Dinner! 2014 (Part 2)

[basquecook]

I do bone marrow a few ways.. Normally, I like when the butcher cuts them on the bias or lengthwise.. This exposes all the marrow and looks really pretty.. However, I went to a fancy butcher shop in California and they definitely dressed the part, looked the part, acted the part, except when it came down to asking them to cut the bones for me.  

 

It's funny, you get these kids with beards and put on a white smock and they are butchers.. But, all of the nice fresh faced "butchers" are essentially glorified meat slicers..  I asked the guy to cut the bone on the bias, the bones I was over paying for and he replies " i can't cut the bones like that"  To which I replied, "can't or won't ?  Because, I clearly see a brand new band saw waiting to be used."   I then offered to cut the bones myself..       So, the best he would do was, cut them into 3 inch pieces..   But, I could totally see him with like a knife tattoo on his arm, drinking PBRs at night, picking up chicks and telling them what a great butcher he is. 
 

So, when I roast them, I just cover the bottom with foil and roast them.. But, I didn't want to put their oven on as it was a small kitchen and we cooked everything on the grill.. With the exception of me boiling the kale and the fava beans prior to cooking on the grill in a cast iron pan..  

 

But, really, just get a hot oven or a hot grill and cook it until it looks good.. I am guessing, 20 to 30 minutes..  It starts to melt and then it looks good enough to eat and then a salt it.  I was using a gas grill, perhaps my first time ever using one.. It's not a good sign when you can slap the grill without second degree burns. 

 

Bread was grilled and rubbed with garlic.. I like the bitterness of blood orange which help cuts the fat.. Though, I often use a garlic jelly. 

 

Sorry i could not be more exact. 

Edited March 25, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[rotuts]

great report !  

 

"   knife tattoo on his arm, drinking PBRs at night, picking up chicks and telling them what a great butcher he is.   "

 

interesting.  I dont know what PBR's are ,  but I do now have a 'Personal Butcher' at Stop & shop.  Anthony.  he is a 'line' butcher

 

I gave him some SV from some sirloin tips "whole slab" he trimmed for me meticulously at the direction from the "Big Beef Manager"

 

they were very nice to me.

 

let me tell you this:  next time 'sirloin tips' are 3.99 I sure hope Anthony is working that week

 

Know Your Butcher.

 

Ill start to study the Bone Marrow.  Ill find some and do as you say an add them to the Weber

 

at least I can  'sort of' get to it now !

 

[huiray]

 

It's funny, you get these kids with beards and put on a white smock and they are butchers.. But, all of the nice fresh faced "butchers" are essentially glorified meat slicers..  I asked the guy to cut the bone on the bias, the bones I was over paying for and he replies " i can't cut the bones like that"  To which I replied, "can't or won't ?  Because, I clearly see a brand new band saw waiting to be used."   I then offered to cut the bones myself..       So, the best he would do was, cut them into 3 inch pieces..   But, I could totally see him with like a knife tattoo on his arm, drinking PBRs at night, picking up chicks and telling them what a great butcher he is. 

 

 

Heh. HEH. 

 

Could be said of a lot of other folks in other professions (whether food-related or high-tech related) in fields with high Pretentiousness Quotients. 

 

My local butcher shop (with old-timers) will do what you want and educate you on traditional cuts too if you ask.  I asked them some time ago to "shave" some ribeye into slices with an approximate thickness of xxx (and I explained to them I was going to use it for Phở, which the person there I was dealing with had not heard of but he was listening to me) and he went right ahead and did it for me.  Subsequent visits resulted in not-an-eyebrow-being-batted fulfillment of my request(s), and at some point I was even offered some previously-shaved ribeye which they had not done before but which was now being offered for Philly-style cheesesteak preps. :-)

[LaurieB]

Pretty simple.

 

 

Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream.  It's still winter here in Cleveland.

[mgaretz]

Smoked pork loin chops:

 

 

No picture but served with roasted carrots in butter, honey, cumin and ginger.

[rotuts]

Sooo  how did you cook them ?

 

tasty I bet

[mm84321]

Asparagus with smoked salmon and caviar

[C. sapidus]

Scubadoo and Ann_T - thank you both

 

Surfer’s fish chowder – Wow this was good. Orange zest, ground coriander, parsley, fried leeks and fried garlic for aroma, cayenne and roasted jalapeno for spice, butter and bacon grease for richness, fried potato cubes for body, dry vermouth, diced tomato, and freshly squeezed orange juice and lime juice for tropical tang, and Mrs. C’s pork stock enriched with fish sauce for general goodness. Topping with crumbled bacon may have gilded the lily.

 

Irony was that I enjoyed this lovely chowder alone. I suspect younger son will have some as his second dinner.

 

Edited March 26, 2014 by C. sapidus (log)

[scubadoo97]

Surfer’s fish chowder – Wow this was good.

Looks it. In fact it looks great.

[patrickamory]

basquecook I always wonder about those hipster Brooklyn butchers. I love dealing with my old guys at Ottomanelli on Bleecker Street - they are such pros and so completely helpful and unpretentious.

