Dinner! 2013 (Part 6)

[Steve Irby]

Merry Christmas to all. Dinner tonight was my take on Salmon Rockefeller as prepared by a local restaurant. Grits with Gruyere, wilted spinach with Pernod, topped with grilled salmon, fried oysters and hollandaise. I think it's the start of a new Christmas tradition.

[Norm Matthews]

I had planned a similar meal as basquecook . I was going to make the rib roast, popovers, broccoli salad and baked potatoes but a few hours after I got the roast, my nephew called and invited us along with the whole family to his house for Christmas dinner. He had crab and smoked turkey. I took my roast along as my contribution. Here is how I roasted mine. It was a 4 bone, 7 1/2 lb. roast. First I took it out of the refrigerator a couple hours before putting in the oven. I preheated the oven to 500 and crusted the top of the roast with salt and pepper. In the oven for 30 minutes @ 500º, 45 minutes @ 325º then finished at 450º. I took it out at 130º, wrapped it in heavy duty foil and sliced it about 45 minutes later.

ps the sauce was a mixture of Mayo, dijon mustard, grainy mustard, horseradish, sour cream, and salt.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Norm Matthews (log)

[basquecook]

Sounds like a great night Norm.

[Keith_W]

Christmas eve dinner at my place. All set up with Christmas crackers.

Jansson's Temptation - a Swedish potato gratin. The difference is that it is made with onions and sprats. Instead of using breadcrumbs, I used Gruyere.

Sugar snap peas with anchovies and whiskey.

The main course - tunnel boned Poussin stuffed with couscous and briefly smoked, shaved smoked ham, turkey jus.

[basquecook]

I am so confused.

My father in law had his hip removed two weeks ago so, our yearly Christmas party of 70 people had been cut down to 11 family members. My mother in law brought manicotti made from crepes, marinated mushrooms and her famous and revered caviar pie. It is a multi layer thing whihch starts with a layer of egg yolks, then whites, then there are onions, mayo, and then the whole thing is topped with black caviar. It's really cool when she takes it out of the spring form and places it on a cake plate.. I have an idea of turning it into a parfait and adding a crunchy element but, I digress.

For appetizers, we stared with cheese plates. Then fried calamari and fried lemons. We had New Orleans BBQ Shrimp served on toasts.

I am terrible with photos lately..

This was my only photo of the appetizers. You can see the shrimp head in the back about to be used for stock in the BBQ Shrimp.

We had a 14 pound rib roast. .Covered in fat, then marinated, then roasted

Taken out of the oven at 120

Served with a porcini gravey, scallion yorkshire puddings and creamed spinach.

We served it family style.

For dessert, my mother made a cheesecake, my favorite chocolate mousse cake, (a three layer cake filled with mousse) and 4 types of xmas cookies..

Definitely a fun night. Chocolate cake for breakfast Xmas morning.

[rotuts]

""" Braised tail in red sauce-- with meat and ricotta shells ""

those shells are about the best Ive ever seen; like the crispy edges, etc etc

stuffed with recotta +, then baked in a meat sauce ?

[Paul Bacino]

RT..

I will make my own red sauce..this red sauce I did in a pressure cooker, ox tails needed the pressure to get done in time..for the shells. I really am not a fan of sauce that way..but it works with addition of fresh canned tomato.

I put a base layer of sauce..to which I place the shells...then sauce the shells lightly. Making sure the suce comes up half way on the shells...so the shells kinda braise in the sauce..cook covered@325 for 40 min..then up temp uncover.. For 20 mins @350-375

[rotuts]

I would very much like to have a full Rx on these shells including the PC of the CowTails

this sounds like something Im going to have to get out of my chair and add to my armamentarium.

I like the PC idea, and the "fresh canned tomato" aspect. I use the canned that the Test kitchen recommends (organic)

no rush. you can PM me anytime if you dont want to reveal All Here.

BTW do you use 'regular' dry shells and rehydrate first rather than boil and use?

Im keen on trying that as the boil / cool / fill tires me out.

Not the Cork Pulling though ...

[Paul Bacino]

First : Stuffed ricotta shells

[Paul Bacino]

Beef Stuffed shells

[Baselerd]

Chris, what did you think of the Sunday Pork belly? That was one of my favorite plated dishes from that book (of the ones I've cooked).

Here's a dish I came up with randomly, starting with the caramelized coconut cream from the Modernist Cuisine. I tried to tie it into a Thai flavor theme: thai-marinated sous vide beef cheeks (cured overnight then cooked in a thai beef broth reduction @ 140 F for 72 hours), caramelized coconut cream, roasted cauliflower, pickled carrots, beef thai-curry demi-glace.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

Chris, what did you think of the Sunday Pork belly? That was one of my favorite plated dishes from that book (of the ones I've cooked).

I think it is very good, although I'm surprised they didn't do something with the skin.

