Dinner! 2014 (Part 2)

[Anna N]

Boneless chicken thighs over dressed greens.

[basquecook]

Last night, we had shrimp "scampi" followed by homemade lasagna and Caesar salad and bruleed melon with homemade ice cream.  

 

No photo of anything else cooked besides dessert

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Dejah – thank you for the info regarding the chicken!  I’m hoping to make that soon.  You gave me a giggle with the salt!

 

rotuts – great minds!  I was thinking either bacon or a good steak sauce brushed on.

 

Chris – those ribs are gorgeous!  Thanks for posting the link to the rub recipe.  I think I’d like that.  Tell me about the rosemary – is it very assertive?  I like rosemary, but only when it’s quite subtle.

 

What all meatloaf secretly wants to become:

 

Served with ‘cruddyditties’ (family joke):

[Unpopular Poet]

That meatloaf sandwich is beautiful.  Absolutely perfect.

[ChrisTaylor]

 

Chris – those ribs are gorgeous!  Thanks for posting the link to the rub recipe.  I think I’d like that.  Tell me about the rosemary – is it very assertive?  I like rosemary, but only when it’s quite subtle.

 

 

The rosemary is very much a background note.

[dcarch]

Basquecook –  You have done justice, It would be a crime to mess up Berkshire pork.

 

Anna N – How did you get the skin so perfect on the chicken thighs? And I see you are able to source high quality shrimps.

 

ChrisTaylor – When you don’t see bones showing, that means the ribs are very juicy and tender and expertly done.

 

Dejah – Very nice combination of ingredients for the Kalua Pulled Pork.

 

Patrickamory – that American-style spaghetti and meat sauce looks better than any I have seen in restaurants.

 

Plantes – very nice atmosphere for a dinner with your family.

 

Ann_T – You are going to get in trouble with the Italians. You keep making such wonderful pizzas.

 

Soba – Beautiful pictures, and really appetizing scallops on spaghetti.

 

Franci – Amazing short ribs!

 

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I enjoy cooking vegetable leaves separate from stems because they require different cooking time, and they taste a little different.

 

A few dishes with stems.

 

dcarch

 

Hanger steak on purple asparagus stems

 

 

Trout and broccoli stems

 

 

Curry pork and mustard green stems

 

[Smithy]

Those look wonderful, dcarch. I particularly like the color balance on the broccoli stems and trout.

[Franci]

Dcarch, I particularly like your creations tonight. You always use a variety of vegetables and the stems, which I truly enjoy and I'm very found of bitter vegetables.

We had a salad, some asparagus and my usual focaccia al pomodoro

image.jpg

My picture got lost

Tonight we had some good salumi from Eataly (mortadella, S. Daniele, speck), asparagus, fried rice with sun dried tomatoes and edemame, plus a roasted mackerel

[Norm Matthews]

I didn't take any pictures of dinner tonight but we had a celebratory steak dinner for my son. He has been away for a few days.

 

The STEAK

 

 was rib eye cut rather thick and marinated for 4 hours in 1/2 C. packed brown sugar, 1/2 C. bourbon, 1/3 C. soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon Tabasco and 1 C. water.

 

After 4 hours, I dried it, salted it and grilled it outside.  Potatoes were washed, pierced with a fork four or five times, rubbed with oil, salted and baked at 375 for 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Served with butter, sour cream, bacon bits, and fresh chopped chives.

 

Cassie made sugar peas in the oven with cheese.  She sauted some mushrooms too and brought a sparkling wine to serve with the meal.

 

I made green beans but forgot to check on them until I smelled them burning.  I saved as many as I could, cutting off the burned part.  Charlie asked if I smoked them and said they were really good. Whew.

 

 

for Dessert we had strawberry shortcake.

[patrickamory]

Chris Taylor beautiful ribs.

 

I made Hoppin' John.

 

Started by making homemade salt pork last week (see the salt pork thread). It's extremely tasty just cut into thin slices and eaten straight up:

 

 

Then finally got my Anson Mills red peas out of the freezer, where they have been languishing for a while:

 

 

 

And then prepared Hoppin' John according to John Thorne's recipe (I would have used the Anson Mills preparation, but all their recipes feel too fussy to me and use too many ingredients). This was perfection, really the most satisfying meal I've made in ages:

 

[C. sapidus]

Shrimp, chayote, and spinach soup with lemongrass – Gently fried shallots, lemongrass, smashed red chiles, and shrimp paste. Added coconut milk, chicken stock, and cubed chayote and simmered until the chayote was nearly tender. Added spinach and shrimp and simmered until done, finishing with fish sauce and sugar. Served with jasmine rice and sliced cucumbers.

 

Dogs were comically interested in the shrimp paste. 

 

[Ann_T]

Kim, I would be happy with everyone of your dinners. Your meatloaf and mashed potatoes is pure comfort food.

 

Last night's dinner.

[huiray]

A version of Choy Kon Tong for dinner.

 

Pork short-cut spare ribs, cut into riblets; sautéed w/ smashed garlic in canola oil.  Water added.  Trimmed & suitably broken-up “choy kon”, soaked only briefly in hot water, added.  Small dried Chinese “far koo” mushrooms, soaked for a bit, added in, plus the soaking water.  Himalayan salt + sea salt added.  Three briefly rinsed dried cuttlefish added.  Hon Mirin [Takara] added.  Lam Jou added in.  Culatello slices (left over from a while ago) added in for a while for a bit of their flavor then fished out.  Jozo mirin [Morita] added.  Generous handful of goji berries tossed in.  Water amount adjusted.  Seasoning adjusted.  Simmered for a few hours.

