Dinner! 2013 (Part 2)

[nickrey]

Cooked appetisers for one of my food groups, the Escoffier Society.

Started with anchovy toasts with smoked tomato sorbet.

Continued with Keller Salmon Tartare Cornets (they are in an ice-cream holder so the cones continue below the wood). My recommendation is to stay away from these in humid weather; they worked well but would not have lasted much longer.

Finished with quail scotch egg in crab and scallop forcemeat. The yolk ran out more than that but it was viscous as it was cooked sous vide.

Edited March 4, 2013 by nickrey (log)

[Paul Bacino]

Made Beef Ribs ( From a Wagyu type beef herd)

I used a 3/2/1 Spice/Sugar/Salt

Smoked for 3 hrs plus 3 hrs in my electric smoker..Spritzing with veal juices.

Then into a Clay Cooker for about 2 hrs @ 425

[rotuts]

Dying again here, PB. or at least ischemic. Hard to tell the diff.

[SobaAddict70]

huiray -- no, actually they're Adirondack blue potatoes. the potatoes were boiled whole for 25 minutes, then peeled, then coarsely chopped. apparently they needed a bit more cooking so I simmered them for 10 more minutes before smashing them. the color is a soft blue-purple. look at my avatar at left but imagine it more "violet" if that makes any sense. I think adding some acidity affected the hue a little bit.

Frog Princesse -- you may be interested to know that part of tonight's dinner will involve the beet vinegar from a couple of pages back.

more later.

Edited March 4, 2013 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Frog Princesse -- you may be interested to know that part of tonight's dinner will involve the beet vinegar from a couple of pages back.

more later.

Cool! Can't wait to see what you are going to come up with.

[rotuts]

Not Fried Rice:

Fuzzy Rice Cooker Tilda Basmati rice w Chinese Sausage ( thinly sliced and added to the rice

cooker 1/2 way through its cycle )

Bok Choy, Scrambled eggs, Bean Sprouts, Green Onions, a tiny bit of those green Thai Birds thinly

sliced. Seasoned with a tiny bit

of oyster sauce for a bit of saltiness ( this made the dish ).

I was surprised how easy this was and how good it was.

[The J]

Tonight's dinner: Jicama and Tofu Chili. I topped it with some avocado and had a chunk of sourdough to wipe up the sauce.

[C. sapidus]

Chicken, lemongrass, and potato curry: Fried paste of lemongrass, ginger, and onions, flavored with curry powder, black pepper, and chile flakes, and then simmered in coconut milk and chicken stock. Served with store-bought ciabatta bread and an unpictured salad.

[Antwaan Randle Kay]

Roast pigeon, potato-onion "croustifondant", offal jus

[Dejah]

Salmon fillet sandwiched between a bed of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, lime slices, cilantro, green onion, ginger, Thai chili, olive oil, salt, fresh ground black pepper. I didn't have any banana leaves, so this was wrapped in foil and baked in a 375F oven for 35 minutes.

Sides were steamed carrot with green cardamon and green beans steamed with fresh ginger.

[Keith_W]

Antwaan, I love your food, but I think you might benefit from checking your camera settings. All your photos look at least one stop underexposed to me. Check your exposure compensation and make sure you haven't left it at -1 by accident. If you need help, send me a PM

[SobaAddict70]

rotuts -- love that rendition of fried rice. I can just taste it.

c. sapidus -- you just reminded me I need to restock my lentils so I can make some dal later in the week. "curry" has that memory trigger for me.

tonight:



Fried oysters, frisée salad, beet vinaigrette

Frisée salad -- frisée, pistachios, beets, Bulgarian feta cheese, beet vinaigrette. Bulgarian feta cheese is 95% sheep's milk, 5% goat's milk.

Beet vinaigrette -- 1 tablespoon beet vinegar (beet peels from 3 or more cooked large beets, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar; let peels steep in vinegar for 1-2 weeks or longer); 2 tablespoons Cara Cara orange juice reduction (see below); 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Cara Cara orange juice reduction -- juice of a Cara Cara orange, reduced to half its volume over low heat ; into this was whisked 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.

The oysters were dipped in seasoned flour (all-purpose flour, sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper), then fried in olive oil.

A little bit more complicated than what I usually make. Doable in about 30 minutes, not including prep. The beet vinegar takes 2 weeks steeping time; the beets can be cooked in advance.


Next:









Cornish game hen, roasted winter root vegetables

Cornish game hen -- sea salt and black pepper seasoned liberally inside and outside, then stuffed with quartered lemons, shallots and thyme; roasted at 425 F for 30 minutes, then 350 F for 30 minutes.

Vegetables consist of brussels sprouts, turnips, rutabaga, carrots, heirloom potatoes and shallots; seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, olive oil and thyme.

Wine sauce -- pan drippings, unsalted butter, white wine.

