Dinner! 2013 (Part 1)

[nickrey]

Those steaks look amazing - as does the dover sole. I wish I could get my hands on a suckling pig like that - pretty awesome.

Here's a little sea bass inspired by the John Dory recipe from Eleven Madison Park. I poached the fish sous vide in chicken jus with cornstarch and herbs to a core temp of 113 F (a la MC recommendations). Following the EMP components, it was served with dehydrated citrus fruits, citrus buerre blanc, edamame, pickled daikon, and a daikon vinaigrette. Finished with some tarragon, green onions, and olive oil.

Nice looking meal Baselerd. EMP is sure having an impact on much of our cooking and presentation.

[Dejah]

Tried these Thai salmon cakes by Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen.

I've been "off" salmon for the last while because no matter what I did, salmon tasted fishy.

These were great! Loved the Thai flavours that came thru', and being finished in the oven made getting sides together more timely.

I ate mine with squeeze of lime juice and warpped the bite with Thai basil leaf.

Hubby had Mango Chili sauce with his, along with squeeze of lime.

[benthescientist]

Lamb Two Ways

A deboned lamb shoulder was cooked for 12 hours at 75 C, having been browned beforehand and coated inside and out with a good smothering of pomegranate molasses and its own fat. A rack was cooked in a more traditional style, pan fried but ended up being underdone. Lesson learnt. Served with a date puree, cinnamon cold smoked yogurt, pistachio, black carrot, radish and puff pastry.

Has anyone dabbled with cinnamon bark as a serious smoking wood?

Edited February 17, 2013 by benthescientist (log)

[ddelima]

Beef Tartare with Wagyu hanger beef with capers, red onion and 63C egg.

Cornish Game Hen with Onion and Bacon, spatchcocked cooked in cast iron with bacon fat and finished in the oven until 170F.

Pilpil Salt Cod, bacalhau poached in olive oil with chili peppers and fried garlic.

Fig & Mascarpone, frozen fig shells with mascarpone cheese and fig pulp with red port wine.

Burger, 50% short rib and 50% top sirloin, topped with cheese, bacon, egg, wild chicory, mayo and Tabasco.

[patrickamory]

My photos aren't going to be as appetizing as Xilimmns's, but anyway I tried out three new dishes tonight.

Pressure-cooked chickpeas for hummus:

Leeks "à la grecque" from Jane Grigson's Good Things:

And robirdstx's chicken pot pie:

[Kim Shook]

Well, there is no way that I can single out every meal that has made me swoon since I last posted. There are so many amazing cooks here at eG that if one wanders away for a couple of weeks one can’t begin to comment on everything wonderful! I HAVE, however read each and every post and I’m just blown away. Once again, I have to confess to not cooking much lately. Last weekend we moved my mother to a smaller apartment and right in the middle of that I ended up with a really bad cold that ended up running through the household – including Mr. Kim, Jessica and my mom. Between getting her moved, unpacked organized and trying to breathe, cooking has taken a back seat. I have done a little bit. Here’s a few meals, plus my Super Bowl contributions.

Chicken Parm, pasta w/ sauce and green beans:

For the Super Bowl – Korean-style chicken wings w/ sweet ginger glaze:

This was a recipe from Norm Matthews. He made them back in September of last year and was kind enough to send me a link to the recipe. They were amazingly good. Nice light coating, due to cornstarch and the glaze was fabulous. Sweet, spicy and sticky. Even the kids loved them and they don’t usually eat wings. Thank you so much, Norm!

Ree’s Cheddar Puffs:

These were very good, but a bit awkward to prepare. Basically they are chunks of crusty bread coated on all sides with a cheese sauce, then frozen and baked when ready to serve. It was a big PITA to evenly coat the bread. Next time, I’m going to try spreading a thick layer of sauce over baguette slices and see if that doesn’t
give the same effect.

Dessert was a big failed experiment:

Bar cookies with dried cherries, almonds and dark chocolate chunks. Much too dry. I’ve asked for some advice on the Baking forum.

The good dessert was from the freezer:

Mr. Kim’s apple cake – leftover from what we’d taken to his mom’s on Boxing day. This cake freezes like a dream – it came out moist and delicious and as good as fresh – nice to know.

After I got the cold, but before Mr. Kim caught it, he made dinner for us. Great comfort food:

Salad, steak and cheese stuffed baked potatoes and broccoli.

