Dinner! 2013 (Part 1)

[Kim Shook]

Basquecook – thank you for your kind words! So many of my holiday foods are recipes made by family and friends. Most of my Christmas night dinner items are from the Christmas dinner that my paternal grandmother made since my dad and his brothers were small. She was a complete non-cook (her refrigerator only contained olives for martinis and Metrical shakes) except for Christmas night when she went all out and cooked the best meal I’ve ever tasted. The chicken salad and pimento cheese are from a lovely lady who used to post here at eG. Old timers will remember Rachel and her wonderful writing. I have been fortunate enough to become her friend and actually meet her and her family. I love the continuity of cooking foods that come from my personal history. My mom’s mousse recipe can be found here: http://www.recipecir...hrimp_Mold.html .

Shane – thank you! Mr. Kim got a jar of jalapeno olives in his stocking and I am stealing your idea of putting them on pizza!

Ranz – the chicken galantine looks delicious!

Tri2Cook – my cousin!!! We’ve missed you so much! Christmas Eve, our house, come early and help me set it all out!

Jason – those scallops sent me scurrying off to Google a recipe for orange cream sauce. Fantastic!

jvalentino – that smoked ham looks amazing. I just emailed Mr. Kim about it.

rico – lovely shrimp and a BEAUTIFUL photo!

Dinner last night started with the inevitable salad:

I also did Marlene’s Crispy Pork Chops w/ her Quick Tonkatsu sauce, fried rice (left over from dinner out the night before) and collard greens:

The pork chops were from Omaha Steaks and were, as usual, bland and characterless, but Marlene’s method of coating them and the sauce really ramped up the flavor.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Well, local weather conditions have conspired to grant me excellent eggplants at the market. And when life gives you eggplants, ratatouille is the obvious answer!

More details in the ratatouille cookoff thread - this is a take on the dish that doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet....

[Baselerd]

Been done more than a few times, but here's my take on the Momofuku Ramen, with roasted pork belly, pork shoulder, sauteed bamboo shoots, sous vide egg, collard greens, and noodles. I combined the techniques from MC and the Momofuku book to make the broth, which was by far the meatiest, richest broth I've made:

1. Boil and steep kombu 10 minutes

2. Simmer Shiitakes for 30 minutes

3. Simmer whole chicken (cut down) for ~1 hour

3. Roast pork neck bones in oven ~1 hour

4. Strain broth into pressure cooker, cook at 15 psi for 1.5 hours with bones and bacon

5. Add scallion, carrot, onion and simmer for another 45 minute

6. Strain, season with Tare

Edited January 9, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[Jason Perlow]

I decided to do a bit of prep cooking for our superbowl party coming in a few weeks. This will all be vac sealed and will be heated in the bag, ready to go for the game.

Boston Butts, smoked at 4 hours mark, before wrapping in foil

Rough pull before saucing.

[scubadoo97]

Looks fantastic Jason

[Jason Perlow]

Smoked Steak (cooked with the still burning fuel from the BBQ with some hickory wood added) with Montreal Rub

[C. sapidus]

Slipper burgers – Lamb with onion, ginger, garlic, chiles, cilantro, coriander, cumun, cayenne, and black pepper. Potato rolls and Sriracha mayo added after the picture.

Grilled zucchini salad – Dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, cilantro, cumin, white pepper, and smoked paprika.

Edited January 10, 2013 by C. sapidus (log)

[huiray]

(http://farm9.staticf...8a8cbd999_o.jpg)

Smoked Steak (cooked with the still burning fuel from the BBQ with some hickory wood added) with Montreal Rub

What's in your "Montreal Rub"? The recipe seems to vary.

[SobaAddict70]

Brussels sprouts "home fries"

Nothing but brussels sprouts, butter, sea salt, black pepper. You can sub out the butter for olive oil to make it vegan.

Pastina e ceci

This version is "in bianco" (without any tomato).

Contains pancetta, onion, carrot, celery, celery leaves, chickpeas, Italian parsley, sage, rosemary, sea salt, black pepper, pastina pasta and water, along with lashings of extra-virgin olive oil and pecorino Romano cheese. Besides pastina, you can use any kind of soup pasta from conchiglette (small shells) to orzo, or even broken pasta like rigatoni (put rigatoni under some cheesecloth, smash with a kitchen mallet) or torn up larger pasta such as pappardelle. This is a very forgiving dish that you can customize to your heart's content depending on what's in your pantry. The basic recipe typically has garlic, rosemary and tomato, to which you can add other things such as pancetta, peperoncini and/or parsley in addition to the chickpeas. Or make one without tomato, as you see above.

[Jason Perlow]

(http://farm9.staticf...8a8cbd999_o.jpg)

Smoked Steak (cooked with the still burning fuel from the BBQ with some hickory wood added) with Montreal Rub

What's in your "Montreal Rub"? The recipe seems to vary.

