Dinner! 2011

[robirdstx]

dcarch - Thank you. Your Father's Day spread is gorgeous!

We had a very cheesy meal for dinner tonight.

Chicken Enchiladas Suiza topped with Manchego and Refried Beans with Vermont Cheddar.

[djyee100]

Dcarch, I've spent a lot of time staring at an oblong of jello. Gorgeous! Of course I pondered my usual question, How did he do that??

It looks like you put each layer of jello in the mold, let it set until the edges were firm but the middle still wet, then added the next hot layer. That's why the colors are more clear at the edges, but blended in the middle. Those complementary, greenish-reddish colors blended to gray in the middle. I like the effect. The color blends are rich. Not typical for polychrome-colored jello, that's for sure! Very painterly.

So how did you do this?

[dcarch]

------dcarch, thank you. This was my first time using watermelon rind for anything and it was inspired by one of your posts. I'll use it again when I can figure out what to do with all that nasty red stuff that comes with it.

-------

LOL!

dcarch - Thank you. Your Father's Day spread is gorgeous!

We had a very cheesy meal for dinner tonight.

Thank you. Wonderful looking cheesy, stringy, yummy meal.

Dcarch, I've spent a lot of time staring at an oblong of jello. Gorgeous! Of course I pondered my usual question, How did he do that??

---------So how did you do this?

There is no magic in making that. Just one layer at a time. However, because of the design of the mold, I didn't want the layers to be very distinct. So I time the setting of each layer to kind of melt into each other, not on top of each other.

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

dcarch – THUNK. That was me fainting dead away at the utter gorgeousness of that Jello! We haven’t seen gelatin art like that at eG since the days of Rachel Perlow’s rainbow Jello dish! I know how you made it, but where did you get the mold???

robirdstx – lovely gooey cheesy enchiladas!!!

[kayb]

The jello was lovely, but I'd push it out of the way to get to those ribs!

Just read about two weeks' worth of dinners (I've been gone, and catching up from being gone). There were too many "Oh, wow!" moments to go back and comment, but everyone, they were lovely.

Spent a week in Hilton Head. A couple of pics --

South Carolina smoked chicken and barbecued pork sliders, with the signature SC mustard-based barbecue sauce. Good, once I got over the idea of putting mustard on my barbecue.

And a Caesar salad with grilled shrimp, accompanied by the steamed shrimp I barely remembered to photograph before the last of them vanished.

Duck confit in the oven; will have a leg quarter over fresh corn polenta tonight!

[Dakki]

Just spent the last couple of hours looking over this thread, and seriously, guys, there's material for any number of cookbooks and magazine spreads here. We wouldn't lose to the pros in any sense.

Prawncrackers and dcarch should quit their day jobs and be food photographers full-time.

Regarding the posts on this page, dcarch, I'm still trying to wrap my head around what you did with that jello. And kayb, that might not be the showiest picture in the world but I want that shrimp!

[kayb]

I cooked for the first time in a week. Duck confit over polenta, with tomatos and mozzarella.

[Kim Shook]

kayb – I am loving the idea of confit with polenta – what a great combination!

Since I was taken up with the end of the week chores and writing (I’ve made a start blogging our trip – you can click on the ‘What Fresh Hell is This’ link under my name at the bottom of the post to get to it, if you like), dinner last night was a very modest affair. We started with some pre-dinner nibbles:

Everything flatbread and dirty martini dip. Yummy dip, but SPICY!

Salad and corn:

Kielbasa with apricot jam/Dijon dipping sauce, leftover quinoa salad and some decent tomatoes that Mr. Kim got at the farmstand:

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Dakki - what a neat idea! I'd definitely buy an eGulleteer Cookbook if one were available and featured the recipes I'm seeing here in Dinner as well as in Lunch, Breakfast, and Daily Sweets / Bread....

I was lazy about downloading my camera, but here's dinner from the past couple of days:

Oven-roasted Criollo chicken with yogurt-whipped Atahualpa potatoes, whole-wheat sage stuffing, and steamed carrots, smothered in white mushroom gravy. (Wednesday)

Lazy Lasagne Primavera. (Thursday) Although I can now make a lasagne from scratch in about 3 hours, I still have yet to perfect the technique lifting a slice out of the pan and getting it plated without it collapsing, but the effect in this case was kind of deconstructionist and nifty. And the lasagne itself was scrumptious.

Tonight's will be Mom's famous creme des carottes with my fresh-baked 5-grain honey whole wheat loaves - I'll definitely get a picture of that before it disappears.

[nikkib]

Great blog Kim - i'm looking forward to read all about your trip... Dinner here was menu tasting at work so not cooked by me but i tried cuttlefish noodles (cuttefish cut into noodle like strips and sauteed) with pistachio, coriander and mint pesto followed by a date, hazelnut & chocolate fondant - two definite hits...

[nikkib]

Great blog Kim - i'm looking forward to read all about your trip... Dinner here was menu tasting at work so not cooked by me but i tried cuttlefish noodles (cuttefish cut into noodle like strips and sauteed) with pistachio, coriander and mint pesto followed by a date, hazelnut & chocolate fondant - two definite hits...

[rarerollingobject]

Cuttlefish noodles! Very interesting, nikkib. And that polenta looks luscious, kayb.

