Dinner! 2014 (Part 1)

[Franci]

Kim, welcome back, feel better !

Chinese New Year's Eve.

I made xiaolongbao again. Same ingredients and slightly different procedure made a huge difference. Maybe I rolled them too thin and some leaked, so not all had juice inside but not complains for my 2nd attempt

Dongpo pork. Very good but the one I made last year in was even better

Four seasons duck. Thank you, Patrick!

[rotuts]

Franci : very serious Yum there.

like the broccoli around that pork. makes it look very healthy

[nickrey]

Salmon and Salad.

Salmon was cooked sous vide 54C for fifteen minutes. Served flaked on salad comprising finely sliced fennel and onion combined with vacuum compressed watermelon, sliced thinly, and fried haloumi cheese. Dressed simply with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil. Fish piece looks big but was only around 125g.

[mm84321]

Sweetbread carbonara

[Unpopular Poet]

Sweetbread carbonara

MM -- is that polenta or mashed potatoes (or something else) under the sweetbreads? Am I correct in assuming the sweetbreads were traditionally prepared (soak, poach, press, fry?) Fantastic. ( I should note traditionally for me)

edited regarding traditional disclaimer.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Unpopular Poet (log)

[mm84321]

It is a sheet of pasta coated in a carbonara cream. The cream is made by cooking down bacon, ham and lardo, then infusing with cream. That get's thickened with an egg yolk and some grated parmesan. It is then sprinkled with more bacon, ham and lardo, as well as chopped truffle and some veal jus. The sweetbreads were soaked for one night in salted ice water, drained, blanched in lightly salted water with some thyme, bay leaf, white peppercorn and garlic, membrane removed, then cooked first in oil, flipped, then basted with foaming butter. It is usually about 5 minutes on each side, and it's good to let rest for 10 minutes. Here's a snap I took before it all got cooked:

[Unpopular Poet]

It is a sheet of pasta coated in a carbonara cream. The cream is made by cooking down bacon, ham and lardo, then infusing with cream. That get's thickened with an egg yolk and some grated parmesan. It is then sprinkled with more bacon, ham and lardo, as well as chopped truffle and some veal jus. The sweetbreads were soaked for one night in salted ice water, drained, blanched in lightly salted water with some thyme, bay leaf, white peppercorn and garlic, membrane removed, then cooked first in oil, flipped, then basted with foaming butter. It is usually about 5 minutes on each side, and it's good to let rest for 10 minutes. Here's a snap I took before it all got cooked:

Outstanding. Thanks for the run-through -- I can see this for certain in my future. Adding it to my "My wife is in Bahrain and my friend's wife is in London" Valentine's offal explosion.

[Norm Matthews]

Not a very good picture but supper was strip steak, bearnaise sauce, hash browns and creamed spinach. Dessert was fruit with custard and a raspberry sauce. I was going to sprinkle cookie crumbs over it but I forgot.

[heidih]

Norm - your creamed spinach is calling me. It looks like you used mature spinach and left it fairly whole? Can you summarize your method?

[Norm Matthews]

I used pre-washed bagged spinach. It didn't say it was baby spinach but it looked like it was. It was separate, cleaned leaves. I did leave it whole. I just dumped one bag in an oiled flat bottomed wok and cooked it over medium heat, covered, until it started wilting, then turned it over and added another bag, turning until it was all cooked down, removed it to a strainer then added one half small onion, diced, two garlic cloves and two tablespoons of butter to the wok and cooked the onion and garlic, then added two tablespoons of flour, cooked it briefly, added about a cup of milk and stirred it until it was thickened. I added the spinach back in; added a pinch of cayenne and a grated a chunk of Romano cheese over it and folded it all together. At some point I salted it too.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Norm Matthews (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

The first batch of blue swimmer crabs--I had ten--pre-cooked for Fergus Henderson's devilled crab recipe. Served on toast with a couple of poached eggs. So good. Crab coma, even though the ten (they're not very big) was split between two people.

[patrickamory]

Beautiful crabs Chris. Great to see you back Kim. Awesome food everyone.

Italian-American spaghetti with meat sauce (hence deliberately not tossed before serving).

[mm84321]

Striped bass with salsify and port

[David Ross]

Shrimp Tostada with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa-

[nickrey]

Chinese New Year's Eve.

...

Four seasons duck. Thank you, Patrick!

Nice looking steamed buns, did you make them yourself?

Edited February 2, 2014 by nickrey (log)

[basquecook]

Pasta with eggplant and onion.

Bought 2 eggplants for a buck the other day salted them for a bit

Served with parmesan and ricotta.

Grilled lamb chops with green beans. These days, Missy K gets the extra chop.

Edited February 2, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[Steve Irby]

Dinner tonight was a muffelata with montasio cheese, mortadella, salami, ham and olive salad. The bread was ciabatta that I baked this afternoon.

[Ann_T]

Basquecook, Lovely little lamb chops.

Steve, Great sandwich on homemade ciabatta.

Pizzas with sourdough crusts.

The crust was so goooood. Thin, maybe 1/8th of a inch but with a puffy rim.

Topped with spicy Italian Sausage and sauteed mushrooms.

And a second one that we never did eat. Too full. Pizza Margherita.

[Franci]

Nice looking steamed buns, did you make them yourself?

Hi Nick, yes! It's Andrea Nguyen basic recipe for steamed bread. I tried others and I decided to stick to this recipe. It doesn't give you the white Hong Kong style bao bread but we like it more this way.

[liuzhou]

Ann_T

What are you trying to do to me? Those pizzas are utterly beautiful. But you didn't eat the Margherita? How tragic!

I'll send you my address and next time you have a spare anything like that, I promise it won't go to waste!

[patrickamory]

Franci - can't believe I missed your post! Glad you made the duck - did it turn out well?

[mgaretz]

My picture didn't come out, but last night we had shrimp with homemade fettuccine in a little EVO and roasted brussell sprouts.

[mm84321]

Tandoori chicken

[scubadoo97]

Yellow Eye Bean soup, salad and bruschetta

[kayb]

Shrimp and grits.