Dinner! 2014 (Part 3)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Wonder how these cucumbers would work vacuum crushed and infused?  It sounds good.  If I had rice vinegar and chilli oil I'd go find out for myself right now.  Several cucumbers that need eating up.

[weinoo]

Wonder how these cucumbers would work vacuum crushed and infused?  It sounds good.  If I had rice vinegar and chilli oil I'd go find out for myself right now.  Several cucumbers that need eating up.

I think the beauty of those cucumbers is that they don't need to be vacuum crushed and infused. If prepared properly, they are wonderful just like that!

[huiray]

Some recent dinners.

 

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An early dinner.

 

Deep-fried chả giò tôm cua (Vietnamese spring roll w/ crab & shrimp).  Eaten w/ wong nga pak (Napa cabbage) & Lingham's hot sauce mixed w/ aged rice vinegar.

 

 

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Late dinner.

 

Simple fresh porcini soup. 

White parts and bulb of young candy onion sautéed in oil, fresh porcini added, salted, water added, simmered, green parts/leaves of the candy onion added right before the end.

 

 

ETA: Oh, I also happily munched on slices of (store-bought) corned beef. :-)

 

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Another late dinner.

 

Porcini slices sautéed in butter, splashed with hon-mirin [Takara], cooked till caramelizing.  Salted lightly.  Eaten w/ a few sprigs of broccoli rabe flowers.

 

Braised/stewed pork hocks.  Eaten w/ white rice. 

Pork hocks browned in garlic-infused oil (~ 2-heads-worth; reserved then added back in later); then cooked w/ mutenka shiro miso, aka miso, sufficient water, shallots, a stick of cinnamon, some cloves, a star anise.

Edited June 10, 2014 by huiray (log)

[TicTac]

mm8 - those porcini's look quite nice.  Where did you source them from?

 

As well, what liquid did you use for your porcini risotto?

[Unpopular Poet]

Ok, horrible pics, but great result.  Had reuben sandwiches for dinner -- the corned beef was cooked at 145 for 36 hours and then sliced.  This was my first attempt at sous vide corned beef (straight from the packet mind you) -- I soaked it and gave it a good rinse, added the spice packet plus some juniper berries and mustard seeds and let it rip.  So easy, but really delicious.  The thousand island dressing came out a bit too quickly...

[mm84321]

mm8 - those porcini's look quite nice.  Where did you source them from?

 

As well, what liquid did you use for your porcini risotto?

 

Thanks. They are from Oregon. The nicest, densest I've seen. Though, not as particularly aromatic as some European ones I've had. I got them through Solex Fine Foods. The risotto was made with chicken stock. The mushrooms were cooked in duck fat with thyme, garlic and bacon, then finished in butter. Veal jus to finish the plate. 

 

Black sea bass with porcini and romaine lettuce

[Shelby]

Hmmmm UnPopularPoet, I think it's time to made a corned beef...or maybe a corned venison....I have both in the freezer.  Decisions decisions.

[Kim Shook]

Anna – I could not agree more – when you don’t know what you want, you can  never go wrong with eggs on toast!

 

Mark – thanks so much!  I showed the site to Mr. Kim and we lost him for a couple of hours!  Good stuff, he says. And I thought they were tiny Brussels sprouts, too. 

 

Patrick – that chicken, rice and cucumber dinner is just the perfect meal.  Especially for summer.

 

Norm – please tell Cassie thank you for the information.  I went to her FB page.  She is very talented!

 

Soba – the Spaghetti con salsa di pomodoro is lovely and fresh!  I can almost taste it. 

 

Shelby – lovely bugs!  I would sit right up to either of those meals.  Seafood enchiladas  !!!!

 

huiray – beautiful spring rolls.  Love the sound of the filling.

 

 

On Saturday, Mr. Kim spent all day smoking pork butt for our church potluck Sunday.  So for dinner, he put some kielbasa on the smoker and I prepped some raw vegetables and opened a sleeve of crackers to go on the side:

 

 

And for dessert I sliced a peach:

For some reason Food Lion is again this year getting the best stone fruit in town.  I’ve shopped at most of the other grocery stores and they don’t have anything approaching the quality at FL.  This has happened for the past 3 or 4 years.  Truly ripe, juicy, sweet and not a bit mushy.  Bye-bye apples and bananas!

