Dinner! 2013 (Part 3)

[Franci]

Really some wonderful meals lately! Now I'm craving crabs!

We have just come back from Barcelona.

Just a couple pictures of what we have been eating over there.

Husband master carver at work with a nice bellota leg.

And we had a lot of seafood in general

Some nice toro...our Japanese friends were very happy

[SobaAddict70]

Minestra di lattuga (Lettuce and watercress soup)

Contains celery, shallots, carrots and pancetta cooked in unsalted butter and olive oil, to which was added chicken stock, watercress, green leaf lettuce, sea salt, black pepper and red kidney beans (prepared from dried)).

Garnished with pecorino cheese and Italian bread fried in olive oil.

[Baselerd]

I recently made this recipe from Nine-Ten. It included Jamaican jerk-marinated pork belly, habanero gel veil, sweet potato puree, fried plantains, black eyed peas, and carrots.

[rotuts]

Seafood ( fresh ) and Pork: lucky you!

[Ann_T]

Franci, looks like you ate very well in Barcelona.

MM, your zucchini blossom batter looks so light and delicate. Great photo.

SobaAddict, your soup is so colouful. I can almost taste it.

Baselerd, Fabulous photo.

Lemony Dill Chicken Soup

Bean Sprouts with Pork (Thanks again Bruce).

[FrogPrincesse]

I recently made this recipe from Nine-Ten. It included Jamaican jerk-marinated pork belly, habanero gel veil, sweet potato puree, fried plantains, black eyed peas, and carrots.

I've had this dish at Nine Ten a few times, and your rendition is impeccable! Did you like it?

[Baselerd]

Thanks! It was great - I really liked the flavor combinations. I would strongly recommend the braised pork belly recipe to anyone, regardless of if your willing to cook all of the other components.

I too have had this dish at Nine-Ten, but it was quite a while ago so I can't say how it compared.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[Kim Shook]

Ann – that halibut fish and chips looks fantastic. Time to get my fryer out! I also loved the corn custard ‘shape’. Did you just bake it in a mold? And I’m with you – Bruce’s rice ALWAYS inspires me! I’m really loving the hot chicken sandwich, too! We lived in Indiana for a few years and hot chicken/beef sandwiches are called ‘Manhattans’, for some unfathomable reason. I adore them. Love that you served with fries rather than mashed. Fries and gravy has been one of my favorite foods since after school drug store counter feasts 40+ years ago!

David – your lamb burger sounds amazing. I love lamb, but haven’t made a burger from it yet. Something to try this summer. I really wish I could find those brioche buns in my area.

Ranz – that pork belly is seriously gorgeous!

dcarch – thank you! You pictures are not showing for me – just a photobucket notice in place of each one.

Soba – I’m not usually a fan of potato salad, but the combination of ‘warm’ and ‘lobster’ has me very, very interested!

Scubadoo – corn and scallops are, to me, one of THE classic summer combinations. Great sear on those scallops.

mm – I’m embarrassed to say that I STILL haven’t tried monkfish. I need to remedy that. It looks lovely.

Bruce – oh, wow! Those gorgeous ribs, that caramel pork with my favorite bean sprouts. Just incredible. My dinner tonight is looking less and less interesting.

menuinprogress – oh, my dear! That lamb burger with the caramelized onions. Might be the tastiest looking thing I’ve seen in a month.

Franci – Your charcuterie is reminding me that I need to peruse this thread BEFORE I prep dinner. I now want exactly THAT.

Last week was filled with houseguests, so I’ve had no time to post, but I have been cooking! We had a niece visiting who will start college here in the fall. She was here on Monday and Tuesday getting paperwork done for the start of school and looking for apartments. She left Wednesday morning and our other guests, longtime friends who now live in Florida, arrived at lunchtime! Our dinner Monday night with our niece, Jessica and my mom started with, what else - :

Bucatini w/ Italian sausage Bolognese:

And garlic bread:

Tuesday, Mr. Kim was smoking some pork butts for lunch on Friday, so he smoked a chicken for dinner:

Gorgeous! Moist and delicious and tender:

I served it with Sabra roasted garlic hummus:

Tabbouleh from our local Mediterranean deli:

And my tzatziki:

Also leftover Rice-a-roni and some garlic naan:

It was a great combination of Mr. Kim, me and good shopping. Really excellent dinner!

For lunch on Wednesday, when our Florida friends arrived, I did ‘things in dishes’ for lunch – sandwich salads and chips:

Egg salad:

Tuna salad:

Olive and cream cheese spread:

Veg and dip:

Dinner Thursday night really should have been good. I did a slow cooker orange beef thing that I’ve done before:

Served on stir fried ramen w/ snow peas and red peppers. As I said, I’ve made this before and we liked it a lot. One problem was the dryness. I think that what happened was that there was not enough liquid to cover the meat and the pieces that were above the ‘water line’ got dry. I doubled the recipe and that may have messed things up. Also, we had a terrible storm and when we got home our power was out. I took the slow cooker over to Momma’s and plugged it in and went back to get it later when power was restored and we were ready to eat. That may have further screwed my dish. I liked the flavor still, but Mr. Kim REALLY didn’t. So I won’t be making this again for him!

I also made some candied orange peel for a garnish:

It’s Michael Ruhlman’s recipe and was the best thing on the table.

