Dinner! 2011

[menuinprogress]

Kung Pao Bay Scallops with Green Beens:

[Prawncrackers]

Gorgeous looking dish, bravo!

[kayb]

I want those scallops, menuinprogress.

dcarch, what's the sauce on the pork chops? As usual, stunning plating.

Good-looking spaghetti, too!

[Alcuin]

Kung Pao Bay Scallops with Green Beens:

I'm doing this (and by this I mean kung pao scallops).

Very pretty food on this forum!

Scottyboy-nice consistency to the pasta sauce. Looks perfect.

edited for clarity

Edited January 28, 2011 by Alcuin (log)

[Shelby]

One of my huge comfort foods, spaghetti. Just plated all fancy like.

My most favorite food ever. Beautiful plate. I want I want I want.

[C. sapidus]

Ooh, never thought of kung-paoing bay scallops.

Salmon stir-fried with chiles and Thai basil, from Kasma’s Dancing Shrimp. djyee100 pointed out this recipe a while back, and it went over swimmingly with the family. Elder son was in a hurry to meet up with friends, so he volunteered to pick basil leaves and to slice shallots and cucumbers.

Served with red-leaf Boston lettuce (for making wraps) and jasmine rice.

[robirdstx]

Tonight was Surf 'n Turf on the grill. I had the Surf (Lobster Tail) and hubby had the Turf (Rib Eye). We also had grilled zucchini. I basted the tail with garlic butter and then dipped it in more as I ate it.

[kayb]

An organic beef burger topped with a tablespoonful (OK, OK, TWO tablespoonsful) of bacon jam and some feta cheese. Farmers' market red-ripe-in-January greenhouse tomatos, and oven fries. I did not bother eating the oven fries. That's balsamic vinegar and kosher salt on the tomatos.

Edited January 29, 2011 by kayb (log)

[dcarch]

-----------dcarch, what's the sauce on the pork chops? As usual, stunning plating.--

Thank you very much.

That's pomegranate sauce.

dcarch

[dcarch]

Kung Pao Bay Scallops with Green Beens:

That looks great. I have to try that sometime.

Tonight was Surf 'n Turf on the grill. I had the Surf (Lobster Tail) and hubby had the Turf (Rib Eye). We also had grilled zucchini. I basted the tail with garlic butter and then dipped it in more as I ate it.

The surf looks perfectly grilled.

An organic beef burger topped with a tablespoonful (OK, OK, TWO tablespoonsful) of bacon jam and some feta cheese. Farmers' market red-ripe-in-January greenhouse tomatos, and oven fries. I did not bother eating the oven fries. That's balsamic vinegar and kosher salt on the tomatos.

Bacon Jam! yummm. Can I have your oven fries?

dcarch

[C. sapidus]

Pork fried rice this evening. We marinated sliced pork loin in fish sauce, black soy, shaoxing wine, chinkiang vinegar, chile oil, and sesame oil, and then stir-fried the pork separately. The usual fried rice ingredients (jasmine rice, garlic, roasted chile paste, fish sauce, eggs, and chopped scallions), plus we tossed some leftover cabbage salad into the wok.

The pork turned out particularly tender and flavorful tonight.

[ChrisTaylor]

Chicken breast: brined overnight and then gently pan-fried.

The spinach and chickpeas are from the first MoVida (a Spanish restaurant in Melbourne) cookbook: spinach simmered with chickpeas and flavoured with garlic, vinegar (the recipe called for sherry vinegar but I used white wine vinegar), paprika and cumin and thickened with bread picada.

[suzilightning]

friday picked up some turkey thighs so roasted turkey with stove top stuffing and some roasted zucchini.

yesterday john went up for a concert in poughkeepsie. sent him up with some leftover noodles, roast pheasant and shallot fig sauce, meatloaf sandwiches and an egg and canadian bacon sandwich for breakfast today.

today is a chili contest.last night made a white chili with roasted poblanos and tomatillos along with some beer, mexican oregano, pimenton d'espisse and pork. spiral hams on sale for .99 per pound so will do that with some sweets and green beans for dinner tonight. leftover will become deviled ham for john's sandwiches next week and the bone goes into the freezer for soup - maybe a white bean and kale

[Shelby]

Chris, that chicken looks so moist and delicious!

A few meals:

Red fish, slaw and fries

My husband smoked a domestic turkey, so we had turkey sandwiches

Venison sandwiches and mac and cheese

These bones were taking up too much room in the freezer, so I had to roast them

I made a salad of spinach, red onion and caper topped with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice, along with toast points to spread the yummy marrow on. Oh, and we also had scalloped 'taters and steak.

[ScottyBoy]

My favorite food, turkey sandwich. And that one looks delicious!

