Dinner! 2011

[patrickamory]

Tonight I mostly had leftovers - jasmine rice with red curry chicken. But I had all the ingredients to make spinach pachadi, so I prepared that as a side dish. I didn't have onion, so I substituted red shallots, which worked well - maybe even better with their slight sweetness.

The tadka is composed of black mustard seeds, dried red chile and fresh curry leaves.

[ChrisTaylor]

Tonight's fare (for company):

* slow-roasted pork belly

* the Mexican pork shoulder from Adria's Family Meal

* some sauces: the salsa from the above book, charcuterie sauce

* some other stuff to accompany the cooked pork (good quality salami, salad greens, tomatoes)

[kayb]

Friday night, so it's my "quick and dirty" night. Pasta e lenticche, with an add of sauteed diced salami. Not half bad.

[mm84321]

Tonight I made black bass along with some roasted cipollini onions and a lima bean puree. The jus was made from the reduced stock spiced with green peppercorns and apple cider vinegar. I was happy with how it came out.

Last night I made lobster.

Edited November 12, 2011 by mm84321 (log)

[demiglace]

Quick and dirty looks damn good kayb!

[Hassouni]

Bruce, I've made so many stir fries almost exactly like that, looks delicious!

As does the seafood above, what drool-worthy pictures on a first post.

My humble offering:

Full-on Japanese:

Japonica rice (of course), enoki and hakusai (napa cabbage) miso soup, some leftover simmered kabocha, spinach with goma ae dressing, kinpira gobo (burdock root and carrot stir fry), along with some lightly seared homemade salted salmon.

[Dakki]

I want ScottyBoy and dcarch to meet in the middle of the country to cook dinner together. I'll offer my house as the spot!

Agree on that. I imagine what will be the table look like when they're done cooking. I bet it will be awesome!

Who do I make my booking with?!!

If they did a plating workshop I'd gladly ditch work and fly a few thousand miles for that.

[djyee100]

Welcome, mm84321. The black bass and the lobster look great. Is that a cooked French radish served with the lobster? What is the other item on the plate?

[mm84321]

Welcome, mm84321. The black bass and the lobster look great. Is that a cooked French radish served with the lobster? What is the other item on the plate?

Thanks. That is indeed a french breakfast radish, cooked and dressed in a vinaigrette. Under the lobster is a julienne of braised leeks.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I've been remiss in posting here since my blog finished up.... Aargh, you're all making me hungry!

[David Ross]

I've got a lot of pasta right now because I'm in the midst of the eG Cook-Off 57: Bolognese Sauce

here. So in order to use up the tagliatelle I have, I did a dish with one of my favorite Fall ingredients--Duck Confit.

I make homemade confit and this batch, (4 duck hindquarters), has been resting in fat for about three weeks. I gently pulled the skin off the duck and then pulled the meat off the bones. Laid the skin on a non-stick sheet and slowly roasted it in the oven at 350 until it was golden brown and crispy. Then sauteed the duck confit meat with Brussels sprouts, fresh chanterelles, garlic, a bit of chicken stock, thyme and sage. Then tossed with tagliatelle and a little dusting of parmesano-reggiano. Garnished with some chives that are still growing in the garden even though winter has arrived. The final, and best, part of the dish were the duck 'cracklings.'

[mm84321]

Langoustine in an orange/shiso broth.

Dorade cooked in olive oil. Medjool date vinaigrette and red pepper tapenade.

Then, some cheese.

[heidih]

David - your duck dish screams comfort, fall, and delicious. I think I would have wanted just the lightest sauce - did the cheese and the residual liquids create that?

[sigma]

Tonight I made black bass along with some roasted cipollini onions and a lima bean puree. The jus was made from the reduced stock spiced with green peppercorns and apple cider vinegar. I was happy with how it came out.

Last night I made lobster.

It's always a pleasure to see somebody just learning to cook. You have made a nice start, but be sure to take a class or two on cleaning your fish, or ask the monger to be a little more careful.

[kayb]

mm84321, gorgeous seafood. Intrigued by the idea of date viniagrette. Details?

Tonight, since the weather is promising to turn iffy next week, was a burger. With bacon jam, smoked gouda, kosher dill slices, and honey chipotle butter, on a rosemary-garlic roll. It may well be the best burger I ever made in my life.

[David Ross]

David - your duck dish screams comfort, fall, and delicious. I think I would have wanted just the lightest sauce - did the cheese and the residual liquids create that?

The grating of cheese was very light so it only added a bit of salty flavor. I did stir in some chicken broth when I sauteed the confit with the sprouts and channterelles so the mix wouldn't be too dry. Then added the pasta and just a spoonful of the pasta water to again keep things moist.

[mm84321]

It's always a pleasure to see somebody just learning to cook. You have made a nice start, but be sure to take a class or two on cleaning your fish, or ask the monger to be a little more careful.