 

Bruce great to see you cooking Thai again.

 

Soba your pastas always look terrific and give me great ideas… 

 

Two dishes from Nawal Nasrallah's Garden of Eden. Turmeric rice with toasted almonds and raisins, and "sparrows' heads" (meatballs) in dill sauce. The yellow bits are split chickpeas (chana dal), which appear to be unexpectedly common in Iraqi cuisine.

 

 

[mgaretz]

Sooo  how did you cook them ?

 

tasty I bet

Didn't time them. I cooked them to an interal temperature of 140f. Made them on my Traeger pellet grill. Smoked at 225f for a while then lowered to 180f to finish because DW was going to be late coking home.

[SobaAddict70]

thanks Patrick.

mm -- awesome stuff, as usual.

patrick -- looks good. can you please recommend a book that introduces folks to that kind of cuisine?

=================
When I was at Eataly this weekend, I decided that I wanted to make some Bolognese sauce since I had a tub of fettucine in the fridge that needed to be used up.







So I decided to get a few things, you might say.



You're looking at a pot of Bolognese sauce in the making, using Marcella Hazan's recipe from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", pages 203-205.

This version is mostly her recipe except for a few deviations. I also used about 1/2 lb. chopped pork and mixed it in with the chopped beef and the battutina (finely chopped celery, celery leaves, carrot and onion cooked in a mixture of olive oil and unsalted butter). The beef is grass-fed beef from Eataly.

this pic was shot shortly after I added 1 cup whole milk.



Let the milk mixture simmer gently on medium-low heat, then once it has nearly boiled off, add 1 cup dry white wine. Simmer until the wine has evaporated, then add your plum tomatoes. (I subbed a can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes.)



There are a couple of additional steps after this -- basically simmering the sauce over low heat while making sure it doesn't dry out too much. At the end, the sauce is done when all of the water has evaporated and the fat has separated from the sauce.





Fettucine with Bolognese sauce

 

ETA that I had friended MH on Facebook a while back (inasmuch as one can be a "friend" on that forum, but I digress); anyway, Victor, her husband, left a comment on my wall saying that she would occasionally add pork to the sugo in addition to the beef, and occasionally, crumbled sausage.  (She would only use sausage if they were in Italy, probably because of what they were able to procure over there.)  So it turns out that my deviation was not much of one after all.

Edited March 26, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[basquecook]

It's been a couple of weeks or more since, I cooked in my own kitchen.  I forgot how little was in the fridge.. I bought some squid and a trout at the seafood shop. had pasta and a can of tomatoes in the pantry and olives in the fridge.

 

Lots of black pepper, a shot of vermouth in the sauce and a little tabasco.

 

 

Miss K was super tired last night as we arrived late the night before.  It was even later when we stopped in Chinatown for noodles.  So we heated up some coq au vin that was in the freezer and put over buttered noodles..  With the left over wine sauce, I poured it over trout and served with steamed artichokes. 

 

Deboned and flattened before cooked in a pan. It's amazing how similar the trout reminded me of a delicate chicken when in the chickeny red wine sauce. 

 

 

Took one shot of the artichoke and partially eaten trout plate.  Not really worth showing.   

 

To drink, Miss A accidentally cracked an 05 Pomerol  that a customer gave me.  It was delicious regardless. 

[mm84321]

Oysters with watercress 

 

[rotuts]

Wow, mm  that's something Id really love to taste.

 

doubt 5 would do the trick though.

 

nice plating w odd numbers.  always seems to look better.

 

11 might be OK

[suzilightning]

Made some black bean chili with Rotel tomatoes and Hatch chiles for dinner last night. I'm repurposing it with some pasta, grated cheddar and some Chalula chile lime sauce and maybe some oyster crackers if I can find them. Also roasted off some chicken drumsticks and 2 chicken thighs to shred for either sandwiches or pot pie on Friday. The mac and cheese will be dinner tomorrow along with some slow braised garlic greens.

I have now gotten out of my adult cheddar pigs in a blanket phase... thank goodness!!            

[dcarch]

I am beginning to suspect that many of you hire professional photographers to take pictures of your dishes.   Amazing work!

A couple of my ordinary meals.

 

dcarch

 

SV pork shoulder, apple sauce

 

 

SV chicken, spaghetti squash

 

[menuinprogress]

A simple pastrami sandwich (with Gruyère on rye bread) and a homemade zesty dill pickle.

 

 

The pastrami was "semi-homemade". We picked up some cheap post-St.Pats corned beef and smoked it.

 

 

This was our first time smoking pastrami. We'll definitely be doing it again.

[Norm Matthews]

Everyones food looks delicious.

 

When my ex-girl friend and I split several years ago on mutual agreement, she asked for some of my recipes which I gladly copied for her. A few days later my son, then about 11, told me when he got home from school his basketball goal and my BBQ smoker were loaded in the back of a pick-up truck and the two guys told him as they were driving away that they were getting these for the ex.  A few days later I discovered one of my son's favorite recipes missing from my hand written cookbook. She must have taken that too. It was before computers and subsequent searches in food sites brought up nothing.  Then last week, I found that Parade digitalized their magazines and I found it in a 1993 issue. It was Honey Lacquered Game Hens. We had it today.  We decided I had changed the recipe and now need to experiment some more but I am very glad to have the original again. We remembered that I used Cointreau in the recipe and that was not part of it originally.