[Okanagancook]

Scotty Boy, I was wondering how you made your "beet dirt" from a few meals ago....?Thomas Keller recipe done in the microwave or dried in a dryer and crumbled?? thanks

[Dakki]

Shelby, that looks utterly fantastic!

[kayb]

Agreed, Shelby. I do not see how you keep from weighing 450 pounds. Marrow, steak and scalloped potatos....SWOON!

[ScottyBoy]

Scotty Boy, I was wondering how you made your "beet dirt" from a few meals ago....?Thomas Keller recipe done in the microwave or dried in a dryer and crumbled?? thanks

I slice red beets thin on a mandoline, use a dehydrator then run through a coffee grinder.

[kayb]

Butternut squash galette. Bottom layer was ricotta blended with roasted garlic. Then the squash, sprinkled with pimenton dulce; then grated sheeps milk cheese.

If I do it again, it'll be with something other than garlic in the ricotta. The garlic did not play well with the other flavors, IMHO.

Redeeming myself for the weekend, though, here's Guinness Whole Wheat Bread. Good stuff. That's bread that will stay with you all day.

Edited January 31, 2011 by kayb (log)

[C. sapidus]

A ginger chicken-obsessed friend was visiting from Japan, so we made a version of her favorite from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. We served the chicken with coconut rice and a vegetable stir-fry from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet - Napa cabbage, snow peas, and mushrooms, seasoned with smashed garlic, fish sauce, and fermented soybean paste.

Garlic, onions, chiles, fish sauce, palm sugar, caramel sauce, chicken stock, scallions, cilantro, and lots of ginger imparted a lovely, complex flavor to the chicken. No pictures because everything disappeared, even the three cups of rice. Dang hungry teenagers!

[Kim Shook]

kayb – thanks for the recipe. I really want those ribs – perfect for a winter night! And the pizza looks wonderful!

Bruce – love the pork fried rice. Did I mention that I’m back on rice? I’ve been slowly reintroducing it to my diet. A year ago one bite was almost too much. Now I’m up to a normal (for me) serving. I can eat as much rice as I can potatoes (probably 1/2 cup). And almost all of the rice I eat is FRIED !!!! BTW, the ginger chicken sounds amazing.

Shelby – that smoked turkey is gorgeous and those sandwiches !!!! OMG, girl, I’m on Orbitz.com right now booking a ticket. Save me one!!!

Dinner tonight was the NY Times burgers. I realized that I hadn’t made them in almost exactly one year. When I put them in the pans, I remembered why:

This is what the kitchen looked like after the burgers had been flipped. It was much worse at first! My exhaust fan is crap – it isn’t connected to anything – it just sucks the air up the bottom of the microwave and blows it out the vent at the top. Seriously, what is the point of that? Mr. Kim took the battery out of the smoke detector, opened a bunch of windows and the attic door and turned both bathroom exhaust fans and it helped a bit, but I really think that this is a warm weather only recipe. I can put the skillet on the grill burner and then just run it into the house for the oven part. That said, the burgers were fantastic and my house will smell great for a week!

Frizzled onions:

Toasty onion buns:

Cooked in the onion pan.

Plated burger with slaw and fries:

The fries were frozen, but a brand I hadn’t seen before. They were Nathan’s (like the dogs) and VERY large. Crisp on the outside with a lot of fluffy potato goodness inside.

Close up:

The cheese was Saga Bleu Brie – a cheese we like a lot. The only thing missing was bacon. I forgot that I was saving the cooked bacon for burgers and put it all on ET bagels with cream cheese this morning!

[hansjoakim]

Homemade duck confit (Ruhlman & Polcyn's formula) with pommes purée and a lentil ragu.

[robirdstx]

Tonight was Surf 'n Turf on the grill. I had the Surf (Lobster Tail) and hubby had the Turf (Rib Eye). We also had grilled zucchini. I basted the tail with garlic butter and then dipped it in more as I ate it.

The surf looks perfectly grilled.

dcarch: Thank You.

What with the newest "Artic Blast" on its way down here, I decided to use the grill again tonight.

Cajun Spiced Grilled Shrimp and Steamed Multi-Grain Rice

Edited February 1, 2011 by robirdstx (log)

[C. sapidus]

robirdstx, those shrimp look delicious!

Baked fish fillets with salsa de jitomate cocida, from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen. Probably more Mexican-style than Mexican, but easy and full of flavor. I made a batch of the sauce last weekend and reserved some for tomorrow’s dinner.

Quick cowboy beans (frijoles charros), from Mexican Everyday. Pinto beans, bacon, garlic, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes, and cilantro. Turned out nicely, but I prefer this with black beans rather than pinto beans.

Mrs. C made a baby romaine, broccoli slaw, and strawberry salad with a dressing of fig balsamic vinegar and pomegranate molasses.