No idea. We bought it from Penzeys a while back.

[christine007]

Soba, those brussel sprouts are a thing of beauty. I keep forgetting to thank you! my mom is a vegetarian, and you give me such inspiration when I cook for her. thank you!

[SobaAddict70]

anytime, Christine.

[rotuts]

I shudder posting in the "Dinner" thread. Although I enjoy my dinners, well sharing them is another matter ...

Chicken Dinner:

I post this as there is no Chicken in this Dinner.

this is Trader Jose's Chicken-Less Mandarin Orange Morsels (Tofu)

smart-oven'ed until very crispy

1/2 of the 'sauce packet' and a lot of Mae Ploy Sweet Chili sauce and a lot of (frozen) grated ginger.

the bok choi I forgot to add to the basmati rice in the Fuzzy Rice Cooker when the rice is done and in Stay Warm mode, but have done that subsequently.

in the future Ill dump that TJ's fructose packet and use some good orange marmalade with the Mae Ploy and lots and lots of ginger.

some sliced green onions.

pretty good when you want Orange Flavor Chicken and can't get to your local Chinatown.

[Jason Perlow]

Experimental dish tonight. I had smoked several pieces of tofu on the BBQ last night along with the pork and the steak. So I sliced this up and wokked it with minced chicken mixed with a black bean paste and XO sauce, mushrooms, garlic, shallots and green onion, and leftover french green beans.

Edited January 11, 2013 by Jason Perlow (log)

[janeer]

Jason, Baselard, and SobaAddict70, all beauthiful in their very different ways.

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks, janeer.

Tonight:

Insalata uovo e carne secca (warm salad, with egg and pancetta)

Doable in about 20 minutes, including prep.

Consists of pancetta cooked in olive oil, with mint, sage and rosemary, to which was added some raw beaten egg seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, then scrambled. The greens were dressed with red wine vinegar, a dry red wine, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and black pepper. There's some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish, but that was just gilding the lily.

Spaghetti con vongole (spaghetti with clams)

This is as basic as it gets -- Manila clams, peperoncini, parsley, wine, garlic, olive oil, spaghetti.

[SobaAddict70]

I eat A LOT of parsley, so whenever I make spaghetti con vongole, I just go crazy. I must have used something like 5-6 tablespoons worth of finely minced parsley leaves and stems.

I go through something like 2 bunches a week of either flat-leaf or regular parsley.

[FeChef]

New Year's Day meal. Traditional southern foods (pork for moving forward into a new year, greens for prosperity and blackeyed peas for luck) and corn muffins (for tastiness).

I had to respond to this. I live in the east coast and we also eat pork on new years day for moving forward. It is also bad luck to eat chicken on new years day because chickens scratch backwards..lol. Here in dutch country we eat our pork with sauerkraut and apples and a touch of brown sugar along side mashed potatoes with pork gravy.

[ChrisTaylor]

Spaghettoni with octopus. The octopus tentacles were cleaned then bagged with a bit of salt, pepper, olive oil, a dried chilli, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. It was bathed at 77C for 5 hours. I peeled off the suckers, chopped the tentacles and set them aside. The sauce was pretty much just some baby romas with a little garlic, bird's eye chilli and parsley.

Edited January 11, 2013 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[rod rock]

Yumm nice spaghetti!

[Pilarindia]

After lurking here for along time, I finally decided to build my own SV controller and run my crock pot with it. The ribeye in the following pictures, cooked at 58-59 degrees C., was absolutely delicious.

[Okanagancook]

Good job, Pilarindia!

[Pilarindia]

Good job, Pilarindia!

Thank you! And my success in this experiment is wholly due to the knowledge on these boards, for which I am extremely greatful!

[dcarch]

It took me a while to go thru all the fantastic meals I have missed, because I read them several times; they are so amazing!

I have been traveling and not much time to post.

Here are a few recent ones:

dcarch

Plain braised tofu with black garlic sauce

Sous vide chicken thighs

Sous vide brisket, latkes

Sous vide scallops on wild rice soup

[rotuts]

well I for One would like to hear more about the above:

what are braised tofu (s) ? are they not 'pre cooked?'

keen on all you can reveal on the Ck Th SV: time temp and you left the skin on then brown-ed?

I'd love on scallops if they were 1) fresh 2) I might afford them

fortunately for me they are not fresh enough where I live ( BOS ) ( ask your scallop monger that you would like to take a wiff of the scallops or fish before you buy - better be able to run Fast! )

even The Trader no longer caries them Sea nor Bay Sad sad sad ...

Im stuck with Chicken-Less Mandarin Tofu .....

which I have to tell you is pretty tasty if you study it ... crispy!