Dinner! 2011

[boudin noir]

Tonight having slow roasted St. Louis style baby back-ribs with cornbread and shreded brussel sprouts sauteed with bacon, onions and caraway seeds.

[deensiebat]

@rotuts: I was thinking that it might be nice with blackberries as well -- they seem like they could straddle that sweet/savory divide. But sadly ours are all washed out with the rain.

@Genkinaonna: Thanks! And I notice we're both in Portland -- perhaps you'll make it to the next meeting...

[MsDivinaLoca]

Nothing radical here: pot roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, garlic green beans with toasted almonds, shredded Brussels sprouts with a mustard vinaigrette and aged Romano

[percyn]

Nice MC omelette Keith_W.

Gorgeous pot roast MsDivinaLoca.

Today we made leftover Chicken Makhani Pizza on Garlic Naan.

[ScottyBoy]

This was the first time I tried this innovation - I chilled the breast with ice prior to cooking. Breast needs to be cooked to 65C, the legs need to be cooked to 75C. In the past, I have tried wrapping the breast in foil to stop them from overcooking. But now - I allow the chicken to come to room temperature prior to cooking, but for 20 mins prior to going into the oven, I chill the breast with ice in a zip-lock bag. This method is noticably superior to any other method I have tried - without having to resort to the Cooking Issues Bionic Turkey method. Here is a pic of the chicken breast chilling under some ice:

Interesting, gonna have to try this, thanks!

[MsDivinaLoca]

Holy buckets - that's one sexy, delicious looking foccacia!

I made this Concord grape focaccia for book club potluck dinner. And I'll probably make it again tonight. Hello, obsession!

Edited October 2, 2011 by heidih
Fix quote tags (log)

[David Ross]

One of my favorite Fall braised dishes, slow (10 hours) braised pot roast served with pappardelle. You can't see it, but there's a bed of blanched spinach under the beef.

[ChrisTaylor]

That's a sexy meal, Mr. Ross.

Highlight of the past few days would've been, I don't know, the pork ribs glazed with mustard, honey and oregano. Or maybe last night's rack of lamb, which I hit with oregano and thyme, served with roast baby potatoes, roast pearl onions, roast cherry tomatoes and, because salty dairy fat is always a good idea, feta.

[nickrey]

I finally got around to trying my Chorizo stuffed calamari again. This time I used a bought chorizo (last time I didn't add enough fat and it was dry). Cooked sous vide for three hours at 59C. Chilled in ice bath. Reheated following day and then seared on all sides in a hot frypan.

This time it worked like a dream. This is going into my cooking repertoire.

[ScottyBoy]

David - I could get down on that! I love all the wider style of noodles.

Nickery - Since you prepped ahead this is something I might want to try out for one of my dinners!

[nickrey]

Nickery - Since you prepped ahead this is something I might want to try out for one of my dinners!

I would be honoured if you chose to use it for one of your spectacular dinners.

[Paul Bacino]

Acorn feed Solomillo Ibérico de Bellota Pork tenderloin/ Porcini-Chantrelle -Pea Risotto/ Honey Crisp Apple Compote/ double color beans

The pork tenderloin was cold smoked for about 45 mins, seared and basted in a sage /butter sauce and placed in a moistd 135 degree oven to finish. Had just the correct amount of smoke for us.. I missed the finish temp a bit.. the pork was pink still but these tenderloins are much darker than standard pork tenderloins.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Keith_W]

Tonight: herbed spring lamb gratin with spring vegetables.

Dining service:

[Paul Bacino]

Very Nice.. Keith

[David Ross]

David - I could get down on that! I love all the wider style of noodles.

Nickery - Since you prepped ahead this is something I might want to try out for one of my dinners!

Thanks, it's my standard recipe for red meat braises-

Dust a chuck roast with flour and then brown in olive oil in a heavy pot, (Le Creuset) until brown on all sides. Takes about 10 min. per side.

