Dinner! 2011

[nickrey]

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!

I've seen pictures of your food Keith, you are too modest.

[mm84321]

Lobster with chestnuts and chanterelles.

[heidih]

That sounds like a lovely combination of earthy, nutty , and (seafood) sweet.

[mm84321]

That sounds like a lovely combination of earthy, nutty , and (seafood) sweet.

Thanks. Lobster, chestnuts and chanterelles are three of my favorite things.

[ddelima]

A couple of dinners cooked in the last week:

Rice, Beans, Spice Sausage and Carrots cooked Sous Vide. Unbelievable color and taste on the carrots. They tasted quite different from the traditional carrots I was used to. Definetely will do this again.

Cauliflower, Bacon and Arugula Salad.

Chicken Tikka Masala.

[djyee100]

Wok-braised Eggplant with Chopped Pork and Shrimp (Cha Traop Dot). The recipe is labelled as Cambodian, but I've seen versions of this dish from other parts of SE Asia, including Thailand. It's a stirfry of ground pork, chopped shrimp, garlic, and chiles, with a seasoning of fish sauce and sugar. At the end of cooking time, you toss in some roasted eggplant that melts into the sauce, making it creamy. This dish always says SE Asian comfort food to me.

To make Wok-braised Eggplant with Chopped Pork and Shrimp (Cha Traop Dot): Puncture with a fork 4 Asian eggplants or 1 globe eggplant (1 1/2 lbs of eggplant), and broil or grill until the skin is blackened all over. Place the hot eggplants in a sealed paper bag so that the steam loosens the skin. Let cool, then peel the flesh from the skin. Cut the flesh into 2" pieces and set aside. Heat 3 TB peanut oil in a wok over high heat. Toss in 4 chopped cloves of garlic, followed by 1-2 Fresno or serrano chiles, slivered. When the garlic is lightly golden, add in 1/2 lb ground pork, breaking up any clumps. Cook until the meat loses its red color, but is still bright pink. Then toss in 1/2 lb chopped raw shrimp and the eggplant. Sprinkle on 2 TB fish sauce and 1 TB sugar, and combine. Let cook until the shrimp is almost done. Stir in 2 scallions, thinly sliced. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Garnish with chopped cilantro, and serve immediately over steamed rice. My variation of the recipe in Joyce Jue's Savoring Southeast Asia.

[mm84321]

Ate woodcock at Restaurant Daniel. The bird was flambéed table side and the head was presented in half with its brains. Surprisingly they tasted nice; sort of sweet. Woodcock is very delicious.

[C. sapidus]

djyee100 - You know that pork and eggplant stir-fry sounds right up my alley.

Xilimmns - Interesting. Can you describe how the SV carrots were "different"?

Dinners from Sunday and Monday night, each served with salad:

Chicken and potato curry, from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. A squeeze of lime brightened the flavors nicely. Very popular with a visiting seven-year old who helped cook dinner, delaying matters by at least a half-hour.

Puerco a la Mexicana and cowboy beans. Elder son added this to his "what Dad can make when my friends come over for dinner" list.

[ddelima]

Xilimmns - Interesting. Can you describe how the SV carrots were "different"?

C. sapidus: what I noticed was a super concentrated flavor and color. Almost tasted like "raw" but with all the tenderness that it incorporated with the SV. The color also was very concentrated. Basically a lot of what we waste in terms of color and taste by cooking on traditional ways stayed there on the bag. BTW, cooked at 185F for one hour.

[Dejah]

Good to see you posting meals again, C.sapidus!

Incredible range of meals in this thread.

Snow covered ground, minus temps demand warming comfort food!

Made sandpot rice again, and took diyee's idea and added mung bean thread to the whole shebang...

Best part was the burnt rice on the bottom - lots of oil, juices, bits of meat, etc:

Last night, lamb should chops marinated in yogurt and Thai red curry paste. The chops were browned in coconut oil, simmered for a couple of hours in coconut cream with green beans and carrots added for the last hour. Served with jasmine rice. The sauce was a reduction, and it was wonderful with the crispy burnt rice from the bottom of the rice pot.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Seems that great minds think alike, Dejah! I too had yogurt-curry last night. However, since it's summertime for me, I approached it a bit differently...

