onions and cucumbers. LImes were involved, the jalapenos were fresh.

Here is the one he made for me.

[djyee100]

Norm Matthews, congrats to your son for a good-looking sandwich.

For dinner here, Roast Duck and Asian Pear Tostadas. Crisped roast duck slices, thin slices of Asian pear (aka apple-pear), cole slaw with a spicy sweet and sour dressing, and a drizzle of hoisin sauce.

Edited September 21, 2011 by djyee100 (log)

[nikkib]

Back in the Uk briefly last week before my new posting to singapore (buh bye kuwait, hellooooo delicious porky gooness....) Anyway i completely od'd on pork over the weekend somewhat predictably so a nice veggie dinner of courgette fritters with a flat leaf parsley and pomegranate salad was my attempt at a detox, followed by aubergine parmigiana the next night.

[rarerollingobject]

For dinner here, Roast Duck and Asian Pear Tostadas. Crisped roast duck slices, thin slices of Asian pear (aka apple-pear), cole slaw with a spicy sweet and sour dressing, and a drizzle of hoisin sauce.

Love the sound of that! Great combo.

Back in the Uk briefly last week before my new posting to singapore (buh bye kuwait, hellooooo delicious porky gooness....) Anyway i completely od'd on pork over the weekend somewhat predictably so a nice veggie dinner of courgette fritters with a flat leaf parsley and pomegranate salad was my attempt at a detox, followed by aubergine parmigiana the next night.

Courgette fritters and pomegranate sounds right up my alley. Yum.

[Shelby]

dcarch--Such beautiful plating. I love the skate.

jmahl--Your stuffed peppers with the great wine make me wish I had a picnic table!

Kim--Yummmmm butter chicken! I've never made it at home before. I need to try.

Norm--Your pork skewers over the rice noodles sound so good.

FrogPrincesse--Gorgeous scallops.

djyee100--Oh that gelato!

A few small things we've had lately:

French bread --my slashes actually were deep enough to make it look pretty

Colorado peaches

Eggplant (from my garden) salad with feta

Rice noodle salad

AND FIGS!!! FRESH FIGS!!! I got to taste them for the first time ever. My mom brought them from Colorado for me! I put some blue cheese out with them. Pure heaven.

[PopsicleToze]

Shelby, great food, and I am so glad you were able to taste fresh figs. Were they everything you thought they would be?

[Shelby]

Shelby, great food, and I am so glad you were able to taste fresh figs. Were they everything you thought they would be?

Yes. I loved the flavor and texture.

My mom felt like they didn't taste "figgy" enough. I've had nothing to compare with, so they were great to me.

[Pierogi]

Fresh, ripe figs are probably my single, most favorite foodstuff. They are just....sublime. That's the only word to describe them.

[jnash85]

Tonights meal, inspired by my recent trip to Bouchon in Beverly Hills.

Ribeye with Broccolini, Potato Cake, and Sauce Béarnaise

[Shelby]

Tonights meal, inspired by my recent trip to Bouchon in Beverly Hills.

Ribeye with Broccolini, Potato Cake, and Sauce Béarnaise

Great looking steak. Can you tell me more about how you made the potato cake?

[Norm Matthews]

Main course tonight was Country Style (boneless Pork Loin) ribs.

I looked at several recipes for country ribs, didn't like any so I made something up.

I put three packages of pork loin ribs in a dutch oven (12 pieces) on top of some celery and roasted it at 300 degrees, uncovered for 1 hour, then removed the celery and drained the liquid and put the ribs back in the dutch oven. Poured a sauce I made while they were cooking over them and topped them with an onion, sliced and roasted another hour.

Sauce is 2T. Mirin

2T. triple sec

2 T. gluten free Tamari (soy sauce)

4 T. sugar

1/2 Cup fresh cut and grated pineapple

2 T. A-1 sauce

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

4T. Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. You can use ketchup and more A-1 but don't use tomato paste.

Put all ingr. in small sauce pan and simmer about 10 minutes.

Edited September 24, 2011 by Norm Matthews (log)

[jnash85]

Tonights meal, inspired by my recent trip to Bouchon in Beverly Hills.

Ribeye with Broccolini, Potato Cake, and Sauce Béarnaise

Great looking steak. Can you tell me more about how you made the potato cake?

Thanks. The potato cake is from the Complete Robuchon. You basically cook a couple of pounds of potatoes and put them through a ricer. Add about a half cup of flour and a couple of eggs to the potatoes and put them in a cake pan and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. I let it cool, then cut it into portions and browned in a skillet with butter. It wasn't bad, but I'd take mashed potatoes any day over it.

[Shelby]

Tonights meal, inspired by my recent trip to Bouchon in Beverly Hills.

Ribeye with Broccolini, Potato Cake, and Sauce Béarnaise

Great looking steak. Can you tell me more about how you made the potato cake?

Thanks. The potato cake is from the Complete Robuchon. You basically cook a couple of pounds of potatoes and put them through a ricer. Add about a half cup of flour and a couple of eggs to the potatoes and put them in a cake pan and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. I let it cool, then cut it into portions and browned in a skillet with butter. It wasn't bad, but I'd take mashed potatoes any day over it.

Thank you! I want to try this! I get tired of mashed 'taters sometimes.....

