Dinner! 2014 (Part 3)

[Anna N]

What a coincidence, Kim. I too peeled asparagus for the first time. Salmon with miso butter, black rice, and asparagus.

[huiray]

Fried rice.^¶

Shanghai choy sum - simply cut-up and stir-fried w/ salt & oil in a very hot pan.

Pickled cucumbers (rice vinegar, salt, hon-mirin, toasted sesame seeds, wasabi fumi furikake).

Lingham's Thai hot sauce.

 

^¶Liver lap cheong & "grain alcohol flavor" lap cheong were steamed, then cut into thick rounds. The steaming liquids & exuded oil were also reserved. Two eggs were beaten w/ some oil, ground white pepper, diluted w/ some water then fried in a very hot pan w/ hot oil to make a bubbly "flattish" simple omelette, cut into thick strips and reserved.  Chopped garlic was tossed into a very hot pan & oil followed by the cut-up lap cheong pieces less than 10 seconds later.  Sliced negi followed.  Then 3-day-old rice, plus the reserved lap cheong steaming liquids.  (Tossing around - spatula - as needed, letting "sit" as needed)  Thinly sliced scallions plus the reserved cut-up omelette followed.  Tossed/stirred/mixed well.  Heat shut off, pan covered and the whole thing allowed to sit for a minute or two.

 

 

[CatPoet]

 

This is what yesterdays dinner looked like.  My husband tried  the camera on his new phone.

 

Today we had  crashed potatoes, oxmeat burgers,  home made burger bread and veggies.  Dear daughter, had peas , burger and potatoes and lots of herb dressing and a bit of chipotle mayo.  She  was rather cute when she added peas to her water and called it beer.

[Smithy]

Crashed potatoes? Is that the same as mashed potatoes, or is there a special technique that I need to learn? :-)

[heidih]

Crashed potatoes? Is that the same as mashed potatoes, or is there a special technique that I need to learn? :-)

 

I assumed these http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/  Essentially boiled, smashed down with the potato masher, lubed up and roasted til crispy

Edited June 13, 2014 by heidih (log)

[rotuts]

very nice ref, heidih.   I make these all the time

 

addictive, w a very nice crunch.

[Smithy]

That's a great post, Heidi, and I'm eager to try the recipe. Thanks for the link!

[scamhi]

last night's dinner pan seared organic salmon with roasted brussel sprouts and tzaziki

[CatPoet]

Yes it is the same potatoes , I just use a 1970 recipe called Crashed Potatoes,  we got it  with a turkey recipe from  Grand Auntie Violet  ( American relative).  We never did the  cheerful marshmallow and cranberry salad , nor the marshmallow coated  turkey, but the potatoes  was something that sounded nice and we done them since then.

[rotuts]

that salmon looks mighty tasty.

 

lucky you. !

[scamhi]

that salmon looks mighty tasty.

 

lucky you. !

thanks, it was cooked with no fat (other than what was in the salmon) in a screaming hot cast iron pan

[FrogPrincesse]

I am still cooking a fair bit although I have neglected to post on this thread. Last night was a local sculpin with a tarragon sauce vierge and spinach.

The night before I had a grape sauce vierge with black bass at Ironside, a new local restaurant, and I was inspired to do something similar at home. A good simple sauce for fish.

 

 

 

A few other meals -

 

Salmon cartoccio with asparagus, citrus and mint (Batali).

 

 

Yogurt and tamarind marinated grilled chicken (Vij's), Swiss chard with olive oil (April Bloomfield). My grill is currently out of commission, so I've been using my cast iron skillet a lot.

 

 

 

Delmonico steak; stir-fried bok choy with ginger, mushroom and soy sauce. The bone is for me.

 

 

Marcella Hazan's parmesan green beans; black cod with sorrel sauce (the sauce is Deborah Madison). I grow the sorrel on my patio.

 

 

Les Halles' short ribs with a creme fraiche horseradish sauce; new potatoes.

 

 

With the leftover short ribs I made a pasta sauce. The pasta was a fresh herb rotini.

 

 

With an excess of bacon in the fridge (I counted 3 different kinds - Benton's which is heavily smoked, plus applewood-smoked bacon & pancetta from Trader Joe's, and this is not even including all the homemade bacon in the freezer...), I made a quiche Lorraine. I used heavy cream instead of creme fraiche and did not puff up like it usually does.

