Dinner! 2013 (Part 4)

[mm84321]

Pigeon, foie gras and cabbage

Fregola sarda cooked like a risotto, vegetable brunoise, parmesan

[C. sapidus]

Ann_T – You have posted a number of lovely meals lately, but the one that got me was the grilled brie and baked garlic. I love baked garlic.

Prawn – Great meals, but I’m calling shenanigans on using “minimum effort” and “mole Poblano” in the same sentence

Camarones a la diabla (Shrimp with chipotle sauce) – Sautee sliced garlic and blend with chipotles, tomato sauce, and Mexican oregano. Sautee shrimp with S&P until partly cooked and remove. Fry the sauce, add Coca Cola, and simmer the shrimp in the sauce until done. Yum.

Arroz con platanos (White rice with plantains) – Fry jasmine rice, add white onion, garlic, and roasted Poblano chile strips, and then simmer with chicken stock and corn kernels. Fry cubed plantains, and toss with the rice and feta cheese.

Delicious tomatoes from the garden, and eternal cucumbers.

[cookalong]

Beef, pommes pureé, wine sauce, chanterelles, pearl onions and asparagus

For dessert, mango-bavaroise flavoured with crushed black pepper, vanilla seeds and douglas fir

[Anna N]

Sous vide tri tip steak with sauteed zucchini.

[Keith_W]

cookalong, incredibly fine pommes puree there. Your arms must be pretty tired after pushing all that through a sieve

[cookalong]

cookalong, incredibly fine pommes puree there. Your arms must be pretty tired after pushing all that through a sieve

Thank you! It wasn't that bad actually, I made a pretty small batch for just two people I really need to get a proper drum sieve though, makes sieving soo much easier.

[liuzhou]

Pomegranate duck, asparagus, and rice. 石榴鸭肉,芦笋,米饭.

The quackery is a mixture of breast and leg meat, diced and slowly braised with onions, garlic, chilli, star anise and fresh pomegranate juice. The sparrow juice was simply steamed,

Edited September 14, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[patrickamory]

Beet, pomegranate and lamb stew, with tahdig:

[huiray]

That's nice, patrickamory. Details?

[cookalong]

Saddle of lamb, lamb sauce, onions, flavoured oil, onion fluid gel. This was the first time I cooked lamb sous vide.

Side dish was a gratin of potatos (layers of finely sliced potatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and cream, topped with cheese)

Edited September 14, 2013 by cookalong (log)

[Prawncrackers]

Prawn – Great meals, but I’m calling shenanigans on using “minimum effort” and “mole Poblano” in the same sentence

Ah but Bruce my mole poblano pork cheeks were in the freezer, so I claim back the 'minimum effort' tag!

Ok here's a couple of dishes that needed some work. First up is Bun Cha Gio, rice noodles with Vietnamese style spring rolls:

And today something really difficult, kabayaki unagi, grilled silver eel fillets. Eel being the most difficult fish to fillet, heck they're the most difficult to kill! Been hankering for this dish something rotten and the frozen Chinese stuff just doesn't cut it. So like any good egulleter I just had to make it for myself. Once filleted it's steamed for 5 minutes before chargrilling carefully and lacquering with the sauce. I had it with some unidentifable green veg that my mother grows, i think she calls it 長麥菜 (any help?), and some kimchi. The unagi pieces were given an extra sizzle with the kabayaki sauce with the help of a tabletop Konro grill. Oishi!

[mm84321]

Passard's ratatouille (again)

Salad

Cheese

Fig tartines

[Anna N]

Prawn Great meals, but Im calling shenanigans on using minimum effort and mole Poblano in the same sentence

Ah but Bruce my mole poblano pork cheeks were in the freezer, so I claim back the 'minimum effort' tag!

Ok here's a couple of dishes that needed some work. First up is Bun Cha Gio, rice noodles with Vietnamese style spring rolls:

.......

And today something really difficult, kabayaki unagi, grilled silver eel fillets. Eel being the most difficult fish to fillet, heck they're the most difficult to kill! Been hankering for this dish something rotten and the frozen Chinese stuff just doesn't cut it. So like any good egulleter I just had to make it for myself. Once filleted it's steamed for 5 minutes before chargrilling carefully and lacquering with the sauce. I had it with some unidentifable green veg that my mother grows, i think she calls it 長麥菜 (any help?), and some kimchi. The unagi pieces were given an extra sizzle with the kabayaki sauce with the help of a tabletop Konro grill. Oishi!

