Dinner! 2013 (Part 1)

[MikeHartnett]

One of my ultimate dishes tonight; nasi lemak, ox cheek rendang, sambal ikan bilis and soft-shell crab. Guaranteed to hit every savoury spot i got!

Wow!

[BKYLN]

Bad Boy Meat !

Yum !

id trim off some of that peripheral fat. but thats just me.

.

and you would miss out on a significant amount of flavor, and also be able to trim the remaining saturated fat before consumption.

[rod rock]

Stir-fried spinach with shallots and scallions, plus chicken stock, soy sauce, and rice wine. Quoth younger son: “It wasn’t horrible.” High praise for spinach.

And that's a one delicious combo!

[huiray]

One of my ultimate dishes tonight; nasi lemak, ox cheek rendang, sambal ikan bilis and soft-shell crab. Guaranteed to hit every savoury spot i got!

( https://lh4.googleus...0/20130116c.JPG )

Nice.

Do you use pandan in your nasi lemak?

[huiray]

Garlic-black bean pan-fried fish

...

Stir-fried spinach with shallots and scallions

...

( http://brucet.zenfol...384090080-4.jpg )

That fish sounds good.

The spinach - how long did you cook it and how much reduction (of stock other liquids, etc) did you do or did you just fish out the spinach and leave behind the residual cooking liquids?

[Paul Bacino]

Prawn,

How do you get that soft shell crab so crispy? Did you get it live ( fresh ) to start?

Paul

[Prawncrackers]

Nice.

Do you use pandan in your nasi lemak?

Yup it's not nasi lemak without pandan! For extra goodness I add lemongrass and ginger too.

Prawn,

How do you get that soft shell crab so crispy? Did you get it live ( fresh ) to start?

Paul

No they're just frozen ones. I've been asked this before and there's no secret. Just make sure it's drained very well and fry them till they're crispy.

Gak just seen what a dreadful job I did of brightening the foreground of that photo. Very amateurish!

[FrogPrincesse]

This thread continues to be an amazing source of inspiration. Between Prawncrackers' beautiful crab dishes, Paul Bacino's beef porn, scubadoo97's pork belly, Brown Hornet's handmade pasta with oxtail, and so many other beautiful dishes... WOW

[rotuts]

Yar ! thats it: PB's Beef Porn ! Yum!

[C. sapidus]

rod rock and huiray – Thanks!

The spinach - how long did you cook it and how much reduction (of stock other liquids, etc) did you do or did you just fish out the spinach and leave behind the residual cooking liquids?

Spinach was stir-fried in batches until barely wilted and then dumped in a colander over a bowl. After stir-frying the shallots and scallions, I added the stock and other liquids and reduced until it “tasted right” (not long), and then mixed in the spinach and spinach liquor.

I hope that helps, it wasn’t very precise.

[huiray]

rod rock and huiray – Thanks!

The spinach - how long did you cook it and how much reduction (of stock other liquids, etc) did you do or did you just fish out the spinach and leave behind the residual cooking liquids?

Spinach was stir-fried in batches until barely wilted and then dumped in a colander over a bowl. After stir-frying the shallots and scallions, I added the stock and other liquids and reduced until it “tasted right” (not long), and then mixed in the spinach and spinach liquor.

I hope that helps, it wasn’t very precise.

Yes, what you describe is clear. A common way of doing a stir-fry veggie then. I imagine you "stir-fried" the spinach with minimal or no oil, basically to wilting - you might consider blanching the spinach in (perhaps oiled) hot water and draining next time, almost the same thing, followed by dressing the spinach with the "stir-fried sauce" of your choice as before.

[patrickamory]

A vastly disparate array of dishes from different cuisines prepared recently.

First, from Chichi Wang's column on Serious Eats, West Lake Soup with pork (西湖豚肉羹, if I've got the characters right). From Zhejiang province, this is an extremely easy soup but looks pretty impressive to guests and tastes delicious:

Then, travelling back in time to mid-'60s American home cuisine, the Presto pressure cooker recipe for Porcupine Meatballs, probably a surefire kid pleaser if I had kids in the house:

And finally, Bengali okra with mustard seeds (sorse dharush), one of my standbys (and I recommend it without reservation to anyone who thinks they don't like okra - it was the beginning of my conversion):

[liuzhou]

West Lake Soup with pork (西湖豚肉羹, if I've got the characters right)

The characters are correct if the pork was suckling pig. Not something I've come across in soup. 西湖猪肉羹 would be more usual. Or just 西湖肉羹. If the meat variety isn't mentioned then, in China, it's pork.

