Dinner! 2013 (Part 4)

[furzzy]

dcarch Love the look of the lobster pasta. CONGRATS!

[dcarch]

Thank you everyone! It was fun to enter, even more fun to win. :-)

Recipe:

I had this dish Lobster Carbonara at Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant in NY and I like it very much. As it happened, lobsters were on ½ price sale at $4.79 a lb., therefore I decided to make lobster carbonara. As far as carbonara goes, the recipe is fairly typical, but the difference of my dish was the spaghetti, which was home made and smoked. Normally it is not easy to make smoked pasta for carbonnara, because boiling takes away all the smoke flavor, and the recipe needs boiling hot pasta to cook the raw eggs.

Using my pasta machine to make the spaghetti, I first cooked the spaghetti the normal boiling way. Then it went into my electric smoker for a blast of intense cold smoke. My smoker is PID temperature controlled and has a built-in humidifier. The spaghetti came out hot, smoky and very moist to complete this recipe.

Also, the lobsters were smoked. The smoker was set at exactly 150F and the lobsters were able to be cold smoked for a long time without being overcooked.

dcarch

[scubadoo97]

Congrats Dcarch. You always have such interesting and beautiful plating

[rotuts]

I bet, but unfortunately have no Personal Knowledge, that his stuff tastes pretty good too!

Id love a bit of that lobster pasta. a bit. with a nice dry Muscadet.

[C. sapidus]

dcarch - your prize-winning meal sounds even better than it looked (and it looked fantastic)

Dinner from Diana Kennedy’s The Art of Mexican Cooking

Pollo en salsa de fresadilla y chipotle – Chicken thighs simmered with water to cover, white onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, and a slice of lime to make stock. Remove chicken when partly cooked, strain and concentrate the stock. Boil tomatillos, puree with chipotle en adobo, and then fry the puree. Simmer chicken, stock, and sauce until done. Tangy, spicy goodness.

Chayotes al vapor – A longstanding simple favorite. Chayotes peeled, julienned, and sautéed with minced Serrano chiles. Cover, lower the heat, and then finish with chopped cilantro. I had mine with feta cheese.

Flour tortillas not pictured

Edited August 23, 2013 by C. sapidus (log)

[cookalong]

Celebrating that I got through the first week at work after vacation

Seared foie gras with caramelized apples and red port

Beef fillet, chips, wine sauce, baked tomato with parmesan, asparagus

[mm84321]

Pigeons (and other birds) from Four Story Hill Farm

Tuiles are made by mixing powdered sugar, flour, melted butter, and water. They are spread thinly, sprinkled with roasted cacao, and baked in a 360º oven for 5 minutes.

Barbajuan dough. Traditional recipe: flour, white wine...only with the addition of cocoa powder.

The filling is a mixture of red pepper, which is peeled, sliced in a fine brunoise, then stewed over very low heat;

the liver of the pigeons (left) and chicken liver (right);

the thighs of the pigeons, cut into a dice, along with diced foie gras terrine

Celery is blanched, refreshed, and all fibrous string removed.

Cut into rounds...

Cherrys are halved and pitted. The scraps are used to make a simple compote, and the halves are cooked quickly in butter, then deglazed with sherry vinegar, maple syrup, and a touch of lemon.

The pigeons were salted overnight, then seared quickly over high heat, then placed on a rack and roasted in a 400º oven for 5-6 minutes. Rest for at least 12 minutes, then reheated for 1.5 minutes in a 500º oven, carved and served.

[Meredith380]

Pigeons (and other birds) from Four Story Hill Farm

Tuiles are made by mixing powdered sugar, flour, melted butter, and water. They are spread thinly, sprinkled with roasted cacao, and baked in a 360º oven for 5 minutes.

Barbajuan dough. Traditional recipe: flour, white wine...only with the addition of cocoa powder.

The filling is a mixture of red pepper, which is peeled, sliced in a fine brunoise, then stewed over very low heat;

the liver of the pigeons (left) and chicken liver (right);

the thighs of the pigeons, cut into a dice, along with diced foie gras terrine

Celery is blanched, refreshed, and all fibrous string removed.

Cut into rounds...

Cherrys are halved and pitted. The scraps are used to make a simple compote, and the halves are cooked quickly in butter, then deglazed with sherry vinegar, maple syrup, and a touch of lemon.