 

Sunday was the potluck.   Mr. Kim did the BBQ and I did the slaw.  His took 12 hours and mine took 8 minutes (I adore my Vitamix). 

 

Look at that smoke ring:

 

Ready to pile in the buns:

 

With some slaw:

 

I made an Aaron Franklin BBQ sauce to go with the sandwiches.  It was an authentic recipe, because I actually saw him make it on youtube, but it really wasn’t very interesting.  I made another one purported to be his a month or so ago and found that one way too heavy on the cumin (I’m not wild about cumin).  I think I’m going to have to do some more experimenting.  Or just keep buying Bull’s Eye  !

[huiray]

They are from Oregon. The nicest, densest I've seen. Though, not as particularly aromatic as some European ones I've had. I got them through Solex Fine Foods.

 

http://i.imgur.com/bSEs9TT.png

 

They look like very nice ones!**  These "spring boletes" have been recognized as a separate species, Boletus rex-veris, now distinguished from the standard European porcini Boletus edulis (see here and here also) and considered to be indeed more delicate and less "strong" in taste but are also said to be quite firm and crunchy "especially in the button stage".  The "fall boletes" from CA and the Pacific Northwest would be Boletus edulis, but now also recognized as a variety of the European ones.

 

Did you have any issues with bolete fly larvae?

 

** I got some the other day too, also from Oregon, less pristine and a little more reddish than yours.

Edited June 10, 2014 by huiray (log)

[Anna N]

Roasted asparagus and cocktail tomatoes with shavings of parmesan.

As I was eating this I was reminded of a friend who was largely vegetarian but who insisted that nothing special be prepared for him when he joined us for dinner. If you called him vegetarian he would insist that he was not but that he never found it necessary to have a huge plank of protein on his plate. Not such a bad philosophy.

[mm84321]

They look like very nice ones!**  These "spring boletes" have been recognized as a separate species, Boletus rex-veris, now distinguished from the standard European porcini Boletus edulis (see here and here also) and considered to be indeed more delicate and less "strong" in taste but are also said to be quite firm and crunchy "especially in the button stage".  The "fall boletes" from CA and the Pacific Northwest would be Boletus edulis, but now also recognized as a variety of the European ones.

 

Did you have any issues with bolete fly larvae?

 

** I got some the other day too, also from Oregon, less pristine and a little more reddish than yours.[/quote

Yeah, the crunch is great. I've had 1 out of about 20 with larvae in them. Have another 2 pounds in the fridge. They seem to keep better than he European as well. Perhaps less water content. Thanks for the info.

[SobaAddict70]

Thanks folks.

Lots of great meals above.

Tonight:

Garlic soup, with chard and chorizo

Dal and rice, with tomato-mint raita and lime pickle

[mm84321]

Porcini mushroom gratin with foie gras

[huiray]

Porcini mushroom gratin with foie gras

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/WALUijz.png

 

http://i.imgur.com/TMoj3WG.png

 

Could you say something more about this, if you could?  Details, please?

[mm84321]

Sure. The heads of porcini are sliced about 3mm thick, then lightly colored in duck fat infused with bacon trimmings and garlic. They are then layered on a piece of parchment rubbed with a garlic clove and brushed with more duck fat, then pressed down with a sheet pan and refrigerated to set, then cut. The stems are diced into a 5mm brunoise, as well as the foie gras, which is seared quickly on a high heat, then drained. The fat is used to cook the mushrooms, they are then mixed together and mixed with a bit of porcini mushroom juice. This juice is made by searing two chicken legs in duck fat, then adding butter, 4 sliced shallots, 6 cloves of garlic, some heads of porcini, and some of the stems, previously stewed. This is sweat down, then the pan is deglazed with white wine, then simmered in chicken consomme with a few strips of dry porcini. The gratin is assembled by spooning the diced stem and foie gras on each plate, then covering with the heads and then a thin layer of porcini butter, which is made by sweating finely minced shallot in a little butter, then adding a very fine brunoise of more stems, sweat a bit, then add a brunoise of prosciutto, chopped parsley, minced garlic, grain mustard, and almond powder. This all is mixed with some softened butter and spread as thin as possible between two sheets of parchment and stuck in the freezer to set, then cut out the same size as the porcini discs. The plates are warmed in a 300 oven for around 6 minutes, then parmesan is shaved over and they are placed back under the broiler to brown. 

