Dinner! 2013 (Part 5)

[patrickamory]

Kim, glad to have you back, and I hope you're starting to feel better. Incapacitated or not, that is an incredibly mouthwatering gallery of photos. Can you remind me of the recipe for Mr. Kim's ham and cheese?

[judiu]

Kim, just thinking last nite that I'd been missing your posts! So glad to hear you're recovering well; hope this doesn't interfere with Thanksgiving or Christmas! I know Christmas is a big deal for you, please take it easy on yourself and let Mr. Kim and Jessica help!

[scubadoo97]

Scallop tacos tonight

[merstar]

Tonight is kasha varnishkes.

[Shelby]

I read here EVERY day and always love looking at everyone's food. I won't ever live up to you guys, but, I finally took some pictures of my food tonight. I got a Mac and I just have been too lazy to figure out how to upload pictures on it. These are taken with my iPhone so I apologize--they aren't the best pics in the world.

Starting backwards--my husband bought this cake for me for my birthday from the Amish bakery. It didn't suck. Twas very good in fact. Layers of chocolate cake, white cake and decadent yummy-ness.

Back to dinner now....fresh tomatoes from our garden

I ordered some Manila clams from Pike Place Fish Market. God bless those folks or else I'd never get decent seafood. Hell yeah, it's expensive, but you only turn 39 once.

Oh yeah....and please don't judge me.....I do enough judging of myself and I KNOW I KNOW, this is just awful....but I love it. I had to have it. I will probably never get the chance to have it again. Twas expensive. And I just can't think about how they were raised and it's JUST not like me. But OH my gosh, are we enjoying it. Duck Foie Gras. Yes. Foie Gras. Here in Kansas. We have had it twice now. In a row. Perfectly seared...melts in your mouth. Heavenly. I paired it with a fig and garlic sauce and some homemade toasted bread points.

Clams in butter and white wine with garlic and onion and pasta

I. Am. Full. And. Happy.

[mm84321]

That looks like a lovely meal.

[FrogPrincesse]

Very well done Shelby, and Happy Birthday! (Everything looks amazing, especially the duck foie gras...)

[heidih]

Shelby - the two dishes look great but I am more in awe of the incredibly red and juicy tomatoes. Our tomato season is pretty much done here and I am already in withdrawal mode.

[C. sapidus]

scubadoo – Scallop tacos look fantastic. What did you do with your snapper?

Ann_T – Thank you. Our boys would make your prime rib disappear quickly!

Shelby – Great to see you posting. Apparently this was a day for tomatoes and clams. I would definitely love your pasta. Happy birthday, kid!

The goal this evening was to use heirloom tomatoes from the garden while checking out the seafood counter at the new Asian market in town. Spent a leisurely afternoon preparing the base ingredients:

Roasted tomato-jalapeno salsa (salsa de molcajete) – Roasted garden tomatoes, jalapenos, and garlic pureed together and then mixed with minced white onion and cilantro. Half served as the soup base; the remainder will be put to other uses.

Shrimp stock – Beheaded and shelled shrimp, simmered the chopped-up heads and shells with diced tomato and chicken broth, and then strained out the solids. Also added in some of the water used to simmer the squid.

Squid – Cut up squid rings and simmered in salted water for about 25 minutes. Squid turned out nice and tender.

Rice – Fried dry rice with white onion, and then steamed the rice with shrimp stock.

Roasted chile Poblano rajas – Roasted the chiles over an open flame, steamed in a paper bag, removed the skins, and cut into strips.

Roasted chile Poblano rajas – with Swiss chard, white onion, garlic, Mexican oregano, and crème fraiche

Seafood rice cazuela (arroz a la tumbada) – Fried the tomato-jalapeno salsa, added the shrimp stock, and brought to a boil. Added clams and cubed halibut fillets, followed by the shimp, and then stirred in the rice, squid, and cilantro.

[scubadoo97]

Bruce, thanks. Your rajas and cazuela look delish.

For the snapper I did a Veracruz prep

Cooked en papillote using parchment paper. Not much to look at with some SV fennel but tasted great

[liuzhou]

Oh yeah....and please don't judge me.....I do enough judging of myself and I KNOW I KNOW, this is just awful...

Well, sorry but I'm going to judge you and hereby find you guilty of making me extremely jealous!

[Shelby]

Shelby - the two dishes look great but I am more in awe of the incredibly red and juicy tomatoes. Our tomato season is pretty much done here and I am already in withdrawal mode.

Heidi, sadly, these are the last of the last. We had SO much rain in July and June that it slowed up the garden production. We got one good spurt of 'maters and that was it. I have a few sad specimens here next to me on the counter that I'm hoarding lol.

[Norm Matthews]

Our dinner will be rather rustic. There is a chill in the air. We will have brisket marinated overnight in a coffee rub and tatonka dust (with powdered Worcestershire sauce, charcoal flavoring, and powdered soy sauce along with other seasonings) with orange zest and orange juice, olive oil, then braised in beef broth along with new potatoes, carrots and brown mushrooms . Served with thickened au jus.

[scubadoo97]

Spares with coleslaw and potato salad. Standard BBQ

[chileheadmike]

Pizza Margherita

Edited October 13, 2013 by chileheadmike (log)

[patrickamory]

Tai bai chicken

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I like Shelby's approach: dessert first!

Three flavours of cheesecake: clockwise from top they're Maracuyá-Mango, 7 Chocolates, and Mortiño (Andean blueberry)

Roasted lamb - out butcher kindly gave us a front quarter; the bits are from the shoulder

Meatloaf and cheesy scalloped potatoes

And because those were such rich meals, a tuna salad with my own pickles.