Gold Ecuadorian curry in yogurt with basil and parsely was the baste for these chicken legs, over hot coals.

Served with turmeric mushroom rice and a salad.

[Darienne]

Must have been a curry sort of night last night. We had a coconut milk curry with roasted vegetables and rice

[kayb]

dcarch -- there are few foods of which I pride myself a connoisseur, but pulled pork is among them. While I'm strong on tradition -- I'm not sure it's possible to get "real" pulled pork anywhere but from a butt or whole shoulder grilled low and slow over charcoal or wood coals -- your interpretation is an absolute work of art and I'd love to try it.

Though folks in Memphis would look askance at you!

I'm fascinated by the slaw, particularly. Don't know if I could get past puff pastry as a bun, but I'd try.

[C. sapidus]

Dejah - Thanks! I always enjoy seeing your meals, and thinking "Yep, I could make a pig of myself on that."

Pan Can - Yum!

Choo chee curry shrimp with lime leaves and basil - Delicious! We served this Thai-style, with lots of jasmine rice and a smallish amount of strongly-flavored curry containing red curry paste, fish sauce, palm sugar, cracked coconut cream, and a paste of red chiles pounded in the mortar.

Stir-fried baby bok choy - a perennial favorite from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet. We boiled the greens briefly before stir-frying with garlic, fish sauce, and fermented soybean paste.

[nikkib]

Looks delicious Bruce!

[mm84321]

Brussels sprouts with squash, chestnuts, and brown butter.

Duck breast with endive, orange confit.

[Dejah]

Panko crumb breaded turkey breasts (fillets), lemon sauce made with chicken stock and fresh lemons, served with Chinese long beans stir-fried with fuyu, and jasmine rice.

[jnash85]

Amazingly delicious Kachoba squash and Italian sausage strozzapreti (choke the priest) pasta. Squash cubes seared and braised with white wine and veal jus, cream, basil. The squash melts to join the unctuous sauce. Oh, my!

That looks great. Could you go into detail how you made the dish?

[ChrisTaylor]

Today I'm going all 'surf and turf'--a nice piece of t-bone and some prawns.

[Norm Matthews]

I made some Challah bread today. I used a different recipe that I have in the past. It was a little sweeter. I had trouble with the yeast proofing and used two packets. It was still very slow to rise after making it into a dough but puffed up like on steroids once it went in the oven. I never measure flour anymore. I put all the other ingredients except salt in the KA bowl with the proofed yeast with two cups of flour and beat with a whisk until frothy- about three minutes, then I switch to a dough hook and with the mixer on speed 2, I add the salt and flour until it just barely stops sticking to the bowl and then leave it running for four or five more minutes. Then I knead it by hand until smooth and elastic, as they say, and round it off to make the top stretched, put it in an oiled bowl with some oil sprayed on top to rise. then yada yada yada with the rest of the directions.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Viktoria]

This emerged from the need to use some kabocha squash and some lamb, though I started with no specific plan:

Lamb curry with methi, shaved squash with garlic and olive oil.

Very tasty. But a little goes a long way...

The smell of fenugreek always makes me start to salivate...

[Darienne]

I made some Challah bread today.

I can almost taste it. Looks lovely.

[Norm Matthews]

Thank you Darienne

[Panaderia Canadiense]

For me, it was oven-roasted turkey breast in an herb crust, with cheezy ramen noodle casserole and steamed veggies. Oh, and a nice heap of mango chutney. Tis the season, after all.

[ChrisTaylor]

You know you've bought very fresh prawns when, hours after purchase, when you're going through the motions of peeling their thoraxes and slipping out their poop chutes, the legs and antennae are still twitching. Luckily I didn't have some Palahniuk Survivoresque gross out moment of a prawn flipping and wiggling in my hands to get away from the Global.