[rod rock]

Soba, did you put some Vinegar in Frisée salad? It looks very nice but i'm wondering if vinegar goes nice with it.
Thanks!

[SobaAddict70]

rod rock -- yes, there's 1 tablespoon beet vinegar in the vinaigrette, along with a bunch of other things...

the Cara Cara OJ reduction lends sweetness, the butter increases "mouthfeel" and the olive oil binds everything together.

Edited March 5, 2013 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Kim Shook]

Patrick – by long cooked beans, I mean Southern beans. Just green beans with some kind of side meat (jowl, salt pork, ham hocks), a touch of brown sugar, something oniony (I’ve used onions, scallions and even shallots, in a pinch), black pepper and a few red pepper flakes. What I do is slowly fry the side meat to render a little fat and get it tasty. I then sauté the onions in the fat until they are browned. Toss in the rest and cover with water. I basically boil the hell out of them (adding water as needed) until they are as soft as I want them (I like them very soft – traditional), then lower the heat and let the liquid almost cook out. Taste them when they are tender to see if they need any salt. You might depending on what kind of pork you use. Those broad “Italian” green beans work very well with this method.

nickrey – love the anchovy toasts! And those Scotch eggs are gorgeous!

Antwaan – love the "croustifondant"! I’m sure it is completely beyond my skills, but I fell in love with fondant potatoes on our trip to England and have been thinking about them ever since!

Soba – that fried oyster plate looks so delicious. I’m not a beet fan, but I bet I’d love a vinaigrette made with beet vinegar!

I tried two new recipes the other night. One was from John Besh – a Sloppy Joe slider recipe. Mr. Kim saw that one on FoodTV and wanted me to make it. The other was a Cook’s Country recipe for macaroni and cheese w/ tomatoes. The sliders called for making a sambal mayonnaise, onion rings and the meat sauce. The sauce included onions, pepper jelly, rice wine vinegar, honey, Creole mustard, Worcestershire sauce, catsup and chopped meat of some sort. I used leftover pot roast:

Loaded up with lettuce, tomato and the onion rings:

Plated with the mac and cheese and sauerkraut:

The mac and cheese, as written, was a bit dull. Jessica suggested that I add some hot sauce, Worcestershire, Dijon and more cheese and that did the trick. While we loved the sliders, the real knock out was those onion rings:

They weren’t really substantial enough to make the regular onion ring side dish, but they were so easy and so incredibly crisp and good that I know I’ll make them again and again to go with hot sandwiches and steaks. All you do is slice them thinly, separate the rings, salt them, wait a bit then toss with flour and fry in 350 degree oil.

[Mr Holloway]

Kim: Mac and cheese and sliders would be awsome right now!

Dinner was just prime rib

But dessert, was a recipe, we are trying for Eggfest in June

Layer of chunky cookie dough

Layer of Oreos

Top with brownie mix and bake

Frost the top and enjoy, warm with some ice cream

Shane

Edited March 5, 2013 by Mr Holloway (log)

[judiu]

Patrick – by long cooked beans, I mean Southern beans. Just green beans with some kind of side meat (jowl, salt pork, ham hocks), a touch of brown sugar, something oniony (I’ve used onions, scallions and even shallots, in a pinch), black pepper and a few red pepper flakes. What I do is slowly fry the side meat to render a little fat and get it tasty. I then sauté the onions in the fat until they are browned. Toss in the rest and cover with water. I basically boil the hell out of them (adding water as needed) until they are as soft as I want them (I like them very soft – traditional), then lower the heat and let the liquid almost cook out. Taste them when they are tender to see if they need any salt. You might depending on what kind of pork you use. Those broad “Italian” green beans work very well with this method.

nickrey – love the anchovy toasts! And those Scotch eggs are gorgeous!

Antwaan – love the "croustifondant"! I’m sure it is completely beyond my skills, but I fell in love with fondant potatoes on our trip to England and have been thinking about them ever since!

Soba – that fried oyster plate looks so delicious. I’m not a beet fan, but I bet I’d love a vinaigrette made with beet vinegar!

I tried two new recipes the other night. One was from John Besh – a Sloppy Joe slider recipe. Mr. Kim saw that one on FoodTV and wanted me to make it. The other was a Cook’s Country recipe for macaroni and cheese w/ tomatoes. The sliders called for making a sambal mayonnaise, onion rings and the meat sauce. The sauce included onions, pepper jelly, rice wine vinegar, honey, Creole mustard, Worcestershire sauce, catsup and chopped meat of some sort. I used leftover pot roast:

Loaded up with lettuce, tomato and the onion rings:

Plated with the mac and cheese and sauerkraut:

The mac and cheese, as written, was a bit dull. Jessica suggested that I add some hot sauce, Worcestershire, Dijon and more cheese and that did the trick. While we loved the sliders, the real knock out was those onion rings:

They weren’t really substantial enough to make the regular onion ring side dish, but they were so easy and so incredibly crisp and good that I know I’ll make them again and again to go with hot sandwiches and steaks. All you do is slice them thinly, separate the rings, salt them, wait a bit then toss with flour and fry in 350 degree oil.