[basquecook]

Well, now my mother in law broke her foot today.. So, I had to leave work early and head up the Taconic about a hundred miles to take care of them. We arrived with no food in the house with the exception of two lambs we recently purchased. I stopped by the Portuguese Butcher and grabbed a can of tomatoes, three carrots, celery, an onion, a can of chickpeas a bag of string beans and a bag of potatoes and some chorico. I knew if all else fails there would be soup, They have been broken down and were in the basement fridge.. Apparently, my wife's cousins, raised a couple of lamb as part of a school project. At the end, the sent the lambs to the slaughter. The young kids were told they would be happily frolicking at some farm. As long as we never mention the lambs to the kids, they are happy for us to have the meat.

The lamb is beautiful. Seriously, like delicious.

I opened a pack of 4 chops and there was some loin with the belly flap. Served with some string beans and mushrooms. Chops were thick, cooked about 3.5 minutes on both meat sides and about 2 minutes on the fat side.. came out perfect medium rare.. the roast was slightly longer.

This is what the roast looked like as the butcher didn't remove the chine so, I had to cut as far as I could and then snap the rest with my hands. Lack of knives, left me getting a little more hands on. but i trimmed it prior to hitting the table.

To start we had Portuguese Chorico and chickpeas in a tomato wine soup. With lots of shredded collard greens. I took the vegetables and the meat out in order to let the collards cook longer. We arrived at like 4 o clock and at dinner around 630.. It was all really about getting dinner on the table. everyone was super happy, despite everyone's condition.

Edited December 27, 2013 by basquecook (log)

[Anna N]

Supermarket rotisserie chicken (over cooked and dry) and roasted kabocha squash.

[Steve Irby]

image.jpg

Supermarket rotisserie chicken (over cooked and dry) and roasted kabocha squash.

My condolences.

[ChrisTaylor]

I bought a bullshit free range organic turkey on Boxing Day--significantly cheaper than what you'd pay for one prior to Christmas--and hit it with a wet rub under and on top of the skin. I parked it in my gas smoker w/ a mixture of apple wood, cherry wood and mesquite and took it to 71C. I was very happy with it. I served it with a gravy (pressure cooked turkey/chicken stock reduced to 200mL and thickened with Ultrasperse M), Keith_W's popcorn salad, the freekah salad from Cumulus Inc and some leafy greens.

Edited December 28, 2013 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[CeeCee]

Keith_W's popcorn salad

This sounds interesting, but a search didn't help me find more details unfortunately. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

[ChrisTaylor]

Keith_W's popcorn salad

This sounds interesting, but a search didn't help me find more details unfortunately. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

4 corn on the cob, microwave 90 sec each, shaved

1 red onion, diced

2 tomatos, deseeded and diced

pickled Jalapeno, diced

1 avocado, diced (at the last minute)

juice of 1-2 limes (squeezed and added at the last minute)

salt and pepper to taste

coriander leaves to taste

popcorn, about 50g, added at the last minute

[CeeCee]

Now that's swift, thanks Chris!

[Prawncrackers]

Howdy! Been lurking a lot recently, but I thought I'd surface after cooking this amazing piece of beef for Xmas dinner. An untrimmed five rib Dexter, aged for about 6 weeks - I cut the ribs short, rendering the fat for another day and saving the trim for burgers. Seasoned the whole joint two days before Xmas. In the morning I roasted it at 100C for about 4hrs until the internal temp reached 40C. It was rested for two hours then seared all over just before serving, it turned out perfectly. Best roast beef that the family has ever eaten. To quote my cousin it was "the beef of dreams"!

[basquecook]

Prawn, that looks ridiculous.

Tonight, we roasted a pork shoulder for 11 people.. 10 pound pork shoulder was 1.79 a lb. roasted at 325 for 6 hours.. served with this peach and mustard gastrique.

Started with some cheeses. a gorgonzola piquante, some sort of pecorino, a vacherin and a brillat savrin.

In addition, shrimp cocktail, marinated mushrooms and green beans and this really nice

Portuguese Chorico pan seared with pickles..

Caesar Salad

[Keith_W]

Keith_W's popcorn salad

This sounds interesting, but a search didn't help me find more details unfortunately. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

That's because I invented it So far everyone whom i've served it to seems to want to know the recipe, which is a good sign!

[ChrisTaylor]

Keith_W's popcorn salad

This sounds interesting, but a search didn't help me find more details unfortunately. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

That's because I invented it So far everyone whom i've served it to seems to want to know the recipe, which is a good sign!

I'm pleased to say my guests last night liked it.

[Dejah]

image.jpg

Supermarket rotisserie chicken (over cooked and dry) and roasted kabocha squash.

Get yourself a Big Easy for at home, Anna, and you'll never have to put up with supermarket over-cooked rotisserie chicken again!

[Anna N]

image.jpg

Supermarket rotisserie chicken (over cooked and dry) and roasted kabocha squash.

Get yourself a Big Easy for at home, Anna, and you'll never have to put up with supermarket over-cooked rotisserie chicken again!

Dejah, my yard is only just big enough for a BBQ! I have an electric rotisserie that does a wonderful job in about 1 1/2 hours but this was one of those days when I wanted something fast and easy. I'll fall for it again when the memory fades.