Valentine’s Day Dinner – Romaine lettuce with roasted garlic dressing, crumbled Gorgonzola and spiced pecans:

Really good salad dressing, but the standout was the pecans. The method was not like anything I’d ever done before. They were first cooked in a syrup made with water, sugar, paprika, cayenne and allspice, then drained and fried in oil. They turn out crispy with a glass-like coating. Beautiful and really tasty! With the salad, I served more of those cheddar puffs:

Dinner was lobster chunks and scallops in a blood orange cream sauce, cous cous with currants and pine nuts (didn’t realize until they were in how much the currants looked like bugs – golden raisins would have been a better choice) and snow peas:

I have to thank Jason Perlow for the idea of the scallops and blood orange cream sauce. He made that awhile back and I Googled a recipe for it. It was delicious and will go in the ‘keeper’ file. Thanks, Jason!

Dessert was Mr. Kim’s favorite – caramel apple crème brulee:

With an excessively brulee-d brulee.

With BOTH of us down with the cold we had one night that was breakfast for dinner:

Home fries, bacon and hardcore bacon grease fried eggs. With biscuits, of course:

Saturday night was burgers w/ Gorgonzola, bacon and caramelized onions, fries, pickle-y stuff and raw veg:

Dinner tonight started with a salad:

Romaine, carrot, radishes, cukes, pear, dried cherries, spiced pecans and an olive oil/cinnamon pear balsamic vinaigrette. Dinner was sausages, fries and baked beans – half smokes for me:

Kroger has started selling DC-style half smokes. And Evergood Louisiana Hot Links for Mr. Kim
and Jessica:

Too hot for me!

[SobaAddict70]

Cavolo e pancetta (stewed cabbage, with onion and pancetta)

I could make a meal out of just this, some good bread and a glass of wine.

Render some pancetta -- dice about 2 oz., add to a skillet along with a 3-4 tablespoons of water; cook over medium heat. When the water has evaporated and the pancetta starts to brown, add thinly sliced onion. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat or until the onion has softened. Then stir in tomato paste (1 tablespoon dissolved in 3-4 tablespoons warm water is about right) and red wine vinegar; add shredded cabbage, a pinch of salt and some water or vegetable stock. Raise heat to high; sweat the cabbage for 5 minutes; then lower the heat to low and cover. Cook for 60-90 minutes or until the cabbage has achieved an almost "creamy" consistency. Taste for salt and pepper, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil, stir in some chopped parsley, then serve immediately.



Patate e porri (potatoes and leeks)

This is fairly straightforward -- essentially potatoes fried in olive oil with garlic, shallots and leeks (both green and white parts). The potatoes were boiled whole for 20 minutes, then peeled.

I always thought it was a bit silly for people to use only the white and light green parts of a leek. One culinary resolution for 2013 is to cut down on the amount of kitchen waste -- especially produce.

[rotuts]

Xilimmns

that tartare certainly looks good, but the Burger is the best. doubt either could be improved.

patrickamory

id like to hear more on the PC Hummus: its on my list!

[FeChef]

Last nights dinner. Sweet Potato Chicken Pie.

Edited February 18, 2013 by FeChef (log)

[rotuts]

Id like to hear more about that

Sweet Potato Chicken Pie

Yum!

[patrickamory]

rotuts, I wasn't happy with it. I think I used a bit too much liquid in the PC and didn't get as concentrated a broth as in the past. And I think I should have skinned the chickpeas - I've read this is the key to a truly creamy hummus. And finally I wish I'd used less tahini. In fact next time I may dispense with tahini entirely.

[rotuts]

points taken. cant address the skinning. it would be a real shame to drop the tahini. just make sure its not oxidized.

[FeChef]

Id like to hear more about that

Sweet Potato Chicken Pie

Yum!

It was great. The sweet potato balances out the saltiness from the filling. I make a filling starting with a roux made from melted butter and buttermilk pancake mix. Then slowly add cream and chicken stock till its the consistency of pudding. I add chicken bullion granules to boost flavor and saltiness. I rottiserie a whole chicken then carve and cube it. I cube sweet potatoes and steam them for 20 min. And steam chopped celery for 10 minutes. I use frozen carrots and green beans and let them thaw out. I use a 1:1 ratio of chicken and veg. It comes out to roughly 4 cups total to fill a 9 inch pie crust. I use puff pastry sheet to top the crust and brush with a egg and milk wash mixture and bake for 45 min @ 350F.

[rotuts]

interesting. buttermilk pancake mix is very interesting.

re: chicken bullion granules to boost flavor and saltiness

Ive been getting 'Minors Soup Base' from here for a long time:

http://www.soupbase.com/ keeps forever in the freezer. they have a shipping special now, which i wait for and then stock up.