[rotuts]

scubadoo97

are there Nuts in the P.S. ?

[scubadoo97]

scubadoo97

are there Nuts in the P.S. ?

Yes, chopped almonds.

Boy that photo looked way better on my phone. Way blurry and the ribs were mahogany in color and not black

[mm84321]

Blanquette de veau

Edited October 13, 2013 by mm84321 (log)

[judiu]

Our dinner will be rather rustic. There is a chill in the air. We will have brisket marinated overnight in a coffee rub and tatonka dust (with powdered Worcestershire sauce, charcoal flavoring, and powdered soy sauce along with other seasonings) with orange zest and orange juice, olive oil, then braised in beef broth along with new potatoes, carrots and brown mushrooms . Served with thickened au jus.

Where might this tatonka dust be purchased? It sounds yummy, unless it's loaded up with chiles... %)

[judiu]

I’m finally back after a long absence. Long story short – an almost month long illness followed by a bad fall that resulted in a fractured vertebra that has me in a back brace until at least the beginning of November. That has put a crimp in my cooking and made sitting at the computer very uncomfortable. I’ve done a bit of cooking and with my lap top, I’ve been having a veritable feast the last couple of days looking over all of the incredible meals in this thread they you’ve all made since I went MIA. I couldn’t possibly go back and mention everything that amazed and impressed me, but I loved it all and deeply appreciated the recent defense of the ordinary type of food that I tend to cook. Like others mentioned, I enjoy seeing food in all its guises – plain and ‘fancy’!

Kim, please tell what is that gorgeously goozy soft ripened cheese in the secon photo of this post? Totally edible looking! %)

Some things that I’ve managed over the last few weeks -

A throw together dinner of cheeses, meats and veggies:

Mr. Kim’s birthday – I began an almost month long illness early that morning and so Jessica, and our nieces together to get his birthday dinner finished. They did a remarkable job. He had requested muffalettas, salad and bananas Foster for dessert. They got a good picture of the sandwich for me:

My mother made some BBQ pork tenderloin and I served it with baked beans, green beans and some boxed mac and cheese:

A dinner of shrimp tacos and black beans:

Spaghetti w/ Bolognese sauce and garlic rolls:

Baked spaghetti w/ raw veggies and garlic rolls:

Pecan coated tilapia w/ steamed potatoes and green beans:

The fish is served with an orange and wine sauce and I thought that the fish was a little bland. Next time I think that I’ll add the zest to the sauce along with the juice.

Very successful day of cooking today. I tried 2 new recipes and they both turned out delicious! I did Geoffrey Zakarian’s Caesar salad and Gruyere and black pepper popovers:

The salad is really delicious – the dressing is made with white anchovies. They were hard to find, but really worth it for their more subtle taste. The popovers were spectacular and something that I’ve been wanted to try for a long time.

My mother and I went down to Chesapeake to visit friends. They have a lovely garden and urged us to pick as many figs as we liked from their trees. One of the ways I used them was to make a prosciutto and fig pizza:

Topped with arugula:

Served with white anchovy Caesar salad:

A soup and sandwich dinner – Mr. Kim’s ham and cheese:

Mine was a BLT, made with some of the last of our friends’ amazing heirloom tomatoes:

The best tomatoes we’ve had all summer. The soup was Ruhlman’s Rotisserie Chicken and Leek soup:

Breakfast for dinner:

Cheese omelet, cheese stuffed potatoes and Benton’s bacon. Served with French toast and fig syrup:

[liuzhou]

I won't bore you with the why, but this morning I was given a beautifully fresh fish as a kind of unexpected and certainly undeserved 'thank-you' gift.

It's a snubnosed pompano (Trachinotus blochii). So that was dinner pretty much dictated.

I decided to steam it not to go for all the usual Chinese seasonings (partly because I seem to have inexplicably run out of Shaoxing wine and green onions, and for even more boring reasons don't have time to go replace them).

So I used some garlic, some chili pepper, some grated ginger, lemon juice and some lemon zest (and some knuckle blood thanks to a collision with the Microplane while zesting the lemon.) These were all rubbed or pushed into the fish and a salt rub added.

The fish was then laid on a bed of sliced leeks and steamed in the wok.

Fish in wok, about to be steamed.

Ten minutes later the fish was served with stir fried baby bok choy with oyster sauce and rice.

To be honest, while the fish was OK, it was a little bland and there wasn't much meat. But hey, it was free.

[Ann_T]

Norm, that brisket looks so 'homey". The perfect meal.

Chileheadmike, Great looking pizza.

MM, your Blanquette de veau looks delicious. Beautifully plated. I haven't made that in a number of years. I think I need to add that to the menu this week.

Kim, I'm sorry you have been dealing with a bad back. Glad that you are back cooking. Love when you share all your meals.

Yorkshire Puddings.

With Prime Rib. Presalted and Roasted at 500°F.

Grilled Italian Sausage with Penne in a tomato basil sauce with black olives.

Marcella Hazan's Fricasseed Chicken with Black Olives.

[Norm Matthews]

Our dinner will be rather rustic. There is a chill in the air. We will have brisket marinated overnight in a coffee rub and tatonka dust (with powdered Worcestershire sauce, charcoal flavoring, and powdered soy sauce along with other seasonings) with orange zest and orange juice, olive oil, then braised in beef broth along with new potatoes, carrots and brown mushrooms . Served with thickened au jus.

Where might this tatonka dust be purchased? It sounds yummy, unless it's loaded up with chiles... %)

I ordered it from Owens BBQ out of North Dakota. It is very good on beef. I don't think it is too spicy with hot seasonings but that is just my opinion..

http://www.owensbbq.com/index.html

Edited October 14, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)