Dinner! 2011

[Pierogi]

Ann T - LOVED (and am so totally stealing...) the Tex Mex Layered Supreme. I have leftover pork shoulder roast that was slow cooked, covered, at 275° after being rubbed with chipotle chile powder and salt. That would be a great use for some of that porky goodness.

[sheepish]

Yesterday was Mrs Sheepish's birthday. Tomorrow is Valentine's. Next week is our wedding anniversary so something special in order. And a chance to try out 5 dishes I haven't made before.

Started with Pea and Coconut soup with Coconut Milk Foam. From "Essence". Made the coconut milk from a coconut. Another first for me. Lovely depth of flavour. Easy to do. Will do again!

Bad Beer by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

Next up, Anglesey Seas Bass with Parsely Coulis. The same recipe as Fish & Chips from "The French Laundry Cookbook", but with sea bass. And having (over)cooked the garlic chips I chose not to use them. Having had a snoop at the French Laundry at Home this morning, I see I'm not the only one to make that mistake.

Fish and Green Stuff by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

Moving on to Fillet of Roe Deer with Butternut Squash Gnocchi and Butternut Squash. From "From Nature to Plate". The gnocchi were too hard, I think because I didn't have enough squash in the mixture, and too much flour. I was trying to halve portions and halving an egg and a yolk wasn't very accurate. The squash goes very well with the venison, but like fillet of everything it doesn't have loads of flavour and I slightly over-cooked it for my taste.

Bambi by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

Cheese course was Parmesan Custard, Parmesan Crisp and Anchovy Dressing. The Caeser Salad recipe from "The French Laundry". OK. I prefer the Roquefort trifle from the same book as a cheese dish. Actually, I prefer a couple of hunks of cheese.

Cheesy Custard by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

Finally desert. I never do deserts. As Mrs Sheepish remarked, "Oh my God, you can cook a desert!" Please with this. Confit (how is it confit with no fat?) of Rhurbarb, Candied Fennel, Orange, Strawberries, Mascarpone Sorbet and Pirouette Biscuit (that I wrapped incorrectly before studying the picture).

Fruit Salad Thing by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

Wine. Always tricky for just two. We worked round the issue by drinking quite a lot. I don't like Champagne with food, but didn't have any half bottles of any appropriate white so we muddled through!

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Vino by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

[Ann_T]

Sheepish - What a lovely dinner. From start to finish.

Pierogi - I often make it with slow roasted pork that has been seasoned with garlic and chipotle pepper. Enjoy.

Looking forward to Halibut season opening again around March 12th. But until then I'm happy to eat what I can get. On my way home from work I made a detour down through Cowichan Bay and picked up halibut at my favourite seafood store - Cowichan Bay Seafood.

Started on a grill pan and then finished off in a hot oven. Served with a green olive relish/salsa. (Green olives, tomatoes, garlic, lemon zest, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.

Edited to add photo

Edited February 13, 2011 by Ann_T (log)

[Shelby]

Shelby, very delicious looking pizzas, and the Super Bowl goodies are so good!

Ann, an incredible display of cooking skills, from baking to roasting to ---well, everything.

djyee100, the tapioca pearls were cooked in clam juice. Delicious and fun. I love the way you prepared the chicken. Your beef stew is a reminder to me to make my own soon.

Dakki, your cornish hen caught my eye, not only because it looks super, I think I also have the same plate.

Kayb, the “sort-of pissaladiere“ is nothing short of amazing, and what a great idea to recycle shrimp cocktail.

I made an early Valentine’s Day dinner.

Trying to stay healthy, so no cream, butter, egg yolks, fat, etc.

Sashimi and egg plants with lean ground turkey.

Happy Valentine, everyone!

Dcarch

You plate everything unlike anyone I've ever seen. You have SO much talent! Beautiful sashimi.

[Rico]

Thanks, Dakki and Blether. I'd like to take credit for the improvement, but I'm afraid it's all due to the new camera and the talent the 'auto' button has ...

Thanks to the feedback from some of the folks here, I tried a steak and kidney pie. It worked well with the regular, and not puff pastry, crust. That's not to say puff pastry would have not worked - only that the regular worked well.

[ScottyBoy]

sheepish - What an awesome looking meal!

[Rico]

Sheepish, that's some kind of incredible dinner. Awesome.

[Jmahl]

Last night at the Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen we prepared a dinner for 8 for the winners of the drawing that was held when the we opened the kitchen.

For a main course - Cornish hen with citric, honey, wine sauce served with roasted root vegatables.

And for dessert individual Chocolate Chaud et Froid with fruit coulis.

[Dakki]

Pork chops, artichoke, mustard vinaigrette.

[rooftop1000]

I have been craving Crab for a while now and made this to try to end the craving...eating like this too often may end more than cravings LOL

Home Fries, Rib-eye Steak, Jumbo Lump Crab, Asparagus, and Hollandaise Sauce

tracey

[Prawncrackers]

Tracey, i say go for it - that dish has all my favourite things on one plate!!

Last week I cooked a rack of lamb spiced with ras-al-hanout, potato/beetroot dauphinoise, salad with a pomegranate dressing. The dauphinoise is one of my wife's favourite dishes. If you've never tried this variation then I urge you to soon. I use 2:1 ratio of spud to beet and cook it a little longer than the usual potato only classic. Keeps well for a couple of days too, we had it with steak and it was just as good.

