Dinner! 2011

[Mjx]

Don't know how I managed to miss mm84321's previous post on pheasant, which looks delicious. Roasted one tonight myself, and despite apparent impending disaster, it came out quite well. It looked a tad mummified, but was actually tender and juicy.

The bird was one of the three here, but I don't know which:

And here it is, about to go into the oven, and not looking very promising:

I'm still stunned that it turned out really well, since I was preparing for brooding and self-flagellation on a grand scale

[Norm Matthews]

I wanted to do something with cabbage. I thought cabbage rolls but Cass was not enthused so I looked for something and came across bierocks but didn't like any of the recipes I found so made it up as I went. I changed a basic French bread recipe by adding some sugar, oil and an egg and brushing the top with egg and water and sprinkling them with poppy seeds. I tasting the filling as I went. I used cabbage, onion, hamburger salt, pepper, celery seed, Beau Monde, oregano and i don't remember what else. I made 16 and should have added more filling but they were stuffed when I made them and they were good anyway.

Edited November 19, 2011 by Norm Matthews (log)

[djyee100]

Mjx, congrats on a fine dinner.

Norm Matthews, the cabbage rolls sound like just the thing for cold weather.

A Thai dinner here, Prawns and Bean Thread in Clay Pot (Gkoong Ohb Woon Sen).

The noodles cook over bacon, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and black pepper, with juices from the shrimp trickling down into the mix. Fish sauce, semisweet soy sauce, and oyster sauce all go into the pot too.

For a side dish, stirfried bok choy with garlic and red jalapeno chile.

This blog has an adapted recipe for the Prawns and Bean Thread in Clay Pot (same ingredients, different instructions).

http://mindfulmeals.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/gkoong-obb-woon-sen/

When I cook this dish, I line the bottom of the claypot with bacon strips. I decrease the garlic to 5 cloves, decrease the peppercorns to 1 tsp, and decrease the oyster sauce to 3 TB. I like this dish spicy and well-seasoned, but not as much as in the original recipe. I usually like more noodles, so I add them along with more liquid in the pot. For stock I use diluted chicken stock.

Edited November 19, 2011 by djyee100 (log)

[Dakki]

Wonderful pheasants, Mjx and mm84321. I particularly enjoyed the "in progress" photos.

Rico, way to show off simple, classic dishes. (Can I really classify Caesar salad as "simple"? What if one gets creative?) I really enjoy your stuff, man. Post more often.

djyee100, those prawns are downright inspiring. It might be my chilehead tendencies coming out, but your description sounds wonderful with the addition of a hot, fruity pepper or two to really bring out the flavors...

My own dinner? Why, fried eggs, sausage, tortillas and salsa. Early Thanksgiving dinner is stressing my limited logistics.

[djyee100]

It might be my chilehead tendencies coming out, but your description sounds wonderful with the addition of a hot, fruity pepper or two to really bring out the flavors...

Dakki, the dish would taste good with a fruity chile or two. I was tempted to add a chile pepper myself, but the bok choy side dish had chiles in it, and enough was enough!

Panaderia Canadiense, your pinchos dinner is my kind of food. I liked the medallions of turkey breast dinner you posted upthread, too. I have some Spanish paprika lying around in my cupboard, so I want to try those paprika potatoes.

[nickrey]

Dinner party for six.

Started with appetisers of squid terrine with romesco sauce, arancini balls, and chorizo stuffed squid.

Appetiser of foie gras cappuccino verrine toppped with enoki mushroom bird's nest cradling quail egg.

Soup was strawberry gapacho.

Main of poached zucchini salmon with saffron nage and stuffed zucchini flowers.

Dessert of vanilla panna cotta with cherries drizzled with saba.

The soup and salmon were from Daniel Humm's new cookbook Eleven Madison Park.

Edited November 19, 2011 by nickrey (log)

[Blether]

Dinner party for six...

Wow !

[heidih]

Nick - squid in both terrine and stuffed - oh my! Can you describe the terrine prep?

[mm84321]

Nice stuff nickrey. Did you sous vide the salmon?

Today I made roasted sturgeon with a carrot/ginger puree, glazed onions, and a lamb jus. Sturgeon is a pretty meaty fish, so the rich flavors from the lamb went along nicely with it.

[Dakki]

Dinner party for six...

Wow !

Seconded.

[nickrey]

Nick - squid in both terrine and stuffed - oh my! Can you describe the terrine prep?

Oops, typo. It was a prawn terrine. The prawn was finely chopped and then bound with transglutaminase. Cooked sous vide.

[nickrey]

Nice stuff nickrey. Did you sous vide the salmon?

It was cooked sous vide.

[ScottyBoy]

Hot damn nickrey, wish I was there!

[Shelby]

Was this a female??? If not, what kind of pheasant?

Yes. A female pheasant from here in Connecticut. Not sure of the exact species. Absolutely beautiful bird.

Grouse... pheasant.

The curved beak says 'not pheasant' to me. Either way, given how prone pheasant is (game birds are) to dryness, especially in the breast, it looks very skillfully handled. mm84321, roasted at what temp ? Whole or in pieces ?

It was roasted whole. On it's side for 8 minutes, then the other side for another 8, then finally finished on its back for 8 minutes more. The breasts were carved, and then the bird was put back in the oven for a few more minutes to finish cooking the legs. It was my first time cooking something from start to finish like that (plucking, gutting, roasting). It was a nice experience.

So, it was from a farm, not wild, correct?

[Shelby]

Dinner party for six.

Started with appetisers of squid terrine with romesco sauce, arancini balls, and chorizo stuffed squid.

