Dinner! 2013 (Part 5)

[patrickamory]

Red braised pork

[Moderator note: The original Dinner! topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Dinner! 2013 (Part 4)]

Edited September 28, 2013 by Mjx
Added moderator note. (log)

[Dejah]

Had chickens in the fridge that needed cooking (couldn't fit another thing in the freezer problem), so I seasoned them, one with Jamaican curry powder and fresh curry leaves, and the second with Italian seasoning and fresh rosemary. Tossed them into the basket and into my Char-Grill Big Easy Oil-Less turkey fryer at 7 am! Had chicken for sandwiches at lunch, then I fixed up a curry sauce to eat with the Jamaican flavoured one for supper tonight.

The sauce was butter, chopped onion, fresh curry leaves, brown mustard seed, and Jamaican curry powder (commercial). It worked well with the chicken. Sides were cardamom-brown sugar carrots, steamed green beans, and "ancient grains" - a mix of medium grain red rice, barley, rye berries, quinoa, whole oats, and Himalayan long grain red rice. The grains had a nice chewy texture; the leftover will be eaten as breakfast tomorrow with milk and brown sugar.

[Anna N]

Dejah,

That looks absolutley delicious.

I am going out of town for two weeks starting next Saturday so my goal is to eat up anything perishable in the fridge and to avoid any grocery shopping until I return. All by way of explaining this:

Sauteed cabbage, onion and reconsituted cloud ear mushrooms (I had reconstituted too many for another dish) seasoned with chicken broth, soy sauce, shaoxing and chili bean paste. I also tossed in some leftover broccoli and cooked pork and beef. It sounds like a dog's dinner of ingredients but it was very tasty.

[Prawncrackers]

That's the kind of dinner you'd happily cook for yourself and enjoy. But would never cook it for anyone else. Well done for sharing!

Edited September 28, 2013 by Prawncrackers (log)

[mm84321]

Red legged partridge

[Norm Matthews]

Not the best picture but it was dinner. Japanese Fried Chicken (Tori no Kara-age), eggplant, rice and Chard with bacon, onion and apple. I was going to use just thighs but Cassie wanted wings so I made some chicken wing lollipops as well.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Emily_R]

Had new friends over for dinner tonight, so wanted something eminently reliable... Made Chicken Marbella from the Silver Palate, and it was great as always. Served with poached zucchini and couscous. I experimented with a new salad that I really liked - sliced papaya, red plums, and avocado, dressed with olive oil and lime juice. Really good!

Edited September 29, 2013 by Emily_R (log)

[Anna N]

A sous-vide meal. Carrots, rutabaga and chicken breast all cooked sous-vide. The vegetables were given a quick sauté to give them some colour and the chicken breast was coated on the presentation side with a paste of flour, cornstarch, butter and seasoning and quickly seared. The coating was courtesy of the wesite SVKitchen and was a revelation.

[ddelima]

I've been away from posting but that didn't prevent me from checking egullet as often as I could to get some ideas. I am still challenged a bit from living in a remote area here in Brazil and having limited access to variety and good quality ingredients. Nevertheless, every time I travel I try to stock up as much I can. Here are the latest dishes I prepared. Cheers!

Salmon rillete

Pan fried pork ribs, collard greens with fried garlic, bacon bits, rice and mustard barbecue sauce

Creamy chicken and brie soup

Celery and saffron risotto. I made the celery broth from scratch and it turned out great. It really made this risotto special.

Parmesan risotto and sous vide flank steak

Sauteed abadejo with mushrooms, capers and white wine sauce

Spanish cobb salad, adapted from Bon Appetit magazine

Eggplant parmesan with fresh mozzarella, from Bon Appetit magazine. Delicious!

[patrickamory]

Xilimmns more detail on the celery saffron risotto please! Is it more complex than it sounds? Celery broth made by making a simple celery stock, discarding, then making a risotto with olive oil, the stock, a carnaroli or whatever and saffron carrots & peas? No chicken involved?

Fish-fragrant eggplant - I'm finding the Chinkiang black vinegar dominating this too much, either I'm gonna cut it in half or allow it to cook in a bit more at the end - otherwise this turned out great:

[ddelima]

@patrickamory: you got it. Simple and no chicken. Make sure for the celery broth you use everything including the stems and leaves. Add to that any spices and condiments you like.

[patrickamory]

Thanks Xilimmns. Starting on the stock right now.

[Anna N]

Still working on using up the perishables before I go away. A very simple stir-fry of celery, carrots and shrimp.

[mm84321]

Here is another one I've made before. It is the best thing I've ever cooked or eaten. Grouse breasts are fully de-nerved and marinated in whiskey for 30 minutes.

The thighs are diced and mixed with diced porcini (first cooked in butter and deglazed with chicken jus), foie gras terrine, and lardo. This all gets bound in a chicken mousse.

The breasts are butterflied, then layered in a mold with the farce spread between. This is cooked sous vide for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 54ºC.

La Ratte potatoes. Peeled, cooked in salted water, then mounted with a healthy quantity of butter.

Chips are made to garnish this purée. I used yukon gold, sliced on the mandoline, rinsed, then fried at 140ºC.