Yesterday, unusually for a Monday, I cooked two courses. Ok partly because it was Valentine's day but mainly I wanted to clear some room in the freezer. Yeah who said romance was dead?! I cut up some bone marrow to roast for a starter. For the main I had some frozen langoustine so made some stock in the pressure cooker with the heads for risotto and gently sautéed the tail meat. I had a lot of leftover parsley, so made some parsley oil with which to dress the plate.

[percyn]

Beautiful meals all, especially Prawncracker.

Was running a bit late from work yesterday and wife wanted surf n' turf, so I picked up:

Dry Aged Prime Ribeye (the marbeling was almost like Wagyu)

3.5 pound lobster - just steamed and served with truffle butter

and served hericot verts with a Bordelaise sauce to complete the dish.

The steak was simply seasoned with sea salt and pepper, seared in a cast iron pan and finished in the oven. My wife claimed it was the best steak she had in her life !!

[dcarch]

Thanks Shelby. You are too kind.

Yes, I feel honored to be in the company of so many gastronomic masters, such as and especially Prawncracker, Ann_t, etc.

--------------------------------------

For Valentine's Day, much lower budget than percyn's surf & turf.

Sous vide drum sticks on home make pasta.

And salad: Artichoke hearts, palm hearts, napa hearts with rose petals

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

dcarch – your razor clams are just amazing! What was the sauce? It looks rich and dark!

Rico – I’m jumping on the bandwagon about how wonderful your pictures are getting. The pastrami picture, especially. Great colors and composition. It’s very ‘vintage’ looking, somehow. Not to mention delicious looking.

Shelby – you are sighing about your weather and I am green with envy. I would give anything for a REAL blizzard! I would also like the cats, the pizza and those wonderful frizzly onions!

Miss Ann!!!!! - so glad to see you at ‘the table’! As always, your photos and food are gorgeous and delectable! That corn custard looks amazing. Any chance of getting the recipe?

kayb – that pissaladiere!!! What gorgeous color.

Bruce – missing your beautiful pictures, but still love your food!

sheepish – well, this is odd. My comment on your dinner was “what a lovely meal – start to finish.” Then I read Ann’s response. Great minds, I suppose! The cheesy custard is staring at me. Wow.

I have been a giant slacker in the kitchen lately (actually not just lately – I’m dying to get in the kitchen on a regular basis, but sh*t keeps happening). If you’d like to see Mr. Kim’s take on what has been occupying our time just lately, check out this blog post.

I have cooked a little this week, nothing very exciting, though. The other night we had chili dogs, fries, slaw and baked beans:

Tonight I thawed some of Mr. Kim’s chili:

To go with it, I made a pan of cornbread:

I served it with some leftover slaw from the other night:

[robirdstx]

We used this recipe for Deep Fried Quails with Spicy Salt

[emilyr]

We used this recipe for Deep Fried Quails with Spicy Salt

Oh my, robirstx, I hope those quail were for Valentine's Day. The plating looks positively. . . romantic.

[robirdstx]

We used this recipe for Deep Fried Quails with Spicy Salt

Oh my, robirstx, I hope those quail were for Valentine's Day. The plating looks positively. . . romantic.

emilyr - Too, too funny! I hadn't looked at them that way but I guess the romance carried over from Monday to Tuesday.

[ScottyBoy]

Delicious food all!

Yay for Valentines dinners.

Endive, hazelnuts, dried iberico in white cheddar-mustard dressing.

Jidori yolk pasta, mussels, garlic, onion, white wine, chili and herbs.

Fudge bar, homemade strawberry ice cream, nuts and salted caramel.

I love taking care of my lady

Edited February 16, 2011 by ScottyBoy (log)

[percyn]

..

For Valentine's Day, much lower budget than percyn's surf & turf.

dcarch, I will gladly trade you the surf & turf for some of those delicious looking chicken.

Did you sous vide them with some spices/maridane or just plain? What temp and how long? They looked seared/grilled after.

[robirdstx]

Tonight was Linguine with Sausage at the request of my DH. I made it this time with a combo of sweet longanisa and Spanish chorizo. He really, really liked it!

[Ann_T]

Percy, that steak is so beautifully marbled. Love your cutting board.

Dcarch, nice plating.

Kim, Moe would be thrilled with your chili dog and baked beans. The recipe for the Corn Custard is HERE

Robirdstx Thanks for sharing the Quail Recipe. This will definitely be on the menu here soon. Moe and I both love quail but I've never had it deep fried.

Earlier this week -

Roasted Pork Sirloin with Parisienne Potatoes and

With mashed potatoes, green beans and cauliflower.

Last night's dinner -

I grilled a small prime rib. Just big enough to two thick slices.

Roasted Butternut Squash.

[sheepish]

ScottyBoy : your ideas already stolen, but that dried iberico, is that something you have further dehydrated? Wish I could persuade Mrs Sheepish to make mussels but I think I'll attempt the pasta for myself anyway!

robirdstx : is that seasoned flour coating the quail, or something else?

[robirdstx]

Robirdstx Thanks for sharing the Quail Recipe. This will definitely be on the menu here soon. Moe and I both love quail but I've never had it deep fried.

Ann_T Your welcome. We really liked the seasonings in the marinade and think it would work well with chicken wings, too.

[robirdstx]

robirdstx : is that seasoned flour coating the quail, or something else?

sheepish All of the seasonings were in the marinade. The birds were dusted with plain AP flour just prior to frying. It made for a very nice light crust.

[ScottyBoy]

sheepish I bought 2 legs of bellota back with me in December and I've been doing all types of stuff. This is just thin sliced and dried in a oven at 175 for 2 hours. Concentrates the flavor and I can break it up into shards or grind like bacon bits.