Remove the roast and add more olive oil then carrot, celery, onion, garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaf. Saute until tender, then slug in a bottle of red wine and 2 cups beef stock, 1 can tomato paste, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary. Add the roast back to the pot, cover and braise in a 285 oven about 8-10 hours. Drain vegetables out of sauce and then you have it-the most wonderfully tender beef pot roast. It's very good as a ravioli filling or a filling for a pot pie under a puff pastry dome.

[Country]

David - I could get down on that! I love all the wider style of noodles.

Nickery - Since you prepped ahead this is something I might want to try out for one of my dinners!

Thanks, it's my standard recipe for red meat braises-

Dust a chuck roast with flour and then brown in olive oil in a heavy pot, (Le Creuset) until brown on all sides. Takes about 10 min. per side.

Remove the roast and add more olive oil then carrot, celery, onion, garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaf. Saute until tender, then slug in a bottle of red wine and 2 cups beef stock, 1 can tomato paste, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary. Add the roast back to the pot, cover and braise in a 285 oven about 8-10 hours. Drain vegetables out of sauce and then you have it-the most wonderfully tender beef pot roast. It's very good as a ravioli filling or a filling for a pot pie under a puff pastry dome.

That's almost exactly how I do it - including the Le Creuset. But, when you write, "... then slug in a bottle of red wine", do you really use a whole bottle - or a slug of red wine?

From your pic it came out beautifully and I definitely have to try some pappardelle.

Thanks.

[Kim Shook]

EN – thanks for the oven fried chicken recipe. I’ve never made it well – yours looks great. I’ll try it soon!

Norm – that ham salad sounds wonderful. I love the addition of dried apples. I would never have thought of that, but it is perfect!

Deensiebat – oh, my goodness! That focaccia is just delectable looking. I’m printing that out to go in the ‘to try’ file. And I may just print out the photo to gaze at.

MsDL & David – oh pot roast. I am SO ready for pot roast!

Keith – gorgeous lamb dish. And those dishes are haunting me .

I did a very simple dinner the other night while I was preparing stuff for my FIL’s birthday party. Some good friends gifted us with a bunch of homemade preserves. We sampled the plum, blackberry, strawberry and fig:

Along with some country ham, a basket of biscuits:

and a plate of fried eggs:

Could not have been easier – or more welcome and delicious.

Friday night was my FIL’s BD party. I did country ribs, mac and cheese, and angel food cake with caramel sauce (his very favorite dessert in the world). One of my SILs did a gorgeous salad with a sweet honey dressing and the other did peas with mushrooms and onions. The mac and cheese, the angel food cake and the caramel sauce were all from Michael Ruhlman’s new book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”. I was very honored to be picked, along with some other folks over at Marlene’s website, cookskorner.com, to do some recipe testing for the book. It was truly one of the most fun things I’ve ever done – a real dream job for me.

Ribs:

SIL’s salad:

Mac & Cheese w/ Soubise:

That one got a tad overdone, but it still tasted amazing and the second one wasn’t quite as crispy.

Angel Food cake with caramel sauce:

[ScottyBoy]

Sometimes you just need a good grilled ham and cheese...

Black Forest ham, gruyere on fresh local sour dough loaf. Half olive oil half butter, weighed down with a cast iron on top. Chewy, cheesy, salty, crispy buttery goodness!

[rotuts]

that 'grilled cheese' looked too good to eat. I have all that stuff:

guess whats for dinner here!

[ScottyBoy]

Good to be friends with your meat suppliers. Jeremy while I was leaving asks, "hey you want to try out a free 3 week aged prime t-bone?"

Yes.

Edited October 4, 2011 by ScottyBoy (log)

[Keith_W]

Scottyboy a beautiful steak beautifully cooked

[ChrisTaylor]

That image is so erotic it should come with a 'not safe for work' warning.

[threestars]

Im drooling over that steak! I want that for dinner!

[Country]

Scotty, That's perfect. How'd you cook it?

[ScottyBoy]

Sous vide at 132 for 3 hours then seared in a cast iron

Making a crispy speck chip for a dish tonight. Local speck, lay between two silpats and in the oven at 275 for 1 hour then dried between paper towels.