[huiray]

 

Sure. The heads of porcini are sliced about 3mm thick, then lightly colored in duck fat infused with bacon trimmings and garlic. They are then layered on a piece of parchment rubbed with a garlic clove and brushed with more duck fat, then pressed down with a sheet pan and refrigerated to set, then cut. The stems are diced into a 5mm brunoise, as well as the foie gras, which is seared quickly on a high heat, then drained. The fat is used to cook the mushrooms, they are then mixed together and mixed with a bit of porcini mushroom juice. This juice is made by searing two chicken legs in duck fat, then adding butter, 4 sliced shallots, 6 cloves of garlic, some heads of porcini, and some of the stems, previously stewed. This is sweat down, then the pan is deglazed with white wine, then simmered in chicken consomme with a few strips of dry porcini. The gratin is assembled by spooning the diced stem and foie gras on each plate, then covering with the heads and then a thin layer of porcini butter, which is made by sweating finely minced shallot in a little butter, then adding a very fine brunoise of more stems, sweat a bit, then add a brunoise of prosciutto, chopped parsley, minced garlic, grain mustard, and almond powder. This all is mixed with some softened butter and spread as thin as possible between two sheets of parchment and stuck in the freezer to set, then cut out the same size as the porcini discs. The plates are warmed in a 300 oven for around 6 minutes, then parmesan is shaved over and they are placed back under the broiler to brown. 

 

 

Thanks!  Much appreciated.  Reading it over - if I left out the almond powder would you think it would be deleterious?  Perhaps pine nuts instead...just thinking out loud.  Or no nuts.  It's a clever dish nonetheless.

[mm84321]

I wouldn't say deleterious. Either way you make it, it will be delicious. The nut powder helps keep the butter from spreading outt to much when it heats up in the oven. 

[merstar]

Tonight was penne with sauteed garlic, red bell peppers, and mushrooms in a white wine sauce. Served with Parmigiano Reggiano, and lots of white wine! Roasted cauliflower on the side.

 

[huiray]

Braised pork hocks - leftovers from here - were refired/augmented w/ bamboo shoots, the seasoning & sauce volume fiddled with a bit etc. 

 

Dinner - with min6 sin3 (mee sua).

 

Lunch the next day - the rest of it, also with min6 sin3; plus blanched broccolini.

 

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Soup.

Pork short-cut spare ribs plus sliced pork belly, sautéed w/ smashed garlic in corn oil; Redmond salt; water, dried scallops; simmer; snow fungus, simmer; Opo squash slices, simmer; soft tofu towards the end.

 

 

[mm84321]

What are the light-colored nuggets around the fish... cuts from some bivalve?  Intriguing!

 

Sorry, I didn't see this. They are littleneck clams.

 

Crispy porcini mushroom ravioli with chanterelle mushrooms

[CatPoet]

No pics but I did a lovely pasta bake that the  kid enjoyed.

I got the inspiration from a recipe called a Simple dinner for the whole family, it is a new paper clipping a friend sent me in the 90:ties,  the whole dinner  back then would have cost  200 dollar for 4 people or a little more.  Everything is organic, picked by virgins or milked by happy  maidens and  all is from Italy and very expensive for what it is, a pasta bake.

 

I used  spiral pasta, bacon,  fresh tomatoes, peas , spring onion and normal onion, mixed it with cheese sauce  ( loved it because it was more stock then milk) and sprinkled over some more cheese and baked it.  Daughter at  two plates of it and then had a strawberry for dessert.

[rotuts]

Plate change there mm

 

still beyond delicious 

[scubadoo97]

Tonight, corn patties with grilled Gulf Shrimp in Thai sweet chili sauce and Sambal Oelek

[gfron1]

Chimmicurri shark coming up

[Kim Shook]

CatPoet – I love your descriptions!

 

Scuba – gorgeous shrimp!

 

Dinner was salad and spaghetti Bolognese:

 

Mr. Kim also had asparagus:

He managed to find fat ones at Fresh Market and I tried peeling the stems for the first time.  He loved them and said that he could really taste the difference.