 

 

Last but not least, these scallops with beurre blanc and trout roe cooked by a very skilled friend.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Anna N]

That's a great post, Heidi, and I'm eager to try the recipe. Thanks for the link!

Those are good but these are better IMHO (I am NOT overly-competitive. That's just a nasty rumour.)

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/crispy-smashed-roasted-potatos.aspx

The ratio of creamy to crispy is the main difference. The masher breaks them up and you get more crispy bits. Depends on your taste. Try them both ways.

[mm84321]

Purple artichoke and arugula ravioloni

[Kim Shook]

Anna – I do scallops with a miso sauce, but never thought to use it with salmon.  I’ll be trying that.  We love it and I can afford salmon much more often than scallops!

 

Scamhi – your salmon was lovely, too!  I love tzatziki with salmon.

 

Elise – so good to see you here!  Lovely meals – all of them, but the short ribs and quiche were my favorites!

 

I learned about those potatoes from Marlene and they are fantastic.  One of the best things about them is that you can prepare them ahead to the point of adding the oil and roasting and then roast them at the last minute.

 

Tonight's pre-dinner nibble:

Buttermilk bleu and poppy/pepper water biscuits.

 

Dinner:

TJ’s Korean ribs, marinated cucumbers, peas, Jasmine rice and corn.  Someone here at eG recommended the ribs and they were pretty good.  Our grill is out of commission right now (plenty of gas and won’t light), so I broiled them.  They were a bit greasy, but I’m sure that on the grill that wouldn’t happen.

[liuzhou]

 

Buttermilk bleu and poppy/pepper water biscuits.

 

Drool

[JoNorvelleWalker]

"nor the marshmallow coated  turkey"??

 

Recipe?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Dinner tonight was something quite new for me:  a bowl of Koshihikari rice, cooked in my new Zoijirushi, plus a plate of lightly blanched broccolini, cut on the diagonal and simply drizzled with a bit of soy sauce.  That was it...plus of course a glass or three of wine.  Previously I had only Chinese chopsticks, but my order of Kabazaiku chopsticks arrived this afternoon.

 

About half way through the meal I laughed out loud and realized I was eating rice cooked without salt or butter.  Some of the best rice I had ever had.  Never would I have thought such a satisfying dinner could be so simple.

[liuzhou]

 

About half way through the meal I laughed out loud and realized I was eating rice cooked without salt or butter. Some of the best rice I had ever had. 

 

In Chinese cuisine, rice is never (or very rarely) salted either. It certainly isn't buttered. 

 

It is intended to be a bland, neutral background for the accompanying food. The first time a Chinese friend saw me salting rice prior to cooking it, she thought I'd gone insane.

 

But  that was long ago. I never do now.

 

(And, at home, I almost always use Japanese chopsticks rather than Chinese.)

Edited June 14, 2014 by liuzhou (log)

[CatPoet]

"nor the marshmallow coated  turkey"??

 

Recipe?

 

This is what the recipes says, make an orange stuffed turkey  ( store bought will save  time) and when  the  turkey is rested , brush it  with  orange juice and  cover with  small marshmallows and grill  in the oven until golden.     The  cheerful marshmallows and cranberry salad  is   1 cup  small marshmallow cut in half, 1  cup cranberries,  1 cup  toasted almond slivers  and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped celery and then  ½ cup sour cream and ½ cup mayo, mix and  season with salt and pepper.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This is what the recipes says...

 

I had always believed there was nothing new under the sun, but now my faith is shaken.

[Anna N]

Ann_T inspired me to make mini baguettes. Some found their way to my daughter's house but I insisted that one remain here. I split it lengthwise and stuffed it with cocktail tomatoes, the dregs of a jar of marinated artichokes and some Gruyere.

[CatPoet]

I had always believed there was nothing new under the sun, but now my faith is shaken.

You see why we never made the  turkey!  We Swede loves our food salty, even our candy too, it seamed way to sweet for us.

[huiray]

A cheese plate for dinner.

 

Left, top to bottom: Pecorino Toscano, Tarentaise [Thistle Hill], Taleggio [Ciresa], Kenny’s Reserve Asiago.

Scallions, sesame seed Lavash crackers.

 

 

The Tarentaise was new to me.  I liked it very much.  Eating it side-by-side with the Asiago (which was very nice itself) was quite interesting.

Edited June 14, 2014 by huiray (log)

[CatPoet]

 

Kema curry, because it is Curry day!  Yeah Saturday is curry day in this household.