[scubadoo97]

Shrimp, grits and amberjack

[paulpegg]

I made the Carrot Soup from Modernist Cuisine without the pressure cooker and centrifuge. I caramelized a pound of carrots in butter in a large pot with a lid and added a little water to keep it from drying out. I juiced three more pounds of carrots, simmered the juice and passed it through a fine chinoise a few times in lieu of centrifuging it for an hour! Put it all in a blender for a few minutes with a little more butter and it is done. I served it at room temperature with a garnish of a little diced ginger and chives. It was the hit of the evening.

[Kim Shook]

Blether - LCBO stands for Liquor Control Board of Ontario – and they have a magazine apparently. I’m an American, so a little in the dark about it – help me out my Canadian buds? The recipe didn’t call for fenugreek – just cumin, garam masala, paprika and cardamom.

FrogPrincesse – scallops with lime and ginger sounds fantastic!

djyee – that gelato looks completely amazing. And the duck tostados sound great.

Shelby – gorgeous bread! And I’m thrilled that you loved your first taste of figs. Now you have to try them paired with cheese, wrapped with prosciutto and GRILLED – it will change your world, I promise!

Paul – the soup sounds amazing and the color is fantastic!

I did breakfast for dinner a couple of nights ago:

My crappy pancakes, sausage, bacon and scrambled eggs. I really do make the worst pancakes – I’d get fired from Waffle House. They taste good because I make them from scratch and use a good recipe, so I know that it is something in my technique. When I put the batter down, it rises up nicely and then when I flip them over, they slowly sink down and flatten. Not as flat as a crepe (those I make perfectly ), but not high and fluffy like I want them. I also don’t get that nice, toasty all over color that other folks get.

Night before last night was steak and provolone sandwiches with fried onions and green peppers, fries and green beans:

[Dejah]

Kim, Blether, I'm in Manitoba, and the liquor commission here also put out a magazine called Flavours. It's free if you pick it up at the liquor store, and I see from the inside cover, you can also subscribe. Just picked up the fall issue and will be making the Scotch Pie later today - minced beef and lamb.

[Blether]

Hey again, Kim. Nothing suspicious about cumin, paprika & cardamom. Are you using fresh ginger, too ? How do you get on with that usually ? And how are they having you use the garam masala (early, cooked (how ?), or late, before serving) ? Did you buy ready-made ? Fenugreek's not normal in it, but when you buy ready-made you never know what's being used.

Dejah, I want to see those Scotch Pies !

Edited September 25, 2011 by Blether (log)

[Shelby]

I made the Carrot Soup from Modernist Cuisine without the pressure cooker and centrifuge. I caramelized a pound of carrots in butter in a large pot with a lid and added a little water to keep it from drying out. I juiced three more pounds of carrots, simmered the juice and passed it through a fine chinoise a few times in lieu of centrifuging it for an hour! Put it all in a blender for a few minutes with a little more butter and it is done. I served it at room temperature with a garnish of a little diced ginger and chives. It was the hit of the evening.

I love the color. Almost too pretty to eat!

[ScottyBoy]

Yes yes yes to carrot soup. I grew up on massive amounts of carrot juice and it's one of my comfort foods! I've got the vision of a hawk

[kayb]

JNash, I've made potato cakes from cooked (generally leftover) potatos all my life. Not sure I see the point in baking them first; I always just fry mine, like croquettes. They're excellent with a little green onion added in.

PaulPegg, the carrot soup sounds astounding and looks even better. I can just taste the carroty goodness.

Today, I made baked Reubens, minus the sauerkraut, which I sauteed with apples and served on the side. The process starts with Triple Rye Bread from Bernard Clayton's New Book of Bread, and after its first rise, instead of shaping into two loaves, it gets rolled out about an inch thick on parchment. Spicy mustard is slathered down the center, and layered atop that are corned beef and baby Swiss.

The sides are cut into diagonal strips, which are then wrapped over the top in a basketweave type pattern.

Weaving completed.

Egg wash....

And kosher salt.

The finished product, oozing goodness.

[heidih]

Oh my goodness kayb - aside from the beauty of the beast, the bread itself looks intense. I may have to look up the recipe. I could swear I have seen this woven baked Reuben here somewhere before. I like the idea of apples on the side.

[ScottyBoy]

Oh mama, it's lunch time for me and I WANT!

[percyn]

Nice meals all! Love the "Reubens" kayb.

I am behind in posting a few meals:

Bucatini Bolognese - a bit messy but delicious!

Beef Bourguignon w/Sweet Potatoes and Vegetables

Lobster Roll

[kayb]

Oh, man, Percyn ... that lobster roll! A thing of beauty.

Heidih, I love that rye recipe. I always add caraway seed, because rye w/o caraway just doesn't seem right. This time, it's made with a half-cup of buckwheat flour and a half-cup of whole-wheat flour subbing for one of the cups of rye flour...as my bulk grains/flours store is closed on Saturday and Sunday, and the local supermarket, can you believe it, did NOT have rye flour! Clayton's recipe calls for making a sponge of two cups of rye flour and a cup of rye flakes, with two packages of yeast and two cups of hot tap water, and letting that ferment for two days. Over the same time period, you soak a cup of rye berries overnight in water, drain them, then cover them tightly and let them sit at room temp until you're ready to make the bread, so they'll start to sprout. Then you add another cup of rye flour (if you had it, that is!) and 3 1/2 cups of bread or a/p flour.

For my money, you could leave out the rye berries; I can't see that they particularly add anything.I don't think I'll bother with them next time.