Appetiser of foie gras cappuccino verrine toppped with enoki mushroom bird's nest cradling quail egg.

Soup was strawberry gapacho.

Main of poached zucchini salmon with saffron nage and stuffed zucchini flowers.

Dessert of vanilla panna cotta with cherries drizzled with saba.

The soup and salmon were from Daniel Humm's new cookbook Eleven Madison Park.

Oh MY!!! This looks awesome!

[mm84321]

So, it was from a farm, not wild, correct?

No, it was wild.

[Keith_W]

nickrey gorgeous food! Tell you what, i'll cook for you if you'll cook for me My food is far more humble than yours though!

[dcarch]

The past week or so’s cooking by everyone has been totally spectacular, and truly awe inspiring.

Such as:

Nickrey’s dazzling food!

mm84321’s and Mjx’s fowl play.

djyee100’s Gkoong Ohb Woon Sen.

Panaderia Canadiense’s Mangrove shrimp in wasabi-tomato sauce

Rico’s Carbonara

Keith_W’s wings

Hassouni’s chili

patrickamory’s chicken soup

Panaderia Canadiense’s turkey breast

djyee100’s winter salad

mgaretz’s sous vide steak

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A few times I have been asked by people to suggest ideas for their dishes for entering in the Master Chef TV show competition.

This was one contestant's dish: baked beans, coleslaw, and pulled pork sandwich. To me, IMHO, Ifrom the few shows I have watched I didn't think this dish stood a chance. Too “humble”?

It is not that it was not delicious; I would think that every other would be delicious. All contestants would be entering with T&T recipes. It seems to me that the dish must be beyond delicious, it must be outstanding, unique and most importantly, camera ready, after all, it's show business.

Using this person's original ideas, I just suggested some modifications:

Pulled pork - sous vided pulled pork instead of stewed pulled pork to get that juicy tenderness, and then quick BBQed to get that caramelized flavor.

Sandwich - puff pastry instead of bread.

Baked beans - used black beans instead of pinto/navy beans, added a touch of black garlic sweetness and a few drops of white truffle oil.

Coleslaw - basic recipe, except only the cabbage was presented, all the other ingredients were blended into "coleslaw dressing". Cabbage was first quick blenched in concentrated chicken soup, but still crispy, then pickled in the dressing.

Garnished with crispy coleslaw deep fried in bacon fat.

dcarch

[Blether]

... baked beans, coleslaw, and pulled pork sandwich. To me, IMHO, Ifrom the few shows I have watched I didn't think this dish stood a chance. Too “humble”? ...

That's nicely creative. Your food is always beautiful... you haven't often written preparation details and if this is the norm I'll be happy to hear as many breakdowns of ingredients and technique as you're willing to post

[Shelby]

So, it was from a farm, not wild, correct?

No, it was wild.

I just want to point out that unless this female bird was taken from some sort of preserve where the hunting of females is allowed, the killing of female pheasants is illegal out in the wild.

I'm not the food police and I support eating what one wants, but I am passionate about the illegal taking of game.

I'm wondering if your friend is a long time hunter?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I've been remiss again. 50 lashes with a wet noodle for me! And pictures of dinners for you....

Panfried tilapia in quinua-cracker coating, with broccoli in 3-cheese cream sauce over tallarin noodles with peas.

Teriyaki charcoal-braised chicken breast over Ceasar salad, minus the croutons (because I'm lazy.)

And for dessert, Guabos! These are "ice cream" beans, about 4 feet long; the edible part is the fleshy aril around the seeds. The flavour is somewhere between bourbon vanilla ice cream and fresh longan, with a pleasant crispness (at least, when they're not overripe - these were perfect.) There are two distinct types of Guabo available in the markets here - Macheteros, which are broad pods and generally not as long, and Largos, which are what I ate last night. Of the two, I prefer the Largos - they have a more delicate flavour and more seeds per pod.

[Darienne]

Fascinating as always, PanaCan. Do you eat the arils with your fingers? from a bowl? take the seeds out first?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

The bowl is there to hold the fruit, and the second smaller bowl in the background is for the seeds themselves (not tasty). There are a couple of ways to approach eating Guabos, and the one I use is generally to gently pull the aril off of the seed, toss the seed into the pig bowl, and eat the aril. However, when one is on the go and eating short Macheteros, the process is to pop the whole schmoo into your mouth, suck the aril off the seed, then spit the seed out - younger kids have seed spitting contests much in the same way that northerners do with watermelons, the difference being that a Guabo seed is considerably larger and thus has the potential to travel a great deal further.

[Darienne]

However, when one is on the go and eating short Macheteros, the process is to pop the whole schmoo into your mouth, suck the aril off the seed, then spit the seed out - younger kids have seed spitting contests much in the same way that northerners do with watermelons, the difference being that a Guabo seed is considerably larger and thus has the potential to travel a great deal further.

Now I am confused. I can't find any food references to 'macheteros'. What is 'eating short Macheteros'? Surely you are not munching on Machete wielders.

My foolish error. Should have reread your first Guabo reference.

The aril and seed do look a bit like Shmoos. I had a book about Shmoos when I was a kid...many long years ago...and they would just keel over and die from delight if they thought you wanted to eat them. Included were recipes for cooking Shmoos.

Edited November 20, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Ah. "Machetero" is shorthand for Guabo Machetero, a Guabo that has a broad pod like a machete blade - they come in long-pod and short-pod; the difference is that long-pod ones have aboot 20 seeds per pod, and short ones 3-10. These ones below (linked) are long Machetero type guabos, which I didn't buy because I was already carrying about 25 lbs of food, and I prefer the Largo type.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=21280