What exactly are you referring to? I always buy fish whole and fillet them myself. My monger usually guts and scales them.

mm84321, gorgeous seafood. Intrigued by the idea of date viniagrette. Details?

Just a few dates soaked in warm water to rehydrate. I discarded their skins and blended them with olive oil, sherry vinegar, mustard, basil, and blanched garlic.

Edited November 13, 2011 by mm84321 (log)

[sigma]

It's always a pleasure to see somebody just learning to cook. You have made a nice start, but be sure to take a class or two on cleaning your fish, or ask the monger to be a little more careful.

What exactly are you referring to? I always buy fish whole and fillet them myself. My monger usually guts and scales them.

Don't be offended. It just looks like you could use more practice fileting your fish. It isn't clean. Maybe your knife is dull or something, I don't know, but as you have more experience I am sure the fillets will look a lot better. I am so happy to hear that home cooks are filleting their own fish. Hats off to you.

[mm84321]

Don't be offended. It just looks like you could use more practice fileting your fish. It isn't clean. Maybe your knife is dull or something, I don't know, but as you have more experience I am sure the fillets will look a lot better. I am so happy to hear that home cooks are filleting their own fish. Hats off to you.

I'm not offended. The fillet of black bass was trimmed of it's tail, and the shape in the photo is the natural shape of the fish. It did buckle a bit in the pan, but I usually avoid that by pressing down with a spatula.

[Blether]

That bass looks clean to me, now that the question's been raised. My first reaction was just "looks delicious".

[nickrey]

Looked fine to me too. If it were a restaurant-presentation dish, however, I'd trim it to make it more even. The comment is probably related to the skin coverage of the fillet. I'm not necessarily sure that it is a problem of the filleting but rather an interaction between the filleted fish and the cooking process.

[sigma]

Fair enough. I suppose it depends on your standards. What you see, or don't see, depends on the level of what you expect. It looks a little hacky and chewed to me, but if it is good enough for you it may be that I am too used to a different level of execution.

[djyee100]

A Grilled Fig Salad for last night's dinner. I thought fig season was over, but when I was doing errands in my old neighborhood in SF I saw some good-looking figs at the produce market. The store manager told me that a farm in Sonoma always does a late harvest, so there they were, the last figs of the season. I bundled up several baskets and hauled them home across the Bay.

To make this salad, I sauteed some chopped pancetta with diced shallots until crispy, and pan-grilled some fig halves. The pancetta and figs were combined with various greens (including arugula and frisee), toasted pecans, and a port balsamic vinaigrette. A sprinkling of S&P over the top just before service brightens up this salad.

That's a slice of Humboldt Fog goat cheese on the side, one of my faves. Served with some crusty bread, too.

[Country]

Fair enough. I suppose it depends on your standards. What you see, or don't see, depends on the level of what you expect. It looks a little hacky and chewed to me, but if it is good enough for you it may be that I am too used to a different level of execution.

Why not post a pic of your own (typical) fillet? I've been filleting my own fish for thirty years or so and maybe I could learn something. mm84321's looked okay to me for homecooking.

[Prawncrackers]

It's always a pleasure to see somebody just learning to cook. You have made a nice start, but be sure to take a class or two on cleaning your fish, or ask the monger to be a little more careful.

......

Don't be offended. It just looks like you could use more practice fileting your fish. It isn't clean. Maybe your knife is dull or something, I don't know, but as you have more experience I am sure the fillets will look a lot better. I am so happy to hear that home cooks are filleting their own fish. Hats off to you.

Gosh, well, I think us lowly home cooks will all have to try harder then!

Seems like ages since I last posted dinner, haven't been cooking much lately because I sliced the top of my index finger off a few weeks ago. It was with a mandolin and although I managed to finish cooking that meal, it put me off cooking for a bit afterwards!

So it's time for a catch-up, a couple of simple to prepare dishes first to get me back into the kitchen; a creamy smoked trout, pancetta and pea spaghetti:

and pad krapow gai, well it would have been krapow but I couldn't find any holy basil that day so good ol' regular basil instead. Just what's needed for a quick mid-week meal:

Now contrary to popular belief, you can make southern fried chicken in a pressure cooker at home. This was buttermilk based recipe, I shallowed fried it on one side, flipped it and stuck the lid on my Kuhn Rikon PC brought it up to the first ring and cooked it for 8 minutes. The results are a little soggy when you first pull it out but 5 minutes in the oven develops a beautiful crust with the juiciest meat ever:

Salt baked Gilt-head bream, samphire, hollandaise and braised fennel:

Spiced Wild Duck - seared breast & confit legs, Pilau Rice and a thick Cashew Gravy:

Grouse, Pumpkin Puree, Cabbage, Pancetta, Spuds and a scrappy red wine reduction:

Edited November 13, 2011 by Prawncrackers (log)