Kim, there is an easy recipe for fondant potatoes in the yellow Gourmet cook book (as opposed to the green one and the original old one). Those onions, down here in South Florida, are known as "onion shreds" or an "onion cloud". They're great! Ususally, the secret to Mac and Cheese is not only more cheese, but different cheese (usually use Swiss, with holes, as opposed to the American Swiss, which can be best described with a pithy four letter explative, IMHO) and Coleman's Dry Mustard (just a little) for a bit of bite that just sneaks in.

[patrickamory]

Kim - I'm going to try those long cooked beans. That sounds excellent. Do you think salt pork would work well for the meat? [Edit: I see you recommended salt pork! Excellent because I have tons in the freezer.]

Shane - OMG that dessert looks insanely decadent, and I'm not even a dessert guy.

Edited March 6, 2013 by patrickamory (log)

[Kim Shook]

Shane – great looking dessert.

judiu – thanks for the information about the potatoes. I’ve just put a hold on that cookbook at the library and will look for the recipe when it comes. I know those onions that you are talking about and we love them. For some reason lots of rib restaurants have them. They are not quite as brittle as these are, but I’m wondering if you could just cut them a bit thicker and prepare the same way and get an ‘onion cloud’? You’ve given me an idea!

Patrick – I hope you enjoy the beans!

Last night I made another new dish requested by Mr. Kim . He saw Roger Mooking on TV make a spicy shrimp and banana dish that looked interesting. It included shrimp, bananas, shallots, soy sauce, sambal, honey and lime juice. Sauce made with shrimp on top:

Plated with peas, stir-fried noodles and asparagus:

I suspected that this dish would not be something that I would like, so I made my own shrimp stir-fry with soy sauce, garlic, shallots and sugar:

I was right – much too spicy for me and I really didn’t care for the flavor of shrimp and bananas. Mr. Kim, however, loved it.

[rotuts]

SobaAddict70

would you detail how you did those roasted veg? they looked really nice next to that Ck.

[SobaAddict70]

SobaAddict70

would you detail how you did those roasted veg? they looked really nice next to that Ck.

thanks, LOL.

you'll notice they were all cut the same shape and size, more or less. then seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and thyme, and tossed in a little olive oil. I should probably have used fresh olive oil, but instead used the leftover oil from frying the oysters. then roasted for 35 minutes at 350 F.

I don't do much when it comes to roasted vegetables.

a commenter on Facebook mentioned that the sprouts would be done before the turnips/rutabaga. well, they turned out okay.

[SobaAddict70]

kim, thanks.

I think beet vinegar has its uses, but I have to experiment more. Unfortunately, that means I'd be eating beets for a week, and I'm not terribly interested in doing that. The container that's in the fridge has about half a cup of vinegar that will keep indefinitely. At some point, I'll remove it from the fridge, bottle it and put it in my pantry. By the time November rolls around, I expect that sucker'll be used up.

I never quite got the taste of beet sweetness to come through though. Maybe I need to dramatically increase the proportion of beet peels to the red wine vinegar next time. The color though, is fantastic. It's a deep magenta-purple that doesn't become easily diluted, even with the introduction of water.

As for the taste, it's vinegary and a little bit earthy. I wouldn't use it by itself, but combined with something else, like a citrus reduction, or honey, or a syrup. As you can see, I eat salads just about every dinner, so I'll be putting it to good use.

"Quick" dinner last night:


Rotini pasta, with celery braised in tomato sauce

That's about four stalks celery, chopped up, leaves included; briefly simmered in lightly salted water for 10 minutes, then cooked in olive oil with garlic and anchovy, and a couple of ladlefuls of leftover shaksuka tomato sauce from earlier in the week.

[C. sapidus]

Kim – Looks like it was shrimp night all around.

Soba – I’m glad you didn’t run out of lentils, and your oysters had my mouth watering.

Chipotle shrimp (camarones enchipotlados) – sauce of chipotles in adobo, tomatoes, garlic, and the ancho chile paste from earlier in the week (ancho, guajillo, and chipotle chiles, roasted garlic, cumin, cloves, Mexican oregano, black pepper, and chicken broth). These are the flavors that I crave – deep, complex, aromatic, and sneaky-hot.

Red chile rice (arroz rojo) – with white onion, chicken broth, and more of the ancho chile paste.

Jazzed-up refried beans from a can, our usual salad, and Mrs. C made guacamole.

[patrickamory]

Chipotle shrimp looks excellent Bruce.

[judiu]

Kim, I too love the onion loaf that Bobby Rubino's serves, but these onions are prepared just like yours, but cut into "strings" , rather than rings, just floured and deepfried, not battered like an onion loaf would be. They come out dry, almost greaseless, crisp and airy, hence the "cloud".