Anyway your soup looks perfect.

Okra is something I sorely miss here in China. Love the stuff.

Edited January 18, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[ScottyBoy]

I was gonna sous vide but then I thought "can't you still cook a steak in a pan?". 3o day aged fillet (a little rusty getting med-rare). A hot quinoa salad, garlic confit, pastrami spices, tomatoes and some wild arugula. Haven't posted dinner in a while.

[Prawncrackers]

You're crazy Scotty! Cooking steak in pan, hoodathunk? Nice work though, i'd say it was acceptably med rare. I wouldn't send it back that's for sure.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Prawncrackers (log)

[nickrey]

45.8C here in Sydney today (that's 114F). That's our highest recorded temperature ever.

So it was time for a salad. This one was Thai salad with flaked sous vide cooked salmon (marinated after cooking in fish sauce). Salad leaves were mint and coriander. Also had cucumber, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, long red chili, and freshly cut pineapple. Sauce had elements of tamarind as well as the usual suspects (palm sugar, fish sauce, chili, lime juice, some sliced herbs from the salad).

[Paul Bacino]

That's great Scott.!!

PatrickAmory-- Loves how light that looks

Nickrey--Nice flavors I bet!!

Edited January 18, 2013 by Paul Bacino (log)

[patrickamory]

Nice salad Nickrey... wowee... is that David Thompson, or your own creation? or a combo?

liuzhou - thanks! ah I see that character can be used for a piglet so that makes sense for suckling pig. btw my mother suggested 西湖猪肉汤, the last character tang being a less thick soup than geng 羹, what do you think?

[liuzhou]

my mother suggested 西湖猪肉汤, the last character tang being a less thick soup than geng 羹, what do you think?

汤 (tāng) is the most common character for soup and wouldn't be wrong, but in my experience West Lake soup is more usually described as 羹 (gēng)- or 'thick soup'.

(But, I wouldn't dare argue with your mother! )

Edited January 18, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[huiray]

I was gonna sous vide but then I thought "can't you still cook a steak in a pan?". 3o day aged fillet (a little rusty getting med-rare). A hot quinoa salad, garlic confit, pastrami spices, tomatoes and some wild arugula. Haven't posted dinner in a while.

( http://farm9.staticf...158ffe56d_c.jpg )

Looks very nice, scotty. Glad the "traditional" ways still work. ;-) Definitely medium-rare, I'd love to have that steak on my plate.

[huiray]

my mother suggested 西湖猪肉汤, the last character tang being a less thick soup than geng 羹, what do you think?

汤 (tāng) is the most common character for soup and wouldn't be wrong, but in my experience West Lake soup is more usually described as 羹 (gēng)- or 'thick soup'.

(But, I wouldn't dare argue with your mother! )

Well, "tang1" (汤 - simplified) (湯 - traditional) *is* the general term for "soup"... ;-)

I myself would tend to look at menu items with the term "湯" with a more encompassing view, so to speak. :-)

[nickrey]

Nice salad Nickrey... wowee... is that David Thompson, or your own creation? or a combo?

The original recipe is from Martin Boetz, who is one of David Thompson's protégées.

[ScottyBoy]

Some leftover ragu. Make it better, put an egg on it! Friend just dropped off 2 dozen eggs, what to do...

[patrickamory]

A standby, Madhur Jaffrey lamb kheema, made with a Persian twist this time, saffron dissolved in rosewater:

... plus the requisite tahdig:

and some homemade lime pickle, just trying it for the first time, put it up about three weeks ago:

[ScottyBoy]

See that's the stuff I love to eat! Something I have no idea how to make, new flavors and textures! This is why I'm working on Taste/Smell-O-Internet.

Steak and eggs - Snake River Farms Wagyu, fresh farm egg, rye toast, port and blackberry syrup

Edited January 19, 2013 by ScottyBoy (log)