Friday lunch was Mr. Kim’s time to shine. He’d done a couple of pork butts on the grill on Tuesday. Our friends were still here and we invited Momma and Mr. Kim’s parents over to lunch and to have a visit. Butts on the smoker:

Pulled pork:

He got a gorgeous bark and a nice smoke ring this time. Served with slaw, tomatoes, baked beans, corn…

and some truly awesome fried pickle slices:

Mr. Kim saw someone making them on TV and it occurred to him that they would be a good pair with the BBQ. Good instincts. We put them on top of the pork in the sandwiches and it was a pairing made in heaven. The sharp, briny taste of the pickles worked perfectly with the smoky, sweet pork. Really fantastic and the pickles were really easy to do.

Dessert was a silly little box mix and canned frosting combination that actually tasted great:

Strawberry cake and Key lime frosting.

[rotuts]

Kim Shook

I just love your stuff and your pics.

in reminds me of the '50's, and I say that in the best of possible ways. where else do you see those crystal bowls with chicken tuna salad in them? had those in my house growing up for a long while.

veg and dip? My house, for thanksgiving!

just love it.

cheers!

Edited June 25, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Recent weeknight meals.

Roasted chicken and vegetables (cauliflower, Texas sweet onions, parsnips)

Cacio e pepe variation with fresh black pepper fettucine, grana padano, pecorino, olive oil, butter (when in doubt - use both!)

Grilled lamb chops scottadita with cumin yoghurt.

More of the black pepper fettucine this time with Babbo's tomato sauce.

Grilled duck breast seasonned with juniper berries and thyme from the garden...

... served with pan-roasted parsnips with paprika & poppy seeds.

[heidih]

FP - I come from a poppy seed laden pastry culture but not used much by my people in savory. I want to explore that. Did you toast them or otherwise alter them or just sprinkle over? Somewhere here there is a white poppy seed zucchini dish I need to find.

[FrogPrincesse]

FP - I come from a poppy seed laden pastry culture but not used much by my people in savory. I want to explore that. Did you toast them or otherwise alter them or just sprinkle over? Somewhere here there is a white poppy seed zucchini dish I need to find.

Heidi - They were added to the pan with the turnips so they had time to toast a little bit in the pan (this is Mario Batali's recipe - here).

[Ann_T]

Kim, I would be happy with everyone of your meals. I think that we are similar in the way we cook.

Presalted a top sirloin cap yesterday.

Ready for the grilled. Rubbed with garlic and lots of pepper.

Grilled and served with twice baked potatoes and mushrooms and peas.

[rod rock]

Ann_T nice idea to be served with baked potatoes and musrhooms. It goes fantastic together and looks great!!!!

[Franci]

Easy dinner, spaghetti con bottarga.

[rotuts]

in the SV thread a while back I showed off my Turkey Breast stuffed with Mortadella/salami/swiss which i make in abundance when im SVing deconstructed whole turkey. I don't know how to ref back to those pics.

Very Hot Here: so sandwiches with lettuce, tomato mayo Half-sour pickle and thinly sliced SV (the above) turkey. bacon would have been nice on this, as would some avocado. didnt have any, and as you can see didnt seem to need it. Sliced home-made 1/3d white whole wheat machine bread was very nice. the usual Iced Beer Slush:

deconstructed version: I couldnt wait it was so good. keep the SV stores in mind for a Hot Day Sandwich!

[Prawncrackers]

Easy dinner, spaghetti con bottarga.

image.jpg

Franci a wonderful coincidence, I had bottarga too tonight! Fried some red mullet, tomato salad and bucatini alla bottarga. A bit of the Mediterranean here in the middle of England. As close to a perfect meal that I could imagine.

;

Going back in time a little, and keeping to the fishy theme here's a Thai Red Prawn Curry and Summer Rolls

[rotuts]

the Fish on this thread is stunning!

[mm84321]

Rouget here as well.

with condiments, livers stuffed in zucchini blossoms

Sweetbreads, swiss chard and marrow gratin, Tio Pepe jus

[jvalentino]

I'm usually a pizza topping minimalist but sometimes like to load up the thicker ones. This had sausage, pepperoni, green onion and garlic scapes. Sorry the photo isn't up to my usual high standards.

[Keith_W]

mm84321 that gratin is incredibly pretty. How did you cut it into a perfect circle shape without it falling apart? Are the vegetables glued together with something? An aspic perhaps?

Edited June 27, 2013 by Keith_W (log)

[Ann_T]

Prawncrackers, and MM, Spectacular!!!

Baked bread and enough extra dough for pizza.

Pizzettes

[Baselerd]

Ann_T, awesome photography. And mm84321, that gratin looks great. I can' tell - are those white discs the marrow or cheese? If they are marrow - how did you prepare them to be so firm?

Edited June 27, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[mm84321]

Thanks. For the gratin, the swiss chard stems are stewed in butter with shallots and diced marrow, braised in chicken stock with garlic and thyme, then chilled and the cooking juices are strained off and reduced. The leaves of the swiss chard are cooked in olive oil then chilled. To assemble, simply layer the stems with the leaves, then cut with a round cutter. No kind of binder or aspic necessary. The gratins are rewarmed on the serving plate, then glazed with some of the reduced cooking juices and finished with diced tomato confit, lemon, pine nuts, marrow, boquerones, parsley, parmesan and croutons made from squid ink bread that are fried in the same pan that cooked the sweetbreads.

Edited June 27, 2013 by mm84321 (log)

[Ann_T]

MM84321, thank your sharing how you made the gratin.

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Olives.