I made "sushi roll in a bowl" - seasoned sushi rice, topped with spinach in sesame dressing, sliced avocado, and chunks of grilled salmon belly. That's a stand of toasted nori you see in the background. Sesame seeds sprinkled over, and wasabi and soy to eat.

[robirdstx]

Thank you. Wonderful looking cheesy, stringy, yummy meal.

Your welcome. When I first cut into the enchiladas and beans, I tried to make a nice clean cut but the cheese wouldn't cooperate.

[robirdstx]

[robirdstx – lovely gooey cheesy enchiladas!!!

Kim - Thank you! Just read about your trip on your blog. Fun read! Looks like you guys had a good time!

[robirdstx]

Dinner on Friday night was Use Up The Leftovers Night (we had the rest of the linguine and sausage from earlier in the week) and a fresh Salad made up of the last of the red and green lettuce from my garden, gifted home grown grape tomatoes, cucumber, carrot, mushrooms, green onion, black olives, dried cranberries and bacon bits.

Last night was Pizza night! I, again, used Reinhart's recipe for his Pizza Americana dough from BBA and topped it with a tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, mushrooms, black olives, sausage and pepperoni. This dough really holds up well to lots of toppings.

[dcarch]

Thank you everyone for your extravagant compliments.

The mold for the Jello was made by me.

I found a plaque with that floral pattern. I thought it could make a wonderful mold for the kitchen.

I got some food-grade silicone rubber compound and cast the mold.

dcarch

[Kim Shook]

Thank you everyone for your extravagant compliments.

The mold for the Jello was made by me.

I found a plaque with that floral pattern. I thought it could make a wonderful mold for the kitchen.

I got some food-grade silicone rubber compound and cast the mold.

dcarch

OK, now you're just taunting me, aren't you. Sheesh.

[percyn]

Nice meals all!

Over the past few days we made...

Brown Kumato Tomatoes w/Fresh Mozzarella and Aged Balsamic

Smoked Quail w/Israeli Couscous

Found some lovely Wild Copper River Salmon, so I made

Teriyaki Grilled Salmon - on the bottom are salmon skin pieces I grilled and coated in teriyaki sauce - like candied salmon jerky.

A succulent medium rare

And a treat for the chef while that cooked - didn't have sushi rice handy so had to improvise with some Jasmine rice.

[kayb]

Last night, it was my birthday. My houseguest and I were headed to the Joan Jett concert, and invited me to dinner beforehand, but I'd been to the farmers' market, and had tons of fresh veggies, so I cooked my own birthday dinner: Fresh tomatos, creamed corn, fried okra, stewed squash and onions, and a grilled pork chop.

You can take the girl out of the country, I guess, but...

[heidih]

kayb - seems like the pork was a side with all the great vegetable preps - love the meal

[nakedsushi]

We made our first dish in our new tagine last night. Lentils & chana dal stew with Moroccan spices. Used up the last of the apricots from our tree as well as some squash blossoms from the garden. I wasn't in the mood for cous cous, so we made socca instead.

[heidih]

We made our first dish in our new tagine last night. Lentils & chana dal stew with Moroccan spices. Used up the last of the apricots from our tree as well as some squash blossoms from the garden. I wasn't in the mood for cous cous, so we made socca instead.

Looks great. What socca method did you use? I have been wanting to try this forever and have not jumped in.

[Kim Shook]

Panaderia Canadiense - that chicken and gravy meal is gorgeous! As hot as it is here, I'd love it for dinner tonight!

robirdstx - uncooperative cheese makes for GOOD enchiladas ! And I LOVE the look of that pizza crust - exactly how I like it!

percyn - I love those tomatoes and rarely find them here. And that teriyaki salmon is just incredibly gorgeous!

kayb - I agree with Heidi - the pork looks like a sidedish with all those gorgeous vegetables!

Dinner last night started with a salad:

I tried a new recipe - the shrimp cakes that Emily made. We really, really liked these a lot. The cakes are served with a sauce that includes sour cream, lime juice and Thai chile garlic sauce - too hot for me, but Mr. Kim LOVED it! Jess and I made do with some cocktail sauce:

served with yellow squash and onions and first of the season fried green tomatoes .

Marinated cukes and leftover ham and cheese biscuits from breakfast:

BITE:

So good!!

[nakedsushi]

Looks great. What socca method did you use? I have been wanting to try this forever and have not jumped in.

I'm unsure what the various methods are, but here's what I did:

3 cups chickpea flour, 2.5 cups water (or more if you want a thinner batter/pancake), 4 tsp salt, lots of cracked black pepper, scant 1/4 cup olive oil, lots of aleppo pepper. I stirred those together and let sit for about an hour, but I think you can do more.

Heated up a cast iron pan on the stove top and when it got really hot, poured in a tbs oil, swirl to coat, then put in a ladle full of the batter. Then I stuck it under the broiler for 1-2 minutes. When the top looks set and a little charred, it's ready.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Kim - thanks. Unfortunately for me, it's winter here, so the roasting thing is a great boon in heating the house. Bleh - I hope we get summer again sometime soon. This rain is killing me! This said, I'd give my eye teeth for your biscuits. My ham 'n cheesers never turn out that nicely.

Here's last night's dinner - potage of beets and carrots with ginger and fresh 7-grain bread. Tonight's is likely to be less inspiring.

edit - oh, oh, that was so not the right picture for the potage....

Edited June 27, 2011 by Panaderia Canadiense (log)