Dinner! 2011

[CFT]

Pollock in the style of Pollock. You've got to love it!

[PopsicleToze]

DC, that was inspiring!

I picked up some crabs yesterday and boiled them for dinner.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I have been remiss in down/uploading and posting dinners....

Chicken soup and quinua-cheese biscuits

A curried lamb and noodles thing, which occurred when it was time to clean out the fridge. It was surprisingly good.

Panfried tilapia in cracker crust with cheesy scalloped potatoes and asparagus (gosh, I love asparagus)

Last night's lasagne and (distantly) a simple chard and lettuce salad. The lasagne was one of the best in recent months.

[judiu]

Shrimp and mushrooms in a garlic/butter sauce over angel hair pasta with garlic bread on the side.

Oh, MY! Reminds me of a meal I freehanded, maybe 35 years ago, fo a friend's birthday. She brought a pound of good shrimp, a pound of butter, a pound of mushrooms, 4 huge cloves of garlic and a box of pasta; dumped it on my tiny kitchen counter and said "Feed us!" "Us" was 2 people, she and I...Oy.

[MsDivinaLoca]

Turkey/pork meatballs with dill and a little nutmeg, mushroom sauce, handmade wide noodles

[ScottyBoy]

Yum, when making pasta for myself I always make the doodles thick.

[David Ross]

The local fish market has expanded into a new store and they've got about three times the space. As a result, they are offering a much larger variety of seafood, including this wonderful monkfish. I roasted the monkfish and served it with a Provencal-style relish of black olives, tomatoes, red onion, orange segments, basil, rosemary and lavendar. Served with mashed potatoes.

[David Ross]

Oysters and Grits with Fresh Corn, (and a little Spanish Chorizo and Chorizo Oil)-

[demiglace]

PopsicleToze..does that spice bag open during the boil? What kind of spices are in a crab boil? Looks awesome!

[PopsicleToze]

Does that spice bag open during the boil? What kind of spices are in a crab boil? Looks awesome!

Thanks! No, it doesn't open during the boil. One bag plus salt boils a dozen crab. The ingrediens are: mustard seed, coriander seed, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, dill seed and allspce.

Click here for the recipe.

[Dejah]

Been on a +8000 KM road trip until Sept. 1 and have missed seeing all these gorgeous meals! Our daughter and fiance came for the weekend and he cooked both lunch and dinner yesterday:

Burgers made from a combination of ground pork, beef, and venison from the deer he bagged last year. Add-ons: tomato, leaf lettuce, smoked gouda cheese, red onion, Spanish onion sauteed with chipotle, and sauteed beet slices,. all on a toasted kaiser bun:

For dinner, he roasted a chicken that had been brined with buttermilk and fresh herbs. Served with the roasted endive, beets, potatoes (which were mashed with an egg yolk, rosemary, and butter before serving), sweet potatoes, and his first attempt at homemade stuffing. I made a salad dressed with store-bought mango-chipotle dressing.

Both meals were scrumptious!

[MsDivinaLoca]

Yum, when making pasta for myself I always make the doodles thick.

For this dish, we wanted thicker noodles and they turned out perfectly - tender,tasty and they took in the sauce nicely. I have gone the thicker noodle route with not-so-good results, but not this time.

[kayb]

Oh, my! Been gone most of August and have neither cooked nor read blogs, so the holiday is a great catch-up for that.

mgaretz: That char siu is the first thing I've seen that really makes me wish I had a sous vide set-up. I wonder if I could conduct an experiment and see what temps I get in my slow-cooker....

Genkinonna: The cheddar bacon fritters are enough to make me get over my hatred of deep-frying at home. I see them in our future. Thanks for posting the recipe link.

Kim: I have little interest in NFL football and less in fantasy football, but I'd join up just to share that repast. Tell me more about the pintos with chowchow -- cooked with it, served with it, or what?

Paul Bacino: Gorgeous caprese; I've been eating a lot of those all summer as well. Is that a cucumber second from top, or just a very coolly colored heirloom?

dcarch: Pollock by Pollock is abso-freakin'-lutely genius. You should have those printed and sold in culinary stores. What were the sauces?

Norm Matthews: I'm going to try tomatos like that next weekend. It's a mission.

Rhonda: Great crab boil. Do you prefer Zatarains brand over Louisiana brand? I've always liked Louisiana better for shrimp, not sure why.

David Ross: Beautiful monkfish. Had never thought of it with the Provencal relish. Marvelous idea.

In my fridge marinating is a chipotle-honey-garlic flank steak, recipe in this week's NY Times. I'll update with photos later if it's decent.

Glad to be home for an eight-week stretch!

[PopsicleToze]

Rhonda: Great crab boil. Do you prefer Zatarains brand over Louisiana brand? I've always liked Louisiana better for shrimp, not sure why.

Good catch

I usually buy the Louisiana brand, but the store I stopped at only had this brand, so I got it. Zatarains is good, but I think you're right that Louisiana brand is better.

[Paul Bacino]

Kayb,

the Salad.. was from bottom up!!

Trader Joe's Mozzarella ( pretty good stuff ) its creamy and the best I can find near me

Red Heirloom (Red ) -- Pretty sweet red

Green Zebra Tomato ( Green )-- this tomato gives some nice acidity

Mr Stripey ( Yellow... I know this color isn't in the Italian Flag.. but it looked cool )-- this has a we bit of lemon flavor

Drizzle of Trader Joe's Organic EVOO, Pink Himalayan Salt, Tellicherry fresh ground pepper, garden Basil

Paul

Edited September 5, 2011 by Paul Bacino (log)

[percyn]

Speaking of tomatoes, a bunch of friends decided to do a "Battle Tomato" yesterday. The battle was just arranged less than 48hr ago, which added a new element to previous such dinners we have done. Points were awarded for Tasting (10), Plating (5) and Originality (5).