 

 

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks all.

 

Anna:  you're killing me with the chicken thighs.  those are probably my favorite parts, next to drumsticks.

 

===============

late dinner tonight.

Ginger chicken broth, with fried farm egg, ramps and baby spinach

Basically a variation on "garlic soup", with a fried egg instead of poached, and ramp stalks/ramp leaves instead of garlic and parsley. A 1/2 tsp. of finely minced ginger adds a pleasant jolt.

I think these are sensational.

And you really don't need to do much to bring out their best.

The radishes were halved lengthwise (so that the greens would be left intact) and sautéed in unsalted butter with some baby spinach. Sea salt and black pepper to taste, and a splash of wine vinegar.

Black cod (a/k/a sablefish) with ramp pesto, served with oyster mushrooms and samphire

Samphire is also known as "sea beans" and "glasswort". See fifi's eGullet Foodblog for a particularly memorable entry.

The mushrooms and sea beans were fried in unsalted butter and a little chicken stock, seasoned with sea salt, black pepper and Meyer lemon juice.

[rarerollingobject]

Beautiful meal, Soba. Those radishes are so pretty!

 

Dinner from a few nights ago; Vietnamese caramelised grilled pork (marinated in lemongrass, garlic, eschallots, black pepper, fish sauce and honey) and cha gio/nem ran spring rolls.

 

I finally tried the trick of dissolving some sugar in the water you soak the rice paper wrappers in before rolling, and the sugar DOES make the fried rolls much more reliably golden and crispy.

 

 

 

 

[lesliec]

Sounds like a good trick, RRO. They certainly look great.

And welcome back!

[SobaAddict70]

thanks RRO.

awesome spread.

================

this post is prep for part of Friday's dinner.

2 green cardamom pods, crushed in my mortar and pestle...

...combined with 2/3 cup heated white wine vinegar and 9 kumquats in a jar.

The kumquats will pickle for 36-48 hours and simultaneously infuse the vinegar with their essence.

To be continued...

[dcarch]

Thank you Smithy and Franci.

 

One dish I didn't take pictures of. It was gobbled up too soon. Shopping at Whole Foods, I scored big time. they were selling large globe shaped artichokes. The chokes came with 10 inch long stems. People were breaking off the stems and left them in the bin. I took two chokes and bagged all the discarded stems, 4 lbs? The cashier only charged me two artichokes. If you watch Peppin's shows, you know how often he uses vegetable stems. Also, often at farmers markets, you can get beet stems/tops for free. 

 

About the asparagus stems. Those are Italian purple asparagus “Violetto d' Albenga” variety, They are larger, sweeter and not as fibery as the green ones. Really nice!

 

dcarch

[Franci]

My son only eats artichokes stems, I used to get them from the market in Monaco for free as well. Lovely tempura. Too bad people don't know what they are missing.

Here I have an hard time buying artichokes, if you have tried the Sardinian spiky artichokes (so tender you can eat raw) or the violet from Puglia, it's really hard to adjust.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Franci (log)

[Franci]

On the menu tonight: soup for the children, sauté napa cabbage and meatballs

I also made some lamb breast. Usually I prepare it following a recipe from J. Mclagan, where she cooks it over a rack in the oven with some water prior to glazing but I was short of time, so I cooked in the PC in a bowl on a trivet, then glazed under the broiler with the glaze for char siu

[Anna N]

Spinach cooked in coconut milk and tandoori-spiced chicken thighs. (Only one more thigh to go!)

[mm84321]

My son only eats artichokes stems, I used to get them from the market in Monaco for free as well. Lovely tempura. Too bad people don't know what they are missing.

Here I have an hard time buying artichokes, if you have tried the Sardinian spiky artichokes (so tender you can eat raw) or the violet from Puglia, it's really hard to adjust.

 

I found some really nice artichokes in Santa Barbara this week.

[rod rock]

Rod: there was a sauce, but it's quite light. Consists of white wine, olive oil, some of the fond from frying the scallops and a tablespoon of ramp pesto. In addition, I undercooked the pasta by 1-2 minutes, then drained it, then finished cooking it in the pan with the sauce. That's probably the reason there's no visible sauce, but you'll have to believe me when I say that it wasn't the least bit dry. 

Wow, this sounds fantastic! I also think this was good tactic. I'd ask myself "hmm what gives such a nice flavor"

[Ann_T]

Grilled Pork Chops with artichokes, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

[basquecook]

Dinner last night was leftovers for Miss K

 

Salad and Lasagna before her animation tutor came to the house.

 

 

 

I made buttermilk soaked and then fried whiting.  served with a quick version of tartar sauce. Champagne vinegar, pickles, mayo, a little mustard. I fried about 8 of them.  my friend who I have known since Pre-K came for dinner. 

 

 

Caesar salad and pulled a rack of lamb that my wife's cousins raised

 

 

And for dessert broiled melon with melon sorbet

 

Edited April 11, 2014 by basquecook (log)