I bought a new rice cooker today too. It is a Tiger made in Japan.  Our old one - same brand and same size- is about 30 years old and still works but is wearing out and missing a part or two. Along with the chicken and rice, I grilled baby bok choy and stir fried Chinese eggplant with sugar peas, mushrooms and a few other vegetables and tossed in a dressing with pecans, peanut oil, tangerine vinegar, orange zest and honey.

 

 

 

[patrickamory]

So much good stuff above… I'm reeling.

 

Soba: the Iraqi cookbook is Nawal Nasrallah's Delights from the Garden of Eden. Fascinating historical background; my one comment is that the recipes tend towards under-seasoning, at least to my taste. Amazon link:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Delights-Garden-Eden-Cookbook-History/dp/1845534573

 

… and, I recognized the Eataly butcher counter at once. 

 

menuinprogress: that pastrami looks mouthwatering, as does the press-grilled cheese sandwich version of it.

 

Norm: intriguing back story and those lacquered game hens are incredibly tempting… care to share the recipe now that you've dug it out?

[Norm Matthews]

I'd be very happy to share the recipe for the game hens. I suggest covering wing tips and leg tips with foil to avoid over browning.   Here it is:

 

 

Honey Lacquered Game Hens Recipe

Yield: 6 whole hens  Parade Magazine March 27, 1994

 

6 Cornish game hens, about 3/4 to 1 pound each (see note)

4 Garlic cloves, peeled

1 1" piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/2 c Soy sauce

1/2 c Light honey

2 tb Peanut oil

2 tb Fresh orange juice

1 tb Finely minced orange zest

 

Here's a new and exciting dish that's easily prepared. It's especially delicious served with sesame noodles or your favorite rice pilaf. For an ideal meal without much effort, simply steam up some fresh snow peas to serve on the side. 

 

1. Rinse game hens and pat dry. Place in a bowl. Trim off wing tips, necks and any excess fat from the neck cavities. 

 

2. Place garlic and ginger in the bowl of a food processor; process until nearly smooth. Reserve. 

 

3. In another bowl, combine soy sauce, honey, peanut oil, orange juice and orange zest. Add the reserved garlic and ginger. Pour mixture over game hens to coat well. 

 

4. Let rest at room temperature for 4 hours, or refrigerate overnight, turning game hens in marinade 3 or 4 times. 

 

5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place game hens in a shallow roasting pan to fit. Pour marinade on top. 

 

6. Bake game hens 1 hour or until cooked through, basting every 15 minutes. 

 

7. Remove hens to a serving platter. Pour cooking juices into a small, heavy saucepan and boil over high heat for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. Pour over the hens just before serving. 

 

NOTE: These birds can be served whole or, for smaller portions, are lovely split in half. Just be sure to remove the backbones and wing tips before preparing. 

 

 

Per serving: 185 calories, 7 grams fat, 12 milligrams cholesterol.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Dejah]

Norm Matthews: Beautiful looking cornish hens, and I know they would be delicious! Reminds me of a surprise bday party I gave for hubby many years ago. I was cooking 24 hens, started prepping them the night before and hidden in a basement fridge. The next day, he told me he was taking the day off! I still had to blanch and glaze them throughout the day. In order to keep the secret, I was only able to show 2 hens at a time. As they were ready, I had to hide them in various places...Good thing I knew how many I had in total!

 

Daughter and s-i-l came back from a trip out west. They love lamb as much as we do. Hubby had a rack, daughter and I shared one, and Ryan had a loin chunk. I guess it would have been cut into chops, but was left whole with the tenderloin attached.

 

These were seasoned with Montreal steak spice, seared then finished off in the oven.

 

Perfect with fresh mint sauce, smashed baby taters with chopped mint, and peas.

 

Ryan is very handy with any kind of repairs. I keep his tummy happy and he fixes things for us. Last night, it was the garage door opener. My car is no longer trapped.

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

I haven't been doing much cooking recently. Partly pressure of work, but mostly just having temporarily lost my cooking mojo,

 

But last night I came up with this. It's a spicy duck stew with garlic, ginger, shallots and Thai peppers, stewed in soy sauce and Vietnamese fish sauce with mango and coriander/cilantro. At one point I thought it was drying out too much and added a little water. Damn. Ended up with an over watery stew. But the taste was OK.

 

 

Served it with rice and simply steamed flowering garlic chives with a tiny amount of oyster sauce.

 

 

It wasn't the best thing I've ever cooked,but it was a very acceptable dinner. Something to work on.

 

[rotuts]

menuinprogress

 

would you share more details on how you did that CB > pastrami ?

 

many thanks

[Unpopular Poet]

The last of the pork belly.  My wife did some outstanding work here.