Dinner! 2014 (Part 2)

[rotuts]

""    And they're not eaten for breakfast. Cigarettes are    "" 

 

w a small cognac and a double espresso

 

back in the day .....

[FrogPrincesse]

I don't know all there is to know about French, or about breakfast, but I've never noticed French people call French Breakfast Radishes either French or Breakfast - they're just called radishes. And they're not eaten for breakfast. Cigarettes are

 

Exactly. We call them "radis roses" too, to distinguish them from black radish for example.

The French way to eat them is as a tartine of buttered baguette with a sprinkle of salt, as a little snack. Or carved into a rosette with a sliver of butter inside.

[SobaAddict70]

Exactly. We call them "radis roses" too, to distinguish them from black radish for example.

The French way to eat them is as a tartine of buttered baguette with a sprinkle of salt, as a little snack. Or carved into a rosette with a sliver of butter inside.

In any event, that is the name which is readily evidenced should you happen to google them. Also known as English breakfast radishes, but that name isn't as common.

As an aside, I was always puzzled by the trio of radishes, butter and salt on a plate until fairly recently.

[basquecook]

beautiful, Mr. Soba.  

 

your mayo looks really nice too.  

 

Dinner tonight was simple.  Up since 3 o clock this morning with house issues, i am tired. Dinner for two people.  While Miss A was washing arugula, i made a quick meatloaf for sandwiches.

 

 A simple grilled half a duck breast to split with this really lovely local arugula, some pickled onions.  dressing consisted of .. shallots, sugar, sherry vinegar, mustard.  by the time we were eating dinner, the meatloaf had just a few more minutes to go. 

perfect amount of food.. froze the other half.   

[David Ross]

Fresh Washington asparagus from Walla Walla, about a two hour drive from my home.  This year the season started a bit early in mid-April and is projected to last into the first week of June or so.  These fat buggars were full of rich asparagus flavor.  I prepare them simply--peeled below the tip, steamed for about 5 minutes and dressed with hollandaise and a twist of the pepper mill.  Sometimes I'll garnish the asparagus with buttered bread crumbs or crisp threads of prosciutto.

 

 

[David Ross]

Along with the asparagus I prepared fresh Alaskan halibut--slow-poached in olive oil in a 250 oven for 1 1/2 hours.  It's a Batali recipe and it's always delicious.  The olive oil is seasoned with chopped capers, parsley and sliced lemon.  The fish stays moist yet firm. Served on a bed of thick spaghetti and dressed with some of the olive oil poaching liquid.  This recipe also works quite well with cod, sablefish and salmon.

 

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks, basquecook.

I'm jonesing for Greenmarket asparagus right now...well, maybe this weekend there will be. Been a long winter...

Crudités plate -- celery sticks, carrot sticks, steamed heirloom potatoes, raw French breakfast radishes, hard-cooked farm egg w/anchovy; chive mayonnaise, lemon vinaigrette.

Chickweed, sorrel and mint salad; hazelnut vinaigrette

Spaghetti, with squid, ramps and toasted herbed breadcrumbs

Edited May 1, 2014 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[mm84321]

Maquereaux au vin blanc

 

[scubadoo97]

I love one pot meals

Last night I made yellow rice and chicken

[Baselerd]

mm84321, that Mackerel looks fantastic. Is that modernist-style fried sauce?

 

I made some ramen recently - turned out pretty good (although I've made better.) I followed my standard (read: lazy) ramen prep technique in which I make some traditional dashi, then pressure cook (1.5 hours @ 15 psi) it with a crapload of chicken / pork bones, scallions, burnt onions, dried shiitakes, sake, and some bag juices from sous vide pork belly. Then I strained it, added some shiro miso, soy sauce, and mirin to taste.

 

The toppings included some sous vide pork shoulder (150F for 36 hours), wakame, ajitake tamago, charred broccoli, scallions, sesame seeds, and togarashi.

 

[basquecook]

beautiful, B.  What a cared for dish.  

 

 

Tonight, a slice of that leftover meatloaf for Miss k.  Traditional, I serve my meatloaf with a simple water and salt polenta, a red sauce, a bowl of ricotta cheese and broccoli.  I had a customer meeting me at my house at 7:15, miss k had an art lesson at 8,  i got home at 6.  

 

Steamed an artichoke, mayo, meatloaf for miss k. 

 

 

 

 

 

For the two of us.  I had a request for green curry mussels.. Nothing special, coconut milk, water, lime, a dried thai chile from last summer.  fish sauce, a scoop of green curry, brown sugar was the sauce.  I sliced some green cabbage and blanched.  green beans blanched.  made white rice.  added the green beans to the simmering curry, then the cabbage, then the mussels.. they were really pretty. fish tag said april 30th.    

 

served over white rice.  

Edited May 2, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[basquecook]

 

Maquereaux au vin blanc

 

 

 

 

stunning..  can you talk about whats going on here. 

[huiray]

• Fuzzy melon, fried tofu puffs and fresh wood-ear fungus (&garlic) soup, using chicken stock.

Smashed garlic cloves sautéed in vegetable oil; de-skinned & sliced fuzzy melon (chit kua) added, tossed around; chicken stock added; simmered briefly; trimmed fresh wood-ear fungus and tofu puffs (halved) added; simmered to completion.

• More of the pork belly fried rice from here. (no pic)

 

 

[Anna N]

Grilled romaine lettuce with a caesar-style dressing and the last of a tri tip. I had the time so I made the dressing using my mortar and pestle. I need to do this more often!