..............

Can you talk more the table-top grill? Is it used indoors? What is the fuel? Thank you. Anna

[patrickamory]

Prawncrackers, as always that looks incredibly delicious. Did you have to kill the eels? Did you have to skin them alive as Richard Olney does in The Good Cook series?

[Steve Irby]

Prawncrackers - I hit like but I should post love. Great shots for the progression of the dinner. It's sometimes difficult for the viewer to get a sense of scale for the plated dish. The eel looks huge against the knife but plated it comes into perspective. Obviously I've seen more moray's on TV than for eel's for dinner. And mm84321- you should be ashamed of yourself for making me scale up a dish from the diameter of peppercorns.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Steve Irby (log)

[FeChef]

Last nights dinner. A 36 hour beef short rib topped with Boursin cheese and a crab meat terrine made with lump crab meat and egg whites. Served ontop a portabella mushroom cap w/Marsala wine reduction cream sauce and roasted yukon baby potatoes.

Edited September 15, 2013 by FeChef (log)

[huiray]

I had it with some unidentifable green veg that my mother grows, i think she calls it 長麥菜

What dialect group is your mother? (It might matter)

"麥菜" usually refers to a type of long-leaved lettuce, often with non-cantonese/non-SE Asian folks, also known as "Taiwan A-choy" in many parts. "長" means "long"/"length", so it would be a long form of this lettuce. Does the plant look like any of these in this Google image set? Does your mother grow it on and does the plant develop a long, thick succulent stem if she does so? (This is commonly done with Taiwan A-choy; the thick stems are cut up and stir-fried, just like one would do with thick gai-lan stems, for example) (In fact, I bought some today)

"Mak Choy" (those Chinese characters, in Cantonese) usually refers to a form of romaine lettuce in places like SE Asia and some parts of Southern China/HK, OTOH, and "油麥菜" or yau ("oil") mak choy is a very common dish in Malaysia & Singapore, for example, and always is a dish of stir-fried smallish romaine-type lettuce (you would know it as cos lettuce in the UK for the larger-sized equivalent) In non-Cantonese areas/China proper "油麥菜" would tend to refer to the Taiwan A-choy type.

Your picture of the dish suggests more the Taiwan A-choy type, rather than the romaine-type; and I'm sure you would recognize cos lettuce... What I see in your pic looks not unlike a stir-fried version (with ginger, I also see) of a broth/soup with Taiwan A-choy such as seen in this; whereas stir-fried romaine/cos ("油麥菜") would look like this.

[Baselerd]

Yeah maybe I'll give it a go next time they're at the supermarket - which probably won't be until winter...

Are you in the US? If you are really interested, let me know. I get them through a French dealer at half of the cost you'll spend at any supermarket and double the quality.

I don't think I can budget any now - but if your offer still stands at a later time I would definitely appreciate it. Thanks!

[mm84321]

Yeah maybe I'll give it a go next time they're at the supermarket - which probably won't be until winter...

Are you in the US? If you are really interested, let me know. I get them through a French dealer at half of the cost you'll spend at any supermarket and double the quality.

I don't think I can budget any now - but if your offer still stands at a later time I would definitely appreciate it. Thanks!

Well, white won't start until October, and you wont see Perigord until probably late November/early December, weather depending. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you are ever interested. The offer stands for you or anyone else on the board.

[huiray]

Yeah maybe I'll give it a go next time they're at the supermarket - which probably won't be until winter...

Are you in the US? If you are really interested, let me know. I get them through a French dealer at half of the cost you'll spend at any supermarket and double the quality.

I don't think I can budget any now - but if your offer still stands at a later time I would definitely appreciate it. Thanks!

Well, white won't start until October, and you wont see Perigord until probably late November/early December, weather depending. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you are ever interested. The offer stands for you or anyone else on the board.

I'm interested...but...What sort of money are we talking about?

[mm84321]

Yeah maybe I'll give it a go next time they're at the supermarket - which probably won't be until winter...

Are you in the US? If you are really interested, let me know. I get them through a French dealer at half of the cost you'll spend at any supermarket and double the quality.

I don't think I can budget any now - but if your offer still stands at a later time I would definitely appreciate it. Thanks!

Well, white won't start until October, and you wont see Perigord until probably late November/early December, weather depending. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you are ever interested. The offer stands for you or anyone else on the board.

I'm interested...but...What sort of money are we talking about?