I use a variety of these as the 'salt content' of gravy and soup.

the roasted chicken base has much less salt that the regular stuff. ie more flavor to get to that saltiness. and

you really can taste that Roasty-Ness.

its a fine product and may put your Pie over the Edge in place of the Cube.

Happy cooking!

Edited February 18, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[FeChef]

Rotus, I use my own chicken stock when i have it on hand in the freezer. I sometimes use those knorr stock gel cubes aswell, but as ive said, i use bullion in place of salt since my stock, and even the knorr stock gel cubes are pretty low in salt content.

[The J]

Yogurt marinated tofu over jasmine rice, served with a warm tomato and chickpea salad over spinach with garlic chili sauce.

[Jason Perlow]

Chicken Marsala

[Jason Perlow]

On the plate.

[C. sapidus]

huiray -- but that would break C. sapidus' "egg" rule. (kidding)

I thought that was percyn's "egg" rule

Dejah – Your Thai salmon cakes look fantastic! Have

you tried steelhead trout instead of salmon? Steelhead is similar to salmon,

but milder.

Kim – I always like your salads, but Gorgonzola and

spiced pecans sounds particularly good. I wish I could find some good half

smokes around here!

Butternut squash and sweet potato simmered in coconut

milk – with cashews and flat-leaf coriander (again after the picture –

doh!). I hit a few of the squash with a stick blender to enhance the coconut milk.

Beef stewed with tomato, star anise, and lemongrass

(Bo kho) – with five-spice powder, fish sauce, ginger, onion, bay leaf, brown

sugar, fish sauce, and carrots. Garnished with flat-leaf coriander after

picture time. Jasmine rice to go with.

[heidih]

Yogurt marinated tofu over jasmine rice, served with a warm tomato and chickpea salad over spinach with garlic chili sauce.

Yogurt marinated tofu and garlic chili salad.jpg

Can you elaborate on the tofu prep - I have been trying to expand my prep methods beyond cubed into soup or mapo

[The J]

Can you elaborate on the tofu prep - I have been trying to expand my prep methods beyond cubed into soup or mapo

I mixed plain yogurt with garam masala, turmeric, ground ginger, cumin, garlic powder, salt and a little bit of lemon juice. I cubed the tofu (extra firm) and mixed it in the yogurt, and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. I cooked it in a non-stick pan for ~15 minutes on medium high, with a little canola oil and the extra yogurt.

[huiray]

Heidi, have you tried other types of tofu other than the "usual" soft/medium/firm types? Some "fried firm tofu" or tofu puffs or tofu sheets or tofu (spiced/seasoned or not) formed into sort-of blocks which look like chunks of meat?

With the "usual" tofu I presume you have also tried deep-frying large slices of it or making agedashidofu (or variants of it)?

One home-style dish you might like to try would be something like "lo siu ping on" or variants of it where you just sub out the fish paste for meat paste of your choice...

[SobaAddict70]

oops. I meant percyn. hehe

tonight:



Insalata di funghi

This version is just baby arugula, curly endive and oyster mushrooms, with a hazelnut vinaigrette (hazelnut oil, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper).




"A Night in Tunisia" -- roasted carrots, Castelvetrano olives, hard-cooked farm egg

As usual, things are a little more complicated than at first glance.

The carrots were tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper, cumin and panch phoron (for texture), then roasted at 375 F for 40 minutes.

This was dressed with Italian parsley and a preserved lemon vinaigrette -- olive oil, a tiny bit of juice from some homemade preserved lemons, and black pepper.




Cime di rapa con tagliatelle (slow-cooked broccoli rabe, homemade tagliatelle)

Adapted from Saveur's recipe here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Cime-di-Rapa-Fritte

I reduced the amount of garlic called for in the linked recipe by half, and added lemon juice. This comes close to a contorno I had at Babbo almost a year ago.

[Kim Shook]

Soba – everything looks lovely, but that potato and leek dish sounds especially good. And the mushroom salad looks beautiful. What incredible greens you are able to get. Sigh.

FeChef – I’m not a sweet potato fan, but that chicken pie looks scrumptious! Between your lovely pie and Robirdstx’s chicken pie last month, I think one is in my near future!

Bruce – your stew looks fabulous!

Dinner last night:

Cheeseburgers, fries and butter beans. While I love all kinds of cheeseburgers, I’m with Wylie Dufresne – American cheese makes the best, the most comforting cheeseburger. Nice to have good company on this exceedingly pedestrian opinion!

[BKYLN]

it was a bone in ny strip.. 30 bones pretty much on the dot.

Oh yeah...that's why I moved out of NYC

Edited February 19, 2013 by BKYLN (log)