[scubadoo97]

We've been doing grilled romaine a lot recently. A simple tasty way to use up a romain hearts

[mm84321]

Black bass wrapped in wild garlic

[huiray]

We've been doing grilled romaine a lot recently. A simple tasty way to use up a romain hearts

 

Have you ever tried blanching it (romaine) in oiled hot water, draining, then drizzling with something like oyster sauce or ponzu sauce or some savory sauce of your liking?  Or stir-frying it with some garlic & sauce of your choice?

[scubadoo97]

Have you ever tried blanching it (romaine) in oiled hot water, draining, then drizzling with something like oyster sauce or ponzu sauce or some savory sauce of your liking? Or stir-frying it with some garlic & sauce of your choice?

No, but will take your lead and give it a try. Sounds good

[Kim Shook]

Scubadoo – you mentioned the pecans that you make after I posted the glazed ones.  I know the kind that you mean and they don’t last long, do they?  These are worse because the recipe only makes 1 cup, which is hardly enough for a medium sized nibble session  !

 

Mark – you know, I’ve never seen a tri-tip in a VA grocery store.  Yours looks so good that I think I need to get my butcher to get one for me.  And then direct Mr. Kim to the smoker.  Lovely.

 

Norm – your Easter dinner was classic and beautiful and so delicious looking.  I would have loved every bite.  And the pineapple upside down cake?  WHY haven’t I made one of those in years?  So good.

 

Basquecook – lamb shanks really are the best cut of meat in the entire world, aren’t they?  (Followed closely by short ribs.)  And the livers looked wonderful.  Wish someone in my house shared my love of them. 

 

Ann – Caesar salad in a crouton crust.  Just genius.  And, I’m sorry – IS there any reason to cook a turkey breast other than to make open faced sandwiches with gravy  ?

 

Dcarch – good God, you made gefilte fish look appetizing!

 

Bruce – congrats on the new job.  Once you get used to the commute, I’m sure the pictures will come fast and furious again  .

 

Robirdstx – beautiful ‘Cabo’ salad.  Mr. Kim would promise me anything if I set that down in front of him!

 

Finally – Soba – are you TRYING to kill me with those incomparable radishes?

 

mm – the Maquereaux au vin blanc – I don’t know when I’ve seen anything lovelier.

 

With one thing and another, I haven’t posted a thing since before Easter.  The salad that I took to Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom’s Easter lunch:

Baby greens, Bibb, orange segments, strawberries, glazed pecans, Monterey Jack cheese, fried rice noodles with a cranberry vinaigrette.  This was fantastic.  I chose the vinaigrette from a Taste of Home Apple/Walnut tossed salad and then just cobbled together the salad ingredients.   

 

This weekend one of my oldest friends (41 year friendship – since 9th grade) visited us.  Lunch on Saturday was Ina Garten’s shrimp salad:

On croissants:

With fruit salad and potato chips:

 

Jessica and my mother joined us Sunday for an early dinner.  I served Michael Ruhlman’s Cheddar soufflés:

 

My ‘Easter salad’ and crusty bread:

 

Dessert included Nick Malgieri’s Heart of Dixie pecan pie

 

Some macarons that Pquinene gifted me with.  I made the filling:

 

And my friend supplied the final dessert – his grandmother’s sour cream poundcake:

 

Mr. Kim’s post-yoga chef salad last night:

 

Tonight we had my mother and Jess over for dinner.  I did salad, corn and a new CI recipe for Cornish hens:

The hens were really exceptional.  They were rubbed with a salt-oil-baking powder mixture and air-dried in the refrigerator for 4-24 hours.  Then, to get that gorgeous crust you heated up a baking sheet on the lowest rack in the oven at 500 degrees.  The quartered hens were placed skin side down and cooked for 10 minutes.  Then you flipped them and broiled them on an upper rack for 5-10 minutes.  They end up extremely moist and tender and have a great crusty skin.

[huiray]

Hainanese Chicken Rice.

 

Yellow-skin chicken.  Bok choi in some of the poaching stock.  Rice cooked w/ the stock w/ lots of rendered chicken fat & pandan leaves (frozen). Ginger-scallion sauce.  Garlic-light soy-jozo mirin sauce.

 

 

 

 

Beauty shot after scrubbing w/ kosher salt & rinsing before stuffing w/ ginger & scallions & poaching:

 

[C. sapidus]

Mrs. C made dinner on the Big Green Egg tonight – all I did was carve turkey and take pictures. Sides included a particularly good smoked babaghanoush, diced avocado, crab dip, bread, crackers, and two kinds of salad.

 

The star of the show was Mrs. C’s smoked turkey. Before carving . . .

 

 

. . . and after. Mrs. C has the skin and carcass simmering away to make smoked turkey stock.

 

[mm84321]

stunning..  can you talk about whats going on here. 

 

Sure. You first start by poaching a mackerel in white wine, then letting sit overnight in the fridge. The fish is then shredded and mixed with potato and cream, then breaded and fried, which are the little balls you see. The poaching wine is used to cook carrots, which are then wrapped in seaweed and then with sliced mackerel which is cured, first in salt, then in rice vinegar and sake. The rest of the wine you make a gelée which coats the bottom of the plate. 

 

Lobster with morels and asparagus. 

[Anna N]

Since lunch was such a disappointment (home made potstickers that had been in the freezer too long) i decided to whip up some deep fried shrimp wontons for dinner. Since there was still dressing leftover from the previous night, I grilled another romaine heart as an accompaniment.

[Paul Bacino]

Made Some Duck Soup with Green Lentils

 

I sourced my duck from a Asian Food Store

 

 

 

[scubadoo97]

Kudos to Mrs. C. That bird looks like it was lifted off the pages of a food stylists magazine