Can't really know yet. Last year, the price for black hovered around $790/lb, if I recall correctly. Of course, that price fluctuates on an almost weekly basis, and will spike around the holidays. The best time to buy black truffles are the months of January/February when they are at their peak, in terms of quality, and least expensive.

[Prawncrackers]

Can you talk more the table-top grill? Is it used indoors? What is the fuel? Thank you. Anna

Yes it's just a clay urn that you fill with charcoal. If you have good extraction indoors then its ideal for little cuts of food. I'll do some thinly sliced steak on it soon and show you some more.

Prawncrackers, as always that looks incredibly delicious. Did you have to kill the eels? Did you have to skin them alive as Richard Olney does in The Good Cook series?

Thanks. I put the live eel in a large tin lined with a couple large handfuls of coarse salt and made sure it couldn't escape, it's happened before to the shock of my wife! After leaving it in the fridge for a couple of hours I took it out and scraped the slime off it, the salt helps to deslime a little but you need to finish the job with a knife. You don't skin the eels for this dish. The skin is fatty, a bit chewy and delicious.

Prawncrackers - I hit like but I should post love. Great shots for the progression of the dinner. It's sometimes difficult for the viewer to get a sense of scale for the plated dish. The eel looks huge against the knife but plated it comes into perspective. Obviously I've seen more moray's on TV than for eel's for dinner.

The finished dish in that picture only shows half the eel, the fatter end. Ive frozen the other half with some extra sauce. To say I'm looking forward to eating it would be an understatement 😄

[Prawncrackers]

Can't really know yet. Last year, the price for black hovered around $790/lb, if I recall correctly. Of course, that price fluctuates on an almost weekly basis, and will spike around the holidays. The best time to buy black truffles are the months of January/February when they are at their peak, in terms of quality, and least expensive.

Any cheaper for delivery to the UK? It's closer and we don't need to pay any food taxes for it!

[patrickamory]

Prawncrackers - wow, I'm full of admiration. Will definitely try this myself.

huiray, it's a Persian dish that my partner adapted for the pressure cooker. Here's the recipe in his own words:

Fry an onion in bottom of pressure cooker, then stack 3-4 lamb shoulder steaks, de-seeded lemon wedges from two small or one large lemon, and spread 3-4 beets peeled and sliced across the top. Pour 2-3 cups pomegranate juice plus 3/4c cup water. Cover aAd cook at pressure (with top rocking) for 15 minutes and do fast de-pressurization (or braise on top of stove until lamb is tender). add 1tbsp rosewater mixed with 1/4tsp ground saffron, and spread over the top after you take the lid off but before serving. Sprinkle dried mint or freshly chopped mint across the top before serving.

The tahdig is rice crust.

[Prawncrackers]

What dialect group is your mother? (It might matter)

"麥菜" usually refers to a type of long-leaved lettuce, often with non-cantonese/non-SE Asian folks, also known as "Taiwan A-choy" in many parts. "長" means "long"/"length", so it would be a long form of this lettuce. Does the plant look like any of these in this Google image set? Does your mother grow it on and does the plant develop a long, thick succulent stem if she does so? (This is commonly done with Taiwan A-choy; the thick stems are cut up and stir-fried, just like one would do with thick gai-lan stems, for example) (In fact, I bought some today)

"Mak Choy" (those Chinese characters, in Cantonese) usually refers to a form of romaine lettuce in places like SE Asia and some parts of Southern China/HK, OTOH, and "油麥菜" or yau ("oil") mak choy is a very common dish in Malaysia & Singapore, for example, and always is a dish of stir-fried smallish romaine-type lettuce (you would know it as cos lettuce in the UK for the larger-sized equivalent) In non-Cantonese areas/China proper "油麥菜" would tend to refer to the Taiwan A-choy type.

Your picture of the dish suggests more the Taiwan A-choy type, rather than the romaine-type; and I'm sure you would recognize cos lettuce... What I see in your pic looks not unlike a stir-fried version (with ginger, I also see) of a broth/soup with Taiwan A-choy such as seen in this; whereas stir-fried romaine/cos ("油麥菜") would look like this.

Bingo! Thanks. I've been eating it thinking its like a really succulent tasty romaine lettuce. It's exactly like this from one of the google searches http://kitschow.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/384-blanched-choy-with-oyster-sauce.html

My mum is Hakka from the New Territories, she does grow that veg out until the stalks are pretty thick. It's delicious. So what would be the most common English name for it? A Choy or Sword lettuce?

Edited September 15, 2013 by Prawncrackers (log)