The pigeons were salted overnight, then seared quickly over high heat, then placed on a rack and roasted in a 400º oven for 5-6 minutes. Rest for at least 12 minutes, then reheated for 1.5 minutes in a 500º oven, carved and served.

That's gorgeous!

[FrogPrincesse]

Awe-inspiring.

[Keith_W]

mm84321 I have to commend you on the amount of work you put in your food. I would probably do 1/3 as much and call it a day.

[patrickamory]

Bruce, I'm guessing those are both the Dunlop recipes? The fish-fragrant eggplant is to die for. I had less luck with the dry-fried beef slivers, but will give it another go now that I'm getting the hang of true dry-frying.

[C. sapidus]

Bruce, I'm guessing those are both the Dunlop recipes? The fish-fragrant eggplant is to die for. I had less luck with the dry-fried beef slivers, but will give it another go now that I'm getting the hang of true dry-frying.

Yes to both, and completely agree that fish-fragrant eggplant is wonderful stuff.

[Anna N]

Simple shrimp and vegetable stir fry with no starch component. Still satisfying.

[patrickamory]

Bruce - thanks - 'nother Dunlop question, I believe those fish-fragrant recipes call for pickled Sichuan chilli paste? Have you actually been able to obtain this product, or do you just use chilli bean paste (which is what I did)?

[Plantes Vertes]

The cupboard was rather bare today so we were obliged to eat a squash.

Lasagna type:

Stuffed type:

No-one dared to complain!

Edited August 25, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[furzzy]

Celery is blanched, refreshed, and all fibrous string removed.

Cut into rounds...

Would you mind explaining how you flattened the celery to be able to cut those rounds? What cuts did you make? Pictures would be especially nice (I do realize that's a lot to ask.)

[patrickamory]

Late summer salad - roasted and peeled some heirloom sweet peppers, dressed with olive oil, salt, pepper and basil from the garden.

[mm84321]

Celery is blanched, refreshed, and all fibrous string removed.

Cut into rounds...

Would you mind explaining how you flattened the celery to be able to cut those rounds? What cuts did you make? Pictures would be especially nice (I do realize that's a lot to ask.)

I simply sliced the celery sticks into 2-3" pieces, and then sliced off the ridges to create one flat piece. If I do it again, I will try to photograph, as it's a bit hard to explain in words.

[mm84321]

Joel Robuchon's mille-feuille of crab and tomato

[C. sapidus]

Bruce - thanks - 'nother Dunlop question, I believe those fish-fragrant recipes call for pickled Sichuan chilli paste? Have you actually been able to obtain this product, or do you just use chilli bean paste (which is what I did)?

Patrick – The fish-fragrant eggplant recipe calls for Sichuanese chile bean paste, so that is what I used. I have never seen pickled Sichuan chiles, but the book lists sambal oleek as a good substitute. Perhaps I should try the fish-fragrant pork again with sambal oleek.

mm - That's a very pretty dish. How did it taste?

Edited August 26, 2013 by C. sapidus (log)

[mm84321]

Thanks. It's a very nice dish, just time intensive.The crab is seasoned with a bit of curry, tarragon, lemon and mayonnaise, then layered over lettuce, on top of the seasoned tomato. Then another tomato, a layer of watercress, apple and avocado, another tomato, and crab again. Luckily, I was only making two.

[Ashen]

My wife and I went out for our anniversary to the charcoal steak house in Kitchener , Ont.

my wife had the conestogo smoked side ribs , seasonal veg, sweet potato fries..also comes with an apple marmalade that I would love to be able to duplicate . I ususally get it with the grilled pigtail app . melonberry martini

dessert creme brulee

i had the 40 day dry aged ribeye and baked potato with seasonal veg . glass of chianti then switched to a beaujolais

dessert , flourless chocolate cake with sorbet and an espresso.

[Ann_T]

Happy Anniversary Ashen.

We also celebrated our anniversary today. Our 34th.

Grilled Chicken

with a grilled pineapple salsa.

[Dejah]

Been admiring and drooling over all the meals posted for the last while.

First day back into my kitchen after a 3-week road trip that took us to Louisville Kentucky, to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Toronto, back across the border thru' Chicago before home to Manitoba.

Got inb just in time to receive a bag of fresh green beans and yellow squash. Supper tonight: grilled lamb chops that were marinated in whole grain Dijon mustard, chopped fresh rosemary, and red wine vinegar.

[rod rock]

@Mm84321 feuille of crab and tomato looks fantastic!