For the jus, the carcass of the grouse is marinated in whiskey for 6 hours, drained, then browned with some carrots, onions, garlic, thyme and butter. Deglazed and glazed 3 times with a rather gelatinous chicken stock. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours, then strain and reduce. This is the base of the sauce, which is then thickened with pig's blood and seasoned with a touch of whiskey.

The grouse is removed from its mold, cut into rectangles and napped with the sauce.

[Steve Irby]

patrickamory - Great photo of the red braised pork. The glaze looks perfect.

Prawncrackers - Nice medley of dinners. Every meal looks so tasty. The miso eggplant and karaage chicken are killer.

mm84321 - Beautiful ( actually incredible) meals. Who do you source the game birds from? And in the reference to whiskey - what side of the pond? I'm sure it's top shelf regardless. Your prepare meals that are why out of my realm but the take away is your attention to detail.

After the mm homage last night's therapy session was southern focused. Buttermilk corn bread prepped in three different skillets with cheddar cheese and fresh corn.

The pans were brought up to temp (~410f) with lots of bacon drippins before the batter was added to ensure a nice crust.

Dinner was grilled pork chops with mashed potatoes & shiitake currant gravy, sliced tomatoes and old school sweet pickles.

In the spirit of Frank Stitt I prepared an amuse of garlic mashed potatoes, topped with glazed pink eyed peas,sour cream, tasso and green onion.

[mm84321]

Thanks, Steve. I get all of my game through Solex. They are a great company, and the owner, Markus, is a great person to deal with. Prices are also great. They import the Scottish lobster and langoustines, as well. Here is their website: http://www.solexfinefoods.com

When I went to the store to buy the whiskey, I hadn't any particular brand in mind, but when I saw "The Famous Grouse", I though that would be most appropriate.

[Baselerd]

mm84321 that grouse dish looks amazing - I've never used pig's blood before, but that sauce looks like it has an almost fudge like texture... very cool.

[mm84321]

Thanks, Baselerd.

Something a bit more rustic tonight, but equally satisfying. Chicken with chanterelles, potatoes and a walnut jus

[gfweb]

Rustic here too. Roasted pork tenderloin with apple juice and allspice braised red cabbage, and crimini/bacon compote.

[dcarch]

Very nice dishes everyone, very impressive.

Very nice composition for the pictures also.

For those of you who are interested in having better (and easy) control of light reflections of your photos, check out my recent post on the "The Food Photography Topic" Thread.

dcarch

[David Ross]

Red braised pork

[Moderator note: The original Dinner! topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Dinner! 2013 (Part 4)]

Great photo, delicious and tempting.

[C. sapidus]

An unplanned tribute to Marcella Hazan this evening, and to ripe tomatoes and herbs (mostly) from the garden

Thin spaghetti with herbs and raw tomato – Fresh basil, sage, parsley, rosemary, and mint, with smoking-hot olive oil poured over.

Grilled Belgian endive – Broiled, with salt, pepper, and olive oil. The black parts are my favorite.

[FrogPrincesse]

These grilled endives make me salivate... Beautiful!

SPAM ALERT - I haven't posted in a while but do enjoy some food in between cocktails...

Here are some recent (September) dinners.

Zuni kale. I don't particularly like kale and this recipe has you boil it for a long time, so you get the full benefit of the semi-toxic fumes. However this was surprisingly good. The boiled kale is served on a piece of rustic toasted bread that is dipped in the kale broth. There was also some shaved Parmigiano under the duck egg. I will make this again when I get kale in my CSA.

Grilled sausages from Siesel's my local butcher shop (veal bratwurst, bourbon sausage), assorted peppers and pink corn from my CSA.

Excess corn and leftover grilled vegetables = quick succotash, served with grilled chicken.

Salmon and shrimp terrine, homemade mayo, arugula salad. Made the terrine for a potluck picnic which ended up not being a potluck (oops). Plenty of leftovers shared with my thankful neighbors.

Home-cured guanciale...

...with a homemade tomato sauce (recipe from Babbo)...

...served with fresh sundried tomato pasta & pecorino, all'Amatriciana.

So satisfying.

Grilled Korean-style ribs and button mushrooms, white rice.

Moules marinières (this time made per Anne Willan's recipe, with a bit of extra white wine for the broth, chives substituted for the parsley).

Grilled veal chops, ratte potatoes.

Lamb chops from Homegrown Meats, my other local butcher shop...

...grilled scottadito style with a mint rub.

I should have bought more! They were succulent.

Edited October 1, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[C. sapidus]

Those lamb chops look fantastic!

Indian tonight

Saag murgh (chicken with spinach) – BSCT marinated with ginger-garlic paste, yogurt, mint, fenugreek leaves, garam masala, paprika, hot pepper flakes, nutmeg, and salt. Slowly fry minced onions, wilt obscene amounts of chopped spinach, simmer chicken and marinade, and finish with cream and garam masala.

Sabzi pullao (Mixed vegetable pilaf) – Soak basmati rice, fry sliced onion with black cardamom and cumin seed, add minced ginger, chiles, yogurt, garam masala, diced carrots, and cauliflower florets. Add rice and soaking water, steam until done, and finish with cilantro.

Managed to stuff the contents of a full vegetable drawer into the meal. Served with mango and ginger chutney.

[judiu]

Dejah, did the "Ancient Grains" come preblended, or did you do them freehand? I only cook for one normally, but that sounds so good, I'd like to make it for a group I cook for occasionally!