We started with some appetizers of horseradish cheddar bruschetta, eggplant, pine nuts and tomatoes, paired with couple bottles of champagne.

Our meal consisted of:

Course #1 - Lobster and Tomato . Cool and refreshing, perfect celebration of summer.

Course #2 - Tomatoes Under Pressure - marinated sous vide with celery, cucumber and onion, served with brioche and whipped butter. Nice way to highlight the flavor of the tomato.

Course #3 - Polish Tomato and Carrot Soup w/crème fraiche. The soup have a lot of depth from the vegetable stock and the carrots imparted a slight sweetness.

Course #4 - Tomato Soup with Bay Scallops . Probably tasted closer to the tomato soup one is used to having with grilled cheese.

Course #5 - Tomato Aspic w/Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce . Reminded the tasters of a bloody mary. The richness of the hollandaise was a nice contrast to the acidity of the aspic.

Course #6 - Chilled Tomato Soup Mustard Cream . This was a take on L'Arpège restaurant's version with mustard ice cream. I like the contract of the mustard and tomato and the bell pepper in the soup gave it a nice twist.

Course #7 - Tomato Crab Tart w/crabmeat stuffed tomatoes. Almost quiche like tart paired with a cool tomato which was hollowed out and stuffed with jumbo lump crabmeat.

Course #8 - Tomato Shrimp and Grits . This was a take on a Parsi dish called Kolmi No Patio (http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/kolmino-patio.php) which tastes like a spicy, sweet, sour and tangy stew. I decided to pair it with some grits instead of the traditional pairing of rice and daal.

Course #9 - Tomato Tarte Tatin . In a blind tasting, it would have been hard to tell that the fruit used were well caramelized tomatoes, which is a testament to the versatility of the tomato and the chef.

Of course, the evening continued with some more wine, Armagnac and almost proceeded to cigars before the wifes decided they were too tired and wanted to go home.

Some of the wine we consumed last night, mainly courtesy of my generous friends.

[nikkib]

WOW!! What a meal!!! Im intrigued as to what made the Tomato soup "Polish"? All looks amazing!

[percyn]

nikkib, I don't believe there was any particular ingredient which made it Polish, rather the dish was named by the creator as such because it was based on a recipe from her Polish Grandmother.

[nikkib]

Aha - that would do it!!

[percyn]

Leftover tomatoes w/sheep and goat cheese mixture with balsamic vinegar and flavored olive oil.

Leftover Kolmi No Patio w/Pappaedelle pasta

[Norm Matthews]

Not a very good picture today but dinner was gluten free. Notes on dinner at site listed below.

http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

[Genkinaonna]

Percyn- Wow, I need to upgrade my group of friends ...

David- Beautiful oysters!

Dejah-That's a gorgeous salad.

Tonight we had the Ramen from Lucky Peach. It was a 5 day ordeal to make, and the noodles ended up a little too thin for my liking, but overall I'd call the meal a success. I don't know if I'll be repeating it anytime soon though...

The pork was a roast cut into strips, marinated in char siu-type spices and cooked sous vide for 14 hrs at 156 degrees. It was the easiest part of the meal, by far, and one of the tastiest. I'll definitely be making it on a regular basis!

[mgaretz]

mgaretz: That char siu is the first thing I've seen that really makes me wish I had a sous vide set-up. I wonder if I could conduct an experiment and see what temps I get in my slow-cooker....

Kayb, the slow cooker is likely going to run too hot and fluctuate too much. I was hestitant to take the plunge into sous vide, but I am very glad I did. Get the Sous Vide Supreme from somewhere that has a good money back guarantee so you can return it if you don't like it.

Last night we had some friends and their kids over for dinner, so I made sous vide baby back ribs. In the bath for 36 hours at 140F then basted and charred on a hot BBQ for a few minutes, then, after basting again, at lower heat (about 225F) for 20 minutes to let the sauce really stick to the ribs. They came out beautiful - juicy and tender and pink. The picture is about half of what I made:

Edited September 6, 2011 by mgaretz (log)

[threestars]

Oh my! This thread is really awesome! I'm craving for the pan fried tilapia and the crab!

[C. sapidus]

Labor Day lunch with friends, so we smoked two pork butts overnight on the Weber bullet. We coated the butts with mustard slather before applying a thick layer of "Magic Dust" rub. Next morning we mopped the butts with a vinegar-chile mixture, and then finished the pork in a 225F oven. When the pork reached 185F, nearly all of the fat had rendered and the meat pulled perfectly. Don't be surprised to see leftover smoked pork appear in this week's meals.

After i moved the pork to the oven, Mrs. C useed remaining coals to grill eggplant for an outstanding (but not pictured) babaghanouj. Mrs. C also made a delicious watemelon - tomato salad, with onion, basil, balsamic vinegar, etc.

Our guests left a plate full of decadent, 3-layer cappucino brownies. I was extremely disappointed to see that gremlins had eaten all of the brownies before I stumbled into the kitchen this morning. I consoled myself with leftovers for breakfast.

Pulled pork, homemade mustard slaw, homemade NC